Rosso gave the order, and two fierce soldiers took Varys away.
The Red Keep had taken on an unusually martial air lately, though it had already been strongly so before. Household Guard soldiers, straight as spears, moved through every corner, every room and tower. Sometimes golden knights could be seen jousting in the training yard. Everyone at court knew these were the strongest soldiers of Gendry the Storm, members of the Guard Legion who had also earned great renown on battlefields on both shores of the Narrow Sea.
Order returned to the Red Keep. For the courtiers and servants, kitchen boys and septons, work was work, whoever they served. It was merely a question of allegiance. From King Robert to King Joffrey, they had now begun cheering Gendry's name.
"Good riddance to Varys, that villain." Most people in the Red Keep knew about Varys. After all, the kindly Master of Whisperers had always been smiling and willing to spend money buying even the smallest scraps of news. Yet Varys had turned out to be a villain plotting the murder of royal family members. If another king were killed, heaven knew what chaos King's Landing would fall into. Without Varys, they could still sell intelligence to the new minister, Selwyn. Without a king, King's Landing would become even more chaotic.
Besides, the deaths of Varys and his spies had conveniently opened up quite a few opportunities for advancement. Chaos was a ladder.
Golden war banners rose above the Red Keep once more. Their design was not a single image, but divided into four quarters. Joffrey's hastily made banner, split between a stag and a golden lion, seemed like a joke. People often made it the subject of their jests: the usurper and his short-lived dynasty.
Inside and outside the Red