Chapter 163: A Day of Chaos (Part 3)
A night that felt like a lifetime. When Egger stepped out of the River Gate garrison and back onto the street, the world had undergone a cataclysmic shift. Throughout the night, he had been the absolute protagonist of the River Gate—the central figure whom one side sought to hunt and kill while the other stood firm to protect. But as dawn broke and the farce concluded, he suddenly found himself a bystander, ignored by all.
Descending the stairs from the captain's office, walking through the corridor of the small building, passing the training grounds, and finally stepping out of the barracks onto the street facing the River Gate, not a single person spared him a glance. No one spoke to him, let alone attempted an attack or assassination.
Jaime Lannister had come and gone like a whirlwind, his god-like intervention seemingly serving only to extract his brother from trouble. Countless Gold Cloaks were scurrying across the street before the garrison, lining up to be counted before returning to their respective posts. Ser Jacelyn Bywater was nowhere to be seen; Egger scanned the area and finally spotted him rallying the men of the River Gate.
What is this for? Are they going to raid the East Barracks? Surely that doesn't require this many men.
Tyrion stood by the wall of the barracks with the young men of the security team and the wight-escort squad, clearing a path for the influx of people entering the city. Since the crowd veered around them, they were easy to spot.
"Ser Alliser." Despite the friction between them, after a night on the brink of death, seeing someone who was, in a sense, one of his own made Egger feel an irrepressible sense of kinship. As he joined the wight-escort squad, a few passersby finally took notice of him. "I only received the letter a few days ago; I didn't expect you to arrive so soon."
A young voice chimed in: "It was a fast war galley, with fair winds and following seas. We had two shifts of a dozen men rowing day and night—how could we not be fast?"
"Dormy!" Egger high-fived the speaker with genuine warmth. This man had trained with him as a recruit at Castle Black and they shared a good rapport. After graduating under Alliser, Dormy had been stationed at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. It was through him that Egger had obtained the raw obsidian used to forge the daggers that killed the White Walker, making Dormy something of a lifesaver.
"I hear this grand commotion was all because of you? Lord Egger is quite the man of the hour in King's Landing." Alliser, having no interest in watching the two pups he had trained reminisce, interrupted the conversation, putting a heavy emphasis on the word Lord. "What's that on your shoulder? You've been blooded?"
"A minor wound, not worth mentioning." The injury throbbed, but Egger brushed it off with feigned indifference. He glanced at the members of the escort squad, half of whom were bare-chested, and realized that as the host, he needed to look after these heroes. "Nina, go find someone to fetch twenty sets of black summer tunics..."
"We can discuss that after the business is done. The most important thing right now is to get the wight into the Red Keep and before King Robert. If this damn thing rots away on the final stretch, Mormont will have our heads."
That made sense. Egger didn't want any further complications. "Nina, just leave the clothes at the office; we'll distribute them when we return. I'm going to the Red Keep with Ser Alliser and the others first."
"Yes, my lord."
Slynt's cronies hadn't been entirely purged yet. Egger assigned two guards to accompany Nina to secure the summer gear. Then, he noticed Tyrion beckoning him quietly from the side. When he approached, Tyrion whispered, "Egger, something isn't right. I'm heading back outside the walls now to pack up... I'm returning to Casterly Rock today."
"Not right? What did you find?" After all the upheaval, they had finally toppled Slynt. He had survived, and Tyrion didn't have to change his name. They should be celebrating the Night's Watch industries' first victory over a major rival. Why was he running now?
Avoiding the crowd, Tyrion quickly recounted the series of events: Slynt's outburst during his arrest, Jory gagging the prisoner, and Jaime's immediate reaction to head back to the Red Keep. Combined with the fact that the City Watch had just changed commanders before their eyes and was currently mobilizing... none of these things meant much in isolation, but taken together, they pointed to a massive problem.
Could it be that Robert was moving against Cersei today? But what was the point of sending Jaime away at such a time? The Kingslayer couldn't hold the Red Keep alone, especially with Barristan the Bold's prowess exceeding his own... Egger's mind raced as he pieced together the sequence of events. He realized the situation was indeed precarious. "Your promise to topple Slynt in three days has been kept. You can indeed leave. Go now, don't hesitate."
"Yes. There are still some things I haven't settled; I'll write them down once I'm back at the industrial park. I hope we're just scaring ourselves."
"Travel safely."
"You too. Keep your guards with you at all times in the city. Don't lower your guard."
After their whispered farewells and warnings, Tyrion led Jak and the large group of unarmed security recruits back toward the River Gate.
The day had finally come. Egger felt his skin crawl. These high-stakes maneuvers among the Great Houses were something he currently had neither the means nor the power to change. However, with the Captain of Eddard's guards now in control of the City Watch, at the very least, the worst-case scenario of Cersei taking power seemed impossible.
Watching Tyrion disappear through the gate, Egger turned back to find Jaqen H'ghar leaning over the cage, observing the wight. It occurred to him then that he hadn't actually seen a wight himself... but as a man of the Watch who knew they existed and had killed a White Walker—a far higher being—his curiosity was low. He hadn't even thought to look at the thing until now.
"This man is dead." It was unclear how Jaqen made the determination, but he spoke with the certainty of a statement rather than a question. He rarely spoke unprompted, but the thing before him defied his understanding. He had to ask: "There is no life in him. How do you make him move?"
"We don't make him move. He was dead as a stone, then raised by dark magic into a monster that hungers for blood and is sensitive to warmth and light," Dormy explained. Though he didn't know Jaqen, he offered a kind warning: "Best stay back. This one is a fresh corpse; it's incredibly strong. If you give it a chance, it'll snap a man's neck."
"And north of the Wall, there are many of these?"
"Thousands upon thousands."
In reality, there weren't that many—at least they hadn't gathered in such numbers yet—but the Watchmen coming to King's Landing had agreed on a script: if anyone asked, the answer was "thousands." It was the instinct of any petitioner to exaggerate the threat, especially since they couldn't exactly drag a far more terrifying White Walker before the King. For now, the Watch could only rely on the sheer number of wights to frighten people.
Alliser spared an impatient glance at Jaqen. "Stop staring. Get it to the Red Keep first. Once the great lords have seen it, you can study it all you want. You can chop off an arm and take it home to play with for all I care."
Jaqen stepped away from the cage, his eyes leaving the wight. Egger thought he saw a flicker of genuine fear in the man's eyes. It was hard to imagine—given the vast capabilities of a Faceless Man—that he could feel fear. Perhaps, for one whose faith centered on the God of Death and whose business was killing, the concepts of an unkillable enemy and dead men walking were the most terrifying things in existence.
The Gold Cloaks had largely finished assembling. Several squads departed first to return to their barracks, while Jory Cassel—the former Stark guard captain and current Acting Commander—remained to meet with the officers of the Iron Gate, Aegon's High Hill, and River Gate detachments. Three hundred soldiers wasn't a massive army, but inside the confined spaces of the Red Keep, it was a force that could render the outcome of a struggle beyond doubt.
King's Landing was about to face a great upheaval!
There was no more time to waste. Egger quickly assigned a list of mundane tasks to the siblings Nina and Neil. He then took Jaqen and his four personal bodyguards to accompany the wight-escort squad, heading toward the Red Keep before Jory could finish reorganizing the Watch.
Parading a wight through the streets, the group arrived at their destination under the varied and curious gazes of the city's residents. The gates of the royal castle were tightly shut. Two Stark soldiers stood guard, blocking their path.
Egger stepped forward. "Brothers, please announce us. The Night's Watch has urgent business with the Hand of the King."
The two guards shook their heads. "Sorry, brothers of the Watch. The Hand has ordered that the Red Keep undergo general repairs today. No visitors, no state business. Come back another day."
As I thought. There was no longer any doubt; Robert and Eddard were moving today. Egger took a deep breath, preparing to find a justification or offer a bribe to convince the pair, but Alliser Thorne pulled him aside. "Let me talk to them."
The Master-at-Arms drew his steel sword. Under the wary eyes of the sentries, he repeated the inspection performance he had given outside the River Gate. He drove the blade through the monster in the cage three more times, then held the sword by the blade and offered the hilt to the guards, letting them confirm it was real steel. "Now. North of the Wall, thousands of these things are threatening the Night's Watch, and we are at our breaking point. If the Wall is breached, everything north of the Neck—even all of Westeros—will become a living hell. We have rowed for days and nights to reach King's Landing with all speed, and you tell us to come back another day?!"
The Stark guards were Northmen to a man. The families of these two sentries likely lived near Winterfell. Alliser's threat struck them where it hurt. The guard who had taken the sword turned it over, confirming it was a genuine weapon of war. He looked at his companion, his resolve wavering.
Alliser's eloquence was mediocre, but a living wight was the most powerful evidence possible. After a brief, hushed discussion, the two guards returned the sword to Alliser. They walked around the cage on the wagon twice to observe the creature, then finally nodded. "Wait here a moment. I will announce you, but whether the Hand will see you, I cannot guarantee."
One of the guards pounded on the gates of the Red Keep and shouted inside. The guards behind the gate soon opened a crack, and he slipped through quickly.
A short while later, the gate reopened. The guard reappeared before the Watchmen. "Follow me. but you leave all your weapons at the gate."
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