A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

  He hoped that no stars fell tonight.

  There were red mountains in the distance and white sands beneath his feet. Dunk was digging, plunging a spade into the hot, dry earth and flinging the fine sand back over his shoulder. He was making a hole. A grave, he thought, a grave for hope. A trio of Dornish knights stood watching, making mock of him in quiet voices. Farther off the merchants waited with their mules and wayns and sand sledges. They wanted to be off, but he could not leave until he'd buried Chestnut. He would not leave his old friend to the snakes and scorpions and sand dogs.

  The stot had died on the long, thirsty crossing between the Prince's Pass and Vaith, with Egg upon his back. His front legs just seemed to fold up under him, and he knelt right down, rolled onto his side, and died. His carcass sprawled beside the hole. Already it was stiff. Soon it would begin to smell.

  Dunk was weeping as he dug, to the amusement of the Dornish knights. "Water is precious in the waste," one said, "you ought not to waste it, ser." The other chuckled and said, "Why do you weep? It was only a horse, and a poor one."

  Chestnut, Dunk thought, digging, his name was Chestnut, and he bore me on his back for years, and never bucked or bit. The old stot had looked a sorry thing beside the sleek sand steeds that the Dornishmen were riding, with their elegant heads, long necks, and flowing manes, but he had given all he had to give.

  "Weeping for a swaybacked stot?" Ser Arlan said, in his old man's voice. "Why, lad, you never wept for me, who put you on his back." He gave a little laugh, to show he meant no harm by the reproach. "That's Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall."

  "He shed no tears for me, either," said Baelor Breakspear from the grave, "though I was his prince, the hope of Westeros. The gods never meant for me to die so young."

  "My father was only nine-and-thirty," said Prince Valarr. "He had it in him to be a great king, the greatest since Aegon the Dragon." He looked at Dunk with cool blue eyes. "Why would the gods take him, and leave you?" The Young Prince had his father's light brown hair, but a streak of silver-gold ran through it.

  You are dead, Dunk wanted to scream, you are all three dead, why won't you leave me be? Ser Arlan had died of a chill, Prince Baelor of the blow his brother dealt him during Dunk's trial of seven, his son Valarr during the Great Spring Sickness. I am not to blame for that. We were in Dorne, we never even knew.

  "You are mad," the old man told him. "We will dig no hole for you, when you kill yourself with this folly. In the deep sands a man must hoard his water."

  "Begone with you, Ser Duncan," Valarr said. "Begone."

  Egg helped him with the digging. The boy had no spade, only his hands, and the sand flowed back into the grave as fast as they could fling it out. It was like trying to dig a hole in the sea. I have to keep digging, Dunk told himself, though his back and shoulders ached from the effort. I have to bury him down deep where the sand dogs cannot find him. I have to...

  "...die?" said Big Rob the simpleton from the bottom of the grave. Lying there, so still and cold, with a ragged red wound gaping in his belly, he did not look very big at all.

  Dunk stopped and stared at him. "You're not dead. You're down sleeping in the cellar." He looked to Ser Arlan for help. "Tell him, ser," he pleaded, "tell him to get out of the grave."

  Only it was not Ser Arlan of Pennytree standing over him at all, it was Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield. The brown knight only cackled. "Dunk the lunk," he said, "gutting's slow, but certain. Never knew a man to live with his entrails hanging out." Red froth bubbled on his lips. He turned and spat, and the white sands drank it down. Treb was standing behind him with an arrow in his eye, weeping slow, red tears. And there was Wet Wat too, his head cut near in half, with old Lem and red-eyed Pate and all the rest. They had all been chewing sourleaf with Bennis, Dunk thought at first, but then he realized that it was blood trickling from their mouths. Dead, he thought, all dead, and the brown knight brayed. "Aye, so best get busy. You've more graves to dig, lunk. Eight for them and one for me and one for old Ser Useless, and one last one for your baldhead boy."

  The spade slipped from Dunk's hands. "Egg," he cried, "run! We have to run!" But the sands were giving way beneath their feet. When the boy tried to scramble from the hole, its crumbling sides gave way and collapsed. Dunk saw the sands wash over Egg, burying him as he opened his mouth to shout. He tried to fight his way to him, but the sands were rising all around him, pulling him down into the grave, filling his mouth, his nose, his eyes...

  Come the break of day, Ser Bennis set about teaching their recruits to form a shield wall. He lined the eight of them up shoulder to shoulder, with their shields touching and their spear points poking through like long, sharp, wooden teeth. Then Dunk and Egg mounted up and charged them.

  Maester refused to go within ten feet of the spears and stopped abruptly, but Thunder had been trained for this. The big warhorse pounded straight ahead, gathering speed. Hens ran beneath his legs and flapped away screeching. Their panic must have been contagious. Once more Big Rob was the first to drop his spear and run, leaving a gap in the middle of the wall. Instead of closing up, Standfast's other warriors joined the flight. Thunder trod upon their discarded shields before Dunk could rein him up. Woven branches cracked and splintered beneath his iron-shod hooves. Ser Bennis rattled off a pungent string of curses as chickens and peasants scattered in all directions. Egg fought manfully to hold his laughter in but finally lost the battle.

  "Enough of that." Dunk drew Thunder to a halt, unfastened his helm, and tore it off. "If they do that in a battle, it will get the whole lot of them killed." And you and me as well, most like. The morning was already hot, and he felt as soiled and sticky as if he'd never bathed at all. His head was pounding, and he could not forget the dream he dreamed the night before. It never happened that way, he tried to tell himself. It wasn't like that. Chestnut had died on the long dry ride to Vaith, that part was true. He and Egg rode double until Egg's brother gave them Maester. The rest of it, though...

  I never wept. I might have wanted to, but I never did. He had wanted to bury the horse as well, but the Dornishmen would not wait. "Sand dogs must eat and feed their pups," one of the Dornish knights told him as he helped Dunk strip the stot of saddle and bridle. "His flesh will feed the dogs or feed the sands. In a year, his bones will be scoured clean. This is Dorne, my friend." Remembering, Dunk could not help but wonder who would feed on Wat's flesh, and Wat's, and Wat's. Maybe there are chequy fish down beneath the Chequy Water.

  He rode Thunder back to the tower and dismounted. "Egg, help Ser Bennis round them up and get them back here." He shoved his helm at Egg and strode to the steps.

  Ser Eustace met him in the dimness of his solar. "That was not well-done."

  "No, m'lord," said Dunk. "They will not serve." A sworn sword owes his liege service and obedience, but this is madness.

  "It was their first time. Their fathers and brothers were as bad or worse when they began their training. My sons worked with them, before we went to help the king. Every day, for a good fortnight. They made soldiers of them."

  "And when the battle came, m'lord?" Dunk asked. "How did they fare then? How many of them came home with you?"

  The old knight looked long at him. "Lem," he said at last, "and Pate, and Dake. Dake foraged for us. He was as fine a forager as I ever knew. We never marched on empty bellies. Three came back, ser. Three and me." His mustache quivered. "It may take longer than a fortnight."

  "M'lord," said Dunk, "the woman could be here upon the morrow, with all her men." They are good lads, he thought, but they will soon be dead lads if they go up against the knights of Coldmoat. "There must be some other way."

  "Some other way." Ser Eustace ran his fingers lightly across the Little Lion's shield. "I will have no justice from Lord Rowan, nor this king..." He grasped Dunk by the forearm. "It comes to me that in days gone by, when the green kings ruled, you could pay a man a blood price if you had slain one of his animals or peasants."

  "A
blood price?" Dunk was dubious.

  "Some other way, you said. I have some coin laid by. It was only a little claret on the cheek, Ser Bennis says. I could pay the man a silver stag, and three to the woman for the insult. I could, and would...if she would take the dam down." The old man frowned. "I cannot go to her, however. Not at Coldmoat." A fat black fly buzzed around his head and lighted on his arm. "The castle was ours once. Did you know that, Ser Duncan?"

  "Aye, m'lord." Sam Stoops had told him.

  "For a thousand years before the Conquest, we were the Marshals of the Northmarch. A score of lesser lordlings did us fealty, and a hundred landed knights. We had four castles then, and watchtowers on the hills to warn of the coming of our enemies. Coldmoat was the greatest of our seats. Lord Perwyn Osgrey raised it. Perwyn the Proud, they called him.

  "After the Field of Fire, Highgarden passed from kings to stewards and the Osgreys dwindled and diminished. 'Twas Aegon's son King Maegor who took Coldmoat from us, when Lord Ormond Osgrey spoke out against his supression of the Stars and Swords, as the Poor Fellows and the Warrior's Sons were called." His voice had grown hoarse. "There is a chequy lion carved into the stone above the gates of Coldmoat. My father showed it to me, the first time he took me with him to call on old Reynard Webber. I showed it to my own sons in turn. Addam...Addam served at Coldmoat, as a page and squire, and a...a certain...fondness grew up between him and Lord Wyman's daughter. So one winter day I donned my richest raiment and went to Lord Wyman to propose a marriage. His refusal was courteous, but as I left I heard him laughing with Ser Lucas Inchfield. I never returned to Coldmoat after that, save once, when that woman presumed to carry off one of mine own. When they told me to seek for poor Lem at the bottom of the moat--"

  "Dake," said Dunk. "Bennis says his name was Dake."

  "Dake?" The fly was creeping down his sleeve, pausing to rub its legs together the way flies do. Ser Eustace shooed it away and rubbed his lip beneath his mustache. "Dake. That was what I said. A staunch fellow, I recall him well. He foraged for us, during the war. We never marched on empty bellies. When Ser Lucas informed me of what had been done to my poor Dake, I swore a holy vow that I would never again set foot inside that castle, unless to take possession. So you see, I cannot go there, Ser Duncan. Not to pay the blood price, nor for any other reason. I cannot."

  Dunk understood. "I could go, m'lord. I swore no vows."

  "You are a good man, Ser Duncan. A brave knight, and true." Ser Eustace gave Dunk's arm a squeeze. "Would that the gods had spared my Alysanne. You are the sort of man I had always hoped that she might marry. A true knight, Ser Duncan. A true knight."

  Dunk was turning red. "I will tell Lady Webber what you said, about the blood price, but..."

  "You will save Ser Bennis from Dake's fate. I know it. I am no mean judge of men, and you are the true steel. You will give them pause, ser. The very sight of you. When that woman sees that Standfast has such a champion, she may well take down that dam of her own accord."

  Dunk did not know what to say to that. He knelt. "M'lord. I will go upon the morrow, and do the best I can."

  "On the morrow." The fly came circling back and lit upon Ser Eustace's left hand. He raised his right and smashed it flat. "Yes. On the morrow."

  "Another bath?" Egg said, dismayed. "You washed yesterday."

  "And then I spent a day in armor, swimming in my sweat. Close your lips and fill the kettle."

  "You washed the night Ser Eustace took us into service," Egg pointed out. "And last night, and now. That's three times, ser."

  "I need to treat with a highborn lady. Do you want me to turn up before her high seat smelling like Ser Bennis?"

  "You would have to roll in a tub of Maester's droppings to smell as bad as that, ser." Egg filled the kettle. "Sam Stoops says the castellan at Coldmoat is as big as you are. Lucas Inchfield is his name, but he's called the Longinch for his size. Do you think he's as big as you are, ser?"

  "No." It had been years since Dunk had met anyone as tall as he was. He took the kettle and hung it above the fire.

  "Will you fight him?"

  "No." Dunk almost wished it had been otherwise. He might not be the greatest fighter in the realm, but size and strength could make up for many lacks. Not for a lack of wits, though. He was no good with words, and worse with women. This giant Lucas Longinch did not daunt him half so much as the prospect of facing the Red Widow. "I'm going to talk to the Red Widow, that's all."

  "What will you tell her, ser?"

  "That she has to take the dam down." You must take down your dam, m'lady, or else... "Ask her to take down the dam, I mean." Please give back our Chequy Water. "If it pleases her." A little water, m'lady, if it please you. Ser Eustace would not want him to beg. How do I say it, then?

  The water soon began to steam and bubble. "Help me lug this to the tub," Dunk told the boy. Together they lifted the kettle from the hearth and crossed the cellar to the big wooden tub. "I don't know how to talk with highborn ladies," he confessed as they were pouring. "We both might have been killed in Dorne, on account of what I said to Lady Vaith."

  "Lady Vaith was mad," Egg reminded him, "but you could have been more gallant. Ladies like it when you're gallant. If you were to rescue the Red Widow the way you rescued that puppet girl from Aerion..."

  "Aerion's in Lys, and the widow's not in want of rescuing." He did not want to talk of Tanselle. Tanselle Too-Tall was her name, but she was not too tall for me.

  "Well," the boy said, "some knights sing gallant songs to their ladies, or play them tunes upon a lute."

  "I have no lute." Dunk looked morose. "And that night I drank too much in the Planky Town, you told me I sang like an ox in a mud wallow."

  "I had forgotten, ser."

  "How could you forget?"

  "You told me to forget, ser," said Egg, all innocence. "You told me I'd get a clout in the ear the next time I mentioned it."

  "There will be no singing." Even if he had the voice for it, the only song Dunk knew all the way through was "The Bear, the Bear, and the Maiden Fair." He doubted that would do much to win over Lady Webber. The kettle was steaming once again. They wrestled it over to the tub and upended it.

  Egg drew water to fill it for the third time, then clambered back onto the well. "You'd best not take any food or drink at Coldmoat, ser. The Red Widow poisoned all her husbands."

  "I'm not like to marry her. She's a highborn lady, and I'm Dunk of Flea Bottom, remember?" He frowned. "Just how many husbands has she had, do you know?"

  "Four," said Egg, "but no children. Whenever she gives birth, a demon comes by night to carry off the issue. Sam Stoops's wife says she sold her babes unborn to the Lord of the Seven Hells, so he'd teach her his black arts."

  "Highborn ladies don't meddle with the black arts. They dance and sing and do embroidery."

  "Maybe she dances with demons and embroiders evil spells," Egg said with relish. "And how would you know what highborn ladies do, ser? Lady Vaith is the only one you ever knew."

  That was insolent, but true. "Might be I don't know any highborn ladies, but I know a boy who's asking for a good clout in the ear." Dunk rubbed the back of his neck. A day in chain mail always left it hard as wood. "You've known queens and princesses. Did they dance with demons and practice the black arts?"

  "Lady Shiera does. Lord Bloodraven's paramour. She bathes in blood to keep her beauty. And once my sister Rhae put a love potion in my drink, so I'd marry her instead of my sister Daella."

  Egg spoke as if such incest was the most natural thing in the world. For him it is. The Targaryens had been marrying brother to sister for hundreds of years, to keep the blood of the dragon pure. Though the last actual dragon had died before Dunk was born, the dragonkings went on. Maybe the gods don't mind them marrying their sisters. "Did the potion work?" Dunk asked.

  "It would have," said Egg, "but I spit it out. I don't want a wife, I want to be a knight of the Kingsguard and live only to serve and defend the king. The Kin
gsguard are sworn not to wed."

  "That's a noble thing, but when you're older you may find you'd sooner have a girl than a white cloak." Dunk was thinking of Tanselle Too-Tall, and the way she'd smiled at him at Ashford. "Ser Eustace said I was the sort of man he'd hoped to have his daughter wed. Her name was Alysanne."

  "She's dead, ser."

  "I know she's dead," said Dunk, annoyed. "If she was alive, he said. If she was, he'd like her to marry me. Or someone like me. I never had a lord offer me his daughter before."

  "His dead daughter. And the Osgreys might have been lords in the old days, but Ser Eustace is only a landed knight."

  "I know what he is. Do you want a clout in the ear?"

  "Well," said Egg, "I'd sooner have a clout than a wife. Especially a dead wife, ser. The kettle's steaming."

  They carried the water to the tub, and Dunk pulled his tunic over his head. "I will wear my Dornish tunic to Coldmoat." It was sandsilk, the finest garment that he owned, painted with his elm and falling star.

  "If you wear it for the ride, it will get all sweaty, ser," Egg said. "Wear the one you wore today. I'll bring the other, and you can change when you reach the castle."

  "Before I reach the castle. I'd look a fool, changing clothes on the drawbridge. And who said you were coming with me?"

  "A knight is more impressive with a squire in attendance."

  That was true. The boy had a good sense of such things. He should. He served two years as a page at King's Landing. Even so, Dunk was reluctant to take him into danger. He had no notion what sort of welcome awaited him at Coldmoat. If this Red Widow was as dangerous as they said, he could end up in a crow cage, like those two men they had seen upon the road. "You will stay and help Bennis with the smallfolk," he told Egg. "And don't give me that sullen look." He kicked his breeches off and climbed into the tub of steaming water. "Go on and get to sleep now, and let me have my bath. You're not going, and that's the end of it."