Up on the high dais, the great lords—King Robert Baratheon, Lord Eddard Stark, Lord Walder Frey, Lord Roose Bolton—all turned their attention toward Walder Frey the moment he began to speak.
Seeing every eye upon him, Frey did not dither. In his frail, rasping voice, he began to recount the current state of the Riverlands.
"Tywin Lannister shattered Edmure Tully's army in the battle at the Golden Tooth."
"There's no need to dwell too much on that—an utterly one-sided slaughter is hardly worth embellishing."
As Lord Walder spoke, a mocking smile twisted his face.
"Not many foot soldiers or knights managed to escape that valley alive. But at least they carried word back to Riverrun."
"And that was how we first learned of what happened at the Golden Tooth."
At Frey's brief account, the doubt that had already been stirring in their hearts rose quickly to the surface
Then Lord Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort lifted his cup and asked bluntly, "What was Lord Hoster thinking? Why would he let his son attempt such a foolish thing?!"
"Block the gate of the Golden Tooth, then let themselves be slaughtered from the high ground?!"
At Roose Bolton's blunt challenge, Walder Frey showed no concern at his liege lord's humiliation. Instead, he chuckled twice and acted as if he had not heard a thing, turning instead to give a proper account of the Riverlands' situation.
"But the defeat and the course of that battle were truly beyond expectation."
"Tywin Lannister is no fool. After smashing Edmure's army in one stroke, he did not pause for even a moment. He immediately led the Westerlands host along the now-cleared Kingsroad through the Riverlands, advancing straight on."
"On the way they met no resistance whatsoever, and he brought his host directly beneath the walls of Riverrun."
"And it was precisely because of that defeat that Riverrun, and the lords of the Riverlands as a whole, were caught unprepared."
"They were instantly surrounded by the Westerlands host, pouring down upon them like a flood."
"Then, after encircling Riverrun, Tywin did not launch an assault at once. Instead, he used the captured Edmure Tully and several other lords to threaten Lord Hoster Tully into surrender."
"If I am not mistaken, among the Seven Kingdoms the only castles never taken are Casterly Rock in the Westerlands and Riverrun itself."
As those words fell, all eyes turned toward the speaker, and saw it was Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell.
But to Walder Frey, Eddard's attempt to salvage honor sounded pitiful; he only smiled.
Still, Eddard Stark's words reminded the hall that if Riverrun devoted itself solely to defense, then even for the armies of the Westerlands it would not be a fortress easily taken.
All those seated were men of great renown, and each knew something of Riverrun's strength.
It was said that under normal circumstances, the stores within its walls could sustain both men and horses for as long as two years.
And so, after Eddard Stark's interjection, each man turned back to his own thoughts before their eyes once again returned to old Lord Frey.
Seeing their attention on him once more, Lord Walder Frey lifted his cup toward Eddard in a small gesture.
"Lord Eddard Stark is right. I do not worry for my liege lord—and that is precisely why I can sit here in peace, hosting you all."
The old Frey wasted no time in gilding his own face with praise.
Yet after speaking, he gave his cup a little shake.
"But there are other things I worry about—"
As he spoke, he lifted his hand slightly toward the hall where his many children sat, one eyebrow arching.
"If Lord Hoster Tully loves his children as I do mine… then perhaps this is not news to be met with joy."
At these words, Robert's face grew darker still, silent though he was.
"I believe Lord Hoster Tully would never do so. I trust in his wisdom!" Eddard Stark once again tried to smooth things over.
But clearly the effect was not as he had hoped.
"For now, yes, just as you say," Lord Walder Frey agreed with a sly smile.
This time Robert could no longer hold back. He slammed his palm down on the wooden table, eyes wide as he turned toward his Hand.
"Eddard, I don't want you building your hopes on fantasies. We must be practical!"
"Yes, Your Grace." Faced with the King's rebuke, Lord Eddard could only lower his head, offering no further defense of his wife's father.
Seeing Eddard yield, Robert said no more to him, but turned instead to glare at the treacherous old Frey.
"Then, Lord Walder Frey, don't tell me that old lion Tywin is stupid enough to sit like some chained watchdog, guarding a bone he can never hope to chew!"
For all his roughness, Robert's instincts as a warrior were still sharp.
"Your Majesty is truly wise—your insight leaves this old man nothing but admiration!"
With a single sentence Robert had struck at the heart of the matter, and old Frey wasted no time in showering him with flattery.
He even set down his cup on purpose and clapped his hands lightly.
Were it not for the gout that pinned his legs to the chair, one might have suspected he would leap up to cheer, if only to make his performance more convincing.
Unfortunately, Robert had no taste for his sycophancy.
"Tell me—what has Tywin been doing all this time?"
Robert brusquely cut through Walder Frey's empty compliments, his brow furrowed as he pressed the question.
Faced with that expression—that if he didn't give the King something useful, the King's fury would soon fall on him—Walder Frey had no choice but to awkwardly let his applause die away.
Under the eyes of everyone, he hacked up a wad of phlegm, caught his breath, and finally said, "Your Majesty's suspicions are not wrong."
"Tywin Lannister is no fool. He left only a small part of his host to continue the siege of Riverrun, while the bulk of his forces he's scattered throughout the Riverlands."
"And right now, just across from us here in Seagard, there may well be Lannister scouts watching us!"
As he spoke, Lord Walder Frey stretched out his withered finger, pointing south.
"After all, we all know the only reason Riverrun dares claim it can hold for two full years on its stores is because the castle truly needs no more than two hundred men to guard it!"
"Any more than two hundred inside Riverrun is a burden—nothing but mouths to hasten the depletion of food."
At that point, old Frey paused, as though suddenly recalling something, then looked around at the others and continued slowly.
"Oh—right, I nearly forgot to tell Your Majesty!"
"Because the Riverlands are being ravaged by the Lannisters, each castle's lord has no choice but to turn inward and defend his own."
"So now, our grasp of battlefield reports from the Riverlands is poor at best."
"And the news I've just shared with you—those reports are nearly two weeks old."
At this, the faces of those present grew grave. Each man fell into his own silent thoughts, weighing possible countermeasures.
If the state of the Riverlands was truly as Frey said, then the battlefield ahead was a fog of uncertainty. The most urgent task now was to grasp the situation clearly.
Nearly all at the table were sharp-minded men, and the thought struck them all at once.
It was then that Lord of the Dreadfort, Roose Bolton, spoke again. His eyes swept across those gathered, his voice heavy.
"We must find out what, exactly, Tywin Lannister is up to."
No sooner had he spoken than others, like Howland Reed, hurried to voice their own suggestions in agreement.
"And we must grasp the current state of the battlefield as quickly as possible!"
Once someone broke the ice, proposals began to roll out across the banquet table, one after another.
"We need to halt for a time and rest; if we keep marching in haste, we'll be no better than Edmure Tully!"
"Exactly—and our supply is a problem right now. We have to solve that first!"
"On this push south, because of time, we couldn't carry much in the way of stores. We must take that seriously!"
"Then can we arrange resupply from King's Landing?"
"Just follow the King's Road as far as the Trident."
"In fact, the Blackwater has its advantages by water; we'd only need to ship it into the heart of the Riverlands—no, forget it, that won't work for now!"
"That's not realistic. King's Landing's population is too large; even the city itself depends on outside shipments!"
"Then we can source supplies locally. The Riverlands are richer in produce than our North!"
"That could work—"
"And we must pin down the movements of Tywin Lannister's Westerlands host, or everything we're discussing right now is for nothing!"
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