At Ashford, Baelor survives with a cracked skull and concussion. He and Dunk grow closer as they recover. But when it comes time to leave Dunk asks to travel separately so that he might enjoy one last travel as a hedge knight.
He never makes it to King’s Landing.
Some time later, Bealor’s out hunting on a visit to the Stormlands when he and the rest of the party come across a very large, very odd wolf.
His coat is tawny, light gold and brass. His eyes are a startling blue. And though he seems wary of the dogs and most of the hunters, he’s calm around Lyonel and damn near affectionate towards Baelor.
He ends up following Baelor out of the woods.
He follows Baelor all the way back to King’s Landing.
The wolf endears himself to Baelor, and his sons, and Egg, and Daeron, and even by some miracle Maekar, through his calm and patient bearing. He follows Baelor everywhere, lay outside his door at night until Baelor had him sleep on his hearth rug. He plays well with Egg and Matarys, calms Daeron from his dreams and fits, guards Valarr and Maekar and Baelor as they go about the duties.
It’s a feast day when it all goes to pot.
Landed knights and lords from all over are invited to celebrate. Lyonel and his retinue, and Raymun and his, are greeted cheerfully by the wolf. The rest of the visitors are treated with neutrality.
Until one minor lord makes his entrance. He dresses well for his station, and keeps good care of his lands (through which the road to King’s Landing from Ashford runs). He acts no differently from any other guest of the crown of similar station.
But it becomes immediately clear that the wolf hates him.
The wolf snaps and snarls, places himself between the lord and his king, takes every opportunity to herd the princes away from the lord.
It’s the most aggressive anyone has ever seen the wolf.
Lyonel jokingly asks the lord what he’d done to anger the gentle wolf so- “it’s almost as though he feels you’ve betrayed him.”
An awkward silence stretched, before the lord tries to laugh it off. “Nothing of the sort,” he claims, “I’ve never seen this wolf in my life.”
He continues, “Though, he is a big lad isn’t he? Almost as big as this hedge knight I once met. And nearly as mean besides.”
Lyonel snaps his head back to look at the lord from where he’d been fussing over the wolf. “Oh?” asks Lyonel. “Do go on. Tell us about this hedge knight.”
Baelor cuts a glance at him. Lyonel keeps his eyes on the lord.
“Ah, well, some time back this hedge knight came traveling through my lands, asked to stay for a few days before he continued on to King’s Landing. He was a tall lout, thick as rocks. I let him stay in the stables. Turns out I had been right to keep him far- one of the stable boys saw him turn to a monster one night, and come back the next day, only to put his cloak back on and return to his guise of a hedge knight. Whatever it was, it was clearly some sort of dark creature, so the next time it turned I had the cloak taken before it returned. It came sniffing around once more, before never returning again.”
As the lord spoke his story, Lyonel’s eyes grew sharper and sharper, and Baelor’s grew colder and colder, until at the end of the story the lord would have been dead twice over had looks been able to kill.
Lyonel told Baelor, “take the wolf to your rooms, and leave some clothes for him. Let us sees if he truly is who we think him to be. In the mean time, I will handle this”- and here he gestured to the paling lord- “and keep the story from spreading.”
And so Baelor did. He brought his now quiet wolf back to his rooms, laid out the largest and most comfortable clothes upon his bed. And when his wolf made no motion towards the clothes, left the rooms, so that the wolf could have privacy for the change, and so that Baelor could join Lyonel in interrogating the lord.
When Baelor, with Lyonel, eventually returned to the king’s chambers, it was to find their wolf a hedge knight once more. Hair messy, new scars on his skin, but bundled in Baelor’s clothes and warm beneath the blankets.
Baelor greeted his darling Dunk with a teary kiss and close embrace.
(And Lyonel has his brother back.)
