The Freys

Much like he and many of his Lords had expected, his mother's attempted negotiation with the Late Lord Frey had ended in failure. Walder Frey had amassed a host of four thousand men, bringing troops from its vassals of Houses Charlton, Erenford and Haigh to the Twins making the castle a virtual stronghold. It was also the only way to cross the Green Fork without going down south along the Kingsroad.

Which was a path they wanted to avoid considering Tywin Lannister was camped there with a host of twenty thousand men.

Robb had hoped to get to the Riverlands before Tywin Lannister managed to firmly entrench himself at the Ruby Ford, but it seems that hope had been dashed. Now he was stuck trying to make a decision between marching south, east along the Green Fork to engage Tywin Lannister, they had equal numbers. But that meant victory would be decided by a difference in commanders and Robb wasn't so sure on his chances in outmanoeuvring Tywin on the battlefield.

He certainly didn't want to risk his campaign ending before it even began.

His next option was to cross the Green Fork at the Twins and free Riverrun which was being besieged by Jamie Lannister with a host of fifteen thousand. The Kingslayer had taken some loses unlike his father as he had already fought two battles. The first in the Battle near the Golden Tooth where he engaged a two thousand strong host led by Lord Vance and Lord Clement Piper, the former dying in the conflict.

He had only taken moderate loses and had then gone on to face his uncle, Lord Edmure Tully and Lord Tytos Blackwood in the Battle near Riverrun. Again, he suffered loses, but managed to break the host of four thousand before going on to besiege Riverrun, where he was still now.

With his uncle, Edmure captured the remainder of the Riverland forces had scattered and were apparently under the command of Lord Jason Mallister of Seagard harrying their forces while Tytos Blackwood bunkered down in Riverrun.

With all this, Walder Frey had seen an opportunity and had pounced on it like the parasite he was. He demanded that Robb marry one of his daughters when there was peace while his sister, Arya must marry his youngest son, Elmar. In addition, he demanded that two of his sons, Little Walder and Big Walder be fostered at Winterfell while one of his other sons, Olyvar squire for him.

The demands were long and ridiculous, many of his Lords had been outraged much like himself.

"What are you going to do, Robb?" His mother asked.

"Did Lord Frey say that he would not open his gates unless we agreed to his demands?" He asked in turn and his mother hesitated for a moment.

She then nodded her head with a frown on her face, an action he mirrored as he looked around at his Lords, studying the way they reacted to this news. All looked displeased and disgusted by this, which meant that what he would say next would make more than few happy.

"I see no reason to agree to his ridiculous demands, the North do not treat with Oathbreakers." There was a few concurrences from the surrounding Lords, even if they all looked confused as to what he planned to do next.

"Do you mean to march south and engage Lord Tywin?" Lord Cerwyn asked. Some looked hesitant at the thought of engaging the Old Lion so soon, while others looked excited.

"Nay, my lords." He indicated to the map. "We shall split our host into two. One host shall comprise of all our foot soldiers, and one tenth of our cavalry. It shall be under the command of Lord…Roose Bolton." He spoke after a moments consideration.

Robb didn't trust the man, but there was no denying his intelligence. No, if his plan was to work then as much as he didn't want to, he'd have to trust Roose Bolton to keep Tywin Lannister distracted.

"I myself shall lead the second host comprised of the remainder of our cavalry, where we shall march south and free Riverrun."

"Wouldn't that mean crossing the Twins?" One Lord asked and Robb let a smirk cross his features once he saw Howland Reed enter, the man having being absent from the meeting this evening and he gave Robb a nod.

"It does, and thanks to the efforts of Lord Reed, we have all the bargaining power we need to make the Frey's accept our demands." Many of the lords looked to Howland Reed as the man opened the flaps of the tent, allowing two of his men to drag an aged figure into the tent, dumping the figure unceremoniously onto the ground at the feet of the northern lords.

"My lords, let me introduce you to, Lord Walder Frey of the Twins."