Chapter 55 Chapter 54: Bran

On a cold morning with a northerly wind, the Karstarks arrived at Winterfell with three hundred cavalry and nearly two thousand infantry from Kahoe City.The soldier's spear tip blinked in the pale eyes.A soldier walked in front of the team, beating a drum that was bigger than others, "Boom, boom, boom", beating out a slow and deep marching rhythm. Bran was in a guard tower on the outer wall, sitting on Hodor's shoulder, watching the approaching army through Maester Luwin's bronze telescope.Lord Rickard himself led the army, and his sons Harion, Eddard, and Toren rode beside him on horseback, and above their heads flew the banner with the black night as the background and the white sun as the emblem.The old nan said that there was Stark blood in their bodies, which could be traced back hundreds of years. However, in Bran's opinion, these people were not like the descendants of the Stark family. They were all tall and strong, with fierce expressions , with a thick beard on his face and shoulder-length hair, and a cloak made of bear, seal, and wolf skins.

He knew that this was the last batch of troops.Other lords have already led their troops to arrive.Bran was looking forward to riding out of town with them, to see how the houses of the winter town were packed and packed;But Robb would not let him leave the castle. "We don't have extra manpower to protect you." Brother explained to him. "I will take Xia Tian with me." Bran argued. "Bran, don't be childish with me," said Robb. "You know it well. Lord Bolton's men killed one of Lord Severn's men at the Tobaccowood Inn two days ago. If I put you in danger, My lord mother didn't flay me." When he said this, he used the tone of "Robb's castellan", and Bran knew there was no room for maneuver.

In fact, he knew in his heart that it must be because of the incident in the wolf forest.Looking back on it now, he still has nightmares.He was as helpless as a baby, and young Rickon probably couldn't be more helpless.Maybe he wasn't as good as Rickon... At least Rickon could kick them.For this he was deeply ashamed.He was only a few years younger than Robb; and if his brother was nearing age, he was not far off either.He should be able to defend himself, by definition. A year ago, before the incident, he would have visited the town even if he had to climb the wall.In those days he could run up stairs, get on and off a pony unaided, and swing the wooden sword and knock Prince Tommen to the ground.Now all he had to do was watch with Maester Luwin's lens tube.The old maester had taught him all the banners and family sigils: the silver gauntlet banner of House Glover on a red background, and the great black bear banner of the Countess of Mormont, flying in front of Roose Bolton, lord of the Dreadfort. The Flayer banner of House Hornwood, the Moose banner of House Hornwood, the Tomahawk banner of House Severn, the Towering Three Sentinel Tree banner of House Tallhart, and the terrifying banner of House Umber's Roaring Giant with Broken Chains.

In a short period of time, the northern princes brought their sons, knights, and subordinates to the Winter City for dinner, and he memorized their faces.Even the castle hall couldn't accommodate everyone at the same time, so Robb separately entertained the main vassals one by one.Bran usually sat in the honorary seat to his brother's right, but some of the lords always looked at him strangely, as if questioning why such a young boy had the right to sit in their place, let alone a cripple. "How many were there before?" Bran asked Maester Luwin as Lord Karstark and his sons rode through the outer gates.

"About twelve thousand people." "How many knights are there?" "Very little." The old master said impatiently, "To become a knight, you must first watch the night in the church, accept the anointing of the seven holy oils by the monks, and then you can get the blessing after reading the oath. In our north, most people Believe in the old gods, few nobles are naturalized to the seven gods, so they don't canonize knights... However, these lords and their sons and subordinates are not inferior to others in terms of martial arts, loyalty, or sense of honor. The value of a person is not based on the knight Measured by title, I've told you hundreds of times."

"But," said Bran, "how many knights are there?" Maester Luwin sighed. "Three or four hundred...but there are about three thousand ordinary soldiers on horseback and with guns." "Lord Karstark was last," Bran said thoughtfully. "Robb will entertain him tonight." "no doubt." "How long...will they leave?" "He's got to start soon, or he won't be able to leave," Maester Luwin said. "The winter town is already full, and if this army stays longer, it will eat up all the food stores in the surrounding area. What's more What's more, there are knights from the Blightlands along the King's Road, the Marshmen, the Earls of Manderly and Flint waiting to join. The war has spread in the Three Rivers Valley, and your brother has a long way to go."

"I know," Bran said.He returned the bronze mirror tube to the old maester, noticing that the hair on top of Luwin's head was thinning so much that his pink scalp was barely visible.Looking down at him from above feels a bit weird, I always look up at him.Having said that, once he sat on Hoduo's shoulder, no matter who he looked at, he would look down. "I don't want to watch it. Hodor, take me back to the city." "Hodor," said Hodor. Maester Luwin tucked the mirror tube up his sleeve. "Bran, your brother has no time to see you now. He has to meet Lord Karstark and his son."

"I won't bother Robb, I'm going to the godswood." He put his hand on Hodor's shoulder. "Hodor." On the marble wall inside the tower, there is a series of hewn handles, which can be used as stairs for climbing.Hodor slowly climbed down while humming an out-of-key tune.Bran sat in a wicker basket behind him, rocking.The basket was specially made by Maester Luwin. He was inspired by the back baskets used by women to gather firewood. On this basis, he cut two holes for the feet to stick out, and added a few more straps to distribute Bran's weight. work.This is certainly not as good as riding Xiao Wu, but there are many places Xiao Wu can't go, and at least it won't make Bran feel so ashamed compared to being hugged by Hodor like a baby.Hodor seemed to like the design, too, though what Hodor was thinking was anyone's guess.The only trouble was getting in and out, and Hodor sometimes forgot he had Bran on his back, and it was such a painful way to get in.

For the past two weeks, due to the frequent entry and exit of people and horses, Robb ordered that all the gates of the inner and outer walls be raised, and the drawbridge between the two be lowered, even at night.When Bran came out of the guard tower, a long column of hoplite Lancers was crossing the moat. They were the troops of the Karstarks, and they were following their master into the castle.The group wore black half-helms and black wool cloaks patterned with white sunbursts.Hodo walked beside him quickly, smiling to himself, his boots thumping on the wooden suspension bridge.The cavalrymen watched them go by strangely, and Bran heard rough laughter, but he refused to be disturbed. "People will watch you," Maester Luwin had warned Hodor the first time they strapped the wicker basket to Hodor's back. "Not only will they watch, there will be talk, and some will laugh at you." They'll laugh, Bran thought.No one could laugh at him if he stayed in the bedroom, but he didn't want to spend his whole life in bed.

As he passed under the gate, Bran stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled.Xia Tian immediately ran lightly from the other side of the square.In an instant, the horses rolled their eyes and hissed in terror, and the Karstark Lancers had to struggle to keep their balance.A warhorse screamed and raised its front hooves, and the warrior riding on it cursed loudly and managed to keep from falling.Without habit, horses usually go mad with fear at the smell of a direwolf until summer is gone. "To the godswood," Bran reminded Hodor. He never imagined that Winterfell would be overcrowded.The arena was full of clashes of knives and axes, the rattling of carts, and the barking of hounds.The armory door was wide open, and Bran caught a glimpse of Mikken standing by the forge, hammering away his hammer, his bare chest dripping with sweat.Bran had never seen so many strangers in all his life, not even when King Robert came to visit his father.

Hodor ducked through a low door, and Bran tried not to flinch.They walked along a long and dark corridor, Xia Tian walked briskly beside him, raising his eyes to look at him from time to time, his eyes were like two balls of flaming liquid gold.Bran wanted to touch it, but he was too far off the ground for his hands to reach. During these days, if Winterfell has become an ocean of chaos, the Godswood is an island of tranquility.Hodor walked through a thicket of oaks, cycads, and sentinels to the still pool of water under the heart tree.He sat at the bottom of the tangle of weirwood branches and hummed.Bran reached out and grabbed the branches above his head, and pulled himself out of the basket, pulling his limp feet out of the two holes in the willow basket.He hung there for a while, swaying a few times, letting the dark red leaves brush his face, before Hodor caught him and set him down on the large flat rock by the pool. "I want to be alone," he said, "you go wash up, go to the hot spring." "Hoduo!" Hoduo strode on "dongdong" and disappeared into the bushes.On the other side of the godswood, directly below the guest room windows, there is a natural underground hot spring that fills three small pools.The water in the pool is steaming day and night, and the high wall beside the pool is covered with moss.Hodor hated cold water, and if asked to use soap, he would fight like a lynx whose tail was stepped on, but if it was replaced by hot springs, he didn't care about even the hottest pool, and it would take hours at a time.He belched loudly, as if to echo each other, whenever bubbles appeared on the surface of the murky green water. Summer licked the water and sat down beside Bran.He scratched the wolf's jaw, and for a short while, both the boy and the direwolf felt peaceful and serene.Bran had always liked the godswood, even before the accident, and lately he found himself coming here more and more.Even Xinshu no longer scares him as much as before.The deep red eyes carved into the pale tree trunk still stared at him, yet he found solace in them.It was the gods watching over him, he told himself; the old gods, the gods of House Stark and the First Men and the Children of the Forest, the gods of his father.He felt safe under their gaze, and the deep silence of the woods helped him clear his thoughts.Since the fall, Bran has often been in deep thought: thinking, dreaming, talking to the gods. "Please don't let Robb go," he prayed softly, rippling the cold water with his hand. "Please let him stay. If he really must go, let him return safely, with his father, mother, and sisters. And please let... please let Rickon understand." The day he learned that Robb was going to lead his army, his little brother went wild like a winter blizzard, howling by turns and losing his temper.He refused to eat, cried and screamed all night, even fisted the old nanny who sang him a lullaby, and ran away without a trace the next day.Robb sent most of the city to look for him, only to find him hiding in the catacombs, and grab a rusty iron sword from some statue of a dead king, and slash and slash at people, and Shaggydog runs away. Drooling, he rushed out of the shadows provocatively, like a green-eyed demon.The wolf was almost as frenzied as Rickon; not only had he bit Gage's hand, but he had torn off a chunk of Mikken's thigh.In the end it was Robb himself with Gray Wind who overpowered them.Now Fran had locked the black wolf in the kennel, and Rickon was crying even more without the wolf. Master Luwin suggested that Robb stay in Winterfell, and Bran also begged him, not only for himself, but also for Rickon.But my brother shook his head stubbornly: "I don't want to go, but I must go." This is not entirely a lie.Someone had to defend the Neck and help the Tullys deal with the Lannisters, which Bran could understand, but it didn't have to be Robb.My brother could have given the command to Hal Moran or Theon Greyjoy, or even his vassals.Maester Luwin advised him to do the same, but Robb would not listen. "My lord father would never send someone else to die, and hide behind the walls of Winterfell like a coward." He said this, completely in the tone of Lord Robb. Robb seemed half a stranger to Bran now, as if he had truly become the master of the party, though he was not yet sixteen.His father's vassals noticed his condition, and many tried to test him in their own way: Roose Bolton asked recklessly to let him lead the army; The same purpose; a stout, gray-haired, man-like armored Maggie Mormont said unceremoniously that Robb was old enough to be her grandson and not entitled to boss her around... But, she happened to have A granddaughter could marry him; the soft-spoken Earl of Seven brought his daughter straight away. She was a mediocre, chubby, about thirty-year-old girl, sitting on her father's left hand, and never looked away from him. The friendly Earl of Hornwood had no daughters, but he brought many presents, a horse one day, a hunk of venison the next, a handsome silver-rimmed hunting horn the next, and none In return... except for a small piece of land he had taken from his grandfather, hunting rights to a certain ridge north, and the right to dam the White Knife, and so on.Of course, if the city lord is happy. Robb answered one by one calmly and politely, and gradually won their hearts. If he were a father today, it would probably be nothing more than this. And when that Lord Umber, who was called the Greatjon, who was as tall as Hodor and twice as strong, said that if he was to walk behind Hornwood or the Severns, he would immediately follow them. When they got home, Robb said he was welcome to do so. "After the Lannisters are dealt with," he assured him, scratching the back of Gray Wind's ear. "We'll go back to the north right away, take you out of your castle, and hang you as an oath-breaker." The Greatjon yelled at him, threw a jar of ale into the fire, and said to Robb with a beard and a stare. He's just a young kid with a hairy head, probably even his urine is grass green.Harris Moran stepped forward to dissuade him, but he pushed him to the ground, and then he kicked over the table and drew the biggest and ugliest greatsword Bran had ever known.His sons, brothers, and subordinates who were sitting on the benches on both sides also jumped up one after another, reaching for their weapons. However, Robb only said a word softly, only to hear Gray Wind roar, and immediately bit off two fingers of Earl Umber, throwing him on all fours, the sword flew three feet away, and his hands were dripping with blood. "My father taught me that drawing a sword before a lord whom you have sworn allegiance to is the only death penalty," said Robb, "but I believe you are only trying to carve my flesh." Bran watched as Greatjon struggled to his feet, sucking on the blood-red flesh. A piece of severed fingers, all internal organs twisted into a ball... Unexpectedly, then the big man actually laughed. "Your meat," he growled, "is fucking tough!" For some reason, since then, Greatjon has become Robb's right-hand man and the most staunch supporter, telling people everywhere, regardless of the young age of the new city lord, he is a genuine Stark descendant , you all fucking kneel down obediently, or else he won't chop off your knees. But that night, after the fire in the hall had faded, my brother came to Bran's bedroom pale and trembling. "I thought he'd kill me," Robb confessed. "Did you see the way he pushed Hal? Like he was Rickon! Gods, it scared the hell out of me. Isn't the Greatjon The most troublesome thing is that he just has the loudest voice. Lord Luce didn't say a word, he just looked at me like this, and all I could think about was the room in his Dreadfort, and I heard that the Bolton family killed the enemy Peel off the skin and hang there." "That's just Old Nan's story," Bran said, with a hint of doubt creeping into his voice. "Right?" "I don't know." Brother shook his head weakly. "Master Seven is going to take his daughter south, saying that he will cook for him. But Sean is sure that one night I will find this girl lying in my bed. I really hope... I really hope that my father will also exist……" Bran, Rickon, and Lord Robb finally agree on this one thing: they all want their father still around.But after all, Duke Ed is thousands of miles away, imprisoned, and may have become a wanted criminal on the run, or even died.What the truth was, no one could be sure, and each traveler told a different version, each more horrific than the last: the heads of my father's guards on the points of their spears, hanging from the walls of the Red Keep, rotting; King Robert dead. In the hands of the father; the army of the Baratheon family besieged King's Landing; Duke Eddard and the king's bad brother Renly fled to the south; Arya and Sansa were killed by the hound; the mother killed the little devil Tyrion, hang his body on the wall of Riverrun; or Lord Tywin Lannister led his troops to the Eyrie, burning, killing and looting along the way.A storyteller, reeking of booze, even claimed that Rhaegar Targaryen had risen from the dead and was summoning heroes of all ages on Dragonstone to take back his father's throne. So when Raven arrives later with a letter written in Sansa's hand and stamped with her father's seal, the grim truth doesn't seem so surprising.Bran would never forget the look on Robb's face as he read his sister's letter. "She says father and the king's brothers conspired to usurp the throne," he read. "King Robert is dead, and mother and I should hurry to the Red Keep and swear fealty to Joffrey. She says we must pledge our fidelity, and so on." She marries Joffrey, and she'll beg him to spare her father's life." He clenched his fist and crushed Sansa's letter. "She didn't say a word about Arya, no, not a word! Damn it! What's the matter with this girl?" Bran's heart sank. "She lost the wolf cub." He said weakly, recalling that day when four guards under his father returned from the south and brought back the remains of the lady, Xia Tian, ​​Gray Wind and Shaggy Dog began their miserable long journey before they crossed the drawbridge. howl.In the shadow of Firsthold stood an old cemetery, with pale lichen over the headstones, where the former Kings of Winter buried their loyal subjects.Here they buried the lady, her brother walking restlessly up and down the grave.She traveled to the south, only to return with only bones. Their grandfather, the old Duke Rickard, also went to the south, along with his father's brother Brandon, and two hundred elite warriors under the Duke, but no one returned.Father went south, too, with Arya and Sansa, and Jory and Hullen and Fat Tom and the others, and then mother and Ser Rodrik, and they have not come back yet.Now Robb is going too, and the purpose is not to go to King's Landing to swear allegiance, but to go to Riverrun with a sword in hand.If the father is really in prison, this move is equivalent to sentence him to death.Bran was too scared to know what to do. "If Robb must go, you must watch over him," Bran prayed to the Old Gods as they looked on through the red eyes of the Heart Tree. "Please also look after his men, look after Hal, Quint, Lord Umber, Lady Mormont and the other lords. Also, there is Theon. Please help them defeat the Lannister army , rescued my father and brought him home." A breeze blew through the godswood like a deep sigh, and the red leaves rustled and whispered to each other.Xia Tian showed sharp teeth. "Did you hear their answer, boy?" asked a voice. Bran looked up to see Osha standing across from the pool, right under an old oak tree, its leaves covering her face.Even in manacles and shackles, the Wildling was as agile as a cat.Xia Tian walked around the pool and sniffed at her.The tall woman couldn't help but flinch. "Summer, come here." Bran called.The direwolf took one last sniff, turned and ran back.Bran reached out and hugged it. "What are you doing here?" Bran hadn't seen her since she was captured in the Wolfwood, but he knew she was sent to work in the kitchen. "They are my gods too," Osha said, "beyond the Great Wall, they are the only true gods." Her short brown hair, which gradually grew out, and the plain brown coarse cloth made her look more like a woman.As for her armor and leather vest, they were taken from her when she was arrested. "Gage would let me come here to pray sometimes, when I needed it; and I'd let him lift up my skirt to do errands, when he needed it. It's fine with me, I kinda like his hands The smell of flour on the table, not to mention he is much gentler than Steve." She bowed uncomfortably. "I don't bother, there are still some jars to rinse." "No, stay," Bran ordered her. "You just said you could hear God speak, tell me what that means." Osha studied him. "You ask them, and they are answering. Keep your ears open, listen carefully, and you will hear." Bran listened. "It's just the wind," he said uncertainly after listening for a while, "and the rustling of leaves." "Who do you think sent this wind? Of course it's the gods in the sky." She sat down across the pool, and the chains on her body slammed softly.Mikken had forged a pair of fetters, attached to each ankle by heavy chains; she could walk with small steps, but she could never run, nor climb walls or ride horses. "Boy, they saw you and heard what you said. The sound of the leaves was their answer." "What are they talking about?" "They are mourning. They cannot help your castellan brother where he is going. The old gods have no power in the south, where the weirwoods were cleared thousands of years ago. Without eyes, how will they watch your brother Woolen cloth?" Bran hadn't expected this layer.So he became afraid, if even the gods in the sky could not help his brother, what hope was there?Maybe Osha got it wrong.He tilted his head, wanting to hear it again for himself, this time he could hear the sadness in the wind, but that was all. The rustling sound grew louder, mixed with fuzzy footsteps and low humming, and Ado ran out of the woods with a naked smile on his face. "Hodor!" "He must have heard us," Bran said. "You forgot to dress, Hodor." "Hodor!" Hodor agreed.He was dripping from head to toe, smoking in the cold air.He was covered with brown body hair, as thick as a layer of skin, and his long and large lifeblood hung between his feet. Osha gave him a half-smile. "He's quite a big man," she said. "I dare say there's a Giant in him." "Maester Luwin says there are no giants anymore. They're all dead, like the Children of the Forest. All that's left are their bones, buried in the ground where farmers often turn over when they plow." "You tell Maester Luwin to look outside the Wall," Osha said. "He'll see giants, or they'll come after him. My brother killed one, and she's ten feet tall, and that's kind of Short. They are said to grow to twelve or thirteen feet. They are fierce, hairy, and have sharp teeth. Giantesses have beards like their husbands, making them unrecognizable. Giantesses also seek out humans. When a man is a lover, the blood of the giants is passed down in this way. On the contrary, the woman cannot do it, the male giant is too big, and the girl raped by them is torn apart before she is pregnant." She smiled at him. "Boy, I don't think you understand what I'm talking about, do you?" "I know," Bran insisted.He knew what mating was all about: he'd seen dogs mating in the field, and a stallion riding a mare, but he didn't feel comfortable talking about it.He looked at Hodor. "Go get your clothes, Hodor," he said. "Go and put them on." "Hodor." He retraced his steps, bending over a low-hanging branch. He's really big, Bran thought, watching him go. "Are there really giants outside the Great Wall?" He asked Osha with some hesitation. "It's not just giants, young master, there are things worse than giants. That's what I told your brother when he questioned me, and your old maester, and Greyjoy, who was always smiling. The cold wind has blown, When people leave the fire, they never come back... and if they come back, they are not human anymore. They become ghouls, with blue eyes and cold black hands. You think me and Steve and Harley and Why did those other idiots flee to the South? Mance, a stubborn and childish old boy, thinks he is brave and wants to deal with them, as if the White Walker is no different from the Rangers, but what does he know? How can he call himself "Beyond the Wall" King', after all, isn't it just a stinky crow that flew down from the Shadow Tower? He never tasted winter. I tell you, boy, I was born there, with my mother, my mother's old Mom is like her ancestors for several generations, we are born 'free people', and we remember exactly what it looks like in winter." Osha stood up, the iron chains on her feet rattled. "I tried to tell you that old castellan, I saw him in the arena just yesterday. 'Lord Stark,' I called him, as politely as I could, but he didn't even look at me, and the full Greatjon Umber, a stupid, sweaty cow, pushed me away with a wave of his hand. If that's the case, forget it, and I'll keep my mouth shut and put on my chains. Those who don't want to listen will hear nothing, of course." "Tell me. Robb will listen to what I say, and I know he will." "Really? That's good. My lord, just tell him like this: You are going in the wrong direction, and you should lead your troops to the north. The north is not the south. Do you understand?" Bran nodded. "I'll tell him." However, Robb was not present at dinner in the Great Hall that night.He dined in his study, discussing plans with Lord Rickard, the Greatjon, and the other lords, making the final plans for the upcoming Long March.So Bran had to play the role of master, sitting at the head of the table instead of him, and welcoming Lord Karstark's son and subordinates.They were already seated when Hodor carried Bran into the hall.Hodor knelt down beside the perch as two servants lifted him out of the basket.Bran felt the whole hall go quiet, every pair of strange eyes staring at him. "My lords," Harris Moran announced loudly, "Brandon Stark of Winterfell is here." "Welcome to our fireside," said Bran gruffly. "Let us share food and wine to symbolize the everlasting friendship." Harion Karstark, Lord Karstark's eldest son, bowed, and his brothers followed suit, but when they sat down, amidst the clinking of glasses, he heard the two young The son spoke in a low voice. "...would rather die than linger on like this," said the one named Ed, while the other Torun said that the boy was probably disabled not only physically but also mentally, and was too timid to commit suicide. Crippled, Bran held the knife and thought bitterly, this is him now?Crippled Bran? "I don't want to be disabled either," he whispered fiercely to Maester Luwin sitting on his right. "I want to be a knight." "Some people call my order the 'Knights of the Heart,'" Luwin replied. "Bran, you're a brilliant boy when you put your mind to it. Have you ever considered wearing a maester's necklace? There's no limit to learning, would you?" You can learn anything." "I want to learn magic," Bran told him. "The crow in my dream promised me I could fly." Maester Luwin sighed. "I can teach you history, medicine, and herbs; I can teach you how to communicate with crows, how to build castles; I can teach you how sailors use the stars to determine their course; I can teach you how to calculate the calendar and observe the seasons. In the school of Old Town In the city, they can teach you a thousand other things. But, Bran, no one can teach you magic." "The children of the forest can," Bran said, "the children of the forest will." It reminded him of what he had promised Osha earlier in the godswood, and he told Maester Luwin exactly what she had said. The old bachelor listened politely. "I think this wild woman can teach Old Nan how to tell stories," said Bran quietly when he had finished. "I can talk to her again if you insist, but I think you'd better not take these things." Talk nonsense to your brother. He has enough to worry about, no giants and the dead in the woods. Bran, it was the Lannisters who imprisoned your father, not the Children of the Forest." He patted the cloth Lan arm. "Son, think carefully about what I said." Two days later, when the morning light dyed the thin clouds blown by the strong wind red, Bran was tied to Xiao Wu's back and said goodbye to his brother in the square below the city gate. "You are Lord of Winterfell now," Robb told him.My brother rode a shaggy gray steed, and a shield hung beside him: a wooden shield with iron panels, gray and white, with the head of a snarling direwolf carved on it.He wore a vest of bleached leather over gray chain mail, a sword and dagger at his waist, and a cloak trimmed with down. "You must take my place, as I took my father's place, until we come home." "I know." Bran replied pitifully.He had never felt so alone, so scared.He didn't know how to be a city lord. "Obey Maester Luwin and take good care of Rickon. Tell him I'll be home as soon as the fighting is over." Rickon refused to go downstairs, and he stubbornly hid in the upstairs bedroom with red eyes. "No!" he screamed when Bran asked him if he wanted to say goodbye to Robb. "Don't say goodbye!" "I told him," Bran said, "but he said no one came back." "He can't be a child forever. He's a Stark, and he's almost four," sighed Robb. "Well, mother's coming back soon, and I'll bring father back, I promise you." .” After speaking, he turned his horse's head and ran away quickly.Gray Wind followed up vigorously, running beside the war horse.Harris Moran led the way through the gates, holding the gray and white banner of House Stark fluttering in the wind.Theon Greyjoy and the Greatjon walked on either side of Robb, and the knights followed in two file, their steel spear points gleaming in the sun. He thought uneasily of what Osha had said, that he was going in the wrong direction.For a moment, he wanted to gallop after him, shouting a warning, but Robb disappeared through the gate, and the time was gone. There was cheering from beyond the walls, and Bran knew it was foot soldiers and townspeople lining the streets to see off Robb, and Lord Stark, and the Lord of Winterfell on his steed, his cloak fluttering in the wind, and the gray wind galloping across the road. By the side.It occurred to him that they would never cheer him like this, and he felt a dull pain in his heart.When his father and brother are away, he may be able to temporarily serve as Lord of Winterfell, but he is still "crippled Bran", unable to even dismount himself, unless he falls off. When the cheers in the distance gradually subsided and finally became silent, and the troops in the square had left, Winterfell seemed to be abandoned and lifeless.Bran looked around at the old, weak, women and children left behind... and Hodor.The tall stable boy had a look of loss and fear on his face. "Hodor?" he said sadly. "Hodor." Bran agreed, but he didn't know what that meant.