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Everyone in the inn's common hall turned at the sound of Robb's fist slamming down on the table.
"Our master had a bit too much to drink. That news got him worked up. It's nothing, nothing at all!"
Seeing how dark Robb's expression had become, Edd hurried to his feet and, with a smile, explained the situation to the other patrons in the hall.
"Adam, where did you hear that? Is that news reliable?"
"That's right. The king was a great warrior when he was young. How could he die so easily?"
"I think you've had too much to drink!"
After Edd's explanation, the patrons of the inn stopped looking at Robb and began questioning Adam, the man who had come bursting in shouting the news.
"I swear by the Seven it's true!
The news came from the soldiers at the main tower. Would anyone dare spread a lie like that just to fool the knights of House Hogg?"
After raising his right hand and swearing he was telling the truth, Adam immediately turned to the innkeeper and revealed the real reason he had come running to deliver the news:
"Old Jess, news like this deserves at least a big mug of your best ale, don't you think?"
The innkeeper knew Adam was not usually the sort to make things up. So he nodded, poured a large mug of frothy ale, and shoved it into his hand.
"So it's true? The king really died on top of whores? That's one for the history of the Seven Kingdoms!"
"Tomorrow we could go to King's Landing and watch the commotion. Do you think they'll hand out food to the smallfolk at the king's funeral?"
"Maybe not at the funeral, but at the new king's coronation there'll definitely be a tourney and a feast for the nobles. Then they should hand out food."
"Noble food is pure luxury! Once I had a thick chestnut soup with cream. Gods... that was good."
The death of the king really was a great event for the smallfolk of the Seven Kingdoms. But what mattered most to them was whether it might bring them something extra.
Struck by that sudden news, and still sorting through his thoughts, Robb finally made a decision.
They would set out that very night and continue on without delay, trying to reach King's Landing as early as possible.
The moment he decided, Robb acted at once. He did not even bother recovering the silver stags they had paid the innkeeper. He simply gathered everyone, mounted up, set the wagons in motion, and hurried out.
...
In the deep darkness of the night, Robb's group pressed onward by the light of the torches they had prepared in advance.
Fortunately, the closer one came to the beginning of the kingsroad, that is, to King's Landing, the better and flatter the road became.
Keeping up that rhythm of advancing, resting, and advancing again, it did not take long for them to reach the Gate of the Gods, one of the entrances to King's Landing.
The Gate of the Gods stood at the northwestern corner of the city walls. Both the iron portcullis and the gate structure itself were covered in extremely detailed carvings of the gods. The eyes carved into the stone gave the impression of following whoever passed beneath them.
The kingsroad coming down from the North entered King's Landing through that very gate.
Before, Ser Rodrik had chosen to circle around and enter through the Old Gate to remain discreet. But the moment he reached the city, Littlefinger, who had already been watching for him, had sent his Gold Cloaks to wait for him.
Since Robb and the others had rushed out while supper was still underway the night before, there was still some time left before dawn when they arrived there.
Even so, many people had already gathered before the Gate of the Gods. Smallfolk, wanderers, merchants, and caravans were all resting there in line, waiting for the city to open at daybreak.
Seeing so many people waiting to enter, Robb, already anxious by temperament, ordered the Winterfell riders to remain there in the queue. Then he took only Edd with him and rode south.
He wanted to see with his own eyes the Mud Gate, the same low and weak gate from his memories, the one Tyrion would later defend, to see whether there was any way in through it.
If that proved possible, then the rescue plan he had been formulating could be revised once again.
Without the wagons slowing them down, Robb and Edd rode swiftly and soon reached the Mud Gate, south of King's Landing.
That entrance stood only forty or fifty yards from the coast and connected the city both to the southern road and to the kingsroad itself.
When they arrived, there were even more people waiting there than at the Gate of the Gods.
Just as Robb was frowning and thinking about how to get into King's Landing as quickly as possible, the Mud Gate opened ahead of time.
"Out of the way! Those in front, clear the road! Make way for the lords!"
Behind the opened gate appeared a small troop of riders, also carrying torches.
At the front rode a knight clearing the way, sword in hand, shouting at those waiting on the road.
The moment Robb saw that knight wearing armor bearing the crowned stag of House Baratheon, his mind raced, but his hands moved even faster. He called to Edd, and the two of them guided their horses out of the way.
The crowd waiting to enter did not dare argue with noble knights. A single misstep could bring disaster down on them.
So the whole line parted to the sides like a wave, leaving the road clear in almost no time at all.
Clop clop clop!
As the force of a little over fifty riders drew near, two young knights stood out more than all the others.
One was tall, with short black hair, handsome, wearing armor bearing the crowned stag of Baratheon, his face taut with urgency.
The other was slender, with long brown hair and a face so beautiful it almost looked like a woman's.
He wore armor engraved with countless flowers and a cloak woven of flowers draped over his shoulders. The whole time, he seemed to be trying to calm the black-haired knight riding beside him.
'Renly Baratheon, Master of Laws in King's Landing. And Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers.'
Robb recognized both of them at once. The moment he saw the first knight in Baratheon armor, a bad feeling had already risen in his chest.
Now, seeing the two of them leaving King's Landing in such haste before dawn, his certainty hardened completely.
His father, Eddard Stark, had almost certainly suffered some kind of setback.
Renly and the others did not stop. They galloped straight past Robb. Even if Robb had not been disguised, they probably still would not have recognized him.
Though, from the look of him, under other circumstances, the two of them might even have taken a little too much interest in him.
Now that he was certain his father had lost control of the situation and that the game in King's Landing had already been decided, Robb, on the contrary, stopped feeling that same blind urgency as before.
The news that King Robert had died early in the arms of prostitutes had deeply shocked him, because he feared Eddard had also been dragged into some change beyond what was supposed to happen.
But after seeing Renly flee, he understood.
His father, alone in King's Landing and without support, could never turn things around. The inevitable outcome was that he would be thrown into a cell.
As for Sansa and Arya, whether events were unfolding as he remembered them or whether both girls were already in Cersei's hands, at least for now their lives were not in immediate danger.
Thinking that through, Robb finally managed to calm himself.
After Renly and his group had gone, the Gold Cloaks slammed the Mud Gate shut again, not allowing anyone else to enter.
Robb carefully examined that gate and the stretch of wall around it. Only then did he turn his horse and ride back north with Edd, in the direction of the Gate of the Gods.
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