The queen mother looked at her son as well. "Hadn't we agreed? Joffrey, your grandfather and uncle are still on the front lines in the Riverlands. Pardon or imprisonment-both are within your power, but right now we..."
"That is merely the weakness of women." Joffrey shook his head, and then the King's Justice strode forward. The executioner was tall and skeletal, like a skeleton clad in iron armor.
"I'm not."
"I'm not! You promised me."
"I did not commit treason, Lord Varys!" "Eddard" suddenly shouted, before his voice grew quieter.
Sansa began screaming too. Every voice dissolved into a chaotic din, so confused that nothing could be heard clearly, all the sounds mingling together.
High on the platform, Ser Ilyn Payne made a gesture, and the knight in black-and-gold armor immediately gave an order. The Gold Cloak Guards pressed Lord Eddard down against the marble slab, with his head and chest jutting over the edge.
"No." Arya tried to weave through the crowd, pushing people aside or slipping between them, ramming headfirst into anyone who blocked her path. Someone reached for her foot, and she slashed with her sword, then kicked hard at the person's shin. A woman fell, and Arya immediately jumped onto her back, hacking wildly to either side, but it was useless, utterly useless. There were simply too many people. Wherever she glimpsed an opening, someone filled it at once. People were hitting her, trying to drive her away. All Arya could hear was Sansa screaming.
Ser Ilyn drew a great two-handed sword from his back. As he raised it above his head, sunlight danced and rippled across the dark metal. Its edge was sharper than any razor.
Ice. House Stark's Ice.
Ice fell and severed the head, and blood flowed. Sansa watched, screaming. She could make