Chapter 34: Chaos

As the straps on his armour were fixed and his horse got settled into the new rhythm, Jaime said a prayer. He was not devout, far from it, but he knew that before a battle one said a prayer to the Warrior, and he needed it. This war they were starting on would be something. Whatever the situation was in King's Landing, there would be a mess to fix.

He just hoped that there weren't any significant casualties in this battle. Given that his army outnumbered the Rivermen who were camped at the other side of the pass, he did not think there would be. He had some 12,000 men-commanders under him included Ser Addam Marbrand, Ser Stafford Lannister, Ser Lyle Crakehall among others-whilst the Rivermen had some three thousand men according scout reports. And these three thousand men were commanded by young men who had been shitting their pants when the Ironborn had rebelled.

"We pray to the Warrior for deliverance that we might carry out our duty today in the grace and the spread of the light."

"Amen."

The prayer said, Jaime urged his horse forward. The animal moved slowly, luxuriously. Like everything that was Lannister, the horse knew its worth and didn't want to ruin anything by simply moving into a gallop because it had to. Jaime took a moment to gather his thoughts.

His father wanted him to defeat this army and then march on Riverrun. Perhaps the view was that once the army here had been defeated Hoster Tully would surrender and they would talk. But Ser Edmure, Hoster's son was not with the army, so that had gone out of the equation.

They got to the pathway where the descent would begin. Jaime said a prayer then urged his horse on. The air hit his helm, the wind snapped at his heels and in it all he felt glorious. This was what he was meant for. This was what his true calling was. Not standing around guarding a fat oaf, or his sister.

The momentum picked up, he drew a spear to throw into the fray to begin things. A horn sounded clearly the enemy had seen them. Jaime smiled and then roared as his horse hit solid ground. He threw the spear. It soared and hit someone with a gurgle. He drew his sword and then the enemy was upon him.

There was a twisting in his gut that told him this was it. This was the moment. His sword sang as it struck its first blow. Some greenboy shat himself as he met his maker. Jaime moved onward. Turning through the chaos and twisting the knife. The enemy turned on him and threw their best, but they weren't good enough.

He shimmied and shifted, taking the enemy down to size. He picked off several of them, some bore the emblems of House Tully, others bore the emblems of Piper and Vance. And a few bore the emblems of House Frey-he wondered at that. But still the fighting continued. His sword sang with blood.

A roar from somewhere else within the hills alerted him to the fact that Ser Lyle had brought the encirclement forward. They were going to crush this enemy slowly and surely. It would be a glorious victory.

A bell tolled somewhere-was there a Sept nearby?- but he pushed that from his thought space and moved onward. Swinging his sword and causing havoc. A few of the soldiers on the enemy side had thrown down their weapons and were retreating. That caused some of his men to cheer, but Jaime's blood was up and he wanted more.

He wanted complete victory.

"Welcome home!" Robb said hugging first Sansa, then Arya, then Bran and finally Jon. Their direwolves all nipped at one another celebrating the reunion of the pack.

Rickon babbled happily and Mother seemed happy. Myrcella smiled at his side.

Robb drank his siblings in. Bran had gotten taller, as had Sansa, and Jon, Jon looked half a man.

"Come, let's get some food into you." He said to his siblings leading them to the Great Hall.

They took their seats at the Great Table and food was brought out. Chicken, bread, and some soup. As they ate, Robb asked. "Tell me, how was King's Landing?"

Mother had told him and Myrcella some of what had happened when she'd gone south and he half expected his siblings to come out with a horror story. What they said though was slightly different.

"It was good." Sansa said. "At first."

"It's big, noisy and smelly." Arya said.

"There were dragon skulls in the Red Keep." Bran added.

Robb blinked and shared a smile with Myrcella before saying. "Let's break this down." He looked at Bran first. "How do you know there are dragon skulls there? I would have thought King Robert had moved everything out?"

"Oh no, he's moved them down into the cells. Arya and I found them when we went exploring." Bran said. "They're huge."

"And some of them actually look as if they could have belonged to things that were once alive." Arya added.

Robb nodded. "Did you see Balerion's skull?" He asked.

"No, but we did see Caraxes skull, and maybe one from a dragon that was alive before the Conquest." Bran said.

Robb whistled; such a skull would be huge.

He looked at Arya then and asked. "And what makes you say that it's noisy and smelly?

"Because it is." Arya said simply. "People are always talking and always doing things. No one ever rests."

"So, not at all like Winterfell?" Myrcella asked teasingly.

Arya snorted and stuck her tongue out.

"Arya!" Mother said reprovingly.

Robb looked at Sansa then and asked. "And what makes you say it was good at first?" He suspected he knew why his sister had said what she had said, but he wanted to hear it from her first.

To her credit, Sansa didn't shy away. "Well, at first everything seemed exciting. I was going to be the Crown Princess; I was going to be living something out of a song. But then things changed." Sansa looked at Myrcella then. "You were right, Myrcella. He did turn and he turned quickly."

Robb looked at his wife then, but she kept her attention on Sansa. "He started berating me when we left Winterfell over small things. And then when we crossed into the Riverlands he started hitting me. Arya and Bran saw it when we were near Darry, and I made them promise not to tell anyone. Joffrey threatened that he'd hurt them if I told anyone. But it just made it worse."

Mother had taken Sansa's hand then as had Myrcella. Robb sat there staring at his sister feeling helpless.

"I told father eventually, after he'd seen the bruises. I couldn't hide it anymore. I told him the truth and then the betrothal between Joffrey and I was broken. And then we returned home."

"You're safe now, sweetling." Mother said holding Sansa tight.

"You won't ever have to go south again if you don't want to." Robb said, eventually finding his voice.

Sansa sniffled.

Jon spoke then. "Father gave me a letter to give to you, Robb." Robb looked at his brother then. "He said it was important I give it to you the moment we got to Winterfell, so, here you go." Jon reached into his pocket and handed Robb a letter. Robb looked at it and saw that it had the King's seal on it.

"Myrcella, I think you should read this as well." Robb said, a sense of foreboding building inside of him. Myrcella moved away from Sansa and looked over his shoulder.

"Let's see what it is." His wife said.

Robb nodded in agreement and opened the paper.

Robb opened the paper and the minute the words were revealed, Myrcella knew what they would say. The handwriting she didn't recognise, but the fact that her father's seal had been on the document told her what she needed to know. This was her father confirming something she'd sometimes suspected.

Neither she or Robb read what was written aloud, instead they took their time to read through it themselves and then they shared a look. This changed everything. The moment they received word that father had died; they would need to act. Otherwise, everything would boil into chaos.

"What does it say?" Lady Catelyn asked.

Myrcella looked at the woman she had come to consider a mother and said. "My father has named me his heir instead of Joffrey."

The words hung in the air, then Sansa asked. "Father had said that this was the case before we left, but I didn't know if he could do that."

"Technically, he can. But it makes things awkward, given that Tommen is there." Myrcella said. "He's disinherited Joffrey and ignored Tommen. Which means either that he does not think Tommen can rule because he is a child, or he does not consider Tommen to be his son."

"But why would he do that?" Lady Catelyn asked. "Tommen is your brother isn't he?"

Myrcella looked at the woman and took a breath. She had often wondered, her Septa had told her once that a husband and wife need not lay together after completing their marital duties-an heir and a spare-and the gap between Joffrey's birth and Tommen's had seemingly indicated that. But then why would Mother risk such a thing getting out, and why would Father allow it? Myrcella didn't know and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"What are you going to do?" was the question that Sansa asked.

She shared a look with Robb who nodded, saying that it was her choice.

"We're going to need to think it through. Obviously, Lord Eddard is still in King's Landing and Father is still alive, so, we're going to need to speak with them both. I can write a letter to Father and get things done that way. I would appreciate it if someone could write to Lord Eddard."

"I will do that." Lady Catelyn said. "I can get it to him without anyone else finding out."

"Does this mean there will be a war?" Bran asked sounding scared.

Myrcella shook her head. "I do not think so. Father would not have done this if he did not think he could avoid something as disastrous as a war. It should happen peacefully, I hope."

"And if it does not?" Bran asked.

"Then we will act accordingly." Robb said taking her hand in his.