DAVOS: ln King's Landing, if you leave the Red Keep and aren't careful,
you may find yourself in Flea Bottom.
ln such a cesspool did House Seaworth have its glorious start.
l got out as soon as l could, finding work on a smuggler's ship.
Soon, every port on the Narrow Sea had a bounty on me,
which they would collect if l didn't pay a percentage
to the right people or pick the right tides.
You know how to tell a good smuggler?
When you talk to one, there's a head that talks back.
l was very good.
Davos of Flea Bottom had run with orphans and beggars,
but Davos the smuggler was received by merchants and lords,
when nobody would catch them.
Oddly, the only honest work came from pirates,
like the notorious, bloodthirsty Salladhor Saan,
an old friend.
All he ever wanted was someone to buy his cargo quickly before the tide left
and sell it without telling where l got it.
ln time, l saved enough to buy a small plot of land,
and found a woman who was kind enough to overlook my trade.
She gave me a son, Matthos.
And we dreamt of the traders' circle around the Jade Sea.
Just one trip, and l could settle us and our family for life.
Then some Storm lord revolted against the lron Throne.
Wars are not as good for smugglers as you'd think.
Every harbor fills with guards and inspectors,
and the sea is filled with blockades and pirates
paid by each side to prey on the other.
Though l had no love for the Mad King,
l had grown up around the power of King's Landing.
l figured this Robert Baratheon would end the same as the other rebel lords,
burned to ash.
But he didn't.
The North, the Riverlands and the Vale joined him.
And in the taverns, people drank to Robert's health openly.
"Brave fools," l thought.
But l had a family who'd be left in the cold if l lost my head.
When Mace Tyrrell marched on Robert's home at Storm's End,
l spied the end of the rebellion.
The castle was garrisoned by Robert's younger brother Stannis
and a small guard, and would not hold out for long.
When it fell, Robert would be homeless,
and his support would bleed away.
This l knew from experience.
Months later, Stannis was still holding the castle.
Nobody cared.
But on voyages, l had seen what famine does,
and l thought of all those men in Storm's End
who would die unmourned and forgotten.
No better than Flea Bottom orphans.
l told my wife and myself
that l'd get a high price for the onions and salt beef.
ln truth, l knew l'd be captured by the Tyrell galleys or drowned.
But l was too stubborn.
Later that night, in the dark, in a tiny boat with a black sail,
l cursed myself and the moonlight as l waited for the tide to turn.
When it did, the wind beat the sail so hard, l ripped it down,
fearing that Tyrell ships would hear.
Luckily, they had grown lax.
With muffled oars, alone, l steered my cargo
through the treacherous currents and snarls of rock
that gave Shipbreaker Bay its name.
The waves finally carried me, soaked and near blind from seawater,
through the mouth of the cavern beneath the castle.
Then Stannis Baratheon arrived.
The siege had left him gaunt, but not weak, never weak.
He greeted me and accepted my onions with cool courtesy,
betraying no emotion even as all wept.
He doled out the food to his wife and each of his men
before he ate himself, a portion no larger than any other.
When he finally thanked me,
l could see his mind had already returned to the castle's defense,
his duty.
After Aerys fell and Lord Stark lifted the siege,
Stannis summoned me.
For my salvation of Storm's End,
l was to be granted a knighthood, a keep of my own
and my son taken into Stannis's personal service.
Davos of Flea Bottom had become Ser Davos of House Seaworth,
and his son would serve the King's own brother.
But, for my previous crimes as a smuggler,
l was to have the fingertips of one hand taken off above the highest joint.
Stannis held that l had flouted the laws of the land for years
and a good act does not wash out the bad.
ln one fell swoop, or five,
Stannis gave my son a future and my family a name
that l could never have imagined, nor earned, on my own.
l still keep the finger bones in a bag around my neck
to remind me what l was and what l owe to Stannis.
For during my many years as a smuggler,
l visited many ports, taverns and back alleys,
and saw many things in this world,
but neverjustice
until Stannis.