Sing!"
The shortest Lannister, passing through the corridors, heard a rasped growl, followed by soft whimpers. He quickened his step and was at the top of the staircase before the Hound, hunched over a wall, came into his sight.
"Clegane, what's going on here?" The Hound edged back slightly and as Tyrion came down, the fair Stark girl appeared, huddled against the stone wall. He noticed the frightened face of the child, her tiny figure stood uncomfortably beside the Hound's great mass.
"Nevermind, Imp". The Hound had yet to remove his eyes from the girl, as he spoke harshly to the dwarf. "I was just ...taking the little bird..."
"I'll see to the Lady. Go and find a tree to piss on." The Hound reeled back at the suggestion but the Lannister's dog retreated, sulking into the night.
Lady Sansa softly gave her thanks to her rescuer and hurried back to her chambers. Tyrion stared into the black night that the Hound left through, a unpleasant seed of what had conversed here, sprouted deep inside his belly.
The boy king, at the head of his table, was gruesomely taking apart his breakfast. As he ripped the final strip of meat, he threw the bone at his guard and cackled loudly, along with his siblings as it fell onto the floor, beside the Hound's dirty boots.
"Eat up then dog!"
Tyrion approached the table with more reserve than usual. He noted that the King was in too a joyful mood and that his sister was unusually quiet with her son's rowdy table manners. His arrival went unnoticed by the table. The children were too amused with the Hound, his charred face scowling down at them.
Tyrion spoke calmly as he placed a piece of cold meat into his mouth.
"Oh your grace, I caught your dog last night, frightening the Stark girl."
The boy king smirked into his cup.
"Good. Let him scare the little bitch."
"Unkind words for your bride to be!"
"Leave him." The boy king's mother admonished her brother sternly.
Ignoring Cersei's coldness, Tyrion poured himself a cup of ale and spoke again to his nephew.
"You should keep a tighter rope 'round his neck. A dog is a dog, after all."
Tyrion gave a mocking smile to the Hound, the heaving mass did not react but for a twitch of his burnt mouth.
Barely a night had past before Tyrion was forced again to be in the presence of King Joffery's pet. Bronn and himself had been sitting out with the men. An offer had been made to them to join in a night of ale and women, two pleasures the dwarf could not deny himself. One of the men had just begun a crude tale of a whore with a hairy arse when the Hound stormed in.
He heaved towards a corner table and rasped "piss off" to a scrawny lad who fled, leaving behind his ale. Tyrion turned away from the tale to stare openly at the Hound. He watched the dog pour the ale so readily down his throat, that in his haste, drops trickled down his metal plate. To his servant's surprise, Tyrion leapt from his seat and walked straight over.
The Hound gave him one disdain look, shook his head and muttered, "What do you want, Imp?"
"Your behavior with Lady Sansa. You must remind yourself and the King that she remains a guest here."
The Hound roughly wiped his chin, laughing harshly "Aye, you think so?"
"Whatever the liberties the King beeches upon you...don't forget your place." Tyrion was now whispering
angrily, the noise of the men brewing louder behind them. "This...this puppy love you appear to have for her..." Tyrion sneered.
The Hound finally looked over his cup at him. Tyrion watched as his forehead cringed, red scars grew into deep lines over his burnt face. The cup of ale dropped onto the table with a clunk, its brown liquid spilling everywhere. The Hound stood up, now bearing down over the littlest Lannister with a look of pure hatred. His shoulders shook but Tyrion held his gaze.
"Understood?" the dwarf dared.
The Hound, realising the sudden silence around him, looked up to their attentive audience, their eyes fixed to the stand off with him and the Imp. He growled a angry murmur and strode over the door, roughly pushing aside the gaping mouthed men.
"Yes, what?" Tyrion called out to him, perhaps pushing his luck with the Hound's nature.
His thoughts were confirmed as the Hound loudly muttered, "Eat shit, Dwarf."