A Clash of Kings-Prologue

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Prologue
A Clash of Kings chapter
AClashOfKings.jpg
POV Maester Cressen
Place Dragonstone
Page 1 UK HC (Other versions)
Chapter chronology (All)
Appendix  ← Prologue →  Arya 1

Maester Cressen broods on the omens all around him on Dragonstone. When news arrives that the Stormlords will not support Stannis Baratheon’s quest for the Iron Throne, Cressen comes into conflict with Queen Selyse and the red priestess Melisandre over what course they should take. In a desperate attempt to kill Melisandre, Cressen shares poison wine with the red woman, but dies while she remains unaffected.

Synopsis

Maester Cressen is looking at the blood-red comet in the sky over Dragonstone and considering whether it is an omen. The old wise man chides himself for believing in omens, yet he has never seen a comet so bright nor of that color. At the same time, hot steam has begun to issue from vents beneath the Dragonmont, and a white raven has arrived from the Citadel, declaring the end of this 10-year-long summer. It is enough to make any man believe in omens, but the old maester cannot decide what they might mean.

Cressen’s young soon-to-be replacement Pylos interrupts his thoughts to bring word that Princess Shireen wishes to see the white raven. The title “princess” is a new appellation for the young girl, now that her father, Lord Stannis, is a king. Cressen bids Pylos to show her in. Princess Shireen enters with her fool Patchface. Shireen’s face is disfigured from a bout of greyscale that nearly claimed her life as an infant.

While Pylos goes to fetch the white raven, Cressen ask Shireen why she is not still in bed. The young girl says that she has had nightmares of dragons coming to eat her. Cressen, thinking of the many dragon-motif statues and buildings of Dragonstone, attempts to comfort her by explaining that Dragonstone was once the westernmost outpost of the ancient Freehold of Valyria. He explains that the Valryians had long-forgotten ways of shaping stone and used it to make the thousands of stone dragons on the island.

While they wait, Shireen also asks the maester about the comet and about winter. When Pylos returns with the white raven, Shireen is delighted to learn that it can speak. Then Patchface begins singing, “The shadows come to dance, my lord,” which upsets Shireen. She does not like the song and claims he has been singing it often lately. Cressen thinks back to how the old Lord Steffon Baratheon found the fool in Volantis while seeking a wife for Rhaegar Targaryen. Upon their return journey, within sight of home, their ship had sank. Everyone aboard had been killed, but Patchface had washed up three days later. His skin had been clammy cold and they had taken him for dead, but then he coughed up water and survived, albeit broken in mind and body. Cressen assures Shireen that Patchface is just rambling and does not comprehend any of what he says.

Pylos, who had gone to fetch Cressen’s breakfast, returns to inform him that Ser Davos Seaworth has returned during the night and is now in council with King Stannis. Cressen complains that he should have been notified, as it is his duty to advise the king. Asking pardons of Shireen, the old man has Pylos help him hobble to the Stone Drum, the main keep of Dragonstone. While slowly ascending the stairs, Cressen meets Ser Davos. He reveals that his mission as envoy to the Stormlands has been a failure. The lords sworn to Storm's End have no love for Stannis and will not support his claim. Instead, they have joined with the lords of the Reach in supporting Stannis’ younger brother, Renly.

News of Renly claiming the crown leads Cressen to worry for the youngest Baratheon. When Ser Davos mentions that Renly has instituted a new Kingsguard, Cressen recalls that Renly was always fond of games and rich bright fabrics as a child. “Look at me, I’m a dragon,” and “Look at me, I’m a wizard,” the boy had always been shouting. Cressen sees Renly’s bid to be king as no more than another game: “Look at me, I’m a king.”

Cressen asks Davos if he could bring Stannis any hope, but Davos insists that the only hope he could bring would have been the false sort. This leads Cressen to recall that Ser Davos was once a notorious smuggler who had sailed past a Redwyne blockade in the dead of night to deliver onions and salt fish to Lord Stannis’ starving garrison during the Siege of Storm's End. It had allowed them to survive until Lord Eddard Stark could lift the siege. Stannis had knighted Davos for his deed, but also cut short all the fingers on Davos’ left hand save the thumb as punishment for his past misdeeds. Cressen realizes that a man like that would give no false hope to Stannis.

Ser Davos declares that if Stannis marches on King's Landing now, as is his intent, with so small an army it will only be to die. Cressen insists that Davos has done all he can and that it is now his turn. Cressen finds Stannis in the top room of the keep, looking down at the Painted Table, which is shaped as a detailed map of the continent of Westeros. Talk between the maester and the king quickly turns into a rant by Stannis about how the Baratheon birthright of Storm’s End and the Stormlands should have passed to him rather than Renly when their brother King Robert assumed the Iron Throne. It is an old grievance made new by the fact that Dragonstone, ancient and strong though it is, commands the allegiance of only a handful of lesser lords whose stony island holdings are too thinly-peopled to supply the men that Stannis needs to seize his rightful throne.

When Stannis asks what he is to tell the few anxious bannermen he does command, Maester Cressen reminds him that House Lannister is his true enemy and suggests that he join with Renly to defeat them. Stannis flatly refuses. Cressen yields immediately and suggests a partnership with the new King in the North, Robb Stark, who commands all the power of Winterfell and Riverrun. Stannis again refuses, claiming that the Stark boy seeks to steal half his kingdom. Cressen suggests that half a realm is better than none and that Robb may even submit in exchange for help avenging his father, but Stannis remains adamant and launches into another rant about slights he received at the hands of his brother Robert. Cressen proposes a marriage pact between Shireen and young Robert Arryn. Stannis dismisses it as impossible because of Lysa Arryn’s paranoia, but admits it is worth a try.

Then Stannis’ wife, Queen Selyse, arrives to argue that Stannis should not have to beg or bargain with any of them because he is their true king. Queen Selyse has been entirely converted to the worship of the foreign god R'llor by the red priestess Melisandre of Asshai. The queen proclaims that the comet is an omen from the Lord of Light that he will aid Stannis in his conquest. Stannis, who does not share his wife’s newfound faith, questions how many men the Red God will deliver him. Selyse insists that R’hllor will provide all the power of Highgarden and Storm's End. Stannis reminds her that those men now support Renly. Selyse agrees, but suggests that if Renly should die, his army would join Stannis. Cressen is horrified by the notion and pleads that fratricide is evil. Stannis declares that he has heard Cressen’s advice and sends the aged maester away.

Back in his rooms, Cressen contemplates. He knows that all that Queen Selyse said had been preached to her by Melisandre, the red priestess. It is her who must be silenced before she can convert King Stannis to her evil schemes and spread her mad religion beyond Dragonstone. Therefore, Cressen goes to a small workroom under the rookery stair and retrieves a small vial of purple crystals. Known in Westeros only as the Strangler, one of the small crystals is enough to cause the victims throat muscles to constrict tighter than any fist, making it impossible for them to breathe. Cressen plans to put one in Lady Melisandre’s drink at the feast Stannis is holding for his bannermen tonight.

Hours later, Cressen wakes to discover he has overslept and is late for the feast. When he enters the great hall, he finds Stannis and his bannermen have begun without him. As Cressen crosses the room, Patchface the fool lurches into him while singing the same song from the morning. Both fall to the floor, but Cressen is too feeble to rise on his own. Strong hands lift him to his feet. When he turns to thank the knight he believes helped him, he comes face-to-face with Melisandre herself. The red priestess mockingly advises him to mind his steps, intoning her religion's prayer, “For the night is dark and full of terrors.” Cressen insists that only children fear the dark. Melisandre declares him a fool and places Patchface’s ridiculous antlered helm upon Cressen’s head. Cressen removes the crown, angrily brooding.

When he reaches the high table, Cressen sees that Stannis has given his accustomed seat to Maester Pylos. Melisandre sits to Stannis’ right, in the place of high honor. When questioned Stannis declares that Pylos will now assume all of Cressen's duties, insisting that Cressen is too old to serve any longer. Cressen is heartbroken by the rejection, but accepts and meekly pleads for some place at the table. Of all the assemble lords, only Ser Davos, who is plainly dressed in a room full of garish costume, offers him a seat.

Davos informs him that Melisandre has seen victory in her flames and that Stannis intends to press his claim. After a final plea for Stannis to see reason, Cressen is ridiculed by all except Davos. Deftly dropping one of the poison crystals into a cup of wine, Cressen proposes a toast. Melisandre agrees to share the wine with Cressen. Before they drink, she gives him the opportunity to back out, but Cressen refuses. Melisandre drinks most of the cup, leaving only a small amount for Cressen. Cressen pushes away his fear and drinks as well. The ruby at Melisandre’s throat glows and she insists that her god R’hllor does have power. While Melisandre looks on unaffected by the poison, Cressen collapses and dies.

References and Notes