Meg and the Hound were riding towards the castle when the sounds of fighting began inside. "Seven bloody buggerin' hells," the Hound cursed.
When they got up close, people started coming out. Meg saw Chris's face….
But it was just his severed head bobbing on a pike. The Freys were parading around with it. "The king in the north!" they chanted. "Here he comes, the king in the north!"
Meg swallowed a scream. She jumped off the horse.
"Where do you think you're goin'?" Sandor Clegane demanded. "There's no savin' your brother now! He's dead!"
"Maybe, but my mom is in there too, and she might not be."
"Stupid little bitch. If you go in there, you won't come out. Maybe Frey will let you kiss your mother's corpse."
"Maybe we can save her!" Meg turned to run into the castle, but the Hound knocked her out cold with the handle of his axe before she could take a step.
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Next morning at Dragonstone, Stannis was talking to Davos. "Congratulate me, Davos. The hour of my triumph is at hand."
"What are you talkin' about?" Davos asked wearily.
"I've just received word that Balon Greyjoy and Chris Griffin are both dead. Looks like there might be something to this blood magic after all, eh?"
"Just because they died, it doesn't mean you and Melisandre had anythin' to do with it."
"I named three kings, and two of them died. It must have been my doing!"
"You're confusin' correlation with causation," said Davos.
"Look, it's the War of the Five Kings. Three of the kings are dead now. Once Joffrey dies too, they will HAVE to send for me! All those people on the small council will be begging for my forgiveness. And I will forgive them, of course." Stannis paused. "And then I will have them executed." He clapped Davos on the shoulder. "Be prepared to pack your bags at a moment's notice. Because when I ascend to the Iron Throne, I'm going to make you my Hand."
"My lord. I do not deserve the honor…"
"Well, you're getting it anyway," said Stannis.
After Stannis left him, Davos hurried to Edric Storm's room. "Come with me," he said. "I'm sendin' you away from here. I have a nasty feelin' Stannis ain't done with you. And next time, he might not be satisfied with just lettin' leeches suck your blood. He might end up killin' you. So, I'm sendin' you somewhere safe."
He smuggled the boy out of the castle and put him on a ship heading far away.
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Speaking of ships, at that moment, two of them were landing in the harbor at Lordsport, on the island of Pyke. Asha Greyjoy got out of one, and her twin sister Yara Greyjoy got out of the other.
Asha glared at Yara. "What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same question," said Yara. "Shouldn't you be at Deepwood Motte?"
"I left a large force to garrison it for me," said Asha. "What about you? I thought you were supposed to be holding Moat Cailin."
"Well, I heard that our lord father had died, so I came to claim his throne."
"I'm the one who will be taking our father's throne," said Asha. "I'm the oldest."
Yara tossed her head. "By five minutes! Big whoop!" She walked off.
Asha seethed. She had always felt that two Greyjoy sisters was one too many.
"Sisters shouldn't be fighting like this," said a voice behind her. Asha turned to see her Uncle Aeron, who was a priest. She had always got on well with him.
"I'm not going to let Yara chisel me out of my kingdom," she said.
"If you continue fighting against each other, someone else may steal the Salt Throne from both of you," Aeron said. "I don't think my brother Balon died by accident. He's been navigating those bridges all his life. He was very sure footed. There's no way he fell on his own. I think he was pushed."
"By who?"
"I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect it was our other brother Euron."
"Crow's Eye?" Asha scoffed. "He's been gone for years. He's off pirating somewhere, if he's alive at all."
"I think he may be back, and he's hiding somewhere," said Aeron. "If he did kill Balon, it's because he wants to be king himself. If that's the case, he will step forward during the upcoming kingsmoot to claim his brother's throne."
"I've still got a better claim than he has," said Asha.
Aeron shook his head. "The other ironmen won't see it that way. I know it's not fair, but a penis has always counted for more than a vagina around here. If you and Yara both try to claim the throne, neither of you will be able to get the majority of votes, and Euron will win instead. But, if the two of you girls could come to some kind of accord, if one of you agreed to step down and support the other, maybe there's a chance you could beat him."
"Never!" cried Asha. "I won't back down, and I know Yara won't either."
"As you will," Aeron said sadly. He feared a bloodbath was coming.
