Game of Thrones Page #12

Bran starts climbing again. His wolf starts howling again.

Bran shouts down sternly:

BRAN:

Quiet! Sit! Stay!

The wolf continues to howl, until Bran is far, far above him.

Then he drops back down onto his stomach and whines.

Bran scrambles up the rough-cut stones of the ancient tower.

He climbs with no fear and no hesitation. When he gets high

enough he begins swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle. He knows

where to find every handhold and foothold.

He is near the top when a woman’s voice from inside the tower

startles him, nearly causing him to lose his grip.

WOMAN’S VOICE

I don’t like it. You should be the

Hand.

MAN’S VOICE

There’s an honor I can do without.

Far too much work involved.

Clinging to a gargoyle, Bran looks down, past his dangling

feet. The voices come from a row of glassless windows below.

WOMAN’S VOICE

Don’t you see how dangerous this

is? Robert loves the man like a

brother. We’ll have to watch him...

MAN’S VOICE

(lazy; seductive)

I’d rather watch you. Come back

here.

Bran reaches for the next gargoyle over. It seems too far, he

won’t make it...

But Bran has climbed this tower a hundred times. He swings

over to the second gargoyle, straddles the stone monster’s

back, tightens his legs and turns himself upside down.

Perched like a bat, Bran is able to look in through the

window. From his vantage he cannot see the couple’s faces.

59.

A fur cloak has been laid on the stone floor of the unlit

chamber. A naked woman lies belly down on the fur. A naked

man lies on his side beside her, mostly hidden by the

shadows. Their voices echo strangely off the ancient stones.

WOMAN’S VOICE

Stark has never cared about the

south. Never. He wants to move

against us. Why else would he leave

this place? He’s like a king

himself up here.

MAN’S VOICE

Maybe he just wants to be warm for

once in his life.

The naked man grabs her by the hair and forces her to rise to

all fours. She gasps with pain.

WOMAN’S VOICE

Stop...

He does not stop. Keeping one hand on her hair, he pushes

himself to his knees. He seizes her hip with his free hand

and pulls her toward him, thrusting deep into her.

WOMAN’S VOICE

(moaning)

Stop it... stop it... please...

Her voice is low and she does not push him away; the harder

he pulls her hair, the more she moans.

Bran has no idea what to make of all this. He tries to get a

better view and in doing so his sleeve brushes against the

stone edge of the empty window.

The woman turns and stares right at Bran.

Queen Cersei screams.

Everything happens at once. Cersei pushes the man away,

shouting and pointing.

Bran tries to pull himself up, bending double as he reaches

for the gargoyle’s head. In his panic his hands scrape

uselessly against smooth stone, his legs slip, and suddenly

he is falling.

He shoots out a hand and grabs the window ledge. His momentum

forces him to swing against the wall, hard, knocking the wind

out of him. He dangles one-handed, panting.

60.

Faces appear in the window above him: Cersei and her twin

brother, Jaime.

CERSEI:

He saw us.

As distraught as the queen looks, Jaime simply seems amused,

watching the terrified boy with a small smile.

Bran’s fingers start to slip. He grabs the ledge with his

other hand. Fingernails dig into unyielding stone. Jaime

reaches down.

JAIME:

Take my hand.

Bran seizes Jaime’s arm and holds on with all his strength.

Jaime yanks him up to the ledge with no apparent effort and

stands him on the window sill.

CERSEI:

What are you doing?

JAIME:

(ignoring her)

How old are you, boy?

BRAN:

Eight.

Now that he’s safe, Bran trembles, realizing how close he

came to dying. He releases Jaime’s arm.

Jaime looks at his sister. There is loathing in his voice:

JAIME:

The things I do for love.

He shoves Bran. The boy falls backward out the window,

screaming, the courtyard rushing up to meet him.

Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howls.

Crows circle the broken tower.

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