Meg, Gendry, and Hot Pie arrived at the ruined castle Harrenhal with the column of prisoners.

Gendry looked at the decimated towers. "They've been burned," he said. "What kind of fire can melt stone?"

"It was dragon fire," said Meg.

"Does that mean there are dragons in there?" Hot Pie worried.

"No, it happened a long time ago," she assured him. "During Aegon's Conquest."

"The dragons are long gone from Westeros now," said Gendry.

Hot Pie sniffed. "Then what's that I smell?"

Polliver walked up and prodded him with his sword butt. "Keep walkin'."

They were brought inside and chained in a stockade with many other prisoners. They could hear the screams of a man being tortured nearby. Suddenly the screaming came to an end.

"He's dead," said an old woman who was chained to the opposite wall across from Meg. "They've tortured my sister, my husband, and now my son to death." She said all this in an emotionless monotone.

"They must select a new victim each day," Gendry realized.

"Does anyone ever survive the torture?" Meg asked. But the woman did not answer.

That night, as rain poured into the stockade, Meg recited the names of her enemies. "Joffrey, Cersei, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Ser Armory Lorch, Polliver, and everyone at SEGA for giving Sonic the Hedgehog blue arms in the Sonic Boom game."

Next morning, she was woken by Ser Armory Lorch and his men. Ser Gregor Clegane was there too. Meg remembered him from the tournament. "What's he doing here?" she whispered.

The man on the other side of Hot Pie whispered back, "He's the one who chooses which of us is goin' to be tortured. You should stare at him. That's what I always do, and I'm never chosen."

Then Gregor Clegane pointed a massive finger at the staring man. "Him."

The soldiers unchained the man from the wall and strapped him to a chair. A guy who everyone called "The Tickler" questioned him. "Where are the Brotherhood Without Banners now?" the Tickler demanded.

"I don't know!" the prisoner sobbed.

"Who in your village helped them?" the Tickler asked.

"I don't know that either!"

They put a rat in a bucket and strapped it to his chest. This was just a regular rat, not a humanistic one like Whegg and Chinwart. They heated the bucket to provoke the rat into burrowing through the prisoner's chest. "Stop! Stop!" he wailed. "I'll tell you who helped the Brotherhood! It was Ganes the butcher and his son!"

"Thank you," said the Tickler. "You've been very helpful." But he went on with the torture anyway. And Meg and the other prisoners had to watch.

That night Meg repeated her list of enemies again, and this time she added Ser Gregor and the Tickler.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Renly was having sex with Ser Loras Tyrell in his tent when Roger poked his head in. "King Renly! Your brother Stannis is in the camp, and he's got some creepy woman in a red robe with him!"

Renly jumped up. "I'm sorry, Loras, we'll have to take this up later," he said as he got dressed. He hurried out of the tent.

Roger looked at Loras lying on the bed. "I can pick up where he left off, if you want."

"That's okay," said Loras.

Stannis was waiting outside for Renly, accompanied by his friend Ser Davos Seaworthy and Melisandre, a Red Priestess of the Lord of Light. Lois was there too, talking to Stannis. "Lord Stannis. What an unexpected pleasure."

"I didn't expect to see you here either, Lady Lois," he said.

Then Renly walked up. "Look who it is. Stannis the boring guy and his friend the boatman."

"Did you just call me boring?" said Stannis.

"Yeah, boring and bald, you fucker."

The brothers looked like they were about to fight, but Lois stepped between them. "Stop it! We shouldn't be fightin' each other. We should be workin' together to defeat the Lannisters."

"I'm perfectly willing to work with Stannis, as soon as he acknowledges me as his king," said Renly.

"I'm the one who should be king," said Stannis. "I'm older."

"Yeah, but no one likes you. Did you change your banner? I don't remember the Baratheon stag being on fire before."

Melisandre spoke for the first time. "King Stannis has taken the fiery heart of the Lord of Light for his sigil."

"Lord of Light?" said Renly. "Never heard of him. He's not one of the Seven, is he?"

"There are only two gods," said Melisandre. "Not seven, not a hundred, not a thousand, only two. There is R'hllor, the Lord of Light, and then there is his opposite number, the beast that no one dares name, the creature with only one eye."

"Oh, you must be that fire priestess I've heard so much about," said Renly. "Now I see why Stannis found religion so late in life."

Stannis's face was red. "Watch your tongue!"

"You should kneel before the Lord's chosen," Melisandre told Renly. "Stannis was born amidst salt and smoke."

"You make him sound like a ham," Renly joked.

"Stop all this bickerin'!" said Lois. "You are brothers, an' you should act like brothers. I'm sick an' tired of this endless pissin' contest between the two of you. It's just like the time Pee-tah got into a 'last clap' contest with Lord Cleveland Brown."

FLASHBACK

Cleveland Brown and his family had come to visit the Griffins at Winterfell, back when Peter was still alive. They were sitting in the dining hall while a minstrel was performing. When the musician finished, everyone clapped. But Peter and Cleveland kept clapping after everyone else had stopped. Finally, Peter jumped up and yelled, "If you clap one more time, I'll cut your head off!"

There was a long silence. Then, the sound of another clap. Peter was incensed. "Who did that?"

"Hodor!" a voice called.

END OF FLASHBACK

Stannis warned Renly one last time. "I'll give you the night to reconsider for the sake of our mother. If you strike your banners before dawn, I'll put you back in your old seat on the council after I take King's Landing, and I'll even make you my heir until I have a son. Otherwise, I will destroy you."

He got on his horse and started to ride away.

"Look to your sins, Renly," said Melisandre. "The night is dark and full of terrors." Then she followed after Stannis.