Sunday, August 27, 2017

A Clash of Kings (1999), a Fantasy Novel by George R.R, Martin: summary

“Kings have no friends.” Stannis said bluntly, “only subjects and enemies.” (p. 474)

“There is no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how to face it.” (As Jon Snow addresses to Samwell Tarly to ease the boy’s fear, p.96)



“If you step in a nest of snakes, does it matter which one bites you first?” (Stannis said to his brother, Renly Baratheon, and Catelyn Starks, p. 477)

The second book of A Song of Fire was originally published in 1999. The book is good at many levels but to be honest, I prefer A Game of Throne. The 968- page bestseller was published by Bantam Books in 2011. The story is full of pain and sorrow for Stark’s side, and it is obviously the Lannisters has overpowered to the others. Renly, the youngest Baratheon, has already crowned himself as the king of Seven Kingdoms, in Storm’s End, but soon he was killed by the shadow, a magic attack. His elder brother, Stannis, also claims himself as the king in the Narrow Sea. Now the Winterfell ruled by Robb Stark and his mother, Lady Catelyn, is at war and joins with Renly’s army.

He leaves his brother Bran and Rickon at the Winterfell. Theon Greyjoy takes avenge and sabotages the empty throne. Even he tried to kill Bran and Rickon. Meanwhile Sansa was being a captive, was ill-treated by Joffrey. It is the drunkard Ser Dortos give her a promise to get her freedom. The Iron Throne now is led by thirteen Joffrey Baratheon, Stannis’s letters have spread to realm: the monstrous incest of Cersei with the Kingslayer. Jaime is a captive in Riverrun, Tully’s house. Arya acts as an orphan boy, then lately become known as Nan. She is a servant at Lannister’s kitchen in Harrenhall.

It is a strong and well-crafted story, there are two new characters:  Davos and Theon. Tyrion is still the smartest character, and he dominates the tale.



A Clash of Kings (1999), a Fantasy Novel by George R.R, Martin: summary
The maester did not believe in omens. And yet old he was, Cressen had never seen a comet half so bright, not yet that color, that terrible color, the color of blood and flame and sunsets. He had visitors, Pylos led him inside. Pylos had come to replace him when he died. He was a polite youth, no more than five-and-twenty, yet solemn as a man of sixty.   

The morning was hazy with the smoke cookfires, as three thousand men sat down to break their fasts beneath the banner of their lords. Ser Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight, was a slight man, his low birth written plain upon a common face. Before Lord Stannis had knighted him, he had been the most notorious and elusive smuggler in all the Seven Kingdoms.

Renly had made his own Kingsguard, Loras Tyrell’s their Lord Commander. Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone and by the grace of the gods rightful heir to the Iron Thorne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westereos, was broad of shoulder and sinewy of limb, with tightness to his face and flesh that spoke of leather cured in the sun until it was as though s steel. Hard was the word men used when they spoke of Stannis, and hard he was. Renly was the Lord of Storm’s End for past thirteen years. Storm’s End belonged to House Baratheon for three hundred years, by rights it should pass to Stannis when Robert took the Iron Throne. Stannis was named as Lord of Dragonstone.

Maester Cressen had reminded Stannis that his true enemies were Lannisters, was not Renly. The healer and tutor of Baratheons also suggested that Stannis and Renly were to make common cause against the Lannister. The old man had raised Robert, Stannis, and Renly.

Arya
When Yoren had dragged her into the alley that she had thought he meant to kill her, but the sour old man had only held her tight, sawing through her mats and tangles with his dagger. Afterward he told her that from there to Winterfell she would be Arry the orphan boy. He gathered men and boys from the city, he got thirty, all bound for the Wall. She was two years younger than the youngest orphan, not to mention smaller and skinnier, Lommy and Hot Pie took her silence to mean she was scare, or stupid, or deaf.

Sansa
King Joffrey sat where Aegon the Dragon once sat, in the castle built by his son. Sansa’s father had died by the king’s command. Her mother was one of Joffrey enemies now, her brother Robb another. Princess Myrcella, a girl of nine, and Prince Tommen, a boy of eight, sat behind him. Joff was thirteen, and tall for his age, with the green eyes and golden hair of the Lannister.


Sansa had prayed so hard. She found a secret note on her bad to suggest her go to godswood. It was not easy for her to leave her chamber. The queen had her servant changed every fortnight, to make certain none of them be friended. The airwas rich with the smells of earth and leaf. Sansa had favored her mother’s gods over her father’s. A man stepped out of the shadows, heavyset, thick of neck, shambling. He wore a dark grey robe with the cowl pulled forward. Sansa knew him, Ser Dontos. The drunkard man offered his service as a Florian to Sansa, but he needed to found coin for the ship for taking her home. He asked forgiveness if he should cruel to Sansa, he had a role to play and asked Sansa did the same thing. The song about Florian and Jonquil were her very her favorites.

Tyrion
Lord Tywin Lannister had sent Tyrion as the Hand of King. Cersei was upset for their father decision, she hated the Imp. Cersei had asked for army, but her father had sent her a dwarf. Lord Tywin was at Harrenhal with his host. Cersei was King’s regent. People had called him a halfman too, he was small, his legs were twisted, and women did not look upon him with any great yearning, yet he still was a man. Tyron still hoped if gods were good, his son would look like his uncle and thought like his father.

Bran
He could not walk, nor climb nor hunt, nor fight with a wooden sword once he had, but he could still look. Osha was very tall woman, and wiry strong. Of late, he often dreamed of wolves.


As the newcomers walked the length of the hall, Bran saw that one was indeed a girl, though he would never had known it by her dress. Though near Robb’s age, she was slim as a boy. Her brother was several years younger and bore no weapons. Both Reeds were slight of build, slender as swords and scarcely taller than Bran himself. They went to one knee before the dais.

The girl, Meera, got to her feet and helped her brother up. The boy, Jojen, looked about the hall curiously as he took his seat. He asked the direwolves. The direwolves were in godswood, except Bran’s direwolf, Shaggydog.  


Jojen was so solemn that Old Nan called him ‘little grandfather,’ but Meera reminded Bran of his sister Arya. She was not scared to get dirty and she could run and fight and throw as good as boy. She was older than Arya, tough; almost sixteen, a woman grown. Jojen had the greensight. Supposedly the greenseer also had power over the beasts in the wood and birds in the tree, and even fish. Meera was not sure his brother could do such things, but he had dreams that came true sometimes.

Jon
The air smell of paper and dust and years. All in black, he was a shadow among shadows, dark of hair, long of face, grey of eye. Ear was taking two hundred seasoned men, three-quarters of tem rangers. Qhorin Halfhand brought another hundred brothers from the Shadow. It was Samwell Tarly, the self-proclaimed coward, grossly fat, timid, and near as bad as a rider as he was with a sword, who must face the haunted forest. Too many rangers had been lost the past two years, even Benjen Stark, Jon’s uncle. Jon reminded his friend Sam as his father had told Jon that there was in shame in fear, what matters was how to face it.  

Donal Noye, he was a Baratheon man, smith and armorer at Storm’s End until he lost the arm. Robert was the true steel. To him Stannis was pure iron, black and hard and strong, but brittle, the way iron got. He would beak before he bent. And Renly, he was copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day. Jon didn’t ask what metal his brother Robb, since Noye was a Baratheon man; likely he thought Joffrey the lawful king and Robb a traitor. Among the brotherhood of the Night’s Watch, there was an unspoken pact never to prove deeply into such matters. Man came to the Wall from all of the Seven Kingdoms, and old loves and loyalties were not esily forgotten, no matter how many oaths a man swore. 

Catelyn
Robb Stark was Lord of Winterfell now. Robb had broken fealty with the Iron Throne. As they waited in Riverrun’s Great Hall for prisoner to be brought before them, she saw Robb push back the crown so it rested upon the thick auburn mop of his hair; moments later, he moved it forward again; later he gave it a quarter run. It was no easy thing to wear a crown, Catelyn thought, watching, especially for a boy of fifteen years. Theon Greyjoy shouted to the prisoner to kneel down before King Robb. The king spared his life and sent Ser Cleos Lannister to his cousin Cersei Lannister to carry Robb’s message.

First, the queen must release his sisters and provided them with transport by sea from King’s Landing to White Harbor. Sansa’s betrothal to Joffrey Baratheon was at an end. When he had heard word from his castellan that his sisters had returned, King Robb would release the queen’s cousins. Secondly, his lord father’s bone would be returned to Winterfell. Third, his father’s greatsword Ice would be delivered to Robb’s hand, at Riverrrun. Fourth, the queen would command her father Lord Tywin to release the knights and lords of bannermen of Winterfell. Lastly, King Joffrey and the Queen Regent must renounce all claims to dominion over the north. Robb would not release Jaime Lannister, he kept him alive. He did not free him not even for Sansa and Arya.

Catelyn had asked the king to take Theon Grejoy with him and be back at Winterfell, Brand and Rickon needed him. Balon Grejoy was not a man to be trusted. He wore a crown himself. But Robb sent Theon Grejoy back to Iron Islands.


Thousands of cookfires filled the air with a pale smoke hazy. The horse lines alone stretched out over the leagues. She saw men with spears and men with swords, men in steel caps and mail shirts, camp followers strutting their charms, archers fletching arrows, teamsters driving wagons, swineherds driving pigs, pages running messages, squires honing swords, knights riding palfreys, grooms leading ill-tempered destriers. 

The golden rose of Highgarden was seen everywhere: sewn on the right breast of armsmen and servants, flapping and fluttering from the green silk banners that adorned lance and pike, painted upon the shields hung outside the pavilions of the sons and brothers and cousins and uncles of House Tyrell. As well Catelyn spied the fox-and-flowers of House of Florent, Fossoway apple red and green, Lord Tarly’s striding huntsman, oak leaves for Oakheart, cranes for Crane, a cloud of black-and-orange butterflies for the Mullendores.

Renly was handsome as Robert had been handsome; long of limb and broad of shoulder, with the same deep blue eyes. The same easy smile. The crowned stag decorated the king’s green velvet tunic as well, worked in gold thread upon his chest; the Baratheon the sigil in colors of Highgarden. His young queen, Margaery, daughter of Lord Mace Tyrell, shared the high seat with the king. Renly was one-and-twenty, the girl no older than Robb, very pretty. She never met Ser Loras Tyrell, but even in the distant north one heard tales of the prowess of the young Knight of Flowers. Ser Loras rode a tall white stallion in silver mail, and fought with a long-handled axe. Brienne the beauty, daughter to Lord Selwyn the Evenstar.

Catelyn heard King Renly declare the Lady Brienne of Tarth the victor of the great melee at Bitterbridge, last mounted of one hundred sixteen knights. Brienne was large and blue, her feature were broad and coarse, her teeth prominent and crooked, her mouth woo wide, her lips so plump they seemed swollen. A thousand freckles speckled her cheeks and brow, and her nose had been broken more than once. Pity filled Catelyn’s heart.

The meeting place was a grassy sward dotted with pale grey mushroom and the raw stumps of felled trees. As he neared, she saw Stannis wore a crown of red gold with points fashioned in the shape of flames. Renly had chosen a woman to carry his banner as well, though Brienne hid face and form behind plate armor that gave no hint of her sex. His brother was greeting curt, then Stannis frowned. Catelyn asked the two brothers had no battle, but Stannis was firm that the Iron Throne was his and all those who denied that was his foes. 

Hundreds had come to the castle gates to bear witness to the burning of the Seven. The smell in the air was ugly. Even for soldiers, it was hard not to feel uneasy at such an affront to the gods most had worshiped all their lives. The red woman walked around the fire three times, praying once in speech of Asshai, once in High Valyrian, and once in te Common Tongue. Davos understood only the rest. Quee Selyse echoed the words. Beside her, King Stannis watched impassively, his jaw hard as stone under the blue-black shadow of his tight-cropped beard. He had dressed more richly than was his wont, as if for the sept. Dragonstone’s sept had been where Aegon the Congueror knelt to pray the night before he sailed. The gods had never meant much to Davos the smuggler, tough like most men he had been known to make offerings to the Warrior before battle. He felt ill as he watched them burn, and not only from the smoke.

Davos knew the truth. He had seen the master slip something into the wine cup. Poison. He drank a cup of death to free Stannis from Melisandre. Stannis had spread letters that said his brother Robert, the late king, left no trueborn issue of his body, the boy Joffrey, the boy Tommen, and the girl Myrcella being abominations born of incest between Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime the Kingslayer. One hundred seventeen copies of the letter to every corner of realm, from Arbor to the Wall. Stannis sent Davos to sail Black Betha north. Robert had a bastard son. Edric Storm was said to be the very image of Robert Baratheon.

Theon
There was no safe anchorage at Pyke, but Theon Greyjoy wished to look on his father’s castle from the sea, to see it as he had seen it last, ten years before, when Robert Baratheon’s war galley had borne him away to be a ward of Eddard Stark. The shore was all sharp rocks and glowering cliffs, and the castle seemed one of the rest, its towers and walls and bridges quarried from the same grey-black stone, wet by te same salt waves, festooned with the same spreading patches of dark green lichen, specked by the dropping of the same seabirds.

The Sea Tower snapped his father’s banner, the House of Greyjoy. Lord Eddard had raised him among his own children, but Theon had never been one of them. The whole castle, from Lady Stark to the lowliest kitchen scullion, knew he was hostage to his father’s good behavior, and treated him accordingly. Even the bastard Jon Snow had been accorded more honor than he had. Only Robb and his baseborn half brother Jon Snow had been old enough to be worth his notice. The bastard was a sullen boy, quick to sense a slight, jealous of Theon’s high bird and Robb’s regard him.

The Iron Islands lived in the past; the present was too hard and bitter to be born. Besides, his father and uncles were old, and old lords were like that; they took their dusty feuds to the grave, forgetting nothing, and forgiving less.

Balon Greyjoy had always been thin, but now he looked as though the gods had put him in a cauldron and boiled every spare ounce of flesh from his bones, until noting remained but hair and skin. His eyes were flinty too, black and sharp, but the years and the salt winds had turned his hair the grey of a winter sea, flecked with whitecaps. Lord Balon Greyjoy rose in rebellion against the Usurper, and Ned Stark called his banner to help Robert. Balon disliked the way his son, Theon, dressed in velvets and silks, made his son like a woman. Theon said proudly he would lead the attack the Lannisters. As the reward, he would ask Casterly Rock for his own seat. He could hold Lannisterport and the golden lands of the west. It would wealth and power such as House Greyjoy had never known.

Daenerys
The distant white walls promised rest and safety, a chance to heal and grow strong, and Dany wanted nothing so much as to rush toward them. The city was dead, the gates was broken, only wind and flies moving through the streets. How long the city had been deserted she could not know, but the white walls, so beautiful from afar, were cracked and crumbling when seen up close. Dothraki had visited the place before, it would seem. Dany sent out men to search the ruin.

Other searchers returned with tales of other fruit trees, hidden behind closed garden in secret garden. Yet they found bones too, the skulls of the unburied dead, bleached and ghost. Irri muted there were terrible ghosts. Ser Jorah Mormont also found there were ghosts everywhere. Ser Jorah shared his ghost story to Dany, it was his wife. Three times she miscarried while trying to give Jorah an heir, Lynesse died not long after. Lynesse looked like a bit like Dany. Then Dany realized he wanted her. A knight loved his queen but as a man loved a woman. She tried to imagine herself in Ser Jorah’s arms, kissing him, and pleasing him. Khal Drogo had been her sun-and -stars, her first, and perhaps he must be her last. The maegi Mirri Maz Duur had sworn she should never bear a living child.

Jhogo was back with three strangers who looked on Dany. The pale man with the blue lips introduced himself as a great warlock, Pyat Pree. The other was a woman in the lacquered with wooden mask and the bald man with the jewels in his nose, admitted himself as a merchant prince of Qarth. The tree came to seeking the dragons.

Arya
In heartbeat, all of them were pulling on clothes and snatching for whatever weapons they owned. Arya ran for the gate as the horn sounded again. For a moment she thought the town the town was full of lantern bugs. Then she realized they were men with torches, galloping between the houses. She saw a roof go up, flames licking at the belly of the night with hot orange tongues as the thatch caught.

Arya tried to count, but they were riding too fast, torches spinning through the air as they flung them. A column of riders moved between the burning buildings toward the holdfast. The bannerman to Lord Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock, the Hand of the King, had already besieged the gate, but Yoren and his kids chose not to open the gate. A torch sailed spinning above their heads, trailing fingers of fire as it thumped down in the dirt of the yard.


They were called the Tower of Dread, the Widow’s Tower, the Wailing Tower, the Wailing Tower, and the Tower of Ghost. Harrenhal was vast, much of it far gone decay. Arya slept in a shallow niche in the cavernous vaults beneath the Wailing tower, on a bed of straw. She had water to wash in whenever she liked, a chunk of soap. The work was hard, but no need to find worms and bugs to eat, as Arry had; there was bread every day, and barley stwes with bits of carrot and turnip, and once a fornight even a bite of meat.


Weese used Arya to run messages, draw water, and fetch food, and sometimes to serve at table in the barracks Hall above armory, where the men-at-arms took their meals. It was the living room she feared, Weese and Ser Gregor Clegane and Lord Tywin himself. Lord Tywin Lannister had brought all his prisoners to Harrehal: the knights, lords, and highborn prisoners. Lord Tywin planned to restore Harrenhal to glory, and make it his new seat once the war was done. 

Tyron
Doubtless Stannis sent a bird to Casterly Rock, and another to Harrenhal. As for burning letters, to what point. The song was sung, the wine was spilled, the wench was pregnant. Stannis’s letter had come to the King Landing. It was only because she was guilty. Tyron suggested her sister to let them whisper, they would grow bore with the tale soon. In other hand, Petyr Baelish if they attempted to silence the talk, they only lend it credence. Better to treat it with contempt, like the pathetic lie it was. And mean-time, fight fire. Lord Stannis had spent most of his marriage apart from his wife. They would set her brother of her uncles as Lady Selyse’s lover. Loath as Tyrion was to admit it, Littlefinger’s scheme had promised.

Ser Cleos Lannister arrived at King’s Landing, he gave Robb’s letter. He also brought some news from Riverrun. The river lord were burning their own crops to try and starve people in King’s Landing. Robb sat idle at Riverrun. He feared to face the Lannister in the field. His strength grew less each day. The river lords had departed, each defended his own lands.

Cersei would be displeased to learn that Tyron had intercepted Stark’s letter, but his father had sent him to rule, not to please Cersei. It seemed to him that Robb Stark had given them golden chance. Let the boy wait at Riverrun dreaming of an easy peace. Tyrion would reply with terms of his own, giving the King in the North just enough of what he wanted to keep him helpful. Let Ser Cleos wore out his bony rump riding to and fro with offers and counters. All the while their cousin Ser Stafford would be arming the new host he had raised at Casterly Rock. Once he was ready, he and Lord Tywin could smash the Tully and Starks between them.

Tyrion had arranged Myrcella would ship off to Dornishman. Myrcella was nine, Trystane Martell was eleven. He had proposed they wed when she reached her fourteenth year. Martell was too honorable to murder a nine-year-old girl, particularly one as sweet and innocent as Myrcella. Martell against house Lannister went back only a generation, but the Dornishmen had warred against Storm’s End and Highgarden for a thousand years.

A groom said Renly was slain by the knight of his own, a washerwoman claimed Stannis stole through the heart of his brother’s army with his magic sword. The third ventures that it might have been the Lady Catelyn Starks, but Cersei did not believe the three rumors. Tyrion only assumed it was Stannis, his gain was clearly. For Tyrion, Renly’s death bore new schemes. Now it was easy to win Loras Tyrell and his father, Mace Tyrell and his bannermen might join the Iron Throne. It was also Tyrion's idea to win the Tyrell with a marriage. Renly’s widow, Margaery Tyreel, would be to wed to King Joffrey. Cersei objected, she would not break Sansa’s marriage contract. The Imp reminded her, Sansa was only the daughter of a dead traitor, and the Tyrells was much wealthier than the Starks. Littlefinger agreed. The Stark girl brought Joffrey nothing but only her body, Margaery Tyrell brought fifty thousand swords and all the strength of Highgarden. 



Sekapur Sirih

Setelah menikmati A Game of Throne, kembali memutuskan membaca buku ke dua dari A Song of Ice and Fire. Fiksi ini bagus dalam berbagai level, namun saya lebih menikmati A Game of Throne. Disampaikan dalam 968 halaman, diterbitkan oleh Bantam Books New York tahun 2011, sedangkan cetakan pertama pada tahun 1999. Ditorehkan dalam bahasa yang berseni tinggi, tapi juga dalam bahasa yang lugas dan ekspresif. Novel ini bagus dari berbaga aspek baik bahasa dan plot, tapi saya sendiri lebih menyukai kehebatan buku pertama A Game of Throne.

Pada A Clash of Kings dikisahkan perang enam faksi tahta hendak merebut tahta Seven Kingdoms, setelah kematian Robert Baratheon. Remaja tiga belas tahun, anak  hasil inces (perkawinan sedarah) antara si kembar Cersei dan Jaime Lannister, kini Joffrey naik tahta, Karena masih kurang umur, ibunya, Cersei Lannister, diangkat menjadi Ratu sementara. Ada dua tokoh baru yang menonjol pada buku ini: Ser Davos Seaworth dan Theon Greyjoy.

Kehadiran tokoh si cebol Tryrion mendominasi di sisi pusat kerajaan Iron Throne (Tahta Besi). Arya menyamar jadi seorang lelaki anak yatim piatu, hidup gadisnya ini tanpa henti dibayangi kesusahan dan bahaya, hingga kembali menjadi anak perempuan, berakhir menjadi pembantu di dapur serdadu keluarga Lannister. Anggota keluarga Stark tercerai, imbas dari pemenggalan Ned Stark, ayah Arya. Sulung Robb dan ibu mereka, Catelyn Stark, secara terpisah meninggalkan kerajaan demi upaya menuntut keadilan atas kekejaman Lannister. Sansa masih menjadi sandera, Arya seindiri dipercaya juga tawanan Lannister, sementara Bran dan Rickon hanya dijaga pengasuh di Winterfell dan tak luput dari incaran marabahaya.

Penulis berhasil membuat pembacanya dalam ruang penasaran setelah mengakhiri setiap bab, apalagi pada akhir cerita, tinggalkan ratusan pertanyaan ingin bersambung ke seri ke tiga Storm Swords. Bila Anda sedang mencari bacaan fiksi dengan bahasa berkualitas, juga adalah seorang peminat fantasi kisah kerajaan, maka buku ini tepat dijadikan pilihan.




Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia; A Clash of Kings (1999), karya George R. R. Martin: sebuah ringkasan

Kematian Robert Baratheon membawa suasana semakin panas dan terpecah di tanah Westereo. Seven Kingdoms kii di tangan Lannister, Joffrey muda berumur telah duduk di tahta, dan ibunya sebagai Ratu pelaksana sementara hingga ia cukup umur. Stannis Baratheon adik dari Robert, akhirnya mendapati keponakannya Joffrey bukanlah anak kandung kakaknya. Anak haram adalah hal biasa dalam kerajaan, tetapi anak hasil inces, perbuatan terkutuk, terancam hukuman mati. Tindakan mengkhianati para dewa.

Stannnis kini mengangkat dirinya menjadi rajadi Dragonstone dengan dukungan sejumlah faksi. Adiknya Renly juga tidak mahu kalah, mengangkat dirinya menjadi Raja di wilayahnya Storm’s End, dukungan dari beberapa faksi termasuk Robb dari Winterfell. Dengan panglima utamanya Loras Tyrell putra dari Kerajaan Tyrell, dan seorang gadis tangguh sebagai pengawal Renly.

Robb telah menuju utara untuk menaklukannya dan ibunya sendiri menemui Renly dan Baratheon untuk bersatu menjatuhan keluarga Lannister yang kini mengusai pusat kerajaan. Bersaudara tidak membuat Renly dan Stannis bersatu memerangi keluarga Lannister, setelah Stannis menyebarkan ribuan surat lewat ratusan pasukan burung, sebaran yang berisi klaim bahwa Joffrey adalah hasil inces dan sama sekali tidak memiliki darah Baratheon.

Arya
Yoren telah menyelamatkan Arya, dan bergabung dengan anak-anak dan remaja yatim piatu lainnya. Penyamaran menjadi anak lelaki sangat aman bagi dirinya. Kerajaan berusaha terus masih mencari Arya, walau ada kabar Arya telah mati. Bagi ibu dan abangnya, Arya adalah tawanan dari Cersei Lannister sebagai ganti dari Jaime Lannister yang kii masih ditahan sebagai tawanan di kerajaan Riverrun, kerajaan ayah Catelyn yang sekarang dipimpin adik lelakinya berma Edmure Tully. Sakit hati dan kebencian Arya pada Joffrey dan keluarga Lannister yang telah memenggal ayahnya. Gadis muda itu rindu kebersamaannya dengan keluarganya di Winterfell. Masa damai dan indah, kenangan bersama ayah dan ibu, Bran, Rickon, si tua Nan, apalagi ditambah saudara separuh darah, si anak haram, Jon Snow.

Arya tidur tidak tentu, hari-harinya hidup menggelandang di pinggiran tembok istana, terkadang di hutan, dan makanannya cacing, terkadang buah-buahan liar hutan. Setelah bergabung dengan Yoren dan anak-anak gelandangan lain, kehidupannya lebih semarak, ia memiliki banyak teman. Ada sekitar tiga puluhan anak, Arya lebih muda dua tahun dari remaja termuda di kelompok gelandangan itu. Yoren akan membawa mereka ke Wall (Tembok) bergabung dengan Night’s Watch.

Sangat tidak mudah meninggalkan seputaran istana, serdadu kerajaan ada di mana-mana. Hingga akhirnya pelarian mereka terhenti, dikepung oleh pasukan Lannister, tidak sedikit anak-anak yang terbunuh. Arya sendiri dan beberapa teman lainnya ditangkap dan dibawa ke Harrenhal, wilayah kini dihuni Tywin Lannister, ayah Cersei. Arya dijadikan pembantu di dapur serdadu, pekerjaannya cukup berat mengangkat air dan melayani para serdadu tanpa henti. Dia kerap diperlakukan kasar dan bahkan dipukuli, nyali pejuangnya muncul dan secara diam-diam berhasil membunuh sejumlah serdadu. Gadis kecil itu satu sisi bersyukur kini ia dapat tempat tinggal tetap, mendapatkan makanan.

Bran
Tidak bisa berjalan, dia harus dibantu untuk berjalan dank e tempat tidur, adiknya Rickon kini berusia empat tahun. Kakaknya Robb dan ibu mereka meninggalkan Winterfell untuk menyelamatkan Sansa dan Arya, membangun kekuatan membalas perbuatan Joffrey dan Lannister. Pengasuh Luwin dan para pengawal lainnya yang menjaga keduanya. Kedua bersaudara itu merindukan saudara-saudarnya. Bran kerap bermimpi aneh-aneh.

Sansa
Semakin hari istana serasa penjara baginya. Dia tidak bebas beperian, geraknya selalu diawasi, dan pembantu dan pengasuhnya sengaja digonta-ganti menghindari keakraban. Ratu Cersei masih berharap Sansa akan menjadi istri Raja Joffrey. Bertolak belakang, bagi putranya Sansa adalah putri pengkhianat, sekarang Robb abangnya juga dinyatakan pengkhianat, pembangkang. Sansa darah pengkhianat, dan akan selalu pengkhianat baginya. Sansa begitu mencintai Joff, hingga mengkhianati ayah dan keluarganya, tapi kini rasa cintanya beranjak memudar, perlakuan kasar dan jahat Joffrey. Di depan para pengawal dia disuruh mencopot bajunya dan mempernalukannya.
Tyrion menyelamatkan gadis itu, dia juga menegaskan Sansa harus hidup sebagai ganti kembarnya Jaime Lannister. Sansa sendiri ingin pulang ke Winterfell, ia menyesali perbuatannya.

Theon
Catelyn menyarankan anaknya agar kembali ke Winterfell, Bran dan Rickon sangat membutuhkannya. Permaisuri Winterfell itu memintanya membawa Theon Grejoy bersamanya.Hati dan perasaan Catelyn sulit menyukai Theon, apalagi perangai Balon Grejoy, ayah Theon. Hampir sepuluh tahun, Theon tinggal di Winterfell, dibesarkan bersama anak-anaknya, Catelyn kurang senang dengan pemuda itu. Robb malah membebaskan Theon dan menyuruhnya pulang ke Iron Islands, kerajaan ayahnya, Rumah GreyJoy.

Pulaunya tidak terlalu besar, begitu memasuki pelabuhan ia melihat bendera yang ia ingat semasa kecil, sebelum dikirim ke Winterfell. Ayah dan pamannya sudah tua, itu juga alasan Robb membebaskannya. Balon Grejoy pernah menyerang istana, Robert pun mengambil dan menyerahkan putra tunggalnya Theon kala itu masih kanak-kanak, dijadikan tawanan. Dibawa teman dan kepercayaan Raja Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark, dibesarkan dan kelak dijadikan pengawal di Winterfell. Selama di Winterfell, Theon hanya merasa nyaman dengan Robb, ia sangat tidak menyukai Jon Snow. Dia merasa diperlalukan berbeda, dan cemburu pada Jon Snow.

Tyrion
Sebagian memanggilanya manusia setengah, sebagian si cebol, karena ia memang bertubuh pendek bertolak belakang dengan kembarnya Jaime Lannister. Tyrion menyadari dirinya versi buruk dari Jaime. Saudarinya Cersei sangat membencinya. Ayah mereka malah mengrimkan Tyrion sebagai Hand of the King. Surat penugasan Tywin Lannister mulanya dicurigai dipalsukan Tyrion. Tubuh kecil tidak membuat ia tidak didengar, ia cerdik pandai. Surat selebaran tentang anak haram Joffrey dari Satnnis pun sampai, Cersei semakin gelisah. Bagi Tyrion cukup dibiarkan saja, nanti bsikan itu akan lelah dengan sendirinya. Skema dari Littlefinger akhirnya menjadi solusi yang diambil melawan Stannis. Kelicikan Petyr Baelish menciptakan skema pembalasan untuk selebaran Stannis. Api dilawan api.

Kebencian Cersei pada Tyrion berbalik. Di kala hujan hujatan bagi Cersei karena perbuatannya dengan Jaime. Terpaksa ia menuruti semua rencaa Tyrion; mengirimkan putrinya Myrcella yang masih berusia Sembilan tahun, ditunangkan dengan kerajaan lain agar mendapat dukungan melawan Stannis da Renly. Tommen, anak berusia delapan tahun juga dikirim dan dijodohkan ke kerajaan lainnya. Pasukan Stannis dipastikan tidak akan membiarkan kedua anak itu hidup-hidup. Rasa curiga Cersei tetap berkecambuk pada saudaranya Tyrion, tapi ia dalam keadaan terjepit. Ia akhirnya selalu menyanggupi permintaan Tyrion melibatkan termasuk ide berbahaya; Joff turut dalam perang melawan Stannis. Kabar terbaru Renly sudah tewas terbunuh, dikabarkan dibunuh oleh wanita, kekuatan gaib, ada pula menuduh Catelyn Stark, tapi bagi politisi, Stannis adalah yang paling diuntungkan dengan kematian Renly.  

Pasukan Stannis berhasil dipukul mundur dengan bantuan kakek Joffrey, Tywin Lannister. Joffrey sendiri berhasil selamat, sementara Tyrion dikabarkan tewas. Joff dijodohkan dengan putri Raja di Highgarden, Putri Margaery Tyrell berusia lima belas tahun.

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August 27th, 2017




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