"My Lord, a raven from your brother has arrived. I think you should read it yourself, for I cannot make sense of it." Maester Luwin all but ran into Lord Stark's study, clutching a piece of paper.
"Hmm? What do you mean, Luwin? Has something happened to my brother? " Eddard raised his head, stopped reading another letter, and looked intensely at the Maester.
"That… no, nothing physical seems to be ailing your brother. As I said, you better read this yourself." He handed him the letter.
Brother,
I apologize, for I must sound like a madman, but know that everything in this letter is the truth.
The Old Gods have given me a warning. Two monstrous women are coming from beyond the wall, bringing fire and destruction. When they arrive at Winterfell, please, whatever you do, do not anger them, for I fear that our home would not be able to withstand their wrath.
By the time you read this, I will be on my way to Winterfell.
We must speak in person,
Benjen Stark
Eddard read the letter again and again, as if hoping that more words would appear on the small piece of paper. Like Luwin, he could not make sense of the message.
"Luwin, are you confident that this is my brother's handwriting?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.
"It is. There is no doubt about it." The Maester said solemnly. He even compared it to a letter they received a moon ago. It was a perfect match.
"... Thank you. If you could, have a servant fetch Catelyn." He dismissed Luwin and stared at the letter, wondering what had happened to his brother on his most recent ranging, to make him behave this way.
Every man had a breaking point, and he feared that his brother might have reached his.
"Ned? Is everything alright?" He heard the soft voice of his wife, who was looking at him with concern.
"Cat… I haven't heard you arrive, my apologies."
"I was calling out to you, and you were not responding. Has something happened?" She asked, her voice laced with concern.
Upon hearing her, Eddard allowed a small smile to grace his lips before he schooled his expression and looked at the letter again.
"*sigh* This arrived today, it's from Benjen. Here, read it." He gave her the letter, and just like him, she read it at least twice before she looked up, her face marred by confusion.
"Two women? Are you sure this isn't some sort of secret code?"
"I'm sure, I can only take solace in the fact that Benjen knew how it would sound and warned me." At least that's what Eddard thought, after all, a madman wouldn't know he was sounding like one.
"Are you going to look into it? He sounded absolutely sure that they would arrive here."
"I will inform Jory, but finding two women in Winter Town when I have no description of them is difficult. At most, he can search for anybody that stands out in some way."
"Should I mention this to my ladies in waiting? They can spread the word among the servants who regularly leave for the town." Catelyn asked, and Eddard got a pensive look on his face.
"Do it, but be discreet about it. I don't want rumors spreading around."
—
"Theon, are you sure that this is right? Seems a bit silly." Robb doubted the validity of the rumor.
"I know it sounds stupid, but you've seen the things yourself. Jeyne wouldn't lie to us, well, at least not to you." Theon replied with a sly smile.
"I know, I know… just stop it. But if I hear any giggling once we do it…!" Robb said a bit too loudly, mostly to scare the girls if this was some kind of joke.
"How about you help me look for that tree? It should have three E's carved on it. You know how to read your letters, or should I write them out for you?"
"More talking, less searching. Once Jory figures out that we ditched him in town, he will be cross with us." Robb rolled his eyes at Theon's attempted jabs, and they both started to intensely stare at the nearby trees.
The rumor in question was this. Find a tree with three E's carved in its bark and walk around it three times, then two merchant women will appear with the finest jewelry anybody in the North had ever seen. If it weren't for the fact that he had seen Jeyne wear a new pair of earrings, with markings in a language unknown to him, he would not entertain this, and even then he had some serious doubts about this whole thing.
"Robb! I got it." Theon's voice came from a bit deeper within the woods. Not that deep, as they could still see Winter Town through the trees a little bit.
"So who's walking around it?" Theon asked once Robb got there.
"Just like that? Are we not going to check to see if the merchant isn't already here?"
"Unless they dug a hole and are hiding underneath this tree, there is nobody around other than the two of us." Theon replied, and Robb looked over the ground for any sign of disturbance. Nothing was there.
"If you're done looking at dirt, one of us has to walk around the tree. You want to do it or are you a coward?" Theon ribbed him.
"Pft! As if. Alright, I'll do it." He replied with just the right amount of teenage bravado and started walking. One, Two, Three. Once he finished, he came to stand right beside Theon and waited.
"HELLO! WELCOME TO EMILY'S ELUSIVE EMPORIUM!" Both boys jumped up in fright when a loud shout came from right behind them. They spun around and went for their swords, only to stand face to face with two beautiful women who were laughing at them.
"Hahaha~ Got you good, didn't I? Just look at them, jumping around like frightened rabbits." The one with brown hair, wine colored eyes, and purple pants said to the one with shoulder-length red hair.
"Don't traumatize your customers…" Came the exasperated reply from the red-haired one.
"H-How did you get here? Nobody was following us." Robb asked, and he really did try to sound threatening, but his voice cracked right at the beginning.
"That's for us to know, and for you to never figure out~ But if you boys want to buy something, let go of your swords. That's not how you do business." She said teasingly, but the underlying threat was loud and clear.
"Do you know who we are? This is Robb Stark and I'm Theon Greyjoy, show some proper respect, wench." Theon barked with his hand still firmly holding onto his sword, trying to hide his embarrassment by sounding angry.
"I don't care, squidboy. You wanna buy stuff, or not?" The brown haired woman asked dismissively. And before Theon could respond, Robb cut him off.
"Apologies for my friend, but yes, we are interested in your wares. My sister's name day is coming up, and I need to get her a suitable present." He quickly apologized and came up with a believable lie, because unlike Theon, he saw something dangerous flash through her eyes when he called her a wench.
"Hmm~ your sister is how old?" She asked, appearing unbothered.
"She will be three and ten. She is becoming a woman, so the gift needs to represent that somewhat."
"So a piece of jewelry?"
"Yes. A bracelet or a necklace would be preferable."
"Alrighty then! Take your pick." The woman did something nobody would ever believe. She reached into one of her pockets, her hand going in right up to her elbow, and pulled out a chest. A full-on wooden chest. From her pocket.
"... witchcraft." Theon mumbled and took a step back. Robb, while caught by surprise, remained standing still and chose not to comment on the casual display of what was quite obviously magic. This was the North after all, a place where people still believed in its existence.
"Of course it's witchcraft. Now pick." She deadpanned and opened up the chest. From the inside, numerous tiny shelves emerged, each housing an exquisite piece of jewelry. Rings with gems of all colors of the rainbow, necklaces and bracelets made from gold to materials unknown to him, earrings of all sizes and shapes.
"Anything striking your fancy?"
"Hmm, this bracelet, what's it made out of?" He asked, pointing to one made out of some kind of pinkish metal.
"This one? That's rose gold. Quite a good choice for a girl, if I might say so." She picked up the delicate-looking bracelet, adorned by a tiny flower in its center.
"Rose gold… a fitting name. I'll take it. What does the inscription say on the earring made out of the tooth?" It caught his attention. Not for him, but maybe for his little sister, Arya. While it was definitely not delicate looking like the bracelet, it was still beautiful, in a wild sort of way. The tooth was pure white and half an inch long, with a silver inscription wrapping around the whole tooth down to the point.
"I don't know what exactly is inscribed on it, but it's a protection charm. Supposedly, as long as a person is wearing it, they should be able to avoid grave harm coming to them."
"So it's just a useless pretty earring then." Theon said with a derisive scoff.
"To you, maybe. But then again, you're not the one buying it. He is." She looked directly at Robb.
"I am. Even if such a thing is just an old wives' tale, the fact remains that it is beautiful. Are you not going to buy anything, Theon?"
"No. We Ironborn do not buy jewelry with gold, we pay the iron price." He said and looked at the chest with an odd expression, but it was clear to Robb that he wanted to buy something.
"Suit yourself, but if you change your mind, do come to me." The woman just shrugged, not even trying to convince Theon.
"So how much for these two?" Robb was mentally preparing to hear some exorbitant price.
"Two dragons a piece." He was pleasantly surprised. While not exactly cheap, it was a lot more affordable than he thought. Just last year, he bought earrings for his mother and they were a lot more expensive than these.
"Here you go." He said after rummaging in his coin pouch for a moment.
"A pleasure doing business with you, but if you don't want to get caught, I suggest leaving immediately. Jory Cassel is over there." She said, and pointed behind their backs, making both of them turn at the same time.
"Where?" "Huh?" Both exclaimed and looked to where she was pointing, but when they turned back, she was gone. It was as if the earth had swallowed her whole.
"Hah! She tricked us." Robb couldn't help but laugh.
"Who tricked you?" They both stiffened when they heard the unmistakable voice of Jory coming from where the woman was pointing.
Realizing that they had already been caught and there was no escaping, they did the obvious thing, they snitched in hopes it would distract Jory.
"Have you not seen the two women who were just here?" Robb asked incredulously. Even if they disappeared, Jory surely must have seen them when he was making his way here through the trees.
"I have not seen anybody except you… Two women, you say? Describe them." The sudden shift in his demeanor startled them, but they still did as he asked.
"Very well. And what is it that you're holding, Robb?" He asked when he noticed the jewelry Robb hadn't put away yet.
"Jewelry. Those women were merchants. Strange ones, but merchants nonetheless. They had all kinds of jewelry. I bought these for my sisters." He showed them to Jory, and the man looked at them, especially at the tooth earring.
"I assume that the tooth is for Lady Arya?" He asked with a hint of humor.
"Pft. Of course it is. I can't imagine the dainty Sansa ever wearing anything of the sort, can you?" Robb replied with a snort.
"It's not my place to say. But then, how did they trick you?"
"She didn't really. She just said that you're coming, we turned around, and when we didn't see you, we just assumed she did because she vanished afterward."
"Vanished, you say? Hmm… You boys will come with me. Two weeks ago, Lord Stark tasked me with finding these two 'merchants' and this is the first solid lead we've got. He needs to hear this."
"Really? Then how come Jeyne knew about them too? It was she who told us about the rumor, you know?" Theon asked confusedly.
"A rumor? What rumor?"
"*sigh* A strange one for sure. It goes like this…"