Chapter Forty-Two - The King's Prize - A Dance with Dragons | A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF)

Asha Greyjoy bent the knee to King Stannis. She’s been rewarded with shackles but is also treated as the king’s prize in his army’s ill-fated march on Winterfell. Simon and Mackelly hope she’s packed her thermals.

Chapter Review:
Stannis Baratheon's army winds out of Deepwood Motte. Among the baggage rolls Asha Greyjoy, fettered and guarded by Alysane “She-Bear” Mormont. Asha is Stannis’s living trophy for the lords of the north. The king plans to march 100 leagues through the forest in 15 days to Winterfell. A feat many of his followers claim his brother Robert would have done in 10 days. But this king is not his brother.

Asha watches Stannis’s grim procession with a broken ankle and a sharper mind. She recalls kneeling before him to save the last nine of her men and finds no mercy in the king, only duty. The southrons doubted the march but the northmen insisted.

Snow begins on the fourth day and never stops. Wagons vanish through ice, men freeze or simply sit down to die. The queen’s men call for a sacrifice to please their red god. “Pray harder,” Stannis tells them. Each night brings a smaller campfire and a growing list of losses. By day 20, Asha’s cart horse dies. Her shackles come off, but she must walk. The food’s gone, the grain’s gone, and hope is dwindling. Only the northmen seem unaffected by "autumn's kiss."

At last they find a crofter’s village. An opportunity to fish the frozen lake and huddle in the storm. Come morning, there are no trumpets, no warhorns, only white silence. Stannis’s army is snowbound, starving, and still a hundred miles from Winterfell. 

Characters/Places/Names/Events:
Asha Greyjoy - princess of the Iron Islands.
Stannis Baratheon - Claimant to the Iron Throne, as Cersei's children aren't Robert's.
Justin Massey - Knight of the Crownlands.
Dagmar Cleftjaw - Ironborn Captain, currently holding Torren’s Square.
Deepwood Motte - Fortified town in the north-west of the North. Seat of House Glover.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 9:40 Character Recap
• 10:17 Chapter Summary
• 16:30 General Discussion
• 47:01 Background Information
• 48:39 Comparison with the TV Show
• 49:46 Pedantry Corner
• 49:52 News and Notes
• 52:18 Conclusion