Marwyn opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but in the end he merely nodded slowly.
He understood what Aegon meant-the old Citadel had to die before a new Citadel could be born.
The half-wildling warriors had already begun to move.
Spears in hand, they forced the maesters back step by step, driving them into the center of the clearing and enclosing them in an ever-shrinking circle.
Cries, pleas for mercy, and dying wails rose and fell in the twilight.
Some knelt and begged for mercy, while others tried to break through the encirclement, only to be met with blows or thrusts from spears.
Blood stained the earth red.
Aegon stood outside the crowd, watching the farce unfold. He was growing bored.
He turned, preparing to leave with Marwyn.
Just then, a commotion broke out a short distance behind him.
"Catch him!"
"Don't let him get away!"
Aegon stopped and looked back.
A rather slender figure in a maester's gray robes had broken out of the half-wildling warriors' encirclement.
The fugitive was nimble and quick, dodging left and right through the crowd and evading several attempts to stop her.
Several maesters behind her also tried to escape in the confusion, but some were seized by their collars and thrown to the ground by the half-wildling warriors, others had spears driven through their chests, and still others took shields to the face, blood spraying as they fell and lay still.
Only that slender figure actually managed to break through.
But more half-wildling warriors had already noticed the disturbance.
Seven or eight warriors swiftly turned, leveled their spears, and fanned out around her.
Shields rose together, spears thrust in unison, and more than a dozen spearheads stabbed at her from different directions.
The figure swayed and leaned back, narrowly avoiding two spears