George R.R. Martin, the author behind the “Song of Ice and Fire” novel series that HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is based on, has delighted his readers by sharing an unpublished chapter from the sixth book, “The Winds of Winter.”
“The new chapter is actually an old chapter. But no, it’s not one I’ve published or posted before, and I don’t even think I’ve read it at a con,” Martin wrote on his blog earlier this week before releasing the chapter on Thursday. “So it’s new in that it is material that no one but my editors (well, and Parris, and David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], and a few others) have ever seen before, but it’s old in that it was written a long time ago, predating any of the samples that you have seen.”
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The chapter is titled “Mercy,” and starts with this:
“She woke with a gasp, not knowing who she was, or where.
The smell of blood was heavy in her nostrils… or was that her nightmare, lingering? She had dreamed of wolves again, of running through some dark pine forest with a great pack at her hells, hard on the scent of prey.”
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Fans can read the rest of the excerpt on his website, which appears to have crashed, at the moment.
“Game of Thrones” returns for Season 4 on April 6.