Arya is working for the understeward of the Wailing Tower doing various chores. When the Ser Amory Lorch arrives, Jaqen H'ghar, Rorge and Biter are with him. Arya thinks that Jaqen has not seen her, but he interrupts her sleep that night to tell her he will kill three men for her for saving him and his two companions. She avoids Jaqen for a while, but after hearing a story by Chiswyck, she whispers Chiswyck’s name in Jaqen's ear. Several days later he falls to his death.
Arya wonders what King Harren Hoare meant to name the five towers of Harrenhal, but they are now known as the Tower of Dread, the Widow's Tower, the Wailing Tower, the Tower of Ghosts, and Kingspyre Tower since the burning of Harrenhal. She now sleeps in a niche in the vaults beneath the Wailing Tower. The work is hard, but no harder than the miles she was walking every day, and she can wash and the food is filling; she does not need to find bugs to eat. Hot Pie is assigned to the kitchens, and Gendry to the forge, while Arya works for the understeward Weese doing errands; running messages, drawing water, fetching food, and sometimes serving tables in the barracks hall. Arya hates Weese and adds him to her list of names. She occasionally gets to see Hot Pie when she is sent to fetch the food for Weese and his charges; Arya does not want to learn the names of Weese’s other charges since it hurts when people she knows die.
Lady Shella Whent only occupied parts of two towers, letting the rest of the castle go to ruin. She left a small staff when she fled, inadequate for the host that now occupies the castle. As a result, the Lannisters have to forage for servants to make more of Harrenhal habitable. Harrenhal covers three times the area of Winterfell, but its buildings are much grander: the stables handle 1000 horses, the Godswood covers 20 acres, the kitchen is as large as Winterfell’s Great Hall, and the Hall of the Hundred Hearths could handle Tywin’s entire host.
Some claim the ghosts of Harren the Black and his sons occupy the Wailing Tower, but Arya knows that they died in the Kingspyre Tower; the wailing is from the wind, and the ghosts never trouble her. However she fears living men, including Ser Gregor Clegane and Tywin Lannister, who keep their apartments in the Kingspyre Tower. She considers marching up to Tywin and telling him who she is, but figures she would never get close enough to him, and if she did, he would not believe her, and she would get a beating form Weese, whom she fears more than the Mountain; he hits at the slightest provocation. On the road to Harrenhal, she felt like a sheep, but now she feels like a mouse.
The lords and ladies never notice the grey mice under their feet, and Arya hears many secrets by just listening as she does her duties. The 'slut' Pretty Pia is working her way through every knight, the wife of the gaoler is pregnant either by Ser Alyn Stackspear or a singer Whitesmile, Lord Leo Lefford keeps a candle lit by his bed because of the ghosts, Ser Dunaver’s squire Jodge cannot hold his water at night, the cooks spit on the despised Ser Harys Swyft’s food, and Maester Tothmure’s serving girl told her brother that Tywin has ordered the maester to burn a message claiming that Joffrey is a bastard, and to never speak of it again. She also hears from Weese that Stannis Baratheon and Renly Baratheon are both kings and have joined the fighting. Many of the Lannister men question how long Joffrey can hold the throne, protected only by Gold Cloaks and ruled by a eunuch, a dwarf and a woman. There have also been a number of reports of Beric Dondarrion being killed by the Bloody Mummers, but he has already supposedly been killed by Amory Lorch at Rushing Falls, and twice by the Mountain.
A fortnight later, the queerest collection of men Arya has ever seen arrives, the Bloody Mummers. Weese assures her that she does not want to know them, and is told they are called The Footmen, Toes of the Goat, and Lord Tywin’s Bloody Mummers. They call themselves the Brave Companions and their leader is the very tall, stick thin Vargo Hoat. They are housed in the Widow’s Tower, for which Arya is thankful. On their first night, Ser Harys Swyft’s squire is killed and two of the Bloody Mummers are wounded. Tywin hangs both along with one of Lord Lewys Lydden’s archers who is supposed to have started the trouble. They do not stay long, but before they leave she hears that Roose Bolton has occupied the Ruby Ford and her brother is in Riverrun, which is much closer than Winterfell but she does not know where it lies in relation to Harrenhal; if only she could get away.
She learns that there are captives from the Battle of the Green Fork. They have been given freedom of the castle in return for a pledge that they will not attempt to escape, but Arya is hoping they can help her escape. There are three Frey brothers and their bastard brother, but they are soon ransomed. There is also a very fat lordling who is always in the kitchen, one that wears a black cloak with white suns, and Lord Medger Cerwyn, whom she recognizes. She figures she can get aid from Lord Cerwyn, but learns later that he died from his wounds.
Arya hears all sorts of rumors about Lord Tywin’s plans. Lord Tywin spends his days with his war council. Arya often catches sight of him, and thinks he is strong looking for an old man, and his face reminds her of her father, although they look nothing alike, and she could never picture Tywin laughing.
Ser Amory Lorch arrives one afternoon, looking less frightening in the daylight. He has fewer men than she remembers and many wounded. She is told that they rode all the way around the lake chasing Beric Dondarrion and slaying rebels. Arya figures they are talking about the men of the Night's Watch. At the end of the column she sees Jaqen H'ghar, Rorge and Biter with his body covered in half-healed wounds. Jaqen H’ghar still smiles, and his clothes are filthy, but his hair washed and brushed. His eyes pass right over Arya, and she thinks he did not even notice her. Arya thinks that Gendry was right and she should have let them die. That night, she says the names again: Weese, Dunsen, Chiswyck, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling, the Tickler, the Hound, Ser Gregor, Ser Amory Lorch, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, and King Joffrey and Queen Cersei. She thinks she might add three names to the list, but she is too tired to decide.
She is dreaming of wolves in the wild when she wakes with Jaqen H’ghar’s hand over her mouth. He notes that the boy Arry became a girl and revealing that he did see her that afternoon. He then explains that she saved three lives, thus he has to repay her by taking three lives of her choice, in order to appease the Red God. When Arya asks him to take her to Riverrun, he replies that he will take three lives for her, nothing more, and gives her some time to decide whom to kill. Then, he leaves before she can even light her candle.
The next morning, Arya yawns in Weese’s presence, and he warns her not to let her mouth drop open again, telling her he will feed her tongue to his bitch, and twists her ear to make certain she heard. As she works, she thinks of whom she wants dead, and that, being at war, she should try to kill as many Lannisters as she could, but her father personally killed those he condemned to death. She is not sure she should trust Jaqen, and avoids him for a while, which is not hard to do.
Ser Gregor returns, and Weese sends Arya to see if they have clothes that need mending. She arrives to find Chiswyck talking, and does not want to interrupt because she might be hit. He is talking about when he was returning from the Tourney of the Hand with Ser Gregor, Raff, Joss Stilwood, and Eggon. They stopped at an alehouse where the brewer did not stop talking. They knew better than to talk because the Mountain was seething over the joust with the Knight of Flowers. The brewer’s girl was serving, and they were touching her. Finally, Joss put his hand up her skirt, and she screamed, running to the kitchen. The brewer went to Ser Gregor and asked that his men leave the girl alone. Ser Gregor had the girl brought before him, payed the brewer a silver, and raped her right there.Her brother ran in from the cellar and Raff stabbed him with a dirk. After Ser Gregor was done, Tobbot and Chiswyck continued to rape her. Ser Gregor told the brewer the girl was not worth a silver, and demanded change, and the brewer gave it to him. They all roar with laughter at the story while Arya sneaks away. When Weese learns she did not ask about the mending, he beats her bloody.
Two days later she sees Jaqen H’ghar in the Barracks Hall. Ensuring that Weese is not around, she works her way down to him filling wine cups until she reaches him and whispers “Chiswyck” in his ear. He gives no sign that he heard, and nothing happens until the third day, when she hears that a man fell off the wallwalk the previous night. Some are saying Harren’s ghost flung him down and Arya thinks that she is the ghost in Harrenhal and there is one less name on her list.
Catelyn meets with Stannis Baratheon and Renly Baratheon in hopes of bringing the brothers to reason. She fails and learns that Stannis has sent a letter claiming that neither Joffery nor Tommen are Robert Baratheon’s sons. Even though there is no proof, she remembers that Lysa claimed that Cersei killed her husband. Catelyn asks Renly’s leave but is not given it—he wants her to see him victorious in the morning.
Hallis Mollen announces to Catelyn that they are the first to arrive at an area where the trees have been cut down by Stannis Baratheon’s foragers to build siege equipment. Ser Wendel Manderly tells Catelyn that this is not their fight and Catelyn replies that she was sent here by Robb Stark and for the good of the realm it must be done, but forging a peace between the brothers will not be easy; she would prefer to be with her dying father Hoster Tully in Riverrun or back in Winterfell. In the distance she can see Storm's End and Stannis’ army looking small and insignificant under its walls.
Catelyn thinks about the history of Storm’s End and of the love between the first Storm King, Durran, and Elenei, the daughter of the sea god and the goddess of the wind. After the wedding, Elenei yielded her maidenhood and immortality. Her parents unleashed storm and wind to destroy Durran’s hold, killing all but Durran and his wife, who had protected him within her arms. It was the seventh castle he built that managed to withstand the storms. It is said that this castle was built with the help of the children of the forest or a child that became known as Brandon the Builder.
Stannis is the first to arrive with a Red Priestess as his standard bearer; Catelyn knows that Renly will be last. Stannis expresses his surprise to find her here, and gives his condolences for her husband Eddard Stark, though he notes Stark was no friend of his. Stannis is not grateful for Eddard’s part in breaking the siege, saying it was on Robert Baratheon’s command. He holds it against Eddard that he took the position of Hand of the King, which he did not even want. Stannis tells her that regardless of his feelings for her husband, Catelyn will have justice for his murder; she responds that Renly promised the same, but she would prefer her daughters back. Stannis promises that her daughters will be found when he takes King's Landing. Catelyn thinks his tone implies dead or alive, and tells him that King’s Landing is closer to Dragonstone, but he is at Storm’s End. He replies that he needs the power of the southron lords to take King’s Landing, and so he must take them from his brother, who owes him loyalty and obedience as his elder and rightful king. Stannis then asks if Robb has thrown his lot in with Renly, and is told he is King of the North by the will of the lords and people, and only holds his hand out in friendship. Stannis replies that kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies.
At this point, Renly’s party arrives with Brienne of Tarth bearing the banner. Renly asks about Stannis' sigil and the priestess replies it is the fiery heart of the Lord of Light. Renly says it is just as well since, if they had the same banner, the battle would be confused. Catelyn expresses hope that there will be no battle, and Stannis states that the Iron Throne is his by rights, and those who deny this are his foes. Catelyn tells them that this is folly with the Kingslayer’s host reforming at the Golden Tooth, another Lannister host gathering at Casterly Rock, and Tywin Lannister at Harrenhal with 20,000 men, and the Lannisters holding King's Landing. Renly immediately demands that Stannis bend his knee to him, and Stannis absolutely refuses, stating he is eldest and denouncing Renly as a usurper. Renly responds that the Targaryens called Robert a usurper and he bore up under the shame. Catelyn tries to convince them to be reasonable, only to be rebuked by Stannis, who asserts that he is the rightful king; Stannis also adds that he considers her son no less a traitor than Renly, and promises to deal with Robb in due time. Catelyn asks how he is the rightful king, given that Robert had two sons, at which Renly laughs, stating that she has not seen Stannis’ letter. Stannis tells Catelyn that Joffrey and his siblings are not of Robert’s seed, but bastards born of incest between Cersei and her brother.
Catelyn asks why Stannis kept this knowledge to himself, and is told that he approached Jon Arryn since he figured that Robert would be more willing to listen to Jon, whom he loved, as opposed to Stannis, from whom such accusations would have seemed self serving. Renly points out that Jon is dead, and Stannis states that his death was not by happenstance, that Cersei poisoned him. Catelyn, immediately putting the pieces together, adds that her sister Lysa accused the queen of killing her husband. Renly tells Stannis that he may have the greater right, but Renly has the bigger army.
Renly reaches under his cloak, and Stannis immediately goes for his sword, but Renly only brings out a peach, offering it to Stannis. Stannis retorts he did not come there to eat fruit, and Renly replies a man should never refuse a peach because life is short and as the Starks say, “Winter is Coming.” Stannis thinks this is a threat but Renly states it was not, and he tells Stannis he never liked him, but he is of his blood, and if it is Storm’s End he wants, he will give it to him. Stannis refuses, saying it is his. Renly states he refuses a peach, a castle and did not come to his wedding. Stannis sneers that the wedding was a farce, considering Renly married a woman he was scheming to make one of Robert’s whores a year before. Renly corrects this, saying he was going to make Margaery Tyrell his queen, but Robert was killed by a boar, and so he got Margaery. He reveals he plans to have a son with her within a year, and then asks Stannis how many sons he has, telling him that if he had a wife that looked like Stannis's, he would send his fool to service her as well. Infuriated, Stannis draws his blade which shines strangely, roaring that he will not tolerate Renly mocking him to his face, but Brienne moves between them. Stannis tells Renly that he will not kill Renly with Lightbringer, and will give him till dawn to pledge to him, for the sake of their late mother. In return, Stannis will grant him Storm’s End, a seat on the council, and name him his heir until he has a son; otherwise he will destroy Renly. Renly laughs, pointing out that he has the strength in banners: House Rowan, House Tarly, House Caron, House Tarth, House Penrose, House Fossoway, House Cuy, House Mullendore, House Estermont, House Selmy, House Hightower, House Oakheart, House Crane, House Caswell, House Blackbar, House Morrigen, House Beesbury, House Shermer, House Dunn, House Footly and Stannis' wife’s House Florent. What is present is only the vanguard, with 100,000 foot still to arrive. After exchanging taunts, Stannis gallops away, the Red Priestess staying long enough to say before also leaving:
Look to your own sins, Lord Renly.
Catelyn tells Renly that his brother is the lawful heir if Joffrey is Jaime’s son. Renly replies this is true only while he lives, and asks if Catelyn would agree that it is a fool’s law since he would be a better king than either Robert or Stannis. He will be a great king:
strong yet generous, clever, just, diligent, loyal to my friends and terrible to my enemies, yet capable of forgiveness, patient-
Catelyn adds
-humble?
Renly laughs and states
You must allow a king some flaws, my lady.
Catelyn feels very tired; she has failed, and her son will have to face the Lannisters alone while the Baratheon brothers destroy each other. She thinks how much Renly is like his brother Robert, but Robert had Eddard to temper him. Eddard would have prevailed on Robert to bring the whole force to besiege Stannis, the besieger, instead of forging ahead with only the horses and no fodder. Now he must come to battle soon or starve. Catelyn accompanies Renly back to his pavilion, sending Hal Mollen to tend to the horses.
Once inside, Renly states his brother has not changed, and since he will not take his gifts, maybe he should fight. Lord Mathis Rowan points out that the castle is well provisioned and has a strong garrison under Ser Cortnay Penrose; they can let Stannis have a profitless siege. Renly, however, is concerned that men will say he fears Stannis. Lord Randyll Tarly thinks they cannot leave him unblooded since he may grow stronger than Renly, and the others seem to agree. Renly decides that they will fight. At this, Catelyn sees no point in not returning to Riverrun, so she asks to leave, but is told she cannot; she must watch so she can tell her son what happens to rebels.
Renly then gives command of the center to Lord Mathis Rowan, the left to Bryce Caron, and the reserve to Lord Eldon Estermont, while Renly takes the right. Lord Mathis Rowan asks who will have the van, and Ser Jon Fossoway first asks the honor, but Ser Guyard the Green states that it should be one of the seven. Randyll Tarly states he led Mace Tyrell’s van since before most of those present were born. After a clamor fills the pavilion, Renly gives the honor to Ser Loras Tyrell. Ser Loras accepts and asks for one of his knights to ride beside him, so that the stag and rose can go to battle side by side. Renly gives Brienne this honor. She wants to fight by his side, but is told that there are four of the Rainbow Guard that will fight beside him. She accepts the duty, but requests that she arm him for battle. Renly accepts. Catelyn can hear someone snigger. Renly then asks them to leave him.
Before she leaves, Catelyn asks to visit a sept she saw in a village, and Renly tells Ser Robar Royce to provide an escort, but to return by dawn. Catelyn tells him he should also pray, not for victory but for wisdom. Renly tells Ser Loras to remain with him to help him pray.
Ser Robar Royce is a member of the Rainbow guard and Catelyn knows him slightly, that he is known for his skill in the tourney, the son of Yohn Royce, bannerman to House Arryn. She asks him about this and he says his father owes fealty as does his heir, but he is a second son. He is tired of tourneys and looking for glory.
She arrives at her camp to find Shadd preparing the meal, Hal Mollen dicing with three of his men, and Lucas Blackwood sharpening his dagger. Lucas asks if they fight or flee, and she says they pray.
Sansa is called before Joffrey to pay for her brother Robb Stark’s latest victory. Sansa is being beaten by Boros Blount when Tyrion Lannister arrives. He stops the beating and has her taken to the Tower of the Hand to be cleaned up and treated. The next morning he offers her protection, but she refuses.
Sandor Clegane is telling Sansa that if she keeps Joffrey waiting it will only be worse. As Sansa is making herself pretty for Joffrey, she wonders if Joffrey has heard about her meetings with Ser Dontos. As they are walking, Sansa asks the Hound what she has done and is told that it is what her kingly brother Robb Stark has done. Sansa tells the Hound that Robb is the traitor and she had no part; she can only think that if Robb harmed Jaime Lannister she will have to face Ser Ilyn Payne. The Hound tells her again that they trained her well, calling her a little bird.
She is led to the lower bailey where a crowd is gathered. She can hear Lord Gyles Rosby coughing as they part to let her pass. Ser Horas Redwyne and Hobber Redwyne avoid her gaze as she passes. There is a cat shot by a bolt mewling on the ground. Ser Dontos, riding a broomstick as commanded by the king, whispers to her to “Be brave.” In the center stands Joffrey with Ser Boros Blount and Ser Meryn Trant beside him. She kneels before him, but Joffrey snaps that kneeling will not save her and she must answer for her brother’s treasons. She is slow to get up, and the Hound, not ungently, pulls her up when commanded.
Ser Lancel Lannister now speaks to her, claiming that Robb fell upon Ser Stafford Lannister with an army of wargs near Lannisport, using some sorcery. Thousands of men were butchered as they slept. According to Lancel, the northmen feasted on their flesh after the slaughter.
Joffrey asks if she has anything to say. Ser Dontos tells him that she is shocked witless. Joffrey then brings up that her direwolf savaged him, and Sansa retorts that it was Arya's wolf (Nymeria, and that he killed Lady even though she never hurt him. Joffrey replies that it was Eddard Stark that killed Lady, and he killed him. Joffrey then recounts how he shot a man in the throat at the gates that was bigger than her father. He would shoot her also but Cersei says they will kill Jaime. He then commands the Hound to hit Sansa, but Ser Dontos intervenes by wacking her over the head with his morning star—a melon on the end of a stick. People are laughing, but, despite Sansa’s prayers, Joffrey does not. Instead he calls to his Kingsguard, telling them to save her face. Ser Meryn Trant flings Dontos down while Ser Boros first slams a fist into Sansa’s belly, and then starts to lay the flat of his blade across her thighs. The Hound rasps “Enough,” but the king orders Boros to make her naked and he tears the silk of her bodice away exposing her breasts. She can hear sniggers as Joffery orders her beat bloody.
At that point, a voice demands *"What is the meaning of this?"*. Sansa looks to see the arrival of a furious Tyrion Lannister, flanked by his sellsword and one of his tribesmen who demands Blount tell him what sort of knight beats helpless maids. Ser Boros replies one that serves his king, drawing his sword, with Ser Meryn stepping beside him. Bronn warns them to be careful, as they don’t want to get blood all over their white cloaks. Tryion asks for someone to give Sansa something to cover herself with, and Sandor tosses her his cloak. Tyrion then asks Joffrey whether he has no regard for her honor, considering that she is to be his queen one day. Joffrey replies that he is punishing her for having the blood of the wolf, and Tyrion replies that Joffrey has the wits of a goose. Joffrey insists that the king can do as he likes, and Tyrion asks if he knows what happened to Aerys II Targaryen, who also did what he liked. Ser Boros warns Tyrion that no one is to threaten the king, but Tyrion responds he is only educating him, and then tells Bronn and Timett to kill Ser Boros if he opens his mouth again.
When Ser Boros, turning red, states the queen will hear of this, Tyrion asks if they should send for Cersei. When Joffrey has nothing to say, Tyrion tells him to learn to use his ears more and his mouth less, lest his reign be shorter than Tyrion himself. He points out that brutality will not win his people’s love, nor his queen’s. Joffrey replies that Cersei taught him to value fear over love, and Sansa fears him. Tyrion only notes that it is a pity Stannis and Renly are not twelve year-old girls as well.
Tyrion then continues by ordering Bronn and Timett to bring Sansa. They take her to the Tower of the Hand. She is shaking and moving as if she were in a dream. Serving girls clean her up and Maester Frenken treats her wounds. Sansa thinks how the Hound hated knights, and now she hates them also, and she does not believe they are true knights. She sleeps.
She wakes that night and her legs pain her when she gets up. Outside her door, she finds a woman whom she tells she wants to go to the godswood; she wants to find Ser Dontos and beg him to take her home before it is too late. The woman tells her that Tyrion said she was not to leave. When food comes in the morning she tells the servant to take it away. Later, Tyrion arrives and tells her that she is a guest, not a prisoner.
Tyrion then tells the story of Robb’s victory. Ser Stafford’s host was encamped outside Oxcross. He explains that there were no army of wargs or sorcery involved as Ser Lancel claimed, as Lancel wouldn’t know a warg from a wart and according to Tyrion, *"sorcery is the sauce men spoon over failure to hide the flavor of their own incompetence"*. Robb’s soldiers crept into the camp and cut the horse lines, and then Robb sent his direwolf among them, causing a stampede. The panicked horses trampled the camp, killing many. Most of the rest fled in terror, casting aside their weapons. Among the dead are Ser Stafford (killed by Lord Rickard Karstark), Ser Rupert Brax, Ser Lymond Vikary, Lord Crakehall, and Lord Antario Jast. Fifty have been taken prisoner including Jast’s sons and Martyn Lannister. The incompetent Ser Stafford had not even bothered to post sentries, thinking himself safe and secure in the Westerlands and most of his army were raw recruits, the sweepings of Lannisport. The only mystery is how Robb reached Oxcross since Lannister forces hold the Golden Tooth and the men stationed there swear Robb didn't pass them. Tyrion ultimately declares it unimportant; Robb Stark is his father's problem, while Joffrey is his.
Tyrion then asks Sansa how she feels about his nephew and she responds that she loves him with all her heart, more than ever. Tyrion is amused and tells her someone taught her to lie well, which she may be grateful for one day. He then asks if she has flowered, to which she answers no. He says that is good, and that he does not intend for her to marry Joffrey, since there will never be a reconciliation between the Lannisters and Starks with the way Joffrey has acted, calling it a pity as the marriage was one of Robert I Baratheon’s better notions. Sansa is concerned that this is a trick and states she only wants to be loyal. Tyrion adds "...and far from any Lannisters", but admits he cannot blame her, as when he was her age, he wanted the same thing.
He then notes that she visits the godswood every day and asks what she prays for. Sansa prays for Robb’s victory and Joffrey’s death, but claims she prays for an end to the fighting. Tyrion tells her there will be another battle between Robb and Tywin Lannister and that will settle the issue, warning her not to think that Oxcross was significant, and to pray that her brother bends his knee, and he will return her to Winterfell once there is peace. He offers to have some of his clansmen guard her, maybe Chella if she prefers a woman. Sansa, thinking about Ser Dontos rescuing her, tells him that the wildlings frighten her. He responds that they also frighten Joffrey and the lickspittles and sycophants who make up his Kingsguard so no one would harm her. When she tells him she would prefer sleeping in her own bed and the tower is where her father’s men were slain, and their ghosts give her bad dreams, he agrees to have her escorted back to her bedchamber.
Catelyn prays to the seven in a sept in a small village. As she prays, the realization comes to her that both Eddard Stark and Jon Arryn died for their knowledge of Cersei’s incest, and that Bran also knows. She arrives back at Renly Baratheon's pavillion, where Brienne of Tarth prepares him for battle. She asks Renly to call a Great Council with his brother and Robb to let Bran tell what he saw. He refuses to support the concept. Then, a shadow kills Renly. When the guards arrive, it is assumed that Brienne killed him. Catelyn escapes with her, and they join Catelyn’s party to leave.
It is full dark before Catelyn, Ser Wendel Manderly and Ser Robar Royce arrive at the village. The sept’s seven walls—one for each god—are cracked and crooked. She enters alone. Catelyn remembers Septon Osmynd telling her every god is one with seven aspects. In Winterfell, Septon Chayle hung carved masks, but here they are but rough chalk drawings. Catelyn prays to the Mother to spare them if she can, and spare her own sons. She wonders if Eddard Stark’s gods ever answered him, and looks around. The Father’s face reminds her of her dying father Hoster Tully, the Warrior of Renly Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Robert Baratheon, Robb, Jaime Lannister, Jon Snow, and for a second she sees Arya. The smoke burns her eyes, and, after rubbing them, she sees her mother Minisa Tully, who died in childbirth, in the face of the Mother. When her head starts swimming, she realizes she has not eaten today; food lost its savor when Ned died. Then she thinks she can see Lysa’s face, but the eyes are too hard; it is the face of Cersei. She first wonders if Cersei prays to the seven also, and then thinks if Robert, who did not regard Joffrey with any warmth, knew that the boy was of Jaime’s seed would have put both him and his mother to death and few would condemn him. The children born of incest are considered abominations by the followers of both the old gods and the Seven; only among the Targaryens was such practices common. She realises Eddard and Jon Arryn must have both known, hence why Cersei had them both killed, and she suddenly realizes Bran knows also. She prays to the different gods for her children. Ser Robar interrupts her prayers to tell her they must leave to be back before dawn.
They pass through the army, and to Catelyn it seems like grey men on grey horses beneath grey banners. At Renly’s pavilion, Ser Parmen Crane and Ser Emmon Cuy of the Rainbow Guard stand guard outside while inside, Brienne of Tarth is armoring the king and Lords Randyll Tarly and Mathis Rowan are speaking of dispositions and tactics. Catelyn asks to speak to Renly, but he tells her to wait. Lord Mathis is telling Renly that they should advance before dawn since the soldiers are in position, and Lord Rowan is agreeing since if they wait, they will charge into the rising sun, but Renly will not have it said his victory was won by treachery. Renly is sure that Ser Loras will break the first of Stannis' lines. Renly commands that when his brother falls, his body be treated with respect. When Lord Tarly asks what to do if Stannis yields, both Renly and Lord Rowan are amused, and Renly recounts how Ser Gawen Wylde tried to escape to surrender to Mace Tyrell during the siege of Storm's End, and Stannis was going to hurl him out using a catapult. He was only dissuaded by Maester Cressen telling him they might have to eat their dead; mercifully, the Onion Knight saved them from having to eat the flesh of corpses, though Renly notes this was little comfort for Ser Gawen, who died in his cell. Renly, assuming Ser Barristan Selmy will be with Stannis (since Ser Barristan is neither with him nor with Robb and wants to guard a king), states he wants him spared. Finally, Renly is ready to hear from Catelyn, the lords departing.
Catelyn now tells Renly that the Lannisters tried to kill Bran, explaining that there was a hunt the day he fell, and while Robert, Ned and most of the other men were gone, both Jaime Lannister and the queen remained at Winterfell. She then beseeches Renly to set aside the crown, along with his brother, and Robb would do the same. Then they could call a Great Council where Bran will tell his tale so the realm will know the Lannisters are true usurpers. Renly tells her the time for talk is done. As Brienne is kneeling, belting on Renly’s long sword and dagger, a breeze seems to fling open the tent flap. Then, Catelyn sees a shadow lifting a sword that takes Renly in the throat. Brienne catches Renly as he stumbles into her, his blood flowing over her armor. Ser Robar and Ser Emmon come rushing in, and, seeing Brienne covered in Renly’s blood, immediately assume she killed him. Ser Emmon immediately attacks with a battleaxe as Catelyn screams “No!”. Brienne is soon in battle with Ser Emmon and the two men-at-arms with them. Catelyn starts to tell Ser Robar, who hangs back uncertainly, that is was Stannis, only being able to explain it as some sort of sorcery, a shadow, swearing on her husband’s grave and her honor. Ser Robar promises to hold them off and leaves the tent. Brienne has taken out the men-at-arms but now the armored Ser Emmon is in her wool. Catelyn bashes an iron brazier over Ser Emmon’s helm, sending him to his knees and Brienne, seeing the chance, slashes through the tent side. Catelyn tells her to follow her slowly so they do not raise suspicions.
Brienne has seen nothing, and Catelyn tells her it was a shadow, and she could feel Stannis. Brienne swears she will kill Stannis with Renly’s sword. They arrive at the camp, and Catelyn explains that Renly is dead, and there will be no battle. She tells Brienne to select one of the many spare horses; they have to be far away before they look for them, so she does not have time to get her own armor and horse. Catelyn tells them to ride, and cut down anyone that tries to stop them.
Catelyn thinks how all of Renly’s power will now belong to Stannis, won in a single evil stroke; the lords present will have no choice but to side with the last Baratheon. Then she thinks how Stannis has also declared Robb a traitor who must be punished, and a chill goes through her as she recalls Stannis's threat that Robb's time will come.
Lord Commander Mormont's men reach the Fist of the First Men. The Lord Commander plans to reinforce the stone ring built by the First Men during the Dawn Age to wait for men from the Shadow Tower here, and then to wait for Mance Rayder to return from the Frostfangs. Ghost finally joins Jon Snow in the ring, surprising Jon since Ghost has previously refused to come into the ring. Ghost leads him to some buried Dragonglass weapons wrapped in a cloak of the Night's Watch.
Lord Commander Mormont's men arrive at the Fist of the First Men. Jon Snow thinks that it actually looks like a fist plunging up from the ground. The commander tells Thoren Smallwood it is good ground, and he replies it is an old place that is strong and will be easy to defend. The commander agrees they are not likely to find a better place to defend. Its disadvantage, pointed out by Jon, is that they will have to climb down to get water. Their camp is made behind a stone ring built by the First Men during the Dawn Age.
As they climbed, Ghost ran off, and Jon had to keep calling him back, but the commander finally grew impatient and told Jon to let him go. Jon Snow can tell the travelling is wearing on the Lord Commander, but he tries not to let it show.
After putting up the Lord Commander’s tent and seeing to the horses, he descends to find Ghost, who suddenly appears next to him. He feels a growing sense of foreboding. He climbs some rocks from where he can see the Milkwater river and the rugged landscape giving way to high stony hills to the north. When darkness starts to arrive, Jon is interrupted by Samwell Tarly. Jon tells Sam that the commander plans to stay here and wait for Qhorin Halfhand and the men from the Shadow Tower, and he should get a raven ready since the commander will want to send a message. Sam states the ravens hate being caged, and if he could fly he would be back at Castle Black and be eating pork pie.
They return to camp. Overhead, the red tail of Mormont’s Torch is as bright as the moon. When they arrive, Jon leaves to attend to the Lord Commander. Mormont, who is talking to some of his officers, tells Jon to bring some hot spiced wine. As he prepares the wine, he hears Jarman Buckwell state that following the Milkwater would be the easiest road to the Frostfangs, but Mance Rayder will know of their approach. Ser Mallador Locke recommends Giant's Stair or Skirling Pass. Mormont states he does not want to risk the Frostfangs unless he must. He plans to remain at the Fist since the Wildlings outnumber them, and the Wildlings will have to come from the Frostfangs eventually for food; they will strengthen their defenses. The rangers will limit their ranging to this side of the river since Mormont is sure that Craster did not lie to them about Mance gathering his force in the Frostfangs. The officers finish their wine and leave.
Jon offers the commander supper, and he asks if Ghost found any game since they could use meat, and then asks if Jon agrees with keeping the rangers close. Jon replies that if they stay close, they are unlikely to find his uncle Benjen Stark. The commander responds that it would be easier for one man to find 200 than for 200 to find one, and the land is too vast to search with their limited manpower. They have left a very visible trail, and the fires on the Fist should be visible to the foothills of the Frostfangs. Jon then brings up the case that his uncle is dead, and the commander replies that he still may return anyway as a Wight. The commander then tells Jon he will forsake supper and to wake him at first light.
However, Jon is hungry, and joins Dywen, Grenn, Dolorous Edd, and Hake for the stew. Dywen states there is a smell he does not like, a smell of cold. Jon hears a howling and then Ghost appears, surprising Jon since he has previously refused to come inside the ring. Ghost seems preoccupied, sniffing the air. Suddenly Jon is alarmed since Ghost knew when the dead came walking, and Dywen has said he smelled cold. Ghost starts to go, and then looks back, so Jon follows, leaving the protection of the ring. Ghost stops at the stream, and then goes on, so Jon follows, angry. He loses Ghost a quarter of the way around the Fist. When he catches up with Ghost again, he is digging at a mound that has been dug only recently. He expects to find a body, but finds a bundle two feet across. Inside the bundle made from a cloak of the Night's Watch, he finds Dragonglass weapons.
Bran learns of his brother's victory, and the death of Ser Stevron Frey, and realizes that Jojen Reed's prophesy has come true. Jojen now tells him of his green dream of the sea flowing over the walls of Winterfell. Bran tries to warn others, but mostly the dream is dismissed. Ser Rodrik Cassel finally returns with a prisoner, Reek, who was involved in the forced marriage and then murder of Lady Hornwood. Jojen reveals to Bran that he had a green dream in which Reek is skinning off Bran's face.
Bran is found working the bellows for Mikken by Alebelly to tell him that there has been a bird from Robb Stark. Bran lets Alebelly carry him to Maester Luwin's turret where Rickon already waits. The maester informs them that Robb shattered a Lannister army at the Battle of Oxcross, killing its commander Ser Stafford Lannister. He has also captured several castles, and is currently at Ashemark, the stronghold of House Marbrand. Rickon asks if Robb is coming home, but Bran knows that only Lord Tywin Lannister matters, as Big Walder states, which disquiets him. Neither Big Walder nor Little Walder seem upset about their uncle Ser Stevron Frey's death, who, they note, was very old (50 or 60) and always tired. Little Walder asks if Ser Emmon Frey is now heir, and his cousin tells him the line of ascension: Ser Ryman, Edwyn, Black Walder, Petyr, then Aegon Frey and his sons. Little Walder states theat Ryman is too old, and then asks if they think he will be lord, and Big Walder responds he will be lord and does not care. The maester tells them that they should be ashamed.
Osha arrives to carry him; she is stronger than Alebelly. Bran asks if she knows the way north, and she tells him it is easy. He then asks if the children of the forest, the Others and giants are still there and she tells him she has seen giants and heard of the others. He then asks about the three-eyed crow, which she has never heard of. She sets him on the window seat of his bedchamber.
Shortly thereafter, Jojen enters the room unbidden with Meera behind him. Bran asks Jojen if he has heard about the bird; he states it was not supper, it was a letter from Robb. Jojen explains that the green dreams are not easy to understand. When Bran asks Jojen to tell him his dream, Jojen reveals that he dreamed the sea was lapping all around Winterfell. Waves crashed against the gates and towers, and the water came flowing over the walls and filled the castle. Drowned men were floating in the yard. He now recognizes these men and declares that they are Alebelly, Septon Chayle, and Mikken. Bran, confused and dismayed, replies that the sea is hundreds of leagues away, and Winterfell's walls are so high the water could not get in even if it did come. Jojen only repeats his claim, adding that he saw the dead, bloated and drowned.
Bran wants to warn the men, but Jojen tells him it will not save them, as they will not believe him. He then asks Bran to tell of his wolf dream, and Bran replies that there are different kinds. There are the wolf dreams, which are not as bad as the others, in which he runs, hunts and kills squirrels. He has other dreams where the crow comes and tells him to fly. Sometimes the tree is also calling his name in those dreams, which frightens him, but not as much as when he falls. He explains that he never used to fall while climbing, and that he used to feed the crows in the Burned Tower. Yet, he did fall eventually, and now when he sleeps he falls all the time.
Jojen tells Bran that he will be called a warg if others hear of his wolf dreams, and some will hate him in fear, as the power is strong in him. Bran is concerned since in Old Nan's stories wargs were always evil, and tells Jojen that he wants to be a knight. Jojen replies that he is a winged wolf but will never fly unless he opens the eye in his forehead, and he must search for it with his heart. When Bran states that Maester Luwin claims dreams are just that, Jojen responds they are the past, the future, and truth. With that they leave him, and Bran tries unsuccessfully to open his third eye.
On the following days, Bran tries to warn his household, but no one seems to believe him. Mikken thinks it funny, and states he always wanted to see the sea. Septon Chayle states the gods will take him when they do, and he does not think he will drown since he grew up on the banks of the White Knife. Alebelly takes heed, and refuses to bathe or go near a well until finally other guardsmen give him a bath because he stinks so badly.
Ser Rodrik Cassel returns with a man that Hayhead tells Bran is named Reek. He served the now-dead Ramsay Snow (the Bastard of Bolton). The bastard and Reek murdered Lady Hornwood. Rodrik’s men shot Snow as he attempted to ride away. He had forced Lady Hornwood to marry him and then to sign a will naming him heir. Ser Rodrik is concerned that Roose Bolton may not agree that doing this under duress would make the marriage and the will invalid. Rodrik wants to keep Reek alive for judgement when Robb returns. Meanwhile, House Manderly and House Bolton are fighting in the Hornwood forest, and Rodrik does not have the strength to stop them.
Ser Rodrik then brings up Bran commanding Alebelly not to bathe. Bran tells him about the green dream. Maester Luwin tells Rodrik that he has explained to Bran the uncertainty of prophesies, but then notes that raiders in longships have been plundering and raping along the Stony Shore, and Leobald Tallhart sent his nephew Benfred Tallhart to deal with it. After he gets more information about the green dream, Rodrik promises not to take Alebelly with him if he rides against the raiders. Bran takes some hope in this.
When Bran meets with the Reeds later that night, Meera agrees that it should be possible to change prophesies. Meera gets angry with her brother when he disagrees, claiming that what he sees always comes true. Then Meera states that Alebelly and Bran should both fight to avoid their fates. Bran asks if he drowns also and Jojen reveals another dream of his, in which Bran and Rickon lay dead at Reek's feet, and he was skinning off their faces with a long red blade. Meera states that she could go down to the dungeons and kill Reek now, but Jojen tells her she will not succeed; first the jailers would stop her, and they will never believe. Even if Bran went to Greywater Watch, he could not avoid his fate; the green dreams do not lie.
The small council is discussing the news of Renly's mysterious murder. Tyrion points out that they have an opportunity to recruit House Tyrell to Joffrey I since they loved Renly but not Stannis Baratheon. To recruit them, Tyrion recommends that Joffrey marry Margaery Tyrell. Cersei does not like the idea, stating Joffrey will not like it, but eventually agrees. Neither Cersei nor Tyrion want to leave King’s Landing to meet with the Tyrells but Littlefinger volunteers, expecting a reward for his service.
Varys reports the mysterious murder of Renly, whose throat was cut like soft cheese. The reports of the murderer vary: Stannis with a magic sword, a knight of his Rainbow Guard, a maid, a woman spurned, or Lady Catelyn Stark. The small council, including Cersei, Tyrion, and Littlefinger, are not pleased with the report since they expect the truth, not rumors. Varys assures them it is not a ruse, and that Renly is dead.
Tyrion notes that Joffrey will not be happy since he was reserving a spike for Renly’s head. Tyrion himself is also unhappy since he was depending on the brothers to decimate each other's armies in battle, but points out the killer's identity is irrelevant; Stannis has to be behind Renly's death, as he stood to gain the most from it.
Varys reports the foot remain at Bitterbridge and most of the lords have gone over to Stannis Baratheon with, as Littlefinger assumed, Lord Alester Florent being first. Loras Tyrell, Randyll Tarly, and Mathis Rowan did not switch allegiance, and Ser Cortnay Penrose will not yield Storm's End until he sees Renly’s body, which has disappeared. A fifth of the knights left with Loras, who had killed three of Renly’s guards in anger, including Emmon Cuy and Robar Royce. Loras is probably headed to Bitterbridge for his sister Margaery Tyrell and the foot still there. Tyrion notes that this is an opportunity to win the Tyrells to their cause; they may have loved Renly, but perhaps they can be convinced to prefer Joffrey over Stannis. Littlefinger suggests bribes, but both Varys and Tyrion do not think gold will win Highgarden. Littlefinger admits they are right, and states that Loras, although a younger son, is Mace Tyrell’s favorite, so they just have to win him. Tyrion suggests marrying 15- or 16-year-old Margaery to the 13-year-old Joffrey. Cersei objects that Joffrey is promised to Sansa Stark, but Tyrion responds that there is no advantage in wedding the king to the daughter of a dead traitor. Littlefinger adds that the Tyrells are wealthier than the Starks and Margaery is lovely and beddable.
When Tyrion states that Joffrey should like this, Cersei replies her son is too young to care about such things. Tyrion notes that he was the same age as Joffrey when he married. Cersei insists that Joffrey is made of finer stuff, but Tyrion reminds her that he ordered Sansa stripped by Ser Boros Blount.
Tyrion has spoken to Varys about arranging a secret visit to Chataya’s for Joffrey; Tyrion hopes that it will sweeten him. He noted that they will have to arrange to do it when Sandor Clegane is busy. Varys agreed to look into the matter.
Tyrion tells Cersei that the marriage may be the only way for Joffrey to live to his wedding night and Littlefinger adds that Sansa brings only her body to Joffrey’s bed, while Margaery would bring 50,000 swords. Varys adds that the needs of the realm come before the king’s own desires. Cersei states that the king would never agree to Renly’s leavings, and Tyrion replies that when the king comes of age in 3 years he can make his own decisions, but until then he does as the Hand of the King and the regent say. Cersei agrees but warns them if Joffrey does not like Margaery.
Tyrion brings up the need to send one of them to Bitterbridge before Loras’ blood cools; Loras will scarcely deal with Bronn or Shagga. Cersei first recommends Ser Jacelyn Bywater, but Tyrion points out that whoever they send must be able to make decisions for the king and council. Cersei recommends Tyrion as Hand of the King and Tyrion recommends Cersei as the king’s mother. Littlefinger volunteers, stating he would make a poor hostage and neither Loras nor Mace bears any enmity towards him. Tyrion does not like it since he does not trust Littlefinger but if he leaves King's Landing for any time, everything he worked for would be undone. There is fighting on the route to Bitterbridge, so Littlefinger will need a strong escort. Tyrion initially offers 100 gold cloaks and they agree on 300 plus 40 knights with squires to give Littlefinger a knightly tail to impress the Tyrells. Littlefinger states he will take Horas Redwyne and Hobber Redwyne (Horror and Slobber) who will be sent on to their father as a gesture of good will since Paxter Redwyne is an old friend of Mace Tyrell's. Cersei expresses wrath at this since House Redwyne would have declared for Renly except for the twins being held hostage. Littlefinger notes that Renly is dead and Stannis and Lord Paxter have an enmity against each other from the siege of Storm's End. Tyrion decides to send Ser Hobber and keep Ser Horas in King’s Landing. Littlefinger also demands plenty of horses and gold, and a commission in writing, which Tyrion agrees to, so Littlefinger states he will start before dawn, but is expecting a suitable reward for his services. Cersei asks him what he wants, and Littlefinger replies he will think about it. Tyrion instructs Varys to get parchment and quill, and they will need someone to wake Joffrey.
Cersei asks Tyrion about his chain, and he tells her it is getting longer link by link, and that they should thank Ser Cortnay since Stannis will not march north with Storm’s End untaken. Cersei now tells Tyrion that he has been a great help, contrary to what she expected, and kisses him on the brow.
When Cersei leaves, Tyrion tells Bronn that Cersei is up to something, and asks Bronn to try to find out what; Tyrion hates surprises.
At the Stony Shore, Theon Greyjoy and his men have won an easy victory against a force led by Benfred Tallhart. Feeling dissatisfied, Theon meets with Dagmer on Dagmer's ship and admits to his feelings. He lays out a plan for Dagmer, which he means to proof himself worthy with to his father, Lord Balon Greyjoy.
Theon Greyjoy's men have defeated the Wild Hares and have captured their leader, Benfred Tallhart. Theon attempts to question Benfred, but the only replies he receives are threats about what Robb Stark will do to him and Benfred's spittle. Theon's uncle, Aeron Greyjoy, insists that Benfred be sacrificed to the Drowned God by drowning, and Theon finally gives in. Aeron insists that Theon be in charge of Benfred's execution, but Theon declines. As he walks away, Theon figures that being drowned might be a service to Benfred, since his neck is thick with muscle and fat and Stygg is not an expert headman. Theon thinks back to when he had spend a fortnight in Benfred's company three years ago when he had accompanied Eddard Stark to Torrhen's Square for a visit with Ser Helman Tallhart. During the entire fortnight, Theon had mocked Benfred's neck, to see how angry he could make Benfred for it.
He can hear the noise of his men celebrating their victory and climbes some stones to reach them. He watches the dead men and horses on the ground; While Tymor and his brothers had gathered the unhurt mounts, Urzen and Black Lorren had killed those who could not be saved. He sees his men "paying the iron price" for their valuables by looting the corpses as the ironborn of old did. As he sees Gevin Harlaw sawing off a man's finger to get a ring, Theon wonders whether he should search the two men he killed during the battle. However, the thought of what Eddard Stark would say about it, which frustrates him. He then sees Maron Botley sitting by his pile of collected plunder, to which his sons are adding. One of them is in a shoving match with an obviously drunk Todric. Theon asks Wex Pyke for his bow and plans to shoot the ale horn out of Todric's hand, but as he looses his arrow Todric moves and is hit in the belly. This gets the attention of the other looters, whom Theon addresses, telling them that he had previously told them that he abides no drunkards and no squabbles over plunder. Theon orders Botley to silence Todric. Botley and his sons are quick to obey and immediately strip the dead Todric of his valuables. Theon thinks to himself that, although his father has given him the command, some of his men see him as "a soft boy from the green lands", and hopes that killing Todric has made them realize he means what he says.
Theon kicks Benfred's banner, wondering about the rabbit skin tied to it and frustrated that he does not feel elated as he did after the Battle of the Whispering Wood. As he returns to his Sea Bitch, he sees Benfred's limp body being dragged from the water.
Theon is bothered by the fact that all of his work, including the attack on the fishing village, will be put down to raiders, as word about the hosting of the Iron Islands has been effectively kept secret. He knows the northmen will not realize their peril until Deepwood Motte and Moat Cailin are attacked and bitterly thinks to himself that songs will be sung for Asha after all is over, while he will be forgotten. He is determined not to allow that to happen.
Theon goes to *Foamdrinker, where he finds Dagmer, who he had left behind to guard the ships to prevent him from getting credit for the successful attack. Dagmer notes that Theon does not smile despite the victory. Theon tells Dagmer that they need to talk, so he takes him to his cabin in *Foamdrinker. There, Theon states that they did not capture enough horses, and Dagmer asks why they need horses since Balon ordered them to only harry the coast. Theon admits that he has a plan, hoping the tone in Dagmer's voice he hears is interest, not disapproval.
Theon realizes he needs to use Dagmer's pride when Dagmer states he is and always has been Balon's best man. He complements him with being the most skilled swordman and spearman on the Iron Islands, to which Dagmer disagrees. Although he used to be, he informs Theon that now Andrik, who serves Lord Dunstan Drumm, and Black Lorren and Qarl the Maid are said to be the best. Theon counters, saying that Andrik is not nearly as feared as Dagmer and claiming that raiding is no work for "Lord Balon's best man". Dagmer tells Theon that he is aware that it is Theon who feels wasted, and Theon replies that it should have been him who had his sister's command. Dagmer explains that, with Maron and Rodrik dead and Theon a hostage in the north, Balon had learned to rely on Asha, who has never failed him. Theon states that he has never failed Balon either, and that the Starks knew his worth. He cites he was one of Brynden Tully's picked scouts. He was in the first wave at Whispering Wood, and almost crossed swords with Jaime Lannister, prevented only by the intervention of Daryn Hornwood, who died in the act. Dagmer tells Theon that he knows Theon is no craven, having trained him in his youth. He admits to Theno that the Starks had Theon for ten years, and that Robb Stark is Theon's friend. Theon replies that he is no Stark but a Greyjoy, and means to be his father's heir, but needs a way to prove himself in order to achieve that. Dagmer reminds Theon that he is young and other wars will come in which he can prove his worth, but that they are now commanded to raid. At that, Theon reveals his plan; He will give Aeron six ships to raid, but means to "do a deed that the harpers will sing of for a thousand years", knowing that Dagmer loves to hear the song about the axe which had split his jaw in half. He tells Dagmer that he is to march on Torrhen's Square, the seat of Ser Helman Tallhart. Helman took his best men south, and Benfred and the sons of those men are now dead. All that remains is a small garrison under Leobald Tallhart. Dagmer is to make no secret of his approach and start building siege engines when he arrives. When Dagmer protests that siege engines are not the ironmen's way, Theon replies that Leobald will not know that. Upon seeing the siege engines, Leobald will call for help, and Ser Rodrik Cassel, Winterfell's castellan, will ride to Leobald's aid in strength. Dagmer states he will certainly be outnumbered and cannot ever take Torrhen's Square, but Theon replies that it is not Torrhen's Square he means to take.
Tywin Lannister’s host is leaving Harrenhal. Arya has been kept busy delivering messages for Weese, and she wants to find Jaqen H'ghar before he leaves. She finally finds Jaqen and gives him Weese’s name. As she watches Tywin Lannister lead his host out of the castle, she realizes that she has been targeting the wrong people, people who really do not matter. She goes in search of Jaqen, but finds Weese’s dead body first.
Lannister host marching out
The Castle is in an uproar with preparations for Tywin Lannister’s host’s departure. Ser Addam Marbrand was the first to depart, a day before the rest. Weese calls Ser Addam a great horseman and sword fighter, and Lord Tywin’s most daring commander. Arya hopes Ser Addam and all his men die. She is sure that they are going to fight Robb Stark, and wonders what Robb has accomplished.
Arya has been kept busy running messages from dawn to dust. She has even delivered messages beyond the wall, and considered running away except that Weese told her he would deliver her to Vargo Hoat; maybe if Weese were dead. Weese does not know Arya can read, so he never seals his messages. That day, she delivers a message demanding payment for a debt to a knight who cannot read. She reads it to him, and he tries to hit her so she takes a silver banded drinking horn from him and flees, giving it to Weese. For this Arya is promised the reward of sharing a crisp capron with Weese that night. As she runs errands, she searches for Jaqen H'ghar to give him another name before he leaves. She finally asks a gate guard and is told that Ser Amory Lorch is to be castellan of Harrenhal, so Jaqen will not be leaving. The Brave Companions will also be left to do foraging. Unfortunately, the Mountain will be leaving to command Tywin’s van in battle, putting him, Dunsen, Polliver, and Rafford beyond reach.
Weese gives Arya a message for Lucan that Ser Lyonel, who is to ride with Kevan Lannister, needs a new sword. When she reaches the armory she spies Gendry and asks him which one of the men is Lucan, he tells her that Hot Pie asked him if he heard her scream Winterfell when they were fighting on the wall. Arya immediately claims she didn’t and Gendry tells her she did, but that he told Hot Pie he needs to clean out his ears because she yelled “Go to hell” and she better have the same story; she does not want Hot Pie to know who she really is, and thinks maybe she should give Jaqen his name. Gendry gets Lucan, who pulls down a longsword and gives it to Arya with the message that it is too good for such an oaf. Arya claims she will pass on the message, but will not because Weese would beat her bloody. The longsword feels good in Arya’s hand, although a lot heavier than Needle, and she thinks that she may not be a Water Dancer but she is not a mouse either. She considers using the note to get a horse, pretending she is doing it for Ser Lyonel since the stableboys are not able to read.
She is trying to decide whether to take the chance when she overhears some archers talk. One says that Robb brought giants from the north, another that Starks are more like wolves than men, and then one states that Robb is scared to attack Harrenhal, and would piss in his pants if he knew they were coming. One man comments that maybe they are the ones that should run. She thinks that yes, they should run or her brother will kill them. She is interrupted by Weese, who has come up in front of her and she did not see him. He complains that she took long enough, and snatches the sword from her, slapping her with the back of his hand and telling her next time she will be faster. She was a wolf and suddenly is not. He asks her if she wants another slap, and tells her he wants none of her insolent looks, and to tell Tuffleberry he has barrels for him but he needs to send lads to fetch them. He then warns her to run if she wants to eat tonight, and not to get lost again or she will be beat bloody.
Arya Stark names Weese. © Mustamirri
Halfway to the brewhouse, she runs into Rorge and three other of Ser Amory’s men. He calls her “Yoren’s little cunt” and recalls that he promised to fuck her with her stick, saying she is no longer so brave now that he is not wearing chains. When she tells him she is looking for Jaqen, she can see something in his eyes, possibly fear. He tells her he is in the bathhouse and to get out of his way. In the bathhouse, she tries to sneak up on Jaqen, but he knows she is there, telling her the scuff of leather on stone is as loud as warhorns to a man with open ears, and clever girls go barefoot. She is upset that he heard her, and whispers Weese’s name in his ear. He states that a man will attend him at his leisure.
She gives Tuffleberry the message and he curses, saying his lads are busy and that he will have those barrels within an hour, or Lord Tywin will hear of it. Weese is not happy about this message, but finds six men.
Supper is a thin stew, and Weese shares his capon with a woman who has been sleeping with him. When he sees Arya staring, he reminds her he told her what would happen if he caught her staring. He slaps her, then shoves her and her dress catches on a loose nail and rips. Weese commands her to fix that before she sleeps.
She is kicked awake in the morning by Weese, who tells them that the work will not get easier now that Tywin’s host is gone. Later, Arya watches as Lord Tywin and Ser Kevan pass, followed by their great lords and captains. Last comes Gregor Clegane, with Polliver beside him wearing Gendry’s helmet. Suddenly Arya realizes she was stupid and that neither Chiswyck nor Weese mattered. Why didn’t she say Lord Tywin? She hurries to find Jaqen to tell him.
She hears a shriek of pain, and finds a dozen people looking at the body of Weese with his ugly dog on his chest. Every so often the dog rips a mouthful of flesh off his face. One man exclaims that he had that bitch since it was pup, and it must be Harren’s ghost. When Arya lifts her gaze, she sees Jaqen on the battlements, who casually lays two fingers across his cheek.
Catelyn and her escort are nearing Riverrun and are met by Martyn Rivers and his outriders. She learns that Robb has crushed Ser Stafford Lannister’s levies, and that the Greatjon has seized three of the Lannisters' gold mines. Robb reached Oxcross by following a trail Grey Wind had discovered around the Golden Tooth. However, Martyn tells her that Lord Tywin is marching on Riverrun as they speak. Catelyn makes all haste back to her father Hoster's castle, but first takes Brienne as her sworn sword, to prevent the girl from doing anything foolish. Catelyn is fearful of her brother Edmure's chances in battle against Lord Tywin, and outside Riverrun discovers Lannister men hanging from the walls. Edmure informs her that four men from Ser Cleos's party attempted to free Ser Jaime, and nearly succeeded. They were hanged for their deeds, and the Kingslayer was placed in the deep dungeons and chained to the wall. Her father's steward, Utherydes Wayn, asks Catelyn if there is no hope of aid from the south, hoping that Stannis Baratheon will be forced to make common cause with them, but Catelyn gives no answer, since 'Stannis has made common cause with 'a power greater and darker'.
Edmure also explains that birds have arrived from Storm's End, with messages from Ser Cortnay Penrose seeking help. Cortnay claimed he feared for the boy Edric Storm, Robert's only known high-born bastard. Catelyn makes known her dissent in Edmure giving Lord Tywin battle. Her brother has commanded Roose Bolton to take Harrenhal, and has also called the levies from the Twins, those under the command of Ser Helman Tallhart. Catelyn argues that Robb left those men to make certain Lord Walder kept faith. She learns that Roose wed one of Lord Walder's daughters.
Catelyn then visits her father, but Lord Hoster mistakes her for Lysa, and mumbles several strange, disjointed lines, "Jon’s a good man…strong, kind…you’ll wed when Catelyn does…That stripling…wretched boy…not speak that name to me, your duty…". Catelyn is then led by Utherydes to the silent sisters who possess Lord Eddard's bones. When she states that she must thank Cersei for even this much, her father's steward tells her to thank the Imp, since it was his doing. Catelyn thinks to herself "One day I will thank them all".
Catelyn commands the silent sisters to lay Ned's bones to rest in the crypts of Winterfell, and then asks to be left alone with her husband's body, musing that she envies the silent sisters for their supposed ability to speak to the dead.
Prince Bran Stark contemplates the red comet and listens to the direwolves howling in Winterfell, wondering about the reasons behind it all. He resents his broken body and the arrival of Big Walder and Little Walder Frey, whom he blames for Summer and Shaggydog being locked up. When he tells Maester Luwin about his wolf dreams, Luwin gives him a sleeping draught to stop the dreams, but that night he dreams he is Summer trapped in the godswood.
Bran Stark © Fantasy Flight Games
Bran prefers the stone window seat to his featherbed. Abed, the walls seem to press close about him. Although he cannot walk, climb, hunt, or fight as he once did, Bran likes to watch the lights begin to glow all over Winterfell in the evening and to hear the direwolves sing to the stars.
Of late, Bran often dreams of wolves. When they howl, Bran feels the direwolves are talking to him, brother to brother. He can almost understand them, as if they are singing in a language he once knew but has forgotten. His mother’s new wards Big Walder and Little Walder Frey might be afraid of them, but Old Nan told him the Starks have wolf blood, though it is stronger in some than in others. Summer’s howls are full of grief and longing while Shaggydog’s are savage. Their voices echo around the castle and it sounds as if a whole pack haunts Winterfell, instead of only two where once there were six. Bran wonders if the wolves miss their siblings, too.
When Bran asked why the wolves howl, everyone gave him a different answer. Ser Rodrik the castellan had no time for such idle questions, Farlen the kennelmaster believed it was for freedom, Gage the cook said they wanted to hunt, and Maester Luwin thought they were howling at the red comet because they thought it was the moon. When Bran repeated Luwin’s words to Osha the wildling, she declared that his wolves have more wit than his maester and know truths Luwin has forgotten. When Bran asked her what the comet meant, Osha replied, “Blood and fire, boy, and nothing sweet.” Septon Chayle thought the comet was the sword that slays the season, which makes sense to Bran since soon after the white raven came from the Citadel to announce autumn. Old Nan could not see the comet, but claimed she could smell it and said it foretold dragons. Hodor only said, “Hodor.”
Still, the direwolves howl. The guards curse, the hounds bark, the horses kick, the Walders shiver by their fire, and even Maester Luwin complains of sleepless nights. Only Bran does not seem to mind. Ser Rodrik has confined the wolves to the godswood after Shaggydog bit Little Walder, but the stones of Winterfell play tricks with sound; sometimes wolves sound like they are right below Bran’s window and other times they sound like they are up on the curtain walls. Bran wishes he could see them.
The Red Comet © Fantasy Flight Games
Bran can see the comet hanging above the Guards Hall, the Bell Tower, and the First Keep. Once Bran knew every stone of those buildings inside and out; he had climbed them all, scampering up walls as easily as other boys run down stairs. Their rooftops were his secret places, and the crows atop the broken tower were his special friends. Then he fell and almost died. Bran does not remember falling, yet he supposes it must be true. When his eyes fall on the weathered gargoyles atop the First Keep where it happened, Bran gets a tight feeling in his belly. Now he cannot climb, walk, run, or swordfight, and his dreams of knighthood have soured.
Summer howled when he fell, and for long after he lay broken, and Shaggydog and Grey Wind joined in his grief; Robb told him so before he went away to war. The night the bloody raven brought word of his father’s death, the wolves knew that, too. Bran wonders who the wolves are mourning now. Has some enemy slain the King in the North who used to be his brother Robb? Or has his bastard brother Jon Snow fallen from the Wall? Has his mother or one of his sisters died? Or is this something else, as Luwin and Chayle and Old Nan think?
Bran thinks wistfully that if he were a direwolf he would understand. In his wolf dreams he can race up mountains taller than any tower and stand beneath the moon with the entire world below him, as it used to be. Bran cups his hands and begins howling like a wolf, hesitantly at first, but Summer gives answer and so he tries again. The noise brings the guard called Hayhead to his door, but Bran only howls at him until he leaves.
Maester Luwin - by Amok ©
Hayhead returns with Maester Luwin, who suggests Bran should be asleep. Bran insists that he is talking to the wolves. When Luwin offers Bran assistance getting to bed, Bran insists he can do it himself with the iron bars Mikken installed, but he does not want to sleep. Luwin insists that even princes must sleep, but Bran explains that when he sleeps he turns into a wolf. He asks if wolves dream. Luwin thinks so, but not as men dream. Thinking of his father, Bran asks if dead men dream. Maester Luwin says some think so, but the dead are silent on the matter. Then Bran asks if trees dream. Confused, Luwin says no, but Bran insists that they do and says he dreams of a weirwood tree calling to him sometimes. Bran says the wolf dreams are better; he can smell, and sometimes taste the blood.
This makes Maester Luwin uncomfortable, and he wishes Bran would spend more time with the other children. Bran insists that he hates the other children, meaning the Walders. He reminds Luwin that he commanded them sent away. Luwin grows stern as he explains that it is not for Bran to send his mother’s wards away, and asks where they would go if they were turned out. Bran says they can go home, since it is their fault he cannot be with Summer. Luwin argues that Little Walder did not ask to be attacked, nor did Luwin himself. Bran reminds the maester that Shaggydog was the attacker; Summer never bit anyone.
Luwin reminds Bran that Summer tore out a man’s throat in that very room, and claims the sweet pups have grown into dangerous beasts. Bran suggests they should put the Walders in the godswood; the boys can play lord of the crossing all they want, and Summer can sleep with Bran again. Bran complains that no one listens to him, even though he is the prince. He is not even allowed to ride Dancer past the gate. Luwin insists that the wolfswood is full of dangers, recalling Bran’s last outing. Bran insists stubbornly that Summer would protect him and that princes should be free to sail and hunt and joust. Luwin asks why Bran torments himself with these dreams and reminds him that he is a boy of eight. Bran loses his temper and replies:
“I’d sooner be a wolf. Then I could live in the wood and sleep when I wanted, and I could find Arya and Sansa. I’d smell where they were and go save them, and when Robb went to battle I’d fight beside him like Grey Wind. I’d tear out the Kingslayer’s throat with my teeth, rip, and then the war would be over and everyone would come back to Winterfell. If I was a wolf...Ooo-ooo-oooooooooooo.
Maester Luwin attempts to reply, but Bran only howls louder until the maester concedes and departs. Howling loses its savor once Bran is alone and he quiets. Resentfully, Bran recalls that he did welcome the Walders when they arrived from the Twins. Rickon was the one who threw the tantrum then, screaming that he wanted Mother and Father and Robb, not these strangers. It was Bran who soothed him and welcomed the Freys. Even Maester Luwin said he did well. Then they played the lord of the crossing game in a pool in the godswood.
The game was played with a log, a stick, a body of water, and a great deal of shouting. The lord of the crossing stood in the middle of the water and was the only one who got to use a stick. The other players had to make up speeches about who they were and why they should be allowed to cross. The lord could make them swear oaths and answer questions. They didn’t have to tell the truth, but the oaths were binding unless they said “Mayhaps,” so the trick was to say “Mayhaps” so the lord of the crossing didn’t notice, then knock the lord into the water and become the new lord of the crossing. In practice, the game came down to mostly shoving, hitting, and falling into the water, along with a lot of loud arguments about whether or not someone said “Mayhaps.”
Little Walder was lord of the crossing as often as not. He is Little Walder even though he is tall and stout with a big belly. His cousin, Big Walder, is sharp-faced and skinny and half a foot shorter. The names came about because Big Walder is fifty-two days older, so he was bigger at first. Big Walder explained that there were bunches of Walders at the Twins, as well as a number of girls named Walda, all named after the boys’ grandfather, Lord Walder Frey.
Bran watched wistfully while the Walders played the lord of the crossing game with Turnip the cook’s boy and Joseth’s girls Bandy and Shyra. The Walders had decreed that Bran should judge whether people said “Mayhaps,” but as soon as they started playing they forgot all about him. The shouts and splashes soon drew others: Palla the kennel girl, Cayn’s boy Calon, and Fat Tom’s son TomToo. Before long everyone was soaked, muddy, and laughing. Bran had not heard so much laughter since the bloody raven arrived. Bitterly, Bran told himself that no one would be lord of the crossing but him if he could use his legs. Then Rickon came running into the godswood with Shaggydog and wanted to play. Shaggydog obeyed the command to stay until the first time Little Walder hit Rickon with the stick. Then, before Bran could blink, the black wolf attacked Little Walder.
Oddly, after that Rickon decided he liked the Walders. They never played lord of the crossing again, but they play monsters and maidens, rats and cats, and come-into-my-castle. They plunder the kitchens, race around the walls, toss bones to the pups, and train with wooden swords. But when Rickon showed them the crypts under the castle, Bran had screamed that Rickon had no right to show them a Stark place.
Winterfell - by Feliche©
The door to the bedchamber opens and Maester Luwin returns with Osha, Hayhead, and a sleeping draught. Osha scoops Bran up and carries him effortlessly to bed. Luwin assures Bran that the draught will give him a dreamless sleep. Bran wants to believe him. After he has taken the draught, Osha lingers behind to ask if it is the wolf dreams again. When Bran nods, Osha says he should not fight so hard, since maybe the old gods are trying to answer all his talk to the heart tree. Bran fades off to sleep before he can really reply, but when the darkness closes over him, he finds himself moving silently through the godswood. Part of him knows it is only a dream, but even the dream of walking is better than the truth of his bedchamber.
In his dream it is dark amongst the trees but the comet lights his way as he moves, swift and strong on four good legs. He can feel the ground underfoot and the smells fill his head. The scent of squirrel reminds him of the taste of hot blood and bones cracking between his teeth. Slaver runs from his jaws, and he can hear the squirrel chittering and rustling safe above him. He can smell his brother, too, loping around and around, tirelessly searching but never finding: for prey, for a way out, for his mother, for his littermates, for his pack.
Behind the trees the walls rise higher than any wolf can leap. Cold iron and splintery wood close off the only exits, but his brother still stops at each one to fruitless bare his fangs in rage. He did the same the first night, but learned it was no good; circling the walls will not push them back and marking the trees will keep no men away. The world has tightened around them, but beyond the wall still stands Winterfell, and beyond that the true world calls him, and he knows he must answer or die.
Daenerys relates to Xaro Xhoan Daxos how the Pureborn have denied her, despite all the customary bribes and traditional proceedings she followed. Daenerys' hope of obtaining ships and men from the Pureborn was in vain, and now she has to move on. The Pureborn are interested only in her dragons, not in her cause. She again beseeches Xaro for ships, but the merchant prince tells her he has no warships. He asks her again to marry him, and she again refuses. She considers going to the Warlocks for aid, and again Xaro warns her not to. As they move through the marketplace, Daenerys witnesses a firemage make a ladder of fire and climb it into the sky, as cutpurses move through the astonished crowd. Xaro declares the feat a fine trick, but Quaithe appears and tells them it was no trick.
The shadowbinder tells Daenerys that half a year ago, the man could scarcely make even a small fire appear, but his power has grown now, and all because of Daenerys, the Mother of Dragons. Quaithe warns, "You must leave this city soon…or you will never be permitted to leave it at all." Daenerys realizes that Quaithe wants her to go to Asshai, and when she asks why, the shadowbinder tells her it is there she will find truth. Her khas warn her not to trust the Asshai’i shadowbinder, and Xaro concurs. Later, Ser Jorah tells her she will find no help in this city. He explains why Xaro wants to marry her: During a Qartheen wedding ceremony, the bride and groom each ask one thing from each other that the other cannot refuse. Ser Jorah is convinced that Xaro plans to obtain one of her dragons in this way. He tells her she should go east, but not to Asshai. When Daenerys suggests returning west to Illyrio, Jorah warns her that the Magister cares only for himself and would provide no help. Daenerys believes he will give her the ships and soldiers to retake Westeros, but Jorah states, "Nothing knits a broken realm together so quick as an invading army on its soil.”
He reminds her that a man was sent to kill her when Robert Baratheon heard that she was pregnant, and fears what might happen when word spreads of her dragons. Daenerys wonders why the comet led her to Qarth if not to obtain ships and an army, and Ser Jorah implores her to go to Pyat Pree for help.
Tyrion, the royal family, and their retainers are at the docks to see Princess Myrcella off to Dorne. Tyrion is sending Arys Oakheart with her as her sworn shield. Prince Doran Martell has promised to move his banners into the high passes once Myrcella is safely at Sunspear.
Tyrion knows one of Cersei’s secrets, how she is consorting with the unsavory hedge knight Osmund Kettleblack and his brothers in order to raise her own force of sellswords. What the Queen doesn’t know is that Bronn is matching every copper she gives the Kettleblacks, thus Ser Osmund is really one of Tyrion’s men. On the ride back to Maegor's Holdfast, things get out of hand when someone in the crowd hits Joffrey in the face with dung, and the king sends the Hound to deal with the perpetrator. The crowd, frenzied due to the lack of food and the harsh living conditions, boils over and begins to trample the procession. Sensing what is about to happen, Tyrion screams for them to ride hard for the gates of the Holdfast. In the mad rush, several members are lost, and by the time Tyrion reaches the safety of the gates, their lives are in doubt.
As Joffrey is ranting about traitors and how they attacked him, Tyrion dismounts and slaps him so hard his crown flies off, and then shoves him to the ground, shouting, "You set your dog on them! What did you imagine they would do?" Tyrion commands Ser Boros and Ser Meryn to return and find Sansa and those missing, and when the two Kingsguard balk, Cersei begins to berate them as well for their cowardice. Sansa returns, saved by Sandor Clegane who is covered in blood. Meanwhile, a fire has broken out in the city, and Tyrion can see the fear in the Hound's eyes when he commands the men to go and put out the fire.
Later, it is discovered that Preston Greenfield, Aron Santagar, and the High Septon lost their lives; Lady Tanda’s daughter Lollys is found alive, having been raped by fifty men outside a tanner’s shop, and Tyrion’s cousin Tyrek is missing. Tyrion wants his cousin found, mostly because the boy’s father Tygett was always kind to Tyrion. He is dismayed to learn from Jacelyn Bywater that many of the City Watch and the common folk consider Tyrion the problem in the city, and would revolt given the chance. Later, Bronn remarks, while Varys is in the room, that things would be a lot easier if Tommen were king. Tyrion understands this as a hint that Bronn thinks Joffrey should be killed.
Davos has recently returned to Stannis's fleet after delivering the king’s message throughout the realm. He learns that Stannis has been having terrible nightmares, and that only Lady Melisandre can soothe him to sleep. She has been sharing his pavilion of late, and he wonders how she soothes him to sleep.
Ser Cortnay Penrose arrives to parley with Stannis, and scorns the king and all his new-found allies who were so recently sworn to Renly. He especially mocks Lord Alester Florent, for not only changing sides, but changing gods as well.
Ser Cortnay will not accept Stannis’ demands, and will not surrender Storm's End nor Robert’s bastard Edric Storm. The Castellan throws his gauntlet in King Stannis’ face, and proposes single combat to settle the issue. Stannis rejects him, stating he will take the castle by storm if he must, to which Ser Cortnay responds, "Bring on your storm - and recall, if you do, the name of this castle." Stannis dismisses all his men save Davos, seeking the former smuggler’s advice. Davos states his respect for Ser Cortnay, who kept his faith, unlike all these new lords in Stannis’ army. Stannis dislikes them as much, but he needs their strength in order to win his throne. Stannis sent Ser Parmen Crane to Bitterbridge to gather the rest of Renly’s army, but there has been no word since. He tells Davos that he grieves for his brother Renly, and dreams of a green pavilion and the manner of Renly’s death, even though he was in bed at the time of Renly’s demise. Stannis says, "…but I did love him, Davos. I know that now. I swear, I will go to my grave thinking of my brother’s peach."
Melisandre gives birth to a shadow.
art by Anja
Davos advises him to strike for King's Landing at once, but Stannis will not leave Storm’s End untaken in his rear, for men will consider him defeated there. Stannis then tells Davos that he must have the boy Edric Storm, as Melisandre has seen it in her flames; and she has also seen Ser Cortnay’s death, as she saw Renly’s at Dragonstone. The king commands Davos to bring Melisandre by boat under the cover of darkness beneath Storm’s End, as he did some 15 years before.
That night, Davos is sickened by what he must do for his king. He asks Melisandre if she is good or evil, and she responds, "Oh, good. I am a knight of sorts myself. A champion of light and life." Davos calls her a liar, for she means to kill a man this very night, as she killed Maester Cressen and Renly. The Red Woman responds that the maester poisoned himself, and that she had nothing to do with Renly’s death. However, she later admits that Renly was unprotected, while the walls of Storm’s End have spells woven into the stones, and that no shadow can pass from the outside. When Davos proclaims that a shadow is a thing of darkness, Melisandre rebuffs him, stating that shadows don’t exist in the dark, they are servants of light and fire, provided by her god, R'hllor.
When they arrive at a gate in a water tunnel beneath the castle, Melisandre disrobes, and Davos watches in horror as the now pregnant woman gives birth to a shadow, and Davos recognizes the man who cast it.
Jon hears the call of a warhorn, one blast to signify brothers returning. Qhorin Halfhand has arrived, with 100 men from the Shadow Tower. Qhorin recognizes Jon, and tells him that he knew Lord Eddard and Jon’s grandfather Lord Rickard as well. The men from the Shadow Tower were delayed because they met Alfyn Crowkiller and his men who had been scouting along the Wall. They killed the wildling leader and took some captives, but lost four men in the process. Later, Jon overhears dissent in the ranks as Chett and Lark the Sisterman speak of not going into the Frostfangs, no matter what the Old Bear orders. Jon has given the warhorn he found to Sam, because it is cracked and he could get no sound from it, but Sam likes ancient items.
In Mormont's tent, Jon overhears Qhorin telling Mormont about a captive claiming that Mance Rayder had wargs and mammoths in his army. He also explains that the captive claims the wildlings plan to breach the Wall, not climb it or burrow beneath it. Qhorin tells them that Mance is seeking something in the high, cold places of the Frostfangs, some power or artifact. Qhorin advises the Old Bear to send scouts into the mountains, and Mormont agrees. Jarmen Buckwell will take four men to climb the Giant's Stair, Thoren Smallwood will lead a party to probe the Milkwater, while Qhorin himself will lead a third party into the Skirling Pass. Qhorin immediately chooses Jon Snow as one of his four men, stating, "The old gods are still strong beyond the Wall. The gods of the First Men…and the Starks."
Tyrion learns from Lancel that the Queen intends to hide Tommen away at Rosby under the care of Lord Gyles. He is disturbed that Varys has not learned of this, or decided not to inform him.
Later, Tyrion has Bronn deliver word to Ser Jacelyn Bywater, commanding him to take fifty men and capture Lord Gyles' party, and to expel the garrison and keep Tommen safe at Rosby. He does not want Lord Rosby hurt, nor any killing done in front of Tommen. For this, Ser Jacelyn will earn a lordship. Bronn offers to do the job instead if there's a lordship in it for him, but Tyrion refuses, privately noting that Bywater's men will defend Tommen whereas Bronn's are more likely to sell Tommen to the crown's enemies if the coming battle goes against them.
Tyrion then sets out for Chataya’s, but then abandons his patience and rides directly to Shae’s mansion. He finds her listening to a singer, and has the man expelled and sworn to silence. When one of the begging brothers appears, Shae recognizes him as Lord Varys. The Spider informs Tyrion that Storm's End has fallen and that Stannis will soon be marching on King's Landing. Tyrion bids Varys to wait at the stables while he talks to Shae.
Once alone, Shae asks Tyrion to make her his lady in court, and even suggests he kill Cersei, but Tyrion tells her, *"The man who kills his own blood is cursed forever in the sight of gods and men."* When Tyrion proposes to take her to the Red Keep and hide her in the kitchens, Shae balks, and mocks him for being afraid of his father. Tyrion slaps her in the face, telling her never to mock him again. Feeling remorseful, he tells her the story of Tysha and his father’s wrath. He departs to meet Varys at the stables, and the eunuch suggests that Shae be placed as a maidservant to Lady Tanda’s daughter Lollys. Shae would then be able to access the Tower of the Hand through a secret passage, which Tyrion is surprised to learn exists.
Varys then attempts to tell Tyrion how Ser Cortnay died, and when he suggests it was magic, Tyrion disbelieves him. Varys recounts the story of how he came to be a eunuch: that he was a member of a mummers’ troupe, and that one day in Myr a certain man bought Varys from his master. The sorcerer castrated Varys, and burned the parts, creating a blue flame from which a voice spoke in a language he didn’t comprehend. Varys claims he has hated magic since that day, and means to see Stannis dead if the man practiced magic.
Tyrion is somewhat skeptical, beliving it more likely that Stannis has hired a skilled assassin from the Free Cities, musing on how he used to dream of being rich enough one day to hire a Faceless Man to kill his sister. Tyrion's greater concern is that Stannis is now bringing his army to bear against King's Landing, and he is the only one standing in the way of Stannis's victory. With the city's people's hatred for House Lannister and himself in particular at its highest, defeating Stannis seems unlikely.
Catelyn reflects on how she has always done her duty, remembering that she never comforted Littlefinger after Brandon had injured him, nor did she bid him farewell when her father sent him off. Later, Maester Vyman shows her a letter from Lord Elwood Meadows, the new castellan at Storm's End. The man does not make note of Edric Storm, and she wonders again why Stannis is so interested in the boy, thinking he might mean to use the boy’s appearance as proof of Joffrey’s ill heritage. Catelyn is considering the nature of bastards and their fathers, and recalls Roose Bolton’s recent missive where he calls his bastard, Ramsay Snow, a boy of tainted blood and that he counts himself "well rid of him". Bolton states that he hopes Robb will weigh his capture of Harrenhal against the crimes of his bastard son.
Catelyn is drawn away as fighting begins across the Red Fork, yet each time Lord Tywin’s troops attempt to cross, Edmure’s men repel them, raining arrows down upon them as they attempt to ford the river. Catelyn is unimpressed despite the victory her brother has won against one of the most famous battlefield commanders alive. She sends wine to Cleos Frey, and then attempts to gain information from him, but the man knows little of use. All she learns is that Ser Cleos saw only Sansa at court, and she looked drawn; Catelyn muses that either Cersei is keeping Arya hidden for fear of what she might say or do, or her younger daughter is dead. Catelyn does consider Tyrion a man who might be trusted at his word, despite what has transpired between the two of them. She then learns the results of the great victory, that Leo Lefford has drowned, Gregor Clegane was badly wounded, and the great knight Strongboar taken captive. Yet despite the fact that they were winning, she is still afraid.
Bran is once again dreaming through the eyes of Summer, who is alerted by a faint clink, and he and his brother can smell something wrong in the air. The direwolf desperately tries to escape from the godswood, but the gate is locked, so tries to climb a tree to reach the wall, following Bran’s thoughts. Summer falls from the tree, and Bran awakes with a sore shoulder to find a strange man in his room, followed by Theon Greyjoy. Theon, calling himself a prince, tells him that the castle is his now, that his ironmen swam the moat and unlocked the postern gate. His father’s former ward informs him that he must make the people of Winterfell aware that Theon is in command, and that no one will be hurt if they concede. Bran watches as all those whom Jojen saw in his dream die, and all of the crannogman’s words have come true. The sea has come to Winterfell, and Mikken drowns on his own blood as he refuses to bend the knee. join his service. Bran is disappointed about the latter, but manages to convince the rest that fighting is not the answer.
The Bloody Mummers bring 100 northmen to Harrenhal as prisoners. Arya sees this as an opportunity to free the men, take over the castle, and escape. Gendry refuses to help her, but when she meets Jaqen H'ghar, she is able to persuade him and they free the men together. Arya is forced to take on yet another pseudonym, Nan, and is named Roose Bolton's cupbearer.
Arya and Hot Pie are eating tarts in the kitchens when the Bloody Mummers return, this time with nearly 100 northmen as prisoners, along with their lord commander, Robett Glover, and Aenys Frey. Vargo Hoat claims that Lord Roose Bolton fled with his host after the battle. Ser Amory Lorch has the men imprisoned in the Widow's Tower. Arya tries to convince Gendry to help her free the northmen, but the apprentice smith is happy enough where he is and wants no part of it. Arya later goes to the godswood to practise with a wooden stick, and she meets Jaqen H'ghar there. The Lorathi tells her he would have done with his promise, and asks her to name a third. He also knows her to be Arya Stark, and tells her that some people have many names. She asks him to help her free the northmen, but Jaqen reminds her that she has only one name left. When Arya asks if she could name anybody, even the king, Jaqen tells her, "Speak the name, and death will come. On the morrow, at the turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not fly…but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there, and a king dies." Arya whispers "Jaqen H’ghar", and stuns the man. But Jaqen is unafraid, and a dagger appears in his hand, telling her she would lose her only friend. Arya says that a friend would help her, and Jaqen agrees to help her if she names another name. They go and find Rorge and Biter, and Jaqen tells her, "The hungry gods will feast on blood tonight, if a man would do this thing", but Arya is resolute.
Jaqen brings Arya along, and has her demand several kettles of hot soup from the cooks. Each man takes one of the huge kettles, with Rorge carrying two, and they invade the tower where the prisoners are kept. Boiling soup flies everywhere as the guards are dispatched, and when Rorge unlocks the door to the cells, Robett Glover thanks them and asks if they are from the Brave Companions. Arya is confused, but has no time to ask him what he meant when fighting breaks out in the great castle. Jaqen wipes blood from his sword on Arya’s shift, telling her this is her work. Later, Arya takes back the name, and asks if she still can name a third, but Jaqen responds that she has gotten far more than three deaths. As she watches, Jaqen tells her the debt is paid and that he must die, and his features change as he passes a hand over his face. Arya asks who he is and if she could learn to do the same, but Jaqen tells her she would need to go with him across the narrow sea. He leaves her with a coin, of great value in the right place, and tells her that if she ever needs to find him again, she should give the coin to any man from Braavos, and say *"valar morghulis"*. Jaqen, who claims his name is as dead as Arry, then disappears into the night.
Lord Roose Bolton arrives in the aftermath of the fall of Harrenhal, and Vargo Hoat turns the castle over to him. The prisoners were all a ruse to begin with, and apparently Bolton had bought the services of the Qohorik sellsword. As Roose Bolton takes control of the castle, Shagwell grabs Arya and presents her to her brother Robb's bannerman as the weasel who made the soup. Bolton asks her name, and Arya tells him ‘Nan’. The Lord of the Dreadfort then asks if she is afraid of leeches, for he claims that a man must purge himself of bad blood. When Arya tells him she is not afraid, Bolton names her his cupbearer. The banners over the gatehouse are changed to the flayed man of the Dreadfort and the direwolf of the Starks. Arya watches as the Bloody Mummers parade Ser Amory around naked, then feed him to a caged bear, and she thinks to herself, a bear all in black, like Yoren.
Daenerys Targaryen being attacked by the Undying Ones - by Marc Simonetti ©
Daenerys Targaryen enters the House of the Undying, where she experiences many visions. She reaches the audience chamber of the Undying Ones, who give her cryptic information and then try to consume her. Drogon rescues her and she runs outside, where Pyat Pree tries to attack her, but Drogon comes to her help once again.
Daenerys stands before the House of the Undying. Drogon hisses at the gray and ancient ruin and most of her companions, Ser Jorah, Jhogo, Aggo, and Xaro, tell her she should turn back, but she is resolute to enter the abode of the Warlocks. Pyat Pree steps out to her, saying that Daenerys must enter alone, or not at all. He leads her to the entrance, warning her to always take the door to her right, and only take stairs leading up. On her way she will see visions of the past, future and days that never were, and those that will speak to her from other rooms, but she must not enter any room and keep her path until she reaches the Undying's audience chamber.
At the entrance, Daenerys drinks a glass of shade of the evening a dwarf gives her, to prepare her for the truths within, and enters. In the House of the Undying, she notices right away that she is in the presence of sorcery. Fortunately, she brought Drogon with her into the Warlocks' home. Daenerys sees a great many visions during her journey through the halls:
Finally, Daenerys comes upon a room with several figures that are no more than shadows, unbreathing, and over them floats a human heart, blue and corrupted (these are apparently the real Undying). The figures speak inside Dany’s head:
we know… the shape of shadows… morrows not yet made… drink from the cup of ice… drink from the cup of fire… Mother of Dragons… Child of Three… three heads has the dragon… three fires must you light: one for life and one for death and one to love… three mounts must you ride: one to bed and one to dread and one to love… three treasons will you know: once for blood and once for gold and once for love… daughter of death, slayer of lies, bride of fire…
She now sees visions in her head, floating faster and faster:
At this point, the visions turn to a nightmare as the Undying try to consume Dany, and she is helpless to stop them until Drogon starts to tear the corrupted heart to pieces. Fleeing from the burning House of the Undying, Pyat Pree attacks her with a dagger, but Drogon interrupts him long enough for Daenerys to hear Jhogo’s whip crack, and then she is in the arms of Ser Jorah.
Tyrion dispatches his clansmen into the kingswood to raid Stannis's baggage trains, ambush his scouts, and perform night raids. Tyrion feels he can trust only about a quarter of the 6,000 men in the City Watch, and feels unprepared for the coming battle. He orders Bronn to start burning down the houses along the wall by the quay, feeling that the enemy could scale the wall easier by climbing on the roofs of the houses. Tyrion is aware that Winterfell has fallen to the ironmen. Balon Swann has been named to the Kingsguard to replace Preston Greenfield, and Tyrion approves, but he does not approve of Cersei’s choice of Osmund Kettleblack to replace Boros Blount. Blount was stripped of his white cloak after he surrendered Tommen immediately when Jacelyn’s men overtook them. Blount is rotting in Rosby’s dungeon on the count of treason, since the Kingsguard are supposed to give their lives in defending the royal family.
Tyrion has appointed the new High Septon, and tells him to warn the people that Stannis means to burn the Great Sept of Baelor. Tyrion is also visited by Hallyne the Pyromancer from the Alchemists' Guild, and is surprised to learn that they have 13,000 jars of wildfire, way ahead of schedule. When Tyrion asks why, the pyromancer explains that their spells have been more potent of late, but is at a loss to explain why. He does ask Tyrion if there are any dragons about, and elaborates something he heard a long time ago, that magic began to disappear from the world when the last dragon died.
Jacelyn informs Tyrion that Tommen is safe, but the Hand does not know where the boy is being kept in case Tyrion is captured and tortured by the invaders. Varys then informs Tyrion of a plot by several merchants calling themselves Antler Men to arm commoners in the streets. Tyrion writes the order for their arrest, one of them being the master smith Salloreon.
Arya and the others encounter more refugees every day as they journey north. One evening they halt at an inn, where they hear news of the war in the riverlands. Outside the inn, Arya talks with the prisoner Jaqen H'ghar. Soon after, six gold cloaks arrive with an arrest warrant for the Bull, but Yoren refuses and after a tense standoff the gold cloaks retreat.
Each day, Arya and the others travel from dawn to dusk, and at night they eat by the light of the Red Sword. The men take turns standing watch, since they can see the firelight of other travellers. Every night there are more camps and every day there is more traffic on the kingsroad. They meet every kind of person and every mode of transportation, but most come by foot, with their goods on their shoulders and wary looks on their faces. They are all headed south toward King's Landing, and Arya wonders why no one else is going north like them.
One morning, a passing merchant offers to buy Yoren’s wagons for a quarter of their worth. He explains there is war to the north and claims Yoren will do better selling to him than being robbed by soldiers, but Yoren refuses. That same day, Arya notices the first grave (dug for a child) and a few leagues on Praed points out a whole row of them. After that hardly a day passes without seeing one.
One night, Arya wakes to find the night oddly quiet. When Praed does not wake the next morning, Arya realizes it was his coughing that was missing. They bury the sellsword where he slept and split his valuables amongst them. Yoren gives the longsword to the Bull, claiming he has the arm to learn to wield it.
That evening they stop in a village at an ivy-covered inn. They cannot afford rooms, but Yoren arranges a hot meal and use of the bathhouse if anyone feels the need. Arya knows she must smell as bad as Yoren, but cannot risk revealing her gender by bathing. She rationalizes that it would be a shame to drown the creatures living in her clothes that have come all the way from Flea Bottom. The Bull, Tarber, and Hot Pie line up for the bathhouse with some of the other men while the rest crowd into the common room. Yoren even sends Lommy out with tankards for the three men who remain fettered in the wagon.
The innkeeper gives them all a round of beer on the house and tells them his brother Lync was sent to the Wall for filching pepper from his lord’s table. Arya sips her beer cautiously, remembering how she enjoyed beer when her father permitted it and how Sansa would make a sour face and insist wine was ever so much finer. The memories make her sad.
The inn is full of refugees who scorn Yoren’s plan to continue north. The innkeeper explains that half the fields are burnt, and the remaining people are walled up in holdfasts. Yoren insists that the Night’s Watch takes not part, but the innkeeper points out that wild men have come down from the Mountains of the Moon and the young Lord Stark has come south to war. Mention of her brother grabs Arya’s attention. A man named Hod claims that Robb rides into battle on a wolf as big as a horse, which no one seems to believe.
Then talk turns to the great pack of wolves near the Gods Eye who have even attacked men, led by a she-wolf from the seventh hell. Talk of a she-wolf makes Arya wonder if the Gods Eye is near the Trident, where she was forced to leave her direwolf Nymeria. One of the travellers claims that this she-wolf once snatched a baby from its mother’s arms in the midst of a village, and that the men who pursued lost all of their dogs and nearly their lives. Arya blurts out that this is just a story because wolves do not eat babies. The man asks what Arya would know about wolves, but Yoren gives her a shove and orders her outside before she can answer.
Jaqen H’ghar – by Amok©
Outside, the youngest and handsomest of the three men in the wagon calls to her with a friendly voice. Arya approaches warily with one hand on Needle. The man is slender and fine-featured with red hair on one side and white on the other. He speaks in a strange syntax, referring to himself as “a man” and to Arya as “a boy,” and his accent reminds her of Syrio Forel. He asks for another beer and suggests he could use a bath, claiming Arya could make a friend. Arya insist that she has friends, but the noseless prisoner remarks that he cannot see any. The third prisoner only hisses and sticks out the stump of his tongue.
The friendly prisoner begs forgiveness for his present company, and introduces himself as Jaqen H'ghar from Lorath. He introduces the noseless man as Rorge and the other as Biter (a name Jaqen gave the mute because of his filed teeth). Rorge curses and throws his tankard at Arya, demanding more beer, but she manages to dodge. Asking herself what Syrio would do, Arya draws her practice sword. Rorge threatens her, but Arya recalls her mantra, “Fear cuts deeper than swords,” and approaches the wagon. When Biter lurches at her, Arya hits him hard right between the eyes. Biter reels back but then throws all his weight against his chains and attempts to grab her again. When the bonds hold and Biter collapses, Jaqen H’ghar observes that Arya has more courage than sense.
Arya backs away from the wagon again. When she feels a hand on her shoulder she whirls around, but it is only the Bull, who reminds her that Yoren warned them not to go near the three in the wagon. Arya insists they do not scare her, but the Bull replies, “Then you’re stupid. They scare me.” As the Bull leads her away, Arya hears Rorge laughing and Biter hissing behind them.
Wanting to hit something, Arya asks if the Bull wants to fight. Startled, he warns her how strong he is, but Arya argues that she is quick. The Bull draws Praed’s longsword and declares it cheap steal, but still a real sword. Arya draws Needle and declares that it is good steel, which makes it even realer. They each ask the other to promise not to cry if they get cut. Arya assumes her water dancer's stance, but the Bull is distracted by six gold cloaks riding up the kingsroad on lathered horses.
As the gold cloaks draw up in front of the inn, Arya pulls the Bull behind a tall hedge and tells him to be quiet as a shadow. The gold cloak officer asks some of the recruits outside the bathhouse if they are the ones who left King’s Landing to take the black. The men say they might be, so the officer dismounts and declares he has a warrant for a certain boy.
Yoren steps out of the inn to ask who wants the boy. The officer presents his warrant and declares that Queen Cersei sent them. Behind the hedge, the Bull asks why he and Arya are hiding. Arya explains that it her they are after. The Bull asks why the queen would want her, but Arya tells him to be quiet. Yoren declares the warrant pretty, but insists that the boy is in the Night’s Watch so what he did back in the city does not matter. The officer declares that neither he nor the queen cares. Arya considers running, but knows she cannot escape. She decides she is tired of running; a real water dancer would never run.
Gendry, a.k.a. the Bull – by Amok©
Yoren insists that the gold cloaks will have no one, since there are laws on such things. The officer draws his shortsword and declares it his law. Yoren only looks at the blade and declares, “That’s no law, just a sword. Happens I got one too.” The officer threatens that he has five men with him, but Yoren spits and declares that he has thirty. A gold cloak with a broken nose laughs and asks who is first. In a gesture of solidarity, Tarber takes up a pitchfork, Cutjack pulls out his hammer, Kurz draws his skinning knife, Koss strings his longbow, Reysen snatches up his staff, Dobber (fresh from the bath) drops everything but his dagger, and Hot Pie scrambles to find a big rock. Arya is amazed; she hates Hot Pie, so why would he risk his life for her?
Refusing to let the others die for her, Arya shoves through the hedge with Needle and joins the others. The gold cloak with the broken nose laughs and tells her to put away the blade, calling her a girl. Arya insist she is not a girl, furious that they do not understand she is the one they want. Yet when the Bull comes up behind her the officer declares him the one they want. It is a mistake to take his eyes off Yoren, however, and quick as a snake Yoren places his sword at the officer’s throat.
Yoren declares that the gold cloaks will have neither of them, and reminds the officer that he has even more brothers in the inn. The officer drops his sword and Yoren declares that good steel is always needed on the Wall. The officer declares that Yoren had best hurry back to the Wall, and promises that if he catches Yoren again he will take his head as well the boy's. Yoren declares that better men have tried and slaps the officer’s horse with his sword. The other gold cloaks follow.
Once the gold cloaks are out of sight, Hot Pie whoops in triumph, but Yoren remains angry and orders everyone up and moving; if they ride all night they may be able to stay ahead for awhile. After giving the officer’s sword to Hot Pie, Yoren walks over to the Bull and declares that the queen wants him bad. Arya asks why the queen would want a bastard boy like the Bull, but the Bull asks why she would want a gutter rat like Arya. Suspicious that the Bull is more than he appears, Arya asks his true name. He replies that it is Gendry. Yoren claims not to know why anyone would want either of them, but declares they cannot have them regardless. He orders Gendry and Arya to take the two coursers and orders them to ride hard for the Wall at the first sight of a gold cloak, since the rest of them mean nothing to the gold cloaks. Arya points out that the officer promised to take Yoren’s head, but Yoren replies that if the man can take it he is welcome to it.
Theon Greyjoy discovers that Bran and Rickon Stark have gone missing from Winterfell with their direwolves, the wildling woman Osha, Hodor, and the two Reeds, Meera and Jojen. He organizes a hunt to find them, but grows desperate during the hunt when no trace of Bran and Rickon can be found. When the sun finally goes down, Reek offers Theon a solution to his problem.
Theon suddenly wakes up in Eddard Stark’s former bedroom with the girl Kyra sleeping next to him. He tries to calm himself, but as he cannot remember dreaming, he cannot put it down to a bad dream. He gets out of bed, opens the window and looks outside, where all is quiet. He goes back to bed, until he realizes which sound is missing: the direwolves. He sends Urzen, who is guarding at his door, to check up on the direwolves, who have been locked up in the godswood. Recalling the day the direwolves had torn the wildlings who had attacked Bran Stark in the wolfwood, the idea of the direwolves running around makes him feel queasy. He wakes up Wex Pyke, who is sleeping by the bed, and sends him to check if Bran and Rickon Stark are still in their beds. Wex returns with the news that the two Starks are gone. As Theon finishes dressing, Urzen returns to tell him that the wolves are gone as well.
Theon gives the order to rouse the castle. As the order is being carried out, he wonders whether Stygg has reached Deepwood Motte yet, knowing that his sister Asha might be on her way to Winterfell by now. The people of Winterfell are gathered in the yard. Theon angrily thinks that he tried to treat them justly, but that they have repaid him with betrayal.
Urzen and Black Lorren show Theon that Squint and Drennan, who had been guarding the Hunter’s Gate, have been killed. He recognizes Squint’s wounds as having been the work of the direwolves. He surmises that Drennan has been killed by “the woman”, and realizes she must have had help from someone who freed the wolves. He thinks to himself that he should have killed the direwolves the day he took the castle. He decides to search for the wolves at daylight.
In the yard, where Reek informs him that six people are missing: Bran, Rickon, Meera and Jojen Reed, Hodor and Osha. Learning Dancer is still in the stables, Theon realizes they escaped on foot, and that they would be slowed down by the fact that Bran would be in the basker on Hodor’s back and that Osha would need to carry Rickon. Theon confronts the people of Winterfell, who do not answer his questions.
Reek suggests skinning them, but Theon loudly declares there will be no flaying in the north while he rules Winterfell, hoping some of the people at Winterfell will understand that he is the only thing protecting them from people like Reek.
Theon organizes a hunt on Bran and Rickon, ordering Maester Luwin to accompany them because he does not dare to leave Luwin behind in the castle. Little Walder Frey asks to come too, which Theon allows. They leave the castle with eleven men, two boys, and twelve dogs. Reek takes a boar spear and an overstuffed washerwoman’s sack with him, but Theon does not inquire as to its contents. The tracks of the drivewolves, Hodor, and the two Reeds are easily found and the dogs find the scent. They venture northwest, into the heart of the wolfswood. Theon considers that they might be fleeing to Deepwood Motte, unaware that Asha will be occupying the castle. He bitterly thinks to himself that he’d sooner see them all dead, believing it is better to be seen as cruel than foolish.
Maester Luwin asks Theon to consider being merciful, not only to Bran and Rickon, but also the Reeds, citing their value as a hostage against Lord Howland Reed. Theon agrees to spare them all, including Hodor, if he can, but not Osha, who took an oath and broke it.
They find the remains of a freshly killed young elk, clearly killed by the direwolves. Theon realizes that the animal has only been eaten off by the wolves, and that Osha has not even cut off a few steaks. He asks Farlen if the dogs could be tracking the wrong wolves, but Farlen denies the possibility.
They continue, but the dogs lose the scent less than an hour later, at a muddy brook swollen by the recent rains. They are unable to determine where the wolves left the stream. Wex alerts them to the fact that there are only pawprints visible, but not the prints of men, meaning the wolves entered the water alone. Theon is horrified at the discovery, realizing that Osha likely send the wolves ahead on their own. He sends Gariss, Murch, Aggar, and four dogs to double back and find where the group must have parted from the wolves, while the others follow the direwolves, as they would not part from Bran and Rickon for long. He takes Wex, the Frey boy, and Gynir Rednose with him upstream. They search on both sides of the stream, but Theon feels forced to give up at midday, when they still have not found a sign of them. They reunite with Farlen’s search party, which had travelled downsteam, who bare the same bad news. Gariss, Murch, and Aggar, having retraced their steps halfway to Winterfell, have not been able to find any sign of the Starks either.
Theon does not dare to admit defeat and suggests returning to the brook again. Little Walder Frey believes they are unable to find the Stark children because the Reeds are with them, citing numerous superstitions on “mudmen”. All men laugh at the notion, until Luwin cites how the histories say the crannogmen had once been close to the children of the forest, suggesting they may have secret knowledge. Regardless, they return to the steam and search for many a mile, but when the last daylight fades, they are forced to abandon the search. Reek approaches Theon, suggesting that the Starks have travelled northeast, in the direction of the Umbers. However, Reek states, the children would need to shelter someplace closer by, and he might know where that is, mentioning the old mill on Acorn Water. Although Theon questions why the Starks would have gone to hide there, with so many other possibilities nearby, Reek insists on the location. He shows Theon the contents of his sack, and when Theon finds the wolf’s-head brooch, he realizes what Reek is implying. He orders all but Aggar, Rednose, and Gelmarr to return to Winterfell. Luwin asks him to remember his promice of mercy, but Theon replies that “mercy was for this morning”.
Ygritte by Anja Dalisa ©
As Qhorin Halfhand’s party moves through the Skirling Pass, they note watchers high up in the pass. Qhorin sends Stonesnake and Jon to dispatch the watchers, and they are warned not to let them sound a horn. Stonesnake teaches Jon how to climb a sheer cliff face, and they eventually reach the top above the wildlings. There are three, and after killing two, the third turns out to be a woman, Ygritte. She yields to them, and Jon takes her captive, despite Stonesnake’s warning that she should be killed. When she learns that Jon is a bastard son of a Stark lord, she tells him the wildling story of Bael the Bard. Supposedly, before he joined the free folk, he was a raider, or, according to Stonesnake, a murderer and robber.
Lord Brandon Stark wanted Bael’s head, but was never successful in capturing the bandit. To teach the lord a lesson, Bael slipped into Winterfell calling himself Bard Sygerrik, which means ‘deceiver’ in the old tongue of the First Men, which the giants still speak. In return for his performance, he requested the fairest flower in Winterfell, and the lord gave him the rare winter rose. In the morning, the singer was gone along with Lord Brandon’s daughter.
A year later, the lord’s daughter was found in her bedchamber with a young baby. Bael had hidden her in the crypts of Winterfell. Thirty years later when Bael was King-Beyond-the-Wall and led the wildlings south, it was his son, the new Stark lord, who slew Bael, since the bard would not harm his son. Upon returning home, the young lord’s mother killed herself when she found out Bael was dead. The young lord was said to have eventually been killed by one of his bannermen. Jon does not believe the story, which claims that the blood of the Starks and the wildlings is the same.
When Qhorin and the others arrive, Ygritte recognizes the Halfhand and confirms that the wildlings would kill him if he yielded. Qhorin’s men state that she should be killed, and Qhorin leaves Jon alone with Ygritte to carry out the task. Ygritte tells Jon that Mance Rayder would accept him if he ran off with her. Jon, about to behead her, finally stops himself and tells her to run off.
Sansa meets again with Ser Dontos in the godswood, and learns that he hears more things as a fool than he ever did as a knight. And Varys the Spider pays in gold for anything overheard, making Dontos believe that Moon Boy has been working for Varys for years. Dontos tells her that Stannis burned the godswood at Storm's End at the behest of the Red Woman. When Sansa asks him to make good on his promise, Dontos tells her the time is not right for their escape. Dontos does promise her that when his friend returns to King's Landing, they will have a ship to escape on.
Sansa and Sandor atop Maegor's Holdfast. © Luaprata91
Sansa does not want to return to her room yet, so she goes up to the roof, where she is surprised by the Hound. Clegane is in a foul mood as ever, and tells her that he enjoys killing, and that only cowards fight with fire. He claims he fears no man, but Sansa thinks that he does fear his brother. Once again, he assures her that there are no true knights.
That night, Sansa has a dream where she is surrounded by a mob, and calls out to all the great knights, but none respond to her call. She feels herself bleeding, and awakes to find the sheets soaked with blood. She realizes that she just had her first flowering, and burns the sheets in fear that Joffrey will find out and want to bed her. Her maids catch her and bring her before the Queen, but Cersei comforts her, knowing the girl is frightened at the prospect of marrying Joffrey. She tells her how difficult Joffrey was to bear, and how Robert was out hunting when Joffrey was born. Cersei informs her that while Sansa may not love Joffrey, she will love the children she bears him. The Queen also reveals that Robert always wanted to be loved, to have friends and be cheered, and that her brother Tyrion had the same disease. She tells Sansa: *"Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same."*
Jon tells Qhorin Halfhand what Ygritte said to him about Mance Rayder accepting him if he ran off. Qhorin confirms this. He knew Mance when he was a black brother, and the ranger tells Jon that Mance loved songs and wildling women, and that he was a wildling captured as a child by the Watch. He was the best ranger they had, but he returned to his roots, some say to gain a crown. Qhorin suspects that Jon let Ygritte go, and Jon confirms that he did, however Qhorin understands that the girl was not a threat, and if he had wanted her dead he would have had Ebben do it, or have done it himself. Qhorin tells Jon that he now knows him better than he did before, and that it is important for a commander to know his men.
They travel at night and rest during the day. That morning, Jon dreams of five direwolves, when there should have been six. Seeing through the eyes of Ghost, he finds himself in a forest and senses a voice calling his name from a nearby weirwood with a face resembling his brother's, except it has three eyes. His brother explains to him how to open his eyes, and the tree reaches down and touches him, and he finds himself back in the mountains. He is atop a cliff, and oversees thousands of men training for combat. He also sees mammoths with giants riding them. Suddenly, an eagle soars out of the sky coming straight for him. Jon awakens shouting Ghost’s name. The others hear his shout, and he tells them what he saw. Qhorin calls it a wolf dream, and Ebben calls Jon a skinchanger. Qhorin, however, does not balk at the thought of wargs and giants during a time when the dead walk and the trees have eyes again. They set out just before dusk, and spot an eagle watching them, well out of bowshot.
Soon after, they find Ghost wounded and dress the direwolf's wounds. Qhorin tells them they must head back to the Fist, for they have been seen by the eagle which they fear is a skinchanger as well. They begin the journey back through the Skirling Pass without lighting any fires despite the cold. But their lead on the enemy is shortening, and when they come upon the place where the wildlings were killed, Squire Dalbridge remains behind with all their arrows, sacrificing himself to give the others an advantage.
Varys shows Tyrion a message from Winterfell that reveals Bran and Rickon were killed at the hands of Theon Greyjoy. Tyrion goes to tell Cersei the news, wanting very much to see her reaction. She tells him she could have frightened Bran into silence, but Jaime reacted without thinking. Tyrion tells her that they must take good care of Sansa, because with two of her sons dead, Lady Catelyn might decide to kill Jaime. Cersei warns him that he trusts Varys too much, telling him that the Spider feeds them all information to make them think they would be helpless without him. She reveals that Varys told her Tyrion meant to take the Hound from Joffrey, and Tyrion explains he needs Sandor Clegane and Ser Balon Swann to lead sorties in the upcoming battle. Tyrion also informs her he means to give Joffrey a small command far out of the main fighting, so that the men can see their King leading them.
Cersei then springs a surprise on Tyrion, bringing out who she thinks is Tyrion’s whore, Alayaya. The girl has been badly beaten, and the Queen reveals she did this because a Lannister always pays her debts, and Tyrion has been conspiring against her since he arrived. Tyrion pretends to be horrified, but is relieved that his sister had not found Shae. Cersei tells him the whore will not be harmed so long as Tommen remains safe, but Tyrion bluffs by saying he will have Tommen treated the same way the girl is. Alayaya does not give Tyrion away, and goes along with the whole thing. Tyrion then threatens to pay Cersei back for what she did, when she least expects it. Having lost, the Queen shouts at him to get out. He finds Shae in his room, having come through the secret passage, but she was blindfolded by Varys and does not know where the entrance lies.
Catelyn hears the celebration going on in Riverrun, but she sits alone with Brienne and desolate over the loss of her two young sons. The raven arrived that morning, and Catelyn is beside herself with grief, despondent at the thought nearly all her children are dead or lost to her. She tells Brienne that she sent the Kingslayer a bottle of wine to loosen his tongue. She means to question him, and is perhaps contemplating having the man killed since she has so little to live for anymore.
At midnight, Catelyn goes to interrogate Jaime, and asks Brienne to wait outside. Jaime mocks her at first, but eventually agrees to answer her questions if she agrees to answer his. Jaime admits to being the father to all of Cersei’s children, and to throwing Bran out the tower window. However, Jaime denies sending the assassin after Bran, saying, "if I wanted your Bran dead I would have slain him myself." Catelyn questions him about the dagger that Littlefinger claimed Tyrion had won from him. Jaime backs what Tyrion told her in the Mountains of the Moon, that he always bets on his brother and lost at that tourney. Jaime admits that King Robert mocked him with the dagger at the feast the night of the tourney, and Catelyn is dismayed that Littlefinger, who was like a brother to her once, would deceive her the way he has.
Catelyn confronts Jaime
Catelyn then reveals that Robb has recently taken the Crag from the Westerlings, and marched ever closer to Casterly Rock. Jaime then steers the conversation to what really happened to Brandon Stark and Lord Rickard at the hands of the Mad King Aerys, perhaps to absolve himself of having slain the king. Brandon was on his way to Riverrun when he learned of Lyanna's disappearance, and instead went to King's Landing with a handful of friends, all sons of prominent lords, and upon entering the Red Keep, Brandon shouted for Rhaegar to "come out and die".
Rhaegar was not there to answer the challenge, and Aerys had Brandon and his men arrested for conspiring to murder his heir. Aerys demanded the fathers of the men come to King’s Landing to answer the charges against their sons; when they came, both fathers and sons were murdered at the command of King Aerys, with Brandon dying of strangulation trying to reach his father who was being burnt alive by Aerys' pyromancers. Jaime was a young member of the Kingsguard when he saw all this, and it was Ser Gerold Hightower who told him, "You swore a vow to guard the king, not to judge him", whom everyone consider a better man than him.
Jaime, now fully drunk, angrily rants that he is reviled for what he considers his finest act and begins to mock Ned Stark’s honor, stating that unlike Ned, a man who fathered a bastard, he has never been unfaithful and that Ned had no right to judge him, the man who avenged his father and brother, but Catelyn has heard enough, and calls for Brienne’s sword.
Theon Greyjoy is awoken by Wex Pyke and Reek and informed of the arrival of his sister, Asha. Theon meets with Asha, who berates him for having killed Bran and Rickon Stark and having mounted their heads upon the gates of Winterfell. Theon refuses to abandon his conquered seat, after which Asha leaves. As a last measure, Theon sends Reek away with a bag of coin in search of men to defend the castle. Afterwards he has yet another nightmare, which makes him realize all around him belongs to the Starks.
Theon Greyjoy is woken from a nightmare, in which he is being chased by large wolves with the faces of children, by his squire, Wex Pyke, with Reek standing behind him. Reek informs Theon that Asha has arrived. As Theon prepares to see his sister, he thinks back about the nightmares he has been having lately, ever since the night he and Reek killed the two boys at the mill. After washing his face, Theon dresses in rich clothing, only to realize that Asha cares more for blades. He changes again, this time dressing in felted black wool and ringmail. Lastly, he dons his crown.
Theon has taken to using guards for his own safety, while his own men have become sullen and anxious following the murders of Gelmarr, Aggar, and Gynir. Although the three ironborn had been killed by Reek with Theon's permission, to ensure they would not be able to reveal what had happened at the mill the night they returned with the corpses of the children, Theon had felt the need to blame someone for their deaths. To that end, he had executed Farlen, going as far as to personally execute him like Eddard Stark would have done. The memory is a sour one, as it had taken him four difficult blows to sever Farlen's head, afterward feeling sick about it.
His men would prefer to leave Winterfell, a thought that makes Theon angry. He refuses to be driven from his own seat, being the Prince of Winterfell. He blames Asha, feeling she had taken this long to respond to his commands on purpose. Reek, Urzen and Kromm escort Theon to the hall, where he finds Asha in the high seat of the Starks. Theon is dismayed to discover that Asha brought only twenty men. In turn, she scolds him for having killed Bran and Rickon Stark and having mounted their heads upon Winterfell's gates. The memory of returning the bodies to Winterfell is a sour one for Theon as well. He recalls forbidding Luwin from sewing the heads back onto the bodies and placing them in the crypts of Winterfell. Theon leads Asha to Eddard Stark's solar, where he tells her that Dagmer has lost the fight at Torrhen's Square. Asha tells him she was not surprised to learn about it, and informs him that Dagmer is currently leading the survivors back to the Stony Shore, making Theon realize that she is better informed than he is.
Theon is furious about the fact that Asha is planning on leaving only ten of her men behind for him. Leobald Tallhart has joined Ser Rodrik Cassel, Lord Wyman Manderly has sent a dozen barges upriver, and the Umbers are gathering beyond the Last River. Asha compliments her brother for the clever way he took Winterfell, but tells him that the wise course of action would have been razing the castle and taking the two princes as hostages back to Pyke. Winterfell is too far from the sea, and every northman is now his enemy. Theon counters her, telling her that he killed two of Eddard Stark's sons to lay to rest the ghosts of their brothers, Rodrik and Maron. Asha tells him that Rodrik might feel the need to avenge Eddard's sons and asks Theon to return with her to Deepwood Motte. When Theon refuses, Asha leaves, telling him he shall hold the castle for the remainder of his life.
Asha departs the castle with her men and Theon watches her go from atop the wall, where he is approached by Reek. Reek offers to find Theon two hundred good men if Theon provides a horse and a bag of coin. He asks for Palla as a reward. Although Reek makes Theon uneasy, he does not dare kill the man, as he is literate and cunning, and could easily have left a hidden account of what they had done behind. Theon agrees to give him the girl if he can deliver two hundred men, and Reek leaves the castle before the sun goes down. That night Theon dreams about the welcoming feast Eddard Stark had thrown King Robert I Baratheon when the king visited Winterfell. Although the feast is jolly at first, the room grows darker and suddenly Theon finds himself dining with the dead. Robert's guts are spilling out on the table from a great gash in his belly, while Eddard Stark is headless. Lining the benches below are the corpses of men he knows: Jory Cassel, Fat Tom, Porther, Cayn, Hullen, and all the others who had gone south to King's Landing. Mikken, Chayle, Benfred Tallhart and his Wild Hares, the miller's wife, Farlen, and the wildling Theon had killed to rescue Bran are among them. There are also people who Theon has never met, including Rickard, Lyanna, and Brandon Stark. Then, Robb Stark enters through the doors with Grey Wind beside him, both of them bleeding "from half a hundred savage wounds".
Theon wakes screaming, and Wex and his guards fetch Luwin, but Theon does not dare drink the sleeping draught that the maester leaves him. Instead, he summons Kyra and fucks her, but even that cannot help him sleep again, and she leaves sobbing of pain. At dawn, Theon goes outside. Seeing everything belonging to the Starks around him, he thinks to himself he should have gone with Asha. In silence, he looks at the heads mounted atop the iron spikes of the gatehouse, reflecting on what fools people could be. Although everyone had accepted his story, the heads on the wall actually belong to the miller's sons, who had been of an age and coloring with the two missing Starks. With their faces flayed, no one had been able to tell the difference.[N 1] Theon never found Bran and Rickon.
Sansa is in the Red Keep's royal sept. The battle of the Blackwater is underway and the people in the sept are waiting for the outcome.
Joffrey obliged her to see him off before. He made her kiss his sword promising that he would kill Stannis with it. Sansa hopes that Joffrey will fight himself and get himself killed. She told him that her brother Robb was always in the thick of the fight. Joffrey replied that he will kill Robb as well.
In the sept the people are singing. Sansa sings with them until they start praying for the victory of Joffrey. Silently Sansa prays for his defeat and goes away. As she leaves for Maegor's Holdfast she can hear the sound of battle.
Within the holdfast Sansa enters the Queen's Ballroom, where there is almost every highborn woman in the city, along with a handful of old men and young boys. Sansa notices Ilyn Payne. She asks Cersei why Ser Ilyn has come. Cersei explains why they need him:
-*"When the axes smash down those doors, you may be glad of him."*
-*"Won't your guards protect us?"*
-And who will protect us from my guards? The queen gave Osfryd a sideways look. "Loyal sellswords are rare as virgin whores. If the battle is lost my guards will trip on those crimson cloaks in their haste to rip them off. They'll steal what they can and flee, along with the serving men, washer women, and stableboys, all out to save their own worthless hides. Do you have any notion what happens when a city is sacked, Sansa? No, you wouldn't, would you? All you know of life you learned from singers, and there's such a dearth of good sacking songs."
-True knights would never harm women and children. The words rang hollow in her ears even as she said them.
-True knights. The queen seemed to find that wonderfully amusing. "No doubt you're right. So why don't you just eat your broth like a good girl and wait for Symeon Star-Eyes and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight to come rescue you, sweetling. I'm sure it won't be very long now."
Davos' ship *Black Betha* is in the second line on the right as Stannis' great fleet, under the command of Ser Imry Florent, enters Blackwater Bay. He sees that the city defenders have few enough ships, but the shore is well fortified, and dozens of catapults and archers line the walls of the city. Davos is glad to know that Stannis sent Melisandre back to Dragonstone, because the king feared the commonfolk would say it was the sorceress who won the battle.
As they pass two winch towers on either side of the headwaters of the channel entering the Blackwater Rush, Davos fears a chain boom, which he sees exists, but it is not raised. The old sailor is curious, but there is little time to consider what it means. Fighting breaks out, and despite his inexperience, Ser Imry's battle plans seem to be working well, until the barge with the wildfire in it explodes. The channel turns into a ruin of hundreds of ships, many burning from the unquenchable green liquid. Davos goes overboard as hundreds of men on both sides die screaming in the green blaze. As the mass of ships and debris begin to float back out towards the bay and Davos hopes he can reach the open sea, he sees the great chain boom raised closing off the Blackwater Rush, turning its mouth into the mouth of hell.
Tyrion Lannister watches as half of Stannis' fleet is on fire in the Blackwater Rush. Hundreds of people are dying in the water. King Joffrey complains that most of his ships are ablaze, but for Tyrion there is no alternative to sacrificing them. Some of Stannis' ships have escaped, however, releasing men in front of the city wall or waiting on the southern shore of the Blackwater. Tyrion allows Joffrey to launch the Antler Men with the catapults into the fray. He gets word that there is a large force attempting to batter down the King's Gate. When he arrives there, he orders the Hound, who is in command, to go out with his men, but Clegane refuses. Tyrion realizes that the man is afraid of the wildfire and he is forced to rally the troops himself, leading a sortie through the gate to stop Stannis' men.
Tyrion Lannister, standing on top of the Mud Gate, watches motionlessly as half of Stannis' fleet is ablaze in the Blackwater Rush, along with most of King Joffrey's ships. It seems like the river itself is on fire. The air is full of smoke, arrows and screams. The wildfire is drifting downstream towards ships that desperately, but futilely, try to escape. The low-hanging clouds reflect the green glow, creating an eerily beautiful scenery. Tyrion is reminded of dragon fire and wonders whether he feels the same way as Aegon the Conqueror did when he watched the Field of Fire. He is captivated and can't turn away, although he realizes that this is only half a victory and that the celebrations of the Gold Cloaks behind him are premature.
Tyrion sees another ship loaded with wildfire exploding and has to shield his eyes. Hundreds of people are dying in the water, either burning to death or drowning. He thinks of Stannis, who might be sitting on his warhorse among the mass of people on the southern bank of the Blackwater, watching the same spectacle. Tyrion hears King Joffrey, huddled among his guards on the wallwalk below, complaining about the fate of his fleet, as the *Kingslander, *Queen Cersei and *Loyal Man* are already burning and the *Seaflower* is about to be engulfed by flames as well. He advises his nephew that there was no alternative to sacrificing the own fleet, thinking by himself that Stannis would have sensed the trap, if the royal fleet had not come forward for battle. Bronn's position under the Red Keep is too far away for Tyrion to see anything, but the sellsword must have set the oxen into motion the second Stannis' flagship had passed and the enormously heavy chain was pulled up by the winches, creating a barrier that now prevents most ships from escaping the wildfire inferno.
Some do, though, as Tyrion observes with dismay. While the main channel of the Blackwater is all aflame, the north and south banks are not, as the wildfire has not spread as evenly Tyrion hoped it would. A good part of Stannis' ships have made for the southern side of the Blackwater, from where they can bring the enemy troops across later on, while at least eight ships have already landed under the city wall, putting men ashore there. Stannis' main host might need some time to regain their courage after watching the jade holocaust that has absorbed so many of their fellows, but when they start to attack again, the risk of the city forces breaking will be acute, as Lord Jacelyn Bywater has warned Tyrion. Seeing shapes moving among the charred ruins of the city wharves, he sends order to Lord Jacelyn to make another sortie against soldiers stumbling ashore.
He also commands Ser Arneld to swing the Three Whores thirty degrees west. King Joffrey brings up that his mother has promised him that he could use the catapults and Tyrion allows him to go through with his plan for the Antler Men. When they were brought before the King for justice, Joffrey promised them that he would send them back to Stannis. The traitors are now naked and trussed up in the square, antlers nailed to their heads, and Joffrey intends to catapult the bodies over the city wall in Stannis' direction. Tyrion tells Joffrey to proceed swiftly, as the Great Whores will be needed for other things soon. As the happy King is about to leave, escorted by members of the Kingsguard, Tyrion orders Ser Osmund Kettleblack that they should keep Joffrey safe under any circumstance but also keep him among the defenders. He wonders whether Cersei will be true to her promise of protecting Alayaya the way he protects Cersei's wretched bastard son.
Tyrion gets word that hundreds of enemies have landed on the tourney grounds and prepare for battering down the King's Gate with a ram. He curses, hurries to his horse and, followed by Podrick Payne and Ser Mandon Moore, gallops through the River Row, kept clear of traffic on Tyrion's command to allow movement between the gates, towards the King's Gate. When he arrives there, the ram is already in place outside and crashing against the wood. Some of the defenders on the gatehouse square are wounded, but Tyrion spots a good many sellswords and knights who are not, and he orders another sortie, asking who is in charge.
Sandor Clegane steps forward and objects to Tyrion's order, dropping his helmet to the ground. His face is covered in blood from a gash on his forehead and his left ear is sheared off. Tyrion insists on a sortie, but the Hound tells him to bugger that and bugger himself. A sellsword seconds Clegane, explaining that three sorties left half of the men wounded or dead. Tyrion sarcastically asks him whether he thinks he has been hired to fight in a tourney. He repeats his order, addressing the Hound in particular, but then is shocked to notice that Clegane is actually scared. He changes his tactics and tries to coax the men into action, but Clegane is adamant that he will not lead the men into the fire again. He suggests to open the gate instead and kill the enemies when they rush inside. Ser Mandon advises him to obey the order of the Hand of the King, but the Hound just curses Tyrion some more, then asks for wine.
Clegane's face is white as milk and Tyrion thinks he's dead on feet, worn out by the battle and his terror of fire. Even worse, the Hound's fear has shaken the will of those he commands. Tyrion is looking around for another man to put in charge, but dimisses his own idea of using Ser Mandon, as he remembers a comment by his brother Jaime that Ser Mandon is not the kind of man others would follow. He hears another crash of the ram and announces that he will lead the sortie himself, thinking to himself that this is madness but madness is better than defeat. The Hound laughs at the suggestion with contempt, but Tyrion gives orders to prepare the attack. However, only twenty men respond to his call while the others follow Clegane's example. Sitting on his horse with helmet and shield, Tyrion addresses the holdouts: "They say I'm only half a man. What does that make the lot of you?"
He manages to shame them by suggesting they are less than a dwarf if they refuse to fight the enemies. Within a few moments, twice as many men respond to Tyrion's orders. He announces:
"You won’t hear me shout out Joffrey’s name. [...] You won’t hear me yell for Casterly Rock either. This is your city Stannis means to sack, and that’s your gate he’s bringing down. So come with me and kill the son of a bitch!"
Tyrion unshields his axe and trots towards the sally point. He thinks the men are following him, but he doesn't dare to look around and check whether they really do.
Jon Snow finds Samwell Tarly in the dark library cellar of Castle Black, where Sam has found a number of maps for the great ranging. Out in the courtyard they watch the new recruits practicing and Jon talks with Donal Noye. After they present their maps, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont discusses Maester Aemon’s past with Jon.
Jon Snow- by Amok©
Jon calls out to Samwell Tarly amidst the ancient books and scrolls of Castle Black’s library. Jon wends his way down the narrow aisles toward the glow of Sam’s lamp to find the fat boy hunched over a table. When Jon asks if he has been there all night, Sam reveals that he lost all track of time in the windowless cellar. Jon calls Sam a sweet fool and reminds him that soon they will be sleeping on hard ground, not soft beds. Sam yawns and explains that Maester Aemon sent him to find maps for Lord Commander Mormont, but he never thought there would be thousands of interesting documents to read. Jon is unimpressed by the books and asks if Sam found the maps.
Sam gestures toward a clutter of books and scrolls on the table and declares he has found at least a dozen. He shows Jon a faded parchment that marks the sites of many wildling villages. Then he excitedly shows Jon an account of a ranging to Lorn Point by a ranger named Redwyn from before the Targaryen Conquest that mentions fighting with giants and trading with the children of the forest. Meaning to sound encouraging, Jon suggests that Sam can write an account of their own great ranging, but talk of what they are to face on the morrow makes Sam uncomfortable. He shuffles scrolls about and says there are more maps if he only had time to set the library in order, which will take years. Jon remarks that the Lord Commander wanted the maps a little sooner than that.
When Jon picks up a scroll it crumbles in his hand. Sam explains that the most important documents were copied over when needed, and the oldest have likely been copied half a hundred times. Jon says there is no need to copy this one, which is only a list of goods. Sam seems fascinated, but Jon wonders who would care how much pickled cod men ate six hundred years ago. Sam insists that he would, since it can tell them how many men were in the Night’s Watch, and how they lived, and what they ate. Jon responds that they ate food and lived as he and Sam do. Sam disagrees and claims that the vault is a treasure trove. Jon is dubious: to him treasure means gold, silver, and jewels. Sam has also found works even the Citadel does not have: drawings of weirwood faces, thousand year old counts of the seasons, scrolls from old Valyria, and even a book about the language of the children of the forest.
Jon assures Sam the books will still be here when they return, but Sam replies, “If we return.” Jon tries to reassure Sam by pointing out that Mormont is taking 200 seasoned men (most of them rangers), and Qhorin Halfhand will join them with 100 more from the Shadow Tower. He insists Sam will be as safe as back at Horn Hill, but Sam replies that he was never very safe there either.
Jon thinks it a cruel joke that Pyp and Toad (who want to go) are to remain behind while Sam (the self-proclaimed coward) must go in Maester Aemon’s place to tend the two cages of ravens. Sam argues that Jon or Grenn could care for the ravens, and Jon can write messages as well as he can. Jon insists that he has his own duties as the Lord Commander’s steward. He reminds Sam that he said the vows, but Sam says that a brother of the Night’s Watch should not be so scared. Jon insists they are all scared, and they should be with so many rangers disappearing in the last two years, but what matters is how they face it. Then he offers to help gather up the maps and they depart the library.
The Wall and Castle Black - by Feliche©
The vault opens onto one of the underground passages called the wormwalks, which bind Castle Black together in winter. Jon thinks of the white raven that came to Maester Aemon, and knows winter will come soon. He remembers the last winter, which was short and mild, but he can feel that this one will be different. By the time they reach the surface, Sam is out of breath. The sight of the Wall reminds Jon that it marks the end of the world, and tomorrow they are going beyond it.
The morning sky is streaked by clouds but the red comet is still visible behind them, even by day. The black brothers have dubbed it “Mormont’s Torch,” claiming (only half in jest) that the gods have sent it to light the way through the haunted forest. The castle seems deserted with so many gone to the brothel in Mole's Town. Grenn is among them, since Pyp and Halder and Toad offered to buy him his first woman. They invited Jon and Sam as well, but Jon insisted on keeping his vow of celibacy and Sam is as frightened of whores as he is of everything else.
As they pass the sept, they hear a hymn being sung. Jon notes that on the eve of battle some men want whores and some want gods. He wonders who feels better after. The sept tempts him no more than the brothel; the Seven have no power beyond the Wall, but the nameless old gods whom Jon worships will be waiting there.
Outside the armory, Ser Endrew Tarth is training the six new recruits brought in the previous night. Ser Endrew is a gentler master-at-arms than Ser Alliser Thorne, but his lessons can still raise bruises. Sam winces at the sight, but Jon watches closely. From the door of the armory, the one-armed smith Donal Noye asks Jon’s opinion of the recruits. Jon declares they smell of summer and asks where Conwy recruited them. Noye says it was a dungeon near Gulltown and labels the recruits as a brigand, a barber, a beggar, two orphans, and a boy whore. Jon replies that they will do; he and Sam did.
Donal Noye - by BrittMartin © Green Ronin Publishing
Noye asks Jon if he has heard that his brother Robb Stark is now a king. Jon admits that last night in the common room there was talk of little else. Jon is still unsure how he feels about the brother he grew up with becoming a king while he remains on the Wall, but he tells Noye that Robb will make a good king. Noye is not so sure and declares that once he might have said the same of Robert Baratheon, but Robert was never the same after he put on the crown. Noye confirms that he forged Robert’s warhammer and claims he knew the Baratheon brothers as well as anyone. The smith compares Robert to a sword: made for fighting and prone to rust if left unused. When Jon asks if Robert’s brothers are the same, Noye considers for a moment then declares:
Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He’ll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he’s copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day.
Jon wonders what metal Robb is, but decides it is best not to ask. Noye was a Baratheon man before taking the black and likely believes Robb is a traitor. There is an unspoken pact amongst the Watch not to probe too deeply into such matters since old loyalties are not easily forgotten. Even Sam’s former House is sworn to Highgarden, which has supported Renly. As Jon departs with Sam, Noye offers a prayer for Jon on the morrow and urges him to bring his uncle back.
Jon leaves Ghost outside the door of the King’s Tower, where Lord Commander Mormont resides now that fire has gutted his own tower. Sam is disheartened by the number of stairs, but Jon jests that stairs are one thing they will not confront beyond the Wall.
Lord Commander Jeor Mormont- by Rene Aigner©
When they enter the solar, Mormont complains about how long it took them. Ignoring the boys, Thoren Smallwood argues that the Lord Commander’s place is at Castle Black. Mormont declares that Smallwood can do as he likes if he ever becomes Lord Commander. Smallwood insists that the command should be his as First Ranger, but Mormont will have none of it. He declares that he already sent out two rangings and will not wait and wonder if the third is lost as well. Mormont dismisses Smallwood with the reminder that Benjen Stark remains First Ranger until his death is confirmed. Once Smallwood is gone, Mormont exclaims that he would sooner name Sam as First Ranger and complains that Smallwood called him too old for a ranging.
Brusquely examining the maps, Mormont asks if they were all Sam could find. When Sam stutters, Jon points out that the villages might be gone, but the geography will still be correct. Mormont asks Sam about the ravens and commands that he wants the best, saying that if they are all butchered he means for his successor to know where and how. Talk of butchery leaves Sam open-mouthed and speechless. Mormont declares he is too busy for such behavior and dismisses Sam, who almost trips in his haste to leave.
Mormont asks, without waiting for an answer, whether Sam is as big a fool as he seems. He explains that he was considering sending Sam as an envoy to King Renly, since his father stands high in Renly’s councils, but Renly is not likely to heed a quaking fat boy so Ser Arnell (whose mother was a green-apple Fossoway) will go instead. Jon asks what Mormont would have of King Renly, and Mormont replies that he will take anything that is offered.
Mormont continues that Ser Alliser Thorne should reach King Joffrey soon, but House Lannister has never been a friend to the Watch. Jon points out that Thorne does have the twitching wight’s hand to show them. Mormont laments they do not have a second hand to send to Renly. Jon remarks that Dywen claims a man can find anything beyond the Wall. Mormont scoffs that Dywen also claims he saw a bear fifteen feet tall, insisting a man must believe his own eyes.
Maester Aemon - by Amok©
Turning the conversation back to hands, Mormont asks Jon about his burned hand. Jon explains it is well enough to wield Longclaw and that he is exercising the fingers as Maester Aemon suggested. Mormont opines that Aemon knows his work and prays they can keep him another twenty years. Then he asks if Jon knows that Aemon could have been king. Jon is taken by surprise; he assumed the maester was a younger son of a king.
Mormont explains that Aemon was a younger son, the third son of King Maekar I Targaryen, who was himself the fourth son of King Daeron II Targaryen. Slow of sword but quick of wit, Aemon was sent to the Citadel when he was nine or ten and ninth or tenth in the succession. Jon struggles to imagine the 100-year-old maester as a little boy. Mormont continues that Crown Prince Baelor died in a tourney mishap and soon after his two sons, Valarr and Matarys died in the Great Spring Sickness along with King Daeron, so the crown passed to Daeron’s second son, Aerys I Targaryen. Aerys reigned for twelve years (during which Aemon took his vows as a maester) then died without issue and the throne passed to Aemon’s father Maekar I. During his father’s reign, Aemon’s eldest brother, Daeron "the Drunken", died of a pox, leaving only a feeble-minded daughter, and his second brother, Aerion Targaryen, who killed himself by drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon. Less than a year later, King Maekar died in battle with an outlaw lord.
A Great Council was convened to decide on the succession. It passed over Aerion’s infant son and quietly offered the throne to Maester Aemon, but Aemon chose to abide by his vows even after the High Septon offered to absolve him. Therefore, his younger brother, Aegon V Targaryen, was named king, and became known as "the Unlikely" because (as the fourth son of a fourth son) he was never expected to become king. Yet Maester Aemon knew that those dissatisfied with his brother’s rule would seek to use him, so he became a member of the Night’s Watch and remained at the Wall while his brother’s descendents ruled as kings until Robert's Rebellion put an end to the line of the Dragonkings.
Mormont’s raven begins repeating the word “king.” Jon notes that the bird seems to like the word, and jests that perhaps the raven believes Mormont should have a crown. Mormont declares that there are three kings already, which is two too many for his liking.
Jon asks why Mormont has told him all this about Maester Aemon. Mormont explains that Jon and Aemon have something in common: a king for a brother. Jon points out that they also share a vow. Mormont comments that if he had a man for every vow he has seen broken the Wall would never lack for defenders. Jon says he always knew Robb would be Lord of Winterfell, but Mormont insists that a king is a different thing:
They will garb your brother Robb in silks, satins, and velvets of a hundred different colors, while you live and die in black ringmail. He will wed some beautiful princess and father sons on her. You’ll have no wife, nor will you ever hold a child of your own blood in your arms. Robb will rule, you will serve. Men will call you a crow. Him they’ll call Your Grace. Singers will praise every little thing he does, while your greatest deeds all go unsung. Tell me that none of this troubles you, Jon... and I’ll name you a liar, and know I have the truth of it.
Jon asks what a bastard like himself might do if these facts did trouble him, but Mormont asks what Jon will do. Jon declares that he will be troubled, and keep his vows.
Cersei continues to receive word on the progress of the battle from one of the Kettleblacks. Slightly drunk, the Queen tells Sansa that there would be no hope of her charming Stannis Baratheon should the city fall, and explains that women have another weapon beside tears. The Queen commands her son be brought back to Maegor's Holdfast as the battle seems to be going in Stannis’s favor. As Sansa begins to cry, Cersei finally reveals that Ser Ilyn is there for them, for she will not permit Stannis to take them alive…
Tyrion, with Ser Balon Swann and Ser Mandon Moore at his side, is cutting through Stannis’s forces. He is confused to see such a large force of men to the west, seemingly fighting Stannis’s men, and can’t figure out where they came from. But he has little time to consider it, as he sees hundreds of Stannis’s troops crossing the Blackwater by using the half-sunk ships as a bridge. Racing onto the boats, Tyrion’s men are overwhelmed, and he goes over the edge of a gunwale, clinging for his life. Ser Mandon Moore appears and tells Tyrion to take his hand, his left hand. As Tyrion reaches for his hand, he instinctively withdraws as Ser Mandon’s sword slices into his face. Tyrion, grievously wounded, watches as Podrick Payne saves his life by shoving Ser Mandon into the river.
The Hound demands a song of Sansa - by Kallielef ©
Ser Lancel curses Cersei for calling her son back inside the Holdfast, when the king’s presence might have rallied the troops. He claims all is lost, and Cersei leaves the room. Sansa watches as Lancel falls to his knees, severely injured. She attempts to calm Cersei's guests and orders others to help Lancel receive medical care.
Dontos persuades her to lock herself in her room, and when Sansa arrives at her chambers, she finds Sandor Clegane hiding in the shadows. The Hound, drunk and battered from the fighting, tells her he lost, and that he should have killed Tyrion years ago. Sandor claims he is leaving King's Landing, maybe to head north somewhere. Clegane forces her to look at him, and then tells her, "I could keep you safe…No one would hurt you again, or I’d kill them."
Sandor then asks that she sing for him, as she had promised she would. She is too frightened to remember the words of the song he wants, and can only sing the Mother's Hymn. After that, some instinct makes her cup his cheek with her fingers, and she can feel tears on his cheeks. Sandor strips off his white cloak and leaves her room.
Later, Dontos returns to bring her the news--the battle is over, King’s Landing has been saved by the Tyrells and Lord Tywin and all their men. Lord Tywin held the right wing, Lord Randyll Tarly the center, and Mace Tyrell commanded the left. Yet it was the vanguard that won the battle, some say led by the ghost of King Renly who slew Ser Guyard Morrigen in single combat.
Dany considers the defeat of the Undying to be Drogon’s victory. However, Xaro, whose guest she is, warns her that the Warlocks are gathering their power to come for her, and that the other two great merchant consortiums want her either expelled from the city, or killed outright. Dany realizes she must flee, for Xaro’s protection can only go so far. The merchant again asks her to marry him, but this time Dany learns that what Xaro really wants is one of the dragons. Dany tells him that it would cost one-third of all the ships in the world in order for her to give up one of her dragons. Xaro leaves, and Dany questions Ser Jorah about some of the mysteries she saw in the House of the Undying. Jorah says that the three heads of the dragon represent Aegon and his two sisters, but Dany is not convinced. The knight confirms that Rhaegar did play a silver harp, but he says that if the Prince’s son was the promised one in the vision, the infant Aegon was killed during the sack of King's Landing. Jorah has no knowledge of the song of ice and fire.
Dany later sets out with the exiled knight and her bloodriders to find ships to take her from Qarth. Along the docks, Jorah warns her that a big, scarred man and an old man with a staff are following them. When a merchant hands her a beautiful box as a gift, Dany opens it to find a green scarab within. The creature within the box flies out, and mayhem erupts. The creature would have bit Dany had the old man with the staff not knocked it out of her hands. The merchant was a Sorrowful Man, and the creature a manticore that would have killed Dany had it bitten her. They learn that the huge, scarred eunuch is the pit-fighter Strong Belwas, and the old man is his squire Arstan Whitebeard, both sent by Magister Illyrio Mopatis to return them to Pentos. The old man recognizes Mormont, and the exile recognizes him but cannot place a name. Arstan claims he comes from the Seven Kingdoms, and squired for a knight of House Swann as a young man. The two claim that Illyrio sent for them because he wishes to have her dragons in order to bring justice to the Seven Kingdoms, which are a divided and warring realm. Dany concedes that she must leave Qarth, but commands them to change the names of their three ships to that of Aegon’s three dragons.
In order to escape Harrenhal, Arya Stark slit the throat of the guard at postern gate - © Tim Tsang
After aiding in the capture of Harrenhal Arya is now serving Lord Roose Bolton. She is bothered by the killing and head-staking of many of the servants who worked for Lord Tywin, most of them inherited from Lady Shella Whent who held Harrenhal prior to Lord Tywin.’s banner-men.
Arya overhears a meeting between Bolton and his advisors, mainly Freys. The Freys believe that Robb will lose, and that they should sue for peace and leave Harrenhal. Bolton states that he is not a man to be undone, like Stannis Baratheon was. Arya learns that Winterfell has fallen and is horrified when she finds out that her brothers are dead. Bolton dismisses the Freys, and has Arya remove the leeches.
Qyburn reads a letter from the Lady Walda, Bolton’s new wife. Bolton orders the letter burned, and a message sent to Helman Tallhart, who had recently taken Darry from the Lannisters. Bolton orders him and Robett Glover to burn the castle and put the people within to the sword in the name of King Robb, and then to strike east for Duskendale. Bolton says that both men will wish vengeance for what has transpired to their families and homes in the North.
Bolton then announces that he will hunt wolves that day, for he cannot sleep with all the howling at night. That evening, Bolton returns with nine dead wolves, and tells Arya that he means to give Harrenhal to Vargo Hoat when he returns to the north. Arya is to remain at Harrenhal to serve the Goat. Outside the tower occupied by the Freys, she hears much shouting within and sees Elmar crying on the steps. The young son of Lord Walder Frey says, "We’ve been dishonored. There was a bird from the Twins. My lord father says I’ll need to marry someone else." Elmar was promised a princess originally, but whether or not he knows it to be Arya is unknown.
Arya then decides to flee Harrenhal, and eventually convinces Gendry and Hot Pie to come with her that night. They meet at the Tower of Ghosts, Gendry says the postern gate is guarded, and Arya says she will get rid of the guard. She approaches him openly and tells him that Lord Roose has her giving a silver piece to all the guards for their service. She takes out the coin Jaqen gave her and drops it, when the guard reach for it, she slits his throat and the three ride out through a sally port and away from Harrenhal.
Sansa watches the long procession of heroes and captives being presented before the King. Tywin Lannister is now Hand, and many are rewarded for their service to House Lannister during the Battle of the Blackwater, with over 600 new knights made. Ser Loras Tyrell is named a member of Joffrey’s Kingsguard, and Margaery is betrothed to Joffrey. With this, Sansa's betrothal to Joffrey is ended, to her great relief. Mace Tyrell is named to the King’s small council.
Many of the great lords sworn to Casterly Rock and Highgarden receive honors, and many hedge knights and freeriders as well. Lothor Brune is knighted, and called Apple-Eater for defeating several Fossoways; Philip Foote is granted the lands of Lord Bryce Caron and elevated to lord. Hallyne the Pyromancer is named lord, but given no lands, and Lancel is named lord and given the land of the Darrys, except he may die or lose his arm from the wounds he suffered. Littlefinger is granted Harrenhal and named Lord Paramount of the Trident for negotiating the treaty which brought the Tyrells to the aid of King's Landing.
When the captives are brought in, many swear fealty to Joffrey, but several are killed for openly ridiculing the King and refusing to bend the knee. Later that night, Sansa goes to the godswood and meets Dontos Hollard, who is sad because the Queen still has plans for Sansa, and her escape will be impossible while the Queen is watching. However, Dontos does reveal that they will escape during Joffrey’s wedding in about a month. Dontos then gives her a hair net that resembles a silver spiderweb with amethysts in it. He tells her to wear it, for "It’s magic, you see. It’s justice you hold. It’s vengeance for your father. It’s home."
As Winterfell is being besieged, Theon Greyjoy declines Maester Luwin's suggestion of yielding. Theon parleys with Ser Rodrik Cassel, using Rodrik's daughter Beth as a hostage. Theon knows that the host will attack regardless of his threat of Beth and considers Luwin's suggestion of requesting taking the black until he is informed that the northmen are fighting among each other. Newly arrived men from the Dreadfort slaughter Rodrik's host, and Theon is shocked to discover that they are being led by "Reek", who reveals himself to be Ramsay Bolton. Ramsay knocks Theon to the ground and orders Winterfell to be sacked.
Theon Greyjoy is approached by Maester Luwin, who advices him to yield. Victarion and Balon Greyjoy have not replied to Theon's messages, and although new birds will not reach them on time, Theon orders Luwin to send them anyway. He accuses Luwin of wanting him dead. The maester calmly explains that, although he bears Theon no great love, his order] serves and the fact that Theon holds Winterfell means that Luwin is bound to serve him. Again, he counsels Theon to yield Winterfell, as he has no hope of holding it. Theon counters that by holding onto Winterfell, Rodrik Cassel cannot turn south to take Victarion in the rear. He is willing to withstand a siege of a year, but Luwin tells him that within days the northmen will be climbing the walls in more places than Theon can stop them.
Theon has his ironborn assemble in the yard. He informs his men he will not run from the northmen, and gives them the option of leaving him or dying beside him. None of his men reply, until Wex Pyke steps over to Theon's side. Lorren, Red Rolfe, Kromm, Werlag, Tymor and his three brothers, Ulf the Ill, Harrag Sharp, four Harlaws and two Botleys, and Kenned the Whale follow. The others leave. Black Lorren counsels him to put the castle folk to the sword, as they will turn on them as soon as the fighting begins. Garbed for battle, Theon climbs the watchtower and watches the northmen who have gathered. Despite his disapproval about the plan, Lorren goes to fetch Beth Cassel.
After Cley Cerwyn announces Ser Rodrik Cassel's wish to parley with Theon, Theon goes to the drawbridge. Theon meets them in the market square, where Rodrik demands Theon return Winterfell to the Starks, command his men to lay down their weapons, and allow himself to be judged by Robb Stark. Theon gives Rodrik his own terms, telling the knight that the northmen are to disperse and to swear fealthy to Balon Greyjoy as their king and Theon as the Prince of Winterfell. He then signals Lorren, who produces Rodrik's daughter Beth with a noose around her neck atop the walls of Winterfell. When Rodrik accuses Theon of being craven, Theon tells him that he felt the noose for ten years. He declines Rodrik's offer of taking his daughter's place, informing the knight that she will hang if the northern army is still present at sunset. Every following dawn and dusk, he says, another hostage will follow.
Theon returns to the castle and retreats to Eddard Stark's bedroom. He knows that the northmen will attack and that Winterfell will easily fall. Finding no solace in wine, Theon takes his bow to the inner ward, where he loses shafts at archery butts. He sees no way out: if he hangs Beth, the northern army will attack at once; But if he does not hang her, he will prove his threats are empty. Luwin approaches him, suggesting Theon take the black. Theon considers the option, realizing it is a way to live with dignity and honor. They are interrupted by Kromm, who informs them that men from the Dreadfort have arrived, who are now fighting Rodrik's army.
After the battle at Winterfell ends, the leader of the Dreadfort men presents Theon with the corpses of Rodrik Cassel, Cley Cerwyn, and Leobald Tallhart, and Theon orders Winterfell’s gates to be opened to their new friends. The Dreadfort leader, Red Helm, informs Theon that Rodrik thought the Dreadfort men were allies to the other northmen, which allowed the Dreadfort to win the battle despite being outnumbered five-to-one. He takes off his helm and Theon identifies him as Reek. The man tells Theon that Reek is dead; His name is Ramsay Snow, although he prefers Ramsay Bolton. Reek had been killed while fleeing the northern soldiers who had captured Ramsay, but as they had exchanged clothes, no one had realized the switch of identity. Ramsay tells Theon that he was promised a prize for bringing two hundred men, but brought more than promised by bringing six hundred. Instead of Palla, he prefers Theon's bedwarmer Kyra. When Theon objects, Ramsay punches Theon to the face and Theon falls to the ground in pain. The Dreadfort men attack the ironborn, and Theon sees Red Rolfe, Kenned, Ulf, and Luwin die, while the roof of the stables are set aflame. Ramsay orders his men to "save me the Freys and burn the rest. Burn it, burn it all." The last thing Theon sees during the sack of Winterfell is his horse Smiler escaping the stables afire.
Tyrion lies abed dreaming of the men who died fighting alongside him in the battle, as well as those he killed. He dreams of Tysha as well, and when he awakens, realizes that he is not at the Tower of the Hand, and the maester hovering over him is one he does not recognize. Unable to speak, the maester gives him milk of the poppy. Later, when the maester returns, Tyrion knocks the poppy from his hands and demands the cast be removed from his face. Maester Ballabar keeps mumbling about the Queen’s orders, but Tyrion will not listen. He demands wine not poppy, and looks upon his destroyed face in a mirror. Three-quarters of his nose is gone along with part of his lip, and the stitching job was sloppy. Tyrion sends the maester away and asks for Podrick Payne. The boy arrives, and Tyrion swears him to silence about what occurred at the docks with Ser Mandon Moore. He tells Pod to bring Maester Frenken, for he does not trust this new maester.
The weather in the Skirling Pass has gotten worse. Qhorin sends Ebben back with the last garron to reach the Lord Commander with all haste, while the rest try to head off pursuit. Watched by the eagle, Qhorin then sends Stonesnake back as well, to take the high passes to reach the Fist of the First Men. Qhorin commands Stonesnake to tell Mormont all that Jon saw: that he faces giants and wargs and worse, and that the trees have eyes again. That night, the Halfhand asks Jon if his sword is sharp, and makes the young man recite his oath with him. Qhorin then commands Jon to yield when they are overtaken, and not to balk no matter what the wildlings ask him to do to prove himself. Jon is appalled at the suggestion, but Qhorin tells him to go among the Wildlings and learn what they plan, watch what they do, but to remember who he is and to return to Mormont when he has learned what the wildlings are searching for. Qhorin promises to tell the Lord Commander that Jon never broke his oath when he sees him again.
They are overtaken soon after by Rattleshirt and a party of wildlings, Ygritte amongst them. They have Ebben’s head, and Rattleshirt orders them killed. Jon yields, as Qhorin ordered him to, and the Halfhand says in contempt, "I was warned bastard blood is craven." Rattleshirt commands Jon to kill Qhorin to prove himself. Jon slays the big ranger only after Ghost gives him an opening by biting the man’s calf. The wildlings accept him despite Rattleshirt’s misgivings, and Ygritte tells him that the eagle was once the man he killed up in the passes when they captured her.
Jojen wakes Bran from a wolf dream, and warns him that he's spending too much time as Summer, and that while the wolf eats in the dreams, Bran does not. Bran informs them that Winterfell has been burned to the ground and is all ash except for the stone walls. They have been hiding in the crypts all this time. Trusting Bran’s vision, they decide it is now safe to come out of hiding. Hodor moves a massive stone blocking off the door out of the crypts, and they indeed find Winterfell in ashes. They find several of Theon’s ironmen dead, along with men bearing the badge of the Dreadfort.
The direwolves rejoin them, and lead them to Maester Luwin who lies near death in the godswood, which is still largely untouched. Jojen says, "There is power in living wood, a power strong as fire." The maester is thankful that the boys are still alive, although he knew that Theon had killed the miller’s boys from their looks, but had never revealed his knowledge to Theon. Maester Luwin admits that he is dying, and provides his last advice. He tells Osha not to send the boys off together, they are Robb’s heirs and must be separated. Osha asks him where to bring the boys, but Luwin is unsure, with the ironmen to the west, the Bastard of Bolton to the east, and war everywhere, "each man against his neighbor, and winter is coming…such folly, such black mad folly…" Maester Luwin tells Bran to be strong, that he is his father’s son. He then asks a boon of Osha, and the wildling woman sends the others away. When she returns, it is decided that Bran will go north in search of the crow with Jojen, Meera, Hodor and Summer, while Osha will take Rickon and Shaggydog south, perhaps to White Harbor. As Bran looks upon Winterfell for perhaps the last time, he thinks to himself, The stone is strong, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. It is not dead, just broken. much like Bran himself.
Catelyn Stark watches as her son King Robb Stark presents his peace terms to his envoy Ser Cleos Frey. Afterward, Catelyn argues with Robb over his refusal to exchange Jaime Lannister and his plan to send Theon Greyjoy back to the Iron Islands. Later, Catelyn discusses the war with Brynden Tully and they plan an alliance with King Renly Baratheon.
Catelyn Stark née Tully — by Amok ©
As they wait in Riverrun's Great Hall, Catelyn watches her son Robb restlessly adjust his new-forged crown several times, and remarks to herself that a crown is not easy to wear, especially for a boy of fifteen years.
The ancient crown of the Kings of Winter was lost three centuries ago when Torrhen Stark submitted to Aegon the Conqueror, but the smiths have done well to match the descriptions: an open circlet of hammered bronze surmounted by nine black iron spikes in the shape of longswords. There is no gold, or silver, or gems; bronze and iron are the metals of winter, dark and strong.
As the guards bring in the captive, Robb lays his sword across his knees in the customary gesture of hostility. As Ser Cleos Frey is forced to his knees, Catelyn reflects that he does not look like a Lannister. Although his mother Lady Genna is sister to Lord Tywin Lannister, Ser Cleos has inherited the stringy brown locks, weak chin, and thin face of his father, Ser Emmon Frey.
Robb's sword glimmers faintly as he bids Ser Cleos to rise, but it is Grey Wind who frightens the knight. As big as any elkhound, Robb's direwolf sniffs at Ser Cleos, who was captured in the Whispering Wood where Grey Wind killed half a dozen men. Ser Cleos scrambles to his feet and away from the direwolf so quickly that it provokes laughter from the audience. Ser Cleos thanks Robb, calling him “my lord,” but Greatjon Umber corrects that a king is styled “Your Grace.” Ser Cleos accepts the correction, and Catelyn notes that he truly is more Frey than Lannister; they would never have gotten such an honorific out of Jaime Lannister.
Robb wishes Ser Cleos to be his envoy to Queen Cersei in King's Landing. Robb reminds Ser Cleos that he considers him a Lannister, not a Frey, since he sided with the Lannisters in the Whispering Wood. He therefore expects Ser Cleos to return with the queen's reply and resume his captivity. Ser Cleos vows on his knighthood to do so, and asks what the message is. Robb offers to make peace if his if his terms are met. At the back of the hall, Lord Rickard Karstark shoves through a rank of guards and out the door, but Robb pays no attention. Exchanging his sword for a parchment, Robb reads his terms:
King Robb Stark – by Riavel ©
First, the queen must release my sisters and provide them with transport by sea from King's Landing to White Harbor. It is to be understood that Sansa's betrothal to Joffrey Baratheon is at an end. When I receive word from my castellan that my sisters have returned unharmed to Winterfell, I will release the queen's cousins, the squire Willem Lannister and your brother Tion Frey, and give them safe escort to Casterly Rock or wheresoever she desires them delivered.
Secondly, my lord father's bones will be returned to us, so he may rest beside his brother and sister in the crypts beneath Winterfell, as he would have wished. The remains of the men of his household guard who died in his service at King's Landing must also be returned.
Third, my father's greatsword Ice will be delivered to my hand, here at Riverrun.
Fourth, the queen will command her father Lord Tywin to release those knights and lords bannermen of mine that he took captive in the battle on the Green Fork of the Trident. Once he does so, I shall release my own captives taken in the Whispering Wood and the Battle of the Camps, save Jaime Lannister alone, who will remain my hostage for his father's good behavior.
Lastly, King Joffrey and the Queen Regent must renounce all claims to dominion over the north. Henceforth we are no part of their realm, but a free and independent kingdom, as of old. Our domain shall include all the Stark lands north of the Neck, and in addition the lands watered by the River Trident and its vassal streams, bounded by the Golden Tooth to the west and the Mountains of the Moon in the east.
After a cheer from the Greatjon, Robb states he will provide a map of the new borders. He declares that Lord Tywin must cease his raids and withdraw, King Joffrey must rescind all claims to Robb's lands and subjects, and the Lannisters must deliver ten highborn hostages as a pledge of peace. Robb promises to release two hostages every year so long as the pact is honored, but if it is not he will give Queen Cersei another Whispering Wood. To emphasize his point, Robb whistles and Grey Wind comes forward and snarls. The Greatjon raises another cheer and Grey Wind howls. When Ser Cleos agrees, Robb orders him to depart with Ser Robin Ryger at first light and dismisses the assembly.
Out in the gallery, Catelyn compliments her son's performance, but notes that the theatrics with Grey Wind befit a boy more than a king. Robb only smiles and asks if she saw Ser Cleos' face. Catelyn replies that what she saw was Rickard Karstark storming out. Robb admits he saw it as well. Catelyn's brother Edmure Tully comments that others may agree with Lord Rickard, and asks how they can talk of peace while the Lannisters are still pillaging the Riverlands. He urges Robb to march on Lord Tywin at Harrenhal, but Robb insists he does not have the strength. Edmure points out that they only grow weaker sitting here.
Catelyn snaps that it was Edmure's idea to permit the river lords to depart for their own lands. Edmure argues that he cannot command his lords to remain idle while their crops are burnt and their people killed, but it would be an ill thing if a northman like Lord Rickard left them. Robb agrees to speak with Lord Rickard, but he cannot blame the man for loathing peace with his sons' killers. Catelyn points out that more bloodshed will not bring back the dead. She suggests a wiser man might have offered sweeter terms, but Robb declares that sweeter terms would have gagged him. Catelyn realizes that her son wants vengeance as much as Lord Rickard.
Riverrun — by Feliche ©
Catelyn points out that Cersei will never trade Sansa and Arya for a pair of cousins when what she wants is her brother Jaime. Robb explains that his bannermen will never allow him to release the Kingslayer, even if he wanted to. Catelyn says the lords made Robb their king, but Robb replies that they can unmake him just as easy. Catelyn argues that the safe return of the girls is worth Robb's crown, fearing for her daughters if something bad should befall Jaime in their custody. Robb assures her that no one sees Jaime without his warrant.
Catelyn asks if Robb is afraid to face Jaime in the field again. Edmure sides with Robb, but accidentally refers to him as "the boy." Robb roars at Edmure not to call him a boy and declares he can defeat Jaime again if he must. He admits he would have traded Jaime for his father, but looks hurt when Catelyn presses him to say whether the girls are important enough. Catelyn realizes that Robb is doing his best, yet she cannot bear the thought of losing her daughters as well as her husband. Robb promises that if Cersei refuses peace he will do all he can for his sisters by making her rue the decision.
Catelyn can sense Robb is tired of the subject. He asks her to go to the Twins to meet Lord Walder Frey's daughters and help choose his future bride. Catelyn sees this as an excuse to send her away for saying things Robb does not want to hear, so she tells Robb he is old enough to choose for himself. Next, Robb urges her to accompany Theon Greyjoy and the Mallisters to Seagard, and return by ship to Winterfell to be with Bran and Rickon. Catelyn insists that until her father dies her place is at Riverrun.
Robb mentions that he could command her to go, but Catelyn counters by asking Robb to reconsider sending Theon as his envoy to Pyke. Robb asks who would be better to negotiate with Lord Balon Greyjoy than his son. Catelyn insists that anyone would be better. Robb argues that Theon fought bravely for them and they have need of his father's longships. Catelyn replies that they will get the ships sooner if Theon remains a hostage. She also insists Balon is not trustworthy and may aspire to wear a crown again himself. Robb declares he will gladly give Balon a crown if it helps defeat the Lannisters. Before Catelyn can reply, Robb walks off and Catelyn can only watch him go, remembering back at Moat Cailin when she urged him to command as he does now.
Catelyn asks Edmure to join her in father's sickroom, but he begs off to speak with some new recruits. On her way to the central keep, Catelyn shortcuts through the godswood, where the leaves still rustle on the trees, ignorant of the white raven that has proclaimed the arrival of autumn. Catelyn is thankful that the weather is holding, since autumn is a fearful time when even the wisest never know if the next harvest will be the last.
She finds Lord Hoster Tully sleeping in his solar, made frail by the death growing within him. Beside the bed sits her uncle, Ser Bynden the Blackfish. When Catelyn asks if Robb knows of his return, the Blackfish says he did not interrupt the court because Robb will want to hear his news in private first. When her uncle asks about her father, Catelyn confesses that he grows weaker every day, and sometimes his mind is unclear. The Blackfish admits that he always wonders if his brother will be dead upon his return. Catelyn comforts him that at least he made his peace with her father.
Ser Brynden “Blackfish” Tully - by M.Luisa Giliberti ©
They sit silently for a long time before Catelyn asks for the Blackfish's tidings. To avoid waking her father, they adjourn to the balcony. Her uncle comments that the red comet is now visible by day, and says his men call it the “Red Messenger,” though he wonders what the message is. Catelyn says the Greatjon claims it is a red flag of vengeance for her husband, while Edmure claims it is a victory omen: a fish in Tully colors, red against blue. Catelyn only sees the crimson of House Lannister, but her uncle points out that the comet is neither Lannister crimson nor Tully red, but a smear of blood across the sky. Catelyn asks whose blood, but the Blackfish asks if there was ever a war where only one side bled.
The Blackfish explains that the war has spread south to the Blackwater Rush and north nearly to the Twins. Marq Piper and Karyl Vance have won small victories, and Beric Dondarrion is harassing Lord Tywin's raiders and foragers. Ser Burton Crakehall boasted of killing Dondarrion until Dondarrion killed him in an ambush. Catelyn remembers that some of her husband's household guard rode with Dondarrion from King's Landing and blesses their actions.
The Blackfish comments that Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr are clever enough to play hit and run, but Robb should never have permitted the river lords return to their own lands. Jonos Bracken was wounded and lost his heir Hendry reclaiming Stone Hedge, Tytos Blackwood is left with only Raventree Hall, and young Lyman Darry was killed by Gregor Clegane less than a fortnight after reclaiming Castle Darry. The Blackfish declares that Clegane's head would make a noble gift for all the people of the realm.
Talk of heads reminds Catelyn that her husband's remains mounted on spike above the Red Keep. She reminds her uncle that Gregor Clegane is only a servant of Lord Tywin, whom Catelyn believes is the true danger. The Blackfish agrees, noting Tywin's wisdom in sitting safe in Harrenhal and living off their harvests and burning what he does not take. In addition to Clegane, Ser Amory Lorch and a Qohorik sellsword are also abroad, raping, burning, and butchering. Catelyn knows Edmure will rage at the news. She also admits Robb is restless and may listen if Edmure and the Greatjon will urge him to march on Harrenhal. The Blackfish declares that is exactly what Lord Tywin wishes, and the first rule of war is to never give the enemy his wish.
Catelyn recalls the tales of the vast fortress of Harrenhal by the waters of the Gods Eye. King Harren the Black beggared the Riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to realize his dream of the highest hall and tallest towers in Westeros, but thick walls and high towers proved small use against Aegon the Conqueror's dragons. Harren and all his line perished in the fires that engulfed the fortress. Strong the castle might be, but also cursed, for every House that has held Harrenhal since has come to misfortune.
Catelyn decides they must dissuade Robb from fighting at Harrenhal. Her uncle then tells her the worst part: Ser Stafford Lannister is gathering a new host at Casterly Rock, though it will be made of sellswords and new recruits who require training. However, Lord Tywin is in no hurry and will wait patiently for his reinforcements. Then Catelyn gets an idea: if they confront Lord Tywin with a new threat he might be forced leave Harrenhal. Her uncle names Lord Renly, but Catelyn insist that they must call him King Renly if they are to ask his help. The Blackfish smiles, but points out that Renly will want something in return. Catelyn replies that he will want what kings always want: homage.