Chapter 196: Mutiny
Beneath the King's Gate, billowing black smoke from pitch burning on siege engines blanketed vast sections of the wall. Atop the battlements, the Fiery Heart banner snapped in the wind; though tattered from being pierced by numerous arrows, it remained stubbornly fixed to the mast—much like the garrison holding the wall.
Below the walls, corpses littered the ground and blood soaked the earth. The heavy scent of iron and charred flesh overlapped, blending into a bizarre and pungent atmosphere.
Stannis sat ensconced within the highest gatehouse, fully armored yet not personally joining the fray. Surrounded and protected by his trusted guards, he overlooked the entire field, directing reserves to the most critical points at just the right moments.
The Stormlands army, bearing the crowned stag banner, launched several charges against the wall, only to be shattered and repelled like waves crashing against a reef. The lone brave soul who managed to crest the wall had no time to envision which lands he might rule as an earl before Stannis's reinforcement troops swarmed him, hacking him down with a flurry of blades.
The battle raged from high noon until the sun began to dip westward. Hundreds upon hundreds of Stormlands and Reach soldiers perished beneath the walls of King's Landing. After the final batch of hastily constructed siege ladders was committed to the field without success, the command in the rear finally ordered a retreat.
The soldiers had long since lost hope of taking the wall today. Hearing the short blasts of the retreat horn they had been waiting for, they turned and fled toward the main camp like desert travelers sighting water, heedless of anything else.
The defenders were also weary and exhausted, but compared to the carpet of corpses below, their casualties were far lighter. A keen observer would note that the casualty ratio between attacker and defender far exceeded 3:1. At this rate, Renly could exhaust his entire force outside the city and still fail to reduce the garrison by half—especially since the defenders could continue to conscript citizens to the walls.
But before the heroes who held the wall could draw a breath of relief, new orders were relayed across every section: everyone still capable of walking was to assemble at the gates, prepared to sally out for a pursuit!
...
Everything was going according to plan.
Stannis stood atop the high wall, eyes narrowed in contempt as he watched Renly's soldiers receding like a low tide. He mentally calculated the distance: he would order the gates opened and the strike begun just as the retreating enemy infantry reached the midpoint between the wall and Renly's camp. Barristan would lead the cavalry charge... as long as they seized the tactical opening, his cavalry would drive the retreating infantry back toward their own camp like ducks. By using the routing troops to disrupt the Stormlands cavalry guarding Renly, he could then lead the remaining infantry out to strike the entangled host.
If this maneuver succeeded, even if he couldn't capture Renly, he could wipe out half of the army outside the King's Gate and break the enemy's spirit. Afterward... he need only sit firmly in King's Landing and leisurely await the arrival of the loyalist relief forces from the North and the Crownlands. The Iron Throne would be secure, and no one would be able to take it.
Stannis was counting the minutes when a panicked voice interrupted his thoughts. A Dragonstone soldier, clothes disheveled and helm askew, scrambled onto the wall on hands and knees. "Your Grace, disaster! The Old Gate garrison... and the auxiliary defense forces gathered from the Crownlands houses have mutinied! They have opened the North Gate and let the enemy into the city!"
"What?!" Stannis whipped his head around. In his shock, the bones in his neck let out a sharp crack. "Where are the city reserves? Get them to the north of the city at once to retake the gate!"
"They've already been notified... but Your Grace, if the Old Gate garrison would mutiny, there is no guarantee the Gold Cloaks at the Dragon Gate, the Gate of the Gods... or even the Red Keep won't do the same. I implore Your Grace—retreat to the Red Keep immediately! Hold the strongpoint and plan your next move from there!"
Reminded of the danger, Stannis suddenly understood. Eddard Stark had gathered the family members of the Crownlands lords within the Red Keep not just for their protection, but also to serve as hostages to ensure their troops fought diligently... if the mutinous garrison and the first Stormlands and Reach troops to enter the city struck straight for the Red Keep... the consequences would be unthinkable!
"Leave a hundred men to keep holding the gate. Send word to the guards at the other gates to return to the Red Keep with all haste. Barristan! Take the cavalry and follow me. We must clear out the traitors who entered the city as quickly as possible!"
At the gates of the Red Keep, Egger stared at the dozen or so Gold Cloaks pointing their long spears at him, his mind filled with uncertainty and alarm. Which side did they belong to? Should he turn and flee back into the Red Keep, or try to force his way through into the city?
He quickly realized that either option would lead to a disastrous outcome and ruin the neutral status he had worked so hard to maintain. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to take a risk: "It's me! Don't strike!"
(The City Watch soldiers in front of me are all unfamiliar faces.) Egger put on an air of composure, riding toward the gate with an aura of authority. He scanned the group, but his heart sank; these men didn't seem to recognize him at all. Fortunately, before he had to figure out how to bluff a group of Gold Cloaks he'd never met, someone recognized him: "Egger West? What are you doing here?"
Locking eyes with the speaker for a second, Egger recognized him too—it was the commander of the Old Gate garrison, a member of House Buckwell, who were major investors in the Night's Watch industries. It was this man's kinsman who had recommended investing to the Lord of Antlers, and he had been on Egger's list of people to visit after Tyrion fled the city... As the commander of the Old Gate, why wasn't he guarding the north of the city? Why was he here at the Red Keep?
He couldn't ask that, of course. A Night's Watchman appearing in the Red Keep at this moment was far stranger than the presence of the Old Gate garrison. "Uh... Ser Buckwell, hello... I was here to see the Master of Coin to report on the Night's Watch income for the last two months. I saw the gates of the Red Keep were open and unmanned, so I rode in... What has happened here?"
The Night's Watchman before him was a close acquaintance highly regarded by his own patriarch, an important business partner of House Buckwell, and the God of Wealth in the eyes of countless factions in King's Landing. Ser Buckwell gripped his sword hilt and stared at Egger for a few seconds, eventually deciding not to cross a man connected to his money. "If I may be blunt, Lord Egger, what is happening here is none of your concern. Get home quickly, lock your doors, and once the trouble has passed, go back to making your fortunes!"
Egger exchanged a look with him and quickly nodded with feigned calm. "I... I understand. Eli, let's go. Home."
...
Arya often ran about the city and frequently visited the King's Gate to go to the industrial park; Egger's only fear now was that she would be recognized. But the worst-case scenario did not happen—luckily, Arya had never been to the Old Gate, and dressed in black as she was, she looked like a boy. The soldiers' attention was entirely on Egger; they assumed the black-clad boy on the other horse was simply Egger's squire. At their commander's order, they raised their spears and cleared the gate to let them pass.
Fighting back his tension, Egger led the girl past the dozen fully armed Gold Cloaks and out of the Red Keep under the very eyes of the mutinous army.
Having many friends certainly proved useful at the critical moment!
"Master... what... what is going on?" Arya asked in a stammering voice, her face pale from the sight of her guard's corpse. "Sansa... she's still inside. Are we... just leaving like this?"
...
What was going on? Did she even need to ask? The part of the City Watch loyal to the Crownlands houses—or more directly, the very backers behind the Night's Watch industries and the sponsors of his own business—had betrayed Stannis. While Renly besieged the city, they had seized the Red Keep while its defenses were thin, cutting off a vital path of retreat for the new King!
Cold sweat soaked Egger's back. If the Night's Watch industries had not formed a solid community of interest with the Crownlands lords, and if the officer he encountered hadn't happened to be someone he knew, he likely would have been killed by Arya's troublemaking without even knowing why. Soldiers staging a coup were always the most ruthless executioners; in the heat of the moment, who would care if you were wearing black or that you were a Night's Watchman who "did not interfere in the affairs of the Seven Kingdoms"?
This coup surprised Egger, but thinking on it, it wasn't without reason. One could even say it was destined the day Stannis took the throne. At a time when his brother was approaching the capital with a rebel banner, news had begun to circulate in the city that the new King intended to implement a series of reforms—closing brothels and gambling dens, banning the printing and sale of those little books, and strictly limiting the frequency of tourneys... Whether true or not, it fit the style of the righteous Stannis perfectly.
Being righteous is a good thing, but not when it touches other people's pockets. How many of the brothels and gambling dens in King's Landing weren't properties of the Crownlands lords? The Night's Watch little books were making money for everyone. If the officials didn't come out to debunk the rumors and allowed the news to be taken as truth, what would the stakeholders think?
These reforms didn't cut to the bone of the nobles' interests and wouldn't be a major issue in normal times. But on the eve of a rebel assault on King's Landing, how many of those neutral parties wavering between the Baratheon brothers would be pushed toward Renly because of it?
...
Looking back at the Red Keep, the Gold Cloaks who staged the coup did not pursue them; they even closed the gates. Egger finally let out the breath he was holding and glared irritably at Arya. "You and Sansa are members of House Stark. Since those soldiers want to help Renly seize the throne, unless they've gone mad, how could they harm you? But while you are with me, if you're recognized, I'll be in deep trouble!" Having narrowly escaped a life-or-death crisis and now away from the death-trap of the Red Keep, he could no longer suppress his anger. "Don't say another word. Move!"
No matter how much he wished to stay out of it or how much he cherished his neutral privileges as a Night's Watchman, Arya did call him Master. Although he had deliberately befriended her for the sake of utility, he wasn't made of stone; after spending so much time together, how could there be no affection? Egger could accept her being captured by the mutinous garrison in the Red Keep and falling into Renly's hands with a clear conscience, but he could never stand by and watch her be taken from his own hands. Though the outcome was similar, the nature of the two situations was entirely different—no matter what, a man has to have a bottom line.
On the way back, Egger witnessed Stannis, clad in battle armor, roaring past with a troop of cavalry as they charged back toward the Red Keep... seeing them looking bloodshot and ready to fight to the death, he immediately discarded any thought of handing Arya over to them for protection. He even couldn't help but give a self-deprecating smile: why is it that no matter what major event happens in King's Landing, he always ends up being dragged into the middle of it?
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MistaQuartz
On Patreon, you can explore Extra Chapters in advance!