House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 161: Chapter 160 – The Blood Tears of the Faith of the Seven (VI)

What should have been the angel of the gods proved to be nothing but a liar. The herald had already said the church would try to cover up the incidents so they would be forgotten. But how could they forget such a thing? Faced with the fear of being next, together with the trust they held in the realm’s hero and in the strength of House Targaryen, the idea of rebelling against the faith was born.

“LIAR!!!!”

“CORRUPT!!!!”

“TRAITOR!!!”

Maekar seemed to hear a chorus of voices full of fury, resentment, and fear. The people did not want a closed-door trial; they wanted to see the sinners’ blood and nothing else.

The High Septon could not believe what he was hearing. His eyes widened. But, if the people were mad in that moment, he was even madder.

“King Jaehaerys, these people are mad!!! They must all be arrested to keep order in the city!!!” The High Septon shouted at Jaehaerys atop the second wooden platform.

Jaehaerys, who had been watching the show with enormous pleasure, was stunned to be dragged into the mess. Then, the king’s face changed. Are you joking? Did you not see the enraged crowd wanting blood? These people, already extremely unstable, needed only a spark to explode completely.

The king simply pretended not to have heard and began speaking with Alysanne, completely ignoring the High Septon.

This was no joke; one could say many people would die if this crowd went out of control.

Thinking of that, Jaehaerys looked toward the Dragonpit with a pensive look. Then, he noticed something strange. He looked to the side and saw the chair where Gael should have been; it was now empty. Looking around, he could not find his daughter’s figure.

Jaehaerys narrowed his eyes and looked at Maekar atop the wooden platform before the gigantic crowd. What had this boy eaten growing up to stay so calm before a crowd about to descend into mad frenzy?

“It seems the High Septon does not wish to judge the criminals; that is sad, but you may let me judge this trash.” Maekar could not let Jaehaerys get involved in the show, or it would have to stop, something he did not want under any circumstance.

Without waiting for the High Septon’s response, Maekar simply pulled the lever again. The guillotine fell for the third time; the Septon’s head separated from his body. Maekar even saw the man’s eyes blink a few times before losing his life completely.

“Take this; this is the people’s fury.” Picking up the head, Maekar looked at the High Septon and threw the head at him with a provoking smile on his lips.

“How dare you?” Looking at the head rolling to his feet, the High Septon murmured with a look of utter disbelief. The last time the Faith of the Seven had suffered something like this was when Maegor burned the Sept of Remembrance.

“You will become an enemy of the Faith of the Seven!!!” The High Septon spoke in a tone growing gradually calmer.

“Are you not already my enemy?” Maekar asked with a cold smile. “An eye for an eye, blood for blood, Your Holiness.”

Mad. That was the only thing the High Septon could think about Maekar. Was one son worth making an enemy of the Faith of the Seven? He himself had dozens of children and would not hesitate to kill one to gain allies or even interests.

“I will ask once more, will Your Holiness judge the criminals?” Maekar asked loudly, his voice spreading among the people at the front of the crowd.

“They may only be judged by the Faith of the Seven; you have no right to execute septons, nor any man of faith,” the High Septon answered without any hesitation. He could not allow such a thing to continue. The image of the Faith of the Seven would be tarnished, and once that happened, things would spiral out of control.

This was not something trivial. If a precedent were set, the noble houses that already disliked the Faith of the Seven would have reason to hunt down and judge any Septon. Once that happened, the Faith of the Seven would not be far from losing control over Westeros.

“Unfortunately for you, I have the right to judge criminals,” Maekar said with a calm look. “My house bows to no law of gods or men. That includes your laws, Your Holiness. Not to mention that this human trash committed crimes in King’s Landing. In this city, crimes are judged!”

“Am I wrong?” Maekar asked the people in the crowd.

“JUSTICE!!!”

“DEATH TO THE PIGS!!!”

“LONG LIVE HOUSE TARGARYEN!!!”

Maekar laughed and looked at the High Septon with a look full of provocation. “See, the people want blood, and I will give them blood.”

Without any hesitation, septon after septon was beheaded, and their bodies piled at the corner of the platform. The wood beneath the guillotine had already lost its original color, now stained crimson red.

The High Septon trembled. His words, which were meant to be laws to be followed, were simply ignored by everyone. That feeling of humiliation made his face turn pale. He looked at the second wooden platform and saw every lord of the great houses looking at him as though he were an insignificant court jester.

He was not wrong to think so. Aside from Theo, who was still young and inexperienced, the rest of the ruling lords simply enjoyed what they were seeing. Ellard did not believe in the Faith of the Seven; he cared little for the High Septon.

The Lord of the Vale was a calm man, and despite being a worshiper of the Faith of the Seven, the realm came before anything else. The Lord of the Iron Islands was even more indifferent, simply looking at the High Septon with scorn.

The Lord of the Stormlands, Boremund, was pragmatic and cold. He could abandon even his own Valyrian origin, so what did it matter to see a mere High Septon?

Just as Maekar was about to behead the thirteenth septon, an arrow cut through the air and flew toward him. The prince did not even need to move; Clarisse, who had been alert, was already in front of Maekar, using her own body to shield the prince.

Fortunately, the young woman was in armor, and the arrow merely bounced off it.

A silence followed the assassination attempt.

“Find that piece of shit!!!” At the man’s shout, the crowd stirred. Anyone who looked suspicious now received looks of distrust and caution.

“It was you, you bastard!!!” The man threw a punch at another man he assumed had fired the arrow. It took only one man’s punch to cause complete chaos. Then, the spark Maekar needed simply happened, detonating everyone’s feelings.

What followed was brutal. People began fighting without any regard for those around them. This drove people to try to flee in panic. Which, in turn, caused even more chaos in the middle of the crowd.

A poor soul fell to the ground and, before he had time to do anything, was trampled to death by the people. No one cared for anyone else; they simply wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that was the common mindset in that moment.

“No!!!”

“Get out of the way!!!”

“Help!!!”

At the screams, Jaehaerys’s and Alysanne’s faces changed drastically. They stood up and did not try to stop anything; they left quickly with the Kingsguard shielding them. Daemon and Viserys did not dare stay and followed swiftly.

The other lords, seeing the situation had spiraled out of control, quickly fled without any hesitation. As for trying to keep order, they never even thought of doing such a thing. No one heard anything amid the screams and pleas of the people.

As he left, Jaehaerys looked at Maekar, still standing on the platform, and could not help feeling a chill run through his body. He considered himself a cold, pragmatic man, but, for the sake of revenge, even he would not have dared cause a riot in King’s Landing.

“Ryam, go with the City Watch and use everyone to bring things under control.” Jaehaerys ordered as he was escorted into the carriage.

“Yes, my king.” Ryam showed a solemn expression and answered calmly.

On the platform, Maekar looked toward House Targaryen’s exit and then looked to where the High Septon had been. The fat man had run faster than anyone.

Maekar did not care; the man would not leave the city. Looking at the two septons still alive, the prince showed a cold look and threw both of them to the crowd.

What followed was a brutal scene. The people simply tore the two septons apart as though they were ripping pieces off a loaf of bread.

Even with all his resistance to the grotesque scene, Maekar’s stomach churned seeing some parade around with the septons’ entrails.

———

Read my other books:

House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos

Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.

Game Of Thrones: The King’s Court Wizard