Jaime hurled the cup at the door with a roar.
The pottery smashed against the wood, the water spraying everywhere and wetting the area. Jaime cared not for it and clenched his hands together as he paced around his tower cell. His foot falls made the floorboards squeak, which had given Jaime some hope of escape through them, but it was to no avail. The floorboards were secure as ever, and their squeaking was only there to mock him.
Riverrun was as ugly as he remembered it from the outside as well as the inside. Gods damn the Tullys and their stupid castle. These walls were cramped, and the air smelled too much of fish. The Riverlanders were a worthless bunch of fisherfolk with their fish scaled armor.
He had them in the palm of his hand!
Jaime cursed aloud to himself as he continued to pace. He had it all in his hand! He had taken the host that Jason had raised and smashed the river lords at the Golden Tooth. He had defeated the floppy fish that was Edmure Tully and routed his army. Riverrun was under siege by his host, and it was all a matter of time. His lord father had his own host was ravaging the Riverlands and taking castles left and right. The Riverlands were theirs, the war was going to be an easy victory!
And Jaime had to go and fuck it all up.
He should have known better than to pursue that small force flying the Tully banner. They were taunting him and trying to lure him into a trap, and he had fallen for it. Damn the Blackfish and damn Robb Stark and damn all those Northern savages!
What should have been an easy victory turned into a crushing defeat. He had walked right into what looked like the majority of Robb Stark's cavalry. That green boy had done him in and surrounded his own men. Jaime had known that it was lost when those horns were sounded and the Northern calvary came out of the woodwork. His men were being cut down like green boys and Jaime had done the only thing that he could do.
He had rallied his men and tried to push towards the Stark boy. If he could get to Robb Stark and kill him on the field of battle than it would have ended the Northern rebellion. Without their lord they would b in chaos over what to do and Jaime sought to hammer one final nail into the Stark coffin before he met the Stranger.
But it was not to be.
Those boys had gotten in the way of Jaime's blade and Stark's throat. They had slowed him down enough for Stark's men to form up and capture him. Jaime cursed to himself again that he had let himself get taken by the Stark boy. He was a knight of the Kingsguard and one of the best swords in the Seven Kingdoms! He was Jaime Lannister, and a green boy had defeated him in battle.
Now he was here, in this seven damned castle and stuck in a tower cell while the war raged on around him. He had to listen to the Northmen and the Riverlanders as they celebrated their victory. His tower cell allowed him a good vantage point of the lands surrounding Riverrun… and wasn't that a slap in the face.
His host had once laid siege from those very lands, and now all that was left were corpses of men and horse. The charred remains of the siege engines and the banners of the westermen in the dirt lay across those grassy fields.
Damn them all.
If he had only listened to Jason's advice. Jaime thought back on that conversation and now saw that his older brother was speaking the truth.
"Don't get overconfident Jaime. Don't do anything stupid that requires you to be in the need of saving." Jason had said. His brother had met him at Casterly Rock with a host almost ready to go. The war was just starting then, and Jason had given him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and a hearty slap on the arm before sending him off.
If only he had listened to Jason's words.
Jason wouldn't have gotten himself captured like this. He'd have sat with the siege and waited for Riverrun to have fallen. He wouldn't have been chasing small groups of Tully men down like Jaime had been.
Jaime cursed himself that he was unable to sit on his arse and just wait for the castle to yield. Sieges were deadly dull, and Jaime was never one to remain still for long. That inability to remain still had ended with him in a tower cell looking over the lands surrounding Riverrun.
It led him to seeing the group of riders approaching the castle with the Tully banner flying proud. Jaime got close to the barred window and saw the signature black scaled armor of the lead rider.
The Blackfish was returning to Riverrun.
Jaime wished that the Stranger would take everyone in this damned castle.
That was a fruitless endeavor though, as the gods never answered prayers.
But at least he could hope that the Ser Brynden Tully brought bad news with him. Mayhaps the news of a Lannister victory somewhere.
Hopefully.
"I say again, we should move into the Westerlands and attack at once."
Lord Rickard Karstark's words were punctuated by the slamming of a fit onto the table that held the map. The man was out for blood, that was clear for all to see, and Catelyn worried that a fight would break out if the lord did not get his way. The man's face was red, and there were several other lords who were also agreeing with him.
This hastily called war council was happening not an hour after Robb had held court. Ser Cleos Frey had already been escorted back to his cell and was eating the meal he had been given while Ser Robin Ryger was gathering the men he would need to bring the peace demands to King's Landing.
Though, it seemed that they were going to continue with the war effort until they heard back from Cersei Lannister. The next campaign seemed even more dangerous than the last one, and the news that her uncle Brynden had brought with him did not help it. In fact, it may have even emboldened the lords to attack.
"Aye, and with the news that the Blackfish has brought, we have ever the more reason to do so." One of the many Freys said. The man had a weasel looking face and Catelyn couldn't for the life of her remember the man's name.
Robb was standing at the head of the table with his crown back on his head. He had been readjusting it a minute ago and Catelyn knew that it still felt uncomfortable for him. It was a foreign weight and something that he'd never thought of wearing, until news of Ned's death had reached them that is.
"Only three of the scouts even returned alive. How can we know that what they say is true?" Lord Jason Mallister said. The man had been delayed from returning to Seagard with the call to assemble the war council. Ser Patrek, the man's son, was also among them and had his arms crossed over his chest.
"Those scouts made it out by the skin of their teeth and reported that there was another host being gathered at Casterly Rock. That's an easy target that we can take." Another Frey said.
"They say that its Ser Stafford Lannister who is the one that commands it. He's an old man, and a bit of a dullard. That means that we can take him unawares and smash that Lannister army before it even knows what's what." Lord Karstark said.
That statement was met by a few affirmatives from the gathered lords and knights. Catelyn noted that a few of the other river lords that still remained at Riverrun were among those who agreed. Some of the Northmen were also in agreement, as the victory at the Whispering Wood was still hot on their minds.
"The scouts are not certain that it is Ser Stafford that leads this new host. Only two of them say that it is, but the third said that he spotted a different banner. The Kingslayer's." Uncle Brynden said.
The lords and knights took in the news as anyone would when word of the Kingslayer was brought up. They stopped and listened and focused all their attention to the matter. Jokes and jesting were stopped and lords and knights who were growing bored with the meeting came to attention again.
Everyone present knew of Ser Jason Lannister, for how could they not? The man was known as the Kingslayer from Dorne to the Wall. He had killed Aerys Targaryen the Second of His Name by separating the man's head from his shoulders. He had fought and beaten his own brother, Jaime Lannister, a knight of the Kingsguard, to get at Aerys. He had butchered some of his father's own bannermen when he learned about the killing of the Targaryen children, and the rape of Princess Elia.
They knew him from the Greyjoy Rebellion, where Jason Lannister fought with distinction. To hear tell of the tale, the man himself was in Lannisport when the Iron Born attacked, and he was able to rally a defense that saved part of the Lannister fleet. He had been able to stop the Iron Born from burning down Lannisport.
When King Robert called the banners and assaulted the Iron Islands, Jason Lannister was the first one off the ship and onto Iron Born soil. Catelyn had heard enough tales from the men who had returned from the failed Greyjoy rebellion to know that the man known as the Kingslayer was fearsome in battle, and a capable commander.
So far, he had remained at Casterly Rock, participating in no battles, but if these reports were true… the lion was stirring from his sleep.
The Kingslayer was not to be disregarded so easily.
Catelyn looked over the assembled lords and knights and noticed that the easy smile was gone from Theon Greyjoy's face. The man seemed to always be laughing at some unknown jest, but he was not here. Any mention of the Kingslayer must have brought up bad memories for him.
"The Kingslayer hasn't come out from the Rock for the entirety of the war, but that may change with this news. We have Jaime Lannister as a prisoner here at Riverrun and if I were a betting man, I would bet that Jason Lannister will most likely be coming to free his brother." Uncle Brynden said.
"The scouts reported that the host he was gathering was a fresh one. Green boys all." A Frey said.
"They'll be easy to crush if they're all greener than grass!" The Greatjon said in his booming voice. Robb's most vocal supporter was a capable warrior and Ned had often said that the Greatjon was a reliable man.
"I've met Ser Jason in the past." Lord Mallister said. "During the Greyjoy Rebellion. That man raised and trained a host faster than I've ever seen. Those boys were as green as they came and by the time King Robert had assembled his host at Lannisport, they were ready to fight."
"I have heard my tales and rumors of Ser Jason Lannister. I know that many in the Seven Kingdoms fear him. But we have an opportunity to hurt Tywin Lannister right now. The road to the west is open." Robb said.
Everyone looked towards their king and Catelyn realized just how young he was. A boy of fifteen years and he was already the veteran of two battles. He had seen too much death for her liking and now he was speaking of going into the West to cause more.
"It may not be as open as you think my king." Uncle Brynden said. "Those scouts barely made it back, and there were twenty of them to go in. They say that they were hunted by men on horse that were wearing the Kingslayer's personal sigil."
"Men of the Lion Guard were hunting them down?" Theon Greyjoy asked.
"Aye, that is what they say. The Roaring Lion in gold on a checkered red and silver field. I know my men; they would not lie, and their eyes would not deceive them. It would be hard to miss, even from a distance."
"That changes-"
"Nothing! It changes nothing. The Kingslayer's host is still gathering, and we have an opportunity to attack into the Westerlands. To hurt the Lannisters where it matters most." Lord Karstark said.
"Robb-" Catelyn tried to speak but she was cut off.
"Tywin Lannister has been ravaging the Riverlands. I say that we do the same to the Westerlands." One of the Freys said.
"Aye, by the gods I'm agreeing with a Frey, but aye. The Lannisters need to pay for the destruction they've done." A knight wearing the red stallion of Bracken said.
"How many men did those scouts report seeing? How large is the Kingslayer's host?" Robb asked as he looked at the map.
Wooden figurines of lions represented the Lannister hosts, with a Tully knight placing a new one right next to Casterly Rock. There was one at Harrenhal to represent Tywin Lannister's host. Another one was sitting on King's Landing, though there wasn't really a host in the city, but it was Lannister controlled and reports had it that a Lannister force was seen riding towards it.
Wooden direwolves represented the Northern hosts, with one sitting at Riverrun and others sitting at Moat Cailin and the Twins. Roose Bolton's host was scattered and in the process of regrouping, so another wooden direwolf was placed on the causeway to Moat Cailin.
"Several thousand at the least." Uncle Brynden said. "And there are also the men of the Lion Guard. Last I remember, there were three thousand of them, with half of them being knights and the other half being experienced men-at-arms. Near all of them would be veterans of the Greyjoy Rebellion."
"So, we have a Lannister host of unknown strength gathering at Casterly Rock. They are either commanded by Ser Stafford or the Kingslayer, which they are two very different commanders, and the rest of the Westerlands is open to us." Robb said.
"Open aye, but the only road into the Westerlands is here." Edmure said and pointed at the map. "The Golden Tooth guards the road, and we would have to take the castle if we were to continue our attack into the West."
"That's the seat of House Lefford. The Kingslayer's married to a Lefford is he not?" A rather fat looking Frey knight said.
"Aye, Alysanne Lefford, the only child of Lord Leo Lefford. She's the heir to the Golden Tooth and that would mean a large number of Lannister men are most likely at the castle." Uncle Brynden said.
Several of the lords and knights shook their heads at that. The Golden Tooth was directly on the road that led into the Westerlands. Even Catelyn knew that they had to take it in order to pursue a campaign further into the Westerlands. Without it, there was the threat of being cut off from the Riverlands.
"Uncle Brynden, ready your scouts and send them towards the Golden Tooth." Robb said as he looked at the Blackfish. "There must be another way into the Westerlands that does not go through the Golden Tooth. Find it while the rest of the army prepares to march."
"Aye, Your Grace." Uncle Brynden said and moved to leave the room.
"The Golden Tooth may be a small castle, but it sits on a rather steep hill. Any attack would cost us dearly in terms of men." Lord Mallister said.
"Which is why we will endeavor to go around it." Robb said. "We'll bypass the Golden Tooth and fall on the Lannister host gathering at Casterly Rock and make the Battle in the Whispering Woods look like child's play."
"Aye! Winter is Coming!" The Greatjon boomed.
Catelyn watched as more and more of the lords and knights took up the chant, even Lord Karstark looked happy about it, and she couldn't help but worry. Robb was smiling and looking confident among the lords and knights of the North and the Riverlands. They were all acting like this was going to be an easy thing to do, bypassing the Golden Tooth and attacking into the heart of the Westerlands.
That attacking a host gathering at Casterly Rock was an easy task.
That Jason Lannister would just sit by and let this happen.
He wouldn't, Catelyn knew.
The Raging Lion was not someone to be underestimated.