The candle was unpleasantly bright. There was something queer about it. The flame did not flicker, even when Archmaester Marwyn closed the door so hard that papers blew off a nearby table. The light did something strange to colors too. Whites were bright as fresh-fallen snow, yellow shone like gold, reds turned to flame, but the shadows were so black they looked like holes in the world. Sam found himself staring. The candle itself was three feet tall and slender as a sword, ridged and twisted, glittering black. “Is that . . . ?”
“. . . obsidian,” said the other man in the room, a pale, fleshy, pasty-faced young fellow with round shoulders, soft hands, close-set eyes, and food stains on his robes.
“Call it dragonglass.” Archmaester Marwyn glanced at the candle for a moment. “It burns but is not consumed.”
“What feeds the flame?” asked Sam.
“What feeds a dragon’s fire?” Marwyn seated himself upon a stool. “All Valyrian sorcery was rooted in blood or fire. The sorcerers of the Freehold could see across mountains, seas, and deserts with one of these glass candles. They could enter a man’s dreams and give him visions, and speak to one another half a world apart, seated before their candles. Do you think that might be useful, Slayer?”
“We would have no more need of ravens.”
“Only after battles.” The archmaester peeled a sourleaf off a bale, shoved it in his mouth, and began to chew it. “Tell me all you told our Dornish sphinx. I know much of it and more, but some small parts may have escaped my notice.”
He was not a man to be refused. Sam hesitated a moment, then told his tale again as Marywn, Alleras, and the other novice listened. “Maester Aemon believed that Daenerys Targaryen was the fulfillment of a prophecy . . . her, not Stannis, nor Prince Rhaegar, nor the princeling whose head was dashed against the wall.”
“Born amidst salt and smoke, beneath a bleeding star. I know the prophecy.” Marwyn turned his head and spat a gob of red phlegm onto the floor. “Not that I would trust it. Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is . . . and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time.” He chewed a bit. “Still . . .”
Alleras stepped up next to Sam. “Aemon would have gone to her if he had the strength. He wanted us to send a maester to her, to counsel her and protect her and fetch her safely home.”
“Did he?” Archmaester Marwyn shrugged. “Perhaps it’s good that he died before he got to Oldtown. Elsewise the grey sheep might have had to kill him, and that would have made the poor old dears wring their wrinkled hands.”
“Kill him?” Sam said, shocked. “Why?”
“If I tell you, they may need to kill you too.” Marywn smiled a ghastly smile, the juice of the sourleaf running red between his teeth. “Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords?” He spat. “The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall, when by rights he should have been raised to archmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can.”
“What will you do?” asked Alleras, the Sphinx.
“Get myself to Slaver’s Bay, in Aemon’s place. The swan ship that delivered Slayer should serve my needs well enough. The grey sheep will send their man on a galley, I don’t doubt. With fair winds I should reach her first.” Marwyn glanced at Sam again, and frowned. “You . . . you should stay and forge your chain. If I were you, I would do it quickly. A time will come when you’ll be needed on the Wall.” He turned to the pasty-faced novice. “Find Slayer a dry cell. He’ll sleep here, and help you tend the ravens.”
“B-b-but,” Sam sputtered, “the other archmaesters . . . the Seneschal . . . what should I tell them?”
“Tell them how wise and good they are. Tell them that Aemon commanded you to put yourself into their hands. Tell them that you have always dreamed that one day you might be allowed to wear the chain and serve the greater good, that service is the highest honor, and obedience the highest virtue. But say nothing of prophecies or dragons, unless you fancy poison in your porridge.” Marwyn snatched a stained leather cloak off a peg near the door and tied it tight. “Sphinx, look after this one.”
“I will,” Alleras answered, but the archmaester was already gone. They heard his boots stomping down the steps.
“Where has he gone?” asked Sam, bewildered.
“To the docks. The Mage is not a man who believes in wasting time.” Alleras smiled. “I have a confession. Ours was no chance encounter, Sam. The Mage sent me to snatch you up before you spoke to Theobald. He knew that you were coming.”
“How?”
Alleras nodded at the glass candle.
Sam stared at the strange pale flame for a moment, then blinked and looked away. Outside the window it was growing dark.
“There’s an empty sleeping cell under mine in the west tower, with steps that lead right up to Walgrave’s chambers,” said the pasty-faced youth. “If you don’t mind the ravens quorking, there’s a good view of the Honeywine. Will that serve?”
“I suppose.” He had to sleep somewhere.
“I will bring you some woolen coverlets. Stone walls turn cold at night, even here.”
“My thanks.” There was something about the pale, soft youth that he misliked, but he did not want to seem discourteous, so he added, “My name’s not Slayer, truly. I’m Sam. Samwell Tarly.”
“I’m Pate,” the other said, “like the pig boy.”
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE WALL . . .
Hey, wait a minute!” some of you may be saying about now. “Wait a minute, wait a minute! Where’s Dany and the dragons? Where’s Tyrion? We hardly saw Jon Snow. That can’t be all of it. . . .”
Well, no. There’s more to come. Another book as big as this one.
I did not forget to write about the other characters. Far from it. I wrote lots about them. Pages and pages and pages. Chapters and more chapters. I was still writing when it dawned on me that the book had become too big to publish in a single volume . . . and I wasn’t close to finished yet. To tell all of the story that I wanted to tell, I was going to have to cut the book in two.
The simplest way to do that would have been to take what I had, chop it in half around the middle, and end with “To Be Continued.” The more I thought about that, however, the more I felt that the readers would be better served by a book that told all the story for half the characters, rather than half the story for all the characters. So that’s the route I chose to take.
Tyrion, Jon, Dany, Stannis and Melisandre, Davos Seaworth, and all the rest of the characters you love or love to hate will be along next year (I devoutly hope) in A Dance with Dragons, which will focus on events along the Wall and across the sea, just as the present book focused on King’s Landing.
—George R. R. Martin
June 2005
APPENDIX I:
THE KINGS AND THEIR COURTS
THE QUEEN REGENT
CERSEI LANNISTER, the First of Her Name, widow of {King Robert I Baratheon}, Queen Dowager, Protector of the Realm, Lady of Casterly Rock, and Queen Regent,
—Queen Cersei’s children:
—{KING JOFFREY I BARATHEON}, poisoned at his wedding feast, a boy of twelve,
—PRINCESS MYRCELLA BARATHEON, a girl of nine, a ward of Prince Doran Martell at Sunspear,
—KING TOMMEN I BARATHEON, a boy king of eight years,
—his kittens, SER POUNCE, LADY WHISKERS, BOOTS,
—Queen Cersei’s brothers:
—SER JAIME LANNISTER, her twin, called THE KINGSLAYER, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard,
—TYRION LANNISTER, called THE IMP, a dwarf, accused and condemned for regicide and kinslaying,
—Queen Cersei’s uncles, aunt, and cousins:
—SER KEVAN LANNISTER, her uncle,
—SER LANCEL, Ser Kevan’s son, her cousin, formerly King Robert’s squire and Cersei’s lover, newly raised to Lord of Darry,
—{WILLEM}, Ser Kevan’s son, murdered at Riverrun,
—MARTYN, twin to Willem, a squire,
—JANEI, Ser Kevan’s daughter, a girl of three,
—LADY GENNA LANNISTER, Cersei’s aunt, m. Ser Emmon Frey,
—{SER CLEOS FREY}, Genna’s son, killed by outlaws,
—SER TYWIN FREY, called TY, Cleos’s son,
—WILLEM FREY, Cleos’s son, a squire,
—SER LYONEL FREY, Lady Genna’s second son,
—{TION FREY}, Genna’s son, murdered at Riverrun,
—WALDER FREY, called RED WALDER, Lady Genna’s youngest son, a page at Casterly Rock,
—TYREK LANNISTER, Cersei’s cousin, son of her father’s late brother Tygett,
—LADY ERMESANDE HAYFORD, Tyrek’s child wife,
—JOY HILL, bastard daughter of Queen Cersei’s lost uncle Gerion, a girl of eleven,
—CERENNA LANNISTER, Cersei’s cousin, daughter of her late uncle Stafford, her mother’s brother,
—MYRIELLE LANNISTER, Cersei’s cousin and Cerenna’s sister, daughter of her uncle Stafford,
—SER DAVEN LANNISTER, her cousin, Stafford’s son,
—SER DAMION LANNISTER, a more distant cousin, m. Shiera Crakehall,
—SER LUCION LANNISTER, their son,
—LANNA, their daughter, m. Lord Antario Jast,
—LADY MARGOT, a cousin still more distant, m. Lord Titus Peake,
—King Tommen’s small council:
—{LORD TYWIN LANNISTER}, Hand of the King,
—SER JAIME LANNISTER, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard,
—SER KEVAN LANNISTER, master of laws,
—VARYS, a eunuch, master of whisperers,
—GRAND MAESTER PYCELLE, counselor and healer,
—LORD MACE TYRELL, LORD MATHIS ROWAN, LORD PAXTER REDWYNE, counselors,
—Tommen’s Kingsguard:
—SER JAIME LANNISTER, Lord Commander,
—SER MERYN TRANT,
—SER BOROS BLOUNT, removed and thence restored,
—SER BALON SWANN,
—SER OSMUND KETTLEBLACK,
—SER LORAS TYRELL, the Knight of Flowers,
—SER ARYS OAKHEART, with Princess Myrcella in Dorne,
—Cersei’s household at King’s Landing:
—LADY JOCELYN SWYFT, her companion,
—SENELLE and DORCAS, her bedmaids and servingwomen,
—LUM, RED LESTER, HOKE, called HORSELEG, SHORT-EAR, and PUCKENS, guardsmen,
—QUEEN MARGAERY of House Tyrell, a maid of sixteen, widowed bride of King Joffrey I Baratheon and of Lord Renly Baratheon before him,
—Margaery’s court at King’s Landing:
—MACE TYRELL, Lord of Highgarden, her father
—LADY ALERIE of House Hightower, her mother,
—LADY OLENNA TYRELL, her grandmother, an aged widow called THE QUEEN OF THORNS,
—ARRYK and ERRYK, Lady Olenna’s guards, twins seven feet tall called LEFT and RIGHT,
—SER GARLAN TYRELL, Margaery’s brother, THE GALLANT,
—his wife, LADY LEONETTE of House Fossoway,
—SER LORAS TYRELL, her youngest brother, the Knight of Flowers, a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard,
—Margaery’s lady companions:
—her cousins, MEGGA, ALLA, and ELINOR TYRELL,
—Elinor’s betrothed, ALYN AMBROSE, squire,
—LADY ALYSANNE BULWER, a girl of eight,
—MEREDYTH CRANE, called MERRY,
—LADY TAENA MERRYWEATHER,
—LADY ALYCE GRACEFORD,
—SEPTA NYSTERICA, a sister of the Faith,
—PAXTER REDWYNE, Lord of the Arbor,
—his twin sons, SER HORAS and SER HOBBER,
—MAESTER BALLABAR, his healer and counselor,
—MATHIS ROWAN, Lord of Goldengrove,
—SER WILLAM WYTHERS, Margaery’s captain of guards,
—HUGH CLIFTON, a handsome young guardsman,
—SER PORTIFER WOODWRIGHT and his brother, SER LUCANTINE,
—Cersei’s court at King’s Landing:
—SER OSFRYD KETTLEBLACK and SER OSNEY KETTLEBLACK, younger brothers to Ser Osmund Kettleblack,
—SER GREGOR CLEGANE, called THE MOUNTAIN THAT RIDES, dying painfully of a poisoned wound,
—SER ADDAM MARBRAND, Commander of the City Watch of King’s Landing (the “gold cloaks”),
—JALABHAR XHO, Prince of the Red Flower Vale, an exile from the Summer Isles,
—GYLES ROSBY, Lord of Rosby, troubled by a cough,
—ORTON MERRYWEATHER, Lord of Longtable,
—TAENA, his wife, a woman of Myr,
—LADY TANDA STOKEWORTH,
—LADY FALYSE, her elder daughter and heir,
—SER BALMAN BYRCH, Lady Falyse’s husband,
—LADY LOLLYS, her younger daughter, great with child but weak of wit,
—SER BRONN OF THE BLACKWATER, Lady Lollys’s husband, a former sellsword,
—{SHAE}, a camp follower serving as Lollys’s bedmaid, strangled in Lord Tywin’s bed,
—MAESTER FRENKEN, in Lady Tanda’s service,
—SER ILYN PAYNE, the King’s Justice, a headsman,
—RENNIFER LONGWATERS, chief undergaoler of the Red Keep’s dungeons,
—RUGEN, undergaoler for the black cells,
—LORD HALLYNE THE PYROMANCER, a Wisdom of the Guild of Alchemists,
—NOHO DIMITTIS, envoy from the Iron Bank of Braavos,
—QYBURN, a necromancer, once a maester of the Citadel, more recently of the Brave Companions,
—MOON BOY, the royal jester and fool,
—PATE, a lad of eight, King Tommen’s whipping boy,
—ORMOND OF OLDTOWN, the royal harper and bard,
—SER MARK MULLENDORE, who lost a monkey and half an arm in the Battle of the Blackwater,
—AURANE WATERS, the Bastard of Driftmark,
—LORD ALESANDER STAEDMON, called PENNYLOVER,
—SER RONNET CONNINGTON, called RED RONNET, the Knight of Griffin’s Roost,
—SER LAMBERT TURNBERRY, SER DERMOT OF THE RAINWOOD, SER TALLAD called THE TALL, SER BAYARD NORCROSS, SER BONIFER HASTY called BONIFER THE GOOD, SER HUGO VANCE, knights sworn to the Iron Throne,
—SER LYLE CRAKEHALL called STRONGBOAR, SER ALYN STACKSPEAR, SER JON BETTLEY called BEARDLESS JON, SER STEFFON SWYFT, SER HUMFREY SWYFT, knights sworn to Casterly Rock,
—JOSMYN PECKLEDON, a squire and hero of the Blackwater,
—GARRETT PAEGE and LEW PIPER, squires and hostages,
—the people of King’s Landing:
—THE HIGH SEPTON, Father of the Faithful, Voice of the Seven on Earth, an old man and frail,
—SEPTON TORBERT, SEPTON RAYNARD, SEPTON LUCEON, SEPTON OLLIDOR, of the Most Devout, serving the Seven at the Great Sept of Baelor,
—SEPTA MOELLE, SEPTA AGLANTINE, SEPTA HELICENT, SEPTA UNELLA, of the Most Devout, serving the Seven at the Great Sept of Baelor,
—the “sparrows,” the humblest of men, fierce in their piety,
—CHATAYA, proprietor of an expensive brothel,
—ALAYAYA, her daughter,
—DANCY, MAREI, two of Chataya’s girls,
—BRELLA, a servingwoman, lately in the service of Lady Sansa Stark,
—TOBHO MOTT, a master armorer,
—HAMISH THE HARPER, an aged singer,
—ALARIC OF EYSEN, a singer, far-traveled,
—WAT, a singer, styling himself THE BLUE BARD,
—SER THEODAN WELLS, a pious knight, later called SER THEODAN THE TRUE.
King Tommen’s banner shows the crowned stag of Baratheon, black on gold, and the lion of Lannister, gold on crimson, combatant.
THE KING AT THE WALL
STANNIS BARATHEON, the First of His Name, second son of Lord Steffon Baratheon and Lady Cassana of House Estermont, Lord of Dragonstone, styling himself King of Westeros,
—QUEEN SELYSE of House Florent, his wife, presently at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea,
—PRINCESS SHIREEN, their daughter, a girl of eleven,
—PATCHFACE, Shireen’s lackwit fool,
—EDRIC STORM, his bastard nephew, King Robert’s son by Lady Delena Florent, a boy of twelve, sailing the narrow sea on the Mad Prendos,
—SER ANDREW ESTERMONT, King Stannis’s cousin, a king’s man, commanding Edric’s escort,
—SER GERALD GOWER, LEWYS called THE FISHWIFE, SER TRISTON OF TALLY HILL, OMER BLACKBERRY, king’s men, Edric’s guards and protectors,
—Stannis’s court at Castle Black:
—LADY MELISANDRE OF ASSHAI, called THE RED WOMAN, a priestess of R’hllor, the Lord of Light,
—MANCE RAYDER, King-Beyond-the-Wall, a captive condemned to death,
—Rayder’s son by his wife {DALLA}, a newborn as yet unnamed, “the wildling prince,”
—GILLY, the babe’s wet nurse, a wildling girl,
—her son, another newborn as yet unnamed, fathered by her father {CRASTER},
—SER RICHARD HORPE, SER JUSTIN MASSEY, SER CLAYTON SUGGS, SER GODRY FARRING, called GIANTSLAYER, LORD HARWOOD FELL, SER CORLISS PENNY, queen’s men and knights,
—DEVAN SEAWORTH and BRYEN FARRING, royal squires,
—Stannis’s court at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea:
—SER DAVOS SEAWORTH, called THE ONION KNIGHT, Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea, and Hand of the King,
—SER AXELL FLORENT, Queen Selyse’s uncle, foremost of the queen’s men,
—SALLADHAR SAAN of Lys, a pirate and sellsail, master of the Valyrian and a fleet of galleys,
—Stannis’s garrison at Dragonstone:
—SER ROLLAND STORM, called THE BASTARD OF NIGHTSONG, a king’s man, castellan of Dragonstone,
George R. R. Martin's a Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle Page 399
