“I accept my punishment and thank Milord for his mercy and for the opportunity to make up for the shame i have caused you.” I say to Rob from my kneeling position, not letting my internal thoughts appear on my face.

“That is good. I hope you will make the best use of this decision.” Rob replies in a solemn manner. He then smiles and speaks again. “Now will you please stand up and join me for a drink? I really need to take a break from this paperwork.”

I return the smile, knowing that with Rob’s words my punishment is finished and the formalities can be dispensed. We can now return to what we were before.

“I will happily accompany you Rob, but i will pass on the liquor. I wasted enough time last night and need a clear head. At least if you don’t want a bear to continue walking free inside the keep, scaring the help and eating the supplies.” I reply, remembering that i still need to find Brutus.

I can feel his Qi vaguely so i know he is still in the keep, or at least the surrounding area, and he is smart enough to behave. Still, i don’t want to push my luck with him getting worried and a misunderstanding happens.

“*sigh* That’s a shame. You know, i miss the days when Theon and I would sneak away from lessons with a flask of wine and hide in town. Now i drink because it is socially expected of me, with the number of times i do with friends becoming less and less. I never knew leadership could turn simple pleasures into chores.” Robb speaks with a melancholy look in his eyes.

It makes me think back to 2 years ago, i had just finished a tourney and came across Robb and Theon leaving the keep for one of their outings. They invited me and Jon along, but Jon thought it was improper so he skipped it. I had no such reservations so after leaving Brutus with the younglings, i brought the 2 to the town.

When we got back after dark i watched as they got chewed out by Lady Stark and later told to do additional training the next day by Ned. I think Lady Stark would have scolded me as well if she got the chance, but i was smart enough to leave when she finished with them.

“Oh well. Maybe it is for the best that we don’t drink. I wanted to fill you in on what you missed at the meeting. Maybe you can see something that we missed.” Robb then relays the details of their discussion.

When he told me the Tyrells had joined with the Lannisters i had to admit i wasn’t expecting it. I don’t know much about the Tyrells, afte rall the Reach is separated by the Riverlands and Westerlands from the North. We have almost no trade with them as their main exports are grain, livestock and horses.

Most of our food is traded from the Riverlands and livestock is one our exports so we rarely buy outside sources. Our lands aren’t the best for raising horses so the few we purchase are typically inferior breeds from the Riverlands and Westerlands. The few prize horses that come from the Reach are usually bought specially, where the nobles travel to the Reach to choose the horse that fits them best.

Combined with the fact that the Iron Islands act as a barrier for ships travelling North in the West, means people of my station almost never interact with the people from the Reach. My knowledge of them comes from history and my short time in King’s Landing.

Historically the Tyrells, Paramounts of the Reach, have always taken the safe approach, similar to the Frey they tend to wait for a determined winner before making a move. During Robert’s Rebellion, while they sided with the Mad King, they only sieged Storms End, and after the battle of the Trident had surrendered, unlike the Dorne who continued to resist for a time.

As for King’s Landing, all i know is that the combined suppression of the Baratheons and the Lannisters kept the Tyrell and most of the Reach from having any power in the Capital. It was only recently that with the support of Renly Baratheon that they started to make their appearance.

I suppose benefits truly do mean the most in the end. Out of the eligible contenders for the throne, Tommen is definitely the strongest and Renly is the weakest. Even if it seems like a betrayal, the Tyrells are unlikely to risk their entire family’s destruction by siding with Renly.

When Robb told me the effects of this news, i could somewhat expect it. With the Tyrells siding with Tommen, the enemy could theoretically deal with all dissenters at the same time, even if it meant fighting on multiple fronts. The only counter is to deal a large enough blow to their forces before they have time to regroup.

If we divide the army and use one to distract Tywin, while the other strikes Jaime, we could cripple half the Lannister forces and gain reinforcements from the rest of the Riverlands.

“Is there no-one else that we could ask for help? What about asking your aunt and the Vale Lords? They seemed pretty favourable of your side when i was there. Or hell, you could even try the Iron Islands. They might not like us but they aren’t exactly fans of the Lannisters and Baratheons either. Besides the only heir to House Greyjoy is still with us and he is one of your honour guards. If BaLon doesn’t want to risk his line coming to an end they need to make sure we survive this war.” I ask to confirm we have explored our options.

“That won’t work. My sister is adamant on the Vale remaining out of the war. Maybe if we defeated the Lannisters a few times, prove we have a chance at coming out victorious, we could convince her to deploy the other Lords.” Lady Stark shakes her head in disappointment.

“The Iron Islands is even more unlikely. We would need to send a messenger to Seaguard, then sail a ship to the Islands and only then could negotiations begin. Even if Balon immediately agreed to fight with us it would take too long to gather his bannermen. By that time Riverrun would have fallen and the rest of the Riverlands with it.”

“Even if the Iron Islands then joined us, they are famous for their navy, not their armies. They have the fewest troops out of the rest of the kingdoms, even less than the Riverlands. We would have no chance against the monstrosity that is the Lannister and Tyrell alliance.” Rob replies.

“It is far more likely for them to attack us instead. The Iron Islands have always been the sort to bully the weaker party.” Lady Stark adds with a touch of scorn. Seems she is one of the many Northerners who hold distaste for the Iron Islanders. Probably even more considering the Riverlands, her homelands, history with the Islands.

“So we’re on our own? *sigh* that just makes me even more hesitant to divide our forces. If we send too many as a distraction, then even if we catch Jaime off-guard we may still lose. Don’t forget that He is not some paper lion. He has been fighting alongside the King’s Guard since he was 15, and followed experienced commanders like Ser Barristan and King Robert. He won’t lose easily.” I point out my concerns.

“We have no choice but to risk it. Even with the Tully forces in Riverrun we only just outnumber the Lannister forces lead by Jaime. If they find out we are coming then Tywin can send reinforcements from the Westerlands or his own force. If Jaime knows we are coming from the North then he will position his defences and troops to prepare for us. If we take them by surprise the fact they are divided to siege Riverrun is our best hope.” Rob reminds me of the need to hide our forces...

“Hold on. We just need to make Tywin think we are still on this side of the river, right? There is no real need to make him think we are marching south, we could just tell them we are still in the siege couldn’t we?” I ask to clarify the main reason behind the need to send a vanguard.

“Lord Hornwood already suggested this. Even if we sent them false information, a single scout is all it would take to determine the lie. We briefly considered leaving the distraction Force at the Twins to put on the show that we are still sieging the Twins, thus not having to put so much risk on losing the vanguard. But unless we left most of our forces behind the difference in numbers would be too obvious. Tywin would immediately question where the rest of our forces have gone.”

“We would have to leave behind too many that it would defeat the main purpose of defeating Jaime. A vanguard will disguise the rest of our force and put too much pressure on Tywin to risk our bluff.” Rob answers, assuming my next suggestion and shooting it down.

Instead i ask a different question. “Hey Rob, What is the difference between a levy and a peasant?” I ask.

“A levy is just a peasant that has been conscripted and armed with a weapon.” Rob answers, clearly confused with the change in topic.

“And from a distance, can you tell the difference between a peasant armed with a sword and one armed with a stick?” I ask another, a smile slowly growing on my face.

Rob frowns and instead of answering, asks me instead. “What are you thinking, Ben?”

“We need to make any scouts Tywin sends think we are still East of the Green Fork. To that we can trick them into thinking we are still sieging the Twins, but we don’t necessarily need soldiers to do the sieging.”

Rob and Lady Stark look to me with surprise, the realisation of what i am suggesting dawning on them.

“Are you suggesting to create another army made of peasants armed with sticks?” Lady Stark ask.

“’Army’ is perhaps too generous. More like a campsite. The lands belonging to the Frey easily have several tens of thousands of peasants in the surrounding villages and towns. Arranging for 20,000 to move into tents outside the East Twin is no more than a few days work. Course, we can’t just leave them like that. If a scout gets too close or they act too weirdly then it may give the game away.”

“So here is my suggestion. You were already planning to leave 1 thousand soldiers to guard the East Twin. Leave another 2 thousand to keep order and patrol the surroundings. Like this we could put on a show of a ‘siege’ for several weeks, enough time for us to travel south with the rest of our army and attack Jaime unprepared. By the time they realise what has happened it will be too late.” I reveal the entirety of my plan, grin spread clear across my face.

The 2 others look at one another, questions and debates flashing across their eyes as they contemplate the pros and cons. In the end they decide to just voice the question.

“Is it really that easy? Using a bunch of peasants to trick Tywin and the rest of the Lannisters?” Rob asks.

“It is a huge risk. But no greater risk than trying to defeat Jaime with a smaller force by surprise. At least if we go with this plan we will have our entire army together and if the unexpected happens we will have more manoeuvrability to deal with it. If it becomes truly hopeless, we can still retreat back to the North where we can defend for several years and drag the Lannisters to the negotiating table.” Lady Stark lays out the worst possible situation. Though retreating and bunkering down north of the Neck is definitely the best response to that.

The final say lays with Rob however, so both his mother and I look to him. He thinks about it for a moment, stands and begins to pace. I can hear him mumbling, and his mother seems to consider speaking, but ultimately decides to keep silent. After a minute he looks to me.

“I will call the Lords for another meeting. If we want this plan to work then we need to act quickly.” He says with determination in his eyes. I smile at that and start to think about where Brutus is likely hiding at. We have a lot of work to do and while they are gathering peasants we need to start scouting the southern route.