Yoren and his band camped by the edge of a river. While most of them were sleeping, Meg sat leaning against a tree. The scene of Joffrey killing her father kept playing in her head over and over. How could she ever have liked him?
Yoren came and sat beside her. "Can't sleep, huh?"
"How can you sleep with all the terrible things you've seen?" Meg asked. "I can't get over how they killed my dad like that."
"I know how you feel," said Yoren. "My brother was murdered by a boy named William. I thought constantly about gettin' revenge, and eventually I made a ritual of sayin' William's name every night before fallin' asleep. Then one day I got my chance. William returned to my town and I killed him with an axe. Then I took his horse and rode to the Wall to join the Night's Watch so I wouldn't be punished for killin' him."
"You said his name every night?" Meg mused. "Maybe I should try that." She clenched her fists. "But there are so many people I wanna kill. Joffrey, Queen Cersei, Ilyn Payne, Meryn Trant."
"Get some sleep," Yoren said. But then they heard the sound of a horn.
Everyone else woke up. Gendry sat up rubbing his eyes. "What's goin' on?"
"The soldiers must be comin' back," said Yoren. He handed a sword to Meg. "I hope you know how to use this."
Meg tried to hide her nervousness. "Just stick 'em with the pointy end, right?"
A burning arrow whistled through the trees and set the prisoner wagon on fire. A force of Lannister men stepped out of the woods. "I'm Ser Armory Lorch," said the leader. "I've come for Gendry. Drop your weapons."
Yoren remained defiant. "Don't think I will."
"Kill him," Lorch said to the man beside him. The man raised a crossbow and shot Yoren in the shoulder. But Yoren picked up an axe in his other hand and chopped off the head of the guy who had hit him. He managed to take down several other soldiers before Armory Lorch drove his sword through the back of Yoren's neck.
Seeing their leader killed, Gendry and many other recruits joined the fight, while Hot Pie tried to hide in some bushes. Meg was about to join the fray when she heard a voice calling from inside the burning cage. "Boy!" called the otter who had introduced himself as the Mask. "Sweet boy!"
Beside him, Rorge was less eloquent. "Get these fuckin' chains off!"
Yoren's axe had fallen to the ground. Meg scooped it up and ran to the cage with it, passing to through the bars to Mask. Then she rushed back into the battle.
A soldier had wounded Lommy and was about to kill him when Meg came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned around, Meg drove her sword point at his eyes. The man reeled backward and fell. She wished he had been Joffrey.
Then they were coming at her from all sides. Meg fought like mad, cutting, stabbing, shoving. But in the end, she was overwhelmed and knocked down.
Next thing she knew, she was chained up next to Gendry and Hot Pie. "We'll take the survivors to Harrenhal," said Armory Lorch.
Lommy was lying on the ground with a crossbow bolt in his leg. "Help…" he called.
A soldier named Polliver approached him. "Can you walk?"
"No. If you want me to come with you, you'll have to carry me."
Polliver held out his hand, but when Lommy grasped it, Polliver used his other hand to stab Lommy through the throat!
"Which one of you is Gendry?" Lorch demanded. "Tell me or I'll start removing eyeballs!"
Meg looked at Gendry next to her. She could tell he was terrified. Meg had to think fast.
"That boy there!" she said, pointing at dead Lommy. "He's Gendry!"
And they believed her. "Nice going, Polliver!" said Lorch. "You killed the one boy we came here to find!"
But there was nothing to be done for it. They started driving the prisoners toward Harrenhal. The only thing that kept Meg going was her death list, which she was silently repeating over and over in her head. And now she had two more names to add. Polliver and Ser Armory Lorch.
