Chapter Summaries

Titus learned that Bull was really Oswin, an Ironborn pirate and Gino’s former shipmate, but he let the plan to observe Alicent and her accomplices proceed. At midnight, Alicent and four companions tried to sneak out of Starpike with five hundred gold dragons, and she began to suspect that their escape was too easy.

• Titus welcomed Alicent to Starpike and arranged for Parker to house her and Bull near each other.
• Gino told Titus that Bull was Oswin, his former shipmate, and revealed that Oswin had served aboard the same pirate ship as him.
• Titus ordered Parker to continue with the plan, sent men to prepare for Jack and the others, and told Gino to remain hidden.
• That evening, Titus hosted dinner for Alicent and Bull, then left Alicent’s room under the pretext of reporting to the earl.
• At midnight, Alicent and four accomplices crept toward the Little Addison Gate carrying a chest of five hundred gold dragons.
• Alicent noticed that they had encountered no patrols and began preparing to scout with her other eye.

Earl Titus captured Wenda the White Stag and her band of outlaws at Starpike, then revealed that he wanted to recruit her for her skinchanging abilities. The chapter ended with Titus imagining how her animal-controlled eyes could give him a decisive advantage in the coming war.

• Titus and his guards surrounded Alicent and her four accomplices in the courtyard at Starpike.
• Titus exposed the merchant kidnapping story as a fabrication and identified the blonde woman as Wenda the White Stag, a leader of the Kingswood Brotherhood.
• Wenda surrendered her weapons, admitted defeat, and asked Titus to let her group serve him in atonement.
• Titus suspected that Wenda was a skinchanger and asked which of them had the ability; Oswin and the others looked toward Wenda.
• Titus concluded that Wenda could provide valuable animal-based surveillance and imagined using her powers in the coming war.

Earl Titus interrogated the captured White Stag Wenda and learned that she was the bastard daughter of the Earl Caron of Fawn Hall. Wenda had agreed to work for Titus, but he remained unconvinced by her sincerity.

• Titus asked Wenda whether her left eye was blind and whether she had planned to go to Oldtown, while she mostly answered with silence.
• Titus teased Wenda about her father, and she revealed that he was a nobleman from the Stormlands.
• Wenda identified herself as Earl Caron's daughter, and Titus recognized House Caron's place in the Stormlands.
• Titus learned that Earl Caron had arranged teachers for Wenda, including the famed archer Dick the Fletcher.
• Wenda's skill with sword and bow had helped her become one of the Kingswood Brotherhood's leaders and rival Simon Toyne.

Titus interrogated Wenda and learned what had become of the Kingswood Brotherhood’s leaders, then heard Gino’s report on Oswin and three minor bandits. He decided to raise more troops and expand Starpike’s Pikemen Corps.

• Wenda told Titus about the Brotherhood’s former leaders and her difficult childhood, and Titus urged her to leave the past behind.
• Gino reported that Oswin would follow Wenda because she had saved his life, while Andy, Gordon, and Jamie had revealed their names and backgrounds.
• Titus reflected on the lack of professional soldiers in Westeros and the forces that came closest to qualifying.
• Titus summoned David Robinson and announced that he would raise more troops and expand the Pikemen Corps.

Titus Peake planned to expand House Peake’s professional army and received an invitation to the lavish tourney at Harrenhal. He considered the event’s prizes and House Whent’s motives while Ser Robinson stayed behind to train recruits.

• Titus decided to raise another five hundred professional soldiers and considered assigning Parker to command them, with Wenda as his new guard captain.
• Maester Greg brought Titus an invitation to the tourney at Harrenhal, where the champion would win twenty thousand gold dragons.
• Ser Robinson eagerly discussed the ten-day tourney, but Titus reminded him that he had recruits to train and could not attend.
• Maester Greg suggested Earl Walter Whent was using the tourney to display House Whent’s strength and sons.
• Titus read the invitation and recalled House Whent’s history at Harrenhal and its succession from House Lothston.

Titus considered the purpose and political backing of House Whent’s Harrenhal tournament while Maester Greg reported that no dukes seemed likely to attend. In King’s Landing, Aerys refused to leave the Red Keep, and Varys warned that the tournament was suspicious as Simon Staunton challenged his loyalty.

• Maester Greg told Titus that the Harrenhal maester had hinted that none of the dukes would attend the tournament.
• Titus suspected the tournament had powerful sponsors behind House Whent and that Rhaegar was involved.
• Aerys refused to travel to Harrenhal, insisting that the king would not leave his city or the Red Keep.
• Varys warned Aerys that something was wrong with the tournament, while Simon Staunton accused Varys of lacking regard for the king and being hostile to Rhaegar.

At court, Aerys’s ministers argued over whether Prince Rhaegar’s Harrenhal tourney was a threat to the king’s authority. Hand Owen Merryweather urged Aerys to allow the event, leaving the king’s decision unresolved.

• Owen Merryweather stopped Simon Staunton and Varys from arguing and asked Aerys to decide whether to attend the tourney.
• Aerys hesitated to go to Harrenhal, while Varys suggested Rhaegar might use the gathering to court the great lords.
• Owen rebuked Varys for implying that Rhaegar planned treason and rejected the idea that the prince would move against his father.
• Simon Staunton warned that Rhaegar’s tourney victories could win popular and noble support, and urged Aerys to forbid the event.
• Owen urged Aerys to remember that the gathering was only a tourney for a little girl’s Name Day.

After Aerys agreed to attend the Harrenhal tourney, the Tyrells summoned the Reach lords to Highgarden, and Titus prepared to answer the call. He assembled a small party from Starpike and set out for the famously beautiful castle.

• Aerys agreed to attend Earl Whent’s tourney at Harrenhal with a full force of troops.
• A raven brought Highgarden’s summons ordering the Reach lords to gather within a month.
• Bryce Caron wrote that he would remain at Nightsong to stabilize his castle.
• Titus recruited Wenda and her four subordinates into his earl’s guard and met her white gyrfalcon.
• After Bowen reported that all was well at Nightsong, Titus left for Highgarden with thirty guards, including Parker, Bowen, Wenda, and Oswin.

Titus led his guards north from Starpike to Highgarden, where he met Mace Tyrell and Lady Olenna Redwyne. He learned that Randyll Tarly had withdrawn from the journey to Harrenhal because his wife had fallen gravely ill.

• Titus appointed Parker, Bowen, and Wenda to lead their own squads and ordered them to keep their guards disciplined while hitting back hard if provoked.
• Titus rode north with more than thirty guards and reached Highgarden by the Mander River that evening.
• A patrol of green-cloaked guards escorted Titus and his party across Highgarden's walls and gates to meet their hosts.
• Titus bowed to Mace Tyrell and Lady Olenna Redwyne, who welcomed him after his journey.
• Lady Olenna told Titus that Randyll Tarly had withdrawn from the trip to Harrenhal because his Florent wife had suddenly fallen gravely ill.

Titus assessed House Tyrell’s vulnerabilities and attended a gathering of Reach nobles at Highgarden, where he made cautious overtures to several lords. After Titus left the feast, Earl Alester Florent privately summoned him to a secluded garden, leaving Titus wary of what he wanted.

• Titus identified House Rowan as a hidden danger to House Tyrell and considered the Reach’s powerful second-rank houses.
• Titus arrived at Highgarden as the Reach’s major houses gathered, and Duke Mace Tyrell introduced his young heir, Willas Tyrell.
• Titus spoke with Earl Mathis Rowan about his daughter, then turned away and briefly chatted with the Earl of Cider Hall.
• Earl Alester Florent stopped Titus as he was leaving the feast and asked to speak with him in private.
• Titus followed Alester and Parker to a secluded garden, raised his guard, and recalled the distant ties between House Florent and House Peake.

Titus saw through Alester Florent’s attempt to make House Peake challenge Mace Tyrell and sent the old earl away after urging him to return with a real plan. Back at the guest quarters, Titus learned Arthur White had harassed Wenda and decided to postpone any retaliation.

• Titus questioned why Alester Florent wanted House Peake to confront Mace Tyrell and exposed his attempt to use Starpike as a reckless proxy.
• Alester admitted his approach was a mistake, and Titus told him to return when he had a genuine plan.
• Bowen told Titus that Arthur White had tried to take liberties with Wenda in the gardens and fled when Starpike guards surrounded him.
• Wenda said she could handle Arthur herself and explained that Whitegrove had once belonged to House Peake.
• Titus chose not to retaliate yet and advised Wenda to have her men tie Arthur up if he harassed her again.

Titus prepared to travel with the Reach delegation to Harrenhal while promising Wenda that Arthur White would be dealt with. As the delegation boarded boats on the Mander River, Titus reflected on the river’s history and House Peake’s old rivalry with House Manderly.

• Wenda agreed to notify Titus when Frederick White’s ransom was demanded, and Titus said he would negotiate with Frederick.
• Bowen reported that Arthur White had threatened to gouge out the White Eagle’s remaining eye, and Titus promised Wenda that Arthur was his to kill.
• Frederick White scolded Arthur and sent him home, leaving Frederick as Whitegrove’s sole representative at the tourney.
• Two days later, Titus gathered with the Reach delegation at the Mander River docks, where Mace Tyrell gave a speech before the nobles boarded House Tyrell’s flower boats.
• Titus boarded with House Peake’s large contingent and considered the Mander River’s history and House Manderly’s former title as Great Captain of the Mander River.

Titus recounted the histories of House Manderly and House Peake to Wenda as the Reach delegation prepared to travel to the Riverlands. Aboard the Tyrell barge, he reflected on House Crane, the legends of Garth Greenhand, and the ancestry shared by many Reach houses, including his own.

• Titus explained to Wenda how House Peake drove the Dustins from the Reach and how the exiles later became House Manderly in White Harbor.
• Titus described how House Peake had grown powerful by holding Starpike, Whitegrove, and Dunstonbury, though the latter two had since been lost.
• Wenda appreciated that Titus treated her as a capable warrior, while Titus valued her attentiveness and abilities as a guard.
• The Reach delegation boarded ships under Paxter Redwyne, and Ser Timo Crane greeted Titus as the deputy leader.
• Titus considered House Crane's rumored Skinchanger heritage and recalled legends of Garth Greenhand and his many descendants.
• Titus remembered that Florys "the Fox," a daughter of Garth Greenhand, bore the ancestors of House Florent, House Peake, and House Ball.

Titus reflected on the Reach’s legendary descendants and the wealth of House Redwyne as his delegation traveled upriver toward Bitterbridge. He recounted how the Briars’ plot at Tumbleton led to the deaths of dragonriders and dragons, leaving Targaryen power diminished.

• Titus considered the legends surrounding Garth Greenhand’s descendants, including Brandon Bloodraven and Bran the Builder, and judged that several Brandons may have built Westeros’s great structures.
• Titus admired House Redwyne’s wine trade and fleet as his pleasure boat carried him east along the Mander River toward Bitterbridge.
• Titus recalled how Hugh Hammer and Ulf White Hair defected from the Blacks, then threatened to seize power and provoked the Reach’s nobles to plot against them at Tumbleton’s Bloodbriar inn.
• Jon Roxton killed Hugh Hammer before he could mount his dragon, while Hobert Hightower poisoned Ulf White Hair and died in the ensuing conflict.
• The Briars’ plot sparked a battle in which dragons and riders died, and Lady Sharis later displayed Vermithor’s and Seasmoke’s skulls in Tumbleton for visitors to see.

Titus settled his men in Bitterbridge and intervened when Lorent Caswell abused the smith’s son over a newly forged sword. He beat Lorent and sent him back to his father, then praised the smith’s craftsmanship.

• Titus brought his party ashore at Bitterbridge and arranged warm rooms for his captains and deputies, with the rest of the guard camping nearby.
• The next morning, Titus saw Lorent Caswell berating the smith’s son, who had received a knight’s sword for his sixteenth Name Day.
• Titus kicked Lorent and struck him across the mouth with his scabbard after Lorent began to curse.
• Titus told Bowen to take Lorent to old Caswell and ask him to discipline his son, while Parker went to wash the blood from Titus’s scabbard.
• Titus examined the smith’s sword and praised its fine workmanship.

Titus and the Reach delegation arrived in King's Landing, where he chose a rental property near Visenya's Hill and began exploring the city. The chapter ended with Titus visiting Master Tobho Mott's smithy to inspect its wares and hear Mott boast about his craftsmanship.

• Paxter Redwyne persuaded Lord Caswell to let the clash with the Peakes go without escalating, and Titus brought Old Rolly and his son Rolly along with the departing delegation.
• Titus's party traveled north along the Roseroad and reached King's Landing through the King's Gate, where the Reach nobles went to their own lodgings.
• Titus trained at dawn in the courtyard, impressing Rolly, then took Bowen, Wenda, Old Rolly, and guards to the Street of Steel.
• Titus and his companions arrived at Master Tobho Mott's smithy, where Mott tried to sell them weapons and armor.
• Tobho Mott pointed out a dark red breastplate and boasted that his work was a masterpiece, challenging Old Rolly's implied judgment.

Titus visited Tobho Mott’s smithy in King’s Landing, bought equipment for his guards, and commissioned a custom suit based on his Berserker Armor design. Tobho agreed to deliver the finished armor to Harrenhal, while Titus’s purchases were loaded onto wagons.

• Tobho showed Titus and Wenda his smithy and described the techniques he had learned in Qohor.
• Titus asked whether Tobho accepted investment, then ordered more than forty sets of mail and helmets for his guards.
• Titus gave Tobho a drawing of the Berserker Armor and discussed its specifications with him and Old Rolly.
• Titus arranged for Tobho to send the custom armor to Harrenhal under Starpike’s name.
• Titus added bows, arrows, shields, lance heads, and other supplies to his order, and Tobho’s apprentices loaded the goods onto the Peake wagons.

Titus persuaded Tobho Mott to become his business partner by offering noble protection and access to Valyrian steel, securing a share in the smith’s King's Landing shop and a new Reach branch. As Titus left the smithy, Wenda spotted a group of Gold Cloaks following them, and he led her and Bowen into an alley to confront them.

• Titus offered Tobho Mott protection, noble connections, and Valyrian steel to convince him to partner with the Earl of Starpike.
• Bowen demonstrated Orphan-Maker’s Valyrian steel edge, impressing Tobho Mott and Old Rolly.
• Titus and Tobho Mott agreed that Titus would receive forty percent of the King's Landing shop and seventy percent of a new Reach shop in exchange for money, land, and resources.
• Titus planned to use Tobho Mott’s smithy as his base in King's Landing and assigned Old Rolly to coordinate the future Reach branch.
• Wenda noticed Gold Cloaks following Titus, so Titus sent the carriage away and took Wenda and Bowen into a narrow alley.
• Ten armed men entered the alley, and Titus questioned whether they were really members of the City Watch.

Titus and his companions fought ten Gold Cloaks in a narrow alley after Titus refused to meet the person who had summoned him. They killed most of the patrol and left one guard alive for questioning as Titus walked away.

• Titus refused the Gold Cloak captain's demand and drew his sword when the captain ordered his men to seize him.
• Titus used the narrow alley to kill six Gold Cloaks with his sword, dagger, and elbow strikes.
• Wenda killed two Gold Cloaks, while Bowen killed one and disabled another for questioning.
• Titus retrieved his dagger and left the alley, reflecting that he had nearly taken on seven men by himself.

After House Peake’s men rescued Titus from a hired ambush in King’s Landing, he identified Varys as the man behind it and decided to leave the city by ship. He assigned his followers to build influence in the capital and met smuggler Davos Seaworth, who could arrange passage upriver.

• Titus told Gold Cloak captain Jacelyn Bywater that bandits disguised as Gold Cloaks had attacked him, and Jacelyn promised an investigation before leaving.
• Titus learned that the surviving attacker had named his employer as “Logan,” whom Titus recognized as Varys, and decided not to approach the spymaster yet.
• Titus ordered Oswin to find a ship and planned to sail from Blackwater Bay toward the Gods Eye, while assigning followers to work at Tobho Mott’s smithy, join the Gold Cloaks, and establish a presence in Flea Bottom.
• Oswin brought Davos Seaworth to Titus that evening, introducing him as the owner of the two-masted smuggling ship Black Beth.