The Sworn Sword

""Roger of Pennytree was younger than Wet Wat when he died on the Redgrass Field. There were men in your father's host who'd been just been married, too, and other men who'd never even kissed a girl. There were hundreds who didn't know their left foot from their right, maybe thousands"".

""That was different, "" Egg insisted. ""That was war"".

""So is this. The same thing, only smaller"".

""Smaller and stupider, ser"".

""That's not for you or me to say"", Dunk told him. ""It's their duty to go to war when Ser Eustace summons them… and to die, if need be"".

""Then we shouldn't have named them, ser. It will only make the grief harder for us when they die"". He screwed up his face. ""If we used my boot-""

""No"". Dunk stood on one leg to pull his own boot off.

""Yes, but my father-""

""No"". The second boot went the way of the first.

""We– ""

""No"". Dunk pulled his sweat-stained tunic up over his head and tossed it at Egg.

""I will, ser, but-""

""No, I said. Do you need a clout in the ear to help you hear better?"" He unlaced his breeches. Underneath was only him; it was too hot for smallclothes. ""It's good that you're concerned for Wat and Wat and Wat and the rest of them, but the boot is only meant for dire need"". How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes, and one. ""What did your father tell you, when he sent you off to squire for me?""

""To keep my hair shaved or dyed, and tell no man my true name"", the boy said, with obvious reluctance.

"Egg had served Dunk for a good year and a half, though some days it seemed like twenty. They had climbed the Prince's Pass together and crossed the deep sands of Dorne, both red and white. A poleboat had taken them down the Greenblood to the Planky Town, where they took passage for Oldtown on the galleas White Lady .

He isn't, though. This egg had been hatched of dragons, not of chickens.