The Iron Gate stood wide open. The Crackclawmen swept into the town like a whirlwind, and the soldiers of Maidenpool raised their spears in welcome.
The sept, the wooden inns, the brothels-Maidenpool was still bustling.
Earl William came down from the hilltop castle under the protection of his guards. He was pale, with soft, flabby flesh, and wore a white tunic and red breeches, with a red-gold salmon-shaped brooch fastening his sable cloak at the shoulder.
Earl William dismounted beneath the Golden War Banner and bowed.
"Earl William." Ser Boggs looked at the fat man before him. There was still a hint of Ser Mys in that plump face, but not much.
"Ser Boggs, Earl Raymond, I never expected to meet you here," Earl William said. Although House Darry, House Rykker, and House Mooton were all vassals of Riverrun, they had fought beside Rhaegar Targaryen in the Battle of the Trident. Lord Frey, meanwhile, had only arrived with his men after the war was over.
"War has begun, my lord," Ser Boggs said.
"What can I do?" Earl William did not refuse. He thought of his elder brother. He had not been the heir himself; just like Eddard, war had made him an earl.
"I don't want you. I want your cavalry, your good horses, and your hounds. I mean to cut the supply routes north of King's Landing and sweep through Rosby and Stokeworth," Ser Boggs said.
"I'm nearly out of hounds, but I do have horses and cavalry," Earl William said sheepishly.
"What happened to your hounds?" Earl Raymond asked him.
"A great wolf pack appeared near the Gods Eye. They were said to carry off babies in broad daylight. My sons and I swore to slaughter them, so we took a pack of wolfhounds and tracked them