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GOT Chapter 94: A Burden Too Heavy
🕑 Added 2025-08-26 05:12:57 +0000 UTCKal shot the two of them a sharp glare, silencing their antics.
Without further delay, he spoke the doubts weighing on his mind.
“Listen, brothers—I have no wish to dampen your spirits. It’s true, our victory in this battle is great, and your merits are in no way diminished. But I must remind you of something. Perhaps none of us have yet considered what comes next, or what we now face.”
As his words fell, Kal’s gaze grew heavy, settling on Kossi.
Gap-toothed and whistling through his breath when he spoke, Kossi still understood his lord’s meaning.
“This morning, Lord Kal asked me to ‘question’ some of the Lannister soldiers who had surrendered to us—”
He hesitated as he glanced toward Hoster Blackwood, who sat at the council, and Maester Moser of Raventree Hall. In the end, his eyes returned to Kal, seeking confirmation. Kal met his look and gave a firm nod.
Only then did Kossi dare to voice the information he had wrung from them earlier that day.
“According to what those Lannisters told me, the thousand men who held Raventree were in fact less than a third of the host sent on this raid.”
“The remaining two or three thousand were dispersed under the orders of Lord Tywin Lannister—much like that smaller force we encountered before at Oldstones.”
At these words, the men who had wondered why Kal would strike at their confidence in the wake of such a victory suddenly understood. The grins they had worn faded at once.
Seeing that they now grasped the gravity of the matter, Kal took over where Kossi had left off.
“I think you all know what I mean. The Lannisters’ strategy is clear—they meant to seize Blackwood Vale, use it as a supply base and place of rest, and from here send out raiding parties into the Riverlands, in turn, one after another.”
“In other words, the place where we now sit is not safe at all. On the contrary, because of our victory here, we may well have walked into the Lannisters’ trap.”
“Brothers, our situation is not as good as you believe. We are staring at a hard predicament.”
With Kossi pointing out the problem before them, Kal laid out the conclusion he had drawn from all sides of the news.
At once the council fell silent.
The men, still flushed with triumph from the legendary victory Kal had led them to, now felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads. They exchanged uneasy looks, every one of them jolted awake.
Then, as they realized where the true key to the problem lay, all eyes turned instinctively to the rightful lord of Raventree Hall—Hoster Blackwood, third son of Lord Tytos Blackwood and acting castellan of the castle.
As the silence stretched, Hoster’s face had gone pale. At last, he turned to Kal and asked, “Ser Kal… will King Robert march south with an army? For we are in desperate need of aid—”
When the young “castellan” spoke, Kal gave a slight shake of his head.
“That is precisely the main reason I called this council.”
Kal Stone let his gaze sweep across the hall before turning back to Hoster.
“Lord Hoster, forgive me for not telling you sooner. The truth is, the two hundred riders I led here were never meant for battle.”
“That we managed to take back your family’s castle from the Lannisters… was nothing more than chance.”
Kal paused, giving Hoster Blackwood a moment to take it in.
Only then did he go on, speaking slowly and deliberately.
“Our host has only just left the North. We had only just reached the Twins, taken up quarters with House Frey at the crossing, and we know next to nothing of the current state of the war in the Riverlands or the Westerlands.”
“It was for that reason King Robert commanded us to learn the situation of the war, and the condition at Riverrun in particular.”
At Kal’s words, Hoster and Maester Moser instinctively exchanged a glance, and each saw the same worry reflected in the other’s eyes.
“So, Ser Kal… does this mean you must leave us?” Hoster looked at him, a trace of hope flickering in his eyes.
Even Kossi and the others could not help but turn to their captain at the question.
Yet Kal gave no answer. He remained silent, staring at Hoster and Maester Moser without a word.
Sensing something unusual in Kal’s silence, Maester Moser’s eyes narrowed in thought. After a moment, he spoke up.
“Ser Kal, forgive me for speaking out of turn in your council. But I must say this: given the present state of Raventree Hall, without your aid we are certain to fall once more into a hellish plight.”
“If you leave now, the Blackwood family—utterly unable to resist—will surely suffer the Lannisters’ immediate vengeance. That is a burden we cannot bear—”
“So I beg for your aid. Both House Blackwood and Raventree Hall will be forever grateful for your help!”
From the beginning of the council, Maester Moser had all but treated himself as invisible. Yet now he took up the thread, speaking with heartfelt earnestness to Kal Stone, laying out their plight and pleading for his support.
Hearing this, Hoster too came to his senses and quickly lent his voice to the appeal.
“Yes, Ser Kal Stone, House Blackwood will always be indebted to you for whatever aid you give us!”
At their words, Kal’s face at last showed a trace of response. He let out a worried sigh before speaking slowly, his expression clouded with difficulty.
“Maester Moser, Lord Hoster—I share the same concerns as you. But this is not something I can promise simply because I will it so. I must bear responsibility for the men who follow me.”
“They place their trust in me, entrusting both their honor and their lives to my command. I must weigh this carefully.”
As he spoke, Kal turned back to glance at his companions gathered around the table.
What met his eyes were the burning flames reflected in theirs, and the faint stirrings of emotion upon their faces.
But with those words, the council’s earlier fervor ebbed away into a silence that none could easily break. The mood turned heavy, even tinged with sorrow.
At that moment, Kossi, seated not far from Kal, slowly raised his hand.
Meeting the eyes of the others, he spoke hesitantly, his tone carrying both timidity and doubt.
“My lord Kal… I was thinking—perhaps Lord Hoster might consider taking his family away from here?”
“That is impossible!!”
Kossi had only just opened his mouth when Hoster cut him off with firm, decisive words.
“I cannot abandon Raventree Hall, nor Blackwood Vale—and I will never forsake these people to face this disaster alone!”
“I am their lord now. I have both the duty and the right to shield them from the scourge of war. If I choose to abandon the lands that rightfully belong to House Blackwood, then I am betraying our honor!”
Tall and lanky, somewhat awkward in bearing, Hoster fixed Kossi with a stubborn glare, as if the words just spoken were an insult to House Blackwood itself.
Kossi, for his part, looked utterly bewildered at the boy’s obstinate response. Then, showing not the slightest courtesy, he retorted: “Very well, Lord Hoster. But with what will you protect all that you claim? With the ravens nesting on that dead weirwood?”
“Ser Kal rushing here the very moment he received word to rescue you already counts as disobeying his military orders!”
“He—”
Seeing Hoster’s agitation, Kal quickly raised a hand, pressing downward in a calming gesture to pacify him.
At once, Kossi held his tongue and obediently sank back into his seat, his face expressionless.
Silence returned to the chamber. Kal turned his head toward Hoster Blackwood, whose face was twisted in grim defiance.
“My apologies, Hoster. I’ll offer them on Kossi’s behalf. He does not understand the weight upon you, nor the honor of House Blackwood.”
Having said this, Kal then turned to his own men.
“And Lord Hoster is not wrong. As lord, he cannot simply abandon everything and flee. Still less should he leave the smallfolk, who have sworn their fealty to House Blackwood, to be slaughtered by the enemy. This is his responsibility.”
Looking around at the men, Kal spoke these words in a more conciliatory tone.
“But Ser Kal, what should we do?”
Faced with the deadlock, Jon Snow spoke softly, his voice low and heavy.
As the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark, raised in Winterfell, he could well understand Hoster’s stubbornness.
Yet, as someone who was not of the noble class himself, he could also understand the plight of the common folk—trampled under war like grass beneath the hooves of horses.
Still, in the quiet of the chamber, even his hushed words seemed loud, and when he finished, every gaze turned once more to the man who truly held the power to decide: Ser Kal Stone.
Indeed, this was their dilemma. They could not stay, but neither could they run.
At this moment, duty and honor became shackles, binding each of them in place.
Kal could easily claim the demands of military duty and withdraw with his own men.
Rescuing House Blackwood and this city, as Kossi had said, was already more than mercy.
