A Clash of Kings ÔÇö Catelyn III
Under the walls of Storm's End the brother kings meet to trade insults; Stannis offers Renly a night to reconsider, and a peach outlives the peace.
The chapter retold
Under the walls of StormÔÇÖs End, the brother kings meet to trade insults instead of armies ÔÇö Stannis and Renly, each convinced of his own superior claim, parley in a tent with all the warmth of two men who have hated each other since childhood and see no reason to stop now. Stannis, outnumbered on the ground but backed by something Renly canÔÇÖt quite dismiss, offers his brother one night to reconsider his rebellion before the alternative arrives.
The scene is dry, bitter comedy laid over real menace ÔÇö a peach, offered and eaten in the middle of the negotiation, somehow says more about RenlyÔÇÖs careless confidence than anything spoken aloud. Catelyn watches two brothers who might have combined their strength into an unstoppable force instead burn the night arguing about which of them deserves to lead it, and the peace on offer expires with the sunrise neither man seems inclined to respect.
This movement: The Kraken in the Godswood
- Theon takes Winterfell with thirty men while its strength bleeds south; Ser Rodrik's rescue is betrayed by Reek.
- Bran and Rickon vanish; two miller's boys hang tarred above the gate in their place.
- A bread riot nearly eats the court; the High Septon is torn apart in the streets.
- In Qarth, the warlocks invite Dany to the House of the Undying; she walks out through fire with Drogon screaming.