GEORGE R. R. MARTIN
A STORM OF SWORDS
PART TWO: BLOOD AND GOLD
Copyright
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Previously published in paperback by Voyager in 2001, 2003, 2011
First published in Great Britain by Voyager in 2000
Copyright © George R. R. Martin 2000
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This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007119554
Ebook Edition © April 2012 ISBN: 9780007447749
Version: 2017-11-01
Dedication
For Phyllis who made me put the dragons in
Maps
DAENERYS
Her Dothraki scouts had told her how it was, but Dany wanted to see for herself. Ser Jorah Mormont rode with her through a birchwood forest and up a slanting sandstone ridge. “Near enough,” he warned her at the crest.
Dany reined in her mare and looked across the fields, to where the Yunkish host lay athwart her path.
Whitebeard had been teaching her how best to count the numbers of a foe. “Five thousand,” she said after a moment.“I’d say so. ” Ser Jorah pointed. “Those are sellswords on the flanks. Lances and mounted bowmen, with swords and axes for the close work. The Second Sons on the left wing, the Stormcrows to the right. About five hundred men apiece. See the banners?”
Yunkai’s harpy grasped a whip and iron collar in her talons instead of a length of chain. But the sellswords flew their own standards beneath those of the city they served: on the right four crows between crossed thunderbolts, on the left a broken sword. “The Yunkai’i hold the center themselves,” Dany noted. Their officers looked indistinguishable from Astapor’s at a distance; tall bright helms and cloaks sewn with flashing copper disks. “Are those slave soldiers they lead?”
“In large part. But not the equal of Unsullied. Yunkai is known for training bed slaves, not warriors. ”
“What say you? Can we defeat this army?”
“Easily,” Ser Jorah said.