Hightower's guards avoided them as best they could and followed the road beside the river. The Honeywine wound its way through the heart of the ancient city.
Oldtown's City Hall stood along the western bank of the Honeywine, where House Hightower's tower-and-beacon banners and the king's golden four-part banners always flew.
Garth's new barracks were here too, and the Hightower could be seen soaring into the clouds.
A trestle table had also been set outside the barracks, with a flagpole beside it. The banner fluttered in the wind, displaying a stepped white tower crowned with a burning beacon on an ashen field.
"Come with us and be your own man! March to war with us and defend Oldtown. We'll teach you to use a longsword, spear, and morningstar. You'll go to war with Garth 'Greyiron' and earn more money than you usually would. Honor, victory, gold and silver, being a man-you can have it all." Garth's heralds recruited outside the barracks, shouting with all their might.
"How is it going?" Ser Garth approached and asked.
"Not very well, my lord," the herald said quietly, embarrassed. "Some people need money, but they love their lives more. With the Ironborn running rampant, only old mercenaries and desperate gamblers and ruffians have come."
Garth rubbed his forehead. Desperation had driven him to try anything, and these useless fools were all recruiting in the city had brought him.
"Don't worry. I've already written to our five vassal houses. Their well-trained knights and soldiers will come to help too," Ser Baelor Hightower said.
Garth nodded. He knew Baelor meant the five great houses: Cotter of Three Towers, Bulwer of Blackcrown, Mullendore of Uplands, Beesbury of Honeyholt, and Cuy of Brightwater Keep.
*Everyone knows that although the masters of the Hightower are powerful and extremely wealthy,