Lady Lysa Arryn was waiting in a sort of throne room. The chamber was perfectly round with a very high ceiling that had a spiral staircase with doors that led to different rooms of the castle. For a moment, I was confused by her age. Lady Catelyn had said that Lady Lysa was two years younger than her, but the woman sitting on the massive wooden throne looked to be five years older. Lysa Arryn was shrunken with watery blue eyes that kept flitting around the room. Her long and thick auburn hair was the only thing I could see linking the two sisters together as sisters.
Lysa Arryn was still wearing her nightgown as Catelyn and I approached. She swept her long auburn hair over one shoulder and her watery blue eyes landed on Catelyn first, and then to me. Before I could decide if she didn't like me or not, her eyes were back on Catelyn and her scrawny face broke into a smile that looked forced.
"Cat!" She exclaimed. "It's been how long? Five years? It's been too long, sister."
"You look well," Catelyn replied, giving her younger sister a nod of greeting. "But also tired."
Lysa's face twitched for a moment. "Tired. Yes." She looked back to me and frowned. "Who is this? She looks like the bastard with the mules."
I looked away from Lysa just to glance at Catelyn, who glanced back at me for a moment before speaking to her sister. "This is Helaena Snow. She is apart of my escort from Winterfell. She is acting on the orders of my son to keep me safe."
"A bastard," Lysa said blankly. I had no idea if she said it bitterly or if she was just echoing what Catelyn had said. I held the lady's gaze for a long moment before she broke it off and nodded to the double doors behind me and Catelyn. "Leave us, bastard. I wish to speak to my sister alone."
Catelyn looked to me and nodded once, giving me the real permission I needed to leave the room. I nodded once back to her and turned my back on Lady Lysa, exiting the great hall and stepped into a sort of hallway. The hall outside of the great hall made a loop around the castle, with one side of the hallway completely open to the mountain side. I stared out at the view once more, taking in the valley far below.
It struck me how terrible the descent would be.
The sounds of yelling came from the great hall behind me and I looked over at shoulder at the closed set of doors. I couldn't make out what was being said, but I could tell that the argument was getting heated.
A few minutes later, Catelyn emerged from the great hall, looking angry and flustered. I went to her immediately and forgot my place. "What happened in there? I heard you two yelling at each other."
I half expected Catelyn to snap at me to not ask questions. But she heaved an angry sigh and shook her head. "Lysa refuses to see reason and try to fight against the Lannisters."
"Fight?" I asked. "D'you really think it'll come to that?"
Catelyn met my eyes and seemed to deflate slightly. "By now the Lannisters must've heard about my taking Tyrion. I am loathe to admit it, but Tyrion Lannister has a point. And that is his father and brother would go to war to get him back."
Catelyn and I were given rooms. Her room was much more luxurious than mine, but Lysa had been planning on making me sleep in the lowest quarters she could find, but Catelyn had intervened so now I just had a small and cramped room right above the sky cells.
Tyrion Lannister had been put into those sky cells the moment he had made the journey up the mountain. The men who had accompanied us on our travels through the Vale were given rooms similar to mine, so that they could stay in slight comfort as a part of their payment for coming all this way.
That night, I ate dinner with Ser Willis, Bronn the sellsword, and several other knights of the Vale. Catelyn ate her dinner with Lady Lysa and Lord Robin. I couldn't say that I envied her, considering how close-minded her sister seemed to be and how her nephew apparently still suckled at his mother's breast despite being eight years old.
Ser Donnel, who had brought us to Mya the night before, spilled the gossip as soon as he had enough wine in him. "Lady Lysa, seven bless her, she means well, but her way of keeping her son safe is to lock him away here so that no one can ever see him. She hasn't been right ever since Lord Jon died; and even before that she was always a tad off. Three stillborn children and four miscarriages will do that to a woman, I suppose."
I had exchanged a look with Ser Willis at this. Lady Whent's knight didn't say anything, just raised his eyebrows at me and continued stuffing his face full of chicken that had been marinated in whiskey and fruit.
The next morning, I woke completely wrapped in blankets and furs. It looked like some time during my sleep, I had wrapped myself into a cocoon of blankets from my bed. I hesitated leaving my bed, it was too cold here and I wanted to stay in here for a while longer. Another pang for Winterfell hit my heart and I missed my own room back home, where the natural hot springs underneath the castle kept the walls and rooms warm.
I had managed to dress myself when a thundering knock came to my door. I blinked, jumping for a moment to put my last boot on my foot before answering. Ser Willis stood there, panting slightly. "The Imp is going to confess his crimes, Snow. Lady Stark demands your presence."
Ser Willis led me right to the great hall again. The lords and ladies of the Vale's court stood in the circular room. I spotted Bronn leaning against a pillar. Marillion the singer was sitting on a bench with two ladies on either side of him. Despite his injuries, he looked happy to be there. Ser Willis led me past them and up the stairs until we both stood at the top. Lady Catelyn was a few feet away, and she nodded at me, telling me to stay where I was.
Lady Lysa and Lord Robin were sitting on that massive throne, looking down on Tyrion, who stood in the middle of the hall. I hadn't been able to see him before. The dwarf wasn't looking good, even though he had been in the sky cell for only a day. But then again, I had seen the sky cells, how they opened to nothing but the harsh fall down the mountain.
"You wish to confess your crimes, Lannister?" Lady Lysa asked, wasting no time.
"I do, my lady," Tyrion answered. Ser Willis glanced at me but I kept my eyes locked onto the dwarf.
Lysa smiled and gave Catelyn a pointed look. "The sky cells always break. The gods see them there, and there is no darkness to hide in. Say what you will, Imp."
Tyrion Lannister didn't look broken to me. Tired and disheveled by wind, yes, but broken, no. A hush went over the court as Tyrion Lannister began to speak. "Where to begin? I'm a vile little man, I confess. My crimes are beyond count. I have lain with whores, I have gambled and I have not always treated my servants kindly. One time I stuffed my uncle's boots with goat shit. When confronted with my crime I blamed a squire; poor boy was flogged.
"Another time I stole the clothes of a servant girl, who was bathing in the river. She had to return to the castle naked. If I close my eyes, I can still see her tits bouncing." That earned Tyrion a small huff of laughter. He continued. "Once, I skinned my sausage," The crowd either gasped in horror or chuckled with laughter. "I flogged the one-eyed snake, into a bowl of turtle stew." Tyrion made an obscene gesture with his hands, causing more laughter and gasps. I exchanged a glance with Catelyn, who looked like she was losing control of her prisoner. "I made the bald man cry, into the turtle stew! Which I do believe my sister ate; at least I hope she did. I once brought a jackass and a honeycomb into a brothel-"
"Silence!" Lysa interrupted Tyrion before he got to the good part of that joke.
"What happened next?" Robin Arryn asked, leaning forward and looking very interested. I tried to remember the ending of the joke while Lysa questioned Tyrion on what he was doing exactly.
Tyrion blinked up at her. "Why I'm confessing to my crimes, of course."
Catelyn took a step forward. "Tyrion Lannister, you are accused of sending a hired knife to slay my son Bran in his bed, and of conspiring to murder Lord Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King."
"Oh, but I can't confess to those crimes, seeing as I didn't do those things."
Lysa stood up from her throne. "I will not be made a fool, Imp. You've had your joke; I hope it was worth it. Ser Vardis, take him back to the dungeon. But this time, find him a smaller cell, with a steeper floor."
"Is this how justice is done in the Vale?" Tyrion shouted, turning and glaring at the various lords and ladies of the Vale. "Does honor stop at the Bloody Gate? You accuse me of crimes, I deny them, so you throw me into an open cell to freeze and starve. Where is the king's justice? I stand accused, you say. Very well. I demand a trial."
I looked to Lysa to see what'd she do now. He was a part one arguably the most powerful house in Westeros; she couldn't deny him a trial. But Lysa just smiled cruelly and said, "Very well. If you are tried and found guilty, you must pay with your own life. We keep no executioner here in the Eyrie; life is more civilized here. Open the Moon Door."
The second she said those words, Lord Robin started giggling and clapping hurriedly. I blinked at the little lord as two men lifted a lever on the far side of the room and the small circular wooden door in the center of the floor opened wide, revealing nothing but blue and the green and gray of the ground miles and miles below us.
"You want a trial, my lord of Lannister." Lysa said with that cruel smile as her son giggled himself silly. "My son will listen to whatever you care to say, and you shall hear his judgement. Then you will leave, through one door or the other." She looked so pleased with herself.
"I see no trouble to bother Lord Robin," Tyrion said, his own small smile spreading across his face. "The gods know the truth of my innocence. I will have their verdict, not the judgement of men. I demand a trial by combat."
A low murmuring filled the room along with a few open bouts of laughter. Ser Willis chuckled beside me and Marillion plucked a note on his new woodharp with one of his broken fingers. Even the wind seemed to whistle in amusement through the Moon Door.
"My lady!" A young knight with a green viper embroidered onto his surcoat stepped forward. "I beg the right to become your champion."
"The honor should be mine," One of the older lords said. "For the love I bore your husband, let me avenge his death."
"My father served Lord Jon faithfully as his high steward," A knight I recognized from the Bloody Gate took a large step forward, blocking Bronn from my view. "Let me serve his son in this."
A dozen men all spoke at once. I looked down at Tyrion, wondering if he found it disheartening that so many men were eager to kill him.
Lysa raised her hand for silence. "Ser Vardis, you've been quiet."
The knight took a knee towards Lysa and Robin. "Forgive me, my lady. The man is no warrior. Half my size and lame in the legs. It would be shameful to slaughter a man and call it justice."
Tyrion nodded and looked up to Lysa. "I agree."
"You demanded a trail by combat." Lysa snapped.
"And now I demand a champion. I have that right, same as you. I choose my brother, Ser Jaime Lannister as my champion."
"Your brother is hundreds of leagues away from here."
"Send a bird for him. I will gladly wait."
"The trail will happen today." Lysa said, looking like she had won again. "Name your champion, Imp, if you think you can find a man to die for you."
"I'd sooner find a man to kill for me," Tyrion said, looking over the room. For a moment, no one moved. But then there was a sudden movement and I tightened my jaw at the sight of Bronn.
"I'll stand for the dwarf." Bronn announced.
"Oh gods," I muttered to myself.
It took several minutes for Ser Vardis to get into his armor, complete with sword and shield. Bronn, however, didn't change into armor; he just took his sword and refused a shield. Catelyn took this time before the fight to hurry over to where Ser Rodrik had joined me on the stairs.
"The dwarf has played my sister like a set of pipes, and she is too deaf to hear the tune." Catelyn whispered fiercely to me and Ser Rodrik. "Whatever happens at the end of this fight, it is past time we take our leave. Ser Rodrik, if you are strong enough to travel, I shall ask Lysa for an escort to see us to Gulltown. We can take a ship from there."
"That sounds like a lovely idea," I said immediately. Catelyn forced a smile at my comment and went back to her spot by Lysa and Robin's throne. The fight was starting to begin. I found myself gripping the thick stone railing that looped around the room. Catelyn looked worried; Lysa looked smug; and little Lord Robin jumped out of his throne, fumbling a little bit, screaming, "Fight!"
Ser Vardis charged at Bronn, his shield up and protecting his whole body. When Ser Vardis swung his sword, Bronn dodged it easily. Their swords came together twice, ringing loudly throughout the great hall. The ringing made my ears ache, but still I watched the fight as intently as if it were my own trial by combat. The knight pursued the sellsword, he tried to slash but Bronn backed up and the sword just slashed air. The knight moved carefully, moving his feet as they were weighed down by his large amount of armor. Ser Vardis kept slashing and diving at Bronn, but the sellsword was jumping and leaping out of reach, graceful as a panther.
As one of the Vale's lords shouted about how Bronn was craven by avoiding the fight, I couldn't help but disagree and admire Bronn's fighting style. His opponent was wearing a shit ton of armor, which weighed him down easily. By avoiding the sword and keeping himself just out of reach, he was succeeding in making the knight chase him. Ser Vardis would be tiring out soon enough.
Ser Vardis was still coming hard onto Bronn, but he was getting slower. He was getting tired. I swallowed hard as Bronn ducked to the side and his sword took a hefty chunk out of the knight's armor, and I caught the tiniest bit of blood.
Bronn suddenly struck out. Ser Vardis blocked, but clumsily. Bronn's blade flashed upward and landed hard on Ser Vardis's head. Metal rang and the ringmail protecting the knight's head was crushed. The two men were standing right at the edge of the Moon Door. Bronn ducked underneath one of Ser Vardis's swinging arms, still trying to fight despite the horrible blow to his head. I sucked in my breath as Bronn gave the older man a great shove, and Ser Vardis went tumbling through the Moon Door, a scream flying up at us from below.