A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

gates.”
    â€œNightfires?” Bowen Marsh gave Melisandre an uncertain look. “We’re to light nightfires now?”
    â€œYou are.” The woman rose in a swirl of scarlet silk, her long copper-bright hair tumbling about her shoulders. “Swords alone cannot hold this darkness back. Only the light of the Lord can do that. Make no mistake, good sers and valiant brothers, the war we’ve come to fight is no petty squabble over lands and honors. Ours is a war for life itself, and should we fail the world dies with us.”
    The officers did not know how to take that, Sam could see. Bowen Marsh and Othell Yarwyck exchanged a doubtful look, Janos Slynt was fuming, and Three-Finger Hobb looked as though he would sooner be back chopping carrots. But all of them seemed surprised to hear Maester Aemon murmur, “It is the war for the dawn you speak of, my lady. But where is the prince that was promised?”
    â€œHe stands before you,” Melisandre declared, “though you do not have the eyes to see. Stannis Baratheon is Azor Ahai come again, the warrior of fire. In him the prophecies are fulfilled. The red comet blazed across the sky to herald his coming, and he bears Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes.”
    Her words seemed to make the king desperately uncomfortable, Sam saw. Stannis ground his teeth, and said, “You called and I came, my lords. Now you must live with me, or die with me. Best get used to that.” He made a brusque gesture. “That’s all. Maester, stay a moment. And you, Tarly. The rest of you may go.”
    Me?
Sam thought, stricken, as his brothers were bowing and making their way out.
What does he want with me?
    â€œYou are the one that killed the creature in the snow,” King Stannis said, when only the four of them remained.
    â€œSam the Slayer.” Melisandre smiled.
    Sam felt his face turning red. “No, my lady. Your Grace. I mean, I am, yes. I’m Samwell Tarly, yes.”
    â€œYour father is an able soldier,” King Stannis said. “He defeated my brother once, at Ashford. Mace Tyrell has been pleased to claim the honors for that victory, but Lord Randyll had decided matters before Tyrell ever found the battlefield. He slew Lord Cafferen with that great Valyrian sword of his and sent his head to Aerys.” The king rubbed his jaw with a finger. “You are not the sort of son I would expect such a man to have.”
    â€œI . . . I am not the sort of son he wanted, sire.”
    â€œIf you had not taken the black, you would make a useful hostage,” Stannis mused.
    â€œHe has taken the black, sire,” Maester Aemon pointed out.
    â€œI am well aware of that,” the king said. “I am aware of more than you know, Aemon Targaryen.”
    The old man inclined his head. “I am only Aemon, sire. We give up our House names when we forge our maester’s chains.”
    The king gave that a curt nod, as if to say he knew and did not care. “You slew this creature with an obsidian dagger, I am told,” he said to Sam.
    â€œY-yes, Your Grace. Jon Snow gave it to me.”
    â€œDragonglass.” The red woman’s laugh was music. “
Frozen fire
, in the tongue of old Valyria. Small wonder it is anathema to these cold children of the Other.”
    â€œOn Dragonstone, where I had my seat, there is much of this obsidian to be seen in the old tunnels beneath the mountain,” the king told Sam. “Chunks of it, boulders, ledges. The great part of it was black, as I recall, but there was some green as well, some red, even purple. I have sent word to Ser Rolland my castellan to begin mining it. I will not hold Dragonstone for very much longer, I fear, but perhaps the Lord of Light shall grant us enough
frozen fire
to arm ourselves against these creatures, before the castle falls.”
    Sam cleared his throat. “S-sire. The dagger . . . the dragonglass only shattered when I tried to stab a wight.”
    Melisandre smiled. “Necromancy animates these wights, yet they are still only dead flesh. Steel and fire will serve for them. The ones you call the Others are something more.”
    â€œDemons made of snow and ice and cold,” said Stannis Baratheon. “The ancient enemy. The only enemy that matters.” He considered Sam again. “I am told that you and this wildling girl passed beneath the Wall, through some magic gate.”
    â€œThe B-black Gate,” Sam