18. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, pp. 590-619

Arya

They return to the hill known as High Heart, where Thoros builds a fire to see things in the flames, but when Arya looks at them she has the same experience that Davos had earlier: It just makes her eyes water. But Thoros fails to have any visions this time.

Gendry tells Thoros that he remembers him from when he was apprenticed to Tobho Mott, who called him "a sot and a fraud, as bad a priest as there every was." Thoros laughs and agrees that he was "no very holy priest," and that he only became one because his father sent him to the Red Temple when he was eight. He was sent to King's Landing as a missionary for R'hllor because "King Aerys so loved fire it was thought he might make a convert." It was King Robert who really liked him, especially because of the flaming sword trick that made Kevan Lannister's horse throw him. But he admits that Tobho Mott was right to complain about his setting swords on fire.

Beric speaks up behind him to say, "Fire consumes," in a way that silences Thoros. When Thoros asks what he's saying, Beric tells him, "Six times is too many," referring to his resurrections.

Later that night, Arya sees the tiny old woman return to sit by the embers of the fire and talk with Thoros, Lem, and Beric. She calls Dondarrion "the Lord of Corpses," which he tells her not to do, but asks her if she has news for them. In exchange for wine and a song from Tom (Lem refuses her request for a kiss with "a bit of tongue"), she tells them that Balon Greyjoy is dead and his heirs are fighting over the kingdom. Finally she calls out to Arya, "You cannot hide from me, child. Come closer, now." But when Arya gets closer, she says, "I thought it ws the lord who smelled of death...." And she begins to sob.

Thoros tells her not to frighten Arya, and Beric says they are taking her to Riverrun. But the old woman says that they aren't. If they want Arya's mother they should "seek her at the Twins. For there's to be a wedding." She asks for her song, so they wake Tom to sing to her. During the song, Arya asks what she meant about going to the Twins, and he promises to find out. A storm comes up, and the old woman disappears.

In the morning the rain continues, and several of the group have come down with fever and chills. One of them is Edric Dayne, known as Ned, squire to Lord Beric. Arya talks to him as they ride. He has been in battles alongside Beric, and she asks him if he has ever killed anyone. He protests, "I'm only twelve," which makes Arya think, "I killed a boy when I was eight." She reflects on the deaths she is responsible for, including the guard whose throat she cut and the ones Jaqen had taken care of for her.

Then he asks, "You have a baseborn brother ... Jon Snow?" And he tells her they are "milk brothers" -- his own mother had no milk to nurse him with, so he was nursed by Wylla, "Jon Snow's mother. He never told you? She's served us for years and years. Since before I was born." Arya is surprised by the news, and reminds herself to tell Jon that his mother's name is Wylla. He tells her his name, and that he is Lord of Starfall, which causes Gendry to snort, "Lords and ladies," so she throws a crabapple at him.

She recalls that there was an Arthur Dayne, known as the Sword of the Morning, and he tells her that he was his uncle and his wife, Lady Ashara, his aunt. "She threw herself into the sea from atop the Palestone Sword before I was born." Arya asks why she did that, and he says, "Your lord father never spoke of her?" She had met him and his brothers at Harrenhal, he says, and she died because "Her heart was broken." This strikes Arya as a stupid thing to do, though she realizes that Sansa would have thought it romantic. She asks who broke it, and Ned hesitates before telling her, "My aunt Allyria says Lady Ashara and your father fell in love at Harrenhal--"

Arya denies that her father loved anyone but her mother, but Gendry says, "He must have found that bastard under a cabbage leaf, then." She lashes out at him angrily, but he ignores her. "At least your father raised his bastard, not like mine. I don't even know my father's name. Some smelly drunk, I'd wager, like the others my mother dragged home from the alehouse." Arya is growing upset and she spurs her horse away from them. She catches up with Anguy the Archer and asks, "Dornishmen lie, don't they?" He tells her, "They're famous for it."

She spurs her horse on ahead, but Harwin come after her, warning her not to separate from the group. He has heard the conversation and tells her that the story about her father and Lady Ashara is an old one and that he doesn't really believe it. But even if it's true, it took place when her mother was betrothed to Lord Brandon, "so there's no stain o your father's honor." And as far as her suicide is concerned, it could have been from grief over the loss of her brother, the Sword of the Morning.

They reach an abandoned village, where they take shelter. Thoros builds another fire, and this time he he has a vision. Lord Beric tells him to call her over.

The red priest squatted down beside her. "My lady," he said, "the Lord granted me a view of Riverrun. An island in a sea of fire, it seemed. The flames were leaping lions with long crimson claws. And how they roared! A sea of Lannisters, my lady. Riverrun will soon come under attack."

Arya protests that her brother will beat them, but Thoros says he didn't see either Robb or her mother in the flames. The old woman had spoken of a wedding, and "she has her own way of knowing things." Beric asks if her uncle, Brynden Blackfish, would know her, but she doesn't recall ever meeting him. He decides not to proceed to Riverrun without better information.

Furious at this delay in her plans, Arya runs away. "She wanted Riverrun, not Acorn Hall; she wanted her mother and her brother Robb, not Lady Smallwood or some uncle she never knew." She hears people shouting her name as she runs, and suddenly "A mailed hand closed hard around her arm." It is Sandor Clegane.

Jaime

He is heading back to King's Landing, to his great relief, with an escort headed by Steelshanks Walton and with Qyburn, the de-chained maester, to look after his health. Qyburn rides up next to Jaime to let him know that he was the one who had sent a prostitute to his bed the night before: "Your fever was largely gone, and I thought you might enjoy a bit of exercise." But Qyburn doesn't know that Jaime had sent her away, anticipating his return to Cersei, so he burbles on, "Pia is quite healthy. As is your maid of Tarth." He assures Jaime that "her maidenhead is still intact. As of last night, at least."

Jaime is puzzled at this reassurance, and asked if Brienne's father had requested the examination. Qyburn is surprised that Jaime hasn't heard: Brienne's father had offered three hundred gold dragons for her return, but sent word that there were no sapphires on Tarth. Vargo Hoat turned down the amount offered.

When they stop for the night, Qyburn gives Jaime some dreamwine to ease his pain, and he falls asleep. In his dream, he has regained his sword hand and he is at Casterly Rock, but he finds himself surrounded by enemies, "a dozen tall dark figures in cowled robes that hid their faces." They are bearing spears, with which they prod him down a passageway into the darkness. He is in a watery cavern below Casterly Rock, and a thousand voices, the voices of Lannisters, but especially of his father tell him this is his place. Beside his father stands Cersei, holding a torch.

But then she turns to go, leaving him in the darkness, with a sense that there is something terrible where he is. He begs for a sword, and his father tells him he has been given one. He finds it under the water at his feet, and when he picks it up the sword glows, illuminating the gloom. He hears a splash behind him and sees Brienne, naked, bound with heavy chains. She begs him to remove the chains, and he slices through them like silk, and to give her a sword, which appears to him. It too glows with a silvery blue flame, further illuminating the dark.

He hears Cersei say in the distance that the flames will stay lighted as long as they are alive, but when he begs for her to stay with him he hears her footsteps moving away. Brienne asks what is living there in the darkness, and he tells her "Doom... Only doom." She tells him to get on her shoulders, so they can reach the mouth of the tunnel, and when he thinks that he could follow Cersei he begins to have an erection, which he tries to hide from Brienne. Then she points with her sword to show him that there are two riders coming toward them on pale horses.

He remembers how Eddard Stark rode his horse into Aerys's throne room, and he calls out asking, "Is it you, Stark?" But there is no answer, and then there are more horsemen, wearing armor made of snow. He begins to recognize them, and among them is Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Brienne tells them that she swore an oath to protect Jaime, and he tells them that he killed the king to keep him from burning the city. But they continue to move forward, reminding him that he killed the king, and Rhaegar says, "I left my wife and children in your hands."

"Then his sword went dark, and only Brienne's burned, as the ghost came rushing in." He wakes in terror, with Qyburn beside him and Steelshanks standing over them. When he wakes fully, he tells them he wants to go back to Harrenhal, that he left something there. When Steelshanks protests, Jaime says that unless they go back, he will tell his father that it was he who cut off his hand. But if they do return, he'll see to it that he gets "a nice fat purse of gold as thanks."

That does the trick, and by dawn they are halfway back to Harrenhal. When they enter the fortress, Jaime hears a roar, "faint but ferocious," and the sound of laughter. He knows what has happened: "They had her in the bear pit."

He finds her there with no armor, but with a sword. The Bloody Mummers are in the seats around the pit, concentrating on the spectacle. Brienne is bleeding where the bear has raked one arm. Steelshanks tells him that it's not their business: "Lord Bolton said the wench was theirs, to do with as they liked." Jaime replies, "Her name is Brienne," and descends the steps to where Vargo Hoat is sitting, his left ear bandaged but bleeding.

Hoat is surprised to see him, but tells him that Brienne bit off his ear. "Thmall wonder her father will not ranthom thuch a freak." Jaime shouts out to Brienne to kill the bear, which is eight feet tall. "Gregor Clegane with a pelt, he thought, though likely smarter." But when Brienne lands a blow on the bear, there is no blood, and realizes that they have given her a blunted tourney sword.

He leaps into the pit and places himself between Brienne and the bear, which charges. Suddenly, the bear is pierced by arrows from Steelshanks's archers. Hoat protests, "You thlew my bear!" and the Mummers cry out for vengeance. But most of them are drunk, and there are twice as many of Steelshanks's men. So Hoat agrees to haul Jaime and Brienne out of the pit.

When they are well away from Harrenhal, Steelshanks angrily asks, "Are you mad, Kingslayer? Did you mean to die? No man can fight a bear with his bare hands!" Jaime replies that he hoped they'd kill the bear, because otherwise "Lord Bolton would have peeled you like an orange, no?"

And when Brienne, addressing him as "Ser Jaime" instead of "Kingslayer," asks why he came back, he thinks of the cruel things he could say, but says only, "I dreamed of you."

16. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, pp. 530-555

Arya

The outlaws are attacking the Bloody Mummers, and Arya wishes she could handle a bow: "She loved swordfighting, but she could see how arrows were good too." The battle is quickly over, and all but two of the Mummers are killed. Dondarrion lets them escape and take the word to Harrenhal about their defeat.

One of the men they capture is Septon Utt from Harrenhal, whom Arya remembers: "Shagwell the Fool said he always wept and prayed for forgiveness after he'd killed his latest boy." He is put on trial and swiftly convicted and hanged. Arya wishes only that they had hanged the Hound, too, but his burns had been treated and he had been given his sword, horse, and armor. They had kept his gold, however.

As they eat that night, Arya reflects that she has never seen Beric Dondarrion eat, though he would occasionally take a cup of wine. Nor did he seem to sleep. He constantly wore his breastplate, which now concealed the wound the Hound had given  him. He notices Arya looking at him, and asks if he frightens her. She tells him no, but that she is surprised to see him alive. Dondarrion asks Thoros how often he has brought him back to life, but Thoros gives the credit to R'hllor for the six times Dondarrion has been revived. But he adds that "each time is harder."

Dondarrion recalls the fights that caused each of his wounds, and Arya asks Thoros if he could bring back to life a man who had lost his head.

"I have no magic, child. Only prayers. That first time, his lordship had a hole right through him and blood in his mouth. I knew there was no hope. So when his poor chest stopped moving, I gave him the good god's own kiss to send him on his way. I filled my mouth with fire and breathed the flames inside him, down his throat to lungs and heart and soul. The last kiss it is called, and many a time I saw the old priests bestow it on the Lord's servants as they died. I had given it a time or two myself, as all priests must. But never before had I felt a dead man shudder as the fire filled him, nor seen his eyes come open. It was not me who raised him, my lady. It was the Lord R'hllor is not done with him yet."

Beric knows why Arya asked the question about the beheaded man, and says, "Your father was a good man." Harwin has told him much about Ned Stark, he says, and he would forgo the ransom for returning her if the outlaws didn't need the money so much. Arya then asks, "What if my brother doesn't want to ransom me?" Dondarrion asks why she would ask that, and she says, "my hair's messy and my nails are dirty and my feet are all hard." She knows her mother would disapprove. He laughs and tells her not to worry.

That night, when one of the men complains about his horse throwing a shoe, Gendry volunteers his services to the outlaws as a blacksmith. Arya is distressed: "He means to leave me too." Lord Beric says he would be better compensated if he stayed at Riverrun to serve Lord Tully, but Gendry says all he wants is "a forge, and food to eat, some place to sleep." When Dondarrion asks why he would choose to stay with them, Gendry says he liked what he had said about being "King Robert's men, and brothers," and that he didn't just execute the Hound but gave him a trial. So after others grill him on whether he realizes that he could be executed as an outlaw and Gendry stands his ground, Dondarrion takes his sword, administers an oath "to defend those who cannot defend themselves," and proclaims him "Ser Gendry, knight of the hollow hill."

But when he finishes, Sandor Clegane appears at the door, laughing at the ceremony. He has returned, he says, for his gold. "Maybe this time they'll kill him," Arya thinks. But instead, after an exchange of words, the Hound "looked at all their faces, every one, as if he were trying to commit them all to memory," then turns and walks out into the darkness and the pouring rain. Thoros observes that the Hound has lost everything: "He cannot go back to the Lannisters, the Young Wolf would never have him, nor would his brother be like to welcome him. That gold was all he had left, it seems to me." When someone suggests that they should hunt him down and kill him, Lord Beric says, "Clegane won his life beneath the hollow hill. I will not rob him of it." And Thoros concurs: "The Lord of Light is not yet done with Joffrey's Hound, it would seem."

The threat that the Hound poses to them troubles everyone, but no one more than Arya, who takes out the coin Jaqen H'ghar had given her, and thinks how many people she has lost: Jaqen, Hot Pie, and now Gendry, and the ones who are dead, like Lommy, Yoren, Syrio Forel, and her father. She whispers the names of those on her list she would like to kill, but realizes how few of them she can now visualize. Except for the Hound and his brother, and Joffrey and Cersei, she can't summon up the faces of the others.

In the morning, as they get ready to ride off, she tells Gendry, "If you want to be some stupid outlaw knight and get hanged, why should I care? I'll be at Riverrun, ransomed, with my brother."

Bran

They have reached the grasslands of the Gift and come upon a tower in the middle of a lake. Nearby is a ruined village, the first one they have come across since leaving the foothills. Meera feels uneasy in the open land, and Jojen asks who owns it. Bran tells them that the Night's Watch owns it. This part is called the New Gift, and it was given to the Watch by Good Queen Alysanne to honor the bravery of the men of the Wall, which she visited on her dragon. Beyond it is Brandon's Gift, the original tract of land owned by Brandon the Builder, or perhaps some other Brandon.

Jojen observes that the soil is fertile, and wonders why no one lives there. Bran says it's because they're afraid of the raids of the wildlings, which have increased since the Night's Watch has grown weaker. They look for shelter in the ruins of the village, but there is no roof on any of the buildings. A storm is coming, Jojen says. Bran remembers one of Old Nan's stories, and recognizes the tower as one in which Queen Alysanne had stayed. There are traces of gold at its top, which were put there in her honor, and there is supposed to be a causeway leading out to the tower. They find it, "a stone pathway three feet wide," mostly submerged. Meera leads them out onto it, using her frog spear to test the stones in front of them. The causeway doesn't run straight to the tower, but zigzags, a defense measure: "anyone approaching would be exposed to arrow fire from the tower for a long time."

Hodor almost slips and falls into the water twice, which frightens Bran. The water comes up to Hodor's waist, and up to the chest on Meera and Jojen. When they reach the tower they find the door has warped and can't be closed, and they enter an anteroom where there are steps leading both up and down, with iron gates barring the way. Bran looks up and sees another grate overhead: "A murder hole. He was glad there was no one up there now to pour boiling oil down on them." The grates in front of the stairs are locked and rusted, and Hodor is unable to budge them. But Bran reaches up to the grate over the murder hole and easily dislodges it, though it lands on his head when it falls.

Hodor boosts Meera and Jojen up through the murder hole, and Bran tells Hodor to find some large rocks and pile them up so he can climb up too. They find a way to the stairs and begin to climb to the top. The view from the top is impressive, but Bran is disappointed because you can't see the Wall. Then he realizes that they "must still be fifty leagues away," which makes him feel tired. (A league is three miles.)

He asks Jojen how they are going to get through the Wall to find the three-eyed crow, and Jojen says maybe they can find a passageway at one of the abandoned castles along the Wall. Bran says that his Uncle Benjen said the gates at the abandoned castle had been sealed, and that perhaps they should just head for Castle Black and tell the Lord Commander to let them through. But Jojen fears that they would be recognized: "one man willing to forswear himself would be enough to sell our secret to the ironmen or the Bastard of Bolton." Bran continues to argue for going to Castle Black, hoping to see Jon again, but Jojen suddenly shushes him.

There is a rider approaching the village. Then the storm arrives and they have to leave the roof for the room below. Meera keeps her eye on the rider, and reports that he has taken refuge in the ruins of the inn and is building a fire. Bran says they should do the same, but Jojen says the smoke would attract the man's attention. They settle down to eat the remains of a duck Meera had snared and roasted the day before. Lightning and thunder begin, and Hodor grows frightened, crying out "HODOR!" whenever it flashes and rumbles. They try to quiet him, and then a lightning flash reveals to Jojen that other men have arrived at the village, "Too many to count," but not mounted.

Hodor grows more and more agitated as the storm increases, and they try to quiet him. Suddenly, he stops and sits down quietly. Bran had "reached for him, the way I reach for Summer. He had been Hodor for half a heartbeat. It scared him." Jojen says he saw one of the men pointing at the tower, but Bran reminds them that even if they tried, they couldn't get out to it unless they had a boat or knew about the causeway.

Bran then becomes Summer, crouching in the brush and watching the men. "He could hear them talking, and there beneath the scents of rain and leaves and horse came the sharp red stench of fear...."

13. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, pp. 441-473

Samwell

They have taken refuge at Craster's, where Sam is trying to feed some broth to Bannen, who is dying. There are other wounded men, and no supplies to treat them. Craster is feeding them, but stingily, and some of the survivors have begun to complain that Craster is holding out what he has stored away. In the loft above, Gilly is giving birth, angering Craster with her screams.

Sam goes outside to escape the sounds of death and birth. Some of the brothers are practicing archery, and when they see him they call him over to demonstrate how he had killed the Other. They do so mockingly, however, calling him by his new nickname, Slayer, which embarrasses him. When he turns around to avoid them, his boot gets stuck in the thick mud of Craster's yard and he extricates himself awkwardly, provoking more mocking laughter.

Grenn is splitting logs when Sam walks over to him, and he, too, addresses Sam as Slayer. Having witnessed what Sam did, Grenn is puzzled at his protest at the nickname. Sam explains, "It's just a different way of calling me a coward." But Grenn, who is a little slow, asks, "Wouldn't you rather be Sam the Slayer than Ser Piggy?" Sam replies, "Why can't I just be Samwell Tarly?"

Anyway, he says, it was the dragonglass that killed the Other, but some of the brothers don't even believe that, and think that he made up the tale. Dywen and Dolorous Edd believe it, however, and have Sam and Grenn tell the story to Lord Commander Mormont, who asks Sam for all the dragonglass he has. There isn't much of it. The cache Jon had found was full of dagger blades and spearheads and arrowheads, but he had taken only enough to make daggers for himself, Sam, and Mormont, plus a handful of arrowheads. Sam's dagger and Mormont's remain, along with nineteen arrows and a spear with a dragonglass head. The sentries passed around the spear, and the arrows have been divided among the best archers.

Sam wonders why the wights haven't attacked Craster's, and Grenn says that they only come when it's cold. Sam asks, "is it the cold that brings the wights, or the wights that bring the cold?" He also knows only that dragonglass works on the Others. It hasn't been shown that it can do the same thing to the wights. As he is reflecting on the miserable situation in which he finds himself, Mormont approaches and calls for him.

Sam is terrified of the Old Bear, but he comes anyway, even though Mormont gruffly chides him for his fear. He asks about the dragonglass and wonders why they haven't known of its power before. He says the Watch must have known at some time of its efficacy against the Others. "The Wall was made to guard the realms of men ... and not against other men, which is all the wildlings are, when you come right down to it." They have "lost sight of the true enemy. And now he's here, but we don't know how to fight him."

Sam stammers that the maesters call it obsidian, and Mormont replies, "They can call it lemon pie for all I care. If it kills as you claim, I want more of it." They are interrupted by the appearance of Craser, who says that Gilly has had a boy, which is what Sam feared, knowing that Craster's male offspring are given to the Others as a means of appeasing them. When Craster calls the baby "another squalling mouth to feed," Sam says the Watch could take him. Mormont turns on him angrily and tells him to go look after Bannen.

But Bannen is dead. Dirk claims that he would have survived if Craster had given him enough food, and an argument breaks out about Craster's stinginess. Bannen's body is burned at sunset, and Sam is surprised that the smell of burning flesh stirs his hunger. Reflecting on this, he grows nauseated and throws up. Dolorous Edd finds him vomiting and jokes about serving up Bannen with applesauce, and then about how if Sam ever died, "There's bound to be more crackling on you than Bannen ever had, and I could never resist a bit of crackling." He adds that Mormont has commanded them to move out at dawn.

The news that they are leaving pleases Craster, who prepares a feast from the horses the Watch has had to slaughter, adding some beer and bread. But the smell of the roasting horsemeat reminds Sam of Bannen, and he can eat only an onion that Craster's wives serve. There are only two loaves of bread, and when one of the men asks for more, the wife who is serving it shakes her head. This draws a loud protest from another man who, when Mormont tells him to be thankful for what he's been given, replies, "I'd sooner eat what Craster's hiding, my lord." Craster says, "I gave you crows enough. I got me women to feed."

The hungry men take this as an admission that Craster has "a secret larder," and others begin speculating that it contains ham and bacon and mutton, and other food they have been deprived of for a long time. Mormont rises to command silence, but Clubfoot Karl, who has become the leader of the dissidents defies him. Mormont stands his ground, and it appears to Sam that Karl is about to back down, but Craster makes the mistake of ordering the protesters out, wielding his axe.

When someone calls Craster "Bloody bastard!" he attacks swiftly with the axe. But Dirk is faster, and he grabs Craster by the hair and slits his throat. There is a commotion as the wives scream, and the Lord Commander, standing over Craster's body, cries out, "The gods will curse us.... There is no crime so foul as for a guest to bring murder into a man's hall. By all the laws of the hearth, we--" But he has lost control, and Dirk grabs one of the wives and puts his dagger to her throat, saying, "There are no laws beyond the Wall, old man. Remember?
 
Mormont orders Dirk to release her and moves toward him, but his way is blocked by Garth of Greenaway, and Mormont is seized by Ollo Lophand. Mormont reaches for his dagger, but Ollo stabs him in the belly. "And then the world went mad."

When the revolt has ended, Sam is cradling Mormont's head in his lap. Some of the men lie dead, and one has broken his neck falling from the ladder to the loft, where he intended to rape one of Craster's wives. Grenn has tried to get Sam to come with him and Dolorous Edd and some others, but Sam was too frightened even to run. Now Mormont tells Sam to go, to head for the Wall and tell the Watch about what happened on the Fist, about the wildlings, and about the dragonglass. He adds, "Tell my son, Jorah. Tell him, take the black. My wish. Dying wish."

Sam tells him, "It's too far.... I'll never reach the Wall, my lord.... I'd sooner stay with you. See, I'm not frightened anymore. Of you, or ... of anything." But a woman behind him says, "You should be." Two of Craster's wives are standing there with Gilly, who is holding her baby. They tell him that the worst of his men are in the cellar, eating Craster's stores, or in the loft, raping the younger women. He should be gone when they finish, they say, and they have two horses waiting for him and Gilly, who reminds him of his promise to help her.

"I said Jon would help you. Jon's brave, and he's a good fighter, but I think he's dead now. I'm a craven. And fat. Look how fat I am. Besides, Lord Mormont's hurt. Can't you see? I couldn't leave the Lord Commander."

One of the women tells him that Mormont is dead, and Sam realizes she's telling the truth. She urges him to take Mormont's sword and cloak and leave. Gilly pleads with him, too. And one of the old woman says that Craster's sons will be there soon: "The white cold's rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don't lie. They'll be here soon, the sons." 

Arya

She has been blindfolded, and when the hood is lifted from her head, she finds herself in a big room that has been hollowed out inside a hill. It is fed by tunnels, from which people are appearing and gathering around a firepit. Gendry has been hooded too, and when his hood is removed he asks where they are. Lem says, "An old place, deep and secret. A refuge where neither wolves nor lions come prowling." Greenbeard points out Thoros of Myr, "a tall thin man with oddments of old armor buckled on over his ratty pink robes." When Arya saw him last, at the tourney honoring her father, he had was fat, with "a smooth face and a shiny bald head." Now his face is "droopy" and he has "shaggy grey hair."

Now the Mad Huntsman enters with his prisoner, whom he has reluctantly agreed to take to Lord Beric for judgment. The prisoner is hooded too, and when the hood is yanked off Arya recognizes Sandor Clegane. The Hound recognizes Thoros and says he used to shave his head. "I lost my razor in the woods," Thoros says. "A year in the wild will melt the flesh off a man. Would that I could find a tailor to take in my skin." He adds, "I am not the false priest you knew. The Lord of Light has woken in my heart."

On the other side of the firepit, at the top of some steps carved out of the wall, a man has been sitting. He speaks up now, descending the steps:

"When we left King's Landing we were men of Winterfell and men of Darry and men of Blackhaven, Mallery men and Wilde men. We were knights and squires and men-at-arms, lords and commoners bound together only by our purpose.... Six score of us set out to bring the king's justices to your brother.... More than eighty of our company are dead now, but others have taken up the swords that fell from their hands.... With their help, we fight on as best we can, for Robert and the realm."

Clegane points out that Robert is dead, but the man replies, "Robert is slain, but his realm remains. And we defend her." The Hound scoffs, "Is she your mother, Dondarrion? Or your whore?" Arya is startled to realize that the man is Beric Dondarrion, who "had been so handsome, Sansa's friend Jeyne had fallen in love with him." But now he's "A scarecrow of a man" with a thick red-gold beard, "a bald spot above his left ear where his head had been smashed in," a missing eye and "a dark black ring all around his neck."

The Hound continues to defy them. "You took my sword, my horse, and my gold, so take my life and be done with it ... but spare me this pious bleating." Thoros promises that he will die, "but it shan't be murder, only justice." When some of Gregor Clegane's atrocities are cited, he replies, "Do you take me for my brother? Is being born a Clegane a crime? ... Who did I murder?" From all around the room, voices call out names, until the Hound cries, "Enough.... You're making noise. These names mean nothing. Who were they?" Dondarrion replies that they were people "who died on the points of Lannister spears or saw their bellies opened by Lannister swords."

It wasn't his sword who killed them, the Hound replies. Thoros says, "You serve the Lannisters of Casterly Rock." Clegane admits that he once did so, "Me and thousands more. Is each of us guilty of the crimes of the others?" And then he denounces the pretensions of knighthood:

"A knight's a sword with a horse. The rest, the vows and the sacred oils and the lady's favors, they're silk ribbons tied round the sword. Maybe the sword's prettier with ribbons hanging off it, but it will kill you just as dead. Well, bugger your ribbons, and shove your swords up your arses. I'm the same as you. The only difference is, I don't lie about what I am. So kill me, but don't call me a murderer while you stand there telling each other that your shit don't stink. You hear me?"

Then Arya charges forth: "'You are a murderer!' she screamed. 'You killed Mycah, don't say you never did. You murdered him!"

The Hound is puzzled for a moment, and asks, "And who was this Mycah, boy?" Arya protests that she's not a boy, and that Mycah was a butcher's boy. "Jory said you cut him near in half, and henever even had a sword." It dawns on Clegane suddenly: "The little sister. The brat who tossed Joff's pretty sword in the river.... Don't you know you're dead?" Dondarrion asks if he killed the butcher's boy, and Clegane admits it: "I was Joffrey's sworn shield. The butcher's boy attacked a prince of the blood." Arya protests that it was she who attacked Joffrey, and when Dondarrion asks if he saw the boy attack him, the Hound admits, "I heard it from the royal lips. It's not my place to question princes." Besides, he says, Arya's sister confirmed the story that Mycah had attacked Joffrey. Sansa lied, Arya insists, and as Thoros and Lord Beric confer, thinks, "They have to kill him. I prayed for him to die, hundreds and hundreds of times."

Finally, Dondarrion presents their decision. Since "no one here knows the truth or falsehood of the charge," it must be decided by trial by battle. Arya protests the decision, knowing the Hound's prowess with a sword. Harwin covers her mouth with his hand, but she thinks, "No, they can't, he'll go free." Clegane mocks the decision, by scoffing at the potential opponents. But Dondarrion steps forth and says that he will fight the Hound. "Arya remembered all the tales. He can't be killed, she thought, hoping against hope."

When Dondarrion is being prepared for the fight, his chest is bared, revealing the scars when a lance that should have killed him pierced his body. "Gendry sucked in his breath. 'Mother have mercy.'" Arya hopes that the Hound is frightened as well. As Dondarrion and Clegane step forth to oppose each other, Thoros offers a prayer to R'hllor: "Show us the truth or falseness of this man. Strike him down if he is guilty, and give strength to his sword if he is true. Lord of Light, give us wisdom." Then Lord Beric draws the edge of his sword across the palm of his left hand, and as the blood from the wound drips on the blade, the sword takes fire. Arya asks Gendry if it is wildfire, but Gendry says, "No. This is different.This is...." "...magic?" Arya finishes.

The battle is fierce, but it turns when the fire spreads to the Hound's shield, and then to his left arm. Cries of "Finish him!" and "Guilty!" begin, and Arya joins in eagerly. But suddenly, "The Hound gave a rasping scream, raised his sword in both hands and brought it crashing down with all his strength." And when Dondarrion blocks the cut, his flaming sword snaps in two and the Hound's blade "plowed into Lord Beric's flesh where his shoulder joined his neck and clove him clean down to the breastbone."

As Dondarrion falls face forward, with the Hound's sword still in him, Clegane rolls in the dirt to put out the flames on his arm. "Arya could only think of Mycah and all the stupid prayers she'd prayed for the Hound to die." Then the Hound, weeping, calls out for help, "Please." Arya is astonished to see his tears. Thoros sends someone to tend to his burns. Others carry Lord Beric into the darkness of one of the tunnels.

Arya is protesting the outcome of the fight, but Harwin tells her "R'hllor has judged him innocent." Furious, "She yanked Greenbeard's dagger from its sheath and spun away before he could catch her." Gendry also tries, but she is too fast. When she gets closer to the Hound, she is shocked at the burned flesh. He looks at her and says, "You want me dead that bad? Then do it, wolf girl. Shove it in. It's cleaner than fire." But then he collapses and Tom Sevenstrings saves him from falling. She hesitates, but once again says, "You killed Mycah.... Tell them. You did. You did."

"I did." His whole face twisted. "I rode him down and cut him in half, and laughed. I watched them beat your sister bloody too, watched them cut your father's head off."

Lem grabs the dagger from her hand, and she screams, helplessly, "You just go to hell!"

Behind her a voice says, "He has." She turns to see Beric Dondarrion standing behind her with his bloody hand on Thoros's shoulder.