A Storm of Swords ÔÇö Daenerys IV
Beneath Yunkai's walls Daenerys treats with sellswords; Daario Naharis brings her two captains' heads and his sword, and the Wise Masters' host breaks in the night.
The chapter retold
Beneath Yunkai's walls, Daenerys Targaryen turns from conquest to negotiation, treating with the sellsword companies the Yellow City has hired to hold her off. Daario Naharis, a captain of the Second Sons with gold-painted facial hair and an actor's flair for entrances, resolves the negotiation his own way ÔÇö by murdering his two co-captains overnight and presenting Dany with their heads as a dowry, along with his sword and the company's sudden, complete change of allegiance.
It is Dany's introduction to a man who will become one of the book's more destabilizing romantic entanglements, charming in exactly the way that should worry a queen who has learned the hard way what charm can be covering for. With the Second Sons flipped, Yunkai's hired defense collapses from the inside before Dany's own army ever needs to strike a blow ÔÇö another city taken as much by reputation and daring as by force.
This movement: The Red Wedding
- Edmure weds Roslin Frey under the Twins' roof; the bread and salt are eaten; the music is wrong.
- Crossbows from the gallery, tent canvas cut over the feast outside, Grey Wind penned and shot.
- Robb dies with Roose Bolton's steel in his heart: "Jaime Lannister sends his regards."
- Catelyn opens her own face with her nails, and a Frey opens her throat. The North dies at a wedding.