Chapter 4: Bran
They left to hunt by dawn. King Robert Baratheon wanted wild boar at the feast tonight before they leave tomorrow for the south, to King's Landing.
Both Prince Joffrey and Ryam rode with their father. His brother Robb had been allowed to join the hunters as well. Uncle Benjen, Jory, Theon Greyjoy, Ser Rodrik, and even the queen's dwarfed little brother, Tyrion Lannister had all ridden out with them.
Bran had been left behind with Jon and the girls and Rickon, not to mention Ryam's bodyguard, Ser Duncan Storm. Jon was angry at him. Jon seemed to be angry at everyone these days. Bran did not know why. He was going with Uncle Ben to the Wall, to join the Night's Watch. That was almost as good as going south with the king. Robb was the one they were leaving behind, not Jon.
Bran was excited about leaving Winterfell and going to King's Landing on a real horse, not just a pony. He remembers the stories Old Nan talked about stories about ghosts, terrible dungeons, and dragon skulls on the walls. He dreams of being a member of the Kingsguard someday and is anxious to meet the greatest living knight, Ser Barristan the Bold. But now Bran is also apprehensive about leaving the only home he has ever known. He will miss all those he is leaving behind, even his pony.
Not being able to stand the goodbyes, Bran goes to the Godswood of Winterfell with his direwolf. Bran still hasn't named his wolf yet; none of the names he tries seeming right. Ultimately, Bran gets tired of trying to teach his wolf to fetch and decides to go climbing. His wolf doesn't want him to go and howls when he climbs up a tree and onto the armory roof.
Bran spends much of his time climbing the roofs of Winterfell. His mother claims that he could climb before he could walk. Since Bran cannot remember learning to climb or learning to walk, he assumes it must be true. His mother is also terrified that one day he might fall and kill himself.
Once Bran kept a promise not to climb for almost a fortnight and was miserable the entire time. Finally, he gave in but confessed his crime the next day. When his father ordered him to the Godswood to cleanse himself, they found him sleeping in the tallest tree in the grove the next morning. His father, angry and laughing, told him that from now on he was free to climb, so long as his mother didn't catch him.
Some have tried to stop him but to no gain. The guards tried to stop him, but they were too slow to catch him which Bran finds it to be amusing. Old Nan once told a story of a boy who climbed too high and was struck by lightning and had his eyes eaten by crows, but Bran likes to feed the crows and they never seem interested in eating his eyes. Maester Luwin made a clay boy and threw it off the wall as an example, but Bran only responded that he is not made of clay, and he never falls.
Bran is climbing toward the Broken Tower, where he likes to feed the crows, when he is startled by voices from the First Keep, the oldest part of the castle.
"I do not like it," said a woman's voice. It was coming from the window of the First Keep. "You should be the Hand. "
"Gods, Old, and New, forbid," a man's voice replied languidly. "It's not an honor I'd want. I'm happy to where I am now."
"Don't you see the danger this puts us in?" the woman said. "Robert loves him like a brother. "
"Robert can barely stomach his brothers," the man replied. "Not that I blame him. Stannis would be enough to give anyone stomachaches. "
"Don't play the fool," she snapped. "Stannis and Renly are one thing, but Eddard Stark is another. Robert will listen to Stark, and he will become a serious problem. I should have insisted that he name you King's Hand, but I thought Stark would have refused him. "
"We ought to count ourselves lucky," the man said. "The king might as easily have named one of his brothers, or even Littlefinger, gods help us. Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I'll sleep more easily by night. "
There is something familiar about these voices. Who were they? Why are they talking about the father? Bran slowly approaches the window, to get a better look, and listen more clearly.
"We need to keep an eye on him carefully," she says.
"The way I kept an eye on Ryam whenever he gets in line with Joffery?" the man said, sounding bored. "Let's not waste any time with words—Come here!"
Bran sat silently next to the window from outside before he peeked into the window.
Inside the room, a man and a woman were wrestling. They were both naked. Bran could not tell who they were. The man's back was to him, and his body screened the woman from view as he pushed her up against a wall.
There were soft, wet sounds. Bran realized they were kissing. He watched, wide-eyed and frightened, his breath tight in his throat. The man had a hand down between her legs, and he must have been hurting her there, because the woman started to moan, low in her throat. "Stop it," she said, "stop it, stop it. Oh, please . . . "
But her voice was low and weak, and she did not push him away. Her hands buried themselves in his hair, his tangled golden hair, and pulled his face down to her breast.
Bran saw her face. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was open, moaning. Her golden hair swung from side to side as her head moved back and forth, but still, he recognized the queen. Cersei Lannister. With her was Jaime Lannister, the Queen's brother and member of the Kingsguard.
It was without warning she screamed. It's not because of what her brother was doing to her. It is because she sees Bran at the window. This startled Bran so much that he lost his balance, which caused him to slip over the edge.
His hand scraped uselessly across the smooth stone, and in his panic, his legs slipped, and suddenly he was failing. There was an instant of vertigo, a sickening lurch as the window flashed past. He shot out a hand, grabbed for the ledge, lost it, and caught it again with his other hand. He swung against the building, hard. The impact took the breath out of him. Bran dangled, one-handed, panting.
Faces appeared in the window above him.
"He saw us," Cersei said shrilly.
"So, he did," Jamie said.
Bran's fingers started to slip. He grabbed the ledge with his other hand. Fingernails dug into unyielding stone. Jamie reached down. "Take my hand," he said. "Before you fall."
Bran seized his arm and held on tight with all his strength. The man yanked him up to the ledge. "What are you doing?" Cersei demanded.
The man ignored her. He was very strong. He stood Bran up on the sill. "How old are you, boy?"
"10," Bran said, shaking with fear.
Jamie looked over at the woman. "The things I do for love," he said with loathing before he gave Bran a shove.