A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

bedchamber now.”
    He looked up the shaft. “How far must I climb?”
    â€œMy lord, you are too weak for such follies, and there is besides no time. We must go.”
    â€œI have business above. How far?”
    â€œTwo hundred and thirty rungs, but whatever you intend—”
    â€œTwo hundred and thirty rungs, and then?”
    â€œThe tunnel to the left, but hear me—”
    â€œHow far along to the bedchamber?” Tyrion lifted a foot to the lowest rung of the ladder.
    â€œNo more than sixty feet. Keep one hand on the wall as you go. You will feel the doors. The bedchamber is the third.” He sighed. “This is folly, my lord. Your brother has given you your life back. Would you cast it away, and mine with it?”
    â€œVarys, the only thing I value less than my life just now is yours. Wait for me here.” He turned his back on the eunuch and began to climb, counting silently as he went.
    Rung by rung, he ascended into darkness. At first he could see the dim outline of each rung as he grasped it, and the rough grey texture of the stone behind, but as he climbed the black grew thicker.
Thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen
. By thirty, his arms trembled with the strain of pulling. He paused a moment to catch his breath and glanced down. A circle of faint light shone far below, half obscured by his own feet. Tyrion resumed his ascent.
Thirty-nine forty forty-one
. By fifty, his legs burned. The ladder was endless, numbing.
Sixty-eight sixty-nine seventy
. By eighty, his back was a dull agony. Yet still he climbed. He could not have said why.
One thirteen one fourteen one fifteen
.
    At two hundred and thirty, the shaft was black as pitch, but he could
feel
the warm air flowing from the tunnel to his left, like the breath of some great beast. He poked about awkwardly with a foot and edged off the ladder. The tunnel was even more cramped than the shaft. Any man of normal size would have had to crawl on hands and knees, but Tyrion was short enough to walk upright.
At last, a place made for dwarfs
. His boots scuffed softly against the stone. He walked slowly, counting steps, feeling for gaps in the walls. Soon he began to hear voices, muffled and indistinct at first, then clearer. He listened more closely. Two of his father’s guardsmen were joking about the Imp’s whore, saying how sweet it would be to fuck her, and how bad she must want a real cock in place of the dwarf’s stunted little thing. “Most like it’s got a crook in it,” said Lum. That led him into a discussion of how Tyrion would die on the morrow. “He’ll weep like a woman and beg for mercy, you’ll see,” Lum insisted. Lester figured he’d face the axe brave as a lion, being a Lannister, and he was willing to bet his new boots on it. “Ah, shit in your boots,” said Lum, “you know they’d never fit these feet o’mine. Tell you what, if I win you can scour my bloody mail for a fortnight.”
    For the space of a few feet, Tyrion could hear every word of their haggling, but when he moved on, the voices faded quickly.
Small wonder Varys did not want me to climb the bloody ladder
, Tyrion thought, smiling in the dark.
Little birds indeed
.
    He came to the third door and fumbled about for a long time before his fingers brushed a small iron hook set between two stones. When he pulled down on it, there was a soft rumble that sounded loud as an avalanche in the stillness, and a square of dull orange light opened a foot to his left.
    The hearth!
He almost laughed. The fireplace was full of hot ash, and a black log with a hot orange heart burning within. He edged past gingerly, taking quick steps so as not to burn his boots, the warm cinders crunching softly under his heels. When he found himself in what had once been his bedchamber, he stood a long moment, breathing the silence. Had his father heard? Would he reach for his sword, raise the hue and cry?
    â€œM’lord?” a woman’s voice called.
    That might have hurt me once, when I still felt pain
. The first step was the hardest. When he reached the bed Tyrion pulled the draperies aside and there she was, turning toward him with a sleepy smile on her lips. It died when she saw him. She pulled the blankets up to her chin, as if that would protect her.
    â€œWere you expecting someone taller, sweetling?”
    Big wet tears filled her eyes. “I never meant those things I said, the queen