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There's something about this chapter I'm not too happy about (perhaps it's because this is just build-up to something bigger, little details affecting the outcomes). But don't despair, Daenerys will be present next chapter.
Chapter 8 : Allies
Fear was something that he could not help feeling. It wasn't that he was cowering. In fact, he felt bigger because the fear vanished when he thought about his family – as he had been taught, he would give anything for them, including his life.
But men like Greatjon kept thinking of him as a boy. A boy who was leading thousands of men to war, to face an enemy superior than him by far, both in experience and resources. But Tywin Lannister didn't have his heart.
Robb twined his fingers in Grey Wind's fur, petting the direwolf that kept growing at great speed, bigger and scarier every day. Many thought that the wolf was like the owner but Robb couldn't see it yet.
Before this, strategies and maps seemed like fun games to play – it was different when the ones fighting were real people, men with families waiting for them.
Nothing could have ever prepared him for war, not even if he had been taught how to ride a horse, how to hold a sword and shoot an arrow. Planning attacks and studying the enemy was difficult but he had learned quickly and, as it usually happened with him, he exceled. Of all his siblings, he had always been the one giving his parents less trouble, making them proud and he hoped that wouldn't change.
Listening to stories about largest armies being defeated by the old Kings in the North didn't help because even if he knew the north like the back of his hand, he didn't want the Lannister's army in his territory.
It was only when his mother showed up in the camp that he truly felt like a child. He wanted nothing more than to hug her just like when he was a little boy but he refrained himself from doing so.
There was something in her eyes when she looked at him. He didn't know if to read it as surprise or relief.
She was the one who wrapped her arms around him when they were finally alone, all the lords agreeing with her wishes of privacy for their first meeting in a very long time.
"I remember the day you came into this world, red-faced and squalling. And now I find you leading a host to war," she said and soon he understood that in her eyes, he would always be her child but he was no longer the same boy.
Even as she spoke, telling him that he didn't need to fight this war, she knew there was no chance he wouldn't have. His father had done the same at that age. And she had lived through a war but that didn't make it easier.
"I won't go back to Winterfell," he stated firmly.
"You left her there, alone?" It was obvious who was her. And his mother couldn't help the distaste laced to her voice as she said it.
It wasn't a secret for him that his mother hadn't approved of his father's idea of marrying him to Daenerys. He couldn't say he was euphoric about his marriage either but much had happened since and now he missed her – he longed for her at night, to feel her soft and warm skin against his, to smell her sweet perfume and wake up to her violet eyes.
"She's safer there. We are safer for as long as we can keep her a secret. Otherwise, the Lannisters would have more reason to attack."
"Robb."
"You've been away for too long. There are many things you have missed but right now, there are more pressing matters, Mother." He retrieved the piece of paper that contained Sansa's message, sent days prior. "There was a letter, from Sansa."
"From the Queen, you mean." His mother read the letter in a hurry and soon noticed a detail he had been aware of. "There's no mention of Arya."
"No."
She paused, probably thinking of the worst things that could happen to her daughters and how to get to them as fast as she could. "How many men do you have?"
Eighteen thousand. Many if they had been just numbers but not enough according to what the Lannisters could buy. But what other options did he have? Bend the knee to Joffrey? He would never make it alive out of King's Landing, and his mother agreed. He had to win this war and prove himself.
"And if I lose?" he dared to ask, only to her because he wouldn't let himself look weak in front of others.
Her answer was to remind him of how Tywin Lannister had ordered to butcher Dany's brother's children in their sleep without remorse.
Fury invaded him once again. He would never do something as vile as that – no one could murder defenseless children like that and be honorable. His father had never agreed with those actions because he knew justice wasn't about killing for no reason. Robb would live and fight by the same rules.
"If you lose, your father dies. Your sisters die. We die."
"Well, that makes it simple then."
"I suppose it does."
There was no room for considering defeat. And like that, he forgot about ever doubting himself.
-o-
He despised those two lion figures on the map and wished nothing more than to take them down as soon as possible. For that he would need to cross the river and the only crossing was at The Twins, a bridge controlled by Walder Frey, one of Robb's grandfather's bannermen. Even so, his mother didn't have faith in that ambitious man – the Late Lord Frey.
They were in the middle of discussing which army they would attack first – the Kingslayer's or Tywin Lannister's – when a few men came into the tent dragging a Lannister scout.
Now, he might have been the age of a boy, but he was the only Stark man, and as such he would take decisions.
Twenty thousand men, the scout had counted – two thousand more than the real number.
Ser Rodrik tried to find reasons why Robb could be excused from dealing with the boy in front of them, but as he said, he lived by the rules taught by his father, Lord Eddard Stark. Mercy, honor and courage.
"Let him go."
Everyone in the tent seemed surprised by his words, but he was the one leading the army, not his mother who called his name as if to scold him – one look was enough to let her know he was no child to be raised anymore.
"Tell Lord Tywin winter is coming for him. Twenty thousand northerners marching south to find out if he really does shit gold," Robb whispered for the scout in a cold tone that reminded him of his father's when he administered justice.
"Yes, my Lord." The scout replied more scared than when he had been brought in.
His men took the scout out to release him and it was only then that Greatjon finally let him know what he thought.
"Are you touched, boy? Letting him go?"
"Call me a boy again," Robb challenged him. "Go on." The man might have been older than him, bigger and taller by almost a foot but Robb was hell-bent on proving he was not a child and he was capable of leading an army. He wouldn't let anyone treat him as if he was just the name for them to fight for – he would become a warlord if he had to.
Greatjon Umber just grunted but didn't say a word before leaving.
This was just part of his strategy. They would see.
-o-
Morning came and by then Theon kept shooting down the ravens being sent from The Twins.
They were afraid that ambition drove Walder Frey to sell them to the Lannisters. To avoid any kind of warning, they needed to keep the letters far from their addressees.
Painfully, the pressure was getting to him. The fastest they could cross the river, the better. But they couldn't trust on Walder Frey keeping his oath to Hoster Tully, so they would need to offer something in exchange of the crossing – anything if they wanted to gain time. Unluckily for Robb, that meant he would need to face the man with the risk of being taken prisoner or worse.
That was until his mother offered herself, of course. She would negotiate since Lord Frey knew her and wouldn't dare to hurt her. Robb couldn't refuse because, in who else did he trust more than in his mother?
"My lord," a man hurried to Robb while he crumpled the last message Theon had intercepted. "A message from Dorne." The man handed him a letter and Robb's blue eyes widened as he took it.
It was his mother the first to speak. "Dorne?" Her tone said it all. She was more than baffled about this news. Dorne wasn't a kingdom known for its involvement in matters of the rest of Westeros, since they held little love for them.
"Yes, my lady. And another one from Winterfell."
Robb groaned, knowing quite well who was behind this. The only one who might have written to Dorne's Prince, Doran Martell, was Daenerys. And she was the only one he could reply to, considering Rhaegar had been married to Elia Martell, and therefore he was a man who hated the Lannisters as much as they did.
He grabbed the second note that came from Winterfell, reading it quickly and eagerly. Dany didn't apologize for her behavior – not that she would do it. She explained that so far, things were calm but Bran and Rickon were restless. The current lord of Winterfell was also bored, since he couldn't leave the Great Keep to ride. She had also spent time in the godswood. According to her, Rhaegal missed him and she missed Grey Wind – he had to chuckle at her words to disguise her true feelings.
At the end, she admitted she had written to Doran Martell, to the houses at Crackclaw Point, and to Mathis Rowan and Randyll Tarly in the Reach.
This dragon will breathe fire for a wolf, Dany wrote at the end.
And even if he wanted to be furious at her for not listening, for not keeping her presence in Westeros a secret like they had agreed from the beginning, he missed her. He missed her challenging him, the constant bickering, her kisses and tiny smiles in private, and her courage that sometimes turned her into a temerarious woman.
"It says here that his army is at your service," his mother's voice said, pulling his mind out of daydreams about his wife.
Robb lifted his head to look at her. She had already read Prince Doran's letter but he snatched it from her hands.
"We're not fighting a war so she can become Queen," Lady Catelyn spat in the middle of a surge of anger. "We're fighting for the freedom of your father."
"And the kingdoms. Our people," Robb replied. "We're not alone in this, Mother."
She gave him a look that mixed surprise with disapproval at his outburst. It wasn't long ago when he had felt used by his father when he betrothed him to Daenerys, when he agreed with his mother that the Princess would need constant supervision and that she would never show sympathy for them. And time found him doing the opposite.
"She's helping us."
"Not without a price, Robb." His mother shook her head. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into."
"I don't?" he scoffed and for the first time he felt insolent towards her - or to anyone. "I'm trying to end with an army far larger than mine. I'm trying to free Father, and Arya and Sansa. All while proving to my men and you that I'm not a boy! I don't need you to teach me more about war. I need you to support and trust my decisions."
In the midst of his diatribe, he had clenched his fists, crumpling both letters. He was seething as he rode back to the camp but at the distance he heard Greatjon's powerful voice asking what woman had they been talking about, and his mother answering.
"His wife, Daenerys Targaryen."
The silence that followed was enough to let him know he had kept the secret very well until that day. And if he hadn't had more reasons to fight, now he needed to add the need to ensure his wife's safety because neither the Lannisters nor the Baratheons would like to know about his marriage.
And soon his father could be accused of more crimes and true treason.
-o-
It was hard to ignore the way men looked at him now. Robb knew they were talking about his wife, doubting his reasons were as pure as saving his family and freeing the North since he had taken a Targaryen as his wife.
"I've told them you hate her," Theon offered at which Robb snorted a laugh.
"I don't hate her," he muttered. Far from it, he actually liked her. She was smart but with a sharp tongue, hot-blooded but observant when she could control her temper. She was kind and sweet when she allowed herself to show her true nature.
"You're not doing this for her."
"No." Robb lifted his head. "The only thing this is doing for her is to put her in danger. They will try to kill her as soon as they find out she's my wife, the last Targaryen."
"And worse if they find out about the dragons," Theon offered quietly.
"Dragons?" Lady Catelyn Stark stressed the word with both fear and surprise.
"Mother," Robb said standing up.
"What have you been hiding from me, Robb? What is this about dragons?" She hurried herself inside the tent, not even giving them a hint of her deal with Lord Frey to ensure the crossing through the Twins.
Sighing, Robb shot daggers at his best friend before turning to his mother, looking at her meekly since he had already been so disrespectful to her that day. He felt guilt eating him up from the inside – not once he had raised his voice to her, much less hurt her.
"Dany," he started and saw his mother's eyebrows arching at the affectionate nickname. "She smuggled three dragons with her. She woke some old eggs and… she's raising them."
"Robb."
"Don't. I know her and her dragons. They are to her like Grey Wind is for me." He looked away and heaved a sigh. "And this is not the time to speak about animals the size of lizards. I need to know about the deal you made."
Lady Catelyn nodded, agreeing with him but reluctantly since she felt so out of place – as if she had missed so much of her son's life and Robb knew it was like that. He had grown since she had left but he couldn't help it.
Among the many demands of Lord Frey, his mother started with the reasonable ones, like taking Olyvar, his son, as his squire.
"Arya's hand so she will marry one of his sons when they both come of age." She paused and glanced at her side, where her brother Edmure was standing. "He wanted you to marry one of his daughters once the fighting is over but, since you cannot, your uncle Edmure will marry one of them instead."
"You told him about Dany?" Robb's voice was full of concern, so much he knew he sounded like a scared boy, at which Theon snickered.
"No." Lady Catelyn pursed her lips, clearly uncomfortable with her position in this web of lies and strategies. "But," she stressed, "have no doubt, Robb, that once Walder Frey finds out about who your wife is, he'll demand more."
"You think he'll betray us?" His brow furrowed. Mayhap he was too innocent to know any better but he couldn't conceive that one could fail to an oath.
"I believe he will know he could've gotten a much better deal than two marriages. And he will not be happy about it."