A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

is.”
    â€œAye,” added the one-eyed man. “The Kingslayer’s whore.”
    She flinched. “Why would you call me that?”
    â€œIf I had a silver stag for every time you said his name, I’d be as rich as your friends the Lannisters.”
    â€œThat was only . . . you do not understand . . .”
    â€œDon’t we, though?” The big man laughed. “I think we might. There’s a stink of
lion
about you, lady.”
    â€œThat’s not so.”
    Another of the outlaws stepped forward, a younger man in a greasy sheepskin jerkin. In his hand was Oathkeeper. “This says it is.” His voice was frosted with the accents of the north. He slid the sword from its scabbard and placed it in front of Lady Stoneheart. In the light from the firepit the red and black ripples in the blade almost seem to move, but the woman in grey had eyes only for the pommel: a golden lion’s head, with ruby eyes that shone like two red stars.
    â€œThere is this as well.” Thoros of Myr drew a parchment from his sleeve, and put it down next to the sword. “It bears the boy king’s seal and says the bearer is about his business.”
    Lady Stoneheart set the sword aside to read the letter.
    â€œThe sword was given me for a good purpose,” said Brienne. “Ser Jaime swore an oath to Catelyn Stark . . .”
    â€œ. . . before his friends cut her throat for her, that must have been,” said the big man in the yellow cloak. “We all know about the Kingslayer and his oaths.”
    It is no good,
Brienne realized.
No words of mine will sway them.
She plunged ahead despite that. “He promised Lady Catelyn her daughters, but by the time we reached King’s Landing they were gone. Jaime sent me out to seek the Lady Sansa . . .”
    â€œ. . . and if you had found the girl,” asked the young northman, “what were you to do with her?”
    â€œProtect her. Take her somewhere safe.”
    The big man laughed. “Where’s that? Cersei’s dungeon?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDeny it all you want. That sword says you’re a liar. Are we supposed to believe the Lannisters are handing out gold and ruby swords to
foes
? That the Kingslayer meant for you to hide the girl from
his own twin
? I suppose the paper with the boy king’s seal was just in case you needed to wipe your arse? And then there’s the company you keep . . .” The big man turned and beckoned, the ranks of outlaws parted, and two more captives were brought forth. “The boy was the Imp’s own squire, m’lady,” he said to Lady Stoneheart. “T’other is one of Randyll Bloody Tarly’s bloody household knights.”
    Hyle Hunt had been beaten so badly that his face was swollen almost beyond recognition. He stumbled as they shoved him, and almost fell. Podrick caught him by the arm. “Ser,” the boy said miserably, when he saw Brienne. “My lady, I mean. Sorry.”
    â€œYou have nothing to be sorry for.” Brienne turned to Lady Stoneheart. “Whatever treachery you think I may have done, my lady, Podrick and Ser Hyle were no part of it.”
    â€œThey’re lions,” said the one-eyed man. “That’s enough. I say they hang. Tarly’s hanged a score o’ ours, past time we strung up some o’ his.”
    Ser Hyle gave Brienne a faint smile. “My lady,” he said, “you should have wed me when I made my offer. Now I fear you’re doomed to die a maid, and me a poor man.”
    â€œLet them go,”
Brienne pleaded.
    The woman in grey gave no answer. She studied the sword, the parchment, the bronze-and-iron crown. Finally she reached up under her jaw and grasped her neck, as if she meant to throttle herself. Instead she spoke . . . Her voice was halting, broken, tortured. The sound seemed to come from her throat, part croak, part wheeze, part death rattle.
The language of the damned,
thought Brienne. “I don’t understand. What did she say?”
    â€œShe asked the name of this blade of yours,” said the young northman in the sheepskin jerkin.
    â€œOathkeeper,” Brienne answered.
    The woman in grey
hissed
through her fingers. Her eyes were two red pits burning in the shadows. She spoke again.
    â€œNo, she says. Call it Oathbreaker, she says. It was made for treachery and murder. She names it
False Friend.
Like you.”
    â€œTo whom have I been