Edmure
Edmure looked at the huge pile of letters that had gathered on his table as of late, and ran a hand through his mop of auburn curls and sighed deeply. Since Nestor Royce and Lyn Corbray had come to Riverrun all those moons ago, the ravens from his bannermen curious as to whether or not Edmure would bend the knee to Daenaerys had been endless. It was the raven from Lord Jonos Bracken that had eventually forced Edmure to call his lords to Riverrun and inform them rather sternly that he had no intention whatsoever of bowing to Daenaerys Targaryen, be she the daughter of Aerys Targaryen or his only true surviving heir. He had pledged himself to Aegon Targaryen when he had bent the knee to him in King's Landing, and he fully intended to keep to his pledge. Most of his lords had been happy with what he had said then, and the issue had largely been left to lie, though Lords Goodbrook, Mooton, Smallwood and Ryger continued to persist in asking him whether or not he truly wished to bend the knee to Aegon and it was beginning to anger him deeply.
He was only grateful that Walder Frey and his brood were no longer present to trouble him overtly. Ever since his wedding to Rosilin he had been having nightmares about seeing Cat's body, and sometime he still woke up sweating and angered determined to drive a sword through the nearest Frey he found, only to discover that there were none left to kill, the males atleast. The males of House Frey had all been killed when Edmure's niece's husband Jon Targaryen had marched south and decimated the Twins, Mors Umber had wed one of Lord Walder's many brood, and gotten her with child almost immediately. The female Freys were either wedded off or joined the Silent Sisters, though there were rumours that Walder Rivers that treacherous oaf who had dared insult Cat had escaped the slaughter, Edmure knew not whether that was true, he certainly hoped not. Still with Mors Umber in control of the Crossing and sworn to Riverrun, Edmure knew he had a man who was determined to follow through on oaths sworn to his liege Lord and to the crown, after all the man was a northman, and they took their oaths seriously beyond a doubt.
Then there was that letter from his sister, Lysa, gods he had not seen her in so long. When Cat had still been alive there had never been a moment where they could all sit down, Edmure, Cat and uncle Brynden to actually discuss their family. Lysa had refused to send aid to their cause during the War of the Five Kings, and yet now that she was wed to that snake Littlefinger, she was demanding that he honour their ties as family and send his men to fight for a woman who was undoubtedly cruel and mad. He could not understand how Lysa could still not see the poison that Petyr Baelish was, how had he managed to worm his way into her heart and her bed. He feared for his sister and for his nephew, little Robert Arryn who had been named for the late Robert Baratheon, but was supposedly nothing like his namesake, he had heard both Cat and uncle Brynden say that Little Robert was being buried under Lysa's fear and paranoia. And now he would most likely die, as Littlefinger sought complete control over the Vale. Did Lysa know what the man she proclaimed to love truly was he wondered? Had any of them truly known what sort of man he was, or would turn out to be when they had all been children? Perhaps there had been signs of it during that foolish duel he had with Brandon Stark, or the way he always looked at Cat, but they had all been too blind to see it and now they were suffering for it.
Send aid to the Vale, perhaps he could do that. Under the guise of helping Daenaerys Targaryen, when in fact he would be trying to free his sister and nephew of Littlefinger- Edmure had given the man that name once, and not for the reason his sisters thought it was- that could be one possible course of action. Send men to the Bloody Gate professing loyalty to Daenaerys Targaryen and Littlefinger would let him in, that would be his undoing, Edmure had seen parts of Littlefinger when they were children that neither Cat or Lysa had dared see, the parts that were both insecure and proud, and arrogant, that was one thing Littlefinger had always been, and it would be his downfall Edmure was certain of it. He looked at the letter from his sister once more and then calling for Maester Vyman who was stood behind him silent as ever he said. "Send a raven to the Bloody Gate, tell them to expect me and 200 men in roughly a moon's time." Maester Vyman said and Edmure watched as the old maester tottered off to the rookery. He sighed once more, hoping he was doing the right thing.
Later that day he walked over to the nursery where he found his wife and two daughters playing happily. He smiled at the sight, though he still felt a pang of regret that the child he had had with Roslin had not survived it's birth, dying within the womb itself. Still he shook his head and watched his two daughters- Bethany and Catelyn- play with their mother, Bethany the absolute reflection of Edmure with her auburn hair and blue eyes, whilst Catelyn looked exactly like Alysanne with her flowing brown hair and hazel eyes. Edmure loved them all deeply, and he feared losing them more than anything. Alysanne and his relationship had started off as a more sort of mutual attempt to bond and rebuild Riverrun and through that had come the love and affection they know felt for each other. As if sensing that he was looking at them, Catelyn looked up and beamed when she saw him. "PAPA" She screamed happily, before running and throwing herself into his arms. Edmure laughed slightly, and kissed her forehead.
"Are you being good girls for mama?" Edmure asked, noting with a frown as Alysanne struggled to stand up, she was heavily pregnant his wife, and he did not want for her to over exert herself too much.
"Of course Papa!" Cat replied beaming. "We've been playing games waitng for you to finish reading your boring letters."
Edmure laughed then, his daughter truly did remind him of his sister sometimes. "Well I'm here now so show me what you've learnt with Maester Vyman then." Edmure put his daughter down and then sat down next to his wife, and watched and listened as his daughters began reciting all they had learnt from the maester so far and then he played with them for a bit, Come into my castle seemingly the favourite game of theirs just now. It was all peaceful and for a moment Edmure thought it was almost as if the threat of war was not there, as if they could live a comfortable life without ever having to worry about death or more destruction. He was determined that his children and his wife would never have to go through the horrors he had had to go through.
As if she could sense some of what he was thinking, Alysanne squeezed his hand and then whispered in his ear. "It's okay Ed, we're all okay here. We always will be." Edmure said nothing and merely nodded, wondering if the raven he had had Vyman send out to the Bloody Gate had been such a good idea after all.
As he watched his children play and held his wife's hand he found his thoughts drifting back to the time when he had found Cat, or what had been left of her. An undead monster that was what his sister had become as a result of his wedding to Roslin, a creature so hell bent on revenge that she felt nothing but that, no empathy, no sorrow nothing but hate, a complete contrast from the woman who had been his sister, who had been a mother to kings. He did not recognise her, and even though the band of warriors she was the head of had claimed she was doing him a favour by having the Freys they found executed, he had had to put a stop to it. He'd freed the Kingslayer and that giant of a woman who had always been hanging around Cat, and he'd told the men of the Brotherhood, they had two choices death or they could join the Night's Watch, though they had done the whole realm a favour, their crimes were beginning to escalate and as Lord Paramount of the Trident he could not allow such crimes to go unpunished. His sister, or what was left of his sister, had then throatily said that if she was to die, he had to be the one to do the deed. And so with the sword, Oathkeeper he believed it was called, Edmure had swung the sword, his tears falling and being the thing that ended his sister's torturous life on this world. The sight of her head rolling around in the ground afterwards still haunted him, he was a kinslayer, but he wasn't he knew not, he had told no one of what he had seen, only his uncle Ser Brynden had seen the Brotherhood and Cat, and he had sworn never to tell a soul....
He was taken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door, and seeing Maester Vyman standing in the doorway a letter in his hand his expression worried. Edmure began to worry then, and sticking his hand out for the letter he opened it and began to read and felt his heart drop and anger begin to pool in his stomach. Littlefinger and Daenaerys had gone to far this time, sending an assassin after his niece and her unborn child. He would need to teach them a lesson now, no one did this, no sane monarch did this. Looking at his wife briefly he handed her the letter and waited for her to read before turning to Maester Vyman and saying. "Call the banners Maester Vyman, it is time this dragon learnt what it means to be taught a lesson."
Due to the snow and the wind and the storms, it took his bannermen some three weeks to answer his call to arms. Mors Umber came down from the Twins hungry for action bringing with him some 3,000 men, Lord Tytos Blackwood every loyal came down with some 2,000 men, Lord Jonos Bracken a man desperate to prove his loyalty after bending the knee to the Lannisters came with the biggest contingent of men 4,000, Lords Mallister and Piper came with 1,000 men each. With some 1,000 men coming from near Riverrun the Riverlands army numbered some 12,000 men and with Lord Targaryen marching south with his own army of northmen, Edmure was confident that they would be able to take the Bloody Gate or at least defeat whatever army was sent from the Vale. There was only one problem though, Lords Goodbrook, Mooton, Smallwood, Ryger and Shawney had banded together to fight for Daenaerys their host numbered some 10,000 men with Lord Lyman Goodbrook having fought in the War of the Five Kings commanding them. The rebel army was marching up the Red Fork towards Riverrun and Edmure knew that he needed to deal with them first before he could turn his attention to the Vale.
It seemed that for once his lords were in agreement with his thoughts, and so they discussed the best ways to deal with this host. "We must attack them as one great force, Lord Lyman is still young and over confident, he will wish to show his true colours to Daenaerys Targaryen. That could work in our favour." Lord Bracken said.
Lord Blackwood of course snorted at that. "Of course you would say that Jonos, you fought alongside the man when he laid siege to my castle. No my lords I say we split the host into two and attack him from the sides, that way their host will be scattered."
Lord Mallister concurred. "Aye that is the reasonable idea, Lord Goodbrook experience though he is, is still proud and arrogant we can play on that."
Lord Clement Piper spoke next. "I suggest we wait for Lord Targaryen to come down from the Neck before we advance from here my lords. Lord Targaryen has a dragon, one of four in existence, what are we to do if the Lords of the Vale should descend from their mountains and attack us along with the rebels? What are we to do if Daenaerys Targaryen comes upon her mount? We will burn."
There is uproar at that, and soon enough Edmure can hear Mors Umber bellowing. "We won't sit here and wait and die Piper. If we sit here, they will come up the Red Fork, and their numbers will swell for they will think that we are cravens for not wanting to fight them. And then what? The Young Wolf won all of his battles without dragons, we can do the same." There is a hearty cheer of approval there but none of them mention that the Young Wolf is dead, and rotting in the ground.
Instead it is decided that there will be two hosts, one commanded by Lord Mallister will take the east bank of the Fork, Edmure will command the second host on the west bank. That decided they begin to prepare for leaving the castle and Edmure says farewell to his wife and children swearing to return to them, and meet this third child who is due any day now. He mounts up on his horse dressed in black as night armour, his sword sheathed on his back, his wife's favour tied to his arm, and then he nods once to Alysanne and then he rides out with his men through the gates of Riverrun and towards the war that is coming.