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High Tide, Chapter 31: Justice
🕑 Added 2023-07-02 04:34:17 +0000 UTCViserra
Second Moon, 92 AC
Just a few more days, and it would mark one year since Rhaekar died. Even now it was still hard to believe that he was really gone, but he was, and the world had moved on without him. Aurane and Alys had had their first child, a child that would never know an uncle, a son named Malentine. Soon, Viserra would have another child that would also never know its uncle as well.
Beyond Tyrosh and House Velaryon, the world turned, uncaring of their loss. The Targaryens had successfully reconquered the Stepstones after several long months, and Otto Hightower had been installed as Governor. His governorate might be tenuous but it felt like a permanent reminder of their loss of the Stepstones.
91 AC had been a bad year for House Velaryon. Their wealth, once said to rival even the Lannisters, had depleted greatly, though they remained very wealthy still. All but the closest of their allies had deserted them, and the Targaryens seemed ascendant for all that they faced division within their own house and realm.
Tyrosh had been like her own personal hell, as Viserra had drowned in the troubles and duties of ruling the contentious and stubborn city. To stay sane, she had grounded herself in her children, her two boys Jace and Luke, and the child growing in her womb. Whenever she had felt like giving up, she would go to her eldest sons, and remind herself of why she fought and struggled so hard. Her pain mattered not if she could give them a bright future.
Against the odds they had persevered. She had persevered. House Velaryon still stood, and while their coffers were still being drained, it seemed like they might have finally stanched the bleeding. A new year had dawned, and Viserra greatly hoped that it would be better than the year before it had been but perhaps her hopes had been premature.
Ever since the execution of Eranyr and his closest allies, the Dyes had been dissolved as a faction. Their wealth had all been seized by the Velaryons and many of the roles and positions they had once held had been filled by their loyalists from Driftmark, the men and women called Seahorses by the locals. The acquired wealth had helped them to recuperate their losses and their loyalists now filling much of the city’s civil service and trade guild management went a long way to strengthening their regime.
Unfortunately, things were far from resolved in Tyrosh and it was because of the other two factions in the city. The surviving Dyes had unanimously joined the Towers and Ario Orlyr’s power had swelled as he now had the undivided support of the city’s Buzantys, elites, local religions, and many of the slaves. His stranglehold on the city’s economy and civil service had only grown with the power of the remaining Dyes and their supporters joined to him, almost so much that Viserra wondered if destroying the Dyes was even worth it for House Velaryon.
On the other hand, the Stars had also grown. There were more septs than ever before and more and more believers. With those came increasing conflict and clashes with the Towers and their backers from the local religions. Conflicts that Corlys and her had to mediate to prevent the city from erupting into religious violence.
“Why does this godforsaken city have to be so difficult?” Corlys asked angrily, tiredly as they walked into his solar.
Viserra sympathized with him. This was no easy matter to resolve. In the latest clash between the Towers and Stars, a Red Temple had supposedly been vandalized and several Towers had been stabbed to death. A sept had been burned down, allegedly in retaliation. Both factions claimed the other was guilty of striking first and Corlys had rounded up all the perpetrators from both factions and imprisoned them in the Black Fortress while an investigation was carried out. Viserra knew he had done that to buy himself time to decide what was to be done.
They were running out of time however. Tensions were rising in the streets, as Towers and Stars fought daily, clashing against each other with their own personal forces of militias while the Velaryon guards struggled to keep the peace. Viserra feared it was only a matter of time before the violence became uncontrollable.
“What are you going to do?” she asked her husband.
“I’ve invited both the Towers and the Stars to come to the fortress tomorrow. Hopefully we can resolve this in a way that doesn’t result in riots in the city.”
“Ario Orlyr and the leaders of the Stars in the same room?” Viserra asked, amused by the idea before she grew horrified. “I hope you do not intend to listen to Orlyr’s demands,” she asked concerned.
Corlys nodded. “I don’t have a choice. I have to at least hear him out. You will deal with the Stars for your part, they have more respect for Zaldilaros than myself. We will try and come to some resolution.”
“And if that cannot be found? If violence cannot be avoided?” She asked urgently. “What exactly am I supposed to tell the Stars Corlys? What’s your plan?”
“What do you expect me to do Viserra? Tell me please, because I don’t know. I don’t have a plan. There is no miraculous way to resolve this and keep everyone happy. The Towers and the Stars are both calling for blood. If I side with one, the other will turn on us and almost surely rebel, and if I side with neither and try to be fair, both will be displeased with us.
“I have militant and aggressive Towers burning down septs, angering Stars and Seahorses alike, but their warriors and importance to the economy keeps me from moving against them. Their leader is a charismatic rogue with the support of half the city and if I do not placate him, he can incite that crowd to violence.
“On the other hand, I have fanatic Stars arming themselves and all but creating a new Faith Militant. They stab people to death in the streets like some gang and call for a revolution to tear down all the slave masters of Essos, endangering our relations with many of our last remaining trade partners and the economy of the whole continent if they are not restrained.
“Either way I look, I see danger and trouble ahead. Support raving fanatics who want to burn down all the slavers in Essos, destroying its economy and creating chaos and anarchy, or back militant warriors and administrators who have a stranglehold on Tyrosh’s economy and civil service, or maybe anger them both.”
“The Stars are better than the Towers!” Viserra argued passionately. She still believed that the Towers had something to do with Rhaekar’s death. She refused to let them get away with more crimes. “The Towers have opposed us from the beginning, prevented us from taking full control of Tyrosh’s businesses and we both know they have slowed our recovery from the sanctions. If you must choose a faction to anger, why not them over the worshippers of the Seven who see us as their saviors?”
“Are the Stars better? Truly? Do you honestly believe their loyalty to you is reliable Viserra? It is not. Religious fanaticism is a double-edged sword and when their messiahs do not follow the ‘tenets’ of the revolution, the fanatics turn upon them.”
“Who knows what the far future holds Corlys. Right now our biggest problem is the Towers. If there is truly no way to resolve this peacefully, I must urge you to consider moving against them at last!”
“Without Dreamfyre?” Corlys demanded. “You are pregnant Viserra, and vulnerable. If the city fell into violence tomorrow, you will not be able to ride Dreamfyre and bring peace by force. Instead you will be in danger and I cannot accept that. I swore to keep you safe,” Corlys said as he placed one hand over her belly and another on her face to caress her cheek.
“Towers or Stars, it doesn’t matter ultimately. No matter what decision I make here; the stakes are higher than they have ever been, and I am terrified Viserra, that I will make the wrong decision. I don’t know what to do. I cannot be wrong again Viserra, I cannot. I can’t lose you,” Corlys said, his voice breaking. The wounded and almost desperate expression on Corlys’s face made her heart break.
“What about fair trials?” She suggested. “We keep both the Towers and Stars imprisoned while an investigation is carried out. Anyone from either side, who is guilty of arson and murder, we will execute as the law requires, regardless of who started the dispute.”
“That was my first thought as well, but I fear it’s not that simple. It will please no one Viserra. It runs the risk of turning both the Towers and the Stars against us completely.”
“But it will also show that you are above petty factionalism as the Archon of Tyrosh. The rule of law prevails and any who break it will suffer. That is something the Towers must abide by to keep their own self-proclaimed philosophy of bringing order to Tyrosh.”
“And the Stars will be satisfied by that? Even now they are calling for the death of all the Towers as vengeance for their burnt sept and murdered brothers and sisters. Not even the Towers are saying that, as much as you hate them.”
“I will rein them in. Have faith in my ability to do that will you?”
At the hesitant expression on Corlys’s face, Viserra pleaded. “Please? It’s worth trying at least. Do you have any better ideas?”
Before he could answer, there was an urgent knock on the door of the solar. “Come in!” Corlys ordered.
Her remaining goodbrother entered the room, alongside Ser Jaremy of the Tide Guard. They dragged a prisoner in by the manacles on his arms.
“Who is this?” Corlys demanded.
“I think I might have found the answer to your dilemma Corlys,” Aurane answered.
Viserra stared at the man in shock. The scar was different, branded over with the Seven-Pointed Star, but it was still there, at the bottom of his left cheek. A tall, pale, and dark haired man. A man she could not forget. Rhaekar’s murderer.
“It’s you!” She said venomously before she slapped him as hard as she could.
Aurane looked vindicated. Viserra turned to him. “How did you know who he is?”
“I didn’t. He confessed and begged to be brought to Zaldilaros. Said he would only reveal who ordered him to kill Rhaekar to you. Ser Jaremy was the one who realized he looked quite similar to the description you gave all those months ago.”
As he faced her with a new mark on his cheek, the man chuckled morosely. “I probably deserved that and much more my lady.”
“Who are you? Why did you kill Rhaekar? Were you always a Star?” She demanded, horrified by the possibility that the Stars of all people might have slain Rhaekar.
“Rest assured Zaldilaros, the Stars remain loyal to you. They know not who I am. But before I tell my tale, I must have your word, that you will spare the lives of my brothers in bonds. I confess for their sake alone.”
Corlys rose to his feet in anger. “You stand here after confessing to the murder of my brother and ask me to spare the lives of yours? Murderers just like you? How dare you! Your audacity disgusts me!”
“I am a murderer yes, but my brothers? They are not. It is not murder to kill murderers, only justice. They came in the night, claimed we vandalized their temples and burned the sept. I led my brethren and hunted each and every one of those savages for their crimes. If you must punish anyone for what you call murder, then punish me alone. Or I will not speak.”
At that, Ser Jaremy punched him in the face with his mailed glove, sending him to the ground in agony.
“Enough Orange. We need his mouth intact to speak,” her husband ordered.
Jaremy bowed apologetically. “My apologies. Please forgive me Your Excellency.”
“No matter, no permanent harm done,” Corlys said as he stalked up to the poisoner and kicked him as hard as he could. “Speak cretin, or I will let Ser Jaremy hit other parts of your body.”
The assassin groaned in pain loudly before he started laughing bitterly. “If you think your threats scare me Sea Snake, you truly do not know who it is you are dealing with.”
“Answer me damn it!” Corlys demanded as he grabbed the assassin and threw him into the wall of the solar.
“Corlys!” Viserra rebuked. “We need him alive, and we need him to talk. I for one am impatient to hear the truth. Is it so difficult to spare the lives of a few insignificant Stars if it means we can have the truth at last?”
“Of course you would want the Stars spared Viserra. You adore them so much despite the evidence before our eyes!”
At that Viserra glared at him and he backed down. He would not question her motives, not for this, not for Rhaekar’s killer.
“Speak assassin. Zaldilaros commands you. Every truth you speak; I will spare one of your brothers. Every lie and I will have one tortured to death as you watch,” Viserra ordered.
Coughing, the poisoner pushed himself up from the floor and leaned against the wall. “My name… is Aero Dirrin. I was born into the Buzantys caste, by virtue of my father, but my mother was one of the Free Folk.”
“A wildling. That explains why you look Westerosi then,” Viserra said. Their long-held theory had been confirmed. “You say you’re Buzantys, does that mean the Towers are behind it then?”
The man nodded tiredly. She turned to Corlys feeling vindicated but his gaze remained fixed on his brother’s killer.
“I was an experienced and capable spy for the Buzantys, in fact I reported to none other than the Warden himself, Captain Ario Orlyr. Long had he had me stationed in the Black Fortress, leveraging my exotic looks and roguish charm to acquire information for him. And then you Velaryons came and conquered Tyrosh, and a new opportunity arose. With my Westerosi appearance, I could easily blend in among your servants, and reach places that no other spy could.
“I spent months preparing, learning the schedules and the routines, manipulating your servants to trust me with a charm. I was waiting for a time when all three of you would be eating dinner together. The poison was acquired long beforehand and it was kept as a stone in my private quarters in the Fortress. The Buzantys had long known of Lysos Eranyr’s stock and it was not overly difficult to acquire it and implicate him for the crime. His slaves were not as loyal to him as he thought they were, especially after that brutal whipping he gave some of them for trying to escape.”
“So Eranyr was innocent then?” Viserra asked, beginning to feel sick. Had they condemned him to death for nothing?
“No. Eranyr was plotting something of his own. Orlyr and him had some rivalry, a race to acquire more power and Orlyr won their little game. The plan was simple, the three of you would all die, we Towers would seize control of the Black Fortress and ‘investigate’ and we would find Eranyr guilty and execute him. With the Velaryons and Dyes both removed, nothing could stop the Towers from ruling the city. And failing that, even if we killed only one Velaryon, the hope was that in rage, the survivors would turn upon the Dyes and allow us to grow more powerful, powerful enough to try again.”
At Corlys’s troubled face, the assassin laughed again, taunting him. “That’s right Sea Snake. You played right into our hands when you executed Eranyr! At least you played into Orlyr’s. By that time, I was no longer a Tower.”
“I was wondering how you became a Star,” Viserra commented.
Dirrin nodded. “Orlyr hid me from your search in the Bleeding Tower itself, but when the Targaryen dragons came, he seemed to have come to a realization that assassination was no longer feasible. In our ambition, we had forgotten that Zaldilaros was one of the Targaryens, for all her estrangement from them. He grew to fear that if you died, the Targaryens would destroy all of Tyrosh in revenge.
“He changed his plans then, decided that he would try and ingratiate himself to you by killing me, and then presenting my corpse as a token of his loyalty. His plan was to become a trusted member of your administration and attain more power that way, in the hopes that he could eventually make it difficult enough for you to rule the city, that you would leave on your own volition and he would be the undisputed ruler.”
“Sounds desperate of him. Clearly you escaped,” Aurane observed dryly.
“I did. I was warned by friends of mine. I left the Tower and fled but loose ends cannot be left lying around as you know. The Towers hunted me down and I almost died. Luckily for me, I was near a sept at the time, and the Stars took me in.
“Their kindness shocked me. Never had I ever seen any religion so caring and welcoming to slaves. It preached against the horrors of slavery but R’hllor had always instructed slaves to obey their masters, no matter what. The community of Stars welcomed me, and I turned my back on my old life because I had come to realize that everything I believed in was a lie.
“I was only ever a pawn for Orlyr and the Buzantys and Towers. But in the Stars I found new meaning. I hid from the search for me by branding the Seven-Pointed Star over my brand to R’hllor and decided that whether the Seven were the true gods or not, their worshippers had a cause worth believing in.”
“Why didn’t you confess earlier then, if you were so loyal to the Stars?” Viserra demanded.
“I was loyal to them yes, but I was done with dying for any cause, no matter how worthy. I… I wanted to live, and while I knew that it would benefit the Stars greatly if I confessed, I was too selfish to do it. There was a girl I was sweet on and I selfishly wanted a chance of happiness.
“She died when the sept burned. I hunted her killers down with nothing left to live for. And now I confess in the hopes of atoning for my sins, that my death will buy my brothers freedom and avenge my love.”
Viserra clenched her fists. “I can sympathize with your loss, but I will never forgive you for killing Rhaekar. What stops me from simply having you and your brothers executed now that I have what I need?”
At that, Dirrin grew desperate. “Wait! Please, I have more information for you! I know the important leaders in the Towers! Where they have hidden away their weapons, and… and the treasure they stole from you and the city! I can help you more still!”
“And why can’t I just have you handed over to Ser Jaremy over there and let him question you a little sharply to make you talk?” Viserra asked with a sadistic smile promising pain and retribution.
A sliver of a smile made its way onto the assassin’s face. “Because you gave me your word. You have honor Zaldilaros, you are determined to be better than Orlyr. And if that doesn’t convince you, then be pragmatic. My information will be more forthcoming and reliable if I give it willingly rather than have it tortured out of me. And it will help you verify that I am telling the truth. Stars have no reason to know the location of any of those caches and not have shared it with you Zaldilaros. If even one of those caches is where I say it is, you will know I speak the truth.”
Corlys spoke then. “Ser Jaremy. Take this filth to a room nearby and interrogate him, sharply if he proves difficult. Procure the information he offers and write it on a list and return to us promptly. I’m warning you Dirrin, if we find none of these caches, if you are proven to be a liar, I will execute every single one of your fellow Stars and flay you within an inch of your life until you speak the truth.”
“There will be no need for that Sea Snake, I assure you,” he said as he was frog marched out of the room by Jaremy.
“How do we know he’s telling the truth?” Corlys demanded once the man in question was out of earshot.
“He gave us a way to verify it himself,” Aurane noted.
“That just makes it even more suspicious! He could have buried them in advance to prepare for this,” Corlys defended.
“What would he have done that for? He wanted to live after all, no intentions to confess until now,” Viserra said.
Corlys dismissed that. “He was a spy and an assassin. He would naturally have had emergency caches.”
“We could assess by the size of these caches. No mere assassin would have them beyond a certain size and if they’re too small, they are useless for the Towers to use in bulk in any way,” Aurane argued.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Viserra said. “I can see it in his eyes. His rage against the Towers is genuine, it speaks of betrayal, and regret. Corlys, I’ve told you many times before that Orlyr had as much to gain from killing us as Eranyr did. You’re just reluctant to move against him because of the difficulties involved.”
“No mere difficulties involved in challenging the faction with the loyalty of half the city with our dragon grounded! This is dangerous!”
“As dangerous as letting a man who tried to kill us once before already go free? You swore to me that you would give me the head of Orlyr if the assassin implicated him.”
Corlys relented. “You’re right… I did.” He turned to Aurane. “You agree with her?” He asked.
“I do,” Aurane nodded.
Her husband sighed. “Very well then. If these caches are found where he said they would be, and if they’re large enough to implicate the Towers, then we move to arrest as many of them as we can tomorrow. Hopefully with the evidence acquired, we would be able to prove our case in the eyes of the people, or we will have a rebellion on our hands.”
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To Dirrin’s credit, he had in fact been telling the truth. Despite his information being several months outdated, they found each and every cache exactly where he said they would be, each one containing far too many weapons and treasures to have been planted by him.
With his tale confirmed, they had moved to arrest as many of the Towers as they could within the next day, using his information and advice to strike at key targets. Ario Orlyr himself, and many of his closest allies, were arrested the moment they entered the Black Fortress, answering the summons Corlys had given earlier.
Taken completely by surprise, the Towers had barely been able to put up a fight, and when they were interrogated sharply, their stories all mostly lined up with Dirrin’s, despite some of them attempting to pin it on the Stars, though with their clear lack of preparation, it was clearly false and did not at all line up with their fellow Towers.
Orlyr himself had raged at his defeat and had taunted them for failing to catch him for so long once his execution was ordered. It seems with his death inevitable, he wanted to die with as little regrets as possible and flaunt his intelligence and victory one last time.
Well, Viserra thought darkly as she saw him chained before her, scared shitless, he didn’t look all too victorious right now. Several of the Towers were chained up before him, many still recovering from their torture and clearly injured. All were terrified of the dragon beside her.
Viserra had not approved of Eranyr’s execution and so Corlys had hanged him, but now? With the true killers found and her vindicated that it was indeed the men she had hated and suspected? She would be keeping her promise to Corlys, with interest.
Dreamfyre roared without her command, though not against her wishes. She clearly sensed and agreed with her desire to make these scum suffer and fear for as long as they remained breathing. Which was not much longer now at all.
The trials had been successful, and each and every Tower leader they could find and arrest had been found guilty in the eyes of the law. She didn’t know if that would placate their more radical supporters, but Corlys was hoping that the moderates who supported the Towers only nominally, or by virtue of being the same religion as them, could be swayed to remain neutral.
With her permission, Dreamfyre stalked toward the Towers, who grew more and more terrified at her approach. She sniffed and nudged and bit almost gently, almost tasting her food in advance. Before finally, at her command, she bit down on one of the Towers and tore him apart, roasting him with a light jet of flame before swallowing him whole.
It happened before her victim could even scream. All the Towers began screaming then, mumbling incoherently in shock and fear, begging for mercy, or even praying to their gods to save them. But there was no god here but Viserra and her dragon, and there would be no mercy from them for these scum. No swift dracarys to end their miserable existence instantly. No, Dreamfyre would feed, and she take her time with it. She did like playing with her food after all.
On and on it went, Dreamfyre slowly stalked around, playing with her food and slaughtering the Towers, one by one. Their fear had them all piss their pants by now, but Dreamfyre didn’t care. The flames cleansed it all. Finally, only Orlyr was left, precisely as Viserra had wanted.
“No! I am Ario Orlyr! Buzantys and Warden of the Bleeding Tower! You… You can’t do this to me!” He screamed desperately as Dreamfyre stalked toward him, backing as far as he could with the chains securing him in place.
Dreamfyre halted at her command. “My dear Orlyr, I think you will find that I very much can do this. And I will, with pleasure.”
At her urging, Dreamfyre took the most time playing with Orlyr, slowly cooking him alive with a low-powered flame to give him the most excruciating death possible. His screams would have horrified her most other times, but for this man? This man she hated so much, and had taken her friend and goodbrother from her and caused her and her house so much hurt? They were like music to her ears.
The courtyard was silent once Orlyr finally expired, only the sound of Dreamfyre chewing him up broke the quiet. The Tide Guard were stone-faced for the most part, but Ser Jaremy seemed to have enjoyed the spectacle and Aurane and Corlys had vindictive smiles.
Viserra walked up to Dirrin, seated at a desk in front of the carnage, having witnessed every other execution. Corlys came beside her, and poured some wine into a cup, placing it before Dirrin. As he watched, Viserra removed a dark amethyst crystal from her husband’s pocket and dropped it into the wine. They watched as the crystal dissolved in the wine, turning it from red to purple.
“What is this?” Dirrin demanded.
“Mercy,” Viserra said simply as Dreamfyre stalked up behind her. “You could choose to die by Dreamfyre too. I don’t mind either way but Corlys wants to see you die the same way Rhaekar did and I agree there is a certain poetic appeal to it.”
Dirrin stared at the cup with dread in his eyes.
“You have kept your end of the bargain and given us very valuable and useful information. Your fellow Stars will be spared, but this is where you end Aero Dirrin,” Corlys said firmly.
Glancing at Dreamfyre, Dirrin took the cup, and drank it all. Within seconds he was suffocating and he fell to the ground convulsing in spasms, desperately trying to breathe and tearing at his throat. Just like Rhaekar did. Viserra stared resolutely throughout it all. It could be quite fascinating, though morbid, when it happened to someone you didn’t have the slightest care for.
Once Dirrin finally stopped breathing, Viserra let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. Finally, at long last, on this day, the one-year anniversary of his death, a date Corlys had chosen for a reason, Rhaekar had been avenged… no, he had been given justice.
Corlys breathed out heavily before he interlocked his hands with hers and they walked away from the courtyard. They would sleep quite soundly that night.
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Orange
Ser Jaremy was a perfectly mature, calm, and collected man, but he would fully admit that he had struggled to contain his excitement when his lord and lady had executed the scum who had killed Ser Rhaekar. It was just so epic, and so very deserved.
Of course, he was a knight, he did not relish in the unnecessary suffering of others, but as a Tide Guard? A Velaryon loyalist? He had most certainly considered it not just deserved but necessary. Let the brutal punishment of the Towers be a message to all enemies of House Velaryon what the price of striking at them was.
Many of the Towers had fled and scurried when their masters had been captured and executed, hiding throughout the city in little holes like the vermin they were. For the past week since the execution, Jaremy and his fellow Tide Guard had been tasked with leading the Velaryon soldiers to root out these surviving Towers. Begrudgingly they had also accepted the offered aid of the Stars, to cover more ground faster.
“Ser Jaremy, the Tower is here!” He heard one of the Stars shout from down the road.
Spurring his horse onwards, Jaremy galloped down the streets, uncaring of who was in the way. He was here on official Velaryon business, they either moved or were trampled. Simple as that.
As he arrived, he saw that a huge crowd had gathered around the Stars as they tried dragging the desperate vermin that called himself a Tower away. The crowd was jeering and booing at the Stars and someone was wailing at the door of the house, presumably the man’s wife.
Seeing him approach, she rushed to his side. “Good ser! Please I beg you! Spare my husband, he is innocent!” She said in her native Tyroshi.
“Innocent? I’ll be the judge of that,” Jaremy said as he dismounted his horse. Walking up to the man being dragged away by the Stars, he drew his dagger and cut away at his shirt, revealing a brand of the Bleeding Tower, prominent on his back.
“Only true zealots to the Tower cause will have this symbol branded so prominently on their back. By the decree of my lord and lady, this man is guilty!” Jaremy declared. “As a loyal Tide Guard, I have no other course but to do as my loyalty commands me and take him away for their judgement!”
The crowd became louder, booing and jeering, some even dared to step forward to try and stop him, but he unsheathed his greatsword and they backed away. The insults and spittle began flying and finally the Stars had had enough. “Shut up!” One of them shouted, making the crowd quiet temporarily from the sheer loudness of his rage.
“This man and filth like him do not deserve your sympathy or kindness. They have burned down septs, murdered the poor, raped innocent maidens, and abused the young! He goes to Zaldilaros, the Dragon Princess! And she will give him what he deserves!” He said as he pulled the man to his feet by his hair. “Death!”
The crowd went wild, jeering even louder than ever before. Suddenly, a rock hit the Star in the face and as he fell to the ground, the Tower grabbed his dagger from his sheath and tried to kill him with his own blade. Before he could however, one of the other Stars impaled him with his spear.
The Tower’s wife screamed in despair as she rushed to her dying husband while the Stars helped their brother to his feet. Slowly but surely, the Tower bled out in his wife’s arms. Before Jaremy knew it, the crowd had turned very, very hostile. Dangerously so.
“Murderers!” Someone in the mob shouted.
“They stab good godsfearing mean to death, just like the rumours say! The Stars are not only infidels and heretics, they are savage bandits and killers also!” Another shrieked.
The crowd began to chant and scream loudly as they surrounded Ser Jaremy and the Stars
“Back away! Back away!” The Stars said desperately as they pointed their spears at the mob, who had begun to pick up rocks from the road and some had even gathered rudimentary staffs and other weapons.
Suddenly, the Tower’s wife shouted as she rose from her dead husband’s side. “They killed my husband! After trying to take him from his home and family! No justice, no honor, no virtue! I say we kill the Stars and their masters! Death to the Stars! Death to the Velaryons!”
The crowd took up her chant. “Death to the infidels! Death to the usurpers! Death to the tyrants!”
This was not good at all. Jaremy used his greatsword to cut his way through the crowd as fast as he could and rushed for his horse, the mob quick on his tail even as their brethren began tearing the screaming Stars left behind apart with their bare hands.
“Chase him down! Do not let the infidel escape!” the mob shouted as they chased after him but they were running on foot and he was mounted. The rocks they threw at him barely missed him as he desperately spurred his horse to a full gallop. As he rode away, rushing for the Black Fortress, Jaremy was disturbed by the chants of the mob behind him.
“Death to the infidels! Death to the tyrants! Morghon! Morghon! Morghon!”
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Author’s Note: We have come at last to the turning point! I hope you guys enjoyed seeing the Towers get their just desserts as much as I enjoyed writing it! But what’s this? The purge of the Towers has backfired? Well I did promise there would be glorious struggle even after the turning point. Stay tuned to find out House Velaryon overcomes this challenge as the long climb back to the top begins in earnest in Chapter 32!
Comments
Tertius711
The Targaryens have had a lot of POVs. They and Westeros will get some eventually but for now we are riding to the climax of the Tyrosh arc.
Audience92
I am glad we are finally picking up pace. Has the news of execution spread rest of Essos and Westeros. Will we get a kingslanding pov?
Tertius711
No problem, you can actually edit your comments here
Gary Brown
Sorry meant to say side
