Chapter 423: The King's spoils
The night was cold. Today, the Iron Throne had dealt with three great powers in Oldtown in one stroke. Both Oldtown and the Iron Islands would be turned upside down.
House Greyjoy had fallen straight from kings of the Iron Islands to chieftains of Pyke, while House Hightower of Oldtown had fallen from a dominant power in the Reach to one of Oldtown's stewards. The course of their decline was breathtaking.
Only when Tywin Lannister had destroyed House Tarbeck and House Reyne, two great houses of the Westerlands, had anyone been so ruthless before.
And now, before the unprecedented might of the Storm Dragon King, on the path to preserving absolute power, the stag likewise tolerated no affront.
Fourteen proud Silver-armored, Gold-robed Banner Bearers led the procession, the royal house's Yellow Four-Part Banners hanging from their spears.
Gendry and Daenerys left the square outside the Starry Great Sept, with the other important officials following close behind.
The Kingsguard formed two columns, followed by the attendants, the elite Household Guard in black armor and gold robes, elite knights, and the Unsullied.
The night wind was bitterly cold, with only the hideous, pitch-doused heads on the condemned men's spears, blood, and the sea dragons' rank stench.
The Stone Beast, the colossal Sphinx statues, and the remains of the Blood Sea Dragon and Little Sea Dragon laid out in the square silently proclaimed the king's illustrious martial achievements.
Marching on Oldtown and defeating the allied forces of Euron Crow's Eye's Iron Islands and the Hightowers was the equivalent of slaying two kings in succession. (Counting House Hightower's accumulated strength, the resources Leyton Hightower controlled rivaled a king's.)
"There's still something strange about that Blood Sea Dragon's corpse. Tell the soldiers not to get too close," Gendry instructed.
Gendry