Game of Thrones: The Ruler

All the eyes on the street were on the men, the spies who had just wiped out a patrolling squad of the Lysene army with seemingly no effort and particularly on the bulky man who appeared to be their leader. He did not say anything immediately. He merely continued looking at the spectators on the street and toward the many other houses from which no one had emerged, out of fear of the lockdown.

"What are you all looking at?" he roared, his powerful, thick voice carrying to the far end of the street. "Do you want to hear it again? Do you want me to repeat that I carry hope with me? Hope for your liberation? Hope for you all to live a better, privileged life? Hope for you all to live a life of dignity? That we are the blade of Lord Aeos' will?"

The voice echoed across the streets and through the houses, cutting through the sound of the burning flames. He remained silent for a few moments before taking several steps forward to approach one of the sacks lying on the ground. Using his sword, he split the sack, revealing the leather-wrapped swords inside. There were thirteen or fourteen swords in one sack and around ninety sacks in total. A sum of roughly twelve hundred swords. Enough quantity to arm a small army.

"And it is not only I who am the blade of Lord Aeos' will," the man roared. "You all could be that blade, too."

"You must know what happened in Meereen and Yunkai. There, people like you, people like us, brought the city to its knees before Lord Aeos or his forces even entered it. We have the same opportunity. There, they did not have any support. Here," he said, shoving the split sack so that the swords scattered on the ground appeared in full view of the spectators. "Lord Aeos has sent you all support."

"Come out of your houses!" he roared. "Pick up these swords! It is only a matter of moments before Lord Aeos' forces reach the port. Let us liberate ourselves!"

"For once," he continued. "At least for once, take a stand for yourself. For once, try and achieve something for you all."

"Pick up the sword," he added with a roar.

At first, there was no reaction. It was as if the spectators did not heed the words spoken by the bulky man. For a moment, he felt that his words had failed to penetrate the minds of these people. For a moment, a slight trace of the fear of failure materialized within him. But to his great relief, one middle aged man finally moved. He crouched and picked up a sword, stripping away the leather wrapped around it and throwing it to the ground.

"Better to die for once and all than to die daily at the hands of the corrupt nobles," he mumbled as he raised his sword high in the air and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Lord Aeos!"

This was the ignition these men needed, and soon everyone began picking up swords. People began to emerge from their houses to join this revolution. Even the swords of the dead Lysene soldiers were gathered. The revolution had begun, and it was coming for the magisters.

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Back at the port, the decisive moment had finally arrived. With the force of a storm, Lord Aeos's ships began to pull into the port of Lys. To save time for the men disembarking from the ships onto the docks, gangplanks were not used. Instead, ladders made of wood and rope were hung from the vessels, and soldiers used these to climb down to the port.

As one would have expected, their arrival changed the entire course of the battle. The stalemate, or the slight advantage that the forces of Lys had been able to achieve, was completely shattered. The men of Lord Aeos came like a tempest and overpowered the Lysene forces. They were like a storm, a wave crashing against their enemies.

True, the magisters had learned from the men stationed at the watchtowers that all of Lord Aeos's ships were landing at the main port and taking no detours. This knowledge should have freed the two thousand men stationed throughout the city, yet that did not happen. Instead, a completely unexpected situation had developed within the city walls. A situation which no Magister had anticipated. And they had no preparation, no solution for it.

A riot. A rebellion had broken out in the city. A crowd had erupted out of nowhere. It had been a massive crowd, and all of them were armed with swords. They had wiped a few patrolling squads whichever they had encountered in their paths and had been moving with a measured purpose.

This was shocking enough for the Magisters, but what happened next was even more staggering. Wherever the crowd passed, they were joined by more and more people: smallfolk, slaves, and the poor.

It seemed that everyone was joining the throng, and with each passing moment, they grew more massive. Reports started to pour in of the houses of rich merchants being attacked. Though a mob, it had not lost all reason. The magisters received reports that someone calling himself a subordinate of Lord Aeos was leading and guiding the masses. The merchants were commanded to free their slaves and hand over their weapons, should they have any. They were not asked for their wealth, and there were no immediate attacks on their families.

Only those who refused the requests were punished or killed. It was not that no untoward incidents occurred in the city, but they were remarkably rare. By the time the Magisters realized the true gravity of the situation and were in a position to mobilize their forces to crush the rebellion, things had spiraled out of their control. The uprising had grown too large to be suppressed. Simultaneously, the main force of Lord Aeos had secured the coast. The Magisters were now being attacked on two fronts at the same time.

The mob was also moving with a planned purpose. Unlike mindless zombies, they did not directly attack the command base of the Magisters or the barracks of the soldiers. It was all part of the plan. If the crowd had encountered an armed force in the beginning, they would have been pushed into a disadvantage, and this might have demoralized the smallfolk and they might have abandoned the rebellion.

So, they deliberately avoided the soldiers. As the crowd grew larger and larger, the Lysene army was automatically pushed onto the back foot, even before a single blow of a blade was exchanged between them. Lys was on the verge of collapse, and it was now just moments away.

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