Chapter 37
CATELYN TULLY
Three days had passed since Renly's armies had surrounded the Kingslanding. Three days since she had chosen to forsake her husband's words and put her trust in the Baratheon brother with nearly a hundred thousand Summer knights at her back.
It was treachery, what she had done. Treason to her vows as a wife, yet in the end she did not have the heart to raise her banners for the bastard who had raped her daughter.
Three times, Eddard had written to her asking when the armies would be ready to strike, and three times she had lied to him about their preparation. But now infront of her lay the greatest of lies she had told him until now.
A lie that would almost make Lannister defeat certain.
Her hands shook as she held the paper, as the weight of her decision lay heavy on her shoulders. There was still time. The men were ready. They could still make it to the capital in time.
There was a knock on the door, as Catelyn's head spun sharply towards the wooden door.
"Come in," she ordered, as she wiped away the tears from her eyes, and slowly the door was pushed open as her uncle walked into her room, with his usual grim expression.
"What brings you here, uncle?" she asked, and turned towards her.
"The letter," he answered somberly, and he was not very happy with the choice she had made. And it was her choice. Hers and no one else's.
"It is ready," she said as she rose up and passed him the letter. She saw him skim over it, and though he would not voice it out, she knew that he disapproved of their plot nonetheless.
"I know that you dislike it all," she whispered weakly, and he raised a brow.
"I will not lie to you, but this trickery does not sit well with me," and she was not so different as well.
"I do not like it as well," and her fists balled up in frustration at that.
"But I am not strong enough to force my men to draw their blades against people who would harm my daughter," and she cursed the Lannister Queen and her bastard children with every waking breath.
She cursed them all.
"Aye," and his face contorted with rage.
"It is the only reason I decided to go along with this treacherous plot of yours," and she shook at that word, and her uncle did not miss it.
"I love you, my dear, but I will not lie to you. This is treachery. This is treason," and she knew that well enough.
"I know," but tonight would be the last of it.
"Ned may forgive you for it, but his lords won't. They will know of this treachery by tomorrow, and when they do, they will not be much kind to you," and she was ready to face their wrath, as long as she had avenged her daughter's misery.
She would happily forfeit her life as long as it meant that her daughters would be safe.
"Many of them grow nervous as we speak," and she bit her lip as she looked up to face the Blackfish.
"I know, but this all will end tonight," and this was the grand plan.
"The gates will open today, and by tomorrow morning, Renly Baratheon will have conquered Kingslanding, and my daughters and my husband will both be safer for it," and then she would happily face the consequences of her decision.
"Family. Duty. Honor," she repeated her house words to him.
"Family first. Always," she added, and Brynden Tully nodded.
"Aye, family first," and it was perhaps the only reason he had agreed to the plan in the first place.
"Still, the war won't be over with that. Even without that Lannister bastard, there is still another claimant to the throne," and one who had a far better claim than Renly.
"Stannis," she whispered, and it pained her to see brother turn against brother, but in the end, there was little that he could do.
"You said so yourself, Stannis does not have the men," and her uncle nodded as he walked towards the window, and outside, one could see the combined armies of the North and the Riverlands readying themselves for a battle they would never draw their blades for.
"Aye, but he is the older brother," and by all the laws, the throne was meant to be his, if the Spider's words about the true parentage of Cersei's children were true.
"The throne is his by right," he added.
"Yet he has nothing to offer me," she defended her decision as she walked up to him.
"I simply want this entire thing to be over as quickly as possible so that I can go back home with my daughters," and sending them to the capital had been a mistake.
She knew well about the dangers of court, and yet she had not done anything to prepare them for it. It was her fault, and Sansa had been the one to suffer for her mistakes.
It was why it fell on her to save her by any means necessary.
"One can only hope so," and she knew that well.
"I heard some concerning words from the Kingslanding earlier today," and she felt her heart stop at those words, as her head snapped towards him.
"What?" she asked.
"There are reports that an army is gathering at Duskendale," and that was a town just North of the capital.
"Duskendale," she whispered, and the castle had a rather muddied history, and the last House to rule it had been slaughtered by the Mad King after that wretched defiance, and to think that Aerys's reign could have come to an end years ago.
He had been a fine King until then. Many believed that it was his captivity and the humiliation that truly made him mad, and that the man who was rescued from the Darklyns was not the same one who had been captured.
"The town had declared for Stannis right?" she questioned, and her uncle nodded.
"Aye, that is what intrigues me the most," and he turned slightly to face her.
"It makes no sense for an army to gather there," and he was right.
"Do you think Stannis intends to make common cause with his brother," and her uncle scoffed.
"I know Stannis well. The man would rather die than make common cause with Renly," and even with his army, Renly was having trouble getting through the city walls, while Stannis's armies were much smaller.
"Do you think he will join the Lannisters?" she questioned sharply, and her uncle shook his head.
"No. Never," then what.
"Then why does he gather an army there at all?" she wondered, and her uncle gave a shrug.
"I do not know, and that is what makes me nervous. It does not make sense for Stannis to leave Dragonstone," and yet he had.
"We have not received a missive from Dragonstone in some time as well," she added, and her uncle nodded.
"Aye, and that is not even the worst of it," and she sighed at those words.
"There are reports that Tywin Lannister is riding towards Kingslanding as we speak. They say he tried to push his way through the blockade on the Gold Road, but was repelled," and that was concerning as well, for if the Old Lion was able to push through.
"The capital. It needs to fall tonight," her uncle added.
"For if it does not, I fear Renly Baratheon would have run out of time," for the blockade would not hold out for much longer, and sooner or later Tywin Lannister would be able to force his way through and once he was past that, the capital would just be half a day's ride away for his armies at full tilt.
"Send the letter then," she whispered with a heavy heart.
"Let us make sure that the gates are opened for Renly Baratheon tonight."
.
.
.
.
And so the letter was sent, and the Sun began to set as Catelyn found herself kneeling infront of the Gods in prayer. She did not seek forgiveness from them, for she knew that she did not deserve it. She only prayed for victory.
Renly Baratheon's victory.
By now, the gates would have been pushed open, and the armies would be clashing. Despite their troubles, the capital was said to have assembled a respectable host of some twenty to twenty-five thousand men.
With the men from the Riverlands and the North joining in, it would have been an easy victory for the Lannisters, and yet she would never have had the men draw their blades for the people who had harmed her daughter.
Never.
But they could not be told the truth. So, Catelyn had lied to them. A simple lie, and she would happily bear the consequences for it later. But for now, she could only pray, and as she knelt there, suddenly the doors behind her swung open, and her heart skipped a beat.
"We have been betrayed," and her heart sank as she heard her brother's voice.
"What?" she turned to face him, and saw that his face was pale with worry.
"What happened?" she asked.
"The truth. Somehow, the men learned the truth about your treachery," and her eyes widened at that.
"Half of the men are gone. The Boltons and the Freys have taken their men and are riding to Kingslanding as we speak," and this was the worst possible outcome.
"You have to stop them," for she had given Renly Baratheon her word.
"There is chaos out there," her brother shouted, and she rose up from the ground, and her legs trembled from kneeling for hours.
"We had to close the gates just to protect ourselves," and she could not think at all.
"I told you. We should have told everyone the truth," and she was quick to retort.
"You would have me announce my daughter's shame for all of the realm to hear," she roared back.
"No! Sansa has suffered enough as it is," and Edmure was not convinced.
"And now what! The men will tear us apart unless we tell them the truth," and she shook her head.
"You cannot do that," she implored, but her brother had already made his mind.
"There is no other way," he roared back, as he walked out of the sept, and as she followed after him, she saw her uncle walking towards them.
"You have to stop him," she called to him.
"He intends on telling the Lords the truth about Sansa," and only afterward did she notice the somber expression on Blackfish's face.
"I am afraid they will learn it all soon enough," he whispered as he held out a missive for her, and she slowly reached for it.
"What happened?" Edmure asked, as her uncle's face shifted.
"The war is over," and she could hardly believe him, as she asked the most important question.
"Who," she asked, as silence hung in the air, and her uncle's face was answer enough.
"No," her heart sank, as Edmure paled as he realized the truth.
"But how?" her brother asked.
"The army at Duskendale. It was not Stannis'," Brynden Tully replied as he took out a missive and offered it to her.
"Lannisters?" she realized, but the castle had declared for Stannis.
"What of Stannis then?" her brother asked quickly, searching for any hope.
"He is dead," her uncle answered, as he finished in a whisper devoid of all hope.
"Just like Renly. Both of them slain by the blade of Steffon Baratheon...."
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