“I have a question too,” said Egg.
“I begin to understand why your father was so willing to be rid of you. What more would you have of me, cousin?”
“Who took the dragon’s egg? There were guards at the door, and more guards on the steps, no way anyone could have gotten into Lord Butterwell’s bedchamber unobserved.”
Lord Rivers smiled. “Were I to guess, I’d say someone climbed up inside the privy shaft.”
“The privy shaft was too small to climb.”
“For a man. A child could do it.”
“Or a dwarf,” Dunk blurted. A thousand eyes, and one. Why shouldn’t some of them belong to a troupe of comic dwarfs?
THE END…
…of the beginning
More travels and more travails await our hedge knight and his squire in the years to come. From Dorne to the Wall, their journeys will carry them across the length and breadth of the Seven Kingdoms, and even beyond the narrow sea to the Disputed Lands and the shining cities of Essos.
Along the way they will cross paths with lords and knights and sorcerers, and many a fair maid and noble lady, to write their names into the annals of Westeros, never to be forgotten.
But those are tales for another time.
Keep reading.
George R. R. Martin
Santa Fe
May, 2015
Acknowledgments
Over the eighteen months of illustrating The Seven Kingdoms, many people came to my aid. Thanks to my wife, Julie, daughters Niki and Gina, Raya and George, Anne Groell, Virginia Norey, Karl Gustafson, Pat Gustafson, Randy Broecker, Kay Kron, William and Christopher Neubauer and Forteza Martial Arts. Finally, I’m most grateful to Marcelo Anciano. His artistic guidance is the driving force throughout many of the books I’ve illustrated including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
—Gary Gianni
About the Author
George R. R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
About the Illustrator
Gary Gianni is a book illustrator and a comic book artist. He has drawn Batman, Indiana Jones, The Shadow, Hellboy, and Monstermen in comics. He drew the Prince Valiant newspaper strip from 2003 to 2012. Gianni has also illustrated numerous books by authors ranging from Jules Verne and R. E. Howard to Ray Bradbury and Michael Chabon.
By George R. R. Martin
A Song of Ice and Fire
Book One: A Game of Thrones
Book Two: A Clash of Kings
Book Three: A Storm of Swords
Book Four: A Feast for Crows
Book Five: A Dance with Dragons
The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones
Dying of the Light
Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle)
Fevre Dream
The Armageddon Rag
Dead Man’s Hand (with John J. Miller)
Short Story Collections
Dreamsongs: Volume II
A Song for Lya and Other Stories
Songs of Stars and Shadows
Sandkings
Songs the Dead Men Sing
Nightflyers
Tuf Voyaging
Portraits of His Children
Quartet
Edited by George R. R. Martin
New Voices in Science Fiction, Volumes 1–4
The Science Fiction Weight Loss Book (with Isaac Asimov and Martin Harry Greenberg)
The John W. Campbell Awards, Volume 5
Night Visions 3
Wild Cards I–XXII
Co-edited with Gardner Dozois
Warriors I–III
Songs of the Dying Earth
Songs of Love and Death
Down These Strange Streets
Old Mars
Dangerous Women
Rogues
Old Venus
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