A Game of Thrones-Chapter 50

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Arya IV
A Game of Thrones chapter
AGameOfThrones.jpg
POV Arya
Page 443 US HC (Other versions)
Chapter chronology (All)
Arya III
Eddard XIV  ← Arya IV →  Sansa IV

Arya V

Arya is training with Syrio Forel when they are interrupted by Ser Meryn Trant accompanied by guards from House Lannister. He demands that Arya goes with her, but Syrio tells her not to, and fights them, giving Arya time to escape. At the stables she finds her sword Needle and kills a stable boy that wants the reward the queen would give him, and then escapes into the dungeons of the Red Keep

Synopsis

Arya sweaty from training with Syrio Forel before they are due to board ship for Winterfell.Now she is sore from a blow at her breast, and Syrio tells her she is dead. She complains that Syrio cheated by telling her one direction and then striking from the other direction. He tells her his words lied but not his eyes or his arm; she is a dead girl. Syrio tells her that it is now time to listen; he will tell her the story of how he became the First Sword of Braavos.

When he became First Sword there were many who were stronger, faster, or younger. He became first sword because he can see the truth. The ships of Braavos sail to the far lands and bring strange animals for the Sealord’s menagerie. After the death of the previous First Sword many were called to the Sealord and had been sent away. Finally Syrio is called before the Sealord who has a fat yellow cat on his lap. The Sealord tells him that the animal was brought to him from a far land by one of his captains. Now the Sealord asks Syrio if he has ever seen its like, and Syrio tells him that he has seen its like at night in the city. That day Syrio is named the First Sword. Arya tells does not understand, and Syrio explains that the others expected a marvelous beast, and so that is what they saw; see with your eyes and ears before you think. Then Syrio tells her that when they get to Winterfell it will be time to put this “Needle” in her hand.

It is then that the great wooden doors fly open to reveal five Lannister guardsmen and Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard. Ser Meryn orders Arya to go with him to see her father. Arya is about the follow when Syrio stops her and asks why Eddard is sending Lannister guards to fetch her. Arya then states that her father would not send him and grabs her stick sword. When Ser Meryn states that he is a member of the Kingsguard, she replies that the Kingslayer. When a guard approach Arya and Syrio stands before her and tells him to speak to him with respect. The guard goes for his sword and Syrio whips the guard’s sword hand, breaking his fingers, and causing him to drop his sword. Then Ser Meryn orders the Lannister guards to attack, and Syrio tells Arya to go to her father. As the guard surround Syrio she can see that he was only toying with her; Arya can see Syrio surrounded by five dead or dying men before she leaves through the door to the kitchen. She hears Ser Meryn draw his sword. Syrio tells her to go, but she watches as the First Sword lands many blows onto Ser Meryn’s armor before Ser Meryn cuts the Syrio’s wooden sword. Arya turns and runs crying through the kitchen.

As she runs she thinks of everything Syrio had told her: “Swift as a deer. Quiet as a shadow. Quick as a snake. Calm as still water. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. Fear cuts deeper than swords. The man who fears losing has already lost. Fear cuts deeper than swords…” Her sword grip is slick with sweat when she reaches the tower. She wonders if she should go up or down and remembers Syrio stating to do the unexpected, so goes down to a cavernous cellar filled with casts, but she knows it is a dead end. She climbs up the casts to a window. Outside the window she can see the stout door to the Tower of the Hand was splintered and the corpse of one of her father’s guards is dead on the ground and she can hear fighting. She thinks about when she had heard a man state that if one hand can die, so can another. In the yard it is deserted, but it is never deserted. As she moves she pretends that she is catching cats but she is the cat and is dead if they catch her. Outside the stable she finds Hullen on the ground looking dead. When she approaches him he opens his eyes and tells her to tell her lord father before dying. Inside find more dead, including Desmond who had told her he would protect her father; there is only a single Lannister body, and she remembers him saying every northerner was worth 10 southerners. As she collects horse tack, she finds her broken chest on the ground. She gropes for Needle where she had hidden it under the dresses and other clothing. A stable boy appears behind her with a pitchfork, and she asks him to help her saddle a horse, He responds that her father is dead and that the queen will reward him. When he grabs her she only remembers what Jon Snow told her and drives Needle through his belly.

As she saddles her mare, she realizes that the gates would be closed, and they would let no one out. She has to go another way and wonders if she can find the room with the monsters again. She can see more men on the wall than she had ever seen before, mostly Gold Cloaks. Crossing the yard is the scariest thing she ever did. Hearing Syrio’s words she slowly walks across the yard, daring not to look, to the empty Royal Sept. Taking two of the candles in the sept, she crawls out a back window. It takes her more than an hour to find the room, crawling through windows, over walls and through cellars. She goes back to light her candle, and returns. Now the monsters do not frighten her. There are rats in the dungeons but they do not scare her. The crypts of Winterfell had been scarier than here; she and her brothers had been taken there by Robb and to where they would lay one day. Jon had suddenly appeared covered in flour, and that had not scared her.

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References and Notes