Chapter Summaries

Liu Qian captured the Gray Hills mining area and discovered that the Cat Company was approaching to defend it. He disguised his troops as slave soldiers and prepared an ambush for Bloodbeard’s mercenaries.

• Liu Qian left Chai Yi with three thousand soldiers at the outpost tower and marched into the Grey Mountains with Jelena and the remaining forces.
• Liu Qian’s scouts found that the mining area had only about a thousand poorly equipped slave soldiers guarding it.
• Liu Qian and Jelena attacked the mining area, defeated its guards, and took three hundred slave soldiers prisoner while ordering the slaves to keep working.
• Chai Yi’s scouts reported that the Cat Company was advancing toward the mines under a black cat banner.
• Liu Qian ordered his soldiers to disguise themselves in captured armor, hid the Dragon Spirit Guardians along the river valley, and made the mining area look untouched.
• Bloodbeard led the Cat Company through the valley, grumbling to Paymaster Will about being hired to defend the Lys mines.

Liu Qian trapped and annihilated the Cat Company at the Gray Hills mining area, killing its commander, Bloodbeard, and taking control of the mines. He ordered the mercenaries’ heads piled up as a warning to the other companies.

• Lucas warned Bloodbeard that the watchtower had sent no scouts or messenger, but Bloodbeard dismissed the concern and led the Cat Company toward the Gray Hills mines.
• A disguised Liu Qian greeted Bloodbeard at the mining camp and killed him with a sudden sword strike.
• Disguised Tyroshi soldiers and workers attacked the Cat Company from within the camp as twelve hundred Dragon Spirit Guardians struck its rear and flanks.
• Lucas tried to rally the mercenaries, but the ambush overwhelmed them, and the Dragon Spirit Guardians killed the last Cat Company survivors by nightfall.
• Liu Qian took control of the Gray Hills mining area and ordered the Cat Company’s heads piled into a Jingguan as a warning to other mercenaries.

Lys and Myr agreed to renew their alliance and oppose the Easterner, while the Lysene council conscripted more slave soldiers. Denaco remained convinced that a dragon had destroyed the Westerosi fleet.

• Lansono and the Lysene Governors debated how to defend their estates, and Denaco agreed to levy twenty-five thousand slave soldiers.
• A Myrish envoy offered an alliance, claiming Myr had assembled twelve thousand slave soldiers and hired four mercenary companies.
• Lansono accepted Myr’s offer, and the two cities agreed to fight the Easterner together.
• Treg dismissed the rumors that the Easterner possessed a Great Dragon, and the Myrish envoy departed to mobilize Myr’s army.
• Lys’s guards dragged slaves from fields and workshops to equip them for conscription, while Denaco suspected a dragon had destroyed the Westerosi fleet.

Liu Qian learned that Lys and Myr were gathering mercenaries, but the Golden Company was absent, and he chose to exploit Lys's weakened defenses by attacking its capital. After seizing an outer island with little resistance, his fleet headed for the main island and the Governor's Council.

• Liu Qian ordered an ironworks built near Crown Town and left soldiers and captured slaves to guard the Grey Mountains mining area.
• Liu Qian noticed the Golden Company was missing from the mercenary companies assembling for Lys and Myr, and concluded that Illyrio and Varys were keeping it in reserve.
• Liu Qian told Chai Yi and Jelena that he would attack Lys while its slave soldiers were committed to the Disputed Lands, and arranged for Rollo to bring a fleet.
• Liu Qian led eight thousand soldiers south from Outpost Tower, while Chai Yi stayed behind to mislead approaching mercenaries.
• Liu Qian's fleet landed on an outer island of Lys and swiftly defeated its poorly trained slave guards.
• Liu Qian learned from a prisoner that the Governor's Council stood on the main island, then ordered his soldiers to attack its harbor.

Liu Qian's army surprised and captured Lys, whose defenses had been weakened by the deployment of its slave soldiers to the Disputed Lands. After the city fell, Liu Qian had First Governor Lansono Hane, Moredo, and Denaco executed and ordered their heads sent to the mercenaries.

• Liu Qian led his troops ashore and swept through Lys toward the governors' Palace, meeting little resistance.
• Lansono learned that the invading army had reached the Palace and tried to escape through a secret passage, but Denaco exposed him and soldiers captured him.
• At dawn, Liu Qian questioned the captured governors and learned that Treg O'Morren had likely escaped by boat.
• Lansono accused Denaco of betraying the city, and Denaco defended himself by blaming Lansono's conscription of workers.
• Liu Qian ordered Lansono, Moredo, and Denaco executed, then commanded that their heads be preserved and sent to the mercenaries in the Disputed Lands.

Eddard returned to Winterfell after a long absence and learned that Catelyn had miscarried after being poisoned. As Catelyn recovered, she accused Jon Snow of poisoning her, leaving Eddard facing a murder mystery and a deepening family wound.

• Eddard left King's Landing after arguing with Robert over sparing the Targaryen siblings, and he chose not to tell Jon Arryn about Stannis's warning concerning Renly.
• After more than a month of travel, Eddard reached Winterfell and learned that Catelyn had miscarried the day before.
• Eddard reunited with the grieving Catelyn and their children, and she told him she had planned to name the unborn child Rickon if it was a boy.
• Maester Luwin told Eddard that someone had poisoned Catelyn's food, and Eddard vowed to find the culprit.
• Maester Luwin revealed that Catelyn had accused Jon Snow of poisoning her unborn child, and Eddard saw Jon sitting alone in the yard.

Renly learned that Eddard had left King's Landing before Renly could question him about Margaery, while Varys and Illyrio discussed the Easterner, House Tyrell's hidden ambitions, and the danger of the Golden Company joining the war against him. The chapter left Varys urging Illyrio to return to Essos before their plans unraveled further.

• Loras told Renly that Eddard had left King's Landing, and Renly wondered whether Eddard had discovered his plan involving Margaery.
• Renly rejected Loras's suggestion to send Margaery to court, saying she was too young and Queen Cersei might persecute her.
• Varys warned Illyrio not to give the Easterner Dragon Eggs, since he might already have a Dragon and know how to control it.
• Varys showed Illyrio a rejected portrait of Margaery and explained that House Tyrell's actions and Renly's recent activity seemed suspicious.
• Varys told Illyrio that Lys and Myr were hiring sellswords to fight the Easterner, then urged him to return to Essos and monitor the Golden Company.

Liu Qian secured Lys’s wealth and slaves, then returned to the Outpost Tower as Lys and Myr’s forces gathered against him. In the Lys camp, Treg O'Morren bargained with greedy sellsword commanders over payment and heard competing plans to attack the tower.

• Liu Qian ordered Lys’s warehouses and merchants’ property confiscated, seized about a hundred thousand young slaves, and sailed back to Crown Town with his spoils.
• At Qyburn’s construction site, Liu Qian told Qyburn to prioritize Seven Kingdoms captives for experiments and keep the Lys slaves available to have children.
• Liu Qian reached the Outpost Tower, where Chai Yi reported that Lys sellswords and slave legions were camped nearby and Myr was gathering more than ten thousand soldiers.
• Treg O'Morren scolded the Lys officers for failing to stop Liu Qian’s surprise attack, while the sellsword commanders demanded permission to plunder if their promised payment fell short.
• Treg agreed to let the sellswords plunder after the war, and Gilo Reha proposed filling the tower’s trench with slave soldiers while Prince Janyi suggested building catapults instead.

Treg prepared thirty catapults to attack the Outpost Tower, prompting Liu Qian to ready a night raid on the Lys camp. Before the raid began, the Ragged Prince sent Danzor D'Han to offer the Windblown’s allegiance to Liu Qian, who accepted.

• Treg rejected waiting for Myr’s sellsword companies and ordered the Lys forces to build catapults.
• After half a month, Treg’s forces had built thirty catapults, and Liu Qian ordered a night raid on their main camp.
• The Ragged Prince decided the Windblown should switch sides because Treg could not pay them and looting the plantations would spark conflict with other companies.
• Danzor D'Han reached the Outpost Tower and offered the Windblown’s service to Liu Qian.
• Liu Qian accepted the Windblown’s allegiance and promised to pay them after the war.

The Windblown mercenaries betrayed the Lysene coalition and opened its camp to Liu Qian’s forces in a surprise night attack. Liu Qian watched the coalition’s camp burn as its leaders and soldiers were slaughtered or scattered.

• Straw Dick and the Windblown mercenaries replaced the coalition’s sentries after plying them with wine.
• Dick’s men opened passages in the palisade, allowing the Dragon Spirit Guardians and Liu Qian’s armored infantry to enter the camp.
• The attackers split up, struck the mercenary quarters, and killed Governor Treg O'Morren and the coalition’s gathered leaders.
• The Windblown joined the assault, while the Maiden's Men, Broken Flag Company, Long Spear Company, and slave soldiers struggled to resist amid the confusion.
• Prince Janyi surveyed the burning camp as Liu Qian watched the attack consume the coalition forces.

After destroying Lys, Liu Qian seized its wealth and prepared to besiege the Highland Fortress while his cavalry ravaged Myr. The chapter left Myr’s commander Tomonbu under mounting pressure as he waited several more days for mercenary reinforcements.

• Liu Qian assigned captured warhorses to his Dragon Spirit Guardians and distributed Lys’s remaining horses among officers, scouts, and transport units.
• Over the next month, Liu Qian took control of Lys’s estates and industries, sparing lesser nobles who had not openly opposed him.
• Liu Qian had slave soldiers build catapults and a rammed-earth fort opposite the Highland Fortress, then sent cavalry to raid Myr’s heartland.
• Tomonbu watched Myr’s farms and pastures burn as Liu Qian’s raiders returned with plunder, while Myr’s forces remained confined to the fortress.
• Tomonbu learned that the mercenary companies were still four or five days away and feared the continued destruction of his family’s estate.

Tomonbu welcomed the mercenary companies gathered to defend Highland Fortress, but their commanders argued over how to face Liu Qian’s forces. The mercenaries learned that the Easterner had destroyed several renowned companies, and the chapter ended with Kewo storming away before they could agree on a battle plan.

• The Stormcrows and Second Sons arrived at Highland Fortress, followed by the much larger Bright Flame and Iron Shield companies.
• Kewo urged Tomonbu to attack Liu Qian’s forces in the open, while Geluer demanded that the enemy catapults be destroyed.
• Daario recognized the returning heavy cavalry’s equipment as belonging to the Long Spear Company, prompting Mero to ask whether Liu Qian had destroyed it and other companies.
• Tomonbu confirmed the reports and warned that Liu Qian’s army, catapults, and mobile cavalry put them at a disadvantage.
• Daario mocked Kewo by recalling the Bright Flame Company’s retreat from Qohor, and Tomonbu tried to stop their argument.
• Kewo left in anger before the commanders could discuss a battle plan.

Liu Qian learned that Jon Arryn had died and prepared to reply to Mezzo as he considered his next moves in the game of thrones. At Winterfell, Eddard Stark grieved Jon’s death and learned that Catelyn intended to oversee King Robert’s welcome, apparently to target Jon Snow.

• Liu Qian received Mezzo’s letter from Tyrosh, which reported Jon Arryn’s death and his dying words, “The seed is strong.”
• Liu Qian concluded that Eddard’s journey south was now inevitable and ordered paper and a pen so he could reply to Mezzo.
• Eddard Stark mourned Jon Arryn, remembering how Jon had sheltered him and Robert and raised his banners rather than surrender them to Aerys II.
• Maester Luwin told Eddard that Robert’s procession would reach Winterfell within days and that Catelyn had insisted on arranging the welcome herself.
• Eddard realized that Catelyn’s insistence likely came from her suspicions about Jon Snow and her belief that he had caused her miscarriage.

Eddard Stark decided to send Jon to the Wall with Benjen, then welcomed Robert Baratheon to Winterfell. In the crypts, Robert appointed Eddard Hand of the King, leaving Eddard to face the king's demand despite his reluctance to go south.

• Maester Luwin advised Eddard to send Jon away, and Eddard agreed to ask Benjen to take him to the Wall.
• Eddard worried that Jon Arryn's death might be connected to Stannis's revelation about Renly and House Tyrell, and resolved to question Robert.
• Robert arrived at Winterfell, embraced Eddard, and greeted the Stark children and Catelyn.
• Robert took Eddard to the crypts and urged him to come to King's Landing as Hand of the King.
• Eddard refused, citing Catelyn's health, but Robert formally appointed him Hand of the King.

Eddard and Catelyn argued over whether he should accept Robert’s offer to become Hand and support Sansa’s betrothal to Joffrey. Before Eddard could answer, Maester Luwin interrupted with two urgent letters, one of which had appeared mysteriously in his study.

• Eddard told Catelyn he intended to refuse the king’s offer and remain in Winterfell.
• Catelyn urged Eddard to go south, citing his duty and Sansa’s possible betrothal to Joffrey.
• Eddard worried that Joffrey was cruel and that Sansa was too young, but Catelyn pressed him to agree for her sake.
• Desmond announced that Maester Luwin urgently requested an audience.
• Maester Luwin arrived with a wooden box and a worn letter, explaining that one had appeared on his desk and the other had just arrived by raven.

Eddard and Catelyn received conflicting letters accusing Cersei and Renly of murdering Jon Arryn. Convinced by Stannis’s secret warning that Renly had the strongest motive, Eddard agreed that he had to go to King’s Landing to uncover the truth.

• Catelyn read a secret letter from Lysa accusing Cersei of murdering Jon Arryn, then burned it.
• Maester Luwin gave Eddard an unsigned letter whose cryptic message accused Renly of killing Jon Arryn.
• Eddard explained that Stannis had privately told him Renly planned to depose Cersei and make Miss Tyrell queen.
• Eddard rejected Lysa’s accusation as potentially manipulated and concluded Renly had the strongest motive to kill Jon Arryn.
• Maester Luwin urged Eddard to investigate in King’s Landing, and Catelyn persuaded him to go.
• Eddard looked out over the northern city with damp eyes, as though saying farewell to his home.

After discovering that Robert’s children were bastards and fleeing to Dragonstone after Jon Arryn’s death, Stannis received a coded letter from Eddard Stark proposing an alliance. Stannis decided he could not afford to refuse the North’s support against the Lannisters and other rivals.

• Stannis and Jon Arryn investigated Eddard Stark’s suspicion and found genealogical evidence that Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen were Cersei’s bastards.
• Jon Arryn died just as he prepared to reveal the evidence, so Stannis secretly fled King’s Landing for Dragonstone with Davos.
• Maester Cressen brought Stannis an unsigned letter from Eddard, asking whether Jon Arryn’s death was connected to the secret and offering to be his ally.
• Stannis recognized Eddard’s coded reference to their night in Tyrosh and understood that Eddard was seeking a political alliance.
• Stannis weighed his isolation and the powerful enemies surrounding him, then concluded that he needed to unite with the Starks.

After Lady’s execution, Renly showed Eddard a portrait of Margaery Tyrell and tested whether she resembled Lyanna Stark. Eddard concluded Renly was plotting against Cersei and resolved to seek evidence in King’s Landing, while Catelyn prepared to travel there secretly with Ser Rodrik Cassel.

• Eddard returned to his quarters after killing Lady and grieved over the injustice of the judgment against her.
• Renly visited Eddard with a portrait of Margaery Tyrell and asked whether she resembled Lyanna Stark.
• Eddard denied the resemblance, and Renly left after revealing that someone had compared Margaery to Lyanna.
• Eddard connected Renly’s questions to his plan to replace Cersei with Margaery and suspected Renly was behind Jon Arryn’s murder.
• Eddard decided he needed evidence before accusing Renly and resolved to investigate in King’s Landing.
• Catelyn decided to sail secretly from White Harbor to King’s Landing with Ser Rodrik Cassel to tell Eddard about the attack on Bran.

Liu Qian reviewed his plans to drive House Stark, Renly, and House Tyrell into conflict while his campaign against Myr stalled at the Highland Fortress. He returned to Crown Town and visited the Alchemists' Guild, where more than a hundred pyromancers were making wildfire for use against the fortress.

• Liu Qian learned that Eddard Stark had traveled south to become Hand of the King and judged that his schemes had set House Stark and House Tyrell against each other.
• Chai Yi delivered Mezzo's warning that Volantis's triarchs viewed Liu Qian's presence in the Disputed Lands as a threat to western Essos.
• Liu Qian considered the siege's setbacks as Myrish fortifications blunted his catapults and cavalry, then told Chai Yi and Jelena to remain at the front while he returned to Crown Town.
• Liu Qian rode south with Dragon Spirit Guardians and saw that Conqueror's Holdfast's main marble building had been completed.
• Liu Qian summoned Qyburn and visited the Armory's Alchemists' Guild workshop, where over a hundred pyromancers were producing wildfire for his planned assault on the Highland Fortress.

Liu Qian watched Qyburn and the Pyromancers demonstrate the destructive power of their newly made wildfire, then visited Janice and the rapidly growing dragons. He left the river-valley camp after playing with the dragons, hoping they would become strong enough to fight before the Red Comet arrived.

• Qyburn reported that the Pyromancers had produced several hundred jars of wildfire and showed Liu Qian how they had stored them safely.
• Liu Qian ordered a test, and the Pyromancers detonated a jar of wildfire that left a molten crater in the testing ground.
• Liu Qian praised the Pyromancers, concluding that wildfire could overcome the Highland Fortress.
• Liu Qian rode to the river-valley camp, where Janice watched Blooddance, Duskwraith, and Silverfall play by the forest and river.
• Janice told Liu Qian that Blooddance had stopped picking fights with the other dragons after he disciplined it.
• Liu Qian played with the dragons alongside Janice, then made an excuse to leave.