CHAPTER 16

The next day, Lord Stark, Ser Geremy were talking alone as Ivy was taken by holding her hands with his four older children and Theon on a tour of Winterfell. Lord Stark asked, concerned, "Jorah, are you sure she can do this for Ser Geremy?"

Jorah said looking him straight in the eyes, "If Ivy says she can do something, you can believe that she can. I have stopped doubting anything about her. She is an incredible woman and a greenseer among many things."

Geremy asked curiously, "Where and when did you meet her?"

Jorah said smiling, "Ivy found me in Pentos as a sellsword. She takes very good care of everyone who works for her. She's beautiful, intelligent, generous, kind and the most capable person I've ever known. I learn something new all the time about her."

Ned said smiling, "Ivy certainly has a way about her. My children seem fascinated by her and the shadowcat."

Jorah smiled and said, "You will see. It surfaces from time to time. She will suddenly do something impressive or extraordinary that will catch your attention."

A servant came running into the room out of breath. He shouted, "Lord Stark! We need the maester! Your son! In the kennels!"

Ned shouted, scared to death, "Get the maester in his rooms!" The servant ran off. Ned, Geremy and Jorah ran off to the kennels.

Upon arriving, he saw Roose Bolton shouting at his bastard son, "Why would you do such a thing, boy!"

Ramsay shouted back, "He said I was a vicious and cruel bastard! So I let go of my hounds! That fucking black haired bitch killed my hounds, both of them!" They continued shouting at each other.

Ned ran to where his children were gathered around Ivy as she was stopping the bleeding of Robb, who was in pain crying from a vicious hound bite through the artery in his upper arm. Arya stood back with Nicodemus on his leash as she petted him nervously crying.

Ivy said with authority demanding, "I need something to tie off his arm and something to use for pressure on the wound or he will bleed to death!" Sansa with fear and tears in her eyes gave her a ribbon from her hair quickly. Jon took off his shirt immediately and handed it to her, putting his coat back on. She gave the ribbon to Ned as he came up and knelt beside her. She had him tie the ribbon tight but not too tight above the wound showing him how and where. Ivy then rolled the shirt and twisted the sleeves over the wound to stop the bleeding temporarily closing the wound with pressure. The maester came and was watching what she had done and was fascinated by her doing that.

She said seriously, "He can be moved now as long as I keep holding this."

Ned picked up Robb and said, "It will be ok, my boy." Robb was sobbing in pain. She didn't know if he was trying to convince the boy or himself that it would be ok. Arya had Nicodemus' leash and followed.

They all went to the Maester's Tower which was close by. Ned and Ivy took him up the stairs to a treatment room with a cot in it and laid him down on it. Maester Luwin was preparing things.

Ivy said, "Lord Stark, hold this exactly how I have it, no more no less." Ned took hold of the twisted shirt.

She walked over to the maester and asked softly, "How good are you at sewing very tiny stitches?"

Maester Luwin turned and looked at her and said, "Not as good as I used to be, but fair."

She said very seriously, "If you can get me enough light, I am very good and fast. You have to pinch off the artery in his arm with the ribbon, make sure it is tight and not crushed, but we can't delay long or he will lose the arm from lack of circulation." The maester nodded and got his finest two needles, rum and thread with clean cloth. He gathered as many candles and lanterns as he could, while Ivy threaded, soaked the needles and thread in the rum. Ivy put the supplies by Ned sitting it on the small table next to him. She poured another bowl of rum to clean the wound after with clean cloths and cut bandage rolls. She started rolling up her sleeves and washing her hands with lye soap, cleaning under her short nails and forearms with rum after.

Jorah came into the room, walked up to Ivy and asked concerned, "What are you about to do, Ivy?"

Ivy said seriously, "I'm going to try and save the boy's arm by sewing quick tiny stitches inside his arm to stop the blood and then the outside." Maester Luwin was lining up the tables with several candles and knocked out Robb by giving him a dose of milk of poppy, putting him to sleep. She was ready.

Maester Luwin took over for Ned and. She had the needles ready and Luwin tightened the ribbon and took off the twisted shirt quickly. Ivy opened the wound and saw the jagged tear, she used rum on the area, cleaned it fast and started sewing quickly in tiny little stitches delicately. It was luckily doing well as Luwin kept blotting the blood with a rum soaked cloth as she went so she could see the tear. Catelyn came in frantic and Ned made her quiet down.

Catelyn asked surprised gawking at the woman Ivy, "Why is she the one treating our boy and not Maester Luwin?"

Ned said seriously, "Because she is fast and can sew tinier inside his arm than Maester Luwin. She also treated him so he wouldn't bleed to death when he was attacked by Ramsay's hounds in the kennel. We had to both move him together as she kept the pressure on him to stop bleeding." Catelyn couldn't believe this woman was so skilled from out of nowhere and here at the moment they desperately needed her most. It was like the gods sent her at the right time into their lives. She remembered she said she would help Ser Geremy's wife after the feast.

Ivy said to Luwin, "It isn't leaking anymore."

Luwin blotted, looked and said, "I think you got it."

Ivy said seriously, "Let the ribbon loose and then we will know for sure." Maester Luwin undid the ribbon and the artery didn't bleed. She took a sanitized knife and was cutting off the jagged skin from around the big tear. She was cleaning it out thoroughly inside and inside a few puncture holes on his bicep. She took the second needle and started sewing up stitches in the skin, closing the large wound then tied it off. Ivy took a cloth that was soaking in rum in the second bowl and wiped up the blood on the arm well.

Maester Luwin said kindly, "Too bad you're not a man, you would have been an excellent maester."

She smiled at him and said, "Thank you, you're very kind to say that. I left the puncture wounds to heal from the inside out." Luwin got off his knees and patted her on the shoulder. She went to wash her hands again with the soap.

Ivy came back drying her hands and forearms and said to Catelyn and Ned, "I will turn him over to Maester Luwin's competent care, gracious patience and trust in me. In the next few days he will watch for fevers, signs of infection, inflammation and tomorrow when he wakes you will know he is alright if he can feel and wiggle his fingers in that arm." Maester Luwin was grinning from ear to ear in awe of this woman he never met. He was standing behind her nodding his head looking amazed at her.

Luwin said looking at the Starks, "She did absolutely amazing work. He has the best chance of keeping his arm." Ivy turned and shook his hand smiling at him.

Ivy said smiling, "Thank you, Maester Luwin." Luwin patted her arm.

She asked permission from Ned and Catelyn, "If it's ok with you, can I come see him first thing in the morning to make sure he is ok?"

Catelyn said crying and grabbed her hugging the stuffing out of her, "Of course you can. Gods bless you for helping save my son."

Ivy smiled, hugging her back kindly and said while patting Catelyn's back, "Everything will be fine now, Lady Stark. I was there and we got to him in time to save his life."

She let go of Catelyn and said, "Now for the truth in what happened, because I was there watching how it all began. Lord Bolton came into the stables and his son had his two hounds on chains. The children were showing me the kennels at that time. The hounds would not calm down and were snapping, growling and trying to get at all your children, myself and Nicodemus. Nicodemus was hissing and growling wanting to attack but I ordered him to stay back. Lord Bolton's son, started antagonizing your children because he was letting out the leash to allow them so close that Sansa fell down because she was the closest when their paws swiped at her. Robb got angry, moved in front of her and grabbed Sansa who screamed in fear. Jon pulled her back away from the hounds as she was crying. Theon was behind Robb shouting, 'Stop it!' Lord Bolton's son was cruelly laughing at it all. Robb shouted, 'You're nothing but a vicious and cruel bastard!' Lord Bolton's son let go of the chains completely and the hounds charged forward. I took my dagger and killed the first immediately going after Sansa and the second, bit Robb on his arm before I could kill it too as Theon was prying on the jaws to let go. My shadowcat was screeching and growling but I ordered him to back off again. The rest you know Lord Stark." Lord Stark hugged her and said thank you. They left the room after Ivy said goodbye to Maester Luwin. Catelyn stayed sitting next to Robb.

Ned charged over to the Guest House as Jorah and Ivy followed him. They stayed outside the room as Ned went into the room leaving the door open in case there would be an altercation. Ivy glanced in the room but wasn't seen.

Bolton was standing there with a red aura around him and she noticed his bastard son had a red aura also earlier.

Ned said angrily, "What are you going to do about this Roose?! Where is your son now?! My son could lose his arm because of this!"

Roose said casually, "I don't know where he went. He was mad and ran off."

Ned was enraged at his incompetent parenting and shouted, "Why aren't you out tracking him down or at least looking for him?!"

Roose said nonchalantly, "He will come back when he calms down and gets hungry."

Ned said galled, "I don't think so! Not good enough! You will take your men and find that boy before sunrise! If you don't, I will have my men and hounds find him! Do you understand!? If my son loses his arm, I will take his arm in fair trade! If he doesn't I want him punished and sent home escorted never to come here again! Am I clear?!"

Roose said angrily, "What about the killing of my son's two hounds. He said that dark haired bitch killed them both!"

Ned said, narrowing his eyes at him, "Maybe if you would have overseen their training better, it wouldn't have had to happen to save my children's lives from being torn apart! Instead you let your little bastard do whatever he wants threatening to destroy others lives!" He turned and marched out of the room as Jorah and Ivy caught up to him.

Ned stopped aggrieved huffing and puffing in anger. He said very upset, "Can you believe him acting like it was no big deal?!"

Ivy said stoically, "That is a desensitized cruel man raising a very vicious bastard son. People like that try to justify themselves and their behavior by blaming everyone but themselves in order to keep doing it."

Ned said, glancing at her, "I'm afraid you're exactly right. I'm going to go sit with Catelyn and my son for a while. Good night to both of you."

Jorah wished Ned's son well and Ivy smiled at him and said, "We'll see you in the morning, my lord." Ned went to the Maester's Tower. Jorah and Ivy went to their rooms in the Guest House after she collected Nicodemus from Arya. She settled in her room and she sat in front of a blazing fire petting Nicodemus who had fallen asleep with his head on her lap. The flames were calling to her…..

'She was looking through other eyes in the dark forest at night. Ivy was sniffing the air and could smell everything because her senses were so strong. It was incredible. She was trotting through the leaves following wolves in a pack. They had the scent and were tracking down something in the distance. She followed them looking at everything around her so clearly in the dark. They started to run, so did she, staying with them.

There was a person up ahead running and screaming from the wolf pack. As she got near, she saw who it was, Lord Bolton's son, pinned against a tree. The wolves were circling the boy as he screamed and was throwing things at them while she watched it all. Ivy had a flash of a vision of the boy releasing his hounds on three little girls no more than fourteen or sixteen name days old. They were torn apart after he raped them. He watched and laughed taunting the girls as they died. The vision flash had ended. The wolves were jumping forward, scaring the boy. Suddenly, they lunged forward and all started tearing him apart as he screamed.

In the distance, she heard shouting as the screaming died. She barked in warning to the pack as the sound of men came closer. The pack turned and fled as she ran with them scattering into the woods. She stopped to watch at a distance.

Lord Roose Bolton screamed out, "Ramsay! Oh no! You stupid boy!" He went down on his knees in front of the carnage. The pack tore him apart but good. Ivy cast a spell on Lord Bolton through the wolf for him to have a heart attack in his sleep tonight. She had a vision of another son of his not so cruel to take over lordship. She turned and ran off deeper into the woods as she warged out of the wolf back to herself.'

Ivy inhaled deeply and started blinking rapidly, waking out of it. She undressed and went to bed with Nicodemus laying next to her under the covers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Ivy, Nicodemus and Jorah went to see how Robb was doing. They walked in the room because it was open. Nicodemus walked up to the bed and sniffed Robb's arm. She saw Robb was awake and had his parents and siblings around him.

Ivy smiled and asked, "Is everything ok?" Everyone turned and looked at her smiling.

Lord Stark said smiling at her, "Everything is fine, Ivy. We were telling Robb what happened last night after he was asleep." She walked up to Robb and sat on the side of the bed next to him.

She asked him gently, "How does your arm feel?"

Robb said looking in her eyes, "It hurts if I try to move it."

Ivy asked, poking her fingernails into the tips of his fingers testing each one, "Tell me if you can feel my touch on each finger." Robb said he could on all five fingers.

She took his hand in hers and said, "Can you squeeze my hand?" Robb did wincing.

She said smiling, "You're going to be fine, Robb. Your arm is sore because the muscles are inflamed, swollen from the bite and the tear. You need to move your hand, elbow and shoulder a little bit everyday even if it hurts a bit. Just a little but not a lot until it's all healed. It will keep the joints flexible so you can exercise it later when it is all healed to get back your strength."

Lady Catelyn asked curiously astounded, "How do you know these things? It's so very unusual." Ivy knew many things from her experiences, but she knew so much more from the information from The Children Of The Forest since her visit and books she had read. She thought what the Children Of The Forest gave her was all going to be about plants and medicinal information. She learned about the anatomy of men and animals and how to do more extensive repairs and surgeries cleanly.

Ivy said smiling, "Like I said I have seen and met people from all over for years. I just learned it from watching, reading, asking questions and sometimes being shown how to do it."

Catelyn said seriously, "I am glad you were here to know what to do."

Robb said looking in her eyes, "They told me that you saved my life and fixed my arm like Maester Luwin would but you did more." She smiled and nodded.

Robb said sincerely, "Thank you." She reached out and patted his cheek gently.

Ivy said softly, "You're very welcome, Robb." Maester Luwin walked in with a tray of food and his bag on his shoulder.

The maester said cheerfully, "Ok, I brought him something to break his fast, something for inflammation and infection."

Lord Stark said to everyone, "Come on, we will all go break our fast." Everyone went to the Great Hall to eat.