The Sworn Sword

"A large belly requires a large mouth", said Septon Sefton, utterly unabashed. "Else it soon becomes a small one".

"Are you the Red Widow?" Egg asked, astonished. "I'm near as tall as you are!"

"Another boy made that same observation not half a year ago. I sent him to the rack to make him taller". When Lady Roha

"The village was King's Landing". He did not mention Flea Bottom. "There were girls, but.. ". The sort of teasing that went on in Flea Bottom sometimes involved cutting off a toe.

"I expect they were afraid to tease you". Lady Roha

"It was not her doing. The mistake was mine".

"You lie most gallantly. I know it was Ser Lucas. He is a man of cruel humors, and you offended him on sight".

"How?" Dunk said, puzzled. "I never did him any harm".

She smiled a smile that made him wish she were plainer. "I saw you standing with him. You're taller by a hand, or near enough. It has been a long while since Ser Lucas met anyone he could not look down on. How old are you, ser?"

"Near twenty, if it please m'lady". Dunk liked the ring of twenty, though most like he was a year younger, maybe two. No one knew for certain, least of all him. He must have had a mother and a father like everybody else, but he'd never known them, not even their names, and no one in Flea Bottom had ever cared much when he'd been born, or to whom.

"Are you as strong as you appear?"

"How strong do I appear, m'lady?"

"Oh, strong enough to a

I was born of gutter blood. "A hedge knight named Ser Arlan of Pe

"And this same Ser Arlan knighted you?"

Dunk shuffled his feet. One of his boots was half unlaced, he saw. "No one else was like to do it".

"Where is Ser Arlan now?"

"He died". He raised his eyes. He could lace his boot up later. "I buried him on a hillside".

"Did he fall valiantly in battle?"

"There were rains. He caught a chill".

"Old men are frail, I know. I learned that from my second husband. I was thirteen when we wed. He would have been five-and-fifty on his next name day, had he lived long enough to see it. When he was half a year in the ground, I gave him a little son, but the Stranger came for him as well. The septons said his father wanted him beside him. What do you think, ser?"

"Well", Dunk said hesitantly, "that might be, m'lady".

"Nonsense", she said, "the boy was born too weak. Such a tiny thing. He scarce had strength enough to nurse. Still. The gods gave his father five-and-fifty years. You would think they might have granted more than three days to the son".

"You would". Dunk knew little and less about the gods. He went to sept sometimes, and prayed to the Warrior to lend strength to his arms, but elsewise he let the Seven be.

"I am sorry your Ser Arlan died", she said, "and sorrier still that you took service with Ser Eustace. All old men are not the same, Ser Duncan. You would do well to go home to Pe

"I have no home but where I swear my sword". Dunk had never seen Pe

"Swear it here, then. The times are uncertain. I have need of knights. You look as though you have a healthy appetite, Ser Duncan. How many chickens can you eat? At Coldmoat you would have your fill of warm pink meat and sweet fruit tarts. Your squire looks in need of sustenance as well. He is so scrawny that all his hair has fallen out. We'll have him share a cell with other boys of his own age. He'll like that. My master-at-arms can train him in all the arts of war".

"I train him", said Dunk defensively.

"And who else? Be

There had been days when Dunk had set Egg to chasing chickens. It helps make him quicker, he thought, but he knew that if he said it she would laugh. She was distracting him, with her snub nose and her freckles. Dunk had to remind himself of why Ser Eustace had sent him here. "My sword is sworn to my lord of Osgrey, m'lady", he said, "and that's the way it is".

"So be it, ser. Let us speak of less pleasant matters". Lady Roha

"I came to parlay", he reminded her, "and I have drunk your wine". The taste still lingered in his mouth, rich and sweet. So far it had not poisoned him. Perhaps it was the wine that made him bold. "And you don't have a sack big enough for me".

To his relief, Egg's jape made her smile. "I have several that are big enough for Be

"Ser Be

"The blood price?" She laughed. "He is an old man, I know, but I had not realized that he was so old as that. Does he think we are living in the Age of Heroes, when a man's life was reckoned to be worth no more than a sack of silver?"

"The digger was not killed, m'lady", Dunk reminded her. "No one was killed that I saw. His face was cut, is all".

Her fingers danced idly along her braid. "How much does Ser Eustace reckon Wolmer's cheek to be worth, pray?"

"One silver stag. And three for you, m'lady".

"Ser Eustace sets a niggard's price upon my honor, though three silvers are better than three chickens, I grant you. He would do better to deliver Be

"Would this involve that sack you mentioned?"

"It might". She coiled her braid around one hand. "Osgrey can keep his silver. Only blood can pay for blood".

"Well", said Dunk, "it may be as you say, m'lady, but why not send for that man that Be

"Oh, he'd pick the silver, if he couldn't have both. I don't doubt that, ser. It is not his choice to make. This is about the lion and the spider now, not some peasant's cheek. It is Be

"Your ladyship rode onto Standfast land, and did harm of one of Ser Eustace's", Dunk said, before he stopped to think about it.

"Did I?" She tugged her braid again. "If you mean the sheep-stealer, the man was notorious. I had twice complained to Osgrey, yet he did nothing. I do not ask thrice. The king's law grants me the power of pit and gallows".

It was Egg who answered her. "On your own lands", the boy insisted. "The king's law gives lords the power of pit and gallows on their own lands".

"Clever boy", she said. "If you know that much, you will also know that landed knights have no right to punish without their liege lord's leave. Ser Eustace holds Standfast of Lord Rowan. Be