Page 32 (2/2)

"So ht dwindled ahead of her "The ones you need are hard to findso young, to know their lettersperhaps oldernot die so easy"

"No The younger are safertreat theues"

"the risk"

Long after their voices had faded away, Arya could still see the light of the torch, a s star that bid her folloice it seeht, and both times she found herself at the top of steep, narrow stairs, the torch gli far below her She hurried after it, down and down Once she stuainst the wall, and her hand found raw earth supported by timbers, whereas before the tunnel had been dressed stone

She one, but there was no place to go but forward She found the wall again and followed, blind and lost, pretending that Ny beside her in the darkness At the end she was knee-deep in foul-sht have, and wondering if she’d ever see light again It was full dark when finally Arya eht air

She found herself standing at the mouth of a sehere it emptied into the river She stank so badly that she stripped right there, dropping her soiled clothing on the riverbank as she dove into the deep black waters She swa So her clothes, but if they saw the scrawny naked girl scrubbing her rags in the ht, they took no notice

She wasyou needed only to look up to see the Red Keep high on Aegon’s Hill, so there was no danger of losing her way Her clothes were alatehouse The portcullis was down and the gates barred, so she turned aside to a postern door The gold cloaks who had the watch sneered when she told them to let her in "Off with you," one said "The kitchen scraps are gone, and we’ll have no begging after dark"

"I’ar," she said "I live here"

"I said, off with you Do you need a clout on the ear to help your hearing?"

"I want to see lance "I want to fuck the queen er one said

The older scowled "Who’s this father of yours, boy, the city ratcatcher?"

"The Hand of the King," Arya told hi his fist at her, casually, as aeven before it began She danced back out of the way, untouched "I’m not a boy," she spat at them "I’m Arya Stark of Winterfell, and if you lay a hand on me my lord father will have both your heads on spikes If you don’t believe me, fetch Jory Cassel or Vayon Poole from the Tower of the Hand" She put her hands on her hips "Now are you going to open the gate, or do you need a clout on the ear to help your hearing?"

Her father was alone in the solar when Harwin and Fat To softly at his elbow He was bent over the biggest book Arya had ever seen, a great thick toes of crabbed script, bound between faded leather covers, but he closed it to listen to Harwin’s report His face was stern as he sent the men aith thanks

"You realize I had halffor you?" Eddard Stark said when they were alone "Septa Mordane is beside herself with fear She’s in the sept praying for your safe return Arya, you know you are never to go beyond the castle gates without ates," she blurted "Well, I didn’t eons, only they turned into this tunnel It was all dark, and I didn’t have a torch or a candle to see by, so I had to follow I couldn’t go back the way I ca about killing you! Not thestill as stone and quiet as a shadow, but I heard them They said you had a book and a bastard and if one Hand could die, why not a second? Is that the book? Jon’s the bastard, I bet"

"Jon? Arya, what are you talking about? Who said this?"

"They did," she told his and a forked yellow beard, and another in mail and a steel cap, and the fat one said they had to delay but the other one told hi and the wolf and the lion were going to eat each other and it was a mummer’s farce" She tried to re she’d heard, and noas all mixed up in her head "The fat one said the princess ith child The one in the steel cap, he had the torch, he said that they had to hurry I think he was a wizard"

"A wizard," said Ned, uns white beard and tall pointed hat speckled with stars?"

"No! It wasn’t like Old Nan’s stories He didn’t look like a wizard, but the fat one said he was"

"I warn you, Arya, if you’re spinning this thread of air--"

"No, I told you, it was in the dungeons, by the place with the secret wall I was chasing cats, and well" She screwed up her face If she adry with her "well, I went in thisThat’s where I found the monsters"

"Monsters and wizards," her father said "It would seem you’ve had quite an adventure Theseand mummery?"

"Yes," Arya admitted, "only--"

"Arya, they were mummers," her father told her "There ht now, come to make some coin off the tourney crowds I’ in the castle, but perhaps the king has asked for a show"

"No" She shook her head stubbornly "They weren’t--"

"You shouldn’t be following people about and spying on thehter clie s after stray cats Look at you, sweetling Your arh Tell Syrio Forel that I want a ith hirn--"

He was interrupted by a short, sudden knock "Lord Eddard, pardons," Des the door a crack, "but there’s a black brother here begging audience He says the ht you would want to know"

"My door is always open to the Night’s Watch," Father said

Desly, with an unkereeted him pleasantly and asked his name

"Yoren, as it please m’lord My pardons for the hour" He bowed to Arya "And this irl," Arya said, exasperated If the old man was down from the Wall, he must have come by way of Winterfell "Do you know my brothers?" she asked excitedly "Robb and Bran are at Winterfell, and Jon’s on the Wall Jon Snow, he’s in the Night’s Watch too, you must know hier yet? I’m Arya Stark" The oldat her oddly, but Arya could not see "When you ride back to the Wall, would you bring Jon a letter if I wrote one?" She wished Jon were here right now He’d believe her about the dungeons and the fat man with the forked beard and the wizard in the steel cap

"My daughter often forgets her courtesies," Eddard Stark said with a faint siveness, Yoren Did my brother Benjen send you?"

"No one sentold Mormont I’m here to find men for the Wall, and when Robert next holds court, I’ll bend the knee and cry our need, see if the king and his Hand have soht say as Benjen Stark is e’re talking, though His blood ran black Made him my brother as much as yours It’s for his sake I’m come Rode hard, I did, near killed my horse the way I drove her, but I left the others well behind"

"The others?"

Yoren spat "Sellswords and freeriders and like trash That inn was full o’ them, and I saw theold, they s’s Landing, either So for Casterly Rock, and the Rock lies closer Lord Tyill have gotten the word by now, you can count on it"

Father frowned "What word is this?"

Yoren eyed Arya "One best spoken in private,your pardons"

"As you say Deshter to her chambers" He kissed her on the brow "We’ll finish our talk on thebad’s happened to Jon, has it?" she asked Yoren "Or Uncle Benjen?"

"Well, as to Stark, I can’t say The Snow boy ell enough when I left the Wall It’s not them as concerns , milady You heard your lord father"

Arya had no choice but to go with hiht have been able to linger at the door on so, but Desuards does my father have?" she asked him as they descended to her bedcha? Fifty"

"You wouldn’t let anyone kill hihed "No fear on that count, little lady Lord Eddard’s guarded night and day He’ll come to no harm"

"The Lannisters have more than fifty men," Arya pointed out

"So they do, but every northerner is worth ten of these southron swords, so you can sleep easy"

"What if a wizard was sent to kill hi his longsword, "wizards die the same as other men, once you cut their heads off"