Chapter Summaries

Suleiman confronted Lucos Vypren, who tried to reclaim grain after learning Ironborn were raiding the Riverlands. Suleiman refused to break the completed deal, and Lucos withdrew while threatening to tell Walder Frey.

• Olivier returned with more than eighty wagons of grain and warned Suleiman that House Vypren's men were pursuing them.
• Suleiman sent Olivier and the wagons toward Crossroads Town while he and forty-seven riders formed up at the bridge.
• Lucos Vypren learned Suleiman was behind the merchant train and ordered his larger force to charge, then told Suleiman that Ironborn were ravaging the Riverlands.
• Lucos demanded the grain back and invoked his marriage to Walder Frey's daughter, but Suleiman rejected his arguments and refused to return the goods.
• Lucos abandoned the attempt to seize the grain and rode away, threatening to report Suleiman to Walder Frey.

As the Ironborn invasion spread through the Riverlands, Suleiman overcame his panic and ordered his people to prepare the mountain forts, protect their towns, and assist Deddings Castle. He also sent Evelyn a warning for Lady Lorna, while keeping his veteran forces in reserve.

• Suleiman realized the Ironborn would have to cross the Riverlands before reaching his lands, and resolved to use the Mountains of the Moon as a strategic refuge.
• Suleiman ordered Olivier to move the grain stores into the five military forts and Lushen to strengthen their defenses and ready the people to fight.
• Suleiman ordered Rosso Brune to scout along the Green Fork and establish signal fires, while Bryn prepared evacuation plans with Roslyn and Bana.
• Suleiman sent Lushen to recruit four hundred new subjects to bolster Deddings Castle, instructing them to avoid direct combat and protect their families.
• Suleiman asked Evelyn to write to Lady Lorna, warning her to stay inside Valleydeep Town's castle, reinforce it, stock supplies, and avoid the rivers.

Hoster Tully ordered the Riverlands to muster against the Ironborn while refusing to draw troops from Seaguard. At Deddings Castle, Lady Roslin received unexpected relief from Lord Suleiman and went to welcome the army she now recognized as her most loyal vassal.

• Hoster Tully demanded answers about the Ironborn invasion and ordered Riverrun to muster four thousand men, forbidding Seaguard from sending troops.
• Lady Roslin struggled to contain panic at Deddings Castle as peasants fled and her vassals sent only a few dozen men each.
• A guard announced that over four hundred soldiers had arrived at Deddings Castle under Lord Suleiman's banner.
• Lady Roslin was overcome with shame and gratitude, then declared that she would personally welcome the relief force.

Suleiman decided to clear the Wildlings from the Mountains of the Moon before the Ironborn invasion could threaten his rear. His forces ambushed a returning tribe, and Rosso witnessed the brutal methods Suleiman’s soldiers used to claim military merit.

• After receiving Hek's report that Wildlings had returned to the mountains, Suleiman ordered Rosso to gather the mounted squires and Bryn to recruit settlers and train crossbowmen.
• Suleiman rejected Evelyn's suggestion to concentrate forces in the forts, explaining that he needed to secure his rear before facing the Ironborn.
• Kopi Son of Gorn, encouraged by a Vale emissary's claim that Suleiman had taken his troops away, rallied the Tree Men tribe to reclaim its home and burn the forts.
• Suleiman led Rosso, Bryn, and the settlers through mountain paths on foot, avoiding roads and striking Wildling tribes as they gathered.
• Rosso's dismounted riders and the new crossbowmen overwhelmed a Wildling tribe in a cave, and Suleiman ordered the captured warriors killed.
• Rosso watched the soldiers take the Wildlings' heads for military merit, and one rider offered him two prisoners to kill himself.

Suleiman trapped the Tree Men tribe in a gorge and forced Kopi Son of Gorn to choose between surrender and death. After the tribe killed bound Free Folk prisoners to prove its loyalty, Suleiman accepted them as his Wildling tribe and promised land, food, and protection.

• Kopi Son of Gorn led the Tree Men tribe into a gorge, where Suleiman’s forces blocked the way behind them and waited at the exit.
• Bryn’s archers and crossbowmen killed more than a hundred Wildlings, and Kopi Son of Gorn led the survivors to surrender to Suleiman.
• Suleiman ordered the Tree Men to kill more than a hundred bound Free Folk prisoners or face death themselves.
• Kopi Son of Gorn attacked the prisoners, and the rest of the Tree Men joined him until all were dead.
• Suleiman declared the Tree Men his tribe, promised them land, food, and protection, and told them they could go home.

Kopi lured the Stone Fist and Moon Howl tribes into Dry Wind Gorge, where Suleiman’s forces burned most of them alive. After the soldiers gathered the few survivors, Suleiman ordered that anyone who could speak be given no quarter.

• Suleiman ordered Kopi to lure returning Wildling tribes to Dry Wind Gorge by promising food and safety, while keeping the Tree Men’s women and children under his protection.
• Kopi found the Stone Fist and Moon Howl tribes, showed them food, and persuaded their chieftains to join him and march toward the gorge.
• Kopi sent the tribes’ old and young along a separate path, then led more than six hundred warriors into Dry Wind Gorge and escaped with the Tree Men after they fell asleep.
• Suleiman’s forces launched flaming arrows into the gorge, igniting the fire oil and killing most of the trapped Wildlings as Kopi watched from above.
• The next morning, Suleiman’s soldiers rounded up fewer than a hundred survivors and separated them by age and sex.
• Suleiman first ordered the soldiers to spare no one taller than a cartwheel, then changed his order to spare no one who could speak.

Suleiman captured the Tree Men’s women, children, and elders after learning Kopi had led them along a separate trail. He made the Tree Men Black Lion’s Sauron Clan, bound them to provide soldiers in wartime, and left Kopi confronting the power gained through his alliance.

• Bryn reported that the gorge held fewer people than expected, and Kopi explained that he had sent the women, children, and elders along another trail.
• Suleiman led his army to the secluded valley and surrounded the Tree Men, whose people cursed Kopi as a traitor.
• Suleiman renamed the Tree Men Black Lion’s Sauron Clan, appointed Kopi its hereditary first chieftain, and demanded soldiers as wartime blood tax.
• Suleiman granted the Tree Men the other clans’ possessions and women, and Kopi’s followers rushed to claim them.
• Suleiman ordered his soldiers to kill every man from the original tribe who could speak, while Kopi watched the slaughter and sensed the power he had gained.

After receiving word of trouble at the Trident, Suleiman ordered his forces to leave the High Mountains and bound Kopi’s tribe to the Sauron Clan through a Blood Tax. Kopi offered his daughter and twenty female warriors to serve Suleiman, and the chapter ended with Suleiman conjuring a flame in his palm.

• A messenger delivered Suleiman a letter warning him to return at once because something had happened at the Trident, so Suleiman ordered the camp to march at dawn and abandoned plans to bury the Wildlings.
• Suleiman renamed Kopi’s people the Sauron Clan, promised to supply them with food, and demanded warriors in return as a Blood Tax.
• Kopi offered his two eldest sons for military service and proposed that Suleiman marry his daughter, but Suleiman declined.
• After Bryn refused marriage and Rosso insulted the Wildlings, Kopi offered his daughter and other female warriors as Suleiman’s guards, and Suleiman accepted twenty of them.
• Alone in his tent, Suleiman opened his palm and made a bright flame appear.

At Seaguard, Jason Mallister and Tytos Blackwood tried to keep the Riverlords from withdrawing their troops as Ironborn raids spread along the Trident. A bloodied message then revealed that Lychester Castle had fallen and Lady Lymond Lychester had fled to Harrenhal, leaving the lords shaken by the scale of the invasion.

• Lord Piper warned Jason Mallister that Ironborn longships were raiding along the Trident and that farmers were deserting to protect their families.
• Lord Clement Piper demanded that deserters be hanged, but Tytos Blackwood argued that force would worsen the flight and said Riverrun and House Blackwood were gathering four thousand men.
• Jason Mallister backed Tytos Blackwood, promised to defend Seaguard, and threatened lords who withdrew their troops without permission.
• Lord Raymun Darry and Balon Deddings reflected on their own precautions and choices as the Riverlords remained uneasy.
• A soldier brought Jason Mallister a blood-soaked message reporting that Lychester Castle had fallen and Lady Lymond Lychester had fled to Harrenhal.

Bronn urged Roderick Greyjoy to disguise refugees as a large Ironborn army, and the ruse frightened Lychester Castle into surrendering without a fight. Roderick celebrated and set his sights on Harrenhal, while Bronn realized the growing success had made escape even less likely.

• Bronn convinced Roderick Greyjoy to use Riverlander prisoners and refugees to make his six hundred Ironborn seem like a vast army and spread false reports of Seaguard's fall.
• The disguised column approached Lychester Castle, and Lady Letcher mistook it for thousands of Ironborn and ordered a flight to Harrenhal.
• Lady Letcher and a small group of riders escaped through the back gate, leaving Lychester Castle open for Roderick's men to seize without a fight.
• Roderick celebrated the capture with Bronn and declared that he would take Harrenhal next.
• Bronn realized Lychester's fall would make Riverlands nobles even more fearful and that Roderick's close attention had left him little chance to escape.

Lady Roslin sent Ser Elak to drive the Ironborn from her lands, but his army routed and he was killed. Lushen led an orderly retreat, helped defend Deddings Castle, and reported that the Ironborn force was smaller than it appeared; Roslin ended the chapter ordering ravens sent to Riverrun and her vassals.

• Lady Roslin struggled to find a commander willing to face the Ironborn until Ser Elak volunteered to lead her army.
• Ser Elak marched out with more than a thousand soldiers, but the Ironborn charged and the inexperienced troops broke and fled.
• Lushen ordered his four hundred showpiece soldiers to retreat in formation, gathered more than two hundred fleeing men, and returned to Deddings Castle.
• Ser Elak charged the Ironborn after they cut down his standard-bearer, but throwing axes struck him and he fell from his horse.
• Roderick Greyjoy saw archers and Lady Roslin ready on the castle walls, then chose to retreat and continue looting elsewhere.
• Lushen told Roslin that the Ironborn pursuing them seemed to number only a few hundred, and Roslin ordered a raven sent to Riverrun and her family's vassals.

Suleiman discovered he could conjure and shape a small flame, and wondered whether its power came from the lives consumed in fire. After Hek brought him an urgent letter from Deddings Castle, Suleiman learned that Lady Roslin had suffered a crushing defeat and was summoning her bannermen.

• Suleiman conjured a small flame in his palm and shaped it into lifelike animals, then wondered whether burning people had granted him the power.
• Suleiman ignited a distant candle with the flame and questioned whether making it stronger would require him to burn more people.
• Hek arrived with urgent military intelligence, but the Chieftain's Daughter and her warriors initially blocked his way into Suleiman's chambers.
• Suleiman approved of the Chieftain's Daughter's protection and let Hek deliver a hurried letter from Deddings Castle.
• Suleiman read that Lady Roslin's troops had been crushed while driving off the enemy and that she was summoning her bannermen.

At Lion's Den, Suleiman weighed whether to answer Lady Roslin’s call for aid against the Ironborn, deciding first to protect his border and wait for reinforcements. A desperate letter from Lady Lorna changed his decision, and he ordered five hundred men to prepare for war.

• Olivier urged Suleiman to refuse further aid to House Deddings, while Hubbard argued that fighting the Ironborn offered no profit and risked heavy losses.
• Suleiman decided to mobilize three hundred soldiers to guard his border with House Deddings without entering its lands, and to wait for outside forces to arrive.
• A guard delivered Lady Lorna’s letter reporting that Ironborn had crossed into her lands, burned villages, and pillaged food.
• Suleiman declared that Lorna’s lands were his own and ordered Bryn to gather five hundred soldiers with weapons, armor, and seven days of rations.

Wicken led a small Ironborn raiding party through the Riverlands, plundering villages while using refugees to exaggerate the size of his force. As he planned two more raids and believed himself in control, an opposing army marked his position as its target.

• Wicken's men finished sacking a village, killing its people, stealing grain and livestock, and capturing women.
• At a nighttime feast, the Ironborn mocked the Riverlanders and joked about the Black Lion before proposing to raid Lady Lorna's castle.
• Wicken rejected the plan to march inland, warning that their ships were their only escape and that their mission was to spread panic, not attack castles.
• After the others fell asleep, Wicken planned to plunder two more villages and return to Roderick's force.
• An opposing army drew a route on a more accurate map that ended at Wicken's location.

Suleiman led his army after Wicken’s Ironborn raiders, while Wicken realized the mounted scouts were closing in and ordered his men toward the forest. Suleiman overcame his suspicion that the retreat was a trap, and his forces surrounded the Ironborn after their refugee decoys scattered.

• Wicken noticed the mounted scouts returning more frequently and realized an enemy army was rapidly approaching, so he ordered his men to abandon their burdens and flee into the forest.
• A scout told Suleiman that most of the Ironborn column consisted of Riverlands refugees carrying makeshift weapons, with no more than a hundred real Ironborn among them.
• Suleiman suspected the column might be bait, but after learning the Ironborn were running for the forest and discarding their belongings, he ordered an attack.
• Suleiman sent Rosso Brune and the mounted retainers around both flanks to block the forest entrance while the main force charged the Ironborn.
• The terrified refugees scattered when they saw Suleiman’s army, leaving Wicken and more than forty Ironborn exposed between Suleiman’s soldiers and Rosso Brune’s riders.
• Suleiman silently lowered his sword and ordered his army to attack the trapped Ironborn.

Suleiman’s forces defeated Wicken and the Ironborn after crossbow volleys broke their shield formation, and Rosso Brune killed Wicken in a knight’s charge. The victory left Suleiman’s soldiers newly confident as Rosso presented Wicken’s head to his lord.

• Rosso warned Suleiman that charging the Ironborn’s tight shield formation would cause needless casualties, so Suleiman ordered the crossbowmen to fire instead.
• Repeated crossbow volleys wounded the Ironborn and weakened their formation until Wicken ordered his men to break out toward the forest.
• Bryn led Suleiman’s soldiers forward in a square formation, and they overwhelmed the wounded, disorganized Ironborn.
• Rosso Brune charged Wicken with his lance, pierced his chest, and cut off his head.
• Suleiman’s soldiers celebrated their victory and declared that the Ironborn were not as fearsome as they had expected.
• Rosso presented Wicken’s head to Suleiman, who helped him to his feet.

Lady Lorna reunited with Suleiman when he arrived at her castle with reinforcements, and he comforted her before deciding to move her and the castle’s valuables to the Lion's Den. He planned to explain her departure as a voluntary flight from the Ironborn and to exaggerate his victory over them when reporting to House Deddings.

• Lady Lorna learned that Suleiman’s army had arrived, rushed barefoot to meet him, and clung to him in relief.
• Suleiman reassured Lady Lorna, carried her onto his warhorse, and brought her into the castle.
• After Lady Lorna fell asleep, Suleiman ordered Toman to move her and the castle’s people, valuables, and supplies to the Lion's Den.
• Suleiman told Old Nicken and Toman to say that Lady Lorna had fled the Ironborn voluntarily and sought his protection.
• Suleiman ordered them to report that his five hundred reinforcements had defeated six hundred Ironborn but suffered heavy losses, though the enemy force had actually numbered only a little over forty.

Suleiman read Lady Roslin’s plea for help as House Deddings’ bannermen abandoned the Riverlands defense, and he decided to march against the Ironborn before they attacked Seaguard. He gathered Lady Lorna’s forces and arrived at the Green Fork to find the other lords had sent a pitiful host.

• Lady Roslin wrote that House Deddings’ bannermen were refusing to send troops, and reported that Lord Lymond Lychester had withdrawn to reclaim his castle.
• Suleiman concluded that the Riverlands host would soon fall apart and decided to raise his forces and strike the Ironborn.
• Suleiman promised Lady Roslin he would answer her summons, then secured food, arrows, and weapons by describing his forces as nearly nine hundred strong.
• Suleiman sent Old Nicken and Lady Lorna to safety, conscripted the four hundred farmers she had gathered, and marched toward the Green Fork.
• Suleiman arrived at the meeting point and found that most bannermen had sent only a few poorly armed men, while Lord Yorks had brought more than a hundred.

Suleiman took control of the scattered forces assembled at the Green Fork, but judged them too unreliable for a decisive battle against the Ironborn. He ordered the army to march to Deddings Castle, keeping House Deddings’ knights and soldiers under his direct command while leaving the other lords’ troops to trail behind.

• Suleiman arrived with a disciplined thousand-man army and ordered Rosso Brune to bring the commanders to his tent.
• Patrick Morrison introduced himself as an admirer of Suleiman, and more than twenty knights sworn to House Deddings declared that they would follow Suleiman’s command.
• Suleiman questioned the other lords’ representatives about why their families had not sent anyone, and they offered excuses for their limited contributions.
• Rosso reported that the coalition numbered 1,427 men, but Suleiman dismissed the force as too weak and disorganized for his planned battle against the Ironborn.
• Suleiman ordered everyone to break camp and march to Deddings Castle, folding House Deddings’ knights and troops into his army and relegating the other forces to the flanks and rear.

Roderick Greyjoy saw Suleiman’s disciplined army approach and chose not to attack, while Bronn identified its black lion banner. After the army made camp, Rosso Brune brought in Ser Kurt and eight foot soldiers accused of fleeing from the Ironborn, and Suleiman questioned Ser Kurt about the desertion.

• Roderick Greyjoy spotted Suleiman’s orderly army and ordered his men to provoke it rather than risk a direct attack.
• Bronn identified the black lion banner as belonging to Suleiman, and Roderick ordered the Ironborn to stop looting and gather.
• Suleiman’s army ignored the Ironborn and marched on to find a place to camp.
• Rosso Brune arrived with Ser Kurt and eight bound foot soldiers, accusing Ser Kurt of fleeing during the Ironborn’s harassment.
• Suleiman asked Ser Kurt to explain himself, and Ser Kurt blamed the foot soldiers and urged Suleiman to execute them.