Kapitel 157: Ned 4
They really did burn it all then…" Eddard found the idea almost dumbfounding. It would be like burning kings landing, he couldn't even imagine how many people had died.
"Aye milord, there was only a few survivors made it out the south gate, or by boat. At least nine-tenths of the city is dead."
Ned sat back into his chair, pressing his hand over his eyes. They had seen the smoke of course, the evening before, but they had thought the city had partially caught up in the attack, not been deliberately burned.
Well, most of them had thought that way anyhow.
Lady Mellario, the Norvosi woman and apparent lady of Dorne seemed far too smug for Ned's taste about the siege going as she predicted. She had taken on a sort of advisorial role in their mobile court, no doubt aided by her ability to charm Robert along. He wasn't entirely sure whether he was sleeping with her yet, but from the looks, he sent her way it was only a matter of time. Still, she had some truth in her words.
"You see, it is as I told you. The servants of the Red God are just as mad as those Qohori barbarians that sacked Norvos. Perhaps more so since even those goat-worshippers had the decency to spare the common-folk." She turned her gaze across the Westerosi lords in the hall. "You all are great fighting men no doubt, but you do not know Essos, and you should not let yourselves be led about by the words of spineless Pentoshi bureaucrats."
The bureaucrat in question looked rather angry at her assertion, but kept his tongue, perhaps to his credit.
Ned quickly decided to change the subject and avoid further misfortune.
"That all being said, I don't believe this changes our course much. They are still the enemy, and they surely lost forces in the siege. If anything it's near impossible to hold a burnt city so they've weakened their own position relative to if they had taken the walls."
Robert nodded from where he sat to Ned's Left, rubbing at his shaved chin as if he still kept a beard. It was a habit he had seemed to spontaneously develop on this trip.
"Aye. Whether the dragonshit prince is as mad as his father makes little difference. He needs to be put down either way."
Ned winced a little at the memories his turn of phrase brought up, but suppressed it, reminding himself that this Targaryen at least deserved it. He noted that Robert's other hand had a chokehold on the shaft of his Warhammer.
Yes, some days he was glad to have lied about Jon's ancestry.
"Indeed, and his site too I should think. We shouldn't let the line continue if this is the madness they promulgate."
Ned's eyes turned towards the King's brother. The man had hardened since the Battle at the Rhoyne, probably due to the injury his bodyguard suffered. The men seemed to care deeply for each other, though he doubted the rumor that they were lovers. But Lord Renly had been on a bloodthirsty tear since it seemed, even promising that he would have vengeance for their allies in Norvos. Though Ned wondered how much of that speech had simply been a political maneuver to keep the Valyrian steel ax that sat against his chair.
He certainly had no intention of leading his men in vengeance if he could avoid it. They had taken enough casualties at the Rhoyne.
Still, Robert seemed pleased by his brother's assertion.
"Aye, his sister too if we can find her, though last we know she was in Norvos with the goatfuckers. For now, the dragon with a cock is the one that needs slaying." The King's eyes narrowed, and he seemed to think for a moment. A reassuring sight, that meant he was taking the battle seriously even despite his anger.
"Lord Tarly, you'll take the fastest knights out to scout the enemy's movements over the next two days. Especially make note of their losses. I'm of the hope that they'll lack elephants after that long a siege."
"I will be sure to do so your grace." The martial Lord bowed, eliciting a nod from the king.
"Ned, the infantry are yours again," Robert said, turning to him. "You may have to cut through some unsullied pikes, so be sure the men know what they're facing. Despite their reputation for not running slaves make for poor soldiers."
Ned smiled grimly, nodding. " I'll have the men ready to fight. They've already won a battle and morale is high. I doubt much will scare them more than elephants."
Robert snorted at that. "True enough. Renly, you have the camp defenses I know it isn't glorious, but you'll be the reserves if the dragon tries to bite us in the ass."
Ned listened as the war planning continued on, Robert seeming just as thoughtful and passionate in planning a battle as he was in fighting it, his evident plan for the full army coming together in the single morning he knew they would be fighting.
Ned knew war, but Robert always made it looks so easy.
Eventually, around noon, the council broke up, the makeshift war-court drifting apart, and Ned was faced with a new problem.
'How to convince Prince Joffrey to stay at the camp.'
The boy had taken well to the news of his impending squiredom but had been proving a tad bloodthirsty in his desire to prove himself in more battle, apparently spurred on by his cousin's naval campaign in the Stepstones.
He wandered the tent city which was even now being packed up to move again, before stopping to rest by the Maesters tent, about the pole where their messenger Raven's roosted.
It was mostly empty compared to how it had been in the wake of the battle, all full of wounded and dying men, and it grieved him a little to think that it would no doubt soon be full again.
He stared at it a little while, recalling the rows and rows of cots full of poor, groaning souls, some even having to lay or prop themselves upon the bare ground.
As he sat and watched, he felt a strange weight land on his shoulder. Turning he saw the muffled black form of one of the Maester's ravens.
Reaching up to shoo it away, he realized that it was staring straight at him, though its beak remained shut, and there seemed to be a strange intelligence to its gaze, especially as it twisted it's neck, turning its head to the side.
A moment passed, and he felt that the creature was staring straight into his soul before it called once right into his face and flapped away back into its roost. Disappearing into the mass of birds as if it had never come down.
Ned found himself staring up at the creatures afterward, his eyes desperately trying to find the odd creature again, alas to no avail.
'What was that..?' Ned thought, grumbling as yet another concern had to be added to his mind.
Didn't fate already hand him enough to deal with already?
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein