The bloodshed of war had faded, but the bloody game of power went on.
Asha Greyjoy looked at Baelor Hightower with a touch of pity as House Hightower came under attack from every side, battered by accusation after accusation.
As a wealthy and ancient noble house, it seemed House Hightower was about to fall into the abyss as well.
"Treason."
"Contempt for royal authority and their lord."
"Leyton and the Madwoman studied dark magic. They studied the stone beasts."
"On the battlefield of Oldtown, it was Leyton and his daughter Malora who supported Crow's Eye, Euron. Besides gold and marriage ties, there were also the stone beasts and the sphinxes, as well as the green glass candles."
Words were like swords. Words were not wind.
Gendry listened to the accusations. House Hightower had no way to refute them.
"We can only call it bad luck," Garlan Tyrell thought.
There was no blaming anyone else for this. Reinforcements from the Iron Throne could not arrive instantly. Time and distance had to be considered, and vassals were expected to resist on their own first.
More than a hundred years ago, when the Blood Kraken rampaged and plundered Lannisport, the Lannisters had endured for a year or two at least. They had not bent the knee at once.
Crow's Eye had indeed been too strange, but House Hightower had also been far too useless.
The ones attacking House Hightower most fiercely were the vassals who knew them best, along with their neighboring kin and lords.
Although House Tarly and House Hightower were technically related, since Randyll's wife and Leyton's fourth wife were sisters, the two houses had long been at odds.
If Stannis was included, House Florent's web of marriages was also very broad.
Hard-bitten knights and merchants had always seemed out of place together, and Randyll had never looked highly upon the people of the Citadel.
Garlan Tyrell and Paxter Redwyne said nothing, which made their stance perfectly clear.
If Crow's Eye had taken Oldtown, the Redwyne fleet and House Tyrell would undoubtedly have been the ones he ruined next.
"They can all change with the wind," Baelor thought bitterly.
During The Dance of the Dragons and the Blackfyre Rebellion, many of Hightower's vassals and neighboring lords had stood against them.
Back then, the Tarlys, House Beesbury of Honeyholt, and House Costayne of Three Towers had fought for the blacks and attacked Hightower. Now it was the same again.
"Ser Baelor Hightower, in light of the accusations from many of Oldtown's vassals and from Lord Randyll, do you have any objection to these charges?" asked "Bronze" Yohn Royce.
"I... I have no objection," Baelor said. "But I would like to say something."
"Your Grace Gendry's coronation and wedding took place while Oldtown's affairs were too pressing. The Hightowers rarely leave Oldtown. As for the stone beasts and the sphinxes, I knew nothing about them.
"As for my father and sister surrendering to Crow's Eye, Oldtown was in turmoil at the time. They did indeed betray House Hightower. I was the one who stole the lord's ring and came to seek the king's aid. I am the true Lord of Hightower."
Baelor was handsome and generous, but he could not adapt to this age, an age of blood and fire, of magic and dragons.
Like most noble lords, Baelor was simply not suited to such an unimaginable era.
"The king and the senior councilors will consider your defense," Yohn said coldly. "You may have the lord's ring, but your father is the one who represents Oldtown."
Baelor Hightower's heart sank. House Hightower truly had the worst luck.
Simply because Oldtown was too beautiful and too rich, it had drawn the Kraken's greed.
Together with the choices made by his father, Lord Leyton, and his sister Malora, House Hightower was already beyond saving.
"Treason."
"Treason."
"Treason."
Led by Bronze Yohn and Barristan, the lords and senior councilors discussed the matter for a while. After all, everyone here had personally lived through today's battle.
Apart from the Fletcher, who had died in battle, and the Lord of Seagard, who was gravely wounded and near death, the other lords reached an almost unanimous decision.
Today's battle had been nothing short of fantastical. Crow's Eye Euron's methods had been impossible to guard against.
Calling wind and rain, blood sacrifices to the Kraken, the dragon horn, skinchangers, and on top of that, Oldtown's sphinxes and stone beasts.
If Gendry had not held even more hidden cards than Crow's Eye, they would most likely have been burned to death by Crow's Eye's Dragonfire or killed by the Kraken.
The younger Lord Bryce hurried to the king and bowed. The senior councilors unanimously agreed that House Hightower was guilty of treason.
The towering Lord Yohn rose to his feet. "After discussion among the senior councilors, and with His Grace's approval, we find that the actions of Lord Leyton Hightower of Oldtown and House Hightower constitute grave treason and other crimes."
Baelor said nothing, waiting for fate to pass judgment.
As for the old man of Oldtown trapped to death in the High Tower, everyone tacitly ignored him.
"First, during the War of the Succession, also known as the War of the Four Kings, and during the Battle of the Blackwater Rush.
"When the realm had fallen into civil war, Lord Leyton and House Hightower stood aside and sent no soldiers to support the cause of the late king's lawful heir. They also failed to attend the coronation of King Gendry and Queen Daenerys, and their wedding. This constitutes contempt for the dignity of the royal house and treason.
"Second, during the War of Oldtown, Lord Leyton bent the knee to Euron Greyjoy and led Oldtown in swearing allegiance to him.
"He also married his daughter, Malora Hightower, to Euron Greyjoy, and deployed the sphinxes and stone beasts to aid the false king, the blasphemer, the kinslayer Crow's Eye, Euron Greyjoy. This constitutes treason and blasphemy."
All the lords stood in solemn silence. The king's second blade was clearly about to fall on House Hightower.
But the lords saw nothing wrong with it. House Hightower's conduct during the war had been far too infuriating.
Bending the knee had been bad enough, but they had even gone all in with the stone beasts and sphinxes, trying to burn them all alive.
The Battle of Oldtown had cost King Gendry one of his instructors, a legendary archer with whom the king had shared a deep bond. There was also the Lord of Seagard, another of the king's favored men.
"Ser Baelor, do you have any further objections?" Bronze Yohn asked.
"Your Grace, I have always been the king's loyal servant. As for the Iron Throne's decree..." Baelor said in pain, his whole body seeming to shrink.
The lords were much gentler toward House Hightower. After all, they were civilized lords of the green lands, unlike the crude, savage Ironborn.
Gendry looked at Baelor Hightower. This was power. It was hard to say what Baelor himself had done wrong, but he had lost.
Had their positions been reversed and Crow's Eye won, every one of them would have died without even an intact corpse.
"Your Grace." A gold-cloaked guard hurried over with a black envelope and black news.
"The traitor Leyton Hightower fell into the river and drowned. He left only this suicide note."
"What?"
Most of them looked stunned, but after a moment's thought, they felt this might actually be for the best.
Lord Leyton had still cared about the dignity of House Hightower and refused to suffer the humiliation of jailers and royal interrogators.
Garlan Tyrell looked somewhat saddened. Though Lord Leyton had withdrawn from worldly affairs in his later years, the decline of the Hightower line to such a state was truly disheartening.
Baelor Hightower glanced at the beginning of the letter. It was indeed Leyton's hand.
"It is my father's writing, Your Grace."
Gendry took Leyton's will. The letter was written in a fluent hand, but its contents were full of bitterness and repentance.
"I beg Your Grace's forgiveness, and I acknowledge House Hightower's treason. I am willing to offer up Oldtown and the Hightower lands, and I ask only that you spare my foolish son, Baelor Hightower. He has little talent, but a good heart..."
"..."
"Lastly, I long for a peaceful world, a world without runes or magic."
"God-on-Earth."
"Pearl Emperor."
"Jade Emperor."
"Tourmaline Emperor."
"Onyx Emperor."
"Topaz Emperor."
"Opal Emperor."
"Amethyst Emperor."
"Bloodstone Emperor."
"The Bloodstone Emperor killed his sister, and the stars took their places.
"Humanity clung to black stone out of greed and desire, and in the end, a brilliant civilization was destroyed by magic.
"Only the Citadel and the Faith of the Seven offer a path that rejects magic. A world without magic is best."
Gendry skimmed the letter. House Hightower's origins were unclear. People said that Hightower had flown here, landed on Battle Island, and killed a dragon.
If what Lord Leyton wrote at the end of his letter was true, then they might truly have some connection to the Great Empire of the Dawn. Was that why they feared magic?
"Lord Leyton has already repented." Gendry raised the letter in his hand. "He has confessed fully to every act of treason. He has also willingly offered Oldtown and the High Tower to the Iron Throne as atonement, and asks that his son Baelor be pardoned."
Gendry rose and looked down at Baelor Hightower below. Leyton had made everything clear in the letter. To save his son Baelor, he had laid bare every hidden secret.
Baelor Hightower's face twitched. "Your Grace, I only want to know why my father was obsessed with magic for so many years."
"Ser, Lord Leyton made it very clear. It was because of dreams and prophecy. Hightower's ancestors wrote in ancient scrolls that Oldtown would be destroyed by magic, dragons, and Kraken. Oldtown's stone beasts and sphinxes were built because of that prophecy, at tremendous cost in manpower and resources.
"Later, Lord Leyton found those scrolls and became absorbed in them as well. Your sister Malora had some talent for prophecy and magic, so she became your father's helper."
"So that was it." Baelor's face turned pale.
For the sake of an unpredictable future, his father Leyton and his sister Malora had both sunk deep into it.
"Gorghan of the Old Empire of Ghis once wrote that prophecy is like a treacherous woman. It should never be trusted too deeply," Maester Marwyn said softly.
Leyton Hightower and Rhaegar Targaryen had walked much the same road. Both had stepped into some prophecy and become obsessed with it.
"Leyton has revealed more than we knew," Gendry said, his gaze sweeping over the crowd. His words were even more startling.
"This is not only about the Battle of Oldtown, nor only about House Hightower. It also involves the construction of the stone beasts and sphinxes, what those monsters were meant to defend against, and how to guard against dragons. Beyond that, the marriage network that drew House Stark south many years ago also involved the Citadel."
Everyone stood solemnly in place.
This was the third blade.
The Conclave had leaned toward following House Hightower's lead and had nearly surrendered to Crow's Eye as well. They had surrendered, yet not completely.
"Maester Gormon, step forward!" the royal herald shouted.
Maester Gormon Tyrell came forward with his subordinates and that bitter-faced group of Archmaesters, all wearing grim expressions.
"The Citadel had a hand in the matter of the sphinxes."
"Yes, Your Grace," the Archmaesters said dejectedly. "That was done by our predecessors, maesters of Hightower blood..."
"Then you also knew about sending maesters of Hightower blood to the North."
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