Page 62 (1/2)

Tyrion

On a hill overlooking the kingsroad, a long trestle table of rough-hewn pine had been erected beneath an elolden cloth There, beside his pavilion, Lord Tywin took his evening reat cri overhead from a lofty pike

Tyrion arrived late, saddlesore, and sour, all too vividly aware of how a he must look as he waddled up the slope to his father The day’s et quite drunk tonight It ilight, and the air was alive with drifting fireflies

The cooks were serving the , a different fruit in every an, taking his place on the bench beside his uncle

"Perhaps I’d best charge you with burying our dead, Tyrion," Lord Tywin said "If you are as late to battle as you are to table, the fighting will all be done by the time you arrive"

"Oh, surely you can save me a peasant or two, Father," Tyrion replied "Not too reedy" He filled his wine cup and watched a servingThe crisp skin crackled under his knife, and hot juice ran froes

"Ser Addam’s outriders say the Stark host has moved south from the Twins," his father reported as his trencher was filled with slices of pork "Lord Frey’s levies have joined them They are likely no more than a day’s march north of us"

"Please, Father," Tyrion said "I’ the Stark boy uner to corips with that pig Robb Stark is not half so tender, and he never sood"

Lord Lefford, the sour bird who had charge of their stores and supplies, leaned forward "I hope your savages do not share your reluctance, else we’ve wasted our good steel on thees will put your steel to excellent use, my lord," Tyrion replied When he had told Lefford he needed arms and armor to equip the three hundred men Ulf had fetched down out of the foothills, you would have thought he’d asked the hters over to their pleasure

Lord Lefford frowned "I saw that great hairy one today, the one who insisted that he must have two battle-axes, the heavy black steel ones with twin crescent blades"

"Shagga likes to kill with either hand," Tyrion said as a trencher of stea pork was laid in front of him

"He still had that wood-axe of his strapped to his back"

"Shagga is of the opinion that three axes are even better than two" Tyrion reached a thuer into the salt dish, and sprinkled a healthy pinch over his ht to put you and your wildlings in the vanguard e coht" that Lord Tywin had not had first Tyrion had skewered a chunk of ht it to his uard?" he repeated dubiously Either his lord father had a new respect for Tyrion’s abilities, or he’d decided to rid hiloo he knehich

"They seeh," Ser Kevan said

"Ferocious?" Tyrion realized he was echoing his uncle like a trained bird His father watched, judging hi every word "Let ht, a Moon Brother stabbed a Stone Crow over a sausage So today as we made camp three Stone Crows seized theto get the sausage back, I couldn’t say Bronnoff the dead man’s cock, which was fortunate, but even so Ulf is dea refuse to pay"

"When soldiers lack discipline, the fault lies with their lord commander," his father said

His brother Jaierly, and die for hiht loyalty with gold, and coer man would be able to put the fear in the, my lord?"

Lord Tywin Lannister turned to his brother "If uard is not the place for hi our baggage train"

"Do rily "If you have no other command to offer me, I’ll lead your van"

Lord Tywin studied his dwarf son "I said nothing about coor"

Tyrion took one bite of pork, chewed a ry after all," he said, cli aardly off the bench "Pray excuse me, my lords"

Lord Tywin inclined his head, dis him Tyrion turned and walked away He was conscious of their eyes on his back as he waddled down the hill A great gust of laughter went up from behind him, but he did not look back He hoped they all choked on their suckling pigs

Dusk had settled, turning all the banners black The Lannister casroad In aet lost, and Tyrion did He passed a dozen great pavilions and a hundred cookfires Fireflies drifted aht the scent of garlic sausage, spiced and savory, so teroay in the distance, he heard voices raised in so woman raced past hi over tree roots Farther on, two spearmen faced each other across a little trickle of a streaht, their chests bare and slick with sweat

No one looked at him No one spoke to him No one paid him any mind He was surrounded by men sworn to House Lannister, a vast host twenty thousand strong, and yet he was alone

When he heard the deep ruh the dark, he followed it to the Stone Crows in their sht Conn son of Coratt waved a tankard of ale "Tyrion Halfman! Come, sit by our fire, share meat with the Stone Crows We have an ox"

"I can see that, Conn son of Coratt" The huge red carcass was suspended over a roaring fire, skewered on a spit the size of a srease dripped down into the flames as two Stone Crows turned the meat "I thank you Send for ht even be before the battle He walked on

Each clan had its own cookfire; Black Ears did not eat with Stone Crows, Stone Crows did not eat with Moon Brothers, and no one ate with Burned Men The modest tent he had coaxed out of Lord Lefford’s stores had been erected in the center of the four fires Tyrion found Bronn sharing a skin of ith the new servants Lord Tywin had sent hiroom and a body servant to see to his needs, and even insisted he take a squire They were seated around the eirl ith thehteen by the look of her Tyrion studied her face for a moment, before he spied fishbones in the ashes "What did you eat?"

"Trout, ht the Damn my father He stared

His squire, a boy with the unfortunate name of Podrick Payne, shatever he had been about to say The lad was a distant cousin to Ser Ilyn Payne, the king’s headsue Tyrion had made hiue," he had said "Someday you must learn to use it"

At the ht out of the lad, whom he suspected had been inflicted on hiirl "Is this her?" he asked Bronn

She rose gracefully and looked down at hiht of five feet or more "It is, m’lord, and she can speak for herself, if it please you"

He cocked his head to one side "I am Tyrion, of House Lannister Men call me the Imp"

"My mother nahed, and Tyrion had to smile "Into the tent, Shae, if you would be so kind" He lifted the flap and held it for her Inside, he knelt to light a candle

The life of a soldier was not without certain compensations Wherever you have a camp, you are certain to have camp followers At the end of the day’s march, Tyrion had sent Bronn back to find hi, with as pretty a face as you can find," he had said "If she has washed solad If she hasn’t, wash her Be certain that you tell her who I am, and warn her of what I am" Jyck had not always troubled to do that There was a look the girls got in their eyes so they’d been hired to pleasurea took that Tyrion Lannister did not ever care to see again

He lifted the candle and looked her over Bronn had done well enough; she was doe-eyed and slim, with small firm breasts and a smile that was by turns shy, insolent, and wicked He liked that "Shall I take ood time Are you a maiden, Shae?"

"If it please you, m’lord," she said demurely

"What would please irl"

"Aye, but that will cost you double"

Tyrion decided they would get along splendidly "I aenerousbut I’ll want s, though I’ll want that too You’ll share h at s after each day’s rideand whether I keep you a day or a year, for so long as we are together you will take no other h" She reached down to the heown and pulled it up over her head in one s underneath but Shae "If he don’t put down that candle, ers"

Tyrion put down the candle, took her hand in his, and pulled her gently to him She bent to kiss hiers were deft and practiced as they found the fastenings of his clothes

When he entered her, she welcoasps of pleasure Tyrion suspected her delight was feigned, but she did it so well that it did not matter That much truth he did not crave

He had needed her, Tyrion realized afterward, as she lay quietly in his arh on a year since he’d lain with a woman, since before he had set out for Winterfell in co Robert He could well die on the o to his grave thinking of Shae than of his lord father, Lysa Arryn, or the Lady Catelyn Stark

He could feel the softness of her breasts pressed against his ar filled his head Softly, quietly, he began to whistle

"What’s that, ," he told her "A song I learned as a boy, that’s all Go to sleep, sweetling"

When her eyes were closed and her breathing deep and steady, Tyrion slid out froently, so as not to disturb her sleep Naked, he crawled outside, stepped over his squire, and walked around behind his tent to ed under a chestnut tree, near where they’d tied the horses He was honing the edge of his sword, wide awake; the sellsword did not seem to sleep like other men "Where did you find her?" Tyrion asked hiht The ed his thinking somewhatthat, and my dirk at his throat"

"Splendid," Tyrion said dryly, shaking off the last drops "I see find me a whore, not make me an enemy"

"The pretty ones were all claimed," Bronn said "I’ll be pleased to take her back if you’d prefer a toothless drab"

Tyrion limped closer to where he sat "My lord father would call that insolence, and send you to the mines for impertinence"

"Good for me you’re not your father," Bronn replied "I saw one with boils all over her nose Would you like her?"

"What, and break your heart?" Tyrion shot back "I shall keep Shae Did you perchance note the naht you took her from? I’d rather not have him beside me in the battle"

Bronn rose, cat-quick and cat-graceful, turning his sword in his hand "You’ll have me beside you in the battle, dwarf"

Tyrion nodded The night air arm on his bare skin "See that I survive this battle, and you can nasword froht hand to his left, and tried a cut "Who’d want to kill the likes of you?"

"My lord father, for one He’s put me in the van"

"I’d do the saive the archers fits"

"I find you oddly cheering," Tyrion said "I must be mad"

Bronn sheathed his sword "Beyond a doubt"

When Tyrion returned to his tent, Shae rolled onto her elbow and one"

"M’lord is back now" He slid in beside her

Her hand went between his stunted legs, and found hi him