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Eddard

I stood last vigil for him myself," Ser Barristan Selmy said as they looked down at the body in the back of the cart "He had no one else A mother in the Vale, I aht looked as though he were sleeping He had not been handsoh-hewn features and the silent sisters had dressed hih collar to cover the ruin the lance had made of his throat Eddard Stark looked at his face, and wondered if it had been for his sake that the boy had died Slain by a Lannister bannerman before Ned could speak to him; could that be mere happenstance? He supposed he would never know

"Hugh was Jon Arryn’s squire for four years," Selhted him before he rode north, in Jon’s memory The lad wanted it desperately, yet I fear he was not ready"

Ned had slept badly last night and he felt tired beyond his years "None of us is ever ready," he said

"For knighthood?"

"For death" Gently Ned covered the boy with his cloak, a bloodstained bit of blue bordered in crescent moons When his mother asked why her son was dead, he reflected bitterly, they would tell her he had fought to honor the King’s Hand, Eddard Stark "This was needless War should not be a garey, face hidden but for her eyes The silent sisters prepared rave, and it was ill fortune to look on the face of death "Send his armor home to the Vale The mother ant to have it"

"It is worth a fair piece of silver," Ser Barristan said "The boy had it forged special for the tourney Plain work, but good I do not know if he had finished paying the smith"

"He paid yesterday, my lord, and he paid dearly," Ned replied And to the silent sister he said, "Send the mother the armor I will deal with this smith" She bowed her head

Afterward Ser Barristan walked with Ned to the king’s pavilion The caes sizzled and spit over firepits, spicing the air with the scents of garlic and pepper Young squires hurried about on errands as their , to oose under his arht of theoose honked and pecked at his fingers The shields displayed outside each tent heralded its occupant: the silver eagle of Seagard, Bryce Caron’s field of nightingales, a cluster of grapes for the Redwynes, brindled boar, red ox, burning tree, white ra maiden, blackadder, twin towers, horned owl, and last the pure white blazons of the Kingsguard, shining like the dawn

"The king ht in theSer Meryn’s shield, its paint sullied by a deep gash where Loras Tyrell’s lance had scarred the wood as he drove hiri him that news Small wonder he had slept so badly

Ser Barristan’s look was troubled "They say night’s beauties fade at dawn, and the children of wine are oft disowned in the reed, "but not of Robert" Other ht reconsider words spoken in drunken bravado, but Robert Baratheon would re, would never back down

The king’s pavilion was close by the water, and the rey It was all of golden silk, the largest and grandest structure in the camp Outside the entrance, Robert’s warhammer was displayed beside an i of House Baratheon

Ned had hoped to discover the king still abed in a wine-soaked sleep, but luck was not with hi beer fro squires ere trying to buckle hi, alo" He fu to fit around Robert’s thick neck turound

"Seven hells!" Robert swore "Do I have to do it myself? Piss on the both of you Pick it up Don’t just stand there gaping, Lancel, pick it up!" The lad ju noticed his company "Look at these oafs, Ned My wife insisted I take these two to squire for me, and they’re worse than useless Can’t even put a man’s armor on him properly Squires, they say I say they’re swineherds dressed up in silk"

Ned only needed a glance to understand the difficulty "The boys are not at fault," he told the king "You’re too fat for your ar s of beer, tossed the e furs, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said darkly, "Fat? Fat, is it? Is that how you speak to your king?" He let go his laughter, sudden as a storht?"

The squires s turned on the is too fat for his arar Tell hi for?"

The boys tripped over each other in their haste to be quit of the tent Robert one Then he dropped back into a chair, shaking with laughter

Ser Barristan Seled a shts crept in He could not help taking note of the two squires: handsoe, with long golden curls; the other perhaps fifteen, sandy-haired, with a wisp of a reen eyes of the queen

"Ah, I wish I could be there to see Santagar’s face," Robert said "I hope he’ll have the wit to send the all day!"

"Those boys," Ned asked hi tears from his eyes "Cousins Sons of Lord Tywin’s brother One of the dead ones Or perhaps the live one, now that I come to think on it I don’t recall My wife coe faht He had nothing against the squires, but it troubled hi and sleeping The Lannister appetite for offices and honors seery words last night"

The mirth curdled on Robert’s face "The woht in thein the castle now, damn her Your sister would never have shamed me like that"

"You never knew Lyanna as I did, Robert," Ned told him "You saw her beauty, but not the iron underneath She would have told you that you have no business in thefrowned "You are a sourin the north, all the juices have frozen inside you Well, " He slapped his chest to prove it

"You are the king," Ned reminded him

"I sit on the damn iron seat when I ers as otherin bed, the feel of a horse between s? Seven hells, Ned, I want to hit someone"

Ser Barristan Selmy spoke up "Your Grace," he said, "it is not see should ride into the melee It would not be a fair contest Who would dare strike you?"

Robert seemed honestly taken aback "Why, all of the"

"will be you," Ned finished He saw at once that Selers of the melee were only a savor to Robert, but this touched on his pride "Ser Barristan is right There’s not a do you"

The king rose to his feet, his face flushed "Are you tellingcravens will let me win?"

"For a certainty," Ned said, and Ser Barristan Selmy bowed his head in silent accord

For a ry he could not speak He strode across the tent, whirled, strode back, his face dark and angry He snatched up his breastplate froround and threw it at Barristan Sel said then, coldly "Get out before I kill you"

Ser Barristan left quickly Ned was about to follohen the king called out again "Not you, Ned"

Ned turned back Robert took up his horn again, filled it with beer from a barrel in the corner, and thrust it at Ned "Drink," he said brusquely

"I’ve no thirst--"

"Drink Your king commands it"

Ned took the horn and drank The beer was black and thick, so strong it stung the eyes

Robert sat down again "Damn you, Ned Stark You and Jon Arryn, I loved you both What have you done to , you or Jon"

"You had the better claiue You , you could at least have the courtesy to listen when I talk, da has done to me Gods, too fat for my armor, how did it ever come to this?"

"Robert"

"Drink and stay quiet, the king is talking I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I inning this throne, or so dead as now that I’ve won it And CerseiI have Jon Arryn to thank for her I had no wish to marry after Lyanna was taken from me, but Jon said the realood match, he told aryen ever try to win back his father’s throne" The king shook his head "I loved that old er fool than Moon Boy Oh, Cersei is lovely to look at, truly, but coldthe way she guards her cunt, you’d think she had all the gold of Casterly Rock between her legs Here, give me that beer if you won’t drink it" He took the horn, upended it, belched, wiped his irl, Ned Truly About the wolf, I , I’d stake my soul on it My sonyou love your children, don’t you?"

"With all my heart," Ned said

"Let iving up the crown Take ship for the Free Cities with , that’s what I was ers would love ht of Joffrey on the throne, with Cersei standing behind hi in his ear My son How could I have made a son like that, Ned?"

"He’s only a boy," Ned said aardly He had s for Prince Joffrey, but he could hear the pain in Robert’s voice "Have you forgotten hoild you were at his age?"

"It would not trouble me if the boy ild, Ned You don’t know hihed and shook his head "Ah, perhaps you are right Jon despaired of " Robert looked at Ned and scowled at his silence "You ree now, you know"

"Your Grace" Ned began, carefully

Robert slapped Ned on the back "Ah, say that I’ than Aerys and be done with it You never could lie for love nor honor, Ned Stark I’s will be different We’llof, and damn the Lannisters to seven hells I smell bacon Who do you think our champion will be today? Have you seen Mace Tyrell’s boy? The Knight of Flowers, they call him Now there’s a son any slayer on his golden ruht to have seen the look on Cersei’s face I laughed till my sides hurt Renly says he has this sister, a maid of fourteen, lovely as a dawn"

They broke their fast on black bread and boiled goose eggs and fish fried up with onions and bacon, at a trestle table by the river’s edge The king’sRobert was eating an orange and waxing fond about a iven Jon a barrel of oranges, re ht in the nose You remember, Redfort’s pock-faced squire? He tossed one back at es flying across the High Hall in every direction" He laughed uproariously, and even Ned srown up with, he thought; this was the Robert Baratheon he’d known and loved If he could prove that the Lannisters were behind the attack on Bran, prove that they had murdered Jon Arryn, this slayer with her, and if Lord Tywin dared to rouse the west, Robert would saryen on the Trident He could see it all so clearly

That breakfast tasted better than anything Eddard Stark had eaten in a long time, and afterward his smiles came easier and more often, until it was time for the tourna to the jousting field He had promised to watch the final tilts with Sansa; Septa Mordane was ill today, and his daughter was deter As he saw Robert to his place, he noted that Cersei Lannister had chosen not to appear; the place beside the king was eave Ned cause to hope

He shouldered his way to where his daughter was seated and found her as the horns blew for the day’s first joust Sansa was so engrossed she scarcely seeane was the first rider to appear He wore an olive- green cloak over his soot-grey armor That, and his hound’s-head helm, were his only concession to ornaslayer," Littlefinger announced loudly as Jaiant blood bay destrier The horse wore a blanket of gilded ringlittered froolden wood of the Summer Isles

"Done," Lord Renly shouted back "The Hound has a hungry look about his know better than to bite the hand that feeds theane dropped his visor with an audible clang and took up his position Ser Jaiently lowered his visor, and rode to the end of the lists Both men couched their lances

Ned Stark would have loved nothing so well as to see theer The hastily erected gallery treallop The Hound leaned forward as he rode, his lance rock steady, but Jaiane’s point was turned harolden shield with the lion blazon, while his own hit square Wood shattered, and the Hound reeled, fighting to keep his seat Sansa gasped A ragged cheer went up froht spend your er called down to Lord Renly

The Hound just ed to stay in his saddle He jerked his mount around hard and rode back to the lists for the second pass Jaime Lannister tossed down his broken lance and snatched up a fresh one, jesting with his squire The Hound spurred forward at a hard gallop Lannister rode to ane shifted with him Both lances exploded, and by the time the splinters had settled, a riderless blood bay was trotting off in search of grass while Ser Jaiolden and dented

Sansa said, "I knew the Hound would win"

Littlefinger overheard "If you knoho’s going to win the second match, speak up now before Lord Renly plucks me clean," he called to her Ned smiled

"A pity the Imp is not here with us," Lord Renly said "I should have ice as much"

Jaime Lannister was back on his feet, but his ornate lion helmet had been twisted around and dented in his fall, and now he could not get it off The co, the lords and ladies were trying to stifle their chuckles, and failing, and over it all Ned could hear King Robert laughing, louder than anyone Finally they had to lead the Lion of Lannister off to a blacksor Clegane was in position at the head of the lists He was huge, the biggest man that Eddard Stark had ever seen Robert Baratheon and his brothers were all big men, as was the Hound, and back at Winterfell there was a simpleminded stableboy naht they called the Mountain That Rides would have towered over Hodor He ell over seven feet tall, closer to eight, with massive shoulders and arms thick as the trunks of small trees His destrier sees, and the lance he carried looked as small as a brooor did not live at court He was a solitary man who seldom left his own lands, but for wars and tourneys He had been with Lord Tyhen King’s Landing fell, a new-uished by his size and his ior who’d dashed the skull of the infant prince Aegon Targaryen against a wall, and whispered that afterward he had raped theher to the sword These things were not said in Gregor’s hearing

Ned Stark could not recall ever speaking to theBalon Greyjoy’s rebellion, one knight a thousands He watched hiossip, but the things said of Ser Gregor were more than ominous He was soon to be s about the deaths of his first tives It was said that his keep was a grim place where servants disappeared unaccountably and even the dogs were afraid to enter the hall And there had been a sister who had died young under queer circuured his brother, and the hunting accident that had killed their father Gregor had inherited the keep, the gold, and the faer brother Sandor had left the same day to take service with the Lannisters as a sworn sword, and it was said that he had never returned, not even to visit

When the Knight of Flowers h the crowd, and he heard Sansa’s fervent whisper, "Oh, he’s so beautiful" Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver ar black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers caasp went up from a thousand throats Across the boy’s shoulders his cloak hung heavy It oven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape

His courser was as slirey e stallion truarden did sos, and his horse pranced sideways, nimble as a dancer Sansa clutched at his aror hurt hi the rose that Ser Loras had given her yesterday Jory had told him about that as well

"These are tourney lances," he told his daughter "They make them to splinter on impact, so no one is hurt" Yet he remembered the dead boy in the cart with his cloak of crescent moons, and the words were raw in his throat

Ser Gregor was having trouble controlling his horse The stallion was screa his head The Mountain kicked at the aniely with an armored boot The horse reared and alht of Flowers saluted the king, rode to the far end of the list, and couched his lance, ready Ser Gregor brought his anian The Mountain’s stallion broke in a hard gallop, plunging forildly, while the or wrenched his shield into position, juggled with his lance, and all the while fought to hold his unruly ht line, and suddenly Loras Tyrell was on hi the point of his lance just there, and in an eye blink the Mountain was failing He was so huge that he took his horse doith hile of steel and flesh

Ned heard applause, cheers, whistles, shocked gasps, excited hter of the Hound The Knight of Flowers reined up at the end of the lists His lance was not even broken His sapphires winked in the sun as he raised his visor, s The commons went or Clegane disentangled hi to his feet He wrenched off his helround His face was dark with fury and his hair fell down into his eyes "My sword," he shouted to his squire, and the boy ran it out to him By then his stallion was back on its feet as well

Gregor Clegane killed the horse with a single blow of such ferocity that it half severed the animal’s neck Cheers turned to shrieks in a heartbeat The stallion went to its knees, screa down the lists toward Ser Loras Tyrell, his bloody sword clutched in his fist "Stop him!" Ned shouted, but his words were lost in the roar Everyone else was yelling as well, and Sansa was crying

It all happened so fast The Knight of Floas shouting for his oord as Ser Gregor knocked his squire aside and rab for the reins of his horse The mare scented blood and reared Loras Tyrell kept his seat, but barely Ser Gregor swung his sword, a savage two-handed blow that took the boy in the chest and knocked him from the saddle The courser dashed away in panic as Ser Loras lay stunned in the dirt But as Gregor lifted his sword for the killing blow, a rasping voice warned, "Leave him be," and a steel-clad hand wrenched him away from the boy

The Mountain pivoted in wordless fury, swinging his longsword in a killing arc with all his ht the blow and turned it, and for what see at each other as a dazed Loras Tyrell was helped to safety Thrice Ned saw Ser Gregor aie blows at the hound’s-head helmet, yet not once did Sandor send a cut at his brother’s unprotected face