The King of Winters

Chapter 90

Her father had looked at him unhappily. "There is no other way. It's either that or going around the town which will take more than enough time. I cannot waste anymore time. I need to take Stoney Sept if we are to march up north to link up with Ned's boy and Jon."

"But my lord the dragon?" That had been a surprise to her. No one had said a word to her of dragons in Stoney Sept.

"I cannot sit here at this godsforsaken place waiting for something to happen. The Dornish are loose on our back. Should they decide to attack whilst we sit here idle, there would be much more bloodshed."

"Take the Gold Road to the West," Ser Philip argued. "Join our strength with Lord Tywin's. We can break Prince Aegon with ease then or take the River Road straight for Riverrun."

Robert Baratheon shook his head stubbornly. "We are not going to go traveling around another kingdom, that's it. If Tywin Lannister was coming to aid us, we would have heard by now."

"We should wait for them. Or we should make turn."

"Our blood do not run cold at the talk of battle, Ser," Lord Bryce Caron said. "We storm lords embrace it."

"Aye." A dozen voices shouted, banging their hands on the tables. "We don't run away from a fight."

"They will be expecting us in Stoney Sept," Foote said. "Them and the dragon."

"Let them be," her father had said then, putting an end to all the curses and shouts and complaints. "I will show them how far their readiness can get them."

And so they took leave of the Gold Road and marched through the grass plains and farms to Stoney Sept. They had come there expecting a fight, but the town was largely deserted by the time they came there. The townsfolk had told them that Aegon Targaryen had left the town days earlier leaving only a token force to hold the town. And those men had fled when they saw her father's men coming down from the south. The townsfolk gladly opened their gates to them and Stoney Sept had fallen into their hands without any bloodshed. Lord Robert did not linger there for long. They left the town the very same day.

Fate drove her further north again and again, Ella thought as she sipped the astringent tea. Her journey wouldn't end there at Riverrun as well. She would have to turn north once again as soon as the wedding is done and it wouldn't end until she reached the frozen lands of the North and Winterfell.

She found her mother breaking her fast with Joffrey nearby her lavish pavilion. "We ought to reach the lower Red Fork today, my lady," Ser Philip was telling her mother as she sat down on the table. "King Andrew will not be far, if the talk be true." He eyed her with muddy brown eyes and turned away as quick as he had gazed her.

King Andrew. The man who was to become her husband. What should I tell him when I see him? That he was handsome and she was so honoured to marry him and be his queen? She did not relish this meeting. He would not get those sweet lies from her, nor would he get a blushing bride clad in a gown. As a friend she might have enjoyed the prospect of meeting the famed Born King who has come back from the dead.

"Ella, darling, we might come upon Riverrun soon," her mother said turning to her. "You might have to throw away these rags and change into a proper gown."

Joffrey snickered. "Aye, wouldn't want your husband to know that we are giving him a horsegirl."

"Shut up, Joff, before I give your wife a toothless man for husband."

"Laugh while you still can, sweet sister," her brother said. "I won't have to hear your laughter anymore once you are shipped off to that frozen wasteland you husband calls as his home. I heard that Andrew Stark is as frozen as those lands he rules. It wouldn't be long before your mouth freezes shut as well."