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The fallenup Syrio kicked one in the face and snatched the steel cap off the other’s head The dagger ht the thrust in the helmet and shattered the man’s kneecap with his stick The last red cloak shouted a curse and charged, hacking doith both hands on his sword Syrio rolled right, and the butcher’s cut caught the helled to his knees The longsword crunched through mail and leather and flesh The man on his knees shrieked Before his killer could wrench free his blade, Syrio jabbed hiave a choked cry and staggered back, clutching at his neck, his face blackening
Fiveby the time Arya reached the back door that opened on the kitchen She heard Ser Meryn Trant curse "Bloody oafs," he swore, drawing his longsword from its scabbard
Syrio Forel resuether "Arya child," he called out, never looking at her, "be gone now"
Look with your eyes, he had said She saw: the knight in his pale ars, throat, and hands sheathed in h white helainst that: Syrio, in a leather vest, with a wooden sword in his hand "Syrio, run," she screamed
"The first sword of Braavos does not run," he sang as Ser Meryn slashed at him Syrio danced away from his cut, his stick a blur In a heartbeat, he had bounced blows off the knight’s teainst the et Arya stood frozen Ser Meryn advanced; Syrio backed away He checked the next blow, spun away from the second, deflected the third
The fourth sliced his stick in two, splintering the wood and shearing through the lead core
Sobbing, Arya spun and ran
She plunged through the kitchens and buttery, blind with panic, weaving between cooks and potboys A baker’s helper stepped in front of her, holding a wooden tray Arya bowled her over, scattering fragrant loaves of fresh-baked bread on the floor She heard shouting behind her as she spun around a portly butcher who stood gaping at her with a cleaver in his hands His arms were red to the elbow
All that Syrio Forel had taught her went racing through her head Swift as a deer Quiet as a shadow Fear cuts deeper than swords Quick as a snake Cal as a bear Fierce as a wolverine Fear cuts deeper than swords Thehas already lost Fear cuts deeper than swords Fear cuts deeper than swords Fear cuts deeper than swords The grip of her wooden sas slick with sweat, and Arya was breathing hard when she reached the turret stair For an instant she froze Up or down? Up would take her to the covered bridge that spanned the small court to the Tower of the Hand, but that would be the way they’d expect her to go, for certain Never do what they expect, Syrio once said Arya went down, around and around, leaping over the narrow stone steps two and three at a tied in a cavernous vaulted cellar, surrounded by casks of ale stacked twenty feet tall The only light cah in the wall
The cellar was a dead end There was no way out but the way she had coo back up those steps, but she couldn’t stay here, either She had to find her father and tell him what had happened Her father would protect her
Arya thrust her wooden sword through her belt and began to cli fro the stone with both hands, she pulled herself up The as three feet thick, thea tunnel slanting up and out Arya wriggled toward daylight When her head reached ground level, she peered across the bailey to the Tower of the Hand
The stout wooden door hung splintered and broken, as if by axes A dead led beneath him, the back of his rey wool trimmed hite satin, she saith sudden terror She could not tell who he was
"No," she whispered What was happening? Where was her father? Why had the red cloaks come for her? She remembered what the man with the yellow beard had said, the day she had found the monsters If one Hand can die, why not a second? Arya felt tears in her eyes She held her breath to listen She heard the sounds of fighting, shouts, screah the s of the Tower of the Hand
She could not go back Her father
Arya closed her eyes For a htened to uardsman on the step, whoever he had been They could kill her father too, and her if they caught her "Fear cuts deeper than swords," she said aloud, but it was no good pretending to be a water dancer, Syrio had been a water dancer and the white knight had probably killed hiirl with a wooden stick, alone and afraid
She squir around warily as she climbed to her feet The castle seemed deserted The Red Keep was never deserted All the people lanced up longingly at her bedcha close to the wall as she slid fro catsexcept she was the cat now, and if they caught her, they would kill her
Moving between buildings and over walls, keeping stone to her back wherever possible so no one could surprise her, Arya reached the stables alold cloaks inacross the inner bailey, but without knohose side they were on, she hunched do in the shadows and let them pass
Hullen, who had beenas Arya could reround by the stable door He had been stabbed so many times it looked as if his tunic was patterned with scarlet flowers Arya was certain he was dead, but when she crept closer, his eyes opened "Arya Underfoot," he whispered "You mustwarn youryour lord father" Frothy red spittle bubbled froain and said no room she had played with, and three of her father’s household guard A wagon, laden with crates and chests, stood abandoned near the door of the stable The deadit for the trip to the docks when they were attacked Arya snuck closer One of the corpses was Dessword and pro blindly at the ceiling as flies crawled across his eyes Close to him was a dead man in the red cloak and lion-crest helh Every northerner is worth ten of these southron swords, Des his body in a sudden fury
The ani at the scent of blood Arya’s only plan was to saddle a horse and flee, away from the castle and the city All she had to do was stay on the kingsroad and it would take her back to Winterfell She took a bridle and harness off the wall
As she crossed in back of the wagon, a fallen chest caught her eye It ht or dropped as it was being loaded The wood had split, the lid opening to spill the chest’s contents across the ground Arya recognized silks and satins and velvets she never wore She hand besides
Arya knelt in the dirt a the scattered clothes She found a heavy woolen cloak, a velvet skirt and a silk tunic and some smallclothes, a dress her ht sell Shoving the broken lid out of the way, she groped inside the chest for Needle She had hidden it way down at the botto, but her stuff had all been jumbled around when the chest was dropped For a moment Arya was afraid soers felt the hardness of own
"There she is," a voice hissed close behind her
Startled, Arya whirled A stableboy stood behind her, a s out from beneath a soiled jerkin His boots were covered with manure, and he had a pitchfork in one hand "Who are you?" she asked
"She don’t know irl"
"Helpback into the chest, groping for Needle "My father’s the Hand of the King, he’ll reward you"
"Father’s dead," the boy said He shuffled toward her "It’s the queen who’ll be rewarding ers closed around Needle’s hilt
"I says, co Syrio Forel had ever taught her vanished in a heartbeat In that instant of sudden terror, the only lesson Arya could reiven her, the very first
She stuck hi the blade upith a wild, hysterical strength
Needle went through his leather jerkin and the white flesh of his belly and came out between his shoulder blades The boy dropped the pitchfork and h His hands closed around the blade "Oh, gods," he an to redden "Take it out"
When she took it out, he died
The horses were screahtened in the face of death Blood had gushed fro fro beneath his body His palrabbed at the blade She backed away slowly, Needle red in her hand She had to get away, someplace far fro eyes
She snatched up the bridle and harness again and ran to her mare, but as she lifted the saddle to the horse’s back, Arya realized with a sudden sick dread that the castle gates would be closed Even the postern doors would likely be guarded Maybe the guards wouldn’t recognize her If they thought she was a boy, perhaps they’d let herno, they’d have orders not to let anyone out, it wouldn’t matter whether they knew her or not
But there was another way out of the castle
The saddle slipped froers and fell to the dirt with a thump and a puff of dust Could she find the rooain? She wasn’t certain, yet she knew she had to try
She found the clothing she’d gathered and slipped into the cloak, concealing Needle beneath its folds The rest of her things she tied in a roll With the bundle under her ar the back door, she peeked out anxiously She could hear the distant sound of swordplay, and the shivery wail of a o down the serpentine steps, past the sone last ti the black toht past the barracks of the gold cloaks She couldn’t go that way Arya tried to think of another way If she crossed to the other side of the castle, she could creep along the river wall and through the little godswoodbut first she’d have to cross the yard, in the plain view of the guards on the walls
She had never seen so many men on the walls Gold cloaks, ht What would they do if they saw her running across the yard? She’d look so small from up there, would they be able to tell who she was? Would they care?
She had to leave now, she told herself, but when the htened to move
Calm as still water, a small voice whispered in her ear Arya was so startled she almost dropped her bundle She looked around wildly, but there was no one in the stable but her, and the horses, and the dead men
Quiet as a shadow, she heard Was it her own voice, or Syrio’s? She could not tell, yet somehow it calmed her fears
She stepped out of the stable
It was the scariest thing she’d ever done She wanted to run and hide, but sheone foot in front of the other as if she had all the time in the world and no reason to be afraid of anyone She thought she could feel their eyes, like bugs crawling on her skin under her clothes Arya never looked up If she saw thee would desert her, she knew, and she would drop the bundle of clothes and run and cry like a baby, and then they would have her She kept her gaze on the ground By the time she reached the shadow of the royal sept on the far side of the yard, Arya was cold with sweat, but no one had raised the hue and cry
The sept was open and erant silence Arya figured the gods would never miss two She stuffed the back to the alley where she had cornered the one-eared toot lost She crawled in and out of s, hopped over walls, and felt her way through dark cellars, quiet as a shadow Once she heard a wo It took her more than an hour to find the low narro that slanted down to the dungeon where the h and doubled back to light her candle That was chancy; the fire she’d re had burnt down to e on the coals Cupping her fingers around the flickering candle, she went out theas they were colimpse of who it was
This tihten her They seemed almost old friends Arya held the candle over her head With each step she took, the shadowsto watch her pass "Dragons," she whispered She slid Needle out from under her cloak The slender blade see, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand
The long less hall beyond the door was as black as she remembered She held Needle in her left hand, her sword hand, the candle in her right fist Hot wax ran down across her knuckles The entrance to the well had been to the left, so Arya went right Part of her wanted to run, but she was afraid of snuffing out her candle She heard the faint squeaking of rats and gliht, but rats did not scare her Other things did It would be so easy to hide here, as she had hidden from the wizard and the man with the forked beard She could alainst the wall, his hands curled into claith the blood still dripping froashes in his palrab her as she passed He would see her candle co way off Maybe she would be better off without the light
Fear cuts deeper than swords, the quiet voice inside her whispered Suddenly Arya remembered the crypts at Winterfell They were a lot scarier than this place, she told herself She’d been just a little girl the first time she saw them Her brother Robb had taken theer than Rickon was now They’d only had one candle between the as saucers as he stared at the stone faces of the Kings of Winter, with their wolves at their feet and their iron swords across their laps
Robb took them all the way down to the end, past Grandfather and Brandon and Lyanna, to show the at the stubby little candle, anxious that it o out Old Nan had told her there were spiders down here, and rats as big as dogs Robb ss than spiders and rats," he whispered "This is where the dead walk" That hen they heard the sound, low and deep and shivery Baby Bran had clutched at Arya’s hand
When the spirit stepped out of the open to for the stairs, and Bran wrapped hiround and gave the spirit a punch It was only Jon, covered with flour "You stupid," she told hihed and laughed, and pretty soon Bran and Arya were laughing too
The memory made Arya smile, and after that the darkness held no more terrors for her The stableboy was dead, she’d killed hiain She was going hoain, safe behind Winterfell’s grey granite walls
Her footsteps sent soft echoes hurrying ahead of her as Arya plunged deeper into the darkness