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before her now: the sword he had laid on the table.
Catelyn was thinking of her girls, wondering if she would ever see them again, when the Greatjon lurched
to his feet.
"MYLORDS!" he shouted, his voice booming off the rafters. "Here is what I say to these two kings!" He
spat. " Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither. Why should they rule over me and mine,
from some flowery seat in Highgarden or Dorne? What do they know of the Wall or the wolfswood or
the barrows of the First Men? Even their gods are wrong. The Others take the Lannisters too, I've had a
bellyful of them." He reached back over his shoulder and drew his immense two-handed greatsword.
"Why shouldn't we rule ourselves
again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead!" He pointed at Robb with the
blade. "There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, m'lords," he thundered. "The King in the
North!"
And he knelt, and laid his sword at her son's feet.
"I'll have peace on those terms," Lord Karstark said. "They can keep their red castle and their iron chair
as well." He eased his longsword from its scabbard. "The King in the North!" he said, kneeling beside the
Greatjon.
Page 561

Maege Mormont stood. "The King of Winter!" she declared, and laid her spiked mace beside the
swords. And the river lords were rising too, Blackwood and Bracken and Mallister, houses who had
never been ruled from Winterfell, yet Catelyn watched them rise and draw their blades, bending their
knees and shouting the old words that had not been heard in the realm for more than three hundred
years, since Aegon the Dragon had come to make the Seven Kingdoms one . . . yet now were heard
again, ringing from the timbers of her father's hall:
"The King in the North!"
"The King in the North!"
"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"
DAFNERYS
The land was red and dead and parched, and good wood was hard to come by. Her foragers returned
with gnarled cottonwoods, purple brush, sheaves of brown grass. They took the two straightest trees,
hacked the limbs and branches from them, skinned off their bark, and split them, laying the logs in a
square. Its center they filled with straw, brush, bark shavings, and bundles of dry grass. Rakharo chose a
stallion from the small herd that remained to them; he was not the equal of Khal Drogo's red, but few
horses were. In the center of the square, Aggo fed him a withered apple and dropped him in an instant
with an axe blow between the eyes.
Bound hand and foot, Mirri Maz Duur watched from the dust with disquiet in her black eyes. "It is not
enough to kill a horse," she told Dany. "By itself, the blood is nothing. You do not have the words to
make a spell, nor the wisdom to find them. Do you think bloodmagic is a game for children? You call me
maegi as if it were a curse, but all it means is wise. You are a child, with a child's ignorance. Whatever
you mean to do, it will not work. Loose me from these bonds and I will help you."
"I am tired of the maegi's braying," Dany told Jhogo. He took his whip to her, and after that the godswife
kept silent.
Page 562

Over the carcass of the horse, they built a platform of hewn logs; trunks of smaller trees and limbs from
the greater, and the thickest
I
9
straightest branches they could find. They laid the wood east to west, from sunrise to sunset. On the
platform they piled Khal Drogo's treasures: his great tent, his painted vests, his saddles and harness, the
whip his father had given him when he came to manhood, the arakh he had used to slay Khal Ogo and
his son, a mighty dragonbone bow. Aggo would have added the weapons Drogo's bloodriders had given
Dany for bride gifts as well, but she forbade it. "Those are mine," she told him, "and I mean to keep
them." Another layer of brush was piled about the khal's treasures, and bundles of dried grass scattered
over them.
Ser Jorah Mormont drew her aside as the sun was creeping toward its zenith. "Princess . . ." he began.
"Why do you call me that?" Dany challenged him. "My brother Viserys was your king, was he not?"
"He was, my lady."
"Viserys is dead. I am his heir, the last blood of House Targaryen. Whatever was his is mine now."
"My . . . queen," Ser Jorah said, going to one knee. "My sword that was his is yours, Dacnerys. And my
heart as well, that never belonged to your brother. I am only a knight, and I have nothing to offer you but
exile, but I beg you, hear me. Let Khal Drogo go. You shall not be alone. I promise you, no man shall
take you to Vaes Dothrak unless you wish to go. You need not join the dosh khaleen. Come east with
me. Yi Ti, Oarth, the Jade Sea, Asshai by the Shadow. We will see all the wonders yet unseen, and
drink what wines the gods see fit to serve us. Please, Khaleesi. I know what you intend. Do not. Do not."
"I must," Dany told him. She touched his face, fondly, sadly. "You do not understand."
Page 563

A understand that you loved him," Ser Jorah said in a voice thick with despair. "I loved my lady wife
once, yet I did not die with her. You are my queen, my sword is yours, but do not ask me to stand aside
as you climb on Drogo's pyre. I will not watch you burn."
"Is that what you fear?" Dany kissed him lightly on his broad forehead. "I am not such a child as that,
sweet ser."
"You do not mean to die with him? You swear it, my queen?"
A swear it," she said in the Common Tongue of the Seven Kingdoms that by rights were hers.
The third level of the platform was woven of branches no thicker than a finger, and covered with dry
leaves and twigs. They laid them north to south, from ice to fire, and piled them high with soft cushions
and sleeping silks. The sun had begun to lower toward the west by the
time they were done. Dany called the Dothraki around her. Fewer than a hundred were left. How many
had Aegon started with? she wondered. It did not matter.
"You will be my khalasar," she told them. "I see the faces of slaves. I free you. Take off your collars. Go
if you wish, no one shall harm you. If you stay, it will be as brothers and sisters, husbands and wives."
The black eyes watched her, wary, expressionless. "I see the children, women, the wrinkled faces of the
aged. I was a child yesterday. Today I am a woman. Tomorrow I will be old. To each of you I say, give
me your hands and your hearts, and there will always be a place for you." She turned to the three young
warriors of her khas. "Jhogo, to you I give the silver-handled whip that was my bride gift, and name you
ko, and ask your oath, that you will live and die as blood of my blood, riding at my side to keep me safe
from harm."
Jhogo took the whip from her hands, but his face was confused. "Khaleesi, " he said hesitantly, "this is
not done. It would shame me, to be bloodrider to a woman."
Page 564

"Aggo," Dany called, paying no heed to Jhogo's words. If I look back I am lost. "To you I give the
dragonbone bow that was my bride gift." It was double-curved, shiny black and exquisite, taller than she
was. "I name you ko, and ask your oath, that you should live and die as blood of my blood, riding at my
side to keep me safe from harm."
Aggo accepted the bow with lowered eyes. "I cannot say these words. Only a man can lead a khalasar
or name a ko."
"Rakharo," Dany said, turning away from the refusal, "you shall have the great arakh that was my bride
gift, with hilt and blade chased in gold. And you too I name my ko, and ask that you live and die as blood

before her now: the sword he had laid on the table.

Catelyn was thinking of her girls, wondering if she would ever see them again, when the Greatjon lurched

to his feet.

"MYLORDS!" he shouted, his voice booming off the rafters. "Here is what I say to these two kings!" He

spat. " Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither. Why should they rule over me and mine,

from some flowery seat in Highgarden or Dorne? What do they know of the Wall or the wolfswood or

the barrows of the First Men? Even their gods are wrong. The Others take the Lannisters too, I've had a

bellyful of them." He reached back over his shoulder and drew his immense two-handed greatsword.

"Why shouldn't we rule ourselves

again? It was the dragons we married, and the dragons are all dead!" He pointed at Robb with the

blade. "There sits the only king I mean to bow my knee to, m'lords," he thundered. "The King in the

North!"

And he knelt, and laid his sword at her son's feet.

"I'll have peace on those terms," Lord Karstark said. "They can keep their red castle and their iron chair

as well." He eased his longsword from its scabbard. "The King in the North!" he said, kneeling beside the

Greatjon.

Page 561

Maege Mormont stood. "The King of Winter!" she declared, and laid her spiked mace beside the

swords. And the river lords were rising too, Blackwood and Bracken and Mallister, houses who had

never been ruled from Winterfell, yet Catelyn watched them rise and draw their blades, bending their

knees and shouting the old words that had not been heard in the realm for more than three hundred

years, since Aegon the Dragon had come to make the Seven Kingdoms one . . . yet now were heard

again, ringing from the timbers of her father's hall:

"The King in the North!"

"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"

DAFNERYS

The land was red and dead and parched, and good wood was hard to come by. Her foragers returned

with gnarled cottonwoods, purple brush, sheaves of brown grass. They took the two straightest trees,

hacked the limbs and branches from them, skinned off their bark, and split them, laying the logs in a

square. Its center they filled with straw, brush, bark shavings, and bundles of dry grass. Rakharo chose a

stallion from the small herd that remained to them; he was not the equal of Khal Drogo's red, but few

horses were. In the center of the square, Aggo fed him a withered apple and dropped him in an instant

with an axe blow between the eyes.

Bound hand and foot, Mirri Maz Duur watched from the dust with disquiet in her black eyes. "It is not

enough to kill a horse," she told Dany. "By itself, the blood is nothing. You do not have the words to

make a spell, nor the wisdom to find them. Do you think bloodmagic is a game for children? You call me

maegi as if it were a curse, but all it means is wise. You are a child, with a child's ignorance. Whatever

you mean to do, it will not work. Loose me from these bonds and I will help you."

"I am tired of the maegi's braying," Dany told Jhogo. He took his whip to her, and after that the godswife

kept silent.

Page 562

Over the carcass of the horse, they built a platform of hewn logs; trunks of smaller trees and limbs from

the greater, and the thickest

I

9

straightest branches they could find. They laid the wood east to west, from sunrise to sunset. On the

platform they piled Khal Drogo's treasures: his great tent, his painted vests, his saddles and harness, the

whip his father had given him when he came to manhood, the arakh he had used to slay Khal Ogo and

his son, a mighty dragonbone bow. Aggo would have added the weapons Drogo's bloodriders had given

Dany for bride gifts as well, but she forbade it. "Those are mine," she told him, "and I mean to keep

them." Another layer of brush was piled about the khal's treasures, and bundles of dried grass scattered

over them.

Ser Jorah Mormont drew her aside as the sun was creeping toward its zenith. "Princess . . ." he began.

"Why do you call me that?" Dany challenged him. "My brother Viserys was your king, was he not?"

"He was, my lady."

"Viserys is dead. I am his heir, the last blood of House Targaryen. Whatever was his is mine now."

"My . . . queen," Ser Jorah said, going to one knee. "My sword that was his is yours, Dacnerys. And my

heart as well, that never belonged to your brother. I am only a knight, and I have nothing to offer you but

exile, but I beg you, hear me. Let Khal Drogo go. You shall not be alone. I promise you, no man shall

take you to Vaes Dothrak unless you wish to go. You need not join the dosh khaleen. Come east with

me. Yi Ti, Oarth, the Jade Sea, Asshai by the Shadow. We will see all the wonders yet unseen, and

drink what wines the gods see fit to serve us. Please, Khaleesi. I know what you intend. Do not. Do not."

"I must," Dany told him. She touched his face, fondly, sadly. "You do not understand."

Page 563

A understand that you loved him," Ser Jorah said in a voice thick with despair. "I loved my lady wife

once, yet I did not die with her. You are my queen, my sword is yours, but do not ask me to stand aside

as you climb on Drogo's pyre. I will not watch you burn."

"Is that what you fear?" Dany kissed him lightly on his broad forehead. "I am not such a child as that,

sweet ser."

"You do not mean to die with him? You swear it, my queen?"

A swear it," she said in the Common Tongue of the Seven Kingdoms that by rights were hers.

The third level of the platform was woven of branches no thicker than a finger, and covered with dry

leaves and twigs. They laid them north to south, from ice to fire, and piled them high with soft cushions

and sleeping silks. The sun had begun to lower toward the west by the

time they were done. Dany called the Dothraki around her. Fewer than a hundred were left. How many

had Aegon started with? she wondered. It did not matter.

"You will be my khalasar," she told them. "I see the faces of slaves. I free you. Take off your collars. Go

if you wish, no one shall harm you. If you stay, it will be as brothers and sisters, husbands and wives."

The black eyes watched her, wary, expressionless. "I see the children, women, the wrinkled faces of the

aged. I was a child yesterday. Today I am a woman. Tomorrow I will be old. To each of you I say, give

me your hands and your hearts, and there will always be a place for you." She turned to the three young

warriors of her khas. "Jhogo, to you I give the silver-handled whip that was my bride gift, and name you

ko, and ask your oath, that you will live and die as blood of my blood, riding at my side to keep me safe

from harm."

Jhogo took the whip from her hands, but his face was confused. "Khaleesi, " he said hesitantly, "this is

not done. It would shame me, to be bloodrider to a woman."

Page 564

"Aggo," Dany called, paying no heed to Jhogo's words. If I look back I am lost. "To you I give the

dragonbone bow that was my bride gift." It was double-curved, shiny black and exquisite, taller than she

was. "I name you ko, and ask your oath, that you should live and die as blood of my blood, riding at my

side to keep me safe from harm."

Aggo accepted the bow with lowered eyes. "I cannot say these words. Only a man can lead a khalasar

or name a ko."

"Rakharo," Dany said, turning away from the refusal, "you shall have the great arakh that was my bride

gift, with hilt and blade chased in gold. And you too I name my ko, and ask that you live and die as blood