Roose Bolton, sitting on horseback, turned slightly to look at the young man beside him as if seeing him for the first time.
If he weren't on a horse, he would have edged away from Jon.
The Lord Leech glanced warily at the Tywin and his son, then back at Jon, whose expression remained completely normal.
He actually dared to make such demands.
If these terms were accepted, what was the point of the Lannisters' scheming?
It would set them back to before Robert's Rebellion.
As for Tyrion, his eyes were wide, staring at Jon like he was looking at a monster.
Who tweaked this kid's settings?
This was definitely not the Jon Snow he knew!
Tyrion looked the boy up and down as if meeting him for the first time.
After hearing Jon's conditions, Tywin said nothing. He simply turned his horse to leave.
In his view, there was no longer any need for negotiation.
But Jon suddenly spoke up:
"It seems Lord Tywin doesn't even care for his eldest son's life."
Tywin, about to leave, stopped abruptly. He turned his horse around and stared coldly at Jon, like a predator locking onto its prey.
The warhorse beneath him, sensing its master's anger, snorted and pawed the ground.
"What do you mean?"
"I think you should be receiving news about Ser Jaime soon... You didn't really think Winterfell only had this little bit of cavalry, did you?" Jon said, revealing half and hiding half, letting the father and son guess the rest.
"What happened to Jaime?" Tyrion asked anxiously.
Jon glanced at Tyrion, acknowledging their brotherly bond, but didn't answer him directly.
Beside him, Roose Bolton was even more surprised. He hadn't received a whisper of news from Robb's side!
It seemed Jon had a "secret channel" to communicate with Robb.
Robb was guarding against me from the start!
Roose felt a surge of dissatisfaction but kept his face impassive, merely tightening his grip on the reins slightly.
I just wanted to command the army to earn a little more glory. Is it necessary for the Stark brothers to be this wary of me?!
Jon looked into Tywin's eyes and continued:
"Please, Lord Tywin, write to King's Landing. Ensure my father's safety. Otherwise, your son, and these tens of thousands of soldiers... I'll see to it that they come to the Riverlands alive, but don't leave alive!"
With that, it was Jon's turn to wheel his horse around and leave.
Tywin stared daggers at Jon's back, as if trying to drill a hole through the annoying boy with his gaze.
The conditions mentioned earlier were nonsense; that last sentence was what Jon really wanted to say.
Save Ned, and the "War of the Five Kings" wouldn't happen.
Fewer people die, more strength saved to fight the White Walkers. Isn't that better for everyone?
After the exchange, both sides departed.
Sure enough, as soon as he returned to camp, Tywin received news from the Golden Tooth—Jaime had been defeated and captured!
"Tyrion! Write to King's Landing immediately. Tell Cersei to guard Ned well! No one is to go near him!"
"Understood!"
Tyrion replied, but felt a twinge of discomfort in his heart.
If he had been the one captured, would his father react the same way?
In Tyrion's view, Tywin marching on the Riverlands was just a pretext.
He realized the relationship between Cersei and Jaime might have been exposed.
So Tywin struck first.
But just then, another raven flew into the Westerlands camp.
The contents of the letter made Tywin's world spin:
Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North, and Hand of the King, has been executed for treason by order of King Joffrey Baratheon I!
"That fool!!!"
Seeing Tywin's expression change, Tyrion stood on his tiptoes to read the letter.
Upon seeing the news, he let out an inhuman roar.
With Ned dead, Jaime was in grave danger!
He wished he could fly to King's Landing right now and strangle Joffrey with his own hands.
After composing himself slightly, Tywin barked a string of orders:
"Tell Kevan to fortify the camp. Have Marbrand increase patrols. Notify the mercenaries at Harrenhal to strengthen their defenses." He then turned to Tyrion.
"You return to King's Landing immediately. Hold the city at all costs!"
Tyrion nodded his large head vigorously and, escorted by Bronn, sped off toward King's Landing.
Only when everyone had left the tent did Tywin finally sit down.
His face was pale, and sweat poured down like rain.
---
In the Northern camp, within Jon's sector, Old York was distributing armor and weapons to the mountain clan veterans.
In truth, Old York was several years older than these veterans.
But as a noble, his living conditions were vastly superior to these mountain folk.
So he actually looked much younger than them.
After Old York's inspection and demands, the veterans' spirits and appearance improved significantly.
At least they didn't look so much like ragtag cannon fodder anymore.
Old York was currently chatting them up.
He learned that the two old men who had stopped Jon to beg for recruitment were named Irvin and Fergus.
They were "old buddies" who had grown up together.
Irvin and Fergus were thrilled to be officially Jon's soldiers now.
Seeing from the dam-digging incident that Old York was one of Jon's few "capable lieutenants," they were eager to curry favor with him.
"Back in Winterfell, Lord Jon defeated a fully armored heavy swordsman with just a wooden stick," Old York boasted. "You guys arrived a bit late. The army's discipline is so good because Lord Jon beat it into them!"
At this point, Irvin suddenly asked, "My Lord, if Lord Jon is such a formidable general, why are there only you and Ser Tommen serving under him?"
"Yeah, why is that?"
"Because..." Old York stammered for a moment, then his face darkened. "It's training time now! I won't lower my standards just because you're old. Anyone dragging their feet on the battlefield will be treated as a deserter! Now go train!"
Hearing Old York's scolding, the veterans scrambled off to drill.
Thinking back to that day, Old York blushed slightly.
Remembering Jon's raven, he quickly snapped to attention. If he slept too soundly again, ten heads wouldn't be enough to pay for it.
Old York glanced toward the Westerlands camp, wondering how Jon's talk with Lord Tywin had gone.
Soon, Jon returned to camp, and Old York hurried over to ask.
On the way back, Jon had uncharacteristically explained things to Roose Bolton.
He told Roose that the bit about Jaime was actually a bluff he made up.
Although Jon didn't want to trust the Lord Leech, Roose didn't genuinely flip sides until Stannis was defeated at King's Landing and the Lannisters allied with the Tyrells of Highgarden to form the "Lion-Rose Alliance."
After all, you don't know the power of House Tyrell until they mobilize—suddenly producing an army of seventy or eighty thousand.
That kind of power was terrifying.
The alliance between Lannister and Tyrell basically locked in the victory.
Jon didn't want Roose Bolton to turn traitor out of suspicion before the political tides actually turned.
At least for now, they were all eating from the same pot.
Jon just hoped Ned could survive. Otherwise, there were going to be a lot more battles to fight.