Page 42 (2/2)

By the time their bellies were full, the stars had co over the round and stretched out with his saddle for a pillow "Our friends are taking their sweet time"

"If I were them, I’d fear a trap," Bronn said "Why else would we be so open, if not to lure the and send thean to whistle a tune

"You’re rease out from under his nails with his dirk

"Where’s your love of music, Bronn?"

"If it was er to charinned "That would have been a off Ser Vardis with his woodharp" He resu?" he asked

"You hear it here and there, in inns and whorehouses"

"Myrish ‘The Seasons of My Love’ Sweet and sad, if you understand the words The first girl I ever bedded used to sing it, and I’ve never been able to put it out of ht and the stars shone down upon the ht and ht like this," he heard hi back fro out into the road with twothreats My brother unsheathed his sword and went after theirl She was scarcely a year older than I was, dark-haired, slender, with a face that would break your heart It certainly broke mine Lowborn, half-starved, unwashedyet lovely They’d torn the rags she earing half off her back, so I wrapped her in my cloak while Jai back, I’d gotten a name out of her, and a story She was a crofter’s child, orphaned when her father died of fever, on her way towell, nowhere, really

"Jaime was all in a lather to hunt down the men It was not often outlaws dared prey on travelers so near to Casterly Rock, and he took it as an insult The girl was too frightened to send off by herself, though, so I offered to take her to the closest inn and feed her while my brother rode back to the Rock for help

"She was hungrier than I would have believed We finished thole chickens and part of a third, and drank a flagon of wine, talking I was only thirteen, and the ent toher bed If she was shy, I was shyer I’ll never knohere I found the courage When I broke herher little song, and byI was in love"

"You?" Bronn’s voice was aan to whistle the song again "I married her," he finally admitted

"A Lannister of Casterly Rock wed to a crofter’s daughter," Bronn said "How did you e that?"

"Oh, you’d be astonished at what a boy can make of a few lies, fifty pieces of silver, and a drunken septon I dared not bring e of her own, and for a fortnight we played at being man and wife And then the septon sobered and confessed all to my lord father" Tyrion was surprised at how desolate it made him feel to say it, even after all these years Perhaps he was just tired "That was the end ofat the light

"He sent the girl away?"

"He did better than that," Tyrion said "First he irl was a whore, you see Jaied the whole affair, the road, the outlaws, all of it He thought it was ti it would be my first time

"After Jaime had made his confession, to drive hoave her to his guards They paid her fair enough A silver for each h a price? He sat me down in the corner of the barracks and bade me watch, and at the end she had so ers and rolling on the floor, she" The s his eyes Tyrion cleared his throat and turned away froo last," he said in a quiet voice "And he gave old coin to pay her, because I was a Lannister, and worth ain, the rasp of steel on stone as Bronn sharpened his sword "Thirteen or thirty or three, I would have killed thearound to face hiet that chance one day Remember what I told you A Lannister always pays his debts" He yawned "I think I will try and sleep Wake me if we’re about to die"

He rolled hiround was stony and cold, but after a time Tyrion Lannister did sleep He dreaaoler, not the prisoner, big, with a strap in his hand, and he was hitting his father, driving him back, toward the abyss

"Tyrion" Bronn’s warning was low and urgent

Tyrion ake in the blink of an eye The fire had burned down to e in all around them Bronn had raised himself to one knee, his sword in one hand and his dirk in the other Tyrion held up a hand: stay still, it said "Coht is cold," he called out to the creeping shadows "I fear we’ve no wine to offer you, but you’re welcooat"

All ht on metal "Our mountain," a voice called out frooat"

"Your goat," Tyrion agreed "Who are you?"

"When you ods," a different voice replied, "say it was Gunthor son of Gurn of the Stone Croho sent you to theht; a thinknife

"And Shagga son of Dolf" That was the first voice, deep and deadly A boulder shifted to their left, and stood, and beca he seeht hand and an axe in his left He sether as he lumbered closer

Other voices called other naot the instant he heard them; ten at least A few had swords and knives; others brandished pitchforks and scythes and wooden spears He waited until they were done shouting out their naave them answer "I am Tyrion son of Tywin, of the Clan Lannister, the Lions of the Rock We will gladly pay you for the goat we ate"

"What do you have to give us, Tyrion son of Tywin?" asked the one who named himself Gunthor, who seemed to be their chief

"There is silver in e for me, but it should fit Conn nicely, and the battle-axe I carry would suit Shagga’s hty hand far better than that wood-axe he holds"

"The halfman would pay us with our own coin," said Conn

"Conn speaks truly," Gunthor said "Your silver is ours Your horses are ours Your hauberk and your battle-axe and the knife at your belt, those are ours too You have nothing to give us but your lives Hoould you like to die, Tyrion son of Tywin?"

"In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a hty," he replied

The huge one, Shagga, laughed first and loudest The others seemed less amused "Conn, take their horses," Gunthor commanded "Kill the other and seize the halfinan He can h"

Bronn sprang to his feet "Who dies first?"

"No!" Tyrion said sharply "Gunthor son of Gurn, hear me My House is rich and powerful If the Stone Croill see us safely through these old"

"The gold of a lowland lord is as worthless as a halfman’s promises," Gunthor said

"Half a e to face my enemies What do the Stone Crows do, but hide behind rocks and shiver with fear as the knights of the Vale ride by?"

Shagga gave a roar of anger and clashed club against axe Jaggot poked at Tyrion’s face with the fire-hardened point of a long wooden spear He did his best not to flinch "Are these the best weapons you could steal?" he said "Good enough for killing sheep, perhapsif the sheep do not fight back My father’s sa roared, "will you oats?"

But Gunthor raised a hand "No I would hear his words The old What would you give us for your lives, Tyrion son of Tywin? Swords? Lances? Mail?"

"All that, and"I will give you the Vale of Arryn"