Chapter 10: Under The Sun

Jon

The Crag, the seat of the old House Westerling was more of a ruin than stronghold Jon thought as it came into his vision. They had ridden at first light that morning from Ashemark, and Jon intended to take the Crag with relatively little blood being shed, for from what his scouts had told him the seat was lightly held by a garrison of only fifty men led by one Ser Rolph Spicer. As they got near enough to see the castle walls from up close Jon sent a rider out to speak with the gateman, giving them the terms that Jon and Robb had decided to offer them in the event of a peaceful surrender

Jon heard the herald speak to the man on the gate "In the name of His Grace King Jon Targaryen first of his name, rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms I do offer you the chance to surrender. Lay down you weapons and open your gates and His Grace shall pardon you for your treason and give you the chance to redeem yourselves."

There was silence for a moment before the gateman replied "Why should we bow to a bastard king? What proof does he have his parentage other than the words of a dead traitor?"

The herald looked at Jon, and Jon nodded and with his mind told Serrax his black dragon who was now the size of Ghost to fly, Serrax swooped down from the sky and unleashed a jet of fire above the Crag's walls, the scared shouting of the men behind the walls could be heard from over the wall. The herald then turned back to speak with the gateman "There is your proof. His Grace has given you one last chance. Open your gates and surrender peacefully and you shall be spared."

The gateman could be heard whispering fervently to someone out of Jon's line of vision, but it was obvious that the two were arguing about what to do. It seemed that the gateman was urging the other man to open the gates and yet the other man stubbornly refused to do so. The gateman seemed resigned when he said "House Westerling does not acknowledge Jon Targaryen as its rightful king and instead sees him as an unlawful usurper to the true king, His Grace King Joffrey Baratheon. We shall never open our gates to the usurper nor his men."

Jon sighed when he heard those words, turning to Robb he said "Tell Smalljon and Black Walder to scale the walls." Robb gave the signal and Jon watched as two small specks on the horizon began scaling the broken walls of the Crag. Jon then turned to Theon and said "Get the ram ready. We shall break down their doors." Theon began shouting for the men to bring the ram forward and Jon watched as some of the soldiers brought the ram forward huffing and panting all the while. Jon then turned to Robb again and asked "They are on the walls?"

Robb nodded and said "They are, Your Grace."

"Good. Let us attack." Jon said drawing his sword from its scabbard he yelled for the men to march, whilst Ghost and Greywind howled and Serrax loosed jets of black fire. Jon spurred his horse on grabbing hold of one of the parts of the ram and brought it crashing down onto the doors to the Crag feeling the impact shake his shoulders. The men of the Crag were not lax though after the third time of using the ram and doors were almost off their hinges they unleashed a storm of arrows, most of which managed to miss Jon, but he heard rather than saw the arrows that pierced Robb, and began to worry that Robb might not make it, shoving the ram against the door all the more harder Jon turned to see Theon with two arrows sticking out of his chest, blood oozing out in the gaps made to his armour.

He began to fear for the worst when he heard Robb grunt in pain once more, but just as he heard Robb grunt, the doors to the Crag were blown of their hinges, and Jon led the charge through into the Crag. Cutting down men left, right and centre until his sword was red with blood. He felt Ghost rip the throat out of any man who came too close to him and saw Serrax burn many a man alive.

Jon was soon engaged in a duel with a man he would later learn was Ser Rolph Spicer, Ser Barristan was engaged in a fight with another man bearing the arms of House Westerling as was Robb, of Theon Jon could see no sign of, he hoped the Ironborn was ok. His mind was brought back to present matters when Spicer swung at him, Jon managed to raise his sword up in defence in the nick of time, and the sound of steel screeching off of steel resounded around the courtyard of the keep. Both men broke apart and then continued their dance, Jon though it soon became apparent was the more skilled of the two swordsmen and soon had beaten Ser Rolph black and blue, the man was bleeding from cuts to his eyes, his arms, his shoulders and his chest. His armour was dented in so many places Jon was surprised that he had not fallen down from the strain. He offered the man the chance to surrender shouting "It is still not late for you to lay down your weapons Ser. Lay them down and you shall live."

Ser Rolph spit blood out of his mouth and shouted back "Never!"

Jon sighed "Very well, then you shall die." And with that he slashed twice at the man and watched as the man's head was severed from his neck and his body fell down to the ground. Jon had enough time to look around the courtyard and saw his northmen cutting the Westerling Garrison to pieces, Black Walder and Smalljon Umber were nowhere to be seen and then Black Walder emerged from what Jon thought was the Lord' Solar bringing with him three ladies, all of whom were being led to him in chains. Robb was also leading two young men, one of whom seemed no older than Bran toward him both were chained.

Black Walder spoke first "Your Grace it gives me great pleasure to tell you that the castle is ours. These ladies are Lady Sybell. Lady Jeyne and Lady Eleyna Westerling."

Robb then said "And may I present Ser Raynald Westerling and Rollam Westerling."

Jon nodded and said "You shall be spared if you formally announce your surrender and pledge your service to me. Your castle is mine, your garrison is dead."

Lady Sybell looked at Jon as if he was a piece of dirt that she never wanted to see again and he could tell that she rather grudgingly said "We surrender Your Grace. The Crag is yours."

"Good. Walder see that the Westerlings have what they need. Robb come with me to the Lord's Solar." Jon said and then walked toward where he had seen Black Walder come out of. The Lord's Solar for the Crag was a sparse room which just had a table and a few letters that were strewn about the table. Jon nodded to a chair and Robb sat down as did Jon, Ser Barristan as ever was his silent shadow standing behind Jon's chair in his white Kingsguard armour, white cloak billowing behind him.

Jon took of his helm and laid it on the table as did Robb, together they looked at each other then broke out smiling and laughing.

"Well that was rather easy do you not think?" Robb asked.

"Aye it was, though when I heard you grunt when that arrow pierced your arm I was worried. How did you recover so quickly?" Jon asked.

Robb shrugged then winced with the pain "I didn't I merely ploughed on with the job at hand. So what do you plan to do next, Your Grace?"

Jon ran a hand through his hair before saying "Well first I want the men to relax for a bit. We've taken Ashemark and the Crag now. With any luck Lady Mormont will have taken her fair share of livestock toward the Riverlands by now. Now we stay here and rest, then we deal with Devan Lannister and the host of men he's gathering. And you need to have your wounds tended to Stark; I won't have you dying on me. How's Theon doing?"

Robb's face immediately fell flat at the mention of Greyjoy, "He's not doing good Jon. He took so many arrows when we were using the ram to break down the door, it's a wonder that he even managed to fight. But he cut down three men before Torrhen had to drag him away from the fighting to somewhere safe; he was bleeding all over the place."

Jon grimaced and said "Well tell him to get better and I want a maester treating all of our wounded. How many did we lose?"

Robb was silent before speaking "Forty dead and twenty injured. Out of the thousand men we brought and considering the number of arrows they loosed on us that is not bad. Not bad at all."

"Aye," Jon agreed "Well go on get yourself sorted out then, I'll call you when I need you."

Robb got up and bowed and the grinning said "Of course Your Grace."

Once the door had closed behind Robb, Jon sighed and slumped in his chair. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and said to Ser Barristan "I had hoped to avoid any bloodshed today. Why must men be so stubborn Ser Barristan? Why?"

Ser Barristan said nothing for a moment before saying "Because Your Grace, men would rather die than bend. Especially Westerlanders. Lord Tywin over the years installed a fear of bending to anyone who was not him, into his bannermen and now they are paying the price."

"Aye, that they are," Jon sighed. "Still we must rest here for a few days. I shall not have my men bleeding themselves dry trying to crush the Lannisters. Once we receive word from Riverrun that Lady Mormont and Lord Umber are there, I shall write to Lords Karstark and Glover as tell them to bring their men here. Then we shall march on Lannisport and deal with Devan Lannister and this host he is building."

Ser Barristan was about to reply when there was a knock on the door, Jon called for whoever it was to enter and found himself looking at a rather worried looking Robb. "I thought I told you to get your wounds tended to Robb? What are you doing here? And why do you look as if you've seen a ghost?"

Robb said nothing and wordlessly passed him two letters.

Jon looked at the seals on both letters; one bore the Direwolf of Winterfell, the other the Leaping Trout of House Tully. Jon looked at Robb questioningly, but he merely gestured at the letters indicating that Jon should read them himself to see what was the matter. So Jon did, deciding to read the letter from Riverrun first. :

Your Grace,

I trust that the campaign in the West is going well. I write to tell you that we fought a Lannister host of 6,000 men at the Red Fork two days past; the host was 6,000 strong and was commanded by some Westerlord. The host commanded by myself was enough to defeat and destroy this host. But one man that lived from that fight told us a worrying tale. It appears that Lord Tywin received a messenger from the Tyrells whilst he was still camped at Harrenhal informing him of Stannis being a day's ride from King's Landing. Lannister immediately rode forth with 14,000 men to join the Tyrell host of some 60,000 men. It is clear that Lannister has allied with the Tyrells.

Do not despair yet though. For today, Lord Tarly came to Riverrun with 20,000 men to pledge himself and his men to your cause, and Lord Yronwood came with 10,000 Dornish spears to pledge himself to you, your grace and Lord Royce wrote to me today to inform me that his 20,000 Valemen hold Harrenhal. We await your next command.

Yours faithfully,

Edmure Tully.

Jon put that letter aside and felt a mixed sense of emotions, on the one hand he dreaded how powerful the Lannisters had become by allying with the Tyrells, but the fact that Lord Tarly one of the finest commanders in Westeros had turned cloak and promised himself to Jon was reassuring. He handed the letter to Ser Barristan and asked him to read it, whilst he picked up the letter from Winterfell wondering what could be written there.

There were only a few words written on the letter in Maester Luwin's neat hand but they were enough to make Jon feel the dread pool in his stomach anew.

Ironborn have invaded the north. Moat Cailin and Deepwood Motte fallen. Scouts report movement in Wolfswood. Potential siege of Winterfell.

Send help.

Jon Connington

When he had learnt of Rhaegar's sole surviving son albeit by Lyanna Stark and how the boy had declared him king and was waging war against the Lannisters and winning, Jon Connington had felt duty bound to help him. He did not care that according Illyrio Mopatis the boy looked more like his mother than his father; all he cared about was that Rhaegar's spirit still lived on in the form of his second son, the boy who had been born from Rhaegar's attempts to have another daughter to bring the three heads of the dragons back to life. Jon wondered if the boy knew that, that was the reason why his father had absconded with his mother, though in truth only Jon, Rhaegar and Elia had known the truth of Rhaegar's reasons for doing as he did following from Harrenhal, and now Jon Connington was the only one still alive to tell the boy the whole tale.

He knew that Rhaegar had grown to love the Stark girl in a way that he had never been able to love Elia. Jon Connington thought he was not too fussed with that, all he wanted to do was go home and help his friend's son achieve his birth right, and help him in a way that he had not been able to help the boy's father or brother. As the city of King's Landing came into site Jon swore to himself that he would die before he failed Jon Targaryen, the boy had been named for him after all and he knew he owed it to Rhaegar.

As their ship began to make its way into port, Jon Connington pulled his hood over his head to conceal his greying ginger hair, and went over the plan that he and the cheesemonger had concocted once the man had told Jon of the boy's existence and situation. The boy was away fighting in the Westerlands, yet his aunt and cousin were in the Riverlands and his cousin the Lady Sansa was still held captive in the Red Keep, a prisoner of the false king Joffrey Baratheon. The cheesemonger had told Jon that his namesake, regard the Starks as family and the Lady Sansa held a special place in his heart and if Jon Connington was to get into the King's good books what better way than to help his cousin escape.

Jon and Lemore were to get into the city pretending to be a married couple who were looking for their daughter. As they neared the Red Keep they would be met by one of Varys's little birds who would sneak them into the Red Keep in time to watch the false king hold court so that they could see from a distance what the Lady Sansa looked like and to give Ashara a chance to quietly leave a note for the Lady Sansa in her chambers.

They were then to wait for her in the godswood and gods willing when the girl came they were to explain that they were working for Jon and that they were there to help her to Riverrun away from the Mad King Joffrey. Jon only prayed that the plan worked and that the girl did not tell anyone else of where she was going.

They got off the ship and walked through the streets of King's Landing making their way toward the Red Keep, and what seemed like a trip down memory lane for Jon, he had spent most of his childhood and young adult life in the capital, squiring alongside his silver prince, this was the city where he first learnt to hold a live steel sword properly, where he jousted in his first tournament and then when old enough was knighted by the King himself. This city had been home to some of his finest moments as well as some of his darker times, it was in this city that he had returned to after failing to defeat Robert Baratheon at the Stoney Sept. It was here where he had hidden in a brothel of all places when news of Rhaegar's death reached King's Landing. Looking toward Lemore he could tell that the city was evoking equally strong memories for her as well. He was determined that this time the city would be home to only happy memories for his King.

As they passed by an inn that Jon and Rhaegar used to come to when they were lads they were met by a short young woman with black hair and dark eyes, looking for all the world like a young version of Lemore. She spoke with a heavily accented voice "You are the two who rode away on the white dove yes?"

Jon nodded and said "Yes we have come to see our little dove."

The girl nodded and asked them to follow her which they did. They were led through the streets of the city and then entered an inn and walked through a door which led them into a tunnel which the girl told them went right through the heart of the Red Keep. As they got near the exit the girl turned toward them and said "Here is where I must leave you. When you exit the tunnel I shall close the exit hole. Turn left and you shall enter the throne room, be discreet about it court has already started."

They said their thanks and then walked through the exit hole, Jon waited for a moment till he heard the hole click shut behind them and then taking Lemore's hand walked toward the throne room, as they entered it Jon had to stifle a gasp, it looked exactly as it had when he had last been in it some sixteen years ago the only difference was that the dragon skulls had been removed and instead of dragon banners hanging from the ceiling there were Baratheon and Lannister banners.

Jon felt Lemore squeeze his hand and when he turned to ask her why she merely nodded to where the throne was and said quietly "He looks like the Kingslayer."

It was true the Baratheon boy looked more Lannister than Baratheon perhaps there was some truth to the rumours about his parentage. Jon heard the name Sansa Stark being called and looked at the girl that he had been commanded with rescuing she had fiery auburn hair and looked like how Catelyn Tully had at Harrenhal all those years ago. Jon watched horrified as the Baratheon boy had the girl beaten by men of the Kingsguard simply because she was a Stark and her cousin and uncle had smashed Lannister forces in the West and the Riverlands. The boy had Lady Sansa hit in the chest till she was gasping for air and tears ran down her face. Jon clenched his fist, and nearly swore out lout this boy would be worse than Aerys if allowed to live.

Beside him he could feel Lemore shaking with barely controlled rage. He squeezed her hand and whispered "We must do as bid, go now walk out of the room slowly and leave the note in her room."

She nodded and let go of his hand and slowly slipped out of the room, whilst Jon watched the Lady Sansa being mocked by the Baratheon boy and called a savage whilst the rest of the court laughed along with him. Yes, Jon decided the boy was worse than Aerys and would need to be taught a sharp lesson.

Sansa

She had been summoned to court, why she knew not but she was scared every time she came to court Joffrey had her beaten and the last two times Lord Tyrion had not been present to stop the beatings. Each time she left court feeling ashamed and humiliated, Joffrey always had her winded and had even once had her stripped naked before the whole court. All those knights and Lords of the south who were supposed to be the heart of chivalry had stood by and laughed along with Joffrey as she was beaten and humiliated and not one of them did a thing to stop him. When she had come to King's Landing her head had been filled with the songs that spoke of the Knights and Lords of the South and how they were all so kind and brave, she realised she had been living in a childish fantasy then, the knights were not brave nor were the Lords, they were all cowards. She missed home she missed Jon most of all though, his warm embrace, his rare smiles, the way he could make her feel like she was the only person that mattered.

As she was called forward to stand before the Iron Throne, Joffrey asked her as he did every time "Do you know why you are here Lady Sansa?"

Sansa shook her head, and heard the court laugh and Joffrey say "Well you certainly just as stupid as mother says you are aren't you. You would think after having been brought before court so many times you would have learnt a few things. No? Well let me tell you your traitorous uncle defeated my grandfather's host at the Red Fork, and your traitor of a cousin has taken the Crag. Though your traitor brother Robb was injured, so I believe it is only fair if you share the pain he undoubtedly felt. Ser Meryn if you please."

Ser Meryn struck her in the chest, again and again until her hands were on the ground and tears streamed down her face and she was gasping for air. She wished he would stop but Joffrey ordered him to help her up and then had Ser Balon Swann hit her also this time in the chest and the face, a change for Joffrey he never usually allowed his Kingsguard to hit her in the face. Eventually the beatings stopped and Sansa was ordered to leave the throne room, she ran out of the room and ran back to her chambers crying all the while with blood falling onto her dress. She hated Joffrey and the Kingsguard she hated them all.

Her maid Shae was nowhere to be found in her room, so Sansa plopped herself onto her bed and buried her head into her pillow and cried and cried. She cried and cried and prayed, prayed for Jon to come for her, prayed for him to win and take her away from this foul city, she prayed for him to kill Joffrey. She prayed and prayed, and eventually fell asleep her pillow stained with her tears.

When she awoke the sun was setting and Shae was standing next her with a sad smile on her face, holding a note. "This came for you my lady." She said.

Sansa looked up and took the note from Shae, when she read it her heart nearly burst for joy. :

The wolf and the dragon shall meet again. Come to the godswood tonight when the moon is full, the black dove shall ride free to rivers .

Sansa read the note again and said to Shae, "When does the moon become full tonight Shae?"

Shae was silent for a moment and said "In one hour my lady."

Sansa nodded her thanks and said "I shall need a few things Shae, my best blouse and my direwolf badge."

"Of course my lady." Shae said.

Sansa smiled and hugged Shae and said "I shall miss you Shae."

Shae smiled and said "And I you my lady. Be safe and careful."

"I will." Sansa said.

She counted the minutes down until she could go to the godswood, when she saw the full moon through her window; she put the hood up on her cloak and made her way down to the godswood. As she walked into the godswood she could hear her heart hammering in her chest, this was the moment she had been waiting for. She was finally going home.

She was just near the clearing where the big Weirwood tree was when she heard a voice say "Lady Sansa?"

"Yes," She replied

"Good, I have been waiting for you." The voice replied.

"Who are you, and are you taking me home?" Sansa asked.

"Yes my lady, yes I am. As to whom I am let us just say that I am a friend to your cousin's cause." The voice replied.

"I would see your face." Sansa said trying to keep the hint of nervousness from her voice.

"As you will my lady." The voice said, and then she heard footsteps and the voice became a man, with greying ginger hair and beard. The man was tall and broad of shoulder and muscular.

"I trust you know how to ride my lady?" The man asked.

"Yes but not well." Sansa replied, that had always been more Arya's hobby.

"It does not matter you shall be riding with me. Lemore it is time bring the horses." The man said, and out of the darkness a woman emerged with haunting violet eyes and dark hair. She brought with her two stallions, a black one and a grey one. The man helped Sansa mount the grey one before he too got onto it, the lady called Lemore mounted the black one.

As they set off and left the Godswood behind the man said to her over his shoulder "Not a word now till we leave the city, and if any person asks us along the road you are our daughter is that understood."

Sansa nodded, and then they were silent, until they rode through the city and the darkness and Sansa shivered. As they got nearer to leaving the city, Sansa had a nervous feeling what if this was all some trap and the Lannisters stopped their horses before they could leave and dragged her before Joffrey, what if this man and woman weren't taking her to Jon but to someone else.

But nothing happened as they left King's Landing behind and then continued riding for what seemed many a mile. In fact the moon was waning when the man finally stopped and helped her dismount from the horse. "We are to rest here for a little while, before carrying on it would not do to have the horses die on us."

Sansa finally plucked up the courage to ask the man "Where are we going good Ser?"

The man did not reply but the woman called Lemore did "Why to Riverrun sweetling. To your mother and sister. We're taking you home."

Tyrion

Stannis Baratheon was attacking King's Landing. His ships had been spotted but a mile off the coast in Blackwater Bay and there was hardly any time for them to prepare a proper recon of the city. So here he was Tyrion Lannister acting Hand of the King standing atop the walls of the city watching as Stannis Baratheon's fleet sailed closer and closer to the city. To say he was nervous would be an understatement. Tyrion Lannister was bloody petrified, if his plan failed all their heads would be on spikes. They had not enough men to defend the city properly should Stannis get his men to shore before the Wildfire could truly burn.

Next to Tyrion on his right hand side stood Bronn on his left side stood his nephew the King. Tyrion turned to Bronn and said "Give the signal." Bronn immediately blew his horn and a chorus of horns could be heard across the walls of the city and across the water, and then the barges were lit as were the ships, and the wildfire came to light. A dozen great fires raged under the city walls, where casks of burning pitch had exploded, but the wildfire reduced them to no more than candles in a burning house, their orange and scarlet pennons fluttering insignificantly against the jade holocaust. The low clouds caught the colour of the burning river and roofed the sky in shades of shifting green, eerily beautiful. A terrible beauty. Like dragon fire. Tyrion wondered if Aegon the Conqueror had felt like this as he flew above his field of fire.

The furnace wind lifted his crimson cloak and beat at his bare face, yet he could not turn away. He was dimly aware of the gold cloaks cheering from the hoardings. He had no voice to join them. It was a half victory. It will not be enough.

He saw another of the hulks he'd stuffed full of King Aerys's fickle fruits engulfed by the hungry flames. A fountain of burning jade rose from the river, the blast so bright he had to shield his eyes. Plumes of fire thirty and forty feet high danced upon the waters, crackling and hissing. For a few moments they washed out the screams. There were hundreds in the water, drowning or burning or doing a little of both.

Do you hear them shrieking Stannis? Do you see them burning? This is your work as much as mine. Somewhere in that seething mass of men south of the Blackwater Stannis was watching too, Tyrion knew. He'd never had his brother Robert's thirst for battle. He would command from the rear, from the reserve, much as Lord Tywin was wont to do. Like as not he was sitting a warhorse right now, clad in bright armour, his crown upon his head. A crown of red gold, Varys says, its points fashioned in the shapes of flames.

Joffrey shouted up from the wall walk complaining about his burning ships. Tyrion gave no response, it could not be helped had they not sailed out to meet Stannis he would have suspected a trap. Some of Stannis's ships though remained afloat not burning, Tyrion signalled to the gold cloaks to beginning throwing the trebuchets over the wall in their catapults, Stannis's fleet would burn before he could land any men whatsoever on the ground.

Joffrey went off to help throw the fire bombs, and Tyrion watched as more and more of Stannis's ships caught aflame, burning more and more of his men alive and painting the skyline red, green, and blue. A runner came panting up the steps. "My lords hurry!" He threw himself to one knee. "They've landed men on the tourney grounds, hundreds! They're bringing a ram up to the King's Gate."

Tyrion cursed and made for the steps with a rolling waddle, Podrick Payne waited below with their horses. They galloped off down River Row, Pod and Ser Mandon Moore coming hard behind him. The shuttered houses were steeped in green shadow, but there was no traffic to get in their way, though off in the distance Tyrion heard the sound of horses pattering down a nearby street he paid it no mind.

The Hound was nowhere in sight when he came upon the battle, men were stood rooted to the ground with horror on their faces, as Stannis's men came out of the water the wildfire making them appear like demons. Tyrion sighed and shouted loud as he could "Men of king's landing, to me. We charge on three."

When three came Tyrion lowered his helm and charged on his horse swinging his sword like a mad man, he counted one, two, three, four, five men that he rode down, five that he cut down and three that he injured before he was thrown from his horse.

He hacked at Stannis's soldiers' legs and shins all the while shouting "LANNISTER!" At the top of his lungs, it seemed that his display had shamed the others into acting for he heard shouts of "King's Landing!" "King Joffrey!" and "Halfman!" as the men of king's Landing began to attack Stannis's men. In front of him reflected in the pale moonlight he saw Stannis's ships burning all the brighter and soon found himself cutting off men's feet and ankles and leaving them to be trampled to death. Though the force of men forced him into the riverbank, and soon he found himself being dragged out to sea to burn with Stannis's ships and men. He distantly heard Ser Mandon Moore shouting "My hand My Lord take my hand!"

Tyrion turned and saw Ser Mandon with his hand outstretched Tyrion pushed against the current and grasped his hand. But then just when Tyrion thought he was safe, Ser Mandon's sword slashed just beneath his eyes, and he felt its cold hard touch and then a blaze of pain. His head spun around as if he'd been slapped. The shock of the cold water was a second slap more jolting than the first. He flailed for something to grab onto , knowing that once he went down he was not like to come back up. Somehow his hand found the splintered end of a broken oar. Clutching it tight as a desperate lover he shinnied up foot by foot his head throbbed horribly and his mouth was full of blood.

Finally he rolled over the side and lay breathless and exhausted flat on his back, balls of green and orange crackled overhead. Ser Mandon blocked out the rest of his view though. The knight was a white steel shadow, his eyes shining darkly behind his helm. Tyrion had no more strength than a rag doll, Ser Mandon put the point of his sword to the hollow of his throat and curled both hands around the hilt.

And suddenly he lurched to the left, staggering into the rail and wood split and Ser Mandon Moore vanished with a shout and a splash. An instant later the hulls came together so hard the deck seemed to jump. Then someone was kneeling over him. "Jaime?" he croaked almost choking on the blood that filled his mouth. Who else would save him if not his brother?

"Be still my lord you're hurt bad." A boy's voice that makes no sense thought Tyrion. It sounded almost like Pod.