"Lord Eddard." Ser Barristan looked at the gaunt, newly awakened Eddard. He had never been fat, and life and suffering in the Black Cells and the secret passages had ravaged his body and mind. After the Lannisters' defeat, Varys had taken him into Black Gloom's secret passages and dosed him with medicine to make him sleep longer.
"Ser Barristan!" Eddard Stark was startled. "Is this purgatory?"
Ser Barristan was the first person Eddard saw. Meeting him again felt like a lifetime had passed. He was still old yet unbowed, his white hair doing nothing to diminish his upright bearing. His armor was like white, solid ice, and he wore a milky-white cloak.
"No." Ser Barristan Selmy shook his head and gently drew back the curtains, slowly letting light into the room. "This is a room in the Tower of the Hand. Varys has been captured, and you have been rescued."
"The war?" Eddard asked with some hesitation. "We won."
"We won the battle for King's Landing. Joffrey died at the hands of a mob," Ser Barristan answered. "I came to see you first. Once you have recovered, you can soon see your men and kin, Jon Snow and Roose Bolton."
"Jon, Roose..." Eddard murmured the two names. Seeing them again would be sweet indeed. It seemed that although the North had taken part in this war, the true king was still a stag.
"Who commanded?" Eddard asked.
"Prince Gendry commanded the army, Lord Stannis Baratheon the navy, along with myself and Bronze Yohn. The Reach's army also joined the fighting under Lord Mace. Our enemies included not only the Lannisters, but even a combined army from distant Volantis and Slaver's Bay. Your son and your wife's younger brother cut the Lannisters' supply routes on the western front. Though their achievements