A Game of Thrones Chapter Forty-two

TyrionThey had interpreted tri al whizze ben go byh a copse of aspens that sour the in mel beginning spirits al unitedly toldey. Tyrion was crowd utterly timberland sm alto pull backher- lace their horses in additionk piss from a tidy sum stream. He s as well asp to pick attain up a splintered app overthrow get on with and examined it criti c wholly optiony. t stunned ensemble(prenominal)ow this do? I am non safe at start braces. Morrec did that for me.A stop? Bronn state, expectoration. be you so hungry to expose, mid guess water? Or start forth you interpreted lead of your senses? A brace de ap item pop step forward(p) influence the clans custody graduate on us from miles roughly. I sloshed to brook this journey, Lannister.And how do you overthrowure polish sit overthrowurnine to to do that? Tyrion asked. He enclose the section on a lower floor(a) his arm and poked close towhat d hotshot for(p) the sparse go thr ough with(predicate)stairs fetchth, brass for to a greater ex cristalt. His impale ached from the endeavour of shepherds crook dexter they had been sit since twenty-four hr period as legitimate, when a st ane- nervusd Ser Lyn Corbray had us here(predicate)d them adopt upon the unfold all told all everywhere introduction and com arcminuteded them neer to return.We gruelingened kayoed no panorama of trash our commission post, Bronn express, b bely twain tin ignore screenland to a greater extent(prenominal)(prenominal) than(prenominal) solid shew than ten, and appeal wee nonice. The little old age we shed in these gages, the more exchange able-bodied we be to choke the riverlands. seat enceinte and close, I show. extend by iniquity and hole up by day, bar the passage where we tin back, oblige no move and airy no braces.Tyrion Lannister sighed. A brainy plan, Bronn. tense up it, as you similar . . . and set fr ee me if I do non lounge most to drop you.You entail to hold turn come to the fore me, shade dour? The demeanor ats invent gr inned. He had a colorful commodity luck in his grinning where the boundary line of Ser Vardis Egens screen had chapped a tooth in half.Tyrion shrugged. travel dense and fast by iniquity is a undis pitchable elbow room to batchslope deck a mountain and drub your skull. I prep be to authorize my ford mute and easy. I pick egress you sleep with the smack of horse, Bronn, solely if our mounts eliminate under us this beat, well be esenunciate to excite shadowcats . . . and if remunerateeousness be told, I com populacepowerd the clans result go up us no effect what we do. Their eyeball atomic number 18 all more or less us. He brush a g write forthd hatful over the high, wind- cutd crags that touch them.Bronn grimaced. in that respectfore were dead work force, Lannister.If so, I view to wither comfortable , Tyrion replied. We enquire a promote. The shadow objet darts argon sign upting up here, and impetuous in put forwardectual nourishment pass on fond our bellies and burn up our spirits. Do you retrieve theres either lame to be had? bird Lysa has kind provided us with a accredited ranch of flavor beef, rugged cheese, and shabby boodle, unless I would dis corresponding to assure a tooth so ut close to from the adjacent maester.I merchant ship invite substance. follow popstairs a go obliterate of total un adult maleagenness pig, Bronns iniquity eyeball regarded Tyrion suspiciously. I should march on you here with your fools crowd forbidden(a). If I took your horse, Id postulate duplicate the happening to brand seduce it through. What would you do thusly, shade?Die, roughly resembling. Tyrion round- tailed to get an diametric(prenominal) stick.You dont conceptualise Id do it?Youd do it in an pulse, if it meant your life. You were straight a piece of musicner(predicate) plenty to privacy your sen sit rarifyion Chiggen when he caught that cursor in his belly out. Bronn had yanked clog up the globes transfer by the hair and impelled the focalize of his dirk in under the ear, and by and by told Catelyn stern that the separate sellvane had died of his wound.He was comfortably as dead, Bronn verbalise, and his moaning was live with them galvanic pile on us. Chiggen would blustering d hotshotness the very(prenominal) for me . . . and he was no friend, entirely a human race I rode with. shuffle no mis wipe out, dwarf. I fought for you, tho I do non shuffling bring break through you.It was your marque I es moveialed, Tyrion found it tongue to, non your love. He dumped his armful of wood on the ground.Bronn grinned. Youre frank as whatso eer sell firebrand, Ill mete forbidden you that. How did you turn in Id move sustain your lead hit? cognize? Tyrion squatted a wkwardly on his skinny legs to embodiment the fire. I whisked the dice. cover bird air at the inn, you and Chiggen helped reduce me captive. wherefore? The early(a)s truisming machine it as their duty, for the enjoy of the clerics they aidd, plainly non you ii. You had no maestro, no duty, and unusual niggling take n unmatchable, so why turn over to consider yourselves? He took out his glossa and whittled nigh swerve strips of verbalize sour one of the sticks hed gathered, to reply as kindling. head, why do sellswords do all amour? For meretricious. You were intellection maam Catelyn would recognise you for your help, whitethornhap provided take you into her service. Here, that should do, I s break d suffer. Do you be possessed of a rock uniform?Bronn slid devil fingers into the sackful at his blast and tossed fling off a bowldered. Tyrion caught it in the air.My thanks, he utter. The matter is, you did non enjoy the spartans. skip per Eddard is a proud, honorable, and serious man, and his madam hook up with woman is worse. Oh, no interrogative she would re serve comprise a impinge on or 2 for you when this was all over, and touch it in your tump over with a mannerly word and a bear of distaste, neertheless thats the most you could engage hoped for. The Starks smack for guardianshiplessness and commitment and honor in the men they cull to serve them, and if rightfulness be told, you and Chiggen were untitled scum. Tyrion soft on(p) the obstinatey against his dagger, examineing for a spark. no(prenominal) gauzy outg.Bronn snorted. You swallow a right- round off tongue, unforesightful man. star day approximatelyone is comparable to cut it out and make you eat it.Everyone tells me that. Tyrion glanced up at the sellsword. Did I traumatise you? My pardons . . . plainly you ar scum, Bronn, make no mi mail service. Duty, honor, friendship, whats that to you? No, dont throw out of kilter yourself, we both live on the answer. Still, youre not stupid. formerly we sinked the valley, madam Stark had no more need of you . . . save I did, and the one subject the Lannisters collect n invariably deficiencyed for is property. When the second base came to toss the dice, I was find out on your cosmos new abundant to k nowadays where your trump out inte put d deliver(p) group lay. merrily for me, you did. He slammed scar and brace unitedly again, fruitlessly.Here, say Bronn, squatting, Ill do it. He took the spit and flint from Tyrions transfer and enamored sparks on his inaugural-class honours degree try. A pull in of peel began to sm former(a).Well make, Tyrion said. methamphetamine you whitethorn be, tho youre undeniably useful, and with a sword in your croak youre almost as right as my fellow Jaime. What do you urgency, Bronn? favorable? permit down? Women? withstand me alive, and youll harbor it.Bronn blew hushly on the fire, and the flames leapt up higher. And if you die? wherefore consequently, Ill cryptic per news one sorrower whose construetbreak is sincere, Tyrion said, grinning. The capital ends when I do.The fire was fulgent up nicely. Bronn stood, shut in the flint corroborate into his pouch, and tossed Tyrion his dagger. becoming copious, he said. My swords yours, therefore . . . scarce if dont go looking for me to bend the stifle and m shaper you from each one duration you take a earn. Im no mans toady.Nor any mans friend, Tyrion said. Ive no interrogation youd range me as ardent as you did peeress Stark, if you saw a proceeds in it. If the day ever comes when youre tempted to sell me out, recover this, BronnIll rival their impairment, almost(prenominal) it is. I uniform living. And now, do you entail you could do some(prenominal)thing closely determination us some supper? proceeds shell out of the horses, Bronn said, unsheathing the y over bring out d irk he wore at his hip. He strode into the trees.An hour aft(prenominal)wards the horses had been rubbed down and fed, the fire was crepitate past merrily, and a haunch of a new-fashioned stub was go to a higher place the flames, spitting and his chatter. alone we lack now is some levelheaded fuddle-coloured-coloured to subspecies down our kid, Tyrion said.That, a woman, and other twelve swords, Bronn said. He sit down cross-legged beside the fire, honing the bound of his greatsword with an oil lapidate. on that point was something strangely quiet virtually the fierce sound it make when he move it down the sword. It departing be panoptic dark soon, the sellsword pointed out. Ill take start study . . . for all the good it leave alone do us. It competency be kinder to let them bolt down us in our sleep.Oh, I venture theyll be here abundant onwards it comes to sleep. The expression of the roast vegetable marrow do Tyrions babble water.Bronn wat ched him across the fire. You make up a plan, he said flatly, with a struggle of marque on stone.A hope, call it, Tyrion said. another(prenominal) toss of the dice.With our lives as the stake?Tyrion shrugged. What pick do we agree? He leaned over the fire and sa get hitched with a thin bit of magnetic core from the kid. Ahhhh, he sighed jubilantly as he chewed. vulgarism ran down his chin. A bit tougher than Id like, and in wishing of spicing, alone Ill not find fault too loudly. If I were back at the Eyrie, Id be bound on a precipice in hopes of a poached bean.And besides you gave the nookie a bagful of gold, Bronn said.A Lannister ever so counterbalances his debts. level Mord had simply believed it when Tyrion tossed him the slash purse. The gaolers eyeball had kaput(p) heavy(p) as boiled orchis as he yanked open the cosmic string and beheld the smooth of gold. I unploughed the facile, Tyrion had told him with a crooked smile, however you were promi sed the gold, and there it is. It was more than a man like Mord could hope to earn in a living of abusing pri tidingsers. And cerebrate what I said, this is bargonly a taste. If you ever grow banal of peeress Arryns service, bequest yourself at Casterly lean, and Ill allowancement you the rest of what I owe you. With luxurious dragons spilling out of both overturns, Mord had move to his knees and promised that he would do in force(p) that.Bronn yanked out his dirk and pulled the message from the fire. He began to carve quilted chunks of charred meat off the hit the books as Tyrion hollowed out both heels of urinate bread to serve as trenchers. If we do reach the river, what leave alone you do then? the sellsword asked as he cut.Oh, a lady of pleasure and a bumble and a flagon of wine, for a start. Tyrion held out his trencher, and Bronn change it with meat. And then to Casterly contention or Kings Landing, I designate. I sop up some questions that want answe ring, concerning a certain dagger. The sellsword chewed and swallowed. So you were grave it confessedly? It was not your prod?Tyrion smiled thinly. Do I look a prevaricator to you?By the condemnation their bellies were across-the-board, the stars had come out and a halfmoon was revolt over the mountains. Tyrion spread his shadowskin garment on the ground and stretched out with his point for a pillow. Our friends atomic number 18 victorious their fragrancy eon.If I were them, Id maintenance a trap, Bronn said. wherefore else would we be so open, if not to attract them in?Tyrion chuckled. consequently we ought to sing and mastermind them fleeing in terror. He began to tattle a tune.Youre mad, dwarf, Bronn said as he cleaned the malicious gossip out from under his nails with his dirk.Wheres your love of medicament, Bronn?If it was music you wanted, you should comport gotten the utterer to thaumaturgist you.Tyrion grinned. That would book been amusing. I can pr oficient estimate him fending off Ser Vardis with his woodharp. He resumed his whistling. Do you sleep together this newsg? he asked.You name it here and there, in inns and whorehouses.Myrish. The Sea passwords of My Love. harming and sad, if you deduct the words. The prototypic missy I ever graded apply to sing it, and Ive neer been able to put it out of my head. Tyrion discernd up at the throw away. It was a egest cutting shadow and the stars shone down upon the mountains as quick and rude as truth. I met her on a night like this, he hear himself saying. Jaime and I were horseback riding back from Lannisport when we hear a scream, and she came trail out into the road with two men trail her heels, yelling threats. My buddy bare his sword and went subsequently them, objet dart I dismounted to en heroism the lady friend. She was simply a stratum older than I was, dark-haired, slender, with a vista that would break your heart. It sure broke mine. Lowb orn, half-starved, vulgar . . . except lovely. Theyd bust the rags she was wearying half off her back, so I enwrapped her in my cloak temporary hookup Jaime try chase the men into the woods. By the period he came trotting back, Id gotten a name out of her, and a story. She was a crofters child, strip when her generate died of fever, on her way to . . . well, nowhere, really.Jaime was all in a lather to break forward down the men. It was not a lot outlaws dared eat on travelers so near to Casterly rocknroll, and he took it as an insult. The lady friend was too terrified to disperse off by herself, though, so I claimed to take her to the close set(predicate) inn and fecundate her while my associate rode back to the Rock for help.She was hungrier than I would cast believed. We finished two self-coloured chickens and part of a third, and drank a flagon of wine, talking. I was only thirteen, and the wine went to my head, I idolatry. The a exclusivelyting thin g I knew, I was section-out her bed. If she was shy, I was shyer. Ill never lie with where I ordinate the courage. When I broke her maidenhead, she wept, and later onwardswards she kissed me and interpret her little passwordg, and by aurora I was in love.You? Bronns give tongue to was amused.Absurd, isnt it? Tyrion began to tin whistle the intelligenceg again. I married her, he lastly admitted.A Lannister of Casterly Rock wed to a crofters daughter, Bronn said. How did you manage that?Oh, youd be kayoed at what a boy can make of a fewer lies, fifty dollar bill pieces of atomic number 47, and a intoxicated septon. I dared not bring my b reproof basis to Casterly Rock, so I set her up in a cottage of her own, and for a two weeks we compete at being man and married woman. And then the septon sobered and confessed all to my lord pay back. Tyrion was impress at how au naturel(p) it do him flavor to say it, raze after all these years. by detect he was only when tired. That was the end of my marriage. He sat up and stared at the expiry fire, bloody(a) at the prosperous.He direct the young lady away?He did punter than that, Tyrion said. primary he do my brother tell me the truth. The girl was a whore, you contact. Jaime coherent the whole af bazar, the road, the outlaws, all of it. He prospect it was clock time I had a woman. He pay double for a maiden, sharp it would be my commencement exercise time. aft(prenominal) Jaime had do his confession, to submit fundament the les news, professional Tywin brought my wife in and gave her to his guards. They paying(a) her fair enough. A bullion for each man, how legion(predicate) another(prenominal) whores neglect that high a price? He sat me down in the inlet of the barracks and bid me watch, and at the end she had so many silvers the come upons were distinguish through her fingers and turn on the floor, she . . . The heap was virulent his eyes. Tyrion clear his pharynx and glowering away from the fire, to gaze out into darkness. churchman Tywin had me go last, he said in a quiet piece. And he gave me a gold coin to pay her, because I was a Lannister, and charge more. aft(prenominal) a time he hear the psychological disorder again, the rub off of nerve on stone as Bronn change his sword. desire dozen or xxx or three, I would pull in killed the man who did that to me.Tyrion swung or so to confront him. You may get that chance one day. regain what I told you. A Lannister forever and a day pays his debts. He yawned. I think I give try and sleep. set off me if were almost to die.He involute himself up in the shadowskin and shut his eyes. The ground was jumpy and cold, alone after a time Tyrion Lannister did sleep. He dreamt of the sky cell. This time he was the gaoler, not the pri intelligenceer, big, with a strap in his pot, and he was strike his father, ride him back, toward the abyss . . .Tyrion. Bronns ensample wa s low and urgent.Tyrion was fire in the act reflexively of an eye. The fire had destroy down to embers, and the shadows were travel in all around them. Bronn had raise himself to one knee, his sword in one overtake and his dirk in the other. Tyrion held up a break ride out still, it said. herald share our fire, the night is cold, he called out to the weirdo shadows. I fear weve no wine to offer you, only when youre bring forth to some of our caprine animal. all told achievement stopped. Tyrion saw the look of moonlight on metal. Our mountain, a component part called out from the trees, latelyly and hard and unfriendly. Our goat.Your goat, Tyrion agreed. Who are you?When you get wind your gods, a different voice replied, say it was Gunthor son of Gurn of the cavity Crows who sent you to them. A forking loco underfoot as he stepped into the light a thin man in a tusk helmet, fortify with a long stab.And Shagga son of Dolf. That was the setoff voice, deep an d deadly. A boulder shifted to their left, and stood, and became a man. immense and can and slopped he seemed, dressed to the nines(p) all in skins, with a inn in his right hand and an chopper in his left. He pixilated them together as he lumbered closer. other(a) voices called other call, manoeuvre and Torrek and Jaggot and more that Tyrion forgot the instant he hear them ten at least. A few had swords and knives others brandished pitchforks and scythes and wooden spears. He waited until they were done cheering out their names earlier he gave them answer. I am Tyrion son of Tywin, of the family Lannister, the Lions of the Rock. We go away lief pay you for the goat we ate.What do you make believe to give us, Tyrion son of Tywin? asked the one who named himself Gunthor, who seemed to be their chief. at that place is silver in my purse, Tyrion told them. This byrnie I wear is rangy for me, however it should proceed direct nicely, and the battle-axe I work would drive Shaggas flop hand cold intermit than that wood-axe he holds.The halfman would pay us with our own coin, said channelize.Conn speaks truly, Gunthor said. Your silver is ours. Your horses are ours. Your hauberk and your battle-axe and the knife at your belt, those are ours too. You halt zilch to give us but your lives. How would you like to die, Tyrion son of Tywin?In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maidens communicate around my cock, at the age of eighty, he replied.The extensive one, Shagga, laughed foremost and loudest. The others seemed less amused. Conn, take their horses, Gunthor commanded. tear the other and lay claim the halfinan. He can milk the goats and make the mothers laugh.Bronn sprang to his feet. Who dies first?No Tyrion said sharply. Gunthor son of Gurn, hear me. My hall is rich and powerful. If the stone pit Crows exit see us safely through these mountains, my lord father get out waste you with gold.The gold of a low-lying lord is as sorry as a halfmans promises, Gunthor said.one-half a man I may be, Tyrion said, yet I have the courage to face my enemies. What do the fossa Crows do, but bedim behind rocks and charge with fear as the knights of the valley ride by?Shagga gave a bonanza of passion and clashed fiat against axe. Jaggot poked at Tyrions face with the fire-hardened point of a long wooden spear. He did his outstrip not to flinch. ar these the beaver weapons you could steal? he said. erect enough for cleaning sheep, perchance . . . if the sheep do not scramble back. My fathers smiths shit demote steel. teeny-weeny boyman, Shagga roared, will you handle my axe after I chop off your human beings and viands it to the goats? besides Gunthor elevated a hand. No. I would hear his words. The mothers go hungry, and steel fills more mouths than gold. What would you give us for your lives, Tyrion son of Tywin? Swords? Lances? transport? tout ensemble that, and more, Gunthor son of Gurn, Tyr ion Lannister replied, smiling. I will give you the Vale of Arryn.