Benjen Stark leaves for the Wall on the same day the King goes south. With him are Jon Snow and Ghost, Tyrion, and Tyrion's two servingmen.1 On the way to the Wall, they meet up with another Black Brother, Yoren, who is bringing two rapers from the Fingers back to the Wall. At camp one night, Tyrion drinks an amber wine from the Summer Isles and reads a book about the history and properties of dragons, which have always fascinated him.
The first time Tyrion visited King's Landing for Cersei's wedding, he sought out the dragon skulls that had hung in the throne room. Robert had already replaced them with tapestries, but he managed to discover where they were stored and found them beautiful. There were nineteen in total, with the oldest large and impressive and the newer ones small and misshapen, including a matched pair with skulls no bigger than that of a mastiff that had belonged to the last two dragons born on Dragonstone, neither of which lived for very long. The three largest belonged to the dragons that Aegon I and his sisters2 rode in their conquest of Westeros, Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar.
None could stand before these dragons of legend, but King Loren of the Rock and King Mern IX of the Reach had tried close to three hundred years ago, when the Seven Kingdoms really were seven separate countries. They gathered five thousand knights and ten times as many other soldiers to face Aegon, who only had around a fifth of that number, mostly conscripts from the army of the last king he had slain.3 Aegon's army broke in the initial charge, but at that point, Aegon unleased the dragons, the only time all three were deployed at once, and created what became known as the Field of Fire. Four thousand men perished, including King Mern, and both the Reach and the Westerlands were added to Aegon's domain, with King Loren swearing fealty.
Jon interrupts Tyrion's thoughts and asks the dwarf why he reads so much. Tyrion says that his mind is the only weapon he has, and he must keep it sharp, as he is a Lannister and is expected to do great things. Lord Tywin was Hand of the King to Aerys II for twenty years, Cersei married the new king, and Joffrey will be king in turn one day. Tyrion must do his part for the glory of his house as well, and therefore he must rely on his intellect. Jon wonders why he reads of dragons when they are all dead, and Tyrion replies that he used to dream of having a dragon of his own and started fires in the bowels of Casterly Rock that he would stare at for hours. Sometimes he would imagine that Tywin was buring in the fire, other times it was Cersei.
The talk turns to the Night's Watch, which Jon claims is a noble calling, and Tyrion breaks the truth to him that it is a midden heap filled with all the dregs of society. This upsets Jon and Tyrion moves to comfort him, but as he makes his move, Ghost leaps out of the shadows to tackle him. Jon helps Tyrion back up and realizes what Tyrion said about the Watch is true. Tyrion complements him for facing a hard truth rather than ignoring it and says he hardly ever dreams of dragons anymore. They return to camp, where the company has supper and goes to sleep, all save Jon who drew the first watch. As Tyrion turns in, he sees Jon staring intently into the fire.
