Chapter 67 Chapter 66 Arya

The smell of hot bread from the shops along Flour Street was more alluring than any perfume Arya had ever smelled.She took a deep breath and took another step closer to the pigeon.It was a fat pigeon, covered with brown spots, busily pecking at the crumbs between the cobblestones on the ground.But when Arya's shadow touched it, it flapped its wings and flew away. Her wooden sword swished out, hitting the bird two feet above the ground, and it fell to the ground in a pile of brown feathers.In the blink of an eye, she rushed to the dove and grabbed one of its wings.The pigeon fluttered its wings desperately and pecked at her hand.But she grabbed it by the neck and twisted until it felt like a bone snapped.

Catching pigeons is much easier than catching cats. A passing monk looked at her suspiciously. "This is the best place to catch pigeons," Arya explained to him as she patted herself and picked up the fallen wooden sword, "because they will come to eat the crumbs." leave in a hurry. She tied the pigeons to her belt and walked down the street.A man pushes a two-wheeler loaded with jam-packed cookies, smelling of blueberries, lemons and apricots.Her empty stomach rumbled. "Can I have one?" she heard herself say, "Lemon, or... or whatever." The man pushing the cart looked her up and down, obviously not liking the scene in front of him. "Three copper plates."

Arya tapped the hem of her boot with her wooden sword. "I'll trade you a fat pigeon," she said. "It's the other ghosts who want your pigeons." said the man pushing the cart. The freshly baked jam pie was hot, and the aroma made her salivate, but she didn't have three copper coins... not even one.She glanced at the man pushing the cart, remembering that Syrio had taught her to "see the truth".He was short, with a round belly, and seemed to have a left-handed center of gravity when he walked.When she was thinking that if she grabbed a piece of pie and ran away, he would not be able to catch up, she only heard him say: "Get your dirty hands away for me. You see, the golden robe knows how to deal with pickpockets."

Arya looked back suspiciously.Two City Guards stood at the mouth of the alley, in heavy golden woolen cloaks that fell almost to the ground; their armor, boots, and gloves were black.One of them wore a long sword at his waist, and the other held an iron rod.Arya casts one last reluctant look at the marmalade pie before turning and running away.Although the gold-cloaked guards didn't pay much attention to her, she felt strange when she saw them.Arya had stayed as far away from the castle as possible all this time, but even at a distance she could still see rotting human heads on the high red wall, each with a flock of crows circling and screaming, as many as Flies in the trash.It was rumored in the Flea Hole that the Golden Robes and the Lannisters were colluding, and their commander became a nobleman. He not only won the fief near the Trident River, but also became the king's important minister.

She had heard other things too, scary things, which confused her.Some say his father murdered King Robert and was later killed by Lord Renly.Some insisted that the brothers had drunkenly quarreled, and that Renly had killed Robert by mistake. Why else would he have slipped away like a thief in the middle of the night?One version of the story claims that the king was killed by a wild boar while he was out hunting, and another tells that he ate wild boar to stay alive.Others said, no, although the king died at the dinner table, it was because Varys the octopus poisoned him.No, it was the queen who poisoned him.No, he died of a rash.No, he choked to death on the fish bone.

All stories have one thing in common: King Robert is dead.The seven bell towers of the Great Sept of Baelor resounded day and night, and mourning thundered down upon them all.An apprentice tanner tells Arya that they only ring the bells like this when the king dies. All she wanted was to go home, but leaving King's Landing wasn't as easy as she'd imagined.Everyone was talking about war, and there were so many gold-cloaked guards on the walls, it was like... like fleas on her.During this time, she slept in the flea nest, no matter the roof or the stable, as long as she could lie down.It didn't take long for her to discover that the neighborhood was well-named.

Since she escaped from the Red Castle, she has been going around each of the seven city gates every day.The Dragon's Gate, the Lion's Gate, and the Old City Gate are all closed and bolted.Although the Mud Gate and the Gods Gate were still open, the golden-cloaked guards guarded them tightly and could only enter and not exit.Those who were allowed to go went by the King's Gate and the Iron Gate, but both were guarded by Lannisters in scarlet cloaks and lion helmets.Arya had crouched on the roof of an inn near King's Gate and watched them rummaging the wagons, forcing riders to open saddlebags, and questioning everyone who came out of town on foot.

She also thought about swimming across the river, but the Blackwater River was wide and deep, and everyone knew that the undercurrent was unpredictable.To take a boat, she has no money to pay the boatman. Her father taught her that she must never steal anything, but she became more and more vague as to why she couldn't steal.If she doesn't hurry out of the city right now, she will be found by the golden robe sooner or later.Although she has seldom been hungry since she learned to shoot birds with a wooden sword, eating pigeon meat every day has made her feel a little nauseous.Twice she ate it raw before finding the flea nest.

In the alley of Flea Nest, there are many canteens with big pots of thick soup and smoke all year round.You can exchange half a bird with them for yesterday's bread and a bowl of "brown soup". If you are willing to pluck the hair yourself, they are willing to roast the other half of the bird until it is delicious and crispy.Arya would give anything for a glass of milk and a slice of lemon cake, but Brown Soup isn't bad either.A thick soup with an oily surface, usually barley, diced carrots, onions and turnips, and sometimes apples.She had learned not to fantasize about the taste of meat.Only once did she eat a piece of fish in the soup.

The only trouble was that these canteens were always full of people, and it felt like they were staring at Arya when she was wolfing down her food.They stared at her boots and cloak, and she knew exactly what the other was thinking.The gazes of some people made her feel as if she was crawling under her fur coat. She didn't understand what these people were thinking, but she was even more frightened.She was followed several times and ran desperately in dark alleys. Fortunately, so far, no one has caught her. The silver bracelet she had intended to sell for money was stolen on the first night she left the castle.That night she slept in a burnt-out house in Pig Alley, and the bracelet and the bag of expensive clothes disappeared in her deep sleep, leaving only the cloak wrapped around her body, the leather she was wearing, and the practice wooden sword...and the "sewing" Clothes Needle".She was lying on the needles, or it would have been stolen too, and it was more valuable than everything else put together.After that Arya walked with her cloak over her right hand, to hide the sword at her waist.She held the wooden sword in her left hand, so that everyone could see it, and used it to scare the robbers—unfortunately, there were some people in the cafeteria, and it might not matter if she had a tomahawk.The sight of these people was enough to take away her appetite for pigeon meat and hard bread.So sometimes she would rather go to bed on an empty stomach than risk being noticed by these people.

Once out of town, she could pick wild berries and steal apples and cherries from an orchard.Arya remembered seeing many gardens on her way south.No matter how bad it is, she can still dig grass roots in the forest, and even catch rabbits to eat.The only animals that can run in the city are mice, cats and thin dogs.I heard that a litter of puppies can be exchanged for a handful of copper coins in the cafeteria, but she felt uneasy thinking about it. The alleyways under Flour Street were like a labyrinth, and Arya pushed through the crowd to put distance between her and the golden cloaked guards.She has learned to walk in the middle of the road. Although she cannot avoid dodging vehicles and horses from time to time, she can at least see who is coming.If you walk too close to a building, it's easy to get grabbed.It's a pity that in some alleys you have to stick to the walls: the buildings are so close together that they are almost connected to each other. A group of children yelled and ran past, chasing a rolling hoop.Arya glared at them resentfully, remembering the time she used to play hoops with Bran and Jon and little Rickon.She wondered how much Rickon had grown up now, or if Bran was sad.She would give anything for Jon to be there for her, call her "my little sister," and mess with her hair.In fact, her hair is already messy enough. She saw her reflection in the puddle on the road before, and she thought it was the dirtiest hair in the world. She tried talking to kids on the street to see if she could make a friend who would give her a place to sleep.Maybe she said the wrong thing, the young child was just full of wariness, he glanced at her quickly, and ran away immediately if she approached.And their big brothers and sisters will ask questions that Arya can't answer, call her ugly nicknames, and even steal her things.Yesterday a barefoot, scrawny girl twice her age knocked her down and tried to tear her boots off.Arya picked up the wooden sword and hit the man in the ear with a loud click, sending her away bleeding and sobbing. She walked down the gentle slope of Rhaenys Hill towards the flea nest.A seagull flew overhead, and Arya watched it thoughtfully, but it was too far out of range of the wooden sword.Seeing seagulls made her think of the ocean, and maybe that was the way to escape.Old Nan used to tell a story about a little boy who escaped in the hold of a merchant ship and had all kinds of wonderful adventures, maybe Arya too.So she decided to go to the river to see, anyway, she would pass the Mud Gate, and she hadn't been there today. When Arya arrived at the pier, it was eerily quiet.She caught a glimpse of two gold-cloaked guards walking side by side through the fish market, but they didn't even look at her.The market stalls were half empty, and there were fewer boats in the harbor than she remembered.On the Blackwater River, the three king's warships patrolled in a fixed formation, their oars rose and fell, and their golden hulls broke through the waves.Arya watched for a moment, then started walking along the river. Her heart nearly stopped beating when she saw the guard standing by Pier Three in a gray woolen cloak of tumbled white satin.The color of Winterfell, tears welled up in her eyes.Behind them, there is a beautiful three-masted merchant ship, moored gently in the dock.Arya couldn't read the writing on the varnish on the hull. It was in a strange language, Myrish, Braavosi, or High Valyrian, perhaps.She grabs the sleeve of a passing dock worker. "Excuse me," she said, "what is this ship?" "Wind Priestess from Myr," said the man. "It's still here," Arya blurted out.The dock worker gave her a strange look, shrugged and walked away.Arya ran toward the pier.The Priestess of the Wind was hired by her father to take her home... and it's still here!She thought the boat had already left. Among the three guards, two were playing dice, and the other was patrolling back and forth with his hand on the hilt of his sword.She couldn't walk past crying like a little baby, it would be embarrassing for them to see her, so she stopped and rubbed her eyes.Eyes, eyes, eyes, why are they still... Look with your eyes as Syrio's words ring in your ears. Arya looked carefully.She knew all of her father's guards, but she had never seen these three men in gray cloaks. "Hey," called the man on patrol, "what are you doing, boy?" The two dice players looked up. It took all of Arya's strength to hold back her panic and run without running.She knew that if she did run, they would catch up immediately.So she forced herself to come closer.It was a girl they were looking for, but he mistook her for a boy.In that case, let her be a little boy. "Do you want to buy pigeons?" She showed him the dead bird. "Get out of here," said the guard. Arya complied at once, and she needn't feign fear at all.As soon as she turned around, the two played the dice again. She couldn't remember how she ran back to the flea nest, but she was almost out of breath when she reached the narrow winding lane among the hills.There was a stench in the flea nest, a mingled smell of pigpens, stables, and cobbler's sheds, with the smell of rancid wine shops and cheap whorehouses.Arya walked numbly through the maze until she passed a canteen and smelled the smell of boiling brown soup coming from the door, and she didn't realize that the pigeons were gone.It must have fallen from her belt while running, or someone stole it when she wasn't looking.All of a sudden, her tears fell again.She'd have to go all the way to Flour Street to find a pigeon that fat. On the far side of the city, a bell rang. Arya looked up and listened, wondering what the bells meant this time. "What's the matter now?" A fat man in the cafeteria shouted. "The gods in the sky are doing well, why is this bell ringing all day long?" An old woman wailed. On the second floor of the adjacent street, a red-haired prostitute in a light painted silk dress pushed open the window. "Is the kid king dead now?" She leaned forward and shouted, "I said, this is the virtue of the kid, and none of them will last!" She was laughing, and a naked man stretched out his arms and hugged him from behind. She bit her neck, while rubbing her pair of big white tits hanging on her chest through a thin shirt. "You brainless slut!" the fat man yelled towards the second floor. "The king is not dead. Now it is the assembly bell, and only the bell in one tower is ringing. When the king is dead, every clock in the city will ring." ring." "Hey, it's okay, it's okay, don't bite! If you bite again, be careful and I'll knock your 'bell'!" The woman by the window said to the man behind her, and pushed him away with her elbow. "It's not the king, so who's dead?" "It's just the assembly clock," the fat man repeated. Two boys about Arya's age skipped past, splashing up a puddle of water.The old woman cursed at them, but they didn't stop.Others also began to move towards the hills one after another, wanting to see what was going on.Arya runs after a slow-moving boy. "Where are you going?" she called, running behind him. "What happened?" He glanced back, but didn't slow down. "The Gold Robes will take him to the Great Sept." "Take who?" She yelled loudly, running as fast as she could. "Of course it's the Prime Minister! Abu said they were going to chop off his head." A passing carriage left deep ruts in the ground.The boy jumped by, but Arya didn't notice, and the trip sent him falling, one foot brushing against the stone, his knee bruised and his fingers slamming hard into the hard dirt. The needle also caught the foot.She struggled to stand up sobbing, her left thumb was covered in blood.She put her thumb in her mouth to suck, only to realize that half of her nail had been broken when she fell.Her hands ached like hell and her knees were red. "Dodge quickly!" Someone shouted at the intersection, "Lord Redwyne is here! Dodge quickly!" Arya ran away from the middle of the road with great difficulty, and was almost trampled to death.Four guards wearing blue and red plaid cloaks rode tall steeds, rumbling past. Behind them were two noble young masters, riding two chestnut-colored mares side by side, like peas in a plate.Arya had seen them hundreds of times in the castle yard, the Redwyne twins, Ser Horace and Ser Hobber, young and plain-looking, with orange hair and square, freckled faces .Sansa and Jenny Poole used to call them Ser Dread and Ser Drool behind their backs, and giggle when they saw them.But the way they look now is not funny at all. Everyone was heading in the same direction, eager to figure out why the bell was ringing.The bell seemed to grow louder, tinkling, and calling.Arya joined the crowd, the pain from a broken nail was so excruciating that she fought to keep from screaming.She bit her lip and limped along, listening to excited voices around her. "—it's Lord Stark, Lord Hand. They're taking him to the Sept of Baelor." "I heard he died." "Come on, come on. Come on, I bet a silver stag they'll behead him." "It's time to behead you, traitor." The man spat. Arya struggled to speak. "He didn't—" she began, but she was only a child, and their voices completely drowned her out. "Fool! They don't know how to behead him. Since when did traitors beheaded in the Sept?" "Uh, it can't be that he was made a knight? I heard that it was this Stark who killed our old King Robert. He cut His Majesty's throat in the forest, and when he was found later, he pretended to be fine. Like, lying and saying that His Majesty was killed by some old wild boar." "Oh, that's not the case. It was his brother who killed His Majesty, that Renly with the first golden antlers." "Smelly woman, shut your broken mouth! Stop talking nonsense here, Lord Renly is a good man with integrity." By the time they got to the Street of Silent Sisters, the crowd was already rubbing against each other, and the crowd was packed.Arya let the crowd push her up to the top of Visenya Hill.The white marble plaza in front of the sanctuary was full of people, talking excitedly to each other, crowding to get closer to the Great Sept of Baelor.Here, the bells are very loud. Arya shoved from side to side, weaving between pairs of horse legs, all the while holding on to her sword.In the crowd, she could only see other people's hands, feet and stomachs, and the seven slender towers rising above her head.She saw a wooden carriage, and wanted to climb on it, hoping to get a better view, but the people around had the same idea, and the driver cursed and drove them away with a wave of his whip. Arya was in a hurry, and she insisted on going forward, but she was squeezed by the crowd and stuck to a stone base.She looked up and saw the face of St. Baelor the Bishop-King, Blessed, and Arya tucked her sword into her belt and began to climb.Though a broken nail stained the painted marble with blood, she climbed up at last, wedged between the king's legs. She saw her father. Duke Ed stood on the archbishop's pulpit outside the gate of the church, supported by a gold-cloaked guard on the left and right.He wore a thick gray velvet tunic with a white wolf beaded across the chest, and a gray wool tumble-trimmed cloak over his shoulders, but Arya had never seen him so thin, and his long face was full of pain. .He could barely stand, supported by two guards, and the plaster cast on his broken leg was dusty and rotting away. Behind him stood the stout archbishop, aged, gray-haired, bloated, in a pure white robe, and on his head a huge crown of gold leaf and crystal, following his The action emits a rainbow of light. At the gate of the sanctuary, before the high pulpit, a crowd of knights and nobles gathered.Joffrey stood out most of the crowd in crimson silk and satin, embroidered with leaping stags and roaring lions, and with a golden crown on his head.The queen stood beside him, wearing a mourning black dress with occasional dashes of red silk, and a black diamond veil in her hair.Arya recognized the Hound, in dark gray armor and a snow-white cloak, surrounded by the four Kingsguard.She also saw Varys the eunuch, in his painted brocade robe and slippers, walking among the nobles.As for the short man with the pointed beard and the silver cloak, she thought it was the man who had fought for her mother. Sansa stood among the group too, in a sky-blue silk gown, with her long, curly bay red hair let down, and silver bracelets on her wrists.Arya frowned, wondering what her sister was doing here, much less why she seemed so happy. Under the command of a stout middle-aged man, a long line of gold-robed spearmen kept the crowd at the periphery.The man was clad in ornate armor, black lacquered and trimmed with gold thread, and his cloak was stitched with real gold thread, and shone with a metallic sheen. The bell stopped, and a silence slowly enveloped the entire square.My father looked up and began to speak, but his voice was so breathless that she couldn't make out what he said.The people behind her yelled, "What's going on?"Don't bully him!Arya wanted to shout.But she knew no one would care, so she bit her lip. Father raised his voice and started again: "I am Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King, Eddard Stark," he said louder and louder, his voice echoing in the square. "I have come here today to confess my treason before the gods of heaven and mortals on earth." "No!" Arya wailed.The crowd below her started yelling, and the air was filled with all kinds of jeers and obscenities.Sansa buried her face in her hands. Father raised his voice again, trying to be heard by everyone. "I have betrayed my king, my best friend, Robert. I have betrayed his trust and trust," he cried. "I have sworn to protect his children, but while his bones were still alive, I plotted to depose and kill his father." Son, make yourselves king. And now, the High Septon, Baelor the Beloved, and the High Seven bear witness to what I say is true: that Joffrey Baratheon is the only rightful heir to the Iron Throne, The name of the seven gods in the sky, he is the ruler of the seven kingdoms and the guardian of the whole territory." Arya cried out when a stone flew from the crowd and hit her father.The gold-cloaked guards supported him and kept him from falling, and a deep gash was punched on his forehead, and blood flowed down.More stones followed immediately, one hit the guard on the left of the father, and another hit the black and gold armored knight's chest with a thud.Two of the Kingsguard stood in front of Joffrey and the queen, shields raised to protect them. She reached under her cloak and drew a sewing needle from its sheath.With all her strength, she gripped the hilt tightly.Gods, please, please protect him, she prayed to herself, don't let them hurt my father. The High Septon knelt before Joffrey and his mother. "Because we have sinned, we suffer," he intoned in a deep, deep voice, much louder than his father's. "This man confessed his crimes in this sacred place before the gods of heaven and mortals on earth." He raised his hands in prayer, and his head shone with rainbow lights. "The gods of heaven are just, but Baelor the 'blessed' has taught us that they are also merciful. Your Majesty, what should we do with this traitor?" There was a commotion all around, but Arya paid no attention.Prince Joffrey... no, "King" Joffrey... paced from behind the shield of the Kingsguard. "My mother urged me to let Duke Eddard wear black, and Miss Sansa pleaded for her father many times." After finishing speaking, he stared straight at Sansa with a smile on his face. For a moment, Arya thought The gods did hear her prayer, but Joffrey turned to the crowd. "That is their weak womanhood. Treason will be punished as long as I am king! Ser Ilyn, cut me down!" Get his head off!" The crowd was in an uproar.They pushed forward, and Arya felt Baelor's statue shake.The High Septon grabbed the king's cloak, and Varys rushed forward to tell him what to do, and even the queen said something to him, but Joffrey just shook his head.The nobles and knights moved out of the way, and "he" stepped out.Ser Ilyn Payne, the King's lawman, was tall and bony, like a skeleton in iron armor.Arya vaguely heard her sister's screams, far away.Sansa dropped to her knees, sobbing hysterically.Ser Ilyn climbed the steps of the pulpit. Arya twisted from between Baelor's feet, Needle in hand, and jumped into the crowd.She was jumping on top of a man in a butcher's apron, knocking him to the ground, but immediately someone slammed into her back and nearly fell, too.All around were bodies, stumbling and pushing against each other, trampling the poor butcher underfoot.Arya slashed at them with her needle. From the high pulpit, Ser Ilyn Payne made a gesture, and the knight in black and gold gave the order.The gold-cloaked guards pressed Lord Ed onto the marble slab, with his head and chest protruding from the edge of the platform. "Hey! What are you doing!" an angry voice yelled at Arya, but she didn't care. She pushed people away or slipped through them, ramming anyone who got in her way.Someone stretched out her hand to grab her foot, she swung her sword and slashed, and then kicked the opponent's shin hard.A woman fell, and Arya immediately jumped on her back, slashing left and right, but it was no use, no use at all, there were too many people, nowhere did she catch a glimpse of a gap, and she was caught again in an instant. fill up.Someone was beating her, trying to drive her away.The only thing she could tell was Sansa's scream. Ser Ilyn drew a great two-handed sword from behind his back, and as he held it high above his head, the light danced and rippled on the dark metal, its edge sharper than any razor.Ice, she realized, he was holding ice!Tears streamed down his cheeks, blocking his vision. At this moment, a hand sprang out from the crowd, tightly grasping her arm like a wolf's trap, with such force that the sewing needle flew out of the hand.Arya was lifted off the ground, and she felt like a doll, being handled easily.A face was attached, a face with long black hair, a tangled beard, and rotting teeth. "Don't look!" The other party growled at her in a rough voice. "I...I...I..." Arya sobbed. The old man shook her so hard that her teeth chattered. "Boy, shut up and close your eyes." Faintly, as if from a very far away place, she heard...a voice...a soft sigh, as if millions of people were relieved at the same time. in one breath.The old man dug his iron fingers into her arm. "Look at me, yes, that's it, just look at me." His mouth stinks of alcohol. "Boy, remember me?" The smell worked.Arya looked at his greasy mess of hair, his black cloak, dusty and patchy, his twisted shoulders, and those steadfast black eyes staring straight at her, and thought of the brother in black who had come to visit her father. "You recognize me, don't you? This is a good boy." He spat, "There's nothing to see here. You come with me and keep your mouth shut." She was about to answer when he shook her harder . "I said, keep your mouth shut." The crowd in the square began to disperse, the crowd gradually subsided, and people returned to their lives one after another.But Arya's life was nowhere to be found, and she followed him numbly... Yoren, by the way, his name is Yoren.She didn't remember him going back to get the needle, but he gave her the sword back. "Boy, I hope you can really use this thing." "I'm not—" she began. He pushed her through a door and, with his dirty fingers, grabbed her hair and pulled it back. "—not a bright boy, is that what you mean?" In his other hand he held a dagger. Seeing the knife coming toward her, Arya slammed back, kicking wildly, turning her head away, but he grabbed her by the hair with such strength that she felt her scalp ripped off.On the lips, there are salty tears.