They climbed the stairs leading out of the dungeon. At the top was a wooden door. Gonff held up a paw for silence as he eased it open. It was all clear. They stepped out into a broad hallway which stretched away to the left and right of them.
Tyrion scratched his head. "Which way? Left, or right?"
"Left," said Gonff. "Come on, mates."
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Tsarmina and Clogg were talking as they walked down the hall. "We'll leave at first light tomorrow," Tsarmina said.
Clogg said, "When we get to the coast, I know some creatures that can help us. There's some cannibal lizards living in the area, and a tribe of savage squirrels called the Gawtrybe."
"Squirrels would never help creatures like us," said Tsarmina. "They're far too noble."
"Not these squirrels," said Clogg. Before he could say anything more, they turned a corner and walked straight into Tyrion and them!
It was hard to say who was more surprised, the evil queen and the pirate, or their escaping prisoners.
"Follow me!" Gonff turned and ran in the opposite direction, past the dungeon entrance and up another set of stairs that led to the upper levels. The others followed him.
"Why are we climbing the stairs?" Jorah Mormont panted as he ran. "I thought we were trying to get out of this castle."
"I know what I'm about. Trust me, matey," said Gonff.
When they got to the top of the stairs, Gonff led the way down another hall and through the door at the opposite end. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the door to an upper messroom. Tsarmina's soldiers and Clogg's crew were sitting eating dinner at a long trestle table.
Gonff jumped onto the table and started running across it, knocking all the food off and splattering the vermin. This distraction enabled the others to run past the vermin and get to the other side of the room, where there was a window.
"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Gonff yelled as he jumped out the window.
"Is he mad?" Tyrion asked.
"No, there's a tree out there," Gingivere said as he climbed out himself.
"Here goes nothing," Jorah said, following them.
Just then, Tsarmina and Clogg came bursting in. "Seize them!" Tsarmina shouted.
Tyrion and Varys were the last ones left in the room, but there was a problem. Varys was too fat to fit through the window and he got stuck trying to climb out! Tyrion was frantically pushing at him from behind, but Varys was jammed tight.
Just as the first of the vermin were about to reach them, Tyrion gave a mighty shove and he and Varys both tumbled out the window. They crashed through the branches of the tree below and smashed to the ground.
Gonff, Gingivere, and Jorah were already on the ground. "Are you all right?" Gingivere asked.
Tyrion picked himself up. "Well, nothing's broken, at least."
"That wasn't the worst experience of my life, but it was definitely in the top five," said Varys. "The worst experience I had was when my penis was cut off."
The five of them ran off into the night, hoping to get a head start.
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After leaving Sansa and Arya behind in the Vale, Meg had traveled to the nearest harbor. There, she found a ship.
A man in a captain's cap was standing on the dock. "Is this your ship?" Meg asked. "Where is it going?"
"This is the Titan's Daughter, of the free city of Bravos" the captain said. "We're about to head for home."
"Can I come with you?"
"You got money?"
"I have this," Meg said, taking her Bravosi coin out of her pocket.
The captain laughed. "One coin? That won't get you very far!"
But Meg held it up to him so he could see the inscription on it. His laugh died away. "Valar morghulis," Meg said.
The captain blinked. "Do you know what that means, child?"
"No," Meg admitted. "Someone just gave me this coin and told me that if I said valar morghulis to anyone from Bravos, they'd take me there."
"'Valar morghulis' means 'all men must die,'" said the captain. "And the proper response is valar dohaeris- all men must serve. Welcome aboard."
