Outside King's Landing, beyond the Gate of the Gods.
Earl Randyll Tarly sat astride his warhorse, under orders to command twenty thousand elite infantrymen and archers from the Reach stationed here as the army's rear guard and reserve, while watching for any threat from Tywin.
Just then, a series of tremendous booms reached his ears.
Earl Randyll abruptly tightened his reins, and his warhorse neighed uneasily.
"What was that sound?"
He sharply questioned the officer beside him.
The officer looked bewildered and tilted his head to listen.
Then an unbroken succession of terrifying explosions came from within the city, and the ground beneath their feet distinctly shook.
Randyll whipped his head toward King's Landing, and his usually rock-solid face instantly drained of color.
He saw all-destroying pillars of green fire rising from King's Landing, saw that green tide of death devouring the entire city at an unimaginable speed.
He saw the Red Keep, the symbol of royal power, collapse and vanish in an instant like a sandcastle amid that uncanny emerald green.
Randyll Tarly screamed inwardly. His heir, Dickon Tarly, had followed the king into King's Landing.
No one could survive such a sea of annihilating fire.
"No!!!!!!"
A heart-rending shriek erupted beside Randyll.
It was Loras Tyrell.
Renly's closest guard had originally been inspecting the camp outside the city.
Now his handsome face twisted with despair, and his eyes instantly grew bloodshot.
He saw the entire city swallowed by green flames, and the thread of his reason snapped completely.
Without so much as looking at Randyll, he fiercely squeezed his horse's flanks. His magnificent white warhorse shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging madly toward the Gate of the Gods as it was swallowed by the green inferno.
"Loras! Stop! Come back!"
Randyll Tarly roared.
He