A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Read online

  “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 I

  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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