The Sworn Sword

Egg might be a hedge knight's squire, but Aegon of House Targaryen was the fourth and youngest son of Maekar, Prince of Summerhall, himself the fourth son of the late King Daeron the Good, the Second of His Name, who'd sat the Iron Throne for five-and-twenty years until the Great Spring Sickness took him off.

""So far as most folk are concerned, Aegon Targaryen went back to Summerhall with his brother Daeron after the tourney at Ashford Meadow"", Dunk reminded the boy. ""Your father did not want it known that you were wandering the Seven Kingdoms with some hedge knight.

So let's hear no more about your boot"".

A look was all the answer that he got. Egg had big eyes, and somehow his shaven head made them look even larger. In the dimness of the lamplit cellar they looked black, but in better light their true color could be seen: deep and dark and purple. Valyrian eyes, thought Dunk. In Westeros, few but the blood of the dragon had eyes that color, or hair that shone like beaten gold and strands of silver woven all together.

When they'd been poling down the Greenblood, the orphan girls had made a game of rubbing Egg's shaven head for luck. It made the boy blush redder than a pomegranate. ""Girls are so stupid "", he would say. ""The next one who touches me is going into the river"". Dunk had to tell him, ""Then I'll be touching you. I'll give you such a clout in the ear you'll be hearing bells for a moon's turn"". That only goaded the boy to further insolence. ""Better bells than stupid girls "", he insisted, but he never threw anyone into the river.

Dunk stepped into the tub and eased himself down until the water covered him up to his chin. It was still scalding hot on top, though cooler farther down. He clenched his teeth to keep from yelping. If he did the boy would laugh. Egg liked his bathwater scalding hot.

""Do you need more water boiled, ser?""

""This will serve"". Dunk rubbed at his arms and watched the dirt come off in long gray clouds. ""Fetch me the soap. Oh, and the long-handled scrub brush, too"".

Thinking about Egg's hair had made him remember that his own was filthy. He took a deep breath and slid down beneath the water to give it a good soak. When he emerged again, sloshing, Egg was standing beside the tub with the soap and long-handled horsehair brush in hand. ""You have hairs on your cheek"", Dunk observed, as he took the soap from him. ""Two of them. There, below your ear. Make sure you get them the next time you shave your head"".