Chapter 366: The Dragonkeeper Hound
Banners of every color fluttered, including Jon's newly made White Wolf Banner.
The Riverside Tourney Grounds on the Blackwater Rush were not hot, yet Jon felt his blood boiling.
Jon Snow Stark faced none other than the Red Viper of Dorne, one of the most dangerous knights.
All the spectators drew sharp breaths. The Red Viper was as powerfully built as the stories said, and fiercer still.
Prince Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper, was tall, athletic, graceful, and exceptionally well-rounded. Jon could only be considered a lesser version.
The Dornish had not come to King's Landing in a long time, ever since the Mad King's falling-out with Prince Rhaegar in his later years. The Mad King disliked children with a Dornish look. Then there had been the War of the Usurper.
And though House Stark's young knight was a brave youth too, he still needed more seasoning.
"I hope Oberyn holds back a little." Eddard Stark watched the Red Viper anxiously from the viewing stand, waiting to see how much strength he would hold back. Rumors about the Red Viper were countless.
Rumors about his tourneys, his wars, his duels, his mounts, and even his sexual interests were countless... It was said he bedded men and women alike, and that his bastard daughters were scattered throughout Dorne. Those girls were called the "Sand Snakes."
But the one constant in the stories was danger. People agreed that the Red Viper was one of the most dangerous warriors alive. He had forged six chains, encountered poisons and dark magic, and worked as a mercenary, with a company of his own.
"Someone ought to tell Lord Stark to watch out, lest his gloomy bastard son get crippled in a fall too," Olenna Redwyne, the Queen of Thorns, remarked