A Game of Thrones Chapter Forty-five

EddardPain is a induct from the gods, church objet dart Eddard, swaggering Maester Pycelle told him. It means the bone is knitting, the pulp healing itself. Be thankful.I provide be thankful when my leg stops throbbing.Pycelle set a stoppered flask on the table by the bed. The milk of the poppy, for when the pain grows too onerous.I sopor too much already.Sleep is the great healer.I had hoped that was you.Pycelle smiled wanly. It is good to see you in such a fierce humor, my original. He leaned close and lowered his voice. thither was a raven this morn, a letter for the cig bet from her lord father. I estimate you had best turn in. grubby get aheadgs, dark words, Ned verbalise grimly. What of it? master copy Tywin is greatly wrothful ab forth the men you sent after Ser Gregor Clegane, the maester confided. I fe ard he would be. You will rec tout ensemble told, I said as much in council.Let him be wroth, Ned said. both(prenominal) beat his leg throbbed, he think u ped Jaime Lannisters smile, and Jory dead in his arms. Let him write wholly the letters to the baron he standardiseds. entitle Beric rides at a lower place the kings own banner. If Lord Tywin attempts to interfere with the kings justice, he will pretend Robert to state to. The still thing His Grace enjoys more(prenominal)(prenominal) than lookup is making war on lords who defy him.Pycelle pulled back, his maesters am grab jangling. As you say. I sh any visit again on the morrow. The old man hurriedly ga on that pointd up his things and took his leave. Ned had little doubt that he was bound square(a) for the royal apartments, to whisper at the tycoon. I thought you had best know, indeed . . . as if Cersei had non instructed him to excel a bulky her fathers threats. He hoped his response rattled those completed teeth of hers. Ned was non near as positive of Robert as he pretended, but there was no rea give-and- mystify Cersei need know that.When Pycelle was gone, N ed c entirelyed for a transfuse of honeyed wine. That clouded the mind as tumefy, to that degree non as badly. He needed to be able to think. A thousand times, he asked himself what Jon Arryn world power excite done, had he lived foresightful full to figure out on what hed learned. Or perhaps he had acted, and distributed for it.It was bewilder how approximatelytimes a nestlings innocent eyes rear see things that grown men are contrivance to. approximatelyday, when Sansa was grown, he would commence to give tongue to her how she had do it whole watch clear for him. Hes not the least bit like that old drunken king, she had declared, angry and unknowing, and the bare(a) right of it had twisted inside him, cold as death. This was the sword that bucked Jon Arryn, Ned thought then, and it will kill Robert as well, a slower death but wide of the mark as certain. Shattered legs may heal in time, but just about betrayals fester and poison the soul.Littlefinger came job an hour after the Grand Maester had left, clad in a plum-colored doublet with a bemockbird embroidered on the chest of drawers in black thread, and a striped screen of black and white. I flocknot visit long, my lord, he announced. madam Tanda expects me to lunch with her. No doubt she will spliff me a fatted calf. If its near as fatted as her daughter, Im like to rupture and die. And how is your leg?Inflamed and painful, with an itch that is capricious me mad.Littlefinger elevate an eyebrow. In future, try not to let any horses fall on it. I would en insure you to heal quickly. The realm grows restive. Varys has heard ominous whispers from the west. Freeriders and sellswords comport been flocking to Casterly Rock, and not for the thin pleasure of Lord Tywins conversation.Is there word of the king? Ned demanded. Just how long does Robert stand for to hunt?Given his preferences, I believe hed digest in the forest until you and the queen both die of old board, Lord P etyr replied with a faint smile. wanting(p) that, I imagine hell heel counter as soon as hes killed something. They piece the white hart, it seems . . . or rather, what remained of it. Some wolves show it first, and left His Grace just now more than a hoof and a horn. Robert was in a fury, until he heard talk of some false boar deeper in the forest. Then nothing would do but he must have it. Prince Joffrey re morose this morning, with the Royces, Ser Balon Swann, and some twenty separates of the party. The rest are assuage with the king.The give chase? Ned asked, frowning. Of all the Lannister party, Sandor Clegane was the one who concerned him the most, now that Ser Jaime had fled the metropolis to join his father.Oh, returned with Joffrey, and went straight to the queen. Littlefinger smiled. I would have given(p) a hundred silver stags to have been a roach in the rushes when he learned that Lord Beric was off to behead his companion.Even a unsighted man could see t he Hound loathed his brother.Ah, but Gregor was his to loathe, not yours to kill. Once Dondarrion lops the summit off our Mountain, the Clegane lands and incomes will bye-bye to Sandor, but I wouldnt hold my water time lag for his thanks, not that one. And now you must forgive me. brothel reinforcementer Tanda awaits with her fatted calves.On the way to the door, Lord Petyr spied Grand Maester Malleons long tome on the table and paused to idly flip founder the c over. The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and dreadful Ladies and Their Children, he read. Now there is tedious denotation if ever I saw it. A sleeping potion, my lord?For a brief moment Ned considered verbalize him all of it, but there was something in Littlefingers japes that irked him. The man was too clever by half, a mocking smile never far from his lips. Jon Arryn was studying this volume when he was interpreted sick, Ned said in a carefu l tone, to see how he might respond.And he responded as he perpetually did with a quip. In that case, he said, death must have come as a bless(prenominal)ed relief. Lord Petyr Baelish gesture and took his leave.Eddard Stark allo wedded himself a curse. Aside from his own keepers, there was scantily a man in this city he trusted. Littlefinger had concealed Catelyn and helped Ned in his inquiries, yet his upsurge to save his own skin when Jaime and his swords had come out of the rain still rankled. Varys was worse. For all his protestations of loyalty, the eunuch knew too much and did too little. Grand Maester Pycelle seemed more Cerseis shaft with any passing day, and Ser Barristan was an old man, and rigid. He would tell Ned to do his duty.Time was perilously concisely. The king would return from his hunt soon, and honor would require Ned to go to him with all he had learned. Vayon Poole had arranged for Sansa and Arya to sail on the curve Witch out of Braavos, one- ordina l days hence. They would be back at Winterfell earlier the harvest. Ned could no overnight use his concern for their safety to excuse his delay. and last night he had dreamt of Rhaegars children. Lord Tywin had place the bodies beneath the iron Throne, wrapped in the red- cased cloaks of his house guard. That was clever of him the blood did not draw so badly against the red cloth. The little princess had been barefoot, still dressed in her bed gown, and the boy . . . the boy . . .Ned could not let that happen again. The realm could not withstand a second mad king, other dance of blood and vengeance. He must encounter some way to save the children.Robert could be merciful. Ser Barristan was scarcely the only man he had pardoned. Grand Maester Pycelle, Varys the Spider, Lord Balon Greyjoy all(prenominal) had been counted an enemy to Robert once, and severally had been welcomed into friendship and allowed to retain honors and office for a pledge of fealty. So long as a man was brave and honest, Robert would treat him with all the honor and respect due a valiant enemy.This was something else poison in the dark, a natural language thrust to the soul. This he could never forgive, no more than he had forgiven Rhaegar. He will kill them all, Ned realized.And yet, he knew he could not keep silent. He had a duty to Robert, to the realm, to the shade of Jon Arryn . . . and to Bran, who surely must have stumbled on some part of the truth. Why else would they have tried to slay him?Late that afternoon he summoned Tomard, the portly guardsman with the ginger-colored whiskers his children called fecund Tom. With Jory dead and Alyn gone, Fat Tom had command of his household guard. The thought fill up Ned with vague disquiet. Tomard was a solid man affable, loyal, tireless, opened in a limited way, but he was near fifty, and even in his youth he had never been energetic. perhaps Ned should not have been so quick to send off half his guard, and all his best swo rds among them.I shall require your help, Ned said when Tomard appeared, looking at faintly apprehensive, as he always did when called before his lord. Take me to the godswood.Is that wise, Lord Eddard? With your leg and all?Perhaps not. But necessary.Tomard summoned Varly. With one arm around each mans shoulders, Ned managed to descend the steep tower steps and snag across the bailey. I want the guard doubled, he told Fat Tom. No one enters or leaves the hulk of the Hand without my leave.Tom blinked. Mlord, with Alyn and the others away, we are hard-pressed alreadyIt will only be a short while. Lengthen the watches.As you say, mlord, Tom answered. Might I ask whyBest not, Ned answered crisply.The godswood was empty, as it always was here in this citadel of the southron gods. Neds leg was riot as they lowered him to the grass beside the heart tree. thank you. He drew a paper from his sleeve, certain(a) with the sigil of his House. Kindly deliver this at once.Tomard looked at th e notice Ned had written on the paper and licked his lips anxiously. My lord . . . Do as I bid you, Tom, Ned said.How long he waited in the quiet of the godswood, he could not say. It was peaceful here. The thick walls shut out the blare of the castle, and he could hear birds singing, the murmur of crickets, leaves rustling in a gentle wind. The heart tree was an oak, browned and faceless, yet Ned Stark still felt the social movement of his gods. His leg did not seem to hurt so much.She came to him at sunset, as the clouds reddened above the walls and towers. She came alone, as he had bid her. For once she was dressed simply, in leather boots and hunting greens. When she drew back the yob of her brown cloak, he saw the bruise where the king had struck her. The angry plum color had melt to yellow, and the swelling was down, but there was no mistaking it for anything but what it was.Why here? Cersei Lannister asked as she stood over him.So the gods can see.She sat beside him on the grass. Her every move was graceful. Her curling blond hair move in the wind, and her eyes were green as the leaves of summer. It had been a long time since Ned Stark had seen her beauty, but he saw it now. I know the truth Jon Arryn died for, he told her.Do you? The queen watched his face, wary as a cat. Is that why you called me here, Lord Stark? To pose me riddles? Or is it your intent to seize me, as your wife seized my brother?If you truly believed that, you would never have come. Ned touched her strikingness gently. Has he done this before?Once or twice. She shied away from his raft. Never on the face before. Jaime would have killed him, even if it meant his own life. Cersei looked at him defiantly. My brother is expense a hundred of your friend.Your brother? Ned said. Or your fan?Both. She did not flinch from the truth. Since we were children together. And why not? The Targaryens wed brother to sister for three hundred age, to keep the bloodlines pure. And Jaime and I are more than brother and sister. We are one person in two bodies. We dual-lane a womb together. He came into this world retentivity my foot, our old maester said. When he is in me, I savor . . . whole. The ghost of a smile flitted over her lips.My son Bran . . . To her credit, Cersei did not look away. He saw us. You erotic love your children, do you not?Robert had asked him the very same question, the morning of the melee. He gave her the same answer. With all my heart.No less do I love mine.Ned thought, If it came to that, the life of some child I did not know, against Robb and Sansa and Arya and Bran and Rickon, what would I do? Even more so, what would Catelyn do, if it were Jons life, against the children of her body? He did not know. He prayed he never would.All three are Jaimes, he said. It was not a question.thank the gods.The seed is strong, Jon Arryn had cried on his deathbed, and so it was. All those bastards, all with hair as black as night. Grand Maester Malleon recorded the last mating between stag and lion, some ninety years ago, when Tya Lannister wed Gowen Baratheon, third son of the reigning lord. Their only issue, an unnamed boy described in Malleons tome as a large-mouthed and lusty lad born with a all-inclusive head of black hair, died in infancy. Thirty years before that a male Lannister had taken a Baratheon maid to wife. She had given him three daughters and a son, each black-haired. No matter how far back Ned searched in the brittle yellowed pages, always he found the gold home approaching before the coal.A 12 years, Ned said. How is it that you have had no children by the king?She lifted her head, defiant. Your Robert got me with child once, she said, her voice thick with contempt. My brother found a woman to cleanse me. He never knew. If truth be told, I can scarcely bear for him to touch me, and I have not let him inside me for years. I know other ways to pleasure him, when he leaves his whores long enough to stagger up t o my bedchamber. W abominatever we do, the king is commonly so drunk that hes forgotten it all by the next morning.How could they have all been so guile? The truth was there in front of them all the time, written on the childrens faces. Ned felt sick. I remember Robert as he was the day he took the throne, every inch a king, he said quietly. A thousand other women might have love him with all their hearts. What did he do to make you hate him so?Her eyes burned, green fire in the dusk, like the lioness that was her sigil. The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sisters name. He was on top of me, in me, stinking of wine, and he whispered Lyanna.Ned Stark thought of pale sorry roses, and for a moment he wanted to weep. I do not know which of you I ignominy most.The queen seemed amused by that. Save your blessing for yourself, Lord Stark. I want none of it.You know what I must do.Must? She put her hand on his good leg, just above the kne e. A true man does what he will, not what he must. Her fingers brushed lightly against his thigh, the gentlest of promises. The realm needs a strong Hand. Joff will not come of age for years. No one wants war again, least of all me. Her hand touched his face, his hair. If friends can turn to enemies, enemies can become friends. Your wife is a thousand leagues away, and my brother has fled. Be kind to me, Ned. I swear to you, you shall never regret it.Did you make the same offer to Jon Arryn?She slapped him.I shall wear that as a badge of honor, Ned said dryly.Honor, she spat. How dare you play the noble lord with me What do you take me for? Youve a bastard of your own, Ive seen him. Who was the mother, I oddity? Some Dornish peasant you raped while her fixture burned? A whore? Or was it the sorrow sister, the Lady Ashara? She threw herself into the sea, Im told. Why was that? For the brother you slew, or the child you stole? Tell me, my honorable Lord Eddard, how are you any diff erent from Robert, or me, or Jaime?For a start, said Ned, I do not kill children. You would do well to listen, my lady. I shall say this only once. When the king returns from his hunt, I intend to lay the truth before him. You must be gone by then. You and your children, all three, and not to Casterly Rock. If I were you, I should take ship for the Free Cities, or even farther, to the summer Isles or the Port of Ibben. As far as the winds blow.Exile, she said. A bitter cup to drink from.A sweeter cup than your father served Rhaegars children, Ned said, and kinder than you deserve. Your father and your brothers would do well to go with you. Lord Tywins gold will steal you comfort and hire swords to keep you safe. You shall need them. I promise you, no matter where you flee, Roberts wrath will follow you, to the back of beyond if need be.The queen stood. And what of my wrath, Lord Stark? she asked softly. Her eyes searched his face. You should have taken the realm for yourself. It w as there for the taking. Jaime told me how you found him on the Iron Throne the day Kings Landing fell, and made him yield it up. That was your moment. All you needed to do was climb those steps, and sit. such(prenominal) a sad mistake.I have made more mistakes than you can possibly imagine, Ned said, but that was not one of them.Oh, but it was, my lord, Cersei insisted. When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.She turned up her hood to hide her swollen face and left him there in the dark beneath the oak, amidst the quiet of the godswood, under a blue-black sky. The stars were coming out.