Qarl the Maid

He gave me more smiles than my father and Eddard Starktogether. Even Robb ... he ought to have won a smile the day he’d saved Branfrom that Wildling, but instead he’d gotten a scolding, as if he were somecook who’d burned the stew.

ememberinghow elated he’d felt after the Whispering Wood, and wondering why this didnot taste as sweet.

He could imagine what Eddard Stark wouldhave said. Yet that thought made him angry too. Stark is dead and rotting, andnaught to me, he reminded himself.

“You will come as well. You command here. The offering should comefrom you.”That was more than Theon could stomach. “You are the priest, Uncle, Ileave the god to you. Do me the same kindness and leave the battles to me.”

THEON

“Tyrion, I know we do not always agree on policy, but it seems to me that Iwas wrong about you. You are not so big a fool as I imagined. In truth, Irealize now that you have been a great help. For that I thank you. You mustforgive me if I have spoken to you harshly in the past.”“Must I?” He gave her a shrug, a smile. “Sweet sister, you have saidnothing that requires forgiveness.”“Today, you mean?” They both laughed ... and Cersei leaned over andplanted a quick, soft kiss on his brow.

Littlefinger glanced at Tyrion with a sly smile. “I shall need to give thatsome consideration. No doubt I’ll think of something.”

“You mean to send one of the council?”

“Joffrey is betrothed to Sansa Stark,” Cersei objected.“Marriage contracts can be broken. What advantage is there in wedding theking to the daughter of a dead traitor?”

“Dear dear Petyr,” said Varys, “are you not concerned that yours might bethe next name on the Hand’s little list?”“Before you, Varys? I should never dream of it.”“Mayhaps we will be brothers on the Wall together, you and I.” Varysgiggled again.

Several men-at-arms believe a woman did the fell deed, but cannotagree on which woman

“It will not matter. The dream was green, Bran, and the green dreams donot lie.”

“I dreamed of theman who came today, the one they call Reek. You and your brother lay deadat his feet, and he was skinning off your faces with a long red blade.”

“Why would the gods send a warning if wecan’t heed it and change what’s to come?”“I don’t know,” Jojen said sadly

Ser Rodrik frowned. “Well, should it happen that I need to ride againstthese raiders myself, I shan’t take Alebelly, then. He didn’t see me drowned,did he? No? Good.”

Raiders in longships, plundering fishing villages. Raping andburning. Leobald Tallhart has sent his nephew Benfred to deal with them, butI expect they’ll take to their ships and flee at the first sight of armed men.”

Bran had heardmen saying that when Ser Rodrik had smashed down the door he found herwith her mouth all bloody and her fingers chewed off.

The Bastard himself was dead,

him murder LadyHornwood,

Alebelly was the only one who paid the warning any heed. He went to talkto Jojen himself, and afterward stopped bathing and refused to go near thewell. Finally he stank so bad that six of the other guards threw him into a tubof scalding water and scrubbed him raw while he screamed that they weregoing to drown him like the frogboy had said.

“A knight is what you want. A warg is what you are. You can’t change that,Bran, you can’t deny it or push it away. You are the winged wolf, but you willnever fly.” Jojen got up and walked to the window. “Unless you open youreye.” He put two fingers together and poked Bran in the forehead, hard.

“Warg,” said Jojen Reed.Bran looked at him, his eyes wide. “What?”“Warg. Shapechanger. Beastling. That is what they will call you, if theyshould ever hear of your wolf dreams.”

“Does my lord prince believe me now? Will he trust my words, no matterhow queer they sound in his ears?”Bran nodded.“It is the sea that comes.”“The sea?”

“The way’s easy. Look for the Ice Dragon, and chase the blue star in therider’s eye.”

They like thetaste of this dish better than I do.

Aegon

Bran was glad for Robb’s victory, but disquieted as well. He rememberedwhat Osha had said the day that his brother had led his army out of Winterfell.He’s marching the wrong way, the wildling woman had insisted.“Sadly, no victory is without cost.” Maester Luwin turned to the Walders.“My lords, your uncle Ser Stevron Frey was among those who lost their livesat Oxcross. He took a wound in the battle, Robb writes. It was not thought tobe serious, but three days later he died in his tent, asleep.”Big Walder shrugged. “He was very old. Five-and-sixty, I think. Too old forbattles. He was always saying he was tired.”

sometimes Rickon forgot ... willfully,

Even before Jon stood and shook it out, he knew what he had: the blackcloak of a Sworn Brother of the Night’s Watch.

. Dragonglass.What the maesters call obsidian.

“There’s no smellto cold.”There is, thought Jon, remembering the night in the Lord Commander’schambers. It smells like death.

Ghost balked again. He paddedforward warily to sniff at the gap in the stones, and then retreated, as if he didnot like what he’d smelled.

As the long fingers of dawn

“Let the three of you call for a GreatCouncil, such as the realm has not seen for a hundred years. We will send toWinterfell, so Bran may tell his tale and all men may know the Lannisters forthe true usurpers. Let the assembled lords of the Seven Kingdoms choose who

“Bran knowstoo,” she whispered, lowering her head. Gods be good, he must have seensomething, heard something, that was why they tried to kill him in his bed.

Would I do any less for my own? Catelynclenched her hands, feeling the tightness in her scarred fingers where theassassin’s steel had cut to the bone as she fought to save her son.

There was as much beauty in the Crone as in the Maiden, and theMother could be fiercer than the Warrior when her children were in danger.Yes ..

that it was hersister’s face on the wall, though the eyes were harder than she recalled, notLysa’s eyes but Cersei’s. Cersei is a mother too. No matter who fathered thosechildren, she felt them kick inside her, brought them forth with her pain andblood, nursed them at her breast. If they are truly Jaime’s ...“Does Cersei pray to you too, my lady?” Catelyn asked the Mother. Shecould see the proud, cold, lovely features of the Lannister queen etched upon

but the truth was that food had lost its savor in aworld without Ned. When they took his head off, they killed me too

I have come so manythousands of leagues, and for what? Who have I served? I have lost mydaughters, Robb does not want me, and Bran and Rickon must surely think mea cold and unnatural mother. I was not even with Ned when he died ...

She was always so calm, Catelyn thought,remembering her mother’s soft hands, her warm smile. If she had lived, howdifferent our lives might have been. She wondered what Lady Minisa wouldmake of her eldest daughter, kneeling here before her.

She evenglimpsed Arya in those lines, just for an instant.

Jon Snow.

And the seventh face ... the Stranger was neither male nor female, yet both,ever the outcast, the wanderer from far places, less and more than human,unknown and unknowable. Here the face was a black oval, a shadow withstars for eyes.

my own sons as well. Watch over Robb and Bran and Rickon. Would that Iwere with them.”A crack ran down through the Mother’s left eye. It made her look as if shewere crying.

A lie came to her suddenly, but itseemed so right that she blurted it out at once. “This tower was where myfather’s men were slain. Their ghosts would give me terrible dreams, and Iwould see their blood wherever I looked.”

With Chellaor Timett by your side, no one would dare offer you harm.”

I pray for Robb’s victory and Joffrey’s death ... and for home. ForWinterfell.

You are a child still, are you not? Orhave you flowered?”

Sorcery is the sauce fools spoon over failure to hide theflavor of their own incompetence

They’ve put me in Arya’s oldbedchamber, from when Father was the Hand of the King. All her things aregone and the furnishings have been moved around, but it’s the same ...

. One was gold and one was silver and one wasmade of human ears.

“Nothing to say, Your Grace?” his uncle went on. “Good. Learn to use yourears more and your mouth less, or your reign will be shorter than I am.Wanton brutality is no way to win your people’s love ... or your queen’s.”

Boros slammed a fist into Sansa’s belly, driving the air out of her. Whenshe doubled over, the knight grabbed her hair and drew his sword, and for onehideous instant she was certain he meant to open her throat. As he laid the flatof the blade across her thighs, she thought her legs might break from the forceof the blow. Sansa screamed. Tears welled in her eyes. It will be over soon.She soon lost count of the blows.“Enough,” she heard the Hound rasp.“No it isn’t,” the king replied. “Boros, make her naked.”Boros shoved a meaty hand down the front of Sansa’s bodice and gave ahard yank. The silk came tearing away, baring her to the waist. Sansa coveredher breasts with her hands. She could hear sniggers, far off and cruel. “Beather bloody,” Joffrey said, “we’ll see how her brother fancies—”

“Using some vilesorcery, your brother fell upon Ser Stafford Lannister with an army of wargs,not three days ride from Lannisport. Thousands of good men were butcheredas they slept, without the chance to lift sword. After the slaughter, thenorthmen feasted on the flesh of the slain.”

A yellowcat was dying on the ground, mewling piteously, a crossbow quarrel through

ut her king, her Robb, had more wisdom at fifteen than thisyouth had ever learned. Or so she prayed.

Renly laughed. “Loras, stay and help me pray. It’s been so long I’ve quiteforgotten how.

Catelyn heard someone snigger behind her. She loves him, poor thing, shethought sadly. She’d play his squire just to touch him, and never care howgreat a fool they think her.

I have failed Robb as I failed Ned, Catelyn thought.

It is past time I went back toRiverrun to close my father’s eyes, she thought. That much at least I can do. Imay be a poor envoy, but I am a good mourner, gods save me.

“—humble?” Catelyn supplied.Renly laughed. “You must allow a king some flaws, my lady.”

a hundred thousand swords andspears and pikes.

“We shall see, brother.” Some of the light seemed to go out of the worldwhen Stannis slid his sword back into its scabbard. “Come the dawn, we shallsee.”

Cersei Lannister is laughing herself breathless, Catelyn thought wearily.

If truth be told, I’ve never liked you, Stannis, but you are my own blood,and I have no wish to slay you. So if it is Storm’s End you want, take it ... asa brother’s gift. As Robert once gave it to me, I give it to you.”“It is not yours to give. It is mine by rights.”Sighing, Renly half turned in the saddle. “What am I to do with this brotherof mine, Brienne? He refuses my peach, he refuses my castle, he evenshunned my wedding ...”“We both know your wedding was a mummer’s farce. A year ago you werescheming to make the girl one of Robert’s whores.”“A year ago I was scheming to make the girl Robert’s queen,” Renly said,“but what does it matter? The boar got Robert and I got Margaery. You’ll bepleased to know she came to me a maid.”“In your bed she’s like to die that way.”“Oh, I expect I’ll get a son on her within the year. Pray, how many sons doyou have, Stannis? Oh, yes—none.” Renly smiled innocently. “As to yourdaughter, I understand. If my wife looked like yours, I’d send my fool toservice her as well.”

but before he could draw steel his brother produced ... a peach.“Would you like one, brother?” Renly asked, smiling. “From Highgarden.You’ve never tasted anything so sweet, I promise you.” He took a bite. Juiceran from the corner of his mouth.“I did not come here to eat fruit.” Stannis was fuming.“My lords!” Catelyn said.

Would even Cersei be so mad? Catelyn was speechless.

“The whole of the realm denies it, brother,” said Renly. “Old men deny itwith their death rattle, and unborn children deny it in their mothers’ wombs.They deny it in Dorne and they deny it on the Wall. No one wants you fortheir king. Sorry.”

“And brothers,” a cheerful voice called out behind her.

“I am sorry for your lord’s death,” he said, “though EddardStark was no friend to me.”“He was never your enemy, my lord. When the Lords Tyrell and Redwyneheld you prisoned in that castle, starving, it was Eddard Stark who broke thesiege.”“At my brother’s command, not for love of me,” Stannis answered. “LordEddard did his duty, I will not deny it. Did I ever do less? I should have beenRobert’s Hand.”“That was your brother’s will. Ned never wanted it.”“Yet he took it. That which should have been mine. Still, I give you myword, you shall have justice for his murder.”

The songs said that Storm’s End had been raised in ancient days by Durran,the first Storm King, who had won the love of the fair Elenei, daughter of thesea god and the goddess of the wind. On the night of their wedding, Eleneihad yielded her maidenhood to a mortal’s love and thus doomed herself to amortal’s death, and her grieving parents had unleashed their wrath and sentthe winds and waters to batter down Durran’s hold. His friends and brothersand wedding guests were crushed beneath collapsing walls or blown out tosea, but Elenei sheltered Durran within her arms so he took no harm, andwhen the dawn came at last he declared war upon the gods and vowed torebuild.

Catelyn wondered how long the grove had stood, and whetherNed had rested here when he led his host south to lift the last siege of Storm’sEnd. He had won a great victory that day, all the greater for being bloodless.Gods grant that I shall do the same, Catelyn prayed.

right to Gregor’s face. Ser, he never blinks, just says, ‘She is now,’ tosses the

Arya was dreaming of wolves running wild through the wood

I should have let the fire have them. Gendry said to, I should have listened.If she hadn’t thrown them that axe they’d all be dead.

en all the way around the lake chasing Beric Dondarrionand slaying rebels. We weren’t rebels, Arya thought. We were the Night’sWatch; the Night’s Watch takes no side.

When Arya askedwho it was, one of the guards told her that Lord Cerwyn had died.

When she thought of seeing Robb’s face again Arya had to bite her lip. And Iwant to see Jon too, and Bran and Rickon, and Mother. Even Sansa ... I’ll kissher and beg her pardons like a proper lady, she’ll like that.

After thehanged men had stopped kicking, Vargo Hoat and Ser Harys embraced andkissed and swore to love each other always as Lord Tywin looked on.

The Brave Companions

He could never remember that she was nowWeasel and kept calling her Arry, even though he knew she was a girl. Oncehe tried to slip her a hot apple tart, but he made such a clumsy job of it thattwo of the cooks saw. They took the tart away and beat him with a bigwooden spoon.

“So I’ve noted. Tell me—did Cersei have you knighted before or after shetook you into her bed?”The flicker in Lancel’s green eyes was all the admission Tyrion needed. SoVarys told it true. Well, no one can ever claim that my sister does not love herfamily. “What, nothing to say? No more warnings for me, ser?”

She paid that no heed. “You were sitting at supper, but instead of a servant,Maester Luwin brought you your food. He served you the king’s cut off theroast, the meat rare and bloody, but with a savory smell that made everyone’smouth water. The meat he served the Freys was old and grey and dead. Yetthey liked their supper better than you liked yours.”

“Perhaps magic was once a mighty force in the world, but no longer. Whatlittle remains is no more than the wisp of smoke that lingers in the air after agreat fire has burned out, and even that is fading. Valyria was the last ember,and Valyria is gone. The dragons are no more, the giants are dead, thechildren of the forest forgotten with all their lore.

but in the course oftime, mountains rise and fall, rivers change their courses, stars fall from thesky, and great cities sink beneath the sea. Even gods die, we think. Everythingchanges.

“Only one maester in ahundred wears such a link. This signifies that I have studied what the Citadelcalls the higher mysteries—magic, for want of a better word. A fascinatingpursuit, but of small use, which is why so few maesters trouble themselveswith it.

Supposedly the greenseers also hadpower over the beasts of the wood and the birds in the trees. Even fish. Doesthe Reed boy claim such powers?”“No. I don’t think. But he has dreams that come true sometimes, Meerasays.”“All of us have dreams that come true sometimes. You dreamed of yourlord father in the crypts before we knew he was dead, remember?”“Rickon did too. We dreamed the same dream.”

“There’s no need. Today is not the day I die.”“Do it!” she screamed, and her brother scrambled up the trunk

and the golden man, the queen’s brother

“Beyond the Wall.” Meera Reed hung the net from her belt. “When Jojentold our lord father what he’d dreamed, he sent us to Winterfell.”“How would I break the chains, Jojen?” Bran asked.“Open your eye.”“They are open. Can’t you see?”“Two are open.” Jojen pointed. “One, two.”“I only have two.”“You have three.

“My brother has the greensight,” said Meera. “He dreams things thathaven’t happened, but sometimes they do.”“There is no sometimes, Meera.” A look passed between them, him sad, herdefiant.

Sitting cross-legged under the weirwood, Jojen Reed regarded himsolemnly. “It would be good if you left Winterfell, Bran.”“It would?”“Yes. And sooner rather than later.”

by seizing Lady Hornwood as she returned from the harvest feast, marryingher that very night even though he was young enough to be her son.

“My father taught me. We have no knights at Greywater. No master-at-arms, and no maester.”“Who keeps your ravens?”She smiled. “Ravens can’t find Greywater Watch, no more than ourenemies can.”“Why not?”“Because it moves,” she told him

Sometimes he thinks of me as a child he must protect, andsometimes as a woman he would like to bed, but does he ever truly see me ashis queen?

“Then I grieve for you, Dragonmother, and for bleeding Westeros, bereft ofits rightful king.”Beneath Dany’s gentle fingers, green Rhaegal stared at the stranger witheyes of molten gold.

“Ned Stark a traitor?” Ser Jorah snorted. “Not bloody likely. The LongSummer will come again before that one would besmirch his precious honor.”

Usurper’s dogs, cold-eyed Eddard Stark with his frozen heart,

Dany had no wish to reduce King’s Landing to a blackened ruin full ofunquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. I want to make my kingdombeautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I wantmy people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiledfor my father.

Aegon’s Red Keep had a pool like this, and fragrantgardens full of lavender and mint. It must, surely. Viserys always said theSeven Kingdoms were more beautiful than any other place in the world.

and a great beak of a nose crusted with rubies,opals, and flakes of jade.

My great bear, Dany thought. I am his queen, but I will always be his cubas well, and he will always guard me. It made her feel safe, but sad as well.She wished she could love him better than she did.

“Qarth itself is hers, she has no need of baubles,” blue-lipped Pyat Preesang out from her other side. “It shall be as I promised, Khaleesi. Come withme to the House of the Undying, and you shall drink of truth and wisdom.”

triped zorses

Every night Arya would say their names. “Ser Gregor,” she’d whisper toher stone pillow. “Dunsen, Polliver, Chiswyck, Raff the Sweetling. TheTickler and the Hound. Ser Amory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, QueenCersei.” Back in Winterfell, Arya had prayed with her mother in the sept andwith her father in the godswood, but there were no gods on the road toHarrenhal, and her names were the only prayer she cared to remember.

One boy of three would not stop callingfor his father, so they smashed his face in with a spiked mace.

he Mountain would come into the storehouse after he had broken his fastand pick one of the prisoners for questioning. The village folk would neverlook at him. Maybe they thought that if they did not notice him, he would notnotice them ... but he saw them anyway and picked whom he liked. Therewas no place to hide, no tricks to play, no way to be safe.

“How many have you betrayed, I wonder? Aerys, Eddard Stark,me ... King Robert as well? Lord Arryn, Prince Rhaegar? Where does itbegin, Pycelle?” He knew where it ended.

’twas I whobid Aerys open his gates ...”That took Tyrion by surprise. He had been no more than an ugly boy atCasterly Rock when the city fell. “So the Sack of King’s Landing was yourwork as well?”

cut off his manhood and feed it to the goats.”Shagga hefted the huge double-bladed axe. “There are no goats, Halfman.”“Make do.”Roaring, Shagga leapt forward. Pycelle shrieked and wet the bed, urinespraying in all directions as he tried to scramble back out of reach.

A thief, a poisoner, a mummer, and a murderer.”“Put them in crimson cloaks and lion helms, they’ll look no different fromany other guardsmen. I searched for some time for a ruse that might get theminto Riverrun before I thought to hide them in plain sight. They’ll ride in bythe main gate, flying Lannister banners and escorting Lord Eddard’s bones.”He smiled crookedly. “Four men alone would be watched vigilantly. Four

and to Jon Snow as well.

Ser Alliser frowned uncomfortably. “It ... rotted to pieces while I waited,unheard. There’s naught left to show but bones.”

Ser Ilyn Payne stood mute, the hilt of Eddard Stark’s greatsword rising overone shoulder. “Ice,”

Is this the Cersei that Jaime sees? When she smiled, you saw how beautifulshe was, truly. I loved a maid as fair as summer, with sunlight in her hair. Healmost felt sorry for poisoning her.

pinch of fine powder into hers.

Tyrion threw back his head and roared. They laughed together. Cerseipulled him off the bed and whirled him around and even hugged him, for amoment as giddy as a girl. By the time she let go of him, Tyrion wasbreathless and dizzy. He staggered to her sideboard and put out a hand tosteady himself.

Renly are fighting each other?” When he nodded, Cersei began to chuckle.“Gods be good,” she gasped, “I’m starting to believe that Robert was theclever one.”

Is this the bed where Robert died? I’m surprised you kept it.”“It gives me sweet dreams,” she said

At sixteen,

She laughed. “That’s fair. I liked you better when you were nine.”

Outside the rain was falling harder than ever.

When my sons

“There’s my lord husband.” His sister reached down inside her gown anddrew a dirk from between her breasts. “And here’s my sweet suckling babe.”

Lord Balon occupied the Seastone Chair, carved in theshape of a great kraken from an immense block of oily black stone. Legendsaid that the First Men had found it standing on the shore of Old Wyk when

he thought, outraged,and she said ... oh, gods, and I said ... He groaned. He could not possiblyhave made a more appalling fool of himself

The lout paid him no mind. His face broke into a huge gap-toothed smileand he said, “Lady Asha. You’re back.”“Last night,” she said. “I sailed from Great Wyk with Lord Goodbrother,and spent the night at the inn. My little brother was kind enough to let me ridewith him from Lordsport.” She kissed one of the dogs on the nose and grinnedat Theon.

Asha’s

“Smiler.” He gave her a hand, and pulled her up in front of him, where hecould put his arms around her as they rode. “I knew a man once who told methat I smiled at the wrong things.”

but Theonnoted that oarsmen and townfolk alike grew quiet as they passed, andacknowledged him with respectful bows of the head. They have finallylearned who I am, he thought. And past time too

“You would be wherever you liked.”“I like to be on top.”Where has this wench been all my life?

“I’m Esgred. Ambrode’s daughter, and wife to Sigrin.”

Ironborn, he knew at a glance; lean and long-legged, with black hair cut short,wind-chafed skin, strong sure hands, a dirk at her belt. Her nose was too bigand too sharp for her thin face, but her smile made up for it. He judged her afew years older than he was, but no more than five-and-twenty. She moved asif she were used to a deck beneath her feet.

Three hundred, thought Jon, against the fury of the wild.

who blew the Horn ofWinter and woke giants from the earth.

finished. “A bannerman who is brutal or unjust dishonors his liege lord aswell as himself.”

“My father ...” He hesitated.“Go on, Jon. Say what you would say.”“My father once told me that some men are not worth having,” Jon

“I have no time for this, I have horses to groom and saddle.” Jon walkedaway as confused as he was angry. Sam’s heart was as big as the rest of him,but for all his reading he could be as thick as Grenn at times. It wasimpossible, and dishonorable besides. So why do I feel so ashamed?

“There’s always a bear,” declared Dolorous Edd in his usual tone ofgloomy resignation. “One killed my brother when I was young. Afterward itwore his teeth around its neck on a leather thong. And they were good teethtoo, better than mine. I’ve had nothing but trouble with my teeth.”

“The cold gods,” she said. “The ones in the night. The white shadows.”

He gives the boys to the gods. Come the white cold,he does, and of late it comes more often. That’s why he started giving themsheep, even though he has a taste for mutton. Only now the sheep’s gone too.Next it will be dogs, till ...” She lowered her eyes and stroked her belly

It’s for thebaby I have to go.”

So there is magic beyond the Wall after all. He found himself thinking ofhis sisters, perhaps because he’d dreamed of them last night. Sansa would callthis an enchantment, and tears would fill her eyes at the wonder of it, butArya would run out laughing and shouting, wanting to touch it all.

“Are you one of Craster’s daughters?” he asked.She put a hand over her belly. “Wife now.”

A dogcame sniffing round his leg. He kicked it and sent it off yipping.

So this is a wildling. Jonremembered Old Nan’s tales of the savage folk who drank blood from humanskulls. Craster seemed to be drinking a thin yellow beer from a chipped stonecup. Perhaps he had not heard the stories.

A flat nose and a drooping mouth gave hima cruel look, and one of his ears was missing.

As if Samwell Tarlyneeded warning on that score.

“The gods are good; Craster’s still there.”

“These are no Lannisters, my liege. It’s Lord Stannis at your gates. KingStannis, he calls himself now.”

If your son supports me as his fathersupported Robert, he’ll not find me ungenerous. I will gladly confirm him inall his lands, titles, and honors. He can rule in Winterfell as he pleases. He caneven go on calling himself King in the North if he likes, so long as he bendsthe knee and does me homage as his overlord. King is only a word, but fealty,loyalty, service ... those I must have.”

Had you stayed, and lent your support to Ned, he might still be alive,Catelyn thought bitterly.

“Lady Catelyn, you are wrong.” Brienne regarded her with eyes as blue asher armor. “Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die inbattle, they will surely sing of us, and it’s always summer in the songs. In thesongs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is alwaysshining.”

Ser Mark Mullendore brought a black-and-whitemonkey and fed him morsels from his own plate,

gazing back at her as if from the bottom of adeep green pond. The face of a drowned woman, Catelyn thought. Can youdrown in grief?

Pity filled Catelyn’s heart. Is there any creature on earth as unfortunate as anugly woman?

last mounted of one hundred sixteen knights.

“Because he is no man, my lady. That’s Brienne ofTarth, daughter to Lord Selwyn the Evenstar.”

The boy might have been as comelyas his sister, but the broken lip, unfocused eyes, and blood trickling throughhis matted hair made it hard to be certain.

the girl no older than Robb, very pretty, with a doe’s softeyes and a mane of curling brown hair that fell about her shoulders in lazyringlets. Her smile was shy and sweet.

The crowned stag decorated the king’s green velvet tunic as well, workedin gold thread upon his chest; the Baratheon sigil in the colors of Highgarden.

This is madness, Catelyn thought. Real enemies on every side and half therealm in flames, and Renly sits here playing at war like a boy with his firstwooden sword.

a big knight in blue armor. His steel was a deep cobalt, even the bluntmorningstar he wielded with such deadly effect, his mount barded in thequartered sun-and-moon heraldry of House Tarth.

Fate drives me south and south again, Catelyn thought as she sipped theastringent tea, when it is north I should be going, north to home. She hadwritten to Bran and Rickon, that last night at Riverrun. I do not forget you, mysweet ones, you must believe that. It is only that your brother needs me more.

Still, that leavetaking was hard, hard. He did not evenknow her when she came to say farewell. “Minisa,” he called her, “where arethe children? My little Cat, my sweet Lysa ...” Catelyn had kissed him on thebrow and told him his babes were well. “Wait for me, my lord,” she said ashis eyes closed. “I waited for you, oh, so many times. Now you must wait forme.”

“He wants you to march on Harrenhal, ask your uncle Brynden if—”“I said nothing of Harrenhal,” Robb said

howevermuch

Sweet it was, sweet and gone too soon. Dawn came cruel, a dagger of light.She woke aching and alone and weary; weary of riding, weary of hurting,weary of duty. I want to weep, she thought. I want to be comforted. I’m sotired of being strong. I want to be foolish and frightened for once. Just for asmall while, that’s all ... a day ... an hour ...

, Catelyn dreamt that Bran waswhole again, that Arya and Sansa held hands, that Rickon was still a babe ather breast. Robb, crownless, played with a wooden sword, and when all weresafe asleep, she found Ned in her bed, smiling.

Yet at the brush of those fingers the wood dissolved and the veryground turned to smoke beneath his feet and swirled away laughing, and thenhe was spinning and falling, falling, falling ...

“They will be bigger still before they are grown,” the young male said,watching them with eyes large, green, and unafraid. “The black one is full offear and rage, but the grey is strong ... stronger than he knows ... can you feelhim, sister?”

blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star. They called him theSword of the Morning, and he would have killed me but for Howland Reed.”Father had gotten sad then, and he would say no more.

He tried to recall all he had beentaught of the crannogmen, who dwelt amongst the bogs of the Neck andseldom left their wetlands. They were a poor folk, fishers and frog-hunterswho lived in houses of thatch and woven reeds on floating islands hidden inthe deeps of the swamp. It was said that they were a cowardly people whofought with poisoned weapons and preferred to hide from foes rather thanface them in open battle.

“We swear it by ice and fire,” they finished together.

My lord father has sent us here to say the words again, for all ourpeople.”

“The Lady Meera of House Reed,” the rotund guardsman bellowed overthe clamor. “With her brother, Jojen, of Greywater Watch.”

He looked up and down the benches at all the faces happy and sad, andwondered who would be missing next year and the year after.

UncleBenjen had been there too, all in black. Bran and his brothers and sisters satwith the king’s children, Joffrey and Tommen and Princess Myrcella, who’dspent the whole meal gazing at Robb with adoring eyes. Arya made facesacross the table when no one was looking; Sansa listened raptly while theking’s high harper sang songs of chivalry, and Rickon kept asking why Jonwasn’t with them. “Because he’s a bastard,” Bran finally had to whisper tohim.And now they are all gone. It was as if some cruel god had reached downwith a great hand and swept them all away, the girls to captivity, Jon to theWall, Robb and Mother to war, King Robert and Father to their graves, andperhaps Uncle Benjen as well ..

He sent sweets to Hodor and Old Nan as well, for no reason but he lovedthem.

He had refused to let anyone cut it since their mother hadgone.

“And if Robb Stark marches?”“Harrenhal is close enough to the fords of the Trident so that Roose Boltoncannot bring the northern foot across to join with the Young Wolf’s horse.Stark cannot march on King’s Landing without taking Harrenhal first, and

“If it was Father who’d been taken captive, Jaimewould not be sitting by idly, I promise you.”

Cersei sniffed. “I should have been born a man. I would have no need ofany of you then. None of this would have been allowed to happen. How couldJaime let himself be captured by that boy? And Father, I trusted in him, foolthat I am, but where is he now that he’s wanted? What is he doing?”

Tyrion Lannister could not have been more astonished if Aegon theConqueror himself had burst into the room, riding on a dragon and jugglinglemon pies. He had not seen his sister weep since they were children togetherat Casterly Rock. Awkwardly, he took a step toward her. When your sistercries, you were supposed to comfort her ... but this was Cersei! He reached atentative hand for her shoulder.“Don’t touch me,” she said, wrenching away. It should not have hurt, yet itdid, more than any slap. Red-faced, as angry as she was grief-stricken, Cerseistruggled for breath. “Don’t look at me, not ... not like this ... not you.”

Lord Stark had probablyhad his delusions as well.

I say that Myrcella will not be shipped off to thisDornishman the way I was shipped to Robert Baratheon.”

What a disgusting little worm you are. Myrcella is my only daughter. Didyou truly imagine that I would allow you to sell her like a bag of oats?”

piping of a twisted little monkey demon.

Lord Stannis was sailing his fleet up theBlackwater Rush. Well, it would seem I have a goodly stock of wildfire, butstill ...

The boy does not want too much. Only half the realm

The riverlords are burning their own crops to try and starve us, and your father’sforagers are torching every village they take and putting the smallfolk to thesword.”That was the way of war. The smallfolk were slaughtered, while thehighborn were held for ransom.

“My lord. Your cousin Cleos Frey is here, come fromRiverrun under a peace banner with a letter from Robb Stark.”

King Aerys used you to roast the flesh off his enemies.

Dondarrion,

She never saw where the giant hadcome from. Three black dogs raced across his faded yellow surcoat,

They took Needle. The shame of that hurt worse than thepain, and the pain hurt a lot. Jon had given her that sword. Syrio had taughther to use it.

Who’sthere?” a voice boomed suddenly from the dark.Hot Pie leapt to his feet. “I yield!”

“Yield,” Arya suggested.