Chapter Summaries

Darean Hightower traveled with his retainers to take up his new fief after accepting an order that sent him away from Sunflower Hall. Carrying a mysterious book from his father, he set out to establish his lands and said he would return to the Hightower when the time came.

• Darean reassured Clyson Hightower that he had accepted the order to leave Sunflower Hall because he welcomed the chance to build his own home.
• Darean recalled being drawn into House Hightower’s power struggles and sent to Sunflower Hall, where Brandon Cuy treated him with hostility.
• Darean remembered receiving a book from his father whose writing only he could read and whose message described magic’s return and an approaching end.
• Darean told Clyson he was not worried about returning to the Hightower and urged his retainers to hurry toward their new lands.

Darean arrived at his new fief and found its only village recently burned by raiders, then used the book he carried to discover a task tied to claiming his land and a weapon-enhancing power. He left the frightened settlers under his protection while wondering how he could use magic without mana.

• Darean and Clyson found the village in ruins and spotted ships retreating across the sea, which they suspected belonged to Dornish pirates.
• Darean sent Clyson and ten cavalrymen to scout the village while he gathered the settlers and promised to defend them.
• Darean's book displayed a task to obtain his own fief, with rewards involving the magic tide, white frost, and mana concentration.
• Darean touched a burning arrow symbol in the book and learned he could spend mana to sharpen a weapon's piercing power.
• Darean realized he had no mana and questioned what his apparent supernatural ability made him.

Darean found the village’s people dead and moved his followers to a safer camp, where he promised them land and protection in return for loyalty. After the first section of the Green Lands was completed, he sensed energy gathering around him, drawing the attention of a blood-red eye beyond the Wall and a woman watching through fire.

• Clyson Hightower reported that the village had no survivors and that Ser Hosman’s castle had burned down.
• Darean ordered his people to camp on a wooded hill and assigned them to gather supplies and build shelter.
• Clyson’s riders saved Edmont from a wild boar, and Darean praised him by comparing him to the stag on the Iron Throne.
• Darean promised his followers land and protection without taxes until they had built homes, and they cheered and pledged their loyalty.
• Darean sensed the Green Lands’ energy gathering around him as a blood-red eye beyond the Wall opened and a woman watching through fire asked if he was a Follower of the Flame.

Darean discovered that mysterious magic had appeared around him, though he could barely control it, and prepared to rest after discussing patrols with Clayson Hightower. When attackers struck the camp from the south, Darean stopped a panicked retreat and rode toward the fighting, suspecting the pirates had returned.

• Darean reread the Book of Strange Script and concluded that the magic around him was not his own and that he still did not know how to use it.
• Darean told Clayson Hightower to organize night patrols and settled into his tent with his sword nearby.
• An arrow pierced Darean’s tent and narrowly missed him, and a guard reported that about twenty attackers had come from the south.
• Darean ordered the guard to rally the patrols and keep the people from retreating, warning them that enemies were also to the north.
• Darean mounted his warhorse and rode south toward Clayson Hightower’s men, suspecting the afternoon’s pirates had returned.

Darean reached the camp as Clyson and the guards fought off a bandit ambush, then joined the battle to keep his people from being overwhelmed. Cornered by six spearmen, he unleashed the Force of Sharpness through his sword and shattered their weapons, leaving the fight poised to turn in his favor.

• Bandits attacked the camp, killing a guard before another raised the alarm, and Clyson ordered the people to move north while the guards formed a defensive line.
• Darean arrived and shot one bandit with his hand crossbow, then charged another on horseback and killed him with his longsword.
• Darean's horse stumbled during the night fight, leaving him on foot as six spearmen drove him back to the stream.
• Darean channeled magic into his sword and used the Force of Sharpness to blast apart the six spears' heads and shafts.
• Darean advanced on the bewildered spearmen with his blade raised, beginning a close-range attack.

Darean used his moonlit sword and the pirates’ fear to turn the battle in favor of Clyson and the guards. After killing the pirate leader, he gave the remaining fighters a final choice as the guards prepared to finish the fight.

• Darean cut down three pirates, killed another with a sword, and wounded a fleeing pirate with a thrown spear.
• The pirates facing Clyson and the guards hesitated when they saw Darean approach with his bloodied, moonlit sword.
• The pirate leader urged his men to attack, but shouts from the northern camp and their fear caused many pirates to flee or surrender.
• The pirate leader charged Darean, who feigned weakness and stabbed him in the throat with a dagger.
• Darean ordered the remaining pirates to surrender or die as the guards recovered and readied their blades.

After suppressing an attack on his new domain, Dareon suspected one of his elder brothers wanted to keep him away from the Hightower’s power struggle. He discovered a new spell, Garth Greenhand’s Gift, and asked Clyson how long their food supply would last.

• Dareon ordered the captured attackers executed at the grave of the guard they had killed.
• Clyson warned Dareon that someone had offered gold dragons for his life and suggested seeking support at the Hightower, but Dareon suspected one of his elder brothers instead.
• A shadowy figure in Oldtown read a letter reporting that an attempt to reach Dareon had failed and decided to let him live for now.
• Dareon read the Book of Strange Script’s new section and unlocked Garth Greenhand’s Gift, which accelerated the growth of plants he touched.
• Dareon asked Clyson how many more days their food would last.

Darean organized the beginnings of a settlement in the Cape Lordship, prioritizing a quick wooden defensive wall and rewarding the workers with food and timber. As he prepared for the upheavals he expected from the coming civil war, he continued testing his limited magical abilities.

• Darean chose to build a two-story wooden residence and a simple log-and-mud wall instead of costly stone defenses.
• Darean told Clyson to focus on what would work immediately and instructed him to divide the work fairly, provide ample food, and reward finished workers with the best timber.
• The laborers eagerly dug a ring of pits and began fitting logs around Darean's grounds, with the inner wall expected to be completed soon.
• Darean planned to inspect the village ruins and clear away the bodies to protect the settlement from instability and disease.
• Darean continued studying the magic in the Book of Strange Script, but he could only speed a bean seedling's growth by less than half a day.

Brandon Cuy investigated the attack on Dareon Hightower and ordered guards to watch over him, while Darean assessed the neglected fields on his new holding. When Mena was bitten by a snake and fell unconscious, Darean decided he needed to return to Oldtown for help.

• Brandon Cuy learned that Dareon had survived a night attack with only one man lost and ordered his captain to watch the former Ser Hossman's lands and help Dareon if he was in danger.
• Darean asked experienced farmers to inspect the fields and learned that the wheat should feed the settlement, though the crops and grapevines had been poorly tended.
• Darean ordered the farmers to avoid the ruins and warned that anyone who disobeyed would be expelled from his lands.
• Clyson told Darean that Mena had been bitten by a snake and was unconscious, and that the foraging party feared going deeper into the woods.
• Darean decided to return to Oldtown because the holding had no maester.

Darean returned to Oldtown with Clyson and went to the Citadel to find Archmaester Marwyn. After noticing a faint magical response from Septon Derrian, Darean wondered whether the Seven were real but put the question aside to focus on his visit.

• Darean rode into Oldtown with Clyson, leaving his guards behind in his domain.
• Darean noticed a faint magical response from Septon Derrian and wondered whether the Seven truly existed.
• Darean and Clyson rode to the Citadel, where Darean said he would show Clyson beyond the Scribe's Desk.
• Darean gave the Scribe's Desk steward an arrowhead and his House Hightower badge, asking him to summon Archmaester Marwyn.

Dareon visited Archmaester Marwyn at the Citadel to ask for a maester for his new lands, while worrying that someone in the Hightower was making trouble for him. Marwyn had no suitable candidate, so Dareon tentatively asked him to come along himself.

• Dareon recalled how he had saved Marwyn from pirates when he was fourteen, beginning their close acquaintance.
• Dareon arrived at Marwyn’s study and refused to taste the strange drink Marwyn had prepared.
• Dareon told Marwyn that he had been sent to Sunflower Hall by an order issued in his father’s name, but now owned lands across the Redwyne Straits.
• Dareon asked Marwyn to recommend a capable maester, but Marwyn said the other maesters dismissed his research into magic and the occult.
• Dareon asked Marwyn to serve as his maester.

Darean pressed Archmaester Marwyn to repay his life-saving debt by sending a healer to his territory. Marwyn revealed his research had stalled because he could not germinate the seeds of a rare plant, and Darean proposed a wager that could bring him along.

• Darean demanded that Marwyn provide someone to help address the lack of medical care in his territory.
• Darean reminded Marwyn that he had promised to repay him for saving his life.
• Marwyn argued that leaving the Citadel would ruin his research and risk Steward Theobald's anger.
• Marwyn admitted he was trying to germinate seeds from a rare plant brought back from the Valyrian Freehold, but none had sprouted.
• Darean sensed something about the seed and challenged Marwyn to a wager: if he produced a seed that could grow, Marwyn would go with him.

Darean used Garth Greenhand's Gift on the Valyrian Purple Queen seed, breaking the ancient magic that had kept it from growing. The seed began putting down roots in his palm as Archmaester Marwyn watched in shock.

• Darean realized that foreign magic covering the Valyrian Purple Queen seed was preventing it from growing.
• Darean and Archmaester Marwyn wagered that Marwyn would go to Darean's fief if Darean could make the seed grow.
• Darean activated Garth Greenhand's Gift and struggled to overcome the seed's volatile magic.
• Darean broke the ancient magic binding the seed, but it began rooting into his palm and caused him pain.
• Archmaester Marwyn stared at Darean's display of magic in disbelief.

Darean secured Archmaester Marwyn’s oath to travel with him after demonstrating the Sprout Seed’s power. As they prepared to leave Oldtown, Humfrey Hightower confronted Darean at the south gate and told him that Garth wanted him brought back to answer for not reporting to the family.

• Darean showed Marwyn the Sprout Seed, and Marwyn agreed to honor their wager and leave the Citadel for the countryside.
• Marwyn asked what power Darean had shown him, and Darean promised he would find out.
• Two days later, Darean left Oldtown with Clyson and the hooded, packed Marwyn.
• House Hightower knights blocked the south gate, where Humfrey confronted Darean and traded insults with him.
• Humfrey told Darean that Garth had sent him to bring Darean back and ask why he had not reported to the family.

Darean Hightower faced his brother Humfrey and Garth Hightower’s guards when they tried to bring him back to Oldtown. After Darean provoked Humfrey into drawing his sword, Aemon Cuy stepped in to fight him, and Darean prepared to use stored magic.

• Darean considered escaping Humfrey’s blockade but rejected Clyson’s suggestion to drag Humfrey off his horse.
• Darean mocked Humfrey for hiding behind Garth and challenged him to draw his sword, drawing cheers and jeers from the watching residents.
• Humfrey reached for his sword, but Aemon Cuy stopped him and offered to teach Darean a lesson.
• Aemon rode toward Darean, who smiled and prepared to use the magic he had stored.

Darean faced Aemon Cuy in a duel after Aemon volunteered to fight in Humfrey Hightower’s stead. Aemon gained the upper hand with his mounted experience and suspiciously targeted gaps in Darean’s armor, but Darean prepared to counterattack.

• Aemon Cuy offered to accept Darean’s challenge in Humfrey Hightower’s place, while the crowd mocked Humfrey and his soldiers ignored his orders.
• Humfrey drew his sword in anger, but a nearby knight restrained him and urged him to wait until the duel ended.
• Darean and Aemon mounted their warhorses and began their duel on South Gate Street.
• Aemon struck Darean’s shield hard on their first pass, then used his riding experience to attack first in later exchanges.
• Darean noticed Aemon’s sword targeting gaps in his armor and resolved to strike back.

Darean defeated Aemon Cuy by cutting through his armor, then spared his life and continued on his way. The victory cleared his passage through the city gate, and he left with Doctor Marwyn for the countryside.

• Garth Hightower sent a man to recall Humfrey after learning his attempt to stop Darean had failed.
• Aemon Cuy charged Darean recklessly, exposing himself after growing frustrated by Darean’s evasive defense.
• Darean used his Force of Sharpness spell to cut through Aemon’s breastplate and knock him from his horse.
• Darean told Clyson to spare Aemon’s life after learning the wound was not fatal.
• Darean invited Doctor Marwyn to accompany him and passed through the city gate without further challenge.

Lord Leyton Hightower stripped Humfrey of control over the wool textile industry and ordered Baelor, Garth, and Guncer to assist Darean in strengthening the family’s influence over the Redwyne Straits. Darean arrived at his fief, where construction on its protective earthen wall was already well underway.

• Lord Leyton reduced Humfrey Hightower’s allocations and transferred the wool textile industry to Baelor Hightower’s management.
• Garth said he had confined Humfrey to his room, while Guncer argued that Humfrey belonged at the family council.
• Baelor told Garth and Guncer that Lord Leyton wanted Darean supported and proposed sending elite troops, people, and grain to his fief.
• Garth and Guncer objected to Baelor’s proposal, so Baelor suggested asking Darean what assistance he wanted.
• Darean reached his fief, sent Maester Marwyn to inspect the land, and learned that workers expected to finish enclosing the camp with an earthen wall within a week.

Darean inspected his new residence and confronted the challenges of caring for and supplying his growing settlement. With medicine, clean water, and food still uncertain and rationing undermining work, he decided to allow trade within the territory.

• Darean approved the newly built house and ordered work on the residents' homes to speed up.
• Maester Marwyn arrived with medicinal plants, criticized the lack of medical care, and asked for a room and an assistant to prepare basic medicines.
• Darean arranged a room for Marwyn, who chose to select his own assistant.
• Darean considered the settlement's distant streams and ordered people to search for a place to dig a well, though skilled workers were already overburdened.
• Darean worried that rain would reduce the wheat harvest and that his magic was insufficient to feed the camp with Garth Greenhand's Gift.
• As rationing dampened work and residents began slacking, Darean decided to end the system and allow trade within the territory.

Jon Arryn struggled to manage the crown’s debts while Robert Baratheon dismissed his warnings. Meanwhile, Darean named his settlement New Land Village and received a new Book of Strange Script objective to gather grain.

• Jon Arryn warned Robert Baratheon that the crown’s debts were growing, but Robert told him to seek more money from the Lannisters.
• Jon Arryn returned to the Tower of the Hand, worried about the crown’s finances and Joffrey’s resemblance to Cersei, and asked for Lord Renly and Grand Maester Pycelle.
• Darean announced that construction’s first phase was complete and that people in his territory could trade freely.
• Marwyn chose New Land Village as the settlement’s name after Darean received the people’s suggestions.
• The Book of Strange Script gave Darean an objective to collect twenty-five thousand jin of grain, with a reward that would affect the Magic Tide, frost, and magic concentration.