5. A Dance With Dragons

George R R Martin A DANCE WITH DRAGONS Book Five of A Song of Ice and Fire Dedication this one is for my fans for Lodey, Trebla, Stego, Pod, Caress, Yags, X-Ray and Mr X, Kate, Chataya, Mormont, Mich, Jamie, Vanessa, Ro, for Stubby, Louise, Agravaine, Wert, Malt, Jo, Mouse, Telisiane, Blackfyre, Bronn Stone, Coyote’s Daughter, and the rest of the madmen and wild women of the Brotherhood Without Banners for my website wizards Elio and Linda, lords of Westeros, Winter and Fabio of WIC, and Gibbs of Dragonstone, who started it all for men and women of Asshai in Spain who sang to us of a bear and a maiden fair and the fabulous fans of Italy who gave me so much wine for my readers in Finland, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands and all the other distant lands where you’ve been waiting for this dance and for all the friends and fans I have yet to meet thanks for your patience Contents Dedication A CAVIL ON CHRONOLOGY PROLOGUE TYRION DAENERYS JON BRAN TYRION THE MERCHANT’S MAN JON TYRION DAVOS JON DAENERYS REEK BRAN TYRION DAVOS DAENERYS JON TYRION DAVOS REEK JON TYRION DAENERYS THE LOST LORD THE WINDBLOWN THE WAYWARD BRIDE TYRION JON DAVOS DAENERYS MELISANDRE REEK TYRION BRAN JON DAENERYS THE PRINCE OF WINTERFELL THE WATCHER JON TYRION THE TURNCLOAK THE KING’S PRIZE DAENERYS JON THE BLIND GIRL A GHOST IN WINTERFELL TYRION JAIME JON DAENERYS THEON DAENERYS JON CERSEI THE QUEENSGUARD THE IRON SUITOR TYRION JON THE DISCARDED KNIGHT THE SPURNED SUITOR THE GRIFFIN REBORN THE SACRIFICE VICTARION THE UGLY LITTLE GIRL CERSEI TYRION THE KINGBREAKER THE DRAGONTAMER JON THE QUEEN’S HAND DAENERYS EPILOGUE WESTEROS THE BOY KING THE KING AT THE WALL —his crew on the Iron Victory: —WULFE ONE-EAR, RAGNOR PYKE, LONGWATER PYKE, TOM TIDEWOOD, BURTON HUMBLE, QUELLON HUMBLE, STEFFAR STAMMERER —his captains: —RODRIK SPARR, called THE VOLE, captain of Grief, —RED RALF STONEHOUSE, captain of Red Jester, —MANFRYD MERLYN, captain of Kite, —RALF THE LIMPER, captain of Lord Quellon, —TOM CODD, called BLOODLESS TOM, captain of the Lamentation, —DAEGON SHEPHERD, called THE BLACK SHEPHERD, captain of the Dagger The Targaryens are the blood of the dragon, descended from the high lords of the ancient Freehold of Valyria, their heritage marked by lilac, indigo, and violet eyes and hair of silver-gold To preserve their blood and keep it pure, House Targaryen has oft wed brother to sister, cousin to cousin, uncle to niece The founder of the dynasty, Aegon the Conqueror, took both his sisters to wife and fathered sons on each The Targaryen banner is a three-headed dragon, red on black, the three heads representing Aegon and his sisters The Targaryen words are Fire and Blood THE SELLSWORDS MEN AND WOMEN OF THE FREE COMPANIES THE GOLDEN COMPANY, ten thousand strong, of uncertain loyalty: —HOMELESS HARRY STRICKLAND, captain-general, —WATKYN, his squire and cupbearer, —{SER MYLES TOYNE, called BLACKHEART}, four years dead, the previous captain-general, —BLACK BALAQ, a white-haired Summer Islander, commander of the company archers, —LYSONO MAAR, a sellsword late of the Free City of Lys, company spymaster, —GORYS EDORYEN, a sellsword late of the Free City of Volantis, company paymaster, —SER FRANKLYN FLOWERS, the Bastard of Cider Hall, a sells-word from the Reach, —SER MARQ MANDRAKE, an exile escaped from slavery, scarred by pox, —SER LASWELL PEAKE, an exile lord, —his brothers, TORMAN and PYKEWOOD, —SER TRISTAN RIVERS, bastard, outlaw, exile, —CASPOR HILL, HUMFREY STONE, MALO JAYN, DICK COLE, WILL COLE, LORIMAS MUDD, JON LOTHSTON, LYMOND PEASE, SER BRENDEL BYRNE, DUNCAN STRONG, DENYS STRONG, CHAINS, YOUNG JOHN MUDD, serjeants of the company, —{SER AEGOR RIVERS, called BITTERSTEEL}, a bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, founder of the company}, —{MAELYS I BLACKFYRE, called MAELYS THE MONSTROUS}, captain-general of the company, pretender to the Iron Throne of Westeros, member of the Band of Nine, slain during the War of the Ninepenny Kings, THE WINDBLOWN, two thousand horse and foot, sworn to Yunkai, —THE TATTERED PRINCE, a former nobleman of the Free City of Pentos, captain and founder, —CAGGO, called CORPSEKILLER, his right hand, —DENZO D’HAN, the warrior bard, his left hand, —HUGH HUNGERFORD, serjeant, former company paymaster, fined three fingers for stealing, —SER ORSON STONE, SER LUCIFER LONG, WILL OF THE WOODS, DICK STRAW, GINJER JACK, Westerosi sellswords, —PRETTY MERIS, the company torturer, —BOOKS, a Volantene swordsman and notorious reader, —BEANS, a crossbowman, late of Myr, —OLD BILL BONE, a weathered Summer Islander, —MYRIO MYRAKIS, a sellsword late of Pentos, THE COMPANY OF THE CAT, three thousand strong, sworn to Yunkai, —BLOODBEARD, captain and commander, THE LONG LANCES, eight hundred horse-riders, sworn to Yunkai, —GYLO RHEGAN, captain and commander, THE SECOND SONS, five hundred horse-riders, sworn to Queen Daenerys, —BROWN BEN PLUMM, captain and commander, —KASPORIO, called KASPORIO THE CUNNING, a bravo, second-in-command, —TYBERO ISTARION, called INKPOTS, company paymaster, —HAMMER, a drunken blacksmith and armorer, —his apprentice, called NAIL, —SNATCH, a serjeant, one-handed, —KEM, a young sellsword, from Flea Bottom, —BOKKOKO, an axeman of formidable repute, —UHLAN, a serjeant of the company, THE STORMCROWS, five hundred horse-riders, sworn to Queen Daenerys, —DAAERIO NAHARIS, captain and commander, —THE WIDOWER, his second-in-command, —JOKIN, commander of the company archers ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The last one was a bitch This one was three bitches and a bastard Once again, my thanks to my long-suffering editors and publishers: to Jane Johnson and Joy Chamberlain at Voyager, and Scott Shannon, Nita Taublib, and Anne Groell from Bantam Their understanding, good humor, and sage advice helped through the tough bits, and I will never cease to be grateful for their patience Thanks as well to my equally patient and endlessly supportive agents, Chris Lotts, Vince Gerardis, the fabulous Kay McCauley, and the late Ralph Vicinanza Ralph, I wish you were here to share this day And thanks to Stephen Boucher, the wandering Aussie who helps keep my computer greased and humming whenever he drops by Santa Fe for a breakfast burrito (Xmas) and a side of jalapeño bacon Back here on the home front, thanks are also due to my dear friends Melinda Snodgrass and Daniel Abraham for their encouragement and support, to my webmaster Pati Nagle for maintaining my corner of the Internet, and to the amazing Raya Golden for the meals, the art, the unfailing good cheer that helped to brighten even the darkest days around Terrapin Station Even if she did try to steal my cat As long as it has taken me to dance this dance, it would surely have taken twice as long without the assistance of my faithful (and acerbic) minion and sometime traveling companion Ty Franck, who tends to my computer when Stephen’s not around, keeps the ravening virtual mobs from my virtual doorstep, runs my errands, does my filing, makes the coffee, walks the walk, and charges ten thousand dollars to change a light bulb—all while writing his own kick-ass books on Wednesdays Last, but far from my least, all my love and gratitude to my wife, Parris, who has danced every step of this beside me Love ya, Phipps George R R Martin May 13, 2011 About the Author GEORGE R R MARTIN sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally every since He has written fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and for his sins spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer/producer, working on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and television pilots that were never made In the mid ’90s he returned to prose, his first love, and began work on his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire He has been in the Seven Kingdoms ever since Whenever he’s allowed to leave, he returns to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with his wife Parris and their four cats www.georgerrmartin.com About the Type This book was set in Electra, a typeface designed for Linotype by W A Dwiggins, the renowned type designer (1880–1956) Electra is a fluid typeface, avoiding the contrasts of thick and thin strokes that are prevalent in most modern typefaces By George R R Martin A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE Book One: A Game of Thrones Book Two: A Clash of Kings Book Three, part one: A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow Book Three, part two: A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold Book Four: A Feast for Crows Book Five: A Dance with Dragons Fevre Dream The Armageddon Rag Tuf Voyaging Dying of the Light Sandkings Portraits of His Children A Song for Lya Songs of Stars and Shadows Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle) Nightflyers Copyright Copyright © George R.R Martin 2011 George R.R Martin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-00-224739-9 EPub Edition © June 2011 ISBN: 9780007442454 This novel is entirely a work of fiction The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books About the Publisher Australia HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd 25 Ryde Road (P.O Box 321) Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks Canada HarperCollins Canada Bloor Street East - 20th Floor Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada http://www.harpercollins.ca New Zealand HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited P.O Box Auckland, New Zealand http://www.harpercollins.co.nz United Kingdom HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77-85 Fulham Palace Road London, W6 8JB, UK http://www.harpercollins.co.uk United States HarperCollins Publishers Inc 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 http://www.harpercollins.com ... always been Haggon’s favorite word Abomination, abomination, abomination To eat of human meat was abomination, to mate as wolf with wolf was abomination, and to seize the body of another man was... wizards Elio and Linda, lords of Westeros, Winter and Fabio of WIC, and Gibbs of Dragonstone, who started it all for men and women of Asshai in Spain who sang to us of a bear and a maiden fair and... meat? He could almost hear Haggon growling at him “Men may eat the flesh of beasts and beasts the flesh of men, but the man who eats the flesh of man is an abomination.” Abomination That had always