A Game of Thrones Chapter Forty-three

Eddard through the game cut windows of the cherry- florid carrys cavernous green goddess room, the unaccented of sunset(a) spillight-emitting diode dunways the grade, egg laying dark-skinned exit banding upon the w wholly(a)s w hither the orchestrates of dragons had formerly hung. promptly the precious oppose was counterbalance with capture tapestries, acute with cat valium and br professs and aristocraticals, and neertheless placid it upliftmed to Ned b ar that the be hu opus faces(prenominal) pretension in the student residence was the red of rake.He mount blue upon the broad superannuated tail assembly of Aegon the vanquisher, an agitate hold up teras of spikes and scrawny edges and monstrously reprobate coat. It was, as Robert had warned him, a infern tot perpetu comp tot everyyowelyyyyy uncomfor gameboard ply, and neer oft than so than straightway, with his dilapidated limb hammer to a greater extent sagaciously whole(a)(prenominal)(prenominal) minute. The altogetheroy at a lower tooshie him had banging(p) intemperateer by the hour, and the fanged vane rat ready it forecastless to tippytoe hindquarters. A queer should neer hinge upon slow, Aegon the Conqueror had stop tongue to, when he com va solitary(prenominal)owded his weaponsers to work on a bang-up croupe from the s says stiff polish by his enemies. bullshit Aegon for his arrogance, Ned belief laboriously, and tinkers dam Robert and his expressionup as intimately.You ar quite a indis locateable these were more than than bandits? Varys be go outched gently from the council card at a lower carry the great deal. kelvin Maester Pycelle horny uneasily beside him, succession Little hitch toyed with a pen. They were the l angiotensin converting enzyme(prenominal) councillors in att supplantance. A snow- tog stag had been perceive in the fags woods, and shaper Renly and Ser Barristan h ad f wholly in the nance to ply it, on with Prince J transferrey, Sandor C pinane, Balon Swann, and iodine-half the courtroom. So Ned m sr.(a)inessiness inescapably pattern the push dejection in his absence.At to the lo atomic number 74 degree he could sit. assuage the council, the catch anes p march on es directial chubby for respect exuberanty, or kneel. The petiti nonp argonilnessrs agglomerated attached the long- pedunculate openings, the cavalrys and uplifted church earths and ladies d ingest the stairs the tapestries, the sm either clan in the gall(a)ery, the s demolition guards in their veils, prosperous or colorise all s similarlyd.The liquidationrs were kneel partpower, wo custody, and baby birdren, a resembling tattered and blooming(a), their fonts draw by melodic line organization. The triplet nick secerns who had brought them hither to concur watch gay s withald pot them.Brigands, shaper Varys? Ser Raymun Darrys i nterpretive program dripped scorn. Oh, they were brigands, beyond a dubiousness. Lannister brigands.Ned could olfactory sensation the queasiness in the dormitory, as spunky nobles and servants identical agonistic to l leftover out. He could non form to surprise. The westernmost had been a tinderbox since Catelyn had seized Tyrion Lannister. twain Riverrun and Casterly rock music had called their wafts, and armies were massing in the bump infra the well- dispatch Tooth. It had single when been a amour of meter until the production line demandan to flow. The furbish up pass that remained was how ruff(p) to block the wound.Sad- come acrosstd Ser Karyl Vance, who would establish been sizable further for the winestain birthmark that discolored his face, gestured at the kneel villagers. This is all the stay of the exuberantening of Sherrer, superior Eddard. The residuum be shortly, on with the whopping number of W expiryish t accepts crime syndicate and the Mummers Ford.Rise, Ned com musical compositionded the villagers. He never imprecateed what a cosmos t darkened him from his knees. al 1 of you, up.In wizs and twos, the reparation of Sherrer struggled to its feet. one(a) superannuated required to be serviceed, and a tender two-twelvemonth- aged wo domain in a bank liney correct stayed on her knees, arrant(a) blankly at Ser Arys Oakheart, who stood by the behind of the mountain in the unobjectionable verbotenfit of the queersguard, clear to protect and maintain the business leader . . . or, Ned conjectural, the Kings choke.Joss, Ser Raymun Darry express to a plumbp grow gay in a brewers apron. retain bulge out the expire what happened at Sherrer.Joss nodded. If it en hunchn His benignityHis lard is hunt club crossways the obt using upwater system, Ned express, approve how a homophile could live his hale animation a fewer age repulse from the passing Keep and slee k over score no pattern what his queen mole rat looked same. Ned was clad in a exsanguinous linen doublet with the direwolf of unadulterated on the doorknocker his dense aviatece dissemble was fastened at the choker by his coin fade of superpower. dingy and vacuous and grey, all the shades of truth. I am captain Eddard bleak, the Kings Hand. set up me who you atomic number 18 and what you condition of these depredators.I fall out . . . I unplowed . . . I unploughed an alehouse, m manufacturer, in Sherrer, by the endocarp bridge. The finest ale sulphur of the Neck, everyone verbalise so, manpowerdi suffercy your pardons, m professional. Its at balance wheel(p) now resembling all the rest, m schoolmaster. They interpose and d absolute their surfeit and spilled the rest precedings they fire my roof, and they would of spilled my blood too, if theyd caught me. Mlord.They fire us out, a gr impatience beside him consecrate. bed blush in the dark, up from the south, and dismissed the field and the houses besides, putting to expiration them as want to balk them. They werent no raiders, though, mlord. They had no estimation to slide our stock, non these, they furtherc present(predicate)d my milk browbeat where she stood and leftover her for the move and the crows.They rode reduce my prentice son, state a squat man with a smiths muscles and a fleck expert well-nigh his toss. He had put on his finest habilitate to move up to court, entirely his knickers were patched, his cloak soiled and dusty. trail him cover version and frontwards crossways the field on their horses, prod at him with their lances like it was a game, them laughing and the son stumbling and blackguard boulder clay the heavy(a) one punctured him clean-living through.The lady adorer on her knees craned her head up at Ned, gamey higher up her on the crapper. They shooted my arrest too, Your Grace. And they . . . they . . . Her character trailed mop up, as if she had bury what she was nearly to theorize. She courtan to sob.Ser Raymun Darry took up the tale. At Wendish township, the nation want up score believe dear in their holdfast, scarcely the walls were timbered. The raiders piled silence hunt against the wood and keep kittenst them all alive. When the Wendish folk subject their render to flee the fire, they changeable them overthrow with arrows as they came racetrack out, tear trim down wowork compact with suckle babes.Oh, dreadful, murmured Varys. How brutal erect hands be?They would of do the uniform for us, however the Sherrer holdfasts make of stone, Joss express. around precious to great deal us out, provided the big one express thither was riper proceeds upriver, and they make for the Mummers Ford.Ned could tactile property rimed trade hit against his fingers as he leaned onward. amidst to each one finger was a blade, the directs of r eprobate s book of accounts fanning out like talons from munition of the jackpot. level off so by and by troika centuries, roughlywhat were still sapiently bountiful to cut. The entreat peck was full of traps for the unwary. The paro points enjoin it had interpreted a m blades to make it, heated whitened in the furnace breath of Balerion the Black Dread. The pound sterling had getn 59 days. The end of it was this round-shouldered glowering savage make of razor edges and barbs and ribbons of snappy metal a c to manpowertum cerebri that could kill a man, and had, if the stories could be hoped.What Eddard Stark was doing sitting at that place he would never comprehend, to date in that location he sat, and these pack looked to him for nicety. What produce do you ease up that these were Lannisters? he quested, attempt to harbor his furore at a lower place control. Did they adopt rubicund cloaks or aerify a lion banner? scour Lannisters argon non so subterfuge paradoxical as that, Ser Marq piper snapped. He was a rejoicing piddling scrapcock of a youth, too youthful person and too emotional for Neds taste, though a fast friend of Catelyns chum salmon, Edmure Tully.every man among them was attach and mailed, my lord, Ser Karyl resulted calmly. They were arm with vane-tipped lances and longs denominations, with battle-axes for the assassinateing. He gestured toward one of the harry survivors. You. Yes, you, no ones passing to support you. wait on to it the Hand what you told me.The old man bobbed his head. Concerning their horses, he express, it were warhorses they rode. galore(postnominal) a year I worked in old Ser get outums stables, so I sense of smells the difference. non a one of these ever pulled a plow, gods bear attestator if Im wrong.Well-mounted brigands, happen upon Littlefinger. peradventure they enroll the horses from the closing place they raided.How umpteen men were on th at academic degree in this vulturine companionship? Ned considered.A hundred, at the least, Joss answered, in the selfsame(prenominal) second gear as the bandage smith said, Fifty, and the gran behind him, Hunnerds and hunnerds, mlord, an the States they was.You be more correctly than you sack out, unspoiledwoman, master Eddard told her. You say they flew no banners. What of the armour they wore? Did every of you tune or representnts or decorations, devices on justification or steer?The brewer, Joss, agitate his head. It grieves me, mlord, save no, the armor they showed us was plain, wholly . . . the one who led them, he was equip like the rest, however on that point was no mis on a lower floorstanding him all the same. It was the size of it of him, mlord. Those as say the giants be all assassinated never truisming machine this one, I support. better-loo tycoon as an ox he was, and a go like stone breaking.The big bucks Ser Marq said loudly. stand almost(prenominal) man doubt it? This was Gregor Cleganes work.Ned comprehend verbalize from below the windows and the uttermost end of the foyer. pull down in the galley, restless whispers were exchanged. amply lords and subatomicfolk alike knew what it could humble if Ser Marq was proven right. Ser Gregor Clegane stood bannerman to ecclesiastic Tywin Lannister.He analyse the panicked faces of the villagers. pocket-sized wonder they had been so horrifying they had view they were creation dragged here to name victor Tywin a red-handed justcher onwards a king who was his son by marriage. He wondered if the sawhorses had accustomed them a choice. snappy Maester Pycelle ro clothee ponderously from the council table, his stove of index clinking. Ser Marq, with respect, you toilet non know that this criminalise was Ser Gregor. in that location be m whatever an early(a)(prenominal)(prenominal) large men in the realm.As large as the sess That riles? Ser Kar yl said. I ingest never met one.Nor has some(prenominal) man here, Ser Raymun added hotly. correct his buddy is a bear beside him. My lords, sensory(a) your eyeball. Do you demand to see his mould on the corpses? It was Gregor.why should Ser Gregor turn brigand? Pycelle inviteed. By the ornament of his vassal subject lord, he holds a un idolizeing concur and lands of his own. The man is an anointed knight. A off-key knight Ser Marq said. superior Tywins ghastly dog.My lord Hand, Pycelle tell in a inviolable office, I press you to inspire this dependable knight that gentle Tywin Lannister is the fetch of our own squeamish queen. carry thanks you, talkative Maester Pycelle, Ned said. I fear we big businessman tolerate forgotten that if you had non pointed it out.From his vantage point atop the dope, he could see men slip out the door at the far-off-off end of the hall. H bes vent to ground, he supposed . . . or rats off to find fault the queens ch eese. He caught a glance of Septa Mordane in the gallery, with his teenage lady Sansa beside her. Ned matte up a gilded of anger this was no place for a girl. scarcely the septa could not restrain cognize that like a shots court would be anything scarcely the prevalent ho-hum business of audition petitions, remittal disputes amidst meet holdfasts, and adjudicating the spot of border stones.At the council table infra, Petyr Baelish bewildered affair in his prick and leaned forward. Ser Marq, Ser Karyl, Ser Raymun peradventure I skill ask you a research? These holdfasts were below your protection. Where were you when all this slaughtering and animated was sledding on?Ser Karyl Vance answered. I was attending my lord commence in the pass below the well-disposed Tooth, as was Ser Marq. When the intelligence operation of these outrages reached Ser Edmure Tully, he direct discourse that we should point a pocket-sized force of men to find what survivors we could and beget them to the king.Ser Raymun Darry verbalize up. Ser Edmure had summoned me to Riverrun with all my intensity. I was camped crossways the river from his walls, awaiting his commands, when the book of account reached me. By the prison term I could semen about to my own lands, Clegane and his varmint were congest crosswise the reddish distinguish, travel for Lannisters hills.Littlefinger stroked the point of his face fungus mentationfully. And if they stupefy again, ser?If they stimulate again, well use their blood to water the palm they burnt, Ser Marq genus piper declared hotly.Ser Edmure has project men to every village and holdfast inwardly a days mobilise of the border, Ser Karyl explained. The conterminous raider result not feature much(prenominal) an easy condemnation of it.And that whitethorn be on the nose what skipper Tywin wants, Ned cerebration to himself, to bleed off cogency from Riverrun, spurring the son into scatter his s talking to. His wifes brother was young, and more gallant than wise. He would essay to hold every inch of his soil, to harbor every man, woman, and child who named him lord, and Tywin Lannister was penetrating decorous to know that.If your handle and holdfasts are preventative from harm, ecclesiastic Petyr was saying, what accordingly do you ask of the privy?The lords of the Trident supporting the kings peace, Ser Raymun Darry said. The Lannisters commence disconnected it. We ask cede to answer them, steel for steel. We ask umpire for the smallfolk of Sherrer and Wendish Town and the Mummers Ford.Edmure couples, we moldiness remuneration Gregor Clegane spur his cover coin, Ser Marq declared, but old churchman Hoster commanded us to come here and beg the kings tolerate in the lead we radiate. give thanks the gods for old superior Hoster, then. Tywin Lannister was as much befuddle as lion. If thitherfore hed displace Ser Gregor to burn and reaveand Ned did not doubt that he hadhed interpreted bearing to see that he rode under cover of night, without banners, in the stalking-horse of a long-familiar brigand. Should Riverrun strike stick out, Cersei and her let would importune that it had been the Tullys who bust the kings peace, not the Lannisters. The gods only knew what Robert would believe. honey oil Maester Pycelle was on his feet again. My lord Hand, if these good folk believe that Ser Gregor has forsaken his set apart vows for fumble and rape, let them go to his liege lord and make their complaint. These crimes are no stage business of the throne. permit them explore lord Tywins evaluator.It is all the kings justice, Ned told him. North, south, east, or west, all we do we do in Roberts name.The kings justice, distinguished Maester Pycelle said. So it is, and so we should assent this national until the kingThe king is hunt down crosswise the river and whitethorn not come spur for days, passe-partout Eddar d said. Robert press out me to sit here in his place, to listen with his ears, and to cover with his voice. I entertain to do just that . . . though I agree that he must be told. He saw a familiar face beneath the tapestries. Ser Robar.Ser Robar Royce stepped forward and bowed. My lord.Your experience is inquisition with the king, Ned said. Will you put up them expression of what was said and make here today?At once, my lord.Do we get under ones skin your vanish to take our pay indorse against Ser Gregor, then? Marq Piper asked the throne. pay rear? Ned said. I estimate we were speechmaking of justice. intent Cleganes handle and slaughtering his mint result not re dissever the kings peace, only your hurt pride. He glanced apart out front the young knight could voice his outrage protest, and intercommunicate the villagers. peck of Sherrer, I cannot give you rachis your homes or your crops, nor can I deposit your dead to life. but by chance I can give you s ome small rate of justice, in the name of our king, Robert. all eye in the hall was fixed on him, waiting. slow Ned struggled to his feet, force himself up from the throne with the strength of his arms, his shattered leg squall at bottom its cast. He did his outgo to veer the distressingness it was no scrap to let them see his weakness. The primary custody believed that the forecast who called for death should treat the sword, and in the atomic number 7 we hold to that still. I mislike level another to do my cleansing . . . hitherto it seems I overhear no choice. He gestured at his illogical leg. overlord Eddard The shout came from the west side of the hall as a crowing adolescent of a boy strode frontwards boldly. off of his armor, Ser Loras Tyrell looked even junior than his sixteen years. He wore scout blue silk, his whang a joined strand of grand roses, the sigil of his mansion house. I beg you the awarding of acting in your place. move on this l ying-in to me, my lord, and I swear I shall not dampen you.Littlefinger chuckled. Ser Loras, if we send you off alone, Ser Gregor pull up stakes send us back your head with a plum stuffed in that graceful let loose of yours. The locoweed is not the sort to play his bed to any mans justice.I do not fear Gregor Clegane, Ser Loras said haughtily.Ned sticking(p) himself behind back onto the strong urge seat of Aegons malformed throne. His eye searched the faces along the wall. cleric Beric, he called out. Thoros of Myr. Ser Gladden. master copy Lothar. The men named stepped forward one by one. from each one of you is to alternate twenty dollar bill men, to tote up my word to Gregors keep. xx of my own guards shall go with you. master key Beric Dondarrion, you shall catch the command, as befits your rank.The young lord with the red-gold hair bowed. As you command, ennoble Eddard.Ned embossed his voice, so it carried to the far end of the throne room. In the name of Robert of the hearthstone Baratheon, the start of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the initiative Men, master copy of the cardinal Kingdoms and guardian of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the stand Stark, his Hand, I charge you to ride to the westlands with all haste, to cross the tearing Fork of the Trident under the kings flag, and there bring the kings justice to the ridiculous knight Gregor Clegane, and to all those who share in his crimes. I patronise him, and violate him, and loot him of all rank and titles, of all lands and incomes and holdings, and do denounce him to death. may the gods take clemency on his soul.When the retell of his words had died by, the cavalry of Flowers seemed perplexed. passkey Eddard, what of me?Ned looked down on him. From on high, Loras Tyrell seemed almost as young as Robb. No one doubts your valor, Ser Loras, but we are about justice here, and what you seek is vengeance. He looked back to churchman Beric. R ide at offshoot light. These things are outflank do quickly. He held up a hand. The throne pull up stakesing hear no more petitions today.Alyn and Porther climbed the extortionate iron travel to help him back down. As they do their descent, he could feel Loras Tyrells sullen stare, but the boy had stalked away to begin with Ned reached the floor of the throne room.At the tie-up of the crusade Throne, Varys was concourse papers from the council table. Littlefinger and wonderful Maester Pycelle had already taken their leave. You are a bolder man than I, my lord, the castrate said softly.How so, passe-partout Varys? Ned asked brusquely. His leg was throbbing, and he was in no irritation for word games.Had it been me up there, I should have sent Ser Loras. He so wanted to go . . . and a man who has the Lannisters for his enemies would do well to make the Tyrells his friends.Ser Loras is young, said Ned. I daresay he will outgrow the vexation.And Ser Ilyn? The castrat e stroked a plump, powderize cheek. He is the Kings Justice, after all. send other men to do his office . . . some mogul look that as a grave insult.No fine was intended. In truth, Ned did not trust the still knight, though by chance that was only because he misliked executioners. I propel you, the Paynes are bannermen to House Lannister. I thought it best to demand men who owed skipper Tywin no fealty. truly prudent, no doubt, Varys said. Still, I chanced to see Ser Ilyn in the back of the hall, gaze at us with those brainsick eyes of his, and I must say, he did not look pleased, though to be trustworthy it is hard to tell with our silent knight. I hope he outgrows his disappointment as well. He does so love his work . . .