A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

but the
blue eyes under the heavy black hair had the stubborn look she remembered. Arya
didn’t know that she even wanted to talk to him. It was his fault they’d all
been caught. “Which one is Lucan?” She thrust out the paper. “I’m to get a
new sword for Ser Lyonel.”
    â€œNever mind about Ser Lyonel.” He drew her aside by the arm. “Last night Hot
Pie asked me if I heard you yell
Winterfell
back at the holdfast,
when we were all fighting on the wall.”
    â€œI never did!”
    â€œYes you did. I heard you too.”
    â€œEveryone was yelling stuff,” Arya said defensively. “Hot Pie yelled
hot pie.
He must have yelled it a hundred times.”
    â€œIt’s what
you
yelled that matters. I told Hot Pie he should clean
the wax out of his ears, that all you yelled was
Go to hell!
If he
asks you, you better say the same.”
    â€œI will,” she said, even though she thought
go to hell
was a

stupid thing to yell. She didn’t dare tell Hot Pie who she really was.
Maybe I should say Hot Pie’s name to Jaqen.
    â€œI’ll get Lucan,” Gendry said.
    Lucan grunted at the writing (though Arya did not think he could read it), and
pulled down a heavy longsword. “This is too good for that oaf, and you tell
him I said so,” he said as he gave her the blade.
    â€œI will,” she lied. If she did any such thing, Weese would beat her bloody.
Lucan could deliver his own insults.
    The longsword was a lot heavier than Needle had been, but Arya liked the feel
of it. The weight of steel in her hands made her feel stronger.
Maybe I’m
not a water dancer yet, but I’m not a mouse either. A mouse couldn’t use a
sword but I can.
The gates were open, soldiers coming and going, drays
rolling in empty and going out creaking and swaying under their loads. She
thought about going to the stables and telling them that Ser Lyonel wanted a
new horse. She had the paper, the stableboys wouldn’t be able to read it any
better than Lucan had.
I could take the horse and the sword and just ride
out. If the guards tried to stop me I’d show them the paper and say I was
bringing everything to Ser Lyonel.
She had no notion what Ser Lyonel
looked like or where to find him, though. If they questioned her, they’d know,
and then Weese . . . Weese . . .
    As she chewed her lip, trying not to think about how it would feel to have her
feet cut off, a group of archers in leather jerkins and iron helms went past,
their bows slung across their

shoulders. Arya heard snatches of their talk.
    â€œ. . . giants I tell you, he’s got
giants
twenty foot
tall come down from beyond the Wall, follow him like
dogs . . .”
    â€œ. . . not natural, coming on them so fast, in the night and all.
He’s more wolf than man, all them Starks are . . .”
    â€œ. . . shit on your wolves and giants, the boy’d piss his pants if
he knew we was coming. He wasn’t man enough to march on Harrenhal, was he? Ran
t’other way, didn’t he? He’d run now if he knew what was best for
him.”
    â€œSo you say, but might be the boy knows something we don’t, maybe it’s
us
ought to be run . . .”
    Yes,
Arya thought.
Yes, it’s you who ought to run, you and Lord
Tywin and the Mountain and Ser Addam and Ser Amory and stupid Ser Lyonel
whoever he is, all of you better run or my brother will kill you, he’s a Stark,
he’s more wolf than man, and so am I.
    â€œWeasel.” Weese’s voice cracked like a whip. She never saw where he came
from, but suddenly he was right in front of her. “Give me that. Took you long
enough.” He snatched the sword from her fingers, and dealt her a stinging slap
with the back of his hand. “Next time be quicker about it.”
    For a moment she had been a wolf again, but Weese’s slap took it all away and
left her with nothing but the taste of her own blood in her mouth. She’d bitten
her tongue when he hit her. She hated him for that.
    â€œYou want another?” Weese demanded. “You’ll get it too. I’ll have none of
your insolent looks. Get down to the brewhouse

and tell Tuffleberry that I have two dozen barrels for him, but he better send
his lads to fetch them or I’ll find someone wants ’em worse.” Arya started
off, but not