A Dance With Dragons: Tyrion III (Chapter Summary)

Tyrion wakes to find the litter halted.  He steps outside and discovers Magister Illyrio talking with two riders.  They introduce themselves as Haldon Halfmaester and Ser Rolly Duckfield.  Haldon is older, clean-shaven, with a lined ascetic face, and his hair pulled back and tied in a knot behind his head; Duck is a brawny man with a shaggy beard and a shock of orange hair.  The two men transfer six oaken chests from Illyrio’s baggage train to their pack horses.  Haldon informs Illyrio that Dothraki have been seen north of Dagger Lake.  Outriders from Motho and Khal Zekko’s khalasars are moving through the Forest of Qohor, fleeing from Khal Pono and his khalasar of thirty thousand.  Tyrion is to continue journeying to the Rhoyne with Haldon and Duck.  Illyrio introduces Tyrion as Yollo, but Tyrion interjects, adding that his real name is Hugor Hill.  Yollo is a Pentoshi name, and Tyrion does not look or sound Pentoshi.  Haldon tests Tyrion with a series of questions concerning dragons, all of which Tyrion answers correctly;  presumably Illyrio has promised Haldon that Tyrion is a valuable resource with respect to dragon lore.  

Haldon, Duck, and Tyrion continue on horseback to meet Griff at the Rhoyne.  Duck regales Tyrion with his life story.  His father had been an armorer at Bitterbridge and as a result he had taken to swordplay at an early age.  One day he drew the eye of Lord Caswell, who offered him a place in his garrison.  Later, Lord Caswell’s son Lorent stole Duck’s sword, which Duck’s father had made him for his sixteenth birthday.  Duck responded by beating Lorent with a hammer, until both his arms and half his ribs were broken.  After that Duck fled Westeros and traveled across the narrow sea, where he joined the Golden Company.  Griff has now hired him to help train his son to arms. 

The next day they reach the site of Ghoyan Drohe, hard beside the river.  Beside an old stone quay they find the Shy Maid, an old ramshackle single-masted poleboat.  Aboard the Shy Maid are Yandry and Ysilla, an older couple with a Rhoynish cast to their features, and Lemore, a handsome septa in a soft white robe.  Griff is also aboard; his face is clean shaven and leathery, with wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, and his hair dyed blue.  His son Young Griff is a lithe and well-made youth, with a lanky build and a shock of dark blue hair.  He claims to dye his hair in memory of his Tyroshi mother.  Griff commands Tyrion to wait in his cabin.  Inside the cabin, Griff is reading a letter from Illyrio.  The letter reveals Tyrion’s true identity and the manner of Tywin Lannister’s death.  Tyrion promises to be a leal servant to Daenerys.  He assures Griff that his knowledge of Westeros will be essential to Daenerys’s conquest of the Seven Kingdoms.  Griff agrees to allow Tyrion to join their party on the condition that he holds his tongue and does as he is told.  Kingdoms are at hazard here, Griff explains, this is no game we’re playing.  Of course it is, Tyrion thinks to himself, the game of thrones.