The Lannister army, which should have been driven along like lambs, suddenly changed direction and broke out upon reaching Deepwood Motte, throwing into disarray the plan Robb had tailored specifically for them.
Robb did not know why the western flank—originally assigned to Roose Bolton—had fallen, but that no longer mattered. Since the pocket had already been torn open, the only thing that mattered now was damage control.
There was no point in dwelling on the failure of the plan.
And since things had already come to this, the only option was to seize the remaining opportunity and, at the fastest possible speed, bite down on this army again and swallow it whole.
Abandoning the original plan of dividing his forces into several echelons to pursue the Lannister host, Robb reacted swiftly and directly issued the order for a full advance.
In the Wolfswood, horns rang out across the Northern host, carrying the command of Robb Stark, supreme commander of the Northern army.
Those troops that had been resting in staggered groups behind Robb surged forward all at once.
On the eastern side, the two hundred or so cavalry who could maneuver along the narrow forest paths near Deepwood Motte withdrew rapidly from the battlefield, allowing the forces of House Karstark behind them to move up and launch the attack.
Yet even though Robb reacted quickly and acted decisively, under the Lannisters' sudden, desperate breakout the battlefield was inevitably thrown into chaos.
The already disordered snow-covered forest grew even more chaotic.
In the Wolfswood, uneven layers of snow, towering oaks, and tangled blackthorn thickets all became obstacles that hindered movement.
Thus, no matter how fast Robb responded, by the time he noticed the problem, issued the orders, and saw them carried out, the Lannister troops who had already successfully broken through the encirclement—after leaving behind a small portion at the rear who had no time to turn back and follow—still managed, in the end, to escape in large numbers.
As for those they had been forced to abandon, a glance showed there were no fewer than a thousand men left behind.
Seeing this, Robb turned his gaze toward the remainder of the Lannister army that had managed to get away.
"Lady Maege Mormont, Lord Galbart Glover, and Ser Helman Tallhart, you will remain here with Lord Rickard Karstark and the others. Secure these remnants, disarm them, and take them prisoner. If possible, detain them on the spot—do not allow them to escape and become roaming bands."
"I must continue the pursuit of Tywin Lannister and his men now. We cannot let them get away."
"As for you, once you have finished dealing with these people, it will not be too late to catch up afterward."
With just a few glances, Robb analyzed the situation at hand and immediately decided to leave a large portion of his forces behind to deal with the current circumstances, while he himself led a smaller contingent to continue the pursuit.
On the battlefield, in the original three-pronged encirclement, the men of House Karstark were responsible for sealing the eastern side, while the western side was assigned to House Bolton.
As for the smaller houses—such as Bear Island, Deepwood Motte, and Torrhen's Square—which were not as large as the former two, Robb kept them by his side. At the same time, they constituted the core strength of this Northern host.
In the original plan, Robb intended to drive the Lannister army northward in this pocket formation the entire way.
The opening left on one side was deliberately reserved for the Lannisters to flee through; Robb planned to use this method to wear them down.
At the same time, this was also the tactic most favorable to their current situation.
It required less effort while also minimizing losses to the greatest extent possible.
The initial intention was to drive the Lannister army out of the Wolfswood at dawn, forcing them to withdraw in the direction of Deepwood Motte.
Then, at that location, they would first strike the Lannister forces with a momentum-driven blow, take a vicious bite out of them, and then let them escape again—continuing the pursuit and continuing the attrition.
The final battlefield would be the northern coast centered on Deepwood Motte, where there happened to be a peninsula.
As long as Tywin and his army could be driven and encircled all the way to that position, then in that bitterly cold land, the Lannister forces would have no route of escape left to them.
When that time came, they would not need to do anything else—only patiently watch and wait, waiting until Tywin was trapped on that peninsula and driven to complete despair. At that point, they would have won this war.
It could be said that if this plan were carried out smoothly, their victory would come with hardly any effort at all.
At the same time, for the Northern army, the losses would not be too great.
Possibly the only true battle in the entire plan would be this unavoidable engagement at Deepwood Motte—the most crucial battle along the whole route.
What no one had expected was that Tywin Lannister seemed to have seen through their intentions, and that he would actually dare to attempt a desperate breakout under such circumstances—forcing his army through the encirclement even at the cost of severe damage, rather than continuing north through the opening deliberately left for him.
It was not that Robb had failed to anticipate such an outcome.
Otherwise, he would not have entrusted the key positions on the left and right flanks to Roose Bolton and Rickard Karstark for defense.
Even so, because the eastern direction was more critical, he had also reinforced the Karstark line with a contingent of his own Stark troops, ensuring that even if Tywin Lannister truly fought without regard for his life, they could still force him back and directly complete a three-sided encirclement.
A total annihilation.
Thus, according to the original plan, even if Tywin Lannister saw through this overt stratagem, the forces of House Bolton together with those of House Karstark would still be enough to stop him.
With the main force personally held in reserve by Robb himself, even if Tywin attempted to fight head-on, he would have no chance of victory—only the outcome of falling into the pocket and being swallowed in a single bite.
For Tywin, the grand spectacle Robb had prepared for him was a perfect game of chess, one in which his defeat was decided from the moment he revealed himself.
Yet what no one expected was that an accident still occurred.
A flawless tactic developed a flaw where none should have existed—the normally steady Roose Bolton's side unexpectedly gave way.
Robb no longer had the time to determine whether Tywin, in that fleeting instant, had perceived this weakness and attacked the Bolton flank against all expectations, causing it to collapse, or whether something else had truly gone wrong.
All he could do now was terminate the plan and launch a full assault, lest greater trouble arise later.
On Rickard Karstark's side, his troops were still leading the encirclement and suppression of the forces left behind, putting down those rebels who were still attempting to resist.
As for Roose Bolton's side, after letting the enemy slip through his defensive line, it seemed that in an effort to make amends for his mistake, he was now closely tailing the remaining Lannister forces as they withdrew.
Because of the men the Lannisters had cut loose and abandoned, Robb did not have many options left to choose from.
Hearing Robb's orders, and seeing the Lannister host already fleeing westward ahead of them, Maege Mormont and the others understood the gravity of the situation.
"Robb, you must be careful. Focus on the pursuit—just keep biting at them. Do not act rashly and throw yourself at them all at once."
"Even if Tywin Lannister and his men are too exhausted to keep running, do not attack recklessly. Wait until we can return with reinforcements. It will not be too late then to strike in one decisive blow and take them down."
"We have time and patience. There is no need to rush."
Lady Maege Mormont spoke earnestly, cautioning the young man before her not to act impulsively.
Robb, of course, understood this well—this had been his intention from the start.
"I know."
He nodded in acknowledgment, exchanged a few brief signals with the guards at his side, and then called over the more than two hundred Stark cavalry who had already withdrawn from the battlefield.
At once, the group spurred their horses and rode along the forest paths, chasing after the Lannister remnants who had already vanished from sight.
Watching Robb depart, Lady Maege Mormont and the others exchanged glances, then could only sigh and hurry forward to get to work.
They, too, had to deal with matters here as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if reinforcements arrived too late, further complications would arise.
…
"Father, the Starks have already chased Tywin Lannister like a dog into the Wolfswood. Are we not going to make our move now?"
Beside Balon Greyjoy stood a woman with a slender build and long legs, short black hair, roughened skin, and a pink scar across her neck. She gazed toward the forest ahead.
Her powerful hands casually tossed a dagger into the air and caught it again as she spoke.
"You seem very impatient?"
In response to Asha Greyjoy's question, King Balon was unconcerned, leisurely continuing to savor the plate of pan-seared venison before him.
He swallowed the still-bloody meat he had been chewing and spoke without even lifting his head.
In response to Balon's remark, Asha merely shrugged. "Of course not. I'm just a little worried that we might miss the show."
Hearing this, Balon paused his movements and let out a cold chuckle.
He set down the dagger he had been using to cut the meat, picked up a piece of burlap cloth nearby to wipe the juices from his hands, and then wiped his mouth.
"Whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with me."
Balon's voice was icy, laced with mockery.
As he spoke, he picked up a folded letter from the table, opened it to glance at it briefly, then tossed it aside.
"If he hadn't agreed to this matter of mine, do you think I would have stayed in this damned place for so long?"
At Balon's words, Asha's gaze flickered.
After hesitating for a moment, she still spoke up. "I heard that this time Theon wasn't brought along by Robb. He stayed behind at Winterfell…"
"Whether he lives or dies also has nothing to do with me!"
The name had barely left her mouth when Balon reacted as if provoked, slamming his palm—along with the letter in his hand—down onto the table.
"A coward. The ironborn blood in him was long ago softened by Eddard Stark, turned into the blood of a wolf pup."
"No—he's not even fit to be called a wolf pup. He doesn't even dare set foot on the battlefield!"
"I am not his father. Eddard Stark is his father—a coward just as weak as he was!"
Asha heard this and said nothing further. Her gaze lingered only on the letter lying on the table.
She then turned her head away, letting out a silent sigh in her heart.
But that sigh passed in an instant. The very next moment, her eyes sharpened.
"There's movement in that direction. Tywin Lannister must have realized we weren't behind Deepwood Motte and decided to come this way instead."
"It seems he really is a clever man."
…
In the snow-covered forest, Tywin and Kevan were both forcing their way through the woods on foot.
They had already been fleeing for two hours. Their bodies were long since exhausted, yet they did not dare to stop.
Even with the Northern forces trailing them at neither too great nor too small a distance, relentlessly biting at their heels, Tywin and the others did not dare to pause for even a moment.
They were gasping for breath, the icy air stabbing painfully into their lungs.
Even so, all they could do was pull the scarves from around their necks up over their mouths and noses, continuing to trudge forward through the snow beneath their feet.
"W-will… will they be ahead of us?"
After running for so long, Kevan swallowed hard. Looking at the dense forest ahead that seemed to show no change at all, he could not help but ask.
Hearing this, Tywin slowed his pace, finally bracing himself against a large tree and coming to a halt.
He hurried to take advantage of the moment to draw a few breaths, then turned his head to look back.
"They will. They must be ahead… this is precisely why they came here."
Seeing that Tywin remained confident, Kevan nodded and did not dwell further on the question.
He then stopped as well and turned to look back.
"Roose Bolton… was it deliberate?"
Thinking of the earlier breakout, Kevan could not help but ask.
Their escape, it could be said, had been remarkably easy.
It had even been easy to a degree that felt almost unbelievable.
After all, given their morale and combat strength at the time, if Roose Bolton had truly intended it, he could have sealed them in there without difficulty. How could they possibly have broken out so "smoothly" and with such ease?
Moreover, even now as they fled, the pursuit behind them was neither tight nor urgent—almost as if it were… deliberate.
"Hmph. Of course. Everything he's done is nothing more than an act, a performance meant to raise his price."
"It's simply that the final raven you released earlier took effect. From the moment Robb Stark knew nothing of the Greyjoy matter, that fact had already been established."
Hearing Tywin say this, Kevan could not help but recall the last raven they had released when they decided to leave the Northern mountains where they had been hiding, resolved to use themselves as bait and make a final all-or-nothing gamble.
That raven had not been meant for just anyone. It was one of the few means of contact Roose Bolton had given them after reaching an agreement with Davon Lannister.
It could be said that releasing that raven meant placing all their chips onto the gambling table.
They had handed over their final chance—indeed, even their own lives—into the hands of this so-called "ally," whose true allegiance remained unknown even now.
But judging by the situation at hand, they had won their bet.
At the very least, where certain interests were concerned, they had once again reached a tacit cooperation with that leech of a lord.
Just as the two men were speaking during this brief moment of rest, suddenly, a sharp cry rang out in the sky.
Then, in the very next instant, from the dense forest in the distance came wave after wave of roars and shouted cries.
It was as if countless men were closing in to attack from all directions at once.
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