Tywin prepared for bed, undressing without the benefit of a page or a servant, throwing on a nightshirt and lying down in his cot. But the curse of his existence, a mind that refused to be stilled, kept him from sleep. Not that he had not had an eventful day to mull over he mused, it was not everyday that you expect to find your future goodson and daughter dead at the hands of bandits only to find them slaughtered to man, mostly by one man.
Tywin remembered pulling up his horse from its gallop when he spied Lord Stark and Cersei, his daughter clinging to Lord Stark in what appeared to be abject terror. The mounted Red Cloaks had fanned out around him as he came to a halt before the couple, his eyes scanned the piles of bodies strewn about, something was bothering him about that but before he could speak further Lord Stark had said "Lord Tywin, thank you for coming to our rescue!" only the barest hint of irony audible in the northerners voice.
Tywin had nodded in response before asking "Cersei?"
"I, I am alright father, I am unhurt, Lord Stark saved my life" the girl replied in a monotone voice.
Tywin gave the girl a sharp look, she seemed to be feverish, her skin reddened and blushing, it was perhaps an oversight that they had not acquired the services of a Maester for the journey.
"Attend to Lady Cersei at once!" he commanded as a party of Red Cloaks dismounted and took his daughter, who looked frail and afraid, from the arms of Lord Stark.
"Apparently the Vance's knew about this scum but failed to mention it to us" remarked Tywin, wondering how young Stark would react. Of course he had already been calculating the various odds and possibilities of who was really behind this little ambush, a pity Lord Stark had left none of the bandits alive for questioning. There were numerous possibilities - Varys for one, the Dornish mayhaps, disgruntled ex-Loyalists? The later he discounted, they had just rode through the Crownlands and despite some slightly frosty receptions, mainly due to the fact that the young Stark was being personally blamed for quite a few of the noble widows that they encountered, there had been no overt attempts on their lives. Hoster Tully maybe? No, Tully had a daughter as a queen to make up for the spurning of the same daughter by Lord Stark. So maybe they were just as they looked, the riff raff that seemed to explode like a plague of rats for a year or two after every war.
Tywin set aside his calculations for now, he would spend some coin to investigate this matter further, but for now he returned his mind to the scene before him.
The Wolf lord just shrugged his shoulders and said "These things happen I suppose Lord Tywin, now if you will excuse me, I'm going to get my horse?"
Tywin nodded as the Stark collected his dropped sword and shield, the swords he quickly cleaned before sheathing it and the shield he gave is a glance as he turned it over once or twice before discarding it. Tywin suddenly knew how some of the fatal blows that were landed on the bandits came from, and he suppressed a little shudder.
He had discounted many of the tall tales told about Lord Stark, the so called 'Black Wolf', tales of him smashing enemies to pulp with his bare hands, of fighting like a man possessed, seeming to never tire, of stories of him slaughtering hundreds of men single handed over the course of a battle. Looking at the carnage in front of him he was not sure if all those tall tales were just that, and if some of them had at least a kernel of the truth in them.
Colrin had been mounted on his horse, the Captian's eyes scanning the ground and the cut, smashed bodies lying all around. He had moved his horse up until it was right beside his, and he whispered under his breath "My Lord, the bodies, the way they lay about, their injuries…."
"Go on" mumbled Tywin under his breath.
"That is that work of a single man; you can follow the, the slaughter in the pattern they died in…."
"Yes, I had thought so myself. We will speak no further on this matter Captain Colrin, and neither will you speak of this to anyone else, is that understood?"
"Yes Lord Tywin" the man responded before moving off to supervise some Red Cloaks gathering the fallen Red Cloaks and Stark men. The bandits were left where they fell; some of the Red Cloaks looted a small amount of coin from them, but nothing else.
Back at camp he had gone about his business as normal, they would stay for the night here before moving on the next morning. In the late afternoon Cersei had come to visit him and ask if Lords Stark could dine with them tonight, a most strange request as Lord Tywin had assumed that Lord Stark would be dining with them as a matter of course. His daughter had seemed nervous, out of sorts, skittish as a colt he would have said. He had sat her down and questioned her about the events of the morning, the girl was clearly still terrified by her experience as her answers were either vague or one or two words at most. Just as well Lord Stark was the legendary fighter of tales he decided, for it would have been unfortunate to lose Cersei or Lord Stark to bandits, let alone the utter disaster of losing both of them would have been.
The dinner had just been the three of them; why Lord Stark was almost family now, given how he had saved Cersei's life, another debt that he owed the young northern Lord he had mused, somewhat sourly. He had sent our hunting parties and they had returned with plentiful game, a whole roast boar was the meat for tonight's meal, along with vegetables that they had purchased in the last village that they had passed through, nicely roasted and sprinkled with herbs as he liked them. His cook had baked a load of bread this morning and several loafs graced their table. To drink there was some good Arbor red of his favourite vintage, why travel to the wilds of the North without some of the comforts of home?
Lord Stark had devoured over half the wild boar and all the vegetables that he and Cersei had left for him, along with all the bread. The Stark had an appetite he had rarely seen on men who were not destroyed by gluttony, and the young northerner clearly enjoyed his food.
Cersei had only picked at her plate, her husband to be polishing off the food on her plate when she indicated that she was finished and did not want to eat any more. He was worried about Cersei, her skin seemed flushed, feverish even, and she appeared to be drinking more wine than was usual for her. He had caught the little glances that she kept sending Lord Stark, with a rather unpleasant lurch he remembered that her mother had used to send him the same type of glances when she wanted to sleep with him.
Though interspaced with those glance were the odd look of abject terror and fear, maybe his daughter was dreading the bedding, or maybe even the bedding ceremony, which the northerners seemed so keen on from what he had heard.
He shrugged, most women dreaded the bedding, at least the first time, or so he was led to believe, that Cersei was the same came as little surprise to him. But for her to show her fear so openly like this? No, that would not do, not at all; he would have to have a talk with her about this, in a few days' time mayhaps. Oh and just in case Cersei would let those other desires overcome her fear of the bedding? He would post extra guards with strict instructions to not let his daughter wander, she would be preserving her maidenhead for Lord Stark for the wedding night, not to be offered up to him unmarried and in a tent by the Kingsroad!
Tywin had casually remarked as the meal was ending that along with a good haul of game that his hunters had killed a wolf, and that he had skinned the beast himself, with the intention of making a cloak out of its hide for when they were in the North proper.
Lord Stark had frozen at this, his eyes boring into his, a sudden, single tick had spasmed along the Stark's jaw at this, Tywin had felt a sudden urge to flee, but his legs had turned to water, all strength leaving them. Cersei's face looked like someone had thrown chalk over it, so suddenly pale it had become, but just as suddenly as it had come, the strange atmosphere had passed, and Lord Stark had remarked that he would look good in wolf fur.
He had remarked to Cersei that she should also wear the wolf fur cloak that Lord Stark had presented to her in Kings Landing, as the days were sure to get colder the more north they went.
Cersei's eyes had show a momentary flash of fear before she hid it and replied "Yes father."
