Chapter 126 - Artican Trade in Westeros 53 (Oldtown 03).
[Chapter Size: 3200 Words.]
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Pessoa Thrid POV
Westeros, 295 AC.
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Jon pierced the High Septon's throat, and for everyone, it was an unexpected shock. Of course, they hadn't offered bread and salt to Jon, given his intentions, and could place evidence against them while they were using weapons, claiming that they had attacked them. But they hadn't expected this to actually happen.
Blood spread over the septons behind him, as time seemed to slow down, with their reactions shown in slow motion while Jon analyzed his situation with his guards moving slowly behind him, preparing to face all those soldiers running towards them. Jon also saw the archers ready at the top of the room, but he had already foreseen this, and his hidden animals would act at that moment.
In the next moment, Jon removed his sword from the man and launched himself at the archmaester, intending to end his life there. However, he felt one of the maesters carrying a dagger, threw it at him, and quickly his eyes shone emerald between his grey and moved his body swiftly, decapitating that maester.
What followed was chaos, as everyone finally began to become aware of what was happening there. Religious people began to move away from the pierced body of the High Septon, who couldn't even speak, dying from the hemorrhage, while the maesters tried to run away, with Archmaester Vorian quickly distancing himself from Jon.
Jon's soldiers began to surround him, it was 10 against dozens, but that didn't stop them from having confidence as they awaited the soldiers to clash against them.
"Kill them, kill them!!" Archmaester Vorian immediately shouted.
"Shoot them, kill the savages!!" One of the septons shouted to the archers as they began to aim at the Artican group, but something happened at that moment. Through a hole in that room, birds began to emerge, mainly ravens from the Citadel itself. Here, they trained ravens to be messengers and taught them to deliver letters, so there was a large concentration of them in a huge aviary with external birds. He managed to open it, and all the ravens, something Jon had already placed under his control, began to fly out as soon as it was opened.
The people who took care of this looked at it in surprise, unable to do anything about the situation other than watch them fly away. The ravens quickly began to follow through the Citadel and enter through the hole in that room Jon had found. Even with the maesters cleaning the place of all animals, some were still left, and he managed to map the place.
A swarm of ravens simply attacked the archers as they were hit before even firing their arrows.
"What is this?!"
"Ahhh!!"
"My face!!"
"Someone get these things off me!! My eye!!"
The ravens turned from simple carrier birds into a killer group, cutting soldiers as best they could, scratching their faces, and even gouging out some eyes. They managed to catch one or two ravens, but the number of ravens was overwhelming, surrounding them. All twenty archers had been covered, with the maesters and septons watching the scene from the ground, fear in their eyes.
In the next moment, the Artican weapons clashed against common swords, the sound of metal filling the room. The common blades quickly lost to the Eldenmetal, while the royal guards were even superior to the greatest soldiers of Westeros, cutting through their leather armor and killing those men serving those lords.
Jon didn't lag behind his men. He noticed how those men who had threatened him and made absurd demands began to run towards the entrance they had come from. Quickly, he started in that direction, cutting the first man while drawing his second sword after putting on his Eldenmetal helmet to fully protect himself from what would happen next. He commanded the ravens to stop the maesters while the men above them began to shout for help or for the ravens to stop.
"We must get out of here!!!"
"Quick, to the door!"
They kept exclaiming in fear until the ravens began to fly towards them, and they had to slow their run, trying to protect their faces.
"AHHHH"
"Stop, cursed birds!!"
"Kill the sorcerer!!" they exclaimed, stunned amidst the flapping wings and the clash of metal happening in the middle of the room. Jon continued advancing, cutting down anyone who appeared in front of him. He moved much faster than he had shown in the Tyrells' training yard; he had become a killing machine, taking down his fourth, fifth, and sixth men before advancing on the maesters and septons.
The Artican soldiers received some blows since the number of enemies was large; however, they were fully armored and with their light armor, they could easily gain an advantage with their skills with swords, axes, and hammers, starting a true massacre.
The maesters could barely think amidst the chaos, trying to protect themselves from the ravens attacking them at that moment. But surely, they hadn't believed that their attempt to take over the power of the kingdom north of the wall, seizing its secrets and placing their influence and religion among these people, would end in the massacre they were receiving.
If there was anything to regret about their actions, it was too late as they felt a pain they had never felt in their lives, with their faces being torn or even losing some eyes. The screams of pain dominated the entire room and were so loud that even a group of soldiers who had been stationed outside waiting for orders from the maesters and septons could hear it, causing them to tremble slightly, not knowing what was happening inside.
"Quick! We must see what's happening!" the captain of the squad of thirty other soldiers immediately shouted as they advanced to open the door.
Meanwhile, the maesters couldn't even see someone appearing in front of them, ready to end their suffering. Jon was no longer the negotiator who had been discussing with the Martell and Tyrell families as their vassals in recent moons. He had become a monster in battle, a ruthless killer, and that was how Artica acted. After all, it had no enemies because they were all eliminated.
Jon swung his sword as he ordered the ravens to finally withdraw. He began to cut down the first man mercilessly, not caring if it was a maester or a man of the Faith of the Seven. They had provoked his people, and it was time to show that there was no mercy for his enemies.
"AHHH!!!" The first man felt his body pierced by the cold Valyrian steel, falling to the ground. The others barely had time to think as they saw the Artican king there, killing the second, removing the head of another, going for the third, terrifying all the dozens of these men, already injured by the birds' attack.
They began to run, but Jon commanded the birds again to prevent them from getting too far while he continued cutting them down one by one.
The door opened as new city soldiers entered, horrified by the scene. On the main table, the High Septon lay dead, with men falling to the Artican soldiers, blood spurting everywhere, birds circling the place while continuing to attack and destroy the archers' faces at the top of the room, and a man with a strange Artican helmet mercilessly massacring the maesters and septons, moving his swords and cutting them down with ease.
That sight quickly terrified all the men, and the captain himself took steps back due to all that horror. "Protect the maesters and septons!!" the commander shouted, pointing at Jon attacking them. The trembling soldiers went to attack him, gaining a bit of courage since it was just one man. The captain did not accompany them; on the contrary, he was so scared that he started to run away, not seeing how they would get out of there alive.
He fled while Jon was being surrounded by guards, but his birds soon prevented the soldiers from advancing, attacking their faces mercilessly once again, becoming part of the chaos with their screams.
The castle soon began to stir with what was happening in that room, as both the captain fled and some soldiers with blood-covered faces begged for help.
"What's happening?!" an apprentice maester looked frightened by the screams being heard.
"This..." a female voice spoke as she dressed in maester's robes. This was Sarella Sand, one of Oberyn Martell's daughters, and she was paying close attention to what was happening, having received a raven from her family after what the Articans had done to her father and sisters.
She had learned of the Articans' arrival a few hours ago, drawing the Citadel's and the city's attention with their sudden visit, even hoping to catch a glimpse of the man she resented. But she couldn't see him properly amid so many maesters, apprentices, and Citadel staff at the entrance, and they were quickly escorted inside.
Now, with the screams being heard on the upper floors, she began to walk through the corridors, passing by people running in desperation. She was feeling some fear of that chaos, not imagining what was happening there.
"Hey, you!" a voice emerged beside her as she looked at this person.
"You must get out of here now... I heard from a guard that the Articans are killing the maesters!" Archmaester Marwyn said to the apprentice.
"What?!" She couldn't help but be stunned and frozen.
"What are you doing, get out of here now!!" he exclaimed, and she nodded, starting to run away as suggested.
Things were far from over, as the group of Articans with giants in the fortress courtyard quickly learned what was happening before seeing people running away from the Citadel after hearing from the survivors fleeing that negotiation room. After all, there were wargs not only among them but in the fleet and the men outside the city gate who knew what was happening instantly.
"Prepare for combat!!!" one of the men from that group of hundreds exclaimed, and in the next moment, all the dwarves, humans, and giants began to prepare. The 1,000 men guarding the Citadel's entrance, waiting for the order to attack them, were surprised when they saw the Articans drawing their weapons and shields.
"What is happening? Why are they preparing for battle?!" a commander of that fleet looked at this, wondering what was going on.
"Sir... look at the size of those swords!!" a soldier beside him looked stunned as the 4-meter giants drew their 3-meter swords made of pure Eldenmetal, while some continued with shields and spears, preparing for offensive and defensive combat against the crowd surrounding them, but without any fear in their actions.
Suddenly, someone opened a window on the upper floors and threw themselves out, falling into the courtyard while screaming before dying like an animal.
"Prepare for battle!" the commander took a second to process what was happening as people began to pass through the Citadel door a moment later, screaming for help while trying to flee and avoiding the Artican soldiers preparing for battle.
"It seems it has started, let's get ready!!" a man at sea, with white eyes, returned to normal before issuing this order.
The ships agreed and began to prepare immediately after. "Let's go! Let's attack those damned southerners!!" the Articans shouted as the ships started moving, with Arya beside Seryna on the flagship, watching all the movement. Ninety more ships began to move, heading for the city with 4,500 soldiers.
Jaime watched this from a separate ship, stunned, still wondering what they were planning, almost questioning if they were heading to Lannisport. After all, he didn't know the sea and saw merchant ships sailing out sometimes, and he deduced they weren't far from Highgarden.
"Curious to know where the ships are going, blondie?" a dwarf asked Jaime with an amused smile.
"You won't tell even if I ask." Jaime scoffed, starting to believe that the Artican king was attacking his family's city, even though he hadn't written the letter yet.
"HEY, you're not thinking of telling the southerners, are you?" another dwarf approached and mocked his colleague.
"You talk as if he wouldn't find out eventually." the first dwarf mocked and looked at Jaime. "It's a city called Oldtown. There's a great library, and our king intends to negotiate differently, as you can see, with many soldiers." the dwarf said, leaving Jaime relieved but at the same time raising an eyebrow, watching the ships depart. The ships that were watching them saw this movement and quickly began to turn to alert the city, but they wouldn't even know how it would be passed on in the next few minutes by the Artican technology.
Meanwhile, outside the city. "It looks like it has started... Let's get ready!!" the royal guard said to Eldric and the other soldiers.
They had captured a lot of people during this time, with people giving up on entering the city while it was closed. But leaving them aside, the commander looked at the equipment they brought and nodded as the giants prepared shortly after.
"Sound the trumpets, it's time for them to know we're here!" the royal guard gave the order, and the giants picked up a huge trumpet before one approached it and blew into its funnel with his enormous lungs.
The sound echoed through the region in the next moment, while the Artican soldiers were prepared to start the attack. The king had informed them about creating his own distraction in the city so they could attack aggressively.
Both the people in front of the gate and the guards looked towards the war sound, scared, while in the middle of that field outside the city, Artican soldiers began to appear, more and more, until a thousand of them emerged, scaring the people so much that they started to run away, leaving behind their goods and belongings in their carts, looking for any place to hide.
"This..." The soldiers on the wall were alert at that moment as they saw a group of soldiers begin to face that group and start to march among them. From the height they were at, they could hit up to 150 meters away, but the Articans not only had bows made of Weirwood, which could reach that distance even from the ground, but the giants were preparing wildfire to destroy the whole place!
"Inform Lord Hightower, the city is under attack!!" the soldier shouted to a messenger who ran off the next moment to inform his lord. He ran, but it was nothing that the patriarch's brother of the Hightower family hadn't already heard from his tower.
"What is that sound!!??" he said, stunned. He was already a bit frustrated with the maesters taking the Articans before them, even though they would go to the Citadel afterward to be imprisoned and fought, but it hurt his pride a little now that he had a bit of the taste of power his brother had over their house.
He stepped away from his window and looked toward the window where he heard the sound of a great trumpet and saw the group of Artican soldiers preparing for the fight. "This... what's happening?! Are they going to attack us?!" he murmured, surprised by this. Of course, he expected something like this, but not so quickly.
"My lord!! The city is under attack!!" The door opened with a soldier of the family appearing, the house's master of arms.
"Yes, I can see that, prepare all the city's soldiers to defend it!!" he issued the order quickly, not imagining how useless it would be in the next few hours.
In the city, suddenly, a large number of ravens and other birds began to fly out of the windows of the enormous structure, circling the place.
"It seems it's over," Jon commented as the room fell silent, covering the atmosphere.
The floor was covered in blood, while Jon and his soldiers were the only ones standing. Jon looked at the pile of people he had killed; they were men of faith and scholars, but with ambitions that led them to their current fate. Jon killed each one of them, even without them bearing arms or being a threat to him. He killed without mercy. His father wouldn't be proud of something like this if he knew, but for Jon, that didn't matter anymore. He would become a monster if it meant protecting his people's sovereignty, leaving a very clear message. Perhaps not even killing the royal children could be as scandalous as what he did this day, seeing people cut down on the floor.
"My king... are you alright?" a royal guard came up to him, and he nodded.
"I'm fine... and you, I know there were no casualties, but any injuries?" Jon asked, after all, even though they were outnumbered, they had massacred all of them with their advantage in weapons and skills. Jon had eliminated half a dozen soldiers who tried to face him before his soldiers helped, and he returned to mercilessly massacre the maesters and septons. His soldiers quickly made the armed men fall while some fled.
"Our armors protected us very well, my king. We have only a few dents, but their poor metal couldn't do anything against us. It was an unequal fight," he said, and Jon nodded. He could see as the guards cleaned their weapons that some people were still dying in silence.
"Give them mercy," Jon said. He still wanted to give his enemies a quick death as he approached one suffering silently among the maesters.
"Tell me, Archmaester Vorian, did you have any idea things would end like this?" Jon asked as he walked among the bodies and saw the man with a pierced chest, hemorrhaging.
"..." The man had pain, fear, and hatred in his eyes when he looked back at Jon. "You think you'll get out of here alive. You really were the demon we feared, damn sorcerer!" he spoke with some effort as his mouth filled with blood.
"We will get out of here alive and massacre anyone who tries to stand in my way. You thought you could control me, just like my people. This created the monster you see before you. I knew this would happen before coming here, though I was very surprised by your confidence in trying to control Artica with a citadel, change our faith, and even want to control the one who would inherit me one day," Jon mocked.
"You damned bastard... Hm?!" He tried to curse Jon, but Jon simply took his Valyrian steel sword and thrust it into the man's throat, making him moan as he died slowly.
"We're done here, let's move on. We must dominate the whole city before sacking this place," Jon said as his men finished off anyone still dying in that blood-soaked room.
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