Hand's Tourney

Robert Baratheon wanted the whole city to take notice that his old friend Eddard Stark was the new Hand of the King, and had a tourney held at King's Landing worthy of the office.

The purse was unusually large: forty thousand gold dragons for the joust's champion, twenty thousand for the runner-up, another twenty thousand for whoever won the melee, and ten thousand for the best archer.

Among the jousters, Ser Gregor Clegane cut down everyone put in front of him on his way to the semifinals, and in one of those bouts he killed Ser Hugh of the Vale, a knight who had barely been competing for long.

In the semifinal, Ser Loras Tyrell rode a mare in heat: Gregor's stallion bolted and cost its rider the match. Gregor flew into a rage, and had his own brother Sandor Clegane not stepped in, Loras would not have come out of that tilt alive.

Sandor had reached that point after beating Lord Renly Baratheon, and in the other semifinal he unhorsed Jaime Lannister as well. When his turn came to face Loras in the final, Loras yielded without crossing steel, grateful for having his life saved, and so handed him the joust's victory.

The archery contest came down to a hundred paces, once every other shooter had already missed at shorter range: it was won by Anguy, come from the Dornish Marches, ahead of Ser Balon Swann and Prince Jalabhar Xho.

The melee drew close to forty men and ran three hours of merciless fighting. Lord Beric Dondarrion first eliminated a hedge knight who dishonored himself by killing his own horse, but later fell to Thoros of Myr, who ended up carrying the whole brawl wielding a sword wreathed in flame that frightened off anyone who came near.