LA NUEVA ANTOLOGÍA EDITADA POR EL GENIAL ESCRITOR, "DANGEROUS WOMEN", INCLUIRÁ UNA NOVELA CORTA DE 30.000 PALABRAS TITULADA "“THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, OR, THE BLACKS AND THE GREENS".
La novela en cuestión, "The Princess and the Queen, or, The Blacks and the Greens", se ambientará en la guerra civil que duró tres años por la sucesión en la casa Targaryen al trono de hierro y que acabó con la muerte de Aegon II y Rhaenyra y la coronación de Aegon III.
Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, Carrie Vaughn, Diana Gabaldon (Outlander), Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden), Diana Rowland y Sherilynn Kenyon son algunos de los escritores que participarán en el libro, "Dangerous Women", que publicará Thor Books el 3 de diciembre.
Martin desveló, medio en broma, que esta novela de 30.000 palabras es el anticipo de otra de 80.000 que algún día será lanzada como título independiente y a la que de momento se refiere como el "GRRilllion".
THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN,
OR,
THE BLACKS AND THE GREENS
Being A History of the Causes, Origins, Battles, and Betrayals
of that Most Tragic Bloodletting Known as the Dance of the Dragons,
as set down by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown
((here transcribed by GEORGE R.R. MARTIN))
The Dance of the Dragons is the flowery name bestowed upon the savage
internecine struggle for the Iron Throne of Westeros fought between two
rival branches of House Targaryen during the years 129 to 131 AC. To
characterize the dark, turbulent, bloody doings of this period as a
“dance” strikes us as grotesquely inappropriate. No doubt the phrase
originated with some singer. “The Dying of the Dragons” would be
altogether more fitting, but tradition and time have burned the more
poetic usage into the pages of history, so we must dance along with the
rest.
There were two principal claimants to the Iron Throne upon the death of
King Viserys I Targaryen: his daughter Rhaenyra, the only surviving
child of his first marriage, and Aegon, his eldest son by his second
wife. Amidst the chaos and carnage brought on by their rivalry, other
would-be kings would stake claims as well, strutting about like mummers
on a stage for a fortnight or a moon’s turn, only to fall as swiftly as
they had arisen.
The Dance split the Seven Kingdoms in two, as lords, knights, and
smallfolk declared for one side or the other and took up arms against
each other. Even House Targaryen itself became divided, when the kith,
kin, and children of each of the claimants became embroiled in the
fighting. Over the two years of struggle, a terrible toll was taken of
the great lords of Westeros, together with their bannermen, knights, and
smallfolk. Whilst the dynasty survived, the end of the fighting saw
Targaryen power much diminished, and the world’s last dragons vastly
reduced in number.
The Dance was a war unlike any other ever fought in the long history of
the Seven Kingdoms. Though armies marched and met in savage battle,
much of the slaughter took place on water, and... especially... in the
air, as dragon fought dragon with tooth and claw and flame. It was a war
marked by stealth, murder, and betrayal as well, a war fought in
shadows and stairwells, council chambers and castle yards with knives
and lies and poison.
Long simmering, the conflict burst into the open on the third day of
third moon of 129 AC, when the ailing, bedridden King Viserys I
Targaryen closed his eyes for a nap in the Red Keep of King’s Landing,
and died without waking. His body was discovered by a serving man at the
hour of the bat, when it was the king’s custom to take a cup of
hippocras. The servant ran to inform Queen Alicent, whose apartments
were on the floor below the king’s.
The manservant delivered his dire tidings directly to the queen, and
her alone, without raising a general alarum; the king’s death had been
anticipated for some time, and Queen Alicent and her party, the
so-called greens,* had taken care to instruct all of Viserys’s guards and servants in what to do when the day came.
*In 111 AC, a great
tourney was held at King’s Landing on the fifth anniversary of the
king’s marriage to Queen Alicent. At the opening feast, the queen wore a
green gown, whilst the princess dressed dramatically in Targaryen red
and black. Note was taken, and thereafter it became the custom to refer
to “greens” and “blacks” when talking of the queen’s party and the party
of the princess, respectively. In the tourney itself, the blacks had
much the better of it when Ser Criston Cole, wearing Princess Rhaenyra’s
favor, unhorsed all of the queen’s champions, including two of her
cousins and her youngest brother, Ser Gwayne Hightower.
Queen Alicent went at once to the king’s bedchamber, accompanied by Ser
Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Once they had confirmed
that Viserys was dead, Her Grace ordered his room sealed and placed
under guard. The serving man who had found the king’s body was taken
into custody, to make certain he did not spread the tale. Ser Criston
returned to White Sword Tower and sent his brothers of the Kingsguard to
summon the members of the king’s small council. It was the hour of the
owl.
Then as now, the Sworn Brotherhood of the Kingsguard consisted of seven
knights, men of proven loyalty and undoubted prowess who had taken
solemn oaths to devote their lives to defending the king’s person and
kin. Only five of the white cloaks were in King’s Landing at the time of
Viserys’s death; Ser Criston himself, Ser Arryk Cargyll, Ser Rickard
Thorne, Ser Steffon Darklyn, and Ser Willis Fell. Ser Erryk Cargyll
(twin to Ser Arryk) and Ser Lorent Marbrand, with Princess Rhaenyra on
Dragonstone, remained unaware and uninvolved as their brothers-in-arms
went forth into the night to rouse the members of the small council from
their beds.
Gathering in the queen’s chambers as the body of her lord husband grew
cold above were Queen Alicent herself; her father Ser Otto Hightower,
Hand of the King; Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard;
Grand Maester Orwyle; Lord Lyman Beesbury, master of coin, a man of
eighty; Ser Tyland Lannister, master of ships, brother to the Lord of
Casterly Rock; Larys Strong, called Larys Clubfoot, Lord of Harrenhal,
master of whisperers; and Lord Jasper Wylde, called Ironrod, master of
laws.
Grand Maester Orwyle opened the meeting by reviewing the customary
tasks and procedures required at the death of a king. He said, “Septon
Eustace should be summoned to perform the last rites and pray for the
king’s soul. A raven must needs be sent to Dragonstone at once to inform
Princess Rhaenyra of her father’s passing. Mayhaps Her Grace the queen
would care to write the message, so as to soften these sad tidings with
some words of condolence? The bells are always rung to announce the
death of a king, someone should see to that, and of course we must begin
to make our preparations for Queen Rhaenyra’s coronation—”.
Ser Otto Hightower cut him off. “All this must needs wait,” he
declared, “until the question of succession is settled.” As the King’s
Hand, he was empowered to speak with the king’s voice, even to sit the
Iron Throne in the king’s absence. Viserys had granted him the authority
to rule over the Seven Kingdoms, and “until such time as our new king
is crowned,” that rule would continue.
“Until our new queen is crowned,” Lord Beesbury said, in a waspish tone.
“King,” insisted Queen Alicent. “The Iron Throne by rights must pass to His Grace’s eldest trueborn son.”
The discussion that followed lasted nigh unto dawn. Lord Beesbury spoke
on behalf of Princess Rhaenyra. The ancient master of coin, who had
served King Viserys for his entire reign, and his father Jaehaerys the
Old King before him, reminded the council that Rhaenyra was older than
her brothers and had more Targaryen blood, that the late king had chosen
her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the
succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens, that
hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obesience to the princess
in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.
But these words fell on ears made of stone.
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