Chapter 29: Lies and Executions
King Robert is dead.
The seven bell towers of Baylor Cathedral in King's Landing resounded day and night, and the thunder of mourning rolled down on the people.
There are many theories about the cause of the king's death.
Some say that Prime Minister Ed murdered King Robert and was captured by the Lannisters. Some people insist that Prime Minister Ed is upright, and that it was the Lannisters who secretly poisoned the king. There is also a version of the story that claims that the king was killed by a wild boar while he was out hunting, and this version was a favorite of the bards, and from time to time cheerful and playful poems flowed from the taverns.
The death of the king has nothing to do with the people, how they were and how they are now, the extravagant continue to be extravagant, and the poor are getting poorer, this is the business of the nobles, and for the commoners, this is just a conversation after their dinner.
In the alley of the flea nest, two figures, one tall and one short, walked slowly. This is the most chaotic and filthy place in King's Landing, **, thieves, beggars, robbers, killers, gangsters, and wanderers gather here, and dozens of unknown corpses can be produced every day.
Arya leaned close to the teacher, she had experienced no less than ten robberies in the past few days, and there were people who tried to kidnap the child as slaves, but fortunately they were all sent away by the teacher.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look up at the black-robed man beside her, and couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Zoro, I heard from them that my father betrayed his king and was captured by the queen's people. When will we see him, I want to go home. The girl's voice was a little choked, and she was frightened by the experience of the previous day.
It was her first killing, and when she saw the opportunity, she stabbed the "sewing needle" into the soldier's throat, splashing warm blood on her cheeks and tasting the salty liquid in her mouth, and she froze.
As a result, the sword that another soldier slashed at him forgot to dodge, but fortunately Sauron arrived in time and eliminated the Lannister's soldiers with a single sword.
"She's just a kid." Zoro sighed secretly, squatted down, touched the girl's head with his big hand, and said in a gentle tone, "Prime Minister Ed is an honest and honest man, and he will never betray his friends. Trust me, we'll be home soon. ”
The girl nodded as if she didn't understand, and in her heart, the person in front of her was the only person she could trust and rely on now.
The girl first went to a hidden place with her teacher and used the bounty won by the jousting tournament to buy some strange things. Then they walked along the narrow labyrinth of flea nests, every street, every alley, and even some of the dark passages that had existed for centuries, and it took them days to bury the green liquid in glass bottles.
When the last bottle of liquid was buried, a little blue light faded from Zoro's eyes, and before his eyes, a small map of a winding flea nest slowly took shape.
"The 'fire' has been planted, and now we are waiting for the final judgment." Sauron looked up into the distance, the dense slums stretched to the end of the horizon, taking up almost half of King's Landing.
On this day, on the far other side of the city, melodious bells rang.
When all the bells in King's Landing rang, it represented the return of the King to the Seven Gods, and this time only one bell rang in front of the cathedral to represent the assembly bell.
The boys in the flea nest swarmed by, stealing passers-by's money bags by the way, and from time to time someone was caught and there was the sound of punching and kicking. The adults also began to move towards the hills one after another, with numb and excited expressions.
There were very few old people in the flea nest, for few poor people lived to such an age, and the oppression and heavy taxes of the nobility had long since exhausted their last loaf of bread.
"With the Seven Gods on top, the rebels have finally been punished!" Arya heard a stocky woman stumbling in the direction of the cathedral, cursing and cursing.
"The golden robes will take him to the Great Sanctuary and have his head cut off." The children said happily, they didn't know what to be happy about, only that they could see the heads of adults fall to the mud with a "grunt" like wheels.
"It's long overdue, traitor." The fat woman spat out.
"Oh! May the murderer of the king's soul fall into seven hells forever! A man with a thick skin on his face said with a strange smile.
Arya followed them, and their words reminded the girl of a terrible thing, "Who the hell are they talking about!" ”
The girl didn't dare to guess, but the answer was soon revealed.
When they arrived at Silent Sisters Street, the crowd was already crowded and crowded.
The white marble square in front of the sanctuary was full of people, talking excitedly to each other, expressing their opinions, and crowding in the hope of getting closer to the Great Basilica of Baylor.
Then they saw the main character of the day, Duke Eddard, standing on the archbishop's pulpit outside the gates of the church, supported by a golden-robed guard on the left and right.
In a short period of time, his body has lost dozens of pounds, and his long face is full of pain. He could barely stand, supported by two guards, and the plaster on his broken leg was ash, and the whole thing was rotten.
Arya's body stiffened, and she followed the teacher step by step, not even daring to look at the stage, the person she loved the most in her heart had fallen into such a miserable situation.
"Don't be nervous, just do what I tell you later." Sauron commanded, and he tightened his grip on the saber at his waist.
At the gates of the sanctuary, in front of the high pulpit, a group of knights and nobles gathered. Joffrey, dressed in a red silk and satin outfit, embroidered with a leaping stag and a roaring lion, and wearing a golden crown on his head, stood out most from the crowd. The queen stood beside him, dressed in a mournful black gown, with a few red strands on it, and a veil of black diamonds on her hairline.
Also standing on it were the archbishop with a huge crown of gold leaf and crystal, an ugly hound in dark gray armor, a great scholar with a metal necklace of a bachelor, a eunuch Varys in a brocade robe, and Petyr Berish, the king's chancellor of the exchequer with a faint smile on his face.
Arya also saw Sansa standing in the middle of the group, dressed in a sky-blue silk gown, with long curly jujube hair coming down and a reserved and nonchalant smile, and Arya couldn't understand why she was standing there watching her father's judgment and even laughing.
Then in the presence of everyone, Duke Ed personally confessed to treason and recognized Joffrey as the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the audience, and the air was filled with all kinds of mockery and swearing. They called him a traitor, a traitor, and a murderer.
A stone flew out of the crowd and struck Duke Eddard, smashing a deep wound in his forehead and blood gushing down.
"No!" Arya screamed, her hand reaching under her cloak and pulling out the sewing needle from her sheath, eager to rush to the stage now to protect her father, she did not believe or admit that her father was a traitor.
Then a big hand pressed her, and Arya saw an inexplicable glint in Mr. Zoro's eyes, and he said, "What you see with your eyes, what you hear with your ears is not necessarily the truth, see with your heart, see the truth, do you believe that Master Stark will commit treason?" ”
Arya recalled his father, the upright and impartial Lord Stark, "He would never do such a thing!" She thought, shaking her head vigorously.
"Your father will be proud of you." She heard the teacher say this, and then stared into the distance.
From the pulpit, after Prime Minister Ed confessed his crimes, the scholar Paisher respectfully confronted the new King Joffrey and asked him what to do with the traitor Eddard Stark.
Joffrey paced out triumphantly, stretched out his hand to stop the noisy crowd, and then exclaimed, "My mother has urged me to let Duke Ed join the Night's Watch, to deprive him of all titles and powers, and to exile him forever to serve the Great Wall, and Miss Sansa has interceded for her father many times. ”
With that, he stared straight at Sansa and smiled, but Joffrey then turned to face the crowd, "But that's because of their weak women's hearts." As long as I am king one day, treason will be punished severely! Sir Ealing, cut off his head for me! ”
The crowd was in an uproar, and everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
Arya saw Sansa, Queen Cersey, and the eunuch Varys rushing to Joffrey's side, and excitedly tried to persuade him to change his mind, but to no avail.
Joffrey's eyes flashed with a vicious and cruel light, and he insisted on giving Prime Minister Ed the punishment of beheading.
Arya looked around in disbelief and saw distorted and excited faces, screaming and cheering for the head of the noble lord who was about to fall.
"The populace is always ignorant and ignorant, they are most easily exploited by conspirators, ignorant and ignorant." Zoro whispered in the girl's ear, "Remember where we walked the other day, wait for me at the finish line." ”
After speaking, he drew his long sword, and the whole person crashed through the crowd like a bull and rushed to the stage.
"There are assassins!"
The powerful force made the crowd in the audience involuntarily retreat to both sides, and the crowded crowd was forced out of a straight road by him, and in the crowd like an obvious wave surging towards the stage, someone finally discovered the abnormality here, and recognized the identity of the person at the same time.
"It's the champion knight Zoro!"
"House Stark, kill him!"
The four Lannister guards drew their swords and tried to block the incoming people's tracks, but he simply dealt with them one by one.
However, more guards poured in, and there were as many as twenty or thirty.
In the stands, the new king Joffrey licked his lips excitedly, "Don't kill him!" He cried out with a cruel glow in his blue eyes, "If you dare to offend the new king, I will give him a 'just' judgment before killing him." ”
On the other side, Duke Ed closed his eyes in pain, "Let's go!" Get out of here. He yelled.
No one could hear him, and screams, shouts, and shouts filled the square.
Charging at so many people with the power of one person is impossible for even a champion knight to do, and no one would think that Sauron will survive.
This will be the knight's final charge!