Chapter 289

A week later

ROBB POV

"Riders from Dreadfort." The guard shouted and the gates of Winterfell swung opened. He and Jon stood at the center of the courtyard along with their four direwolves to welcome their newest guests from Dreadfort.

At this point in time, the Boltons had definitely become the most powerful house so they needed to be shown the appropriate respect but the Starks were still the Wardens of the North so it would be inappropriate if his father came himself to welcome them to the castle.

Which was why he and Jon had been sent as the Welcoming party. Rickon was still to young to understand these things and Bran… he was still in his bed, too depressed about losing his leg.

The exclamations and shocked filled voices were the first thing that informed him that something was not quite right. The fact that his direwolves suddenly became tense and started to growl in a low voice made it sure that something was not right.

That was when Briar entered the courtyard with her trusty Shadowcat walking beside her. Except that Briar was not sitting on a horse.

"By the old gods." He heard Jon mummer beside him as they both stared at the monstrosity that Briar was sitting upon.

"That's… a Basilisk." He said to himself as he remembered all the illustrations that he had seen in the books from the Bolton library.

"The what?" Jon whispered to him.

"Basilisk… They're from Southoryos." He replied.

He had read that the Basilisk were twice as large as an adult lion and ten times a vicious but merely reading about them in a book and seeing them face to face were two different things.

"Robb. Jon." Briar said with the same smirk that they remembered her giving them when they had last visited Dreadfort "How do you like my new Basilisk?"

Midnight growled at Briar whose eyes instantly went to his direwolf and her smirk widened.

"So the little pup has grown his fangs." She smiled and jumped down from the Basilisk which ha a saddle on it's back.

Briar and then walked up both him and Jon in a hug.

In hindsight, he should expected something like this from Briar. But that didn't make it any less comfortable for them.

Him and Jon squirmed under the hug before she released them and went to their direwolves and pulled Midnight and Snowric into a hug before she turned her attention to Ghost and Greywind who whined as she pulled them in a hug as well and ruffled their hair.

Briar's Shadowcat came and sniffed both their adult direwolves as well before rubbing it's fur against theirs.

Well, she had definitely not changed from the last time.

Then Briar looked at them again and this time her expression was serious.

"I heard that the Prince had Sansa's direwolf killed. Is that true?" she asked.

He felt the urge to lower his head in shame for some reason but he couldn't do that due to his position as the heir of Winterfell so he just gave a stoic nod.

"It is true."

Briar gritted her teeth and anger and then her shoulders slumped and she shook her head.

"Well… It is what it is." She said and pointed at the 50 riders and the carriage which entered the courtyard behind her.

He had a flashback from the time when the King entered Winterfell in a similar manner and wondered who was inside the carriage.

"Brought an envoy from Lord Bolton." She said before she turned to Jon "Bring your father. This is important."

Jon nodded and left.

"Heard that someone tried to kill Bran. Is that true?" she asked.

He nodded "Snowric and Midnight found the culprit who burned the library and ripped the man from limb to limb before he could kill Bran. We are lucky that Bran is still alive."

Briar nodded in silent contemplation "Well… Lord Bolton heard about what happened. He has sent books to replace the ones that you lost in the fire. And something called Wheelchair. It's supposed to help your brother move from place to place."

"Lord Bolton has my thanks." He said. He had no idea what a Wheelchair was but if it helped his brother then he was indeed grateful for it. "How's Arya doing in Dreadfort?"

Briar smiled at that "She has taken to Dreadfort like a fish to water. I don't think she'll want to return to Winterfell after living there. She does miss you from time to time though."

He nodded and was about to ask something more when he noticed the door of the carriage open and a small figure wearing a hood climbed out of the carriage.

The child looked at Winterfell and it's inhabitants before she removed her hood and…

The people who had stopped to watch the Basilisk and the Bolton entourage gasped as they gazed one of the Children of the Forest for the first time in their life.

"Leaf." He said, his mind still in shock as he wondered why Lord Bolton would send someone so important to Winterfell.

The 50 guards and Briar's presence were starting to make sense now.

Lord Bolton was always very protective of the Children of the Forest and only allowed a fair few to even interact with them.

The fact that Lord Bolton send Leaf here must mean that this was even more important than he had previously thought.

"Hello Robb Stark." Leaf said in her melancholic tone even as she gave him a small smile.

"Welcome to Winterfell Leaf." He said the first words that came to him and Leaf gave him a nod.

That was when his father came into the Courtyard.