Chapter 10

RENLY BARATHEON POV

He looked at his brother sitting at the end of the table in confusion.

16 years and his brother has only ever sat in the Small Council meeting 3 times.

This would the 4th time his brother grace the Small Council with his presence. And he had no idea why that was.

"News from the North Varys." His brother said, starting the small council meeting without any fanfare.

"Your grace." The Eunuch got up from his chair and bowed "Ever since the meeting held by Lord Stark in Castle Black, he had ordered all his vassals to start gathering food and weapons. He has also ordered them to start training their levies. News has arrived that Lord Stark has also ordered Moat Cailin to be repaired."

"Mhmm… Your grace…" Grand Maester Pycelle spoke in his old gravelly voice "Lord Stark mmm… he seems to be preparing for war. Once Moat Cailin has been constructed… hmmm… the North will be unassailable. No Southern army ever crossed that Fort."

He held the urge to roll his eyes at Pycelle's insinuation that Lord Stark was planning to rebel against the Iron Throne. Against the man who considered him a brother.

Pigs will fly out of his ass before the honorable Lord Eddard Stark even thinks about doing such a thing.

With that said, the news about the preparation of war and the construction of Moat Cailin did worried him, if only a little bit.

His brother paid no mind to the Grand Maester "And what of the letters. Are they legitimate."

This time it was the Hand, Lord Jon Arryn who spoke "Indeed your grace. After two rounds of sending ravens back and forth, we've finally concluded that the letter was indeed from Lord Stark."

Letter? He looked around the room to notice that Petyr was sitting calmly in his seat as he was the Grandmaester.

His brother Stannis was once again absent from the meeting, doing god knows what.

Which meant that he was the only one in the small meeting right now who didn't know about the letter from Lord Stark.

He wondered what it said.

"Then it's settled. We're going to the North as soon as possible." His brother said and his eyes widened.

What kind of letter did his brother receive from the North that he was willing to go all the way to Winterfell for it.

"Is that… wise your grace?" Pycelle asked and his brother didn't even deign to reply to the old fossil.

"Any other news from the North Varys." he asked. Anything to help understand the situation could be crucial to him.

He wanted to know what Lord Stark was doing and why.

"There are indeed… rumors that my little birds sang to me about." Varys said with some hesitance. Huh! He wondered what would cause the spy master to hesitate.

"Go on." Lord Jon Arryn said.

"Rumor is… that when Lord Bolton came back from his expedition this time. There were no giants or wargs with him. But an undead instead. The brothers of the Night's Watch all claim that it was a wight. But… the Wall is the furthest from Kings Landing. News from there is few and far between. Nothing is confirmed for now."

"Wights." Petyr Baelish snorted "The next thing you know, Lord Bolton will be bringing us Grumpkins and Snarks as well."

"He did brought the Giants and the wargs. Even the Children of the forest, some people claim." He said "At this point, I would not be surprised if Lord Bolton truly succeeded in brining back the Grumpkins and Snarks from beyond the Wall as well."

Lord Baelish snorted in derision but didn't said anything more.

"The rumors about Lord Stark's brother, Benjen Stark's death have also been confirmed." Varys said "Galbart Glover and Jojen Reed, the heirs of both house Glover and Reed are also said to have perished in this expedition. There are also claims that of the 4000 men who went North this time, only 3,300 returned while the others died in a battle with some Wildling bands North of the Wall."

"Are we sure that it was not lord Bolton himself who kill Benjen Stark." Petyr Baelish asked "For all we know, Lord Bolton did the deed himself to lower the number of Starks out there. He does seem to be quite ambitious after all."

"Since Robb Stark and Jon Snow are said to have gone with Benjen Stark across the Wall and since they didn't cast any blame on Lord Bolton, I think we can be sure that Lord Bolton had no hand in this matter." Varys said and he frowned.

Varys and Petyr usually always spoke against Lord Bolton whenever the topic about him sprang forth. They both seemed to have some sort of grudge against the boy lord. But it seems like Varys was trying to help Lord Bolton here.

Suspicious.

He wondered what kind of web the spider was spinning this time.

"Will you be taking the Queen and your children with you to your journey North your grace?" Lord Jon Arryn asked.

His brother shook his head "No. This is a military matter. Women and children have no reason to come."

"Some lords would say that 16 years is old enough for a boy to be considered a man." He said with a smile "You sure you don't want to take your son with you. Some time away from behind his mother's skirts will do good for him."

His brother didn't look amused at the mention of his fairly useless son.

"Jon will sit in the blasted iron chair in my absence." His brother said as he stood up from his chair "Begin the preparations. I want to leave for Winterfell in a fortnight."