Still, Ramsay's plan had been doomed to fail no matter what-not because of any flaw in his supposed scheming, but because of Robb Stark's trust in his bastard brother.
Robb had not even sent anyone to verify the claims in the letter. Relying on his knowledge of Jon and his trust in him, he had simply written back to tell him about the letter informing on him.
What he had not expected, however, was that Jon, Ramsay, and their men had already left the Dreadfort before his reply had even flown out of Winterfell.
Ever since Jon had discussed sending troops with Roose Bolton, he had devoted almost all his time to preparing for it, rarely returning to Roose Bolton's side to perform his duties as a squire.
After all, they were doing this in answer to Robb's call, so Jon took it very seriously and personally involved himself in almost everything. Every day, he rose before dawn to check the troop rosters and count their weapons and provisions. He even checked every soldier's horses and equipment himself, never slacking in the slightest.
He took such a hands-on approach partly because he genuinely cared about supporting Winterfell's march north, and partly because organizing the troops gave him an excuse to learn more about House Bolton's true strength, allowing House Stark to take concrete precautions against the Dreadfort.
Late on the night before Jon and the others left the Dreadfort, Roose Bolton sat in his study with a raven-borne letter spread before him. It had come from his wife, Walda Frey, far away at the Twins.
There was little in the letter. She merely said that all was well with her at the Twins, but that House Frey's old lord, Walder Frey, had been in poor health lately and might not