章節 447: Chapter 448: Riot
Sansa Stark was awakened by the sound of commotion outside.
Groggy and disoriented, she sat up in bed, only to see her younger sister Arya at the door, cautiously cracking it open to peer outside.
"What's happening?"
"I don't know," Arya replied, her voice low. "It's too dark to see anything..."
Sansa slipped out of bed, padding over to join her sister. Together, they peered through the narrow opening in the door.
The courtyard was shrouded in darkness, the oppressive silence broken only by the hurried footsteps and cries echoing from beyond the gates. Orders barked in harsh tones mixed with the occasional sound of weeping.
A growing sense of dread gripped Sansa. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the courtyard gates suddenly crashed open. A group of Gold Cloak guards, brandishing torches, stormed into the compound.
Fear clamped around Sansa's throat, suffocating her.
Arya, equally startled, recovered quickly. She slammed the door shut and grabbed Sansa, who stood frozen like a statue. "Come on!" she whispered urgently, dragging her sister back into the room.
"Are they here to arrest us?" Sansa whispered, her voice trembling.
"I don't know," Arya muttered, scrambling under the bed. She lifted a wooden panel, revealing a pitch-black tunnel beneath. "Hurry! Don't just stand there—get in!"
Shaking, Sansa crawled under the bed, joining Arya in slipping down into the hidden basement.
They dared not light a candle for fear of drawing attention, so the sisters clung to each other in the suffocating darkness, praying silently.
Time passed agonizingly slowly.
After what felt like an eternity, no soldiers had come searching for them. Instead, muffled cries echoed from upstairs. Sansa recognized the voice—it was Lady Chataya.
"They're not after us," Arya whispered after listening closely. "They're here to seize the food."
Her voice turned venomous. "Those bastards are stealing our grain! We can't let them take everything!" She made to climb out of the tunnel.
"No!" Sansa hissed, grabbing her sister. "You'll get us killed!"
"Let go, you idiot!" Arya snapped, struggling against her. "The markets are all closed. If they take our food too, we'll starve to death!"
"That's better than being caught by the Lannisters!"
The sisters wrestled for a moment until the commotion upstairs began to fade. Sansa finally released Arya, who immediately darted out from under the bed.
By the time Arya emerged into the courtyard, the Gold Cloaks had already left. Lady Chataya and her daughter were huddled together, crying.
"Did they take all the food?" Arya asked.
"Yes, everything," Lady Chataya sobbed. "They said all the grain in King's Landing is being requisitioned for distribution. From now on, we can only get a bowl of porridge a day from the soup kitchens."
"Damn those Lannisters!" Arya cursed, her voice rising with anger. "Damn that old lion! When is Caesar going to storm this damned city already?"
Sansa rushed forward to clamp a hand over Arya's mouth, terrified she'd be overheard.
---
That night, King's Landing was a city that could find no rest.
With Tywin Lannister back in command, he wasted no time asserting control. He ordered a citywide seizure of grain stocks to be redistributed by the Crown.
To suppress any resistance, not only were the Gold Cloaks mobilized, but tens of thousands of soldiers patrolled the streets to maintain order.
Though the streets fell into an uneasy quiet, the air was thick with simmering resentment. The people of King's Landing had endured too much for too long. They were a volcano on the verge of eruption.
---
At dawn, Sansa and Arya disguised themselves and set out to one of the soup kitchens.
The line stretched endlessly, filled with starving citizens waiting for their daily rations.
It was past noon by the time the sisters received their thin bowls of gruel. Exhausted and famished, they quickly finished their portions, only to feel hungrier than before.
Arya's eyes gleamed mischievously. "Let's go to another soup kitchen and get in line again."
"Can we really do that?" Sansa asked hesitantly.
"Why not? They can't remember everyone. Come on!"
With her stomach growling, Sansa reluctantly agreed, following Arya through the winding streets.
As they passed Fishmonger's Square and walked along Mud Gate, they approached Aegon's High Hill.
There, they saw a massive crowd of ragged, unkempt commoners surrounding the Red Keep.
The people's faces were gaunt with hunger, but their eyes burned with unfiltered hatred.
"We want bread!" someone shouted.
"Bread! Bread! Bread!" The chant grew louder, a relentless wave of voices crashing against the towering walls of the Red Keep.
The castle, a red island in a sea of misery, seemed to shrink under the fury of the mob. Even its iron gates and high walls could not block the surging tide of anger.
"We want bread!" Arya yelled, joining the crowd with a defiant grin. "We want justice!"
Her cries quickly turned more personal: "Get off the Iron Throne, you incestuous bastard!"
Terrified, Sansa tried to silence her sister, covering Arya's mouth with trembling hands.
But Arya wriggled free, shouting louder: "Long live King Caesar!"
To Sansa's shock, the crowd echoed her sister's cry. "Long live Caesar!" the people roared, their voices shaking the air.
But this chant struck a nerve with the Lannister soldiers.
Orders were barked, and the troops surrounding the Keep began to unsheathe their weapons, advancing on the crowd.
Sensing danger, Arya grabbed Sansa's hand. "Run!" she urged.
Luckily, the sisters had stayed at the outskirts of the mob. They fled before the soldiers could trap them.
Behind them, they heard the deadly hiss of arrows slicing through the air, followed by screams of pain and chaos.
Sansa ran with tears streaming down her face, her entire body trembling. She didn't dare look back.
---
The city had descended into madness. Horns blared ominously as unrest spread like wildfire. Crowds of desperate, starving people filled the streets, their frustration boiling over into violence.
Sansa's voice quavered as she tugged at Arya's sleeve. "We need to go home. Now."
But Arya's attention was fixed ahead. She stopped abruptly, pointing. "That's a grain storehouse."
"Don't!" Sansa cried, gripping Arya's arm tightly.
To her surprise, Arya didn't resist. She stared at the storehouse, where a throng of desperate citizens was breaking in, forcing their way past guards in a frantic bid for food.
At the same time, more soldiers were rushing to the scene. A massacre was imminent.
"We can't stay here," Arya muttered, finally relenting.
But as they turned to leave, they witnessed a man staggering out of the chaos, carrying a sack of grain on his back. His face shone with triumph—until a split second later, when an arrow pierced his throat.
He collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Moments later, soldiers arrived, hacking at the corpse to ensure he was dead.
When they picked up the grain sack, a tear in its fabric revealed the truth.
What spilled out wasn't grain.
It was sand.
(End of Chapter)
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