Tower of the Hand

Yoren has taken the party¹ off the kingsroad and onto poor trails in order to avoid any more pursuit. Lommy and many of the other boys treat Gendry special since the queen wants him, but he is uncomfortable with the attention. They are largely out of provisions and mostly live off what Koss and Kurz, who were poachers before being caught, can hunt. At a holdfast called Briarwhite, they take some corn, but are chased off from restocking by farmers armed with scythes, much to Yoren's disgust. Arya is able to catch a rabbit one day that everyone shares including Biter, Rorge, and Jaqen. Rorge mocks her, but Jaqen thanks her politely for the treat. The going is slow, and once they have to detour for two days to avoid a group of soldiers flying a brown banner bearing a spotted treecat.² After several more days of travel, Dobber spots a large fire in the distance.

The next day, the group comes upon a burned out holdfast. Yoren investigates with Murch and Cutjack and bring back the only two survivors, a woman with a missing arm and a little girl.³ Rorge and Biter find their wretched state funny until Murch shuts them up. Hot Pie tells Arya he is scared and apologizes for threatening her earlier. The woman dies that night. The water from the river tastes funny, and Lommy says it is because of corpses upstream, causing Hot Pie to attack him until Reysen pulls them apart. Arya drinks too much of the water and has to leave the camp to go to the bathroom, where she encounters a pack of wolves who just look at her and walk away. She tells Yoren about the wolves and how she wished she were home. Yoren says he has been a recruiter for thirty years, always taking the kingsroad and never considering an alternate route. He concedes that this time they probably should have taken a ship.