The Sworn Sword — Dunk VI
The widow's terms want Bennis's blood; Ser Eustace's pride wants his stream. And then the old knight confesses what Dunk half-guessed: at Redgrass Field, the chequy lion flew for the black dragon. Dunk's oath is suddenly a stone in his chest.
The chapter retold
The widow's terms are plain: she will have Bennis's blood for the digger's cheek, and Ser Eustace's pride will have his stream. And then the old knight confesses the thing Dunk has half-guessed — at the Redgrass Field, where the first Blackfyre Rebellion was drowned in blood, the chequy lion flew for the black dragon, and Eustace's sons died on the losing side. Dunk's sworn service turns to a stone in his chest: he has bound himself to a traitor's cause without knowing it, and the chapter forces the saga's central question on him — what an oath is worth once you learn the truth of the man you swore it to.
This movement: The Red Widow
- Dunk rides to Coldmoat to talk instead of bleed, and finds the Red Widow smaller, sharper, and more dangerous than her legend.
- Septon Sefton's table-talk maps the age: the Spring Sickness's toll, Dagon Greyjoy loose in the west, Bittersteel biding in Tyrosh, and Bloodraven's whisperers everywhere.
- Ser Eustace confesses Redgrass Field: the chequy lion flew with the black dragon, and his sons died for it. Dunk's sworn service turns to stone in his chest.
- Wat's Wood burns in the night — the drought's tinder gone at a stroke — and the old knight names Lady Rohanne the arsonist and calls his five-man army to war.