Benjen shut the door to Catelyn's study and noted that Maester Luwin and Robb were already there. He nodded to them and then looked at Catelyn, her hands were bandaged, a sign of the attack that had come. An assassin in Winterfell, an assassin sent to kill Bran. No doubt to silence him for whatever he had witnessed when he had fallen from the tower months ago.
"I have checked the stables, and found a horse and a letter." Benjen said. He handed over the letter to Maester Luwin who read it, then gave it to Catelyn.
"It is written in appalling hand." Benjen said as the letter was handed to Robb. "But the instruction is clear, the man was sent to kill Bran."
"How did he get here?" Catelyn asked.
"That is my fault, my lady." Luwin answered. "Hal mentioned that there had been an uptick in people seeking shelter here after the King's visit. And given that Lord Stark had taken many of the household south, I felt we could do with the numbers, so I approved it."
Benjen looked at Luwin, it was an understandable decision to make, Ned had taken far too many members of the household south. Catelyn didn't seem that perturbed by what the Maester had told her though. Instead she said.
"I think I know who sent the hired hand."
"Who?" Benjen asked.
"The Lannisters." Catelyn answered.
"But why?" Robb asked, his voice shifting between being high pitched and low, a sign that it was starting to break and he was becoming a man.
Catelyn looked uncomfortable then as she looked at her eldest son. "When the King's party arrived, a letter was left for me, nobody saw who left the letter, but it was in my sister's hand. She wrote that she had cause to believe that the Lannisters had murdered her husband and that they were targeting her."
Benjen took a breath. He did not know how often Catelyn kept in contact with her sister, but he had kept an eye on her through his friends at court. And he did not think that she was the most stable of people.
"Did she provide any reason for why they would want to murder Lord Arryn?" Benjen asked.
Catelyn looked at him, and shook her head. "She didn't but, Lysa has no reason to lie."
"She might not, but others might have reason to lie to her." Benjen said.
Catelyn frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
Benjen nodded to the dagger that was on the table before them. "That dagger was made in the Vale. You can tell thanks to the cut and the shape. Vale daggers are all made that way to represent the claws of the falcon of House Arryn."
"Are you suggesting that my sister wanted my son murdered?" Catelyn asked, a dangerous note creeping into her voice.
"No." Benjen said, what was it with women and jumping to conclusions? "What I am saying is that whoever sent the hired assassin has friends in the Vale or recently visited there. So, we need to be careful."
There was a moment of pause as they all considered that. Benjen could tell that Catelyn was still trying to think about why the Lannisters had murdered her sister's husband, and whether what he had said was right or not. He and his sister in law liked one another, they got on, but sometimes Catelyn still treated him as if he was the innocent little boy he had been when she'd first arrived here. That time was long since passed.
He knew more about Westeros than she did, more than even Luwin, as a Maester, did.
"Weren't the Kingslayer and the Queen the only members of the Royal Court who weren't either on the hunt or in the castle proper?" Robb asked.
"Yes." Catelyn answered. "The Queen held a women's court and then said she was feeling unwell, Ser Jaime accompanied her back to her rooms."
"But they were the first on the scene when Bran was discovered." Robb pointed out. "How could that be? The tower is far away from their rooms."
A thought came to Benjen then. "Unless they were the ones who pushed Bran from the tower."
Catelyn's eyes widened. "But why would they do that? What could he have seen that would have necessitated that?"
Benjen opened his mouth to reply, then shut it when the realisation struck him.
The Kingslayer and the Queen were close, they were twins, and they looked somewhat like one another if one squinted. He had seen how they acted, he had seen lingering looks and other such things. And then there were the children. House Baratheon was famous for producing children who had black hair and blue eyes, no matter who they married. The only exception had been when Jocelyn Baratheon had married Aemon Targaryen, and then the resulting child, Princess Rhaenys, the Queen Who Never Was, had had a mixture of silver and black hair.
The King and Queen's children were all blonde haired and green eyed.
The King's children aren't the King's.
Benjen staggered as the realisation hit him. The King had been made a cuckhold by the Kingslayer.
He blinked rapidly. He glanced at Catelyn, and saw that she hadn't come to the same conclusion, nor had Robb when Benjen looked at him, but Maester Luwin had. The man was as wide eyed as Benjen thought he must be.
"Whatever their reason, I must go south." Catelyn said. "To warn Ned."
"I think that would be a terrible idea." Benjen said.
"Why?" Catelyn demanded. "An attack was made on our son, Ned needs to know what he is getting himself into!"
"Then let me go." Benjen said. "If the Lannisters truly are trying to get you all killed, they will want you to come south. They will be waiting for you."
"And they won't be, for you?" Catelyn asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Benjen shook his head. "No, they won't. And besides, I have ways of getting into King's Landing without anyone being any the wiser. I can go to King's Landing and be back before the time comes to bring in the harvest."
"That's in five weeks." Catelyn pointed out.
"I know, I can make it, especially if I set off now." Benjen said.
"You are sure?" Catelyn asked sounding concerned.
"I am." Benjen said. "I will go, I will take the dagger with me, and I will alert Ned to what he needs to be aware of. You are needed here."
He saw the struggle that Catelyn was clearly going through over this, and he could understand it, but at the same time, his course of action was the sensible one.
Clearly, she saw it the same way for she said. "Fine. Five weeks."
Benjen nodded. "Five weeks."
