Devyn knew that it was impossible to take Riverrun with Edmure, but he still hung Edmure up and beat him every day to vent his dissatisfaction with being deceived by Robb.
"How long will the food in the city last?" Robb asked the person next to him, looking at his uncle Edmure who was wailing from the gallows outside the city.
"Your Majesty, it will be enough for three months." replied the northern vassal Leige.
Robb breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the report. Fortunately, his mother Catelyn was busy storing food after learning that Walder might murder them, otherwise they would have been surrounded and killed in Riverrun by the coalition forces of the Freys and Lannisters.
"Have the sluice gates and trenches been checked?" Robb continued.
"It has been checked."
There are several thousand defenders in Riverrun, and the Frey and Lannister coalition may not be able to capture Riverrun even if they put all their troops into it.
The only way they could break into the city was to cross the river or sneak in through the water gate through the water-filled trench and attack from both inside and outside.
"Your Majesty, according to our observation, the Lannister army does not seem to intend to attack today, but has changed its commander. Someone recognized that the new commander is Tywin's brother Kevan." Lager reported.
"Kevan! Didn't he return to Casterly Rock because he was sick? Could it be that his illness has recovered?" Kevan is much more difficult to deal with than the previous generals.
Robb observed the movements of the army outside the city for a while before walking down the city wall.
He didn't know how long he could hold on to Riverrun. Even if he could hold on for three months, would he starve to death after three months? After
losing his wife Talisa at the Red Wedding, Robb was depressed for a long time before slowly recovering. He didn't know how long he, the king who was pushed to the position of the North, could hold on.
Walking silently into the council hall, the lively discussions between the king and his ministers were no longer there. Robb only saw his mother Catelyn sitting in the corner, wondering what she was thinking.
When she heard the hall door being pushed open, Catelyn turned to look at Robb who had just entered.
"Robb, who do you think will deliver the letter to us before the wedding?" Catelyn looked up and asked her son.
They had guessed the identity of the messenger countless times, but had never gotten a definite answer. They thought the messenger would contact them again after the Red Wedding, but they never received any news from him.
Their vassals and allies have either deserted them or are plotting to murder them, and it seems the only people they can trust now are the ones who once sent them letters.
Highgarden and Lannister are married, and Dorne is also married to Lannister. Neither of these two families is possible. They can't think of any other nobles who are capable of knowing Walder's plan and willing to save them.
The only person in King's Landing who had some connection with them was Petyr Littlefinger. Catelyn thought of her childhood playmate again, but she only thought of Petyr and did not think that he had the ability to obtain such secret information and help them.
Ever since the death of her husband Eddard, she no longer trusted Petyr, who had loved her since childhood.
"We must send people out to ask for help from the North or Aunt Lysa in the Eyrie. Only they can save us."
Robb didn't want to speculate about the person who sent the letter and saved them, so he could only wait for the other party to contact him again.
Now he could only pray for help from the northern vassal or his aunt Lysa who had abandoned him because of his sense of justice.
"Even if the Karstarks are willing to come, they may not be able to help us with their numbers. As for your aunt Lysa, she only has eyes for her teenage son who is still eating bees." Thinking of her sister who had changed so much, Catelyn did not have much hope for her.
"We have no other choice now. If they are willing to come, I would rather apologize!" Robb no longer has the high spirits he had when he first became king.
He had heard his mother Catelyn mention his aunt Lysa, but he didn't expect that she would not send anyone to rescue them when they were trapped.
He did not ask his mother about this again, as he believed that his mother's judgment about his aunt was correct.
Seeing her son's depressed expression, Catelyn did not feel despair. She was able to escape safely from the wedding. She had secretly thanked the messenger and the protection of the Seven Gods countless times.
Even after so many days had passed, she would still see her son Robb dying tragically in front of her in her dreams, and she would feel grateful after waking up from the nightmare.
Even though Riverrun has been besieged by the army for more than ten days, she is not worried. The Tully family has stood in the riverlands for thousands of years, and this is not the first time that Riverrun has been besieged, but they have always escaped danger.
They were able to escape from the deadly situation at the Red Wedding, and she believed that she would one day see her children again.
...
In the northwest of the Wall, Bran traveled thousands of miles and finally came to a cave under a huge fish beam tree.
Bran and the others were still frightened when they saw the skeleton soldiers who kept hitting the magic barrier at the entrance of the cave being destroyed into scattered bones.
Fortunately, with the help of two direwolves and humans who came out of the cave, they were able to escape into the cave. Jojen also died at the hands of the skeleton soldiers in order to protect Bran.
"Who are you?" Bran, who was held by Hodor, asked, looking at the strange human in front of him.
The person standing in front of him was short, with dark chestnut skin and hair the same color as his skin, tied into thin braids that looked like small snakes coiled on his head.
The clothes on his body were made of tree roots and bark. Some of the roots had sunk deeply into the flesh and seemed to be integrated with the body.
"I am a child of the forest. You can call me Leaf. The Three-Eyed Raven has been waiting for you for a long time. Follow me." After saying this, Leaf, the child of the forest, crawled into the passage formed by the tangled tree roots. With his huge body, Hodor could only walk in the passage by bending over.
Jojen's sister Meera, the wildling Osha, Rickon, and two direwolves followed behind Hodor.
After turning two corners in the cave, the leaf brought Bran to an empty space still filled with weirwood roots.
The roots of the tree on the cave wall extended upwards, and in the middle of the roots was a white-haired old man who had merged into the tree.
The old man looked emaciated, with no trace of a human body below his chest, and even branches had grown out of his arms.
Everyone looked at the scene in front of them in horror, wondering how there could be such a strange human being in the world and how he had survived until now.
"You're here at last, Brandon Stark." The old man spoke slowly, his tone full of weakness.
"Are you the Three-Eyed Raven, the one who brought me here?" Bran asked the old man, crouching on the wet ground.
"You may call me that, or you may call me Brynden Rivers," the old man replied.
"Why did you bring me here?" Ever since Bran fell from the top of the tower, he has been having strange dreams about a three-eyed raven.