The Sworn Sword

Ser Eustace produced a cloak, and shook it out with a flourish.

It was white wool, bordered with squares of green satin and cloth of gold. A woolen cloak was the last thing he needed in such heat, but when Ser Eustace draped it about his shoulders, Dunk saw the pride on his face, and found himself unable to refuse. ""Thank you, m'lord"".

""It suits you well. Would that I could give you more"". The old man's mustache twitched. ""I sent Sam Stoops down into the cellar to search through my sons' things, but Edwyn and Harrold were smaller men, thinner in the chest and much shorter in the leg.

None of what they left would fit you, sad to say"".

""The cloak is enough, m'lord. I won't shame it"".

""I do not doubt that"". He gave his horse a pat. ""I thought I'd ride with you part of the way, if you have no objection"".

""None, m'lord"".

Egg led them down the hill, sitting tall on Maester. ""Must he wear that floppy straw hat?"" Ser Eustace asked Dunk. ""He looks a bit foolish, don't you think?""

""Not so foolish as when his head is peeling, m'lord"".

Even at this hour, with the sun barely above the horizon, it was hot. By afternoon the saddles will be hot enough to raise blisters. Egg might look elegant in the dead boy's finery, but he would be a boiled Egg by nightfall. Dunk at least could change; he had his good tunic in his saddlebag, and his old green one on his back.

""We'll take the west way"", Ser Eustace announced. ""It is little used these past years, but still the shortest way from Standfast to Coldmoat Castle"".

The path took them around back of the hill, past the graves where the old knight had laid his wife and sons to rest in a thicket of blackberry bushes. ""They loved to pick the berries here, my boys. When they were little they would come to me with sticky faces and scratches on their arms, and I'd know just where they'd been"". He smiled fondly. ""Your Egg reminds me of my Addam. A brave boy, for one so young. Addam was trying to protect his wounded brother Harrold when the battle washed over them. A riverman with six acorns on his shield took his arm off with an ax"". His sad gray eyes found Dunk's. ""This old master of yours, the knight of Pennytree… did he fight in the Blackfyre Rebellion?"""

"""He did, m'lord. Before he took me on"". Dunk had been no more than three or four at the time, running half naked through the alleys of Flea Bottom, more animal than boy.