The Sworn Sword — Dunk VII

Egg's counsel and a night's hard thinking. Before Dunk can settle his service, the horizon settles it for him: Wat's Wood burns in the dark, the drought's tinder gone up at a stroke — and Ser Eustace names the widow arsonist.

The chapter retold

A chapter of hard thinking, as Dunk turns his ruined oath over in the dark and Egg offers a prince's easy solution that Dunk, on principle, refuses to use. Before he can settle what his service is worth, the horizon settles it for him: Wat's Wood goes up in the night, the drought's tinder consumed at a single stroke, and Ser Eustace names Lady Rohanne the arsonist and calls his five-man army to war. The chapter turns a quarrel over water into a matter of fire and honor, and commits both stubborn old houses to a battle neither of them can actually afford.

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.