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Inside Riverrun, Tytos saw Lord Hoster carried out of the ruined keep and immediately let out a breath he had been holding.
"Take Lord Hoster to Lord Brynden's room in the secondary keep," he ordered at once. "Have the maester stay with him. Everyone else, keep digging. Move the grain and coin out as quickly as possible."
The main keep had sagged inward after the blast. Stones still cracked and slipped from time to time, and dust hung over the ruins like a gray veil. Men moved through it with cloth wrapped over their mouths, calling names, dragging out the living, and carrying away the dead.
Before long, a messenger hurried up the wall.
"My lord, the Westerlands army has begun to move."
Tytos turned sharply. "Where?"
"Part of them are withdrawing. The rest are digging pits along the western river road."
Tytos stared out from the battlements. Beyond the river, the Lannister camp had not collapsed into panic after the failed assault. Instead, it had become quieter and more dangerous, like a beast lowering itself before another spring.
"Tywin Lannister," Tytos muttered. "You still have another trap."
By the next morning, Robb Stark's army appeared on the river road.
Thirteen thousand northern soldiers advanced in ordered ranks, their banners snapping in the morning wind. The direwolf of House Stark flew over the column, and Bloodwind walked at its front with Robb on his back, white mist curling from the beast's jaws.
A scout rode back from ahead and dropped to one knee.
"Your Grace, Ser Marq Piper is coming toward us with roughly one thousand Riverlands recruits. They say they escaped Riverrun. Westerlands cavalry pursued them for a time, then stopped."
Robb looked toward the road ahead. His expression did not change.
"Stopped?" Gendry asked quietly beside him.
"Yes," Robb said. "Marq abandoned his lord, escaped with a thousand recruits, and somehow Tywin's cavalry decided not to chase him down. Lord Tywin still thinks I am young enough to swallow bait whole."
He turned to Smalljon Umber.
"Disarm them. Do it cleanly. Then invite Ser Marq here politely."
"Aye, Your Grace."
Gendry leaned closer. "Should I have Patrek brought over?"
"Yes. Hide him first."
Not long afterward, Marq Piper was brought before Robb. His armor was dusty, his face pale, and the exhaustion in his eyes looked almost convincing.
"Your Grace!" Marq bowed deeply. "Riverrun is in danger. Lord Tywin is attacking the castle. The north wall was blown open. Lord Edmure and Lord Brynden have both been captured because Patrek Mallister betrayed us. I escaped only to warn you."
Robb listened quietly until the end.
"That was well done," he said.
Marq froze.
"If I did not already know what sort of man you had become, I might have believed you." Robb's voice cooled. "Patrek."
The hidden guards stepped aside. Patrek Mallister strode out, eyes red with fury. He lunged at once, but Gendry caught him from behind and held him fast.
"Marq!" Patrek snarled. "You traitor!"
The blood drained from Marq's face.
Robb did not let the scene stretch. "I will not kill you yet, Ser Marq. You still have one use."
He ordered a parchment brought over, wrote quickly, and handed it to Marq.
"Take this to Lord Tywin. Tell him I will exchange every Westerlands noble prisoner in my hands for Lord Brynden Tully, Lord Edmure Tully, and poor Lord Lymond Lydden's head."
Marq stared at the parchment, then looked up despite himself.
"Every Westerlands noble prisoner? Your Grace, even if you took the Golden Tooth, how many noble prisoners could you possibly have?"
Robb smiled faintly. "The Golden Tooth. Deep Den. Crakehall. Cornfield. And more, before long."
Marq's face twitched.
Bloodwind lowered his head. A gust of cold mist washed over Marq's face, and the young lordling nearly staggered back.
"Go," Robb said. "And remember what you saw."
Marq returned to the Westerlands camp before noon.
Tywin Lannister read Robb's letter in silence. By the time he finished, the parchment had crumpled slightly in his hand.
"He wants an exchange?" Kevan asked.
"He wants to show the Riverlands that he keeps faith," Tywin said. "He also wants me to bring Edmure and Brynden out where his soldiers can see them."
"Should we kill Piper?"
"No." Tywin's eyes were cold. "A fish that has already swallowed the hook can still be used as bait."
The next morning, the two armies formed outside Riverrun.
Six thousand northern and Riverlands soldiers stood beneath Robb's banners. Across from them, Tywin had drawn up fifteen thousand men, their lines stretching across the river road. Kevan rode among the Westerlands front, while Marq Piper stood with a group of Riverlands recruits who had surrendered and been forced back into formation.
"How many men does Robb have?" Kevan asked him.
"About six thousand in front of us," Marq answered quickly. "His remaining cavalry are behind him."
On Riverrun's walls, Tytos watched the exchange begin. He saw the hidden preparations in the Lannister lines and understood at once.
"He is not exchanging prisoners," Tytos whispered. "He is building a killing ground."
His deputy looked at him. "My lord?"
"Open the west gate courtyard. Every man who can hold a weapon gathers there. If Robb Stark steps into that trap, we charge."
On the field, Patrek Mallister escorted Lady Alysanne Lefford, her son, and the captured Stormlander nobles forward. From the Lannister side, Marq brought Edmure Tully, Brynden Tully, and a sealed wooden box.
Orla Estermont glanced toward Robb when the two parties crossed. Robb gave her the smallest nod, then looked away.
The exchange went smoothly.
Patrek stopped in front of Marq before turning back.
"I will find you myself," he said.
Marq forced a smile and did not answer.
Then Tywin made his move.
Five thousand surrendered Riverlands soldiers were pushed forward under Marq's banner, spreading across the space between the two armies like a wavering wall of men.
At the same moment, Riverrun's west gate dropped.
Tytos led the defenders out with every soldier he could gather.
"There is a trap!" he shouted. "There is a trap!"
The cry tore across the field.
Robb heard it. So did every man around him.
He did not retreat.
Bloodwind lowered his body and burst forward with a howl, carrying Robb straight toward the waiting Riverlands line. The direwolf's paws struck the earth like thunder. In the Lannister rear, Tywin raised one hand.
"Loose."
Fire arrows rose.
They fell among the shallow pits and hidden wooden conduits along the road.
Green flame erupted.
For one breath, the world became wildfire.
A vast green plume of flame and smoke climbed into the sky. The blast swallowed the road, the recruits, the pits, and the great white direwolf at the center of it all. Heat rolled outward in a wall. Men screamed and threw up their arms. Horses reared. Even the Lannister line wavered.
Tywin Lannister laughed.
Then something white appeared inside the green fire.
It began as a shard of ice, then widened, spreading through the flame in a perfect ring. Frost crawled across the wildfire. A circular passage opened inside the blaze, cold and clear as a tunnel cut through winter itself.
An ice spear shot out first.
It struck Marq Piper's horse and sent the animal crashing to the ground.
Bloodwind emerged from the fire.
Ice scales covered the giant direwolf from head to tail. Robb stood atop him in armor of pale ice, his eyes shining with cold light, a new spear forming in his hand.
The green flames roared behind them.
Then the truth of Bloodwind's first blood pact skill appeared before him.
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