30. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, pp. 1027-1061

Arya

They come across an inn that Arya reconizes: She and Sansa had been there, with Septa Mordane. Once again, as Sandor Clegane tells her to take care of the horses and goes inside, she thinks of escaping, but doesn't.  And in the inn are some faces she recognizes: Polliver and the Tickler, men on her list. They recognize the Hound, and Arya worries that they will recognize her, too. They don't, although the Tickler gives her a long, scrutinizing look.

With them is a boy, a squire, who recognizes the Hound as Gregor Clegane's brother, and begins to mock him: "Is this the lost puppy Ser Gregor spoke of? ... The one who piddled in the bushes and ran off?" He is referring to Sandor's desertion during the fiery battle at King's Landing. The threat of conflict makes the innkeeper and the local customers disappear from the barroom.

Polliver tells the Hound that if he's looking for Gregor, he has been summoned to the city. "King Joffrey's dead, you know.... Poisoned at his own wedding feast." Arya hears this and wants to be happy, "but if Robb was dead, too, what did it matter?" Polliver goes on to say that Tyrion and "his little wife" killed Joffrey, and when he explains that Tyrion had married Sansa, Arya doesn't believe it. He goes on to tell of the capture of Harrenhal, and that Edmure Tully is being held hostage to force the surrender of Riverrun. He also says that Arya Stark has been found and is going to marry "Bolton's bastard," which is certainly news to Arya.

Sandor laughs at this last bit, of course. Then he asks if there are ships at Saltpans, which they can't answer. The Tickler, however, wonders if Sandor is planning to leave the country without seeing his brother, and suggests that they should take him to Harrenhal with them. Suddenly the fight begins. Sandor has drunk too much wine on an empty stomach, but he holds off Polliver. Arya beans the squire with a wine cup, and when she sees the Tickler pull a dagger tries to throw one at him, too, but misses.

As Polliver and the Tickler close in on Clegane, Arya looks around for another weapon, but her arm is seized by the squire, who has recovered. He has a sword in one hand and her arm in the other, but her hands are free and she pulls his knife from its sheath and stabs him in the belly. Clegane has been backed into a corner, but he manages to break free and kill Polliver. The Tickler is taken off guard for a moment. His weapon is smaller than Clegane's, but he ignores Arya, who stabs him not once but repeatedly, while asking the questions that the Tickler had asked while torturing his victims: "Is there gold hidden in the village? ... Is there silver? ... Is there food? Where is Lord Beric?" and so on until  Clegane has to pull her off of him.

The Hound is bleeding profusely and dragging one leg. But he seizes the squire, who has pulled the knife from his belly and now begs for mercy. Clegane observed that the squire is as good as dead with his stomach wound, though it will take a long time for him to die. He turns to Arya and says, "This one is yours, she-wolf. You do it." Arya goes to Polliver and undoes his swordbelt, in which she finds Needle, the dagger he had taken from her. The Hound asks if she remembers where the heart is, and she stabs the squire in it.

He tells her they need to head to Saltpans and find a ship that will take them to the Vale. "Maybe Lady Lysa will marry you to her little Robert. There's a match I'd like to see." But his laugh ends in a groan, and he needs her help to mount his horse. They ride to the banks of the Trident, whose flood has ebbed, and find a place to camp. He has her boil some wine and find a clean stick that he can bite down on while she pours it into his wounds: first his neck, then his thigh, and finally "over the raw red flesh where his ear had been." He faints from the pain.

She binds his wounds while he's unconscious. Then she sits and recites the list of names, this time leaving out Polliver and the Ticker -- and, she realizes, the Hound. She tries to remember Mycah and what he had done to him, but can't even remember what he looked like. Finally she whispers, "The Hound," and then, "Valar morghulis." She falls asleep and dreams that she is "a wolf again, chasing a riderless horse up a hill with a pack behind her." But Clegane wakes her "just as they were closing for the kill."

He is weak and can barely stay on his horse, and soon stops for rest and falls asleep. He is feverish and the wound in his thigh smells funny to her. She thinks again of killing him, and draws Needle. But he wakes, and asks her if she remembers where the heart is. He tries to provoke her: "I killed your butcher's boy. I cut him near in half and laughed about it afterward." But she realizes that instead of laughing he is sobbing.

"And the little bird, your pretty sister, I stood there in my white cloak and let them beat her. I took the bloody song, she never gave it. I meant to take her too. I should have I should have fucked her bloody and ripped her heart out before leaving her for that dwarf." A spasm of pain twisted his face. "Do you mean to make me beg, bitch? Do it!" 

She saddles her horse as he calls out, "A real wolf would finish a wounded animal." She replies, "You shouldn't have hit me with an axe.... You should have saved my mother." She turns and rides away.

At Saltpans there are three ships, but she realizes she doesn't have the money. She sells the horse for less than it's worth, and heads for one of the ships. She finds the captain and tells him she wants "to go north, to the Wall." But he tells her she doesn't have enough money, and even if she did, the ship is heading for home, to Braavos.

She suddenly remembers the iron coin Jaqen H'ghar had given her, and presses it into his hand and says "Valar morghulis." "'Valar dohaeris,' he replied, touching his brow with two fingers. 'Of course you shall have a cabin.'"

Samwell

Gilly is nursing Dalla's baby. On their long trek, Gilly and Sam had been overtaken by a company of black riders coming from the Shadow Tower to the west, and among them had been survivors of the attack on the Fist of the First Men. Sam had been so glad to see Dywen and Dolorous Edd among them that he wept.

They brought with them the news of the victory of Stannis's forces over the wildlings and the capture of Mance Rayder. But Sam was shocked when they reached Castle Black and witnessed the destruction and death, even though the towers bristled with banners from House Baratheon, House Florent, and many others, including one with a fiery heart that Sam didn't recognize.

Pyp and Grenn greeted him with delight, and explained that Stannis had arrived with Melisandre, having left the queen at Eastwatch with the fleet. Jon greeted him as well, and was pleased to see Gilly. But there is a sadness to him that Sam quickly learns the cause of: "He grieves for his wildling girl, an for his brothers." And although he has captured the Horn of Winter, Ser Alliser and Janos Slynt still regard him as a turncloak.

Jon observes the irony: "Craster had no love for Mance, nor Mance for Craster, but now Craster's daughter is feeding Mance's son." Val, who is with them too, says, "I've heard the queen's men saying that the red woman means to give Mance to the fire, as soon as he is strong enough." Jon tells her that Mance's desertion from the Night's Watch was a capital offense, and the Watch normally would have hanged him for that by now. But the decision now lies in Stannis's hands because "he's the king's captive, and no one knows the king's mind but the red woman."

Val wants to see Mance, but only Maester Aemon, who is treating his wounds, is allowed to be with him now. Jon promises to try to persuade them to let her visit. Sam follows Jon when he leaves, and Jon says, "You're more than fond of Gilly, aren't you?" Sam admits as much: "She ... she made me braver, Jon. Not brave, but ... braver." But when Jon reminds him of his vows, he knows that she can't stay with him. He wonders if he could write to his father and say that he had gotten Gilly pregnant, and ask if she could stay with his mother and sisters at Horn Hill. Jon approves of the idea in theory, but adds that Gilly had better be able to carry off the pretense convincingly: "From what you've told me of Lord Randyll, I doubt he would take kindly to being deceived."

Jon is heading to the practice yard, and Sam worries that Jon's leg is not healed enough for the exercise. But Jon has nothing else to do because he has been removed from duty under suspicion of being a turncloak. Sam protests that he should be treated as a hero for seizing the Horn and capturing Mance's son. Jon replies, "All I did was protect Val and the babe against looters when the wildlings fled, and keep them there until the rangers found us." Ser Alliser blames him for not killing Mance when he had the opportunity.

Ser Alliser's continued animosity toward Jon is exacerbated by his inability to become Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. "With his noble birth, his knighthood, and his long years in the Watch, Ser Alliser Thorne might have been a strong challenger for the Lord Commander's title, but almost all the men he'd trained during his years as master-at-arms despised him." In the voting for the title, he had placed sixth on the first day and lost votes on the second. He has withdrawn in support of Lord Janos Slynt.

So Jon is now just "the bastard who killed Qhorin Halfhand and bedded with a spearwife." They call him a warg, too, but he says, "How can I be a warg without a wolf, I ask you?" Ghost is still missing, and Jon doesn't even dream of him anymore. "All my dreams are of the crypts, of the stone kings on their thrones. Sometimes I hear Robb's voice, and my father's, as if they were at a feast. But there's a wall between us, and I know that no place has been set for me."

Sam has taken a pledge not to reveal that Bran is alive, and at times like these, he wishes he could console Jon with that information: "He's with friends, and they're going north on a giant elk to find a three-eyed crow in the depths of the haunted forest." But it sounds so crazy to him now that he almost doesn't believe it himself. Still he swore three times to keep that secret: once to Bran, once to Jojen Reed, and once to Coldhands. So he changes to subject to the Lord Commander's position, assuring Jon that Janos Slynt will never be named to it. Jon is convinced otherwise, however, and takes out his frustrations in sword practice. He tells Sam to excuse him: "I need to his someone very hard with a sword." He spends his days in the practice yard training the younger recruits because no one has named a new master-at-arms.

Sam hopes that he is right and Jon is wrong. A candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes of the Sworn Brothers to be named Lord Commander, and no one has come near. Slynt is still behind Ser Denys Mallister of the Shadow Tower and Cotter Pyke of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, though he has been gaining votes steadily. Sam has been keeping careful track of the vote count.

There is another vote that night after supper, before which another candidate, Bowen Marsh, withdraws his name in favor of Janos Slynt. Sam looks around for Jon, but he isn't there. Sam assists Maester Aemon in counting the votes. Slynt is third, behind Ser Denys and Cotter Pyke, but the former's count is down ten votes from the previous day, and the latter's is down twenty votes. Later, Sam tells Pyp and Grenn that they should try to persuade one of them to withdraw, to prevent Slynt from winning. Pyp points out that Sam is "A lord's son, the maester's steward, and Sam the Slayer." He should be the one to do the persuading. But Sam says he's "too craven to face them."

Jon

Jon is in the midst of sparring with Satin when Melisandre, accompanied by half a dozen soldiers, appears and tells him that Stannis wants to speak with him. He excuses himself, changes into fresh clothes, and meets her at the base of the Wall. As they ride up in the cage, he senses how warm she is. "She even smells red," he thinks. And when the wind blows her robes, he asks if she is cold. She touches his cheek with her hand and he feels the warmth: "'That is how life should feel,' she told him. 'Only death is cold.'"

She presents him to Stannis as "the Bastard of Winterfell," and Jon notes how gaunt and clenched his manner is.

Jon found himself remembering something Donal Noye once said about the Baratheon brothers. Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, but brittle, the  way iron gets. He'll break before he bends. Uneasily he knelt, wondering why this brittle king had need of him.

Stannis addresses him as "Lord Snow," eliciting Jon's usual protest, "I am no lord, sire," and adding that he is aware of the reputation as turncloak, coward, murderer and oathbreaker that has preceded him. Stannis adds that he is supposed to be a warg and a skinchanger, too. Jon admits that he had a direwolf named Ghost, but he hasn't seen him for a long time. He explains about Qhorin Halfhand and Ygritte, too, "but I swear to you on my father's name that I never turned my cloak."

Stannis says he believes him, which startles Jon into asking why. "I know Janos Slynt. And I knew Ned Stark as well. Your father was no friend of mine, but only a fool would doubt his honor or his honest. You have his look." He also tells him he knows about the dragonglass dagger and that Jon held the gate at Castleblack. Jon says that Ghost found the dagger, and Donal Noye held the gate. Stannis persists in his attempts to praise Jon, noting the seizing of "this magic horn" and the capture of Rayder's wife and son. Again, Jon demurs: Rayder's wife died, and Val is her sister, and she and the baby didn't need capturing after Stannis's troops succeeded and the skinchanger "went mad when the eagle burned." He turns to Melisandre and says that the last is said to have been her doing.

He presents Stannis with Val's request to see Mance. Stannis says, "You rode with these wildlings. Is there any honor in them, do you think?" Jon says it's "their own sort of honor." Stannis quizzes him on Rayder, whom Jon believes to have honor, and on Rattleshirt, whom Jon calls "Treacherous and blood-thirsty," and on Tormund, who escaped. "Tormund Giantsbane seemed to me the sort of man who would make a good friend and a bad enemy, Your Grace," Jon replies.

Then Stannis asks, "What of you?" and when he answers, "I am a man of the Night's Watch," replies, "Words. Words are wind." Then he asks, "Why do you think I abandoned Dragonstone and sailed to the Wall, Lord Snow?" Again Jon protests that he is no lord, and says that he must have come because they sent for him, although he doesn't know why he took so long about it. This amuses Stannis, who gives the credit to Davos Seaworth, who said "I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne." And this is where he'll find his foe, he says.

But he needs Jon's help, he now says. The north is in chaos after Robb's death. "What is needed is a Lord of Winterfell. A loyal Lord of Winterfell." There isn't a Winterfell anymore, Jon says, after Theon Greyfoy destroyed it. But Stannis says the building can be rebuilt. What he needs now is "a son of Eddard Stark" to win the northmen to his banner. Jon realizes what Stannis is proposing, and protests that he is a Snow, not a Stark. But Melisandre points out, "A king can remove the taint of bastardy with a stroke, Lord Snow." When she uses the epithet Alliser Thorne had given him, it suddenly sounds real. But he protests that he made his vow to the Night's Watch. "I knelt before a heart tree and swore to hold no lands and father no children." Melisandre protests, "R'hllor is the only true god. A vow sworn to a tree has no more power than one sworn to your shoes."

The temptation begins to take hold, and he recalls when he was "too young to understand what it meant to be a bastard," that he used to dream of being Lord of Winterfell. But later, he realized that Winterfell would go to the legitimate descendants of Eddard Stark, and to dream of having the title himself "seemed disloyal, as if he were betraying them in his heart, wishing for their deaths." Robb, Bran, Rickon, Sansa and Arya are gone now, he thinks. And all he has to do is break his vows to the Night's Watch, and one other thing: "To claim his father's castle, he must turn against his father's gods."

Stannis continues: Melisandre has seen the revival of the scattered wildlings in her fires. "This Tormund Thunderfist is likely re-forming them even now, and planning some new assault. And the more we bleed each other, the weaker we shall all be when the real enemy falls upon us."  Jon is aware of that, too. And now Stannis tells him that he has been talking with Mance Rayder and with Rattleshirt and others of the wildling captives. And he proposes to let the wildlings settle on this side of the Wall if they will "swear me their fealty, pledge to keep the king's peace and the king's laws, and take the Lord of Light as their god." Together, they will form an alliance against the Others.

Jon is aware of the realities, of the volatility and unruliness of the wildlings as subjects and neighbors. "Yet when he weighed Ygritte's red hair against the cold blue eyes of the wights, the choice was easy." He agrees to Stannis's plan. But then Stannis proposes to seal the new alliance with a marriage: "I mean to wed my Lord of Winterfell to this wildling princess," meaning Val. Jon laughs at the idea of any of the free folk entering into an arranged marriage. But Stannis insists that "she is part of the price you must pay, if you want your father's name and your father's castle."

Jon asks for time to think it over. Stannis agrees, impatiently, and tells him not to discuss it with anyone else. "But when you return, you need only bend your knee, lay your sword at my feet, and pledge yourself to my service, and you shall rise again as Jon Stark, the Lord of Winterfell."

20. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, pp. 659-692

Jon

In acute pain and feverish from the leg wound, Jon rides on toward Castle Black. He reaches the kingsroad and follows it to Mole's Town, where he gets a fresh mount and some bread and wine, and warns the villagers that there are wildlings south of the Wall and that they should gather their things and retreat to the castle.

Dawn is breaking as he arrives, but there are no sentries to challenge him and few signs of life. In the armory he finds Donal Noye at the forge. Noye tells him that Jarman Blackwell had returned from a scouting trip and had spotted Jon among the wildlings, riding with them. He admits that it was true, but tells him that he was acting on orders from Qhorin Halfhand.

The garrison, Noye tells him, is scattered because wildlings have been sighted everywhere along the Wall. Jon tells him that Mance Rayder wants to spread them thin, but the attack will be there at the center. Bowen Marsh has done what Rayder wanted by scattering the forces. The aged Ser Wynton Stout was left as castellan, and there are only about forty men, the old, the infirm, and some trainees, left to defend against the attack from the south.

Noye takes him to Maester Aemon to be treated for his wound. Aemon tells him of Mormont's death at the hands of his own men, and that only a dozen men have returned, including Dolorous Edd and Grenn. As Maester Aemon and Clydas work on his wounded leg, he tells them and Noye about Styr the Magnar and his men, the Thenns. Mance, he tells them, was looking for the Horn of Winter, the legendary horn that can destroy the Wall. And he lets slip Ygritte's name, then finds it hard to explain about her.

Finally, when the wound is being cauterized, he faints. When he wakes he finds Pyp and Grenn there. Grenn tells about Sam killing the Other with the dragonglass knife, and Jon is amazed to hear his friend called Sam the Slayer. But they know only that Sam was left behind with Mormont. Aemon returns to tell Jon that he must rest and let the wound heal: They have rinsed it "with boiling wine, and close you up with a poultice of nettle, mustard seed and moldy bread." (Penicillin was around long before Fleming.) But Jon, of course, is unwilling to rest, and asks, "has word been sent to Winterfell? To the king?"

Maester Aemon breaks the news of the fall of Winterfell and Theon's treachery and the supposed death of Bran and Rickon. But Jon remembers the gray direwolf at Queenscrown. "If Bran was dead, could some part of him live on in his wolf, as Orell lived within his eagle?" When Grenn gives him something to drink, Jon falls asleep with his head full of questions, and dreams of naked Ygritte saying, "You know nothing, Jon Snow." They are in the hot pools at Winterfell, but suddenly he sees "her skin dissolving in the hot water, the flesh beneath sloughing off her bones until only skull and skeleton remained, and the pool bubbled thick and red."

Catelyn

They are nearing the Twins, where the rains have swollen the river and turned the moats into lakes. Catelyn cautions Robb again about offending Lord Frey, and advises him to ask for food and wine as soon as they arrive: "Once you have eaten of his bread and salt, you have the guest right, and the laws of hospitality protect you beneath his roof." Robb scoffs that he has an army to protect him, but he'll do as she says.

They are met by a contingent headed by Ser Ryman Frey, Lord Walder's grandson, and three of Ryman's sons: Edwyn, Black Walder ("a nasty bit of business," Edmure observes), and Petyr, known as Petyr Pimple, for reasons that are obvious. Grey Wind leaps forward with a snarl and Petyr's horse throws him. Catelyn moves her horse between the Freys and the direwolf, and Robb calls Grey Wind to his side. Black Walder asks, "Is this how a Stark makes amends?" Robb dismounts and offers Petyr his own horse, since Petyr's has run away.

Ser Ryman says, "I do not see the woman," by which he means, insultingly, Jeyne Westerling. Catelyn offers her apologies, but Black Walder says that Lord Walder will be displeased. They have rooms prepared for Robb, Catelyn, and Edmure, and for the lords bannermen, but they say they can't feed or shelter the troops, who will be housed in three large tents on the far bank.

Edmure tells Catelyn that he is offended that Lord Walder himself didn't come to greet his future son-in-law, but she reminds him that Walder is ninety-one, which is old to go riding in the rain. Though she thinks to herself that Lord Walder usually travels in a covered litter, and wonders, "A deliberate slight? If so, it might be the first of many yet to come."

When they reach the gatehouse, Grey Wind stops and howls and bares his teeth. Catelyn thinks, "He does not like this place." But Robb persuades the wolf to enter, and Walder Rivers says, "It's the sound of the water her fears.... Beasts know to avoid the river in flood." Lothar suggests summoning the master of hounds to find a kennel for him, but Robb points out that he's not a dog, and tells Ser Raynald to stay with Grey Wind. "I won't take him into Lord Walder's hall like this." Catelyn thinks this is a good idea, because it "keeps the Westerling out of Lord Walder's sight as well."

The aged and toothless Lord Walder, who has "something of the vulture about" him, "and rather more of the weasel," is seated in the hall with his eighth wife. At their feet is a man of fifty with "large, amiable, and vacant eyes," and Catelyn remembers "that one of Lord Walder's brood had fathered a halfwit long years ago." He is Aegon Frey, known as Jinglebell, and Catelyn wonders if he is there to mock Robb.

After greeting them, none too courteously, Walder sends for Edmure's bride and asks about Queen Jeyne. Robb delivers his apology for the marriage, but Walder doesn't exactly accept it. Instead, he summons his daughters and granddaughters to parade before him as evidence of what Robb could have chosen from. Then Robb is expected to apologize to them, saying, "I come before you to ask forgiveness, that the Freys of the Crossing and the Starks of Winterfell may once again be friends." But the phrase in the apology that Lord Walder picks up on is, "No words can set it right."

Then Ser Benfrey enters with Roslin, who is small, pretty and shy. Catelyn notices, "Her brother's face had lit up at the sight of her." Edmure asks why Roslin is crying, and she assures him, "I weep for joy, my lord." Lord Walder puts an end to any sentiment, and tells Lame Lothar Frey to show his guests to their quarters. Robb says he needs to see to his men, and Catelyn suddenly remembers the bread and salt, so she says, "Some food would be most welcome. We have ridden many leagues in the rain."

Lord Walder orders some food and drink. "Catelyn tasted the wine and nibbled at some bread, and felt much the better for it. Now we should be safe, she thought." Their rooms are comfortable, too, and Edmure is pleased with his bride-to-bed. Catelyn worries that she is "Too small and delicate. Childbirth will go hard on her," but she reassures her brother. After changing her clothes, she goes back downstairs "in search of some Freys."

She finds them in the hall, drinking. Lame Lothar introduces her to his "Brothers, half-brothers, good brothers, and nephews." Then she asks to see the maester, explaining, "A woman's complaint." She is shown to Maester Brenett, whom she consults about Roslin's fitness for childbearing, which he assures her is all quite in order. Next she goes to see Robb, who is there with Roose Bolton, among others. She "could feel gloom in the room," and Bolton tells her more about the fall of Winterfell.

"Some of your people were taken back to the Dreadfort by my son, Ramsay," Bolton tells her. She points out, "Your bastard was accused of grievous crimes.... Of murder, rape, and worse." But he assured her that Ramsay is determined to atone for his past and "swears that he shall not sheathe his sword so long as a single Greyjoy remains in the north." Robb asks about Theon Greyjoy, and Bolton produces "a ragged strip of leather" that he claims is "The skin from the little finger of Theon Greyjoy's left hand." He presents it as a "small token of revenge." As for the rest of Theon, he is "now rightful King of the Iron Islands. A captive king has great value as a hostage."

Catelyn is outraged at the idea that they might "free the man who killed my sons," but Bolton continues to defend the notion of holding Theon as a bargaining ploy. Robb reluctantly agrees: "Keep him alive, then. For the present. Hold him secure at the Dreadfort till we've retaken the north." And after talk about the movements of the Lannisters and of Gregor Clegane south of the Trident, Robb announces his intentions "to start for the Neck as soon as my uncle has been wedded and bedded. We're going home."

Arya

The Hound has commandeered a wagon and some salt pork and pickled pigs' feet, pretending to be a farmer on the way to the wedding at the Twins. When they are stopped on the road, he claims that he is delivering them on the order of Lady Whent, who is also sending Stranger, Clegane's stallion, as a wedding gift for Lord Tully. They send him on his way.

Arya goes along with the ruse because she is getting closer to a reunion with her mother and her brother. "There was nothing between her and her mother but a castle gate, a river, and an army ... but it was Robb's army, so there was no real danger there. Was there?" On the other hand, Roose Bolton, whom she had fled at Harrenhal, killing one of his guards to escape, would be there.

What would he do if he saw her? He probably won't even know me. She looked more like a drowned rat than a lord's cupbearer these days. A drowned boy rat. The Hound had hacked handfuls of her hair off only two days past. He was an even worse barber than Yoren, and he'd left her half bald on one side. Robb won't know me either, I bet. Or even Mother. She had been a little girl the last time she saw them, the day Lord Eddard Stark left Winterfell.

They begin to hear the music as they draw near the castle, and Clegane says they've missed the wedding but the feast is still going on. "There were hundreds of horses and thousands of men, most of them milling about the three huge feast tents." The musicians in the two castles are playing different tunes, "so it sounded more like a battle than a song."

It is dark, so Arya is unable to single out the banners for the various houses. When they reach a checkpoint, the guards stop them, and tell them the castle's closed, but they can unload the goods by the feast tents. The drinking has been going on for hours, and Arya hears all sorts of noises, mixed with the music from the castles as they grow nearer. She keeps hoping to see someone she knows from Winterfell.

When they reach the feast tents, she hears someone shout, "Here's to Lord Edmure and Lady Roslin" and then, "Here's to the Young Wolf and Queen Jeyne." Arya wonders who Queen Jeyne is, but the mention of the Young Wolf makes her realize that these are northmen, so she suggests that they stop.

Clegane reminds her, "Your brother will be in the castle.... Your mother too. You want them or not." She agrees that she does, and he whips the horses to speed up, saying, "It's your bloody brother I want."

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.

7. A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, pp. 227-272

Arya

On the third day after setting out from the inn with Harwin and their other new companions, Arya realizes that they're not traveling north toward Riverrun: The moss is growing on the wrong side of the trees. Gendry thinks it's just because the road here takes a southward turn, and that they're taking a short cut, but Arya doesn't believe it. After all, he says, Lem and Tom live here, so they should know the way. They have left Hot Pie at the inn, where he is happily baking, so Gendry is the only companion left she can fully trust.

But there is Harwin, of course, whom she tells about finding his father, Hullen, dying when she fled from King's Landing. She also tells him of her subsequent adventures, omitting the stableboy she had stabbed while escaping and the guard at Harrenhal whose throat she cut. She also leaves out Jaqen H'ghar and the men he killed for her. She still sometimes mutters "Valar morghulis" under her breath sometimes, and recites her list of the men she wants dead.

Harwin tells her that of the twenty men her father sent from King's Landing with Beric Dondarrion, only six survived the trap Lord Tywin set for them, expecting that Eddard would be with them and that Gregor Clegane would kill him. Jaime, however, had been unaware of the plan so he attacked her father in King's Landing. That's when Lord Eddard broke his leg and was unable to ride west with the others. Harwin was among the survivors of the ambush, and Lord Beric was wounded but recovered. After hearing of Lord Eddard's execution, everything changed:

"We'd been sent out by the King's Hand to deal with outlaws, you see, but now we were the outlaws, and Lord Tywin was the Hand of the King. There was some wanted to yield, but Lord Beric wouldn't hear of it. We were still king's men, he said, and these were the king's people the lions were savaging. If we could not fight for Robert, we would fight for them, until every man of us was dead. And so we did, but as we fought something queer happened. For every man we lost, two showed up to take his place. A few were knights or squires, of gentle birth, but most were common men -- fieldhands and fiddlers and innkeeps, servants and shoemakers, even two septons."

At one village, Arya hears that Jaime has escaped from Riverrun. That night she dreams of Winterfell, except that she is outside the walls, slogging through mud up to her knees, and when she nears the gates the stone walls dissolve into smoke. She is surrounded by wolves. "Whenever she looked at them, she remembered the taste of blood."

The next day the sun is out, and her suspicion that they are going south is confirmed by its position. She takes out her map and confirms that they are riding away from Riverrun. She protests to the others, and they admit that they're not going to Riverrun, they're taking her to Beric Dondarrion, who will "know what's to be done with you." Anguy tells her, "We bring him all our highborn captives." Until this moment she hadn't know she was a captive and immediately she spurs her horse into running away.

She leads them on a furious chase, but eventually Harwin catches up to her and brings her to a halt. "I thought you were my father's man," she says to him, but he tells her that now her father's dead he belongs to "the lightning lord," Beric Dondarrion, and to his brother outlaws. They aren't in opposition to Robb, but they serve "the smallfolk." He asks if she will come peacefully, and she says she will. "For now."

Samwell

He is exhausted, slogging through the steadily falling snow with the others of the Night's Watch who have escaped from the attack on the hill fort. "They had been fifty when they fled the Fist, maybe more, but some had wandered off in the snow, a few wounded had bled to death ... and sometimes Sam heard shouts behind him, from the rear guard, and once an awful scream.... They are behind us, they are still behind us, they are taking us one by one."

He can see the torches around them, "The Old Bear's ring of fire, he reminded himself, and woe to him who leaves it." He berates himself: "Fat and weak and useless, even my wits are freezing now." His thoughts turn to Maslyn, who had been caught by a wight and lifted into the air by his throat and his head nearly ripped from his body. "The dead have no mercy left in them, and the Others ... no, I mustn't think of that, don't think, don't remember, just walk, just walk, just walk."

And then he falls, and weighed down by the layers of clothing and mail that he's wearing, struggles to get up, then gives in to fatigue and sinks back to the ground. He thinks that the snow will cover him, and it will be warm underneath the snow. He has done his duty, he thinks. The Lord Commander wanted him to tend to the ravens, and he had written out the messages about the initial attack to send to Castle Black and the Shadow Tower. "I got the birds off. I did that right, at least." In the confusion of the attack on the Fist, however, the Lord Commander told him to get off more ravens. Sam had written about how they had held off the attackers with fire arrows, how the wights had kept coming, how they had broken into the camp, how they were cutting their way free and heading for the Wall, and then how they had lost.

Grenn finds him fallen in the snow and tries to get him on his feet. "You'll freeze, or the Others will get you. Sam, get up!" A man with a torch comes up and tells Grenn to leave him and save himself, but Grenn keeps trying to hoist Sam from the ground. Finally the man says, "If you take the torch, I can take the fat boy." And suddenly he is lifted up, and he recognizes the man who is carrying him as Small Paul, who had earlier been one of the conspirators with Chett. He is saving Sam because he wants "the Old Bear's raven, the one that talks," and thinks Sam can get it for him. But Sam tells him the ravens have all flown, and remembers that he had forgotten to send any of the messages he had written before he released them from the cages.

He recalls more of the escape from the Fist, finding himself on a horse and Lord Commander ordering the men to form a wedge to move down the south face of the hill. His horse almost threw him when they were attacked by a bear, "dead, pale and rotting." Thoren Smallwood charged at the bear but was killed by it. They charged down the hill, trampling the wights underfoot, and into the forest. But a man on foot pulled him from the saddle and rode off on his horse. Sam had lain there weeping until he was discovered by Dolorous Edd. Then he found himself walking with the others.

Now he is being carried by Small Paul, who is told by one of the men passing them that they're falling behind. When Small Paul says that Sam had "promised I could have a bird... I want me a bird that talks, and eats corn from my hand," the man calls him a fool and rides on. Grenn realizes that they have fallen behind the rest of the men and are alone, and Small Paul says he can't carry Sam anymore.

Then a horse appears through the woods. But it is dead, and seated on it is "a rider pale as ice." Sam feels "a cold so savage that his bladder felt frozen solid. The Other slid gracefully from the saddle to stand upon the snow. Sword-slim it was, and milky white. Its armor rippled and shifted as it moved, and its feet did not break the crust of the new-fallen snow." Grenn thrusts the torch at it, and the Other cuts it in two. The burning torch falls into a snowdrift and is snuffed out. Small Paul charges at the Other with his axe, but the creature impales him with its sword, and his weight pulls it from the Other's hand.

Sam is weeping and praying, but he hears voices telling him to fight -- his father's, and Alliser Thorne's, and then Jon's.

And then he was stumbling forward, falling more than running, really, closing his eyes and shoving the dagger blindly out before him with both hands. He heard a crack, like the sound ice makes when it breaks beneath a man's foot, and then a screech so shrill and sharp that he went staggering backward with his hands over his muffled ears, and fell hard on his arse. When he opened his eyes the Other's armor was running down its legs in rivulets as pale blue blood hissed and steamed around the black dragonglass dagger in its throat. It reached down with two bone-white hands to pull out the knife, but where its fingers touched the obsidian they smoked.

The Other melts away, leaving only the obsidian dagger, and when Grenn reaches down to pick it up, he drops it immediately because it's too cold to handle. When he is finally able to pick it up, Sam tells him to keep it. "You're not craven like me." Grenn replies, "So craven you killed an Other," and then points out the dawn through the trees. That would be the east, he says, and if they keep walking in that direction they can catch up with Mormont and the remaining men of the Watch.

Tyrion

Lord Tywin has called his council together and takes his seat at the head of the table with Cersei on one side and his brother Ser Kevan on the other. Tyrion is at the foot of the table. Grand Maester Pycelle is there, sitting as far from Tyrion as possible. In addition to Varys and Littlefinger, the others present include Mace Tyrell, Paxter Redwyne of the Arbor, Mathis Rowan of Gardengrove, and the High Septon. Tyrell and Redwyne congratulate Tyrion on the success of his chain. And Kevan says his son Lancel has told him how brave Tyrion was. Tyrion thinks that Lancel has better be saying nice things about him, considering what he knows about his relationship with Cersei.

Cersei wants to begin by talking about the plans for the wedding, but Tywin wants a report from Varys on the war. He reports on a victory at Duskendale, which Littlefinger observes is a "terrible defeat for the north," although one in which "Robb Stark played no part. The Young Wolf remains unbeaten in the field." Tywin says that Robb has returned to Riverrun, "abandoning the castles he took in the west," and that preparations are being made to attack Riverrun when he moves north.

Ser Kevan says that Balon Greyjoy, calling himself King of the Isles and the North, has offered to join them in alliance. Tywin observes that Greyjoy now controls the Neck and that Winterfell has fallen, and that Greyjoy's ships could be turned against Lannisport and Highgarden. Greyjoy wants only to be recognized as king of "everything north of the Neck." Redwyne scoffs at the idea that there's anything in the north worth having, and Tyrell says, "Let King Balon finish the northmen whilst we finish Stannis."

Tywin observes that they still have to deal with Lysa Arryn, "whose husband was conspiring with Stannis Baratheon at the time of his death." Tyrell thinks there's nothing to worry about from her because she's only a woman, and Redwyne says she hasn't "committed any over acts of treason." But Tyrion reminds them that Lysa threw him into a sky-cell and put him on trial for his life, and that she hasn't sworn fealty to Joffrey as she was ordered to do. He offers to take an army and "sort out Lysa Arryn."

But Tywin has another solution to the problem: marry Lysa to Littlefinger, who proposes to woo her and "deliver you the Vale of Arryn without a drop of blood being spilled." When Lord Rowan questions whether she will have him, Littlefinger replies, "She's had me a few times before." And now that he's Lord of Harrenhal, there is no problem about her marrying someone beneath her. Tyrion raises one objection: Littlefinger "is our wizard of coin, and we have no one to replace him." But he finds that the matter is already settled: Lord Tywin tells Tyrion, "You are admirably suited to the task, I believe."

That settled, Lord Redwyne wants to return to the matter of the alliance with Balon Greyjoy, but Tywin is content to let the matter rest for the time being: "Granted enough time, a better option may well present itself." Tyrion wonders what his father is up to, and recalls him saying, "Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens."

Then they talk about the wedding preparations, and when Mace Tyrell hears that a contingent from Dorne is expected, blusters about not having given them permission to cross his lands. Tywin reminds him that Prince Doran is coming at his son's invitation, "not only to join in our celebration, but to claim his seat on this council, and the justice Robert denied him for the murder of his sister Elia and her children." And Kevan points out that when Joffrey marries Margaery and Myrcella marries Prince Trystane, they'll "all be one great House."

Then there's a dividing-up of "the fruits of victory," in which Tyrell gets the lion's share. And Varys gives a report on various international news, including an item that "Sailors back from the Jade Sea report that a three-headed dragon has hatched in Qarth." And when Cersei proposes executing the gold cloaks who deserted during the battle, Varys suggests that they be sent to the Night's Watch because there have been reports of "wildlings astir." Tywin dismisses that idea and wants their knees broken, so that "any man who sees them begging in the streets" will learn the lesson. Tyrion argues that they break only a few knees and send the rest to the Watch, which "is grievously under strength." But Tywin thinks that the wildlings are a problem for the Starks and the Greyjoys. "King Robb and King Balon both claim the north. Let them defend it, if they can. And if not, this Mance Rayder might even prove a useful ally."

There being no more business, Tywin dismisses everyone except his immediate family: Kevan, Cersei, and Tyrion. When they're alone, Tyrion proclaims his distrust for Littlefinger and his suggestion that he be made master of coin, and he and Cersei fall to insulting each other until Tywin puts an end to their "unseemly squabbling." And Kevan says that Littlefinger demonstrated his loyalty by reporting the Tyrell plan to marry Sansa to Willas Tyrell. Tyrion is surprised that the news came from Littlefinger and not from Varys, and Cersei is furious that anyone should be trying to do something to her hostage without her permission.

Tywin says the marriage won't take place. "I will not have the rose and the direwolf in bed together." He will prevent it by marriage. He tells Cersei "So long as you remain unwed, you allow Stannis to spread his disgusting slander.... You must have a new husband in your bed, to father children on you." Cersei protests furiously: "Three children is quite sufficient. I am Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, not a brood mare! The Queen Regent!" But Tywin is adamant: "You will marry and you will breed." And after going through a number of possibilities, as Cersei says, "No, no, no," he decides that solidifying the alliance with Highgarden is the best option, and that she will marry Willas Tyrell, unless she can come up with a better idea. Seething, Cersei says she will need a few days to think it over, and asks her father's leave.

Tyrion is delighted by Cersei's plight, but not for long. His father then turns to him and tells him, "It is past time you were wed." Tyrion knows what he has in mind: "You mean to wed me to Sansa Stark. But won't the Tyrells take the match as an affront, if they have designs on the girl?" Not if Tyrion marries her before the wedding of Joffrey and Margaery, his father says. They had given them no hint that they were thinking of Sansa for Willas. And Kevan adds that "any lingering resentments should be soothed by the offer of Cersei for ... Willas."

Tyrion rubbed at the raw stub of his nose. The scar tissue itched abominably sometimes. "His Grace the royal pustule has made Sansa's life a misery since the day her father died, and now that she is finally rid of Joffrey you propose to marry her to me. That seems singularly cruel. Even for you, Father." 

But Tywin says he's not interested in Sansa's happiness. "Our alliances in the south may be as solid as Casterly Rock, but there remains the north to win, and the key to the north is Sansa Stark." He tells Tyrion that he has proposed marrying him to other houses, but has always been rejected on the grounds that the proposal was an insult. If he doesn't marry Sansa, he will find "some little lordling who'd gladly part with a daughter to win the friendship of Casterly Rock. Lady Tanda has offered Lollys..." Tyrion shudders at the thought.

When Tyrion protests that he had always hoped to marry someone who wanted him in her bed, Tywin cruelly says, "If you think your whores want you in their bed, you are an even greater fool than I suspected." The reminder that he might become Lord of Winterfell through the marriage does appeal to him, but he points out that it's more likely that Robb Stark will produce an heir with "one of those fertile Freys" he has sworn to marry. And here Tywin reveals something that he didn't tell the council: "The Young Wolf has taken Gawen Westerling's eldest daughter to wife."

Tyrion is stunned at the news, not least because of Robb's breaking "his sworn word." It is Ser Kevan who reveals more about the family Robb has married into:

"Gawen is a good man, but his wife is Sybell Spicer. He should never have wed her. The Westerlings always did have more honor than sense. Lady Sybell's grandfather was a trader in saffron and pepper, almost as lowborn as that smuggler Stannis keeps. And the grandmother was some woman he'd brought back from the east. A frightening old crone, supposed to be a priestess. Maegi, they called her."

Tyrion is not bothered by the lineage, but he is still amazed at Robb's behavior: "He forswore himself, shamed an ally, betrayed a solemn promise. Where is the honor in that?" Ser Kevan observes, "He chose the girl's honor over his own. Once he had deflowered her, he had no other course." Tyrion is still pondering the enigma of this strange marriage when his father reminds him, "You will marry Sansa Stark, Tyrion. And soon."