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Eddard

Eddard Stark rode through the towering bronze doors of the Red Keep sore, tired, hungry, and irritable He was still ahorse, drea hot soak, a roast fowl, and a featherbed, when the king’s steward told hi of the small council The honor of the Hand’s presence was requested as soon as it was convenient "It will be convenient on the morrow," Ned snapped as he disive the councillors your regrets, my lord"

"No, damn it," Ned said It would not do to offend the council before he had even begun "I will see the more presentable"

"Yes, iven you Lord Arryn’s former chambers in the Tower of the Hand, if it please you I shall have your things taken there"

"My thanks," Ned said as he ripped off his riding gloves and tucked theh the gate behind him Ned saw Vayon Poole, his own steward, and called out "It seehters find their bedchao exploring" Poole bowed Ned turned back to the royal steward "My wagons are still straggling through the city I shall need appropriate garreat pleasure," the steward said

And so Ned had co into the council cha, to find fourfor him

The chamber was richly furnished Myrish carpets covered the floor instead of rushes, and in one corner a hundred fabulous beasts cavorted in bright paints on a carved screen fro with tapestries from Norvos and Qohor and Lys, and a pair of Valyrian sphinxes flanked the door, eyes of polished garnet s in black marble faces

The councillor Ned liked least, the eunuch Varys, accosted hirievous sad to hear about your troubles on the kingsroad We have all been visiting the sept to light candles for Prince Joffrey I pray for his recovery" His hand left powder stains on Ned’s sleeve, and he srave

"Your gods have heard you," Ned replied, cool yet polite "The prince grows stronger every day" He disentangled hirip and crossed the roo quietly with a short er Renly had been a boy of eight when Robert won the throne, but he had grown into aWhenever he saw him, it was as if the years had slipped away and Robert stood before him, fresh from his victory on the Trident

"I see you have arrived safely, Lord Stark," Renly said

"And you as well," Ned replied "You e of your brother Robert"

"A poor copy," Renly said with a shrug

"Though er quipped "Lord Renly spendsthan half the ladies of the court"

It was true enough Lord Renly was in dark green velvet, with a dozen golden stags eold half cape was draped casually across one shoulder, fastened with an emerald brooch "There are worse crih "The way you dress, for one"

Littlefinger ignored the jibe He eyed Ned with a smile on his lips that bordered on insolence "I have hoped to meet you for some years, Lord Stark No doubt Lady Catelyn has mentioned me to you"

"She has," Ned replied with a chill in his voice The sly arrogance of the comment rankled him "I understand you knew hed Varys shuffled over to listen

"Rather too well," Littlefinger said "I still carry a token of his esteem Did Brandon speak of me too?"

"Often, and with so that would end it He had no patience with this ga ords

"I should have thought that heat ill suits you Starks," Littlefinger said "Here in the south, they say you are all made of ice, and melt when you ride below the Neck"

"I do not plan onsoon, Lord Baelish You may count on it" Ned moved to the council table and said, "Maester Pycelle, I trust you are well"

The Grand Maester sently froh for a man of my years, my lord," he replied, "yet I do tire easily, I fear" Wispy strands of white hair fringed the broad bald dome of his forehead above a kindly face His maester’s collar was no simple metal choker such as Luore, but two dozen heavy chains wound together into a ponderous metal necklace that covered hied of every ht copper and dull lead, steel and tin and pale silver, brass and bronze and platinum Garnets and amethysts and black pearls adorned the metalwork, and here and there an ein soon," the Grand Maester said, hands knitting together atop his broad stoer"

"As you will" The king’s seat sat e of Baratheon eold thread on its pillows Ned took the chair beside it, as the right hand of his king "My lords," he said for"

"You are the King’s Hand," Varys said "We serve at your pleasure, Lord Stark"

As the others took their accustomed seats, it struck Eddard Stark forcefully that he did not belong here, in this room, with these men He remembered what Robert had told him in the crypts below Winterfell I a had insisted Ned looked down the council table and wondered which were the flatterers and which the fools He thought he knew already "We are but five," he pointed out

"Lord Stannis took hi went north," Varys said, "and our gallant Ser Barristan no doubt rides beside the king as he h the city, as befits the Lord Couard"

"Perhaps we had best wait for Ser Barristan and the king to join us," Ned suggested

Renly Baratheon laughed aloud "If ait for race us with his royal presence, it could be a long sit"

"Our good King Robert has many cares," Varys said "He entrusts sohten his load"

"What Lord Varys means is that all this business of coin and crops and justice bores my royal brother to tears," Lord Renly said, "so it falls to us to govern the realhtly rolled paper fro he commanded me to ride ahead with all haste and ask Grand Maester Pycelle to convene this council at once He has an urgent task for us"

Littlefinger smiled and handed the paper to Ned It bore the royal seal Ned broke the ith his thuent co disbelief Was there no end to Robert’s folly? And to do this in his naood," he swore

"What Lord Eddard means to say," Lord Renly announced, "is that His Grace instructs us to stage a great tourna"

"How er, mildly

Ned read the answer off the letter "Forty thousand golden dragons to the champion Twenty thousand to the man who comes second, another twenty to the winner of the melee, and ten thousand to the victor of the archery coold pieces," Littlefinger sighed "And we ious feast That lers, fools"

"Fools we have in plenty," Lord Renly said

Grand Maester Pycelle looked to Littlefinger and asked, "Will the treasury bear the expense?"

"What treasury is that?" Littlefinger replied with a twist of his mouth "Spare me the foolishness, Maester You knoell as I that the treasury has been empty for years I shall have to borrow theWe owe Lord Tywin soons at present, what matter another hundred thousand?"

Ned was stunned "Are you claiold pieces in debt?"

"The Crown is old pieces in debt, Lord Stark The Lannisters are the biggest part of it, but we have also borrowed from Lord Tyrell, the Iron Bank of Braavos, and several Tyroshi trading cartels Of late I’ve had to turn to the Faith The High Septon haggles worse than a Dornish fisharyen left a treasury floith gold How could you let this happen?"

Littlefinger gave a shrug "Theand the Hand spend it"

"I will not believe that Jon Arryn allowed Robert to beggar the realm," Ned said hotly

Grand Maester Pycelle shook his great bald head, his chains clinking softly "Lord Arryn was a prudent man, but I fear that His Grace does not always listen to wise counsel"

"My royal brother loves tournaments and feasts," Renly Baratheon said, "and he loathes what he calls ‘counting coppers’ "

"I will speak with His Grace," Ned said "This tourney is an extravagance the realm cannot afford"

"Speak to him as you will," Lord Renly said, "we had still best make our plans"

"Another day," Ned said Perhaps too sharply, froave hier in Winterfell, where only the king stood higher; here, he was but first aive me, my lords," he said in a softer tone "I am tired Let us call a halt for today and resume e are fresher" He did not ask for their consent, but stood abruptly, nodded at theons and riders were still pouring through the castle gates, and the yard was a chaos ofhad not yet arrived, he was told Since the ugliness on the Trident, the Starks and their household had ridden well ahead of the main column, the better to separate the tension Robert had hardly been seen; the talk was he was traveling in the huge wheelhouse, drunk as often as not If so, he ht be hours behind, but he would still be here too soon for Ned’s liking He had only to look at Sansa’s face to feel the rage twisting inside hiht of their journey had been a misery Sansa blamed Arya and told her that it should have been Nymeria who died And Arya was lost after she heard what had happened to her butcher’s boy Sansa cried herself to sleep, Arya brooded silently all day long, and Eddard Stark dreamed of a frozen hell reserved for the Starks of Winterfell

He crossed the outer yard, passed under a portcullis into the inner bailey, and alking tohat he thought was the Tower of the Hand when Littlefinger appeared in front of hi way, Stark Coer led him into a tower, down a stair, across a s a deserted corridor where e the walls They were relics of the Targaryens, black steel with dragon scales cresting their helotten "This is not the way to my chambers," Ned said

"Did I say it was? I’eons to slit your throat and seal your corpse up behind a wall," Littlefinger replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm "We have no tiaer? Catelyn is at Winterfell, hundreds of leagues froreen eyes glittered with a impersonation For the last time, come Or don’t come, and I’ll keep her for myself" He hurried down the steps

Ned followed hi if this day would ever end He had no taste for these intrigues, but he was beginning to realize that they were er

At the foot of the steps was a heavy door of oak and iron Petyr Baelish lifted the crossbar and gestured Ned through They stepped out into the ruddy glow of dusk, on a rocky bluff high above the river "We’re outside the castle," Ned said

"You are a hard er said with a save it away, or the sky? Follow me There are niches cut in the rock Try not to fall to your death, Catelyn would never understand" With that, he was over the side of the cliff, descending as quick as a monkey

Ned studied the rocky face of the bluff for a moment, then followed er had promised, shallow cuts that would be invisible from below, unless you knew just where to look for the distance below Ned kept his face pressed to the rock and tried not to look down any more often than he had to

When at last he reached the bottoe, Littlefinger was lazing against a rock and eating an apple He was al old and slow, Stark," he said, flipping the apple casually into the rushing water "No matter, we ride the rest of the way" He had two horses waiting Ned mounted up and trotted behind him, down the trail and into the city