"Lady Catelyn," Gendry said to Catelyn. "I deeply regret what happened in King's Landing as well."
Catelyn gathered her scattered thoughts. What her uncle, the Blackfish, had told her had nearly shattered her mind. If Lysa was the murderer, then her own unilateral actions had doomed Eddard and her daughters. Catelyn was now utterly dazed.
"I never expected to see you here either, Prince Gendry," Catelyn said. She wanted to rescue her daughters and see her aging father. She also knew her son had to make his position clear today. If he had to bend the knee, he ought to do so on better terms.
Gendry is not Robert, and he and Robb were not foster brothers, but I can only pray they will be as close as brothers, Catelyn reminded herself. But there was little time now. They had to choose. Catelyn had always loathed bastards most of all, but circumstances were stronger than she was.
"Prince Gendry, allow me to introduce the lords who serve under me," Robb said.
"It would be my honor."
"Lord Roose Bolton." Roose's eyes resembled dirty ice. He was neither fat nor thin, and there was very little of the North about him. Yet his manner toward Gendry was astonishingly deferential.
"The Dreadfort is at your command."
"Lord Rickard Karstark." Rickard belonged to a branch of House Stark. His family were all tall and powerfully built, with fierce expressions, coarse beards, and hair falling past their shoulders. Their cloaks were made from bear, seal, and wolf skins.
"Sun's Spear is as well."
"Ser Wylis and his younger brother, Ser Wendel." The two Manderly brothers were extraordinarily fat, just like their father. Wylis, however, was quiet and courteous, while Wendel was loud and rough. Both had great walrus mustaches and heads as bald as