The Green Tower was a place built not for glory but for finality. It was on a wide stretch of land that had long been used for punishment. It was not a place people visited for comfort. The ground was packed hard from years of use, darkened in some places by old blood stains that had not fully faded.
Around the perimeter, the tools for execution stood like grim monuments. A row of tall wooden gallows stood, their crossbeams bare, the ropes coiled neatly at the base of each post, for hanging. Beside the gallows, heavy iron cages just large enough for a man to stand in, others were smaller enough to force anyone to crouch. A few of these cages had spikes fixed inside, not sharp enough to kill quickly but enough to cause pain over time.
