Pate

"Another round! I invite!" declared Alleras aloud for the fourth time that night and headed to the bar to ask for more cider. Pate was beginning to see blurry, and it wasn't precisely because of the dense haze that had risen in the city that night. Alleras had been paying rounds to celebrate the silver link he had earned a week ago. The young acolyte had entered the Citadel just four months ago and had already forged more links than Pate had in the four years he had been there. He felt a tremendous desire to grab his cider jug and throw it against Alleras' slender face so he could wipe that smile off his face. But he didn't, he hadn't drunk enough yet for that. Besides, if he started a fight at the Quill and Tankard, Emma would eject him out of there for life and he would never see Rosey again. To tell the truth, Pate wasn't too enthusiastic about the monstrously strong cider they served in the tavern. He preferred wine, especially Arbor gold or some of the westerlands, but the price of wine had increased considerably since Stannis Baratheon had taken the Arbor a couple of days ago.

Since the news came, a strange sense of fear and concern had invaded the city. The inhabitants of Oldtown believed that this war would never come to their doorstep, for it seemed that most of the battles and looting were going to take place in the Riverlands and in the Crownlands, but apparently not even the old Lord Paxter, who had remained neutral and was on the other side of the kingdom , was going to escape from the madness of being involved in this war. Since then, no ship with the sigil of the Baratheons or the Martells had been allowed to enter the port, and naval patrols had increased considerably.

"For King Stannis, who takes away the best wine so that we can only drink that shit they make in Dorne!" proclaimed Mollander. He drank his glass of cider, burped, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Where's Rosey? She's my legitimate queen."

Pate gritted his teeth and, for the umpteenth time that night, felt like he wanted to hit someone. Rosey was Emma's daughter, the eldest of the tavern's wenches, and it was all Pate wanted in this life. Soon she will flower, and Pate was saving money for when the time came. He had seven silver deers and several copper stars, enough to buy Rosey's maidenhood when the day came. Beside him, Armen appeared very nervous.

"Don't say those things, you fool. You never know who might be listening. If the wrong person finds out, tomorrow this city could wake up with your body hanging from the walls."

"Come on, Armen, it was just an innocent joke. We all know that it is for our fair Queen Margaery that I drink from the bottom of my heart," Mollander replied.

"You'd better, Hopfrog," said a voice. "My cousin would not like to hear that in his lands, his servants do not toast for his daughter."

Leo the Lazy stumbled to their table, with his green silk clothing stained with huge red wine dots and his completely scruffy blonde hair.

"Get out of here. No one has invited you to this party," Roone yelled.

"Come on, buy me a drink and I won't tell my father about the toast. I'd pay for it myself, but I'm broke. I spent the last thing I had left at dinner. Come on, a knight's son should be more generous."

Mollander muttered something between his teeth but dared not raise his voice.

"Come on, if not you, maybe the pig boy will. I have heard that you've been saving for our dear Rosey.'s maidenhood. I'm sure you have something left to invite your good friend Leo. If you do me this favor, I'll let you have the first night with her.

Pate rose furious and was about to stamp the jug in his mouth when Alleras, who had returned to the table, put a hand on his shoulder to soothe him.

"Leo, my lord, it will be a pleasure for you to join us tonight," said Alleras with one of his smiles. The others growled in a gesture of disapproval, but no more protested. After all, Leo was the son of the city's guard captain, Sir Moryn Tyrell. Displeasing him was a bad idea.

"You see boys. You should be more like the Sphinx, always so helpful. I'm sure it comes from the summer islands monkey she has as his mother. Your father was a dornishman, wasn't he? They fuck anything with a hole between their legs."

"Then I would be careful, boy. It is said that Lord Stannis' army is at the city's gates, I would keep your buttocks tight." The voice came from a sailor sitting at the bar. He had brown hair with some gray hair and a fairly populated beard. At his side, several of his companions laughed at his joke.

"And who asked you? Hey?" said Leo furiously. The wine breath could be smelled every time he opened his mouth. "Tell me your name, so they can put a sign on your head when I put it on a spike tomorrow on the city walls."

"My name is Lyam from Flea Bottom , and I recognize the smell of shit anywhere. Even if it comes from a pretty little flower like you."

Mollander threw the cider down his nose upon hearing that, and the others couldn't disguise the laughter, including Pate himself.

"What are you laughing at?" Lazy Leo turned to Mollander and smashed the cup of cider that Alleras had just brought on him. Mollander, furious, pounced on him and started punching him with his knuckles one after another in the face. Leo the Lazy tried to get away from him, so unluckily that they rolled up one of the nearby tables, crashing into the furniture. The next few minutes passed as a flash in front of Pate, but when he finally understood what was going on, a crowded fight had broken out at the tavern. The jugs flew back and forth in the room and every few steps there were several people hitting each other as if their lives depended on it.

"Hey!" Armen grabbed his arm. The others had disappeared. He looked around and saw Mollander being beat up by a couple of drunkards. Roone was trying to get him out of there, but then a third man crashed a bottle of wine on his head and knocked him unconscious. He couldn't even see Alleras or Leo.

"Let's get out of here before the city watch arrives! Surely someone will have warned them by now, and if not, it will be a matter of minutes before they find out."

Pate rose awkwardly, for all the alcohol he had been drinking that night was clearly taking its toll on him. In front of him, Armen stumbled upon a man lying on the ground. When Pate went to help him get to his feet, he saw that a pool of blood was forming under the head of the lying man.

"I-is, is he?" stammered Pate.

"Dead?" replied Armen. "I don't think so. He's just been hit in the head hard. Tomorrow he'll wake up with a scar, nothing more."

They had almost reached the exit when Emma stood in front of the door, preventing them from passing through.

"Where do you think you two are going? Look at what your blonde friend has done. You're going to pay every deer of this wreck, I guarantee you. In addition to all the drinks you've had," said the woman with a sullen face.

"He's not our friend," replied Armen. "He's just a jerk who makes our lives impossible. He's the son of a knight, he'll pay for it. And our friend Alleras should have paid for your drinks by now."

"Your friend has paid nothing, but if you can find him among that crowd of drunks, for me perfect. But I'm not going to let you leave without paying."

"Come on, Emma. You know us, we come here to drink and eat every week. Ask Rosey if you don't believe us," Pate said.

"Ah, yes. I remember you, boy. You're that pig who's always after my daughter. Well, you better pay me, or I'm not going to let you set foot in this tavern again in what's left of your life."

"Emma don't..."

"Ma'am!" interrupted a voice. Half a dozen city guards had appeared at the door, probably alerted by the noise from the street. "We've been warned that an altercation was taking place on the tavern."

"That's right, captain. Please get these drunkards out of here before they wreck my business, or worse."

Five of the guards came in and started separating people while the sixth stayed at the door, preventing anyone from leaving. Great, Pate thought. If we end up in detention tonight, Maester Gormon will surely manage to get me expelled from the Citadel. At this point, it's not that he cared much about his dream of becoming a maester one day. He had been in the Citadel for four years and his neck was so naked like the day he entered. The only reason he was still a novice was to have a place to sleep at night.

He looked around, trying to find some way out or somewhere to hide, but the windows were too far away, and he wouldn't be able to get to any of them fast enough with all the people and furniture scattered across the floor. Armen was also nervous, but unlike Pate, no one was going to eject him for a simple midnight altercation. As things calmed down and the guards separated people, Pate saw Mollander with a broken nose and a black eye. He also identified Roone, who was bleeding like a pig from the wound in his head. Leo the Lazy was full of bruises and could barely stand, but Pate didn't know if it was because of the alcohol or due to the beating he had been given. However, he could not see Alleras anywhere. I'm sure he left the moment things went out of control. And without even telling us anything. He also did not see this Lyam, and in his opinion there seemed to be far fewer people there than there had been before the fight began. Of course, you fool. They had been much savvier than we lot.

Pate had almost resigned himself to spending the night in one of the dungeons when suddenly the sound of a war horn began to be heard throughout the city. The guards went outside to see what it was all about, and at that moment Armen grabbed his arm and pointed to the nearest window.

"Let's go before they realize it," he whispered in his ear.

Armen grabbed Mollander and Pate did the same with Roone and they headed for the window. Several of those present also realized the situation and began to sneak through the first site they found.

"Hey! Hey!" screamed Emma, but everyone ignored her, and the guards didn't come back to control the situation. Pate turned an instant towards the door and saw that they all had disappeared.

"Where did they go?" asked Pate.

"Doesn't matter. Hurry up before they come back," Armen pressed.

When they finally went outside, although Mollander needed help to be able to go out through one of the windows facing the courtyard, Pate witnessed a phenomenon he had never seen in his five years in Oldtown.

The light coming from the Hightower, the immense tower that served in turn as a lighthouse and as the fortress of house Hightower, was of a very intense crimson tone, and did not have its usual yellow light. The only time he had seen it change color was weeks ago, when Lord Leyton called his banners, and made the light of the lighthouse glow with an intense green color for several days. As Master Marwyn the Wizard had told them, the Hightowers used different types of powders to change the color of the Hightower's flame in case of extreme urgency. Green served to summon the vassals, but he had no idea what the crimson color with which it was shining at that moment could mean.

Pate could have kept looking at it for hours, but they were in a hurry. They had to get away from the Quill and Tankard before the guards came back and found them trying to flee. When they reached the bridge, the sound of a war horn was heard again around the city and soon others followed it, although these sounded... different. Soon, the horns of war were silenced by the replicating of the bells and these in turn... by the screams.

"What's going on?" asked Roone. Pate would have liked to answer, but like him, he had no idea what was going on. Are we being attacked by Stannis? Impossible, if we were, he would have come by sea. He couldn't have gotten through the mountains without being seen…

"There will be time for that," retorted Armen. Pate didn't know if it was due to the situation, but it was the first time his friend was so blunt and determined. "Now the important thing is to go back to the Citadel. We'll be safe there."

"How are you so sure of that?" asked Pate. "We don't even know what's going on. It can be a false alarm."

"The Citadel has always remained neutral in all the conflicts that have occurred in Westeros, even since before the Conquest. They won't attack it. But if you know a safer place in the city, I beg you to tell us."

A shiver went to Pate. Rosey. He had to save her and take her with them. If the enemy managed to enter the city, the doors of the Quill and Tankard would not stop them.

"We have to go back. We have to tell Rosey, Emma and the others to come with us to the Citadel. If they stay there..."

"It's too late for that," Mollander stopped him.

"Oldtown will not fall in a day. We have to go back and tell them."

"Look," said Mollander pointing a finger to the east.

Pate looked in the direction he was pointing at and saw a cloud of smoke rising on the horizon. The smoke came from a building, which was inside the walls. It's not possible, how? How could they get through the walls so quickly?

"Rosey... No... we have to..."

"If you go back there you won't have time to go back to the Citadel, Pate," Roone told him looking him in the eyes. "Leave Rosey and come with us, come on!"

His heart wanted him to go back, go back to the tavern and warn Rosey, hug her and tell her to come with him, get her to safety... but his heart lost. His legs moved like he had never done before, he ran and ran, but in the opposite direction. He ran along with Roone, Armen and Mollander through Oldtown's alleyways as tears flowed from his eyes, but that did not stop him or made him to go back. Rosey... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Merciful Mother protect her. Protect her as I couldn't, please. They passed dozens of people, confused by what was going on, but did not stop until they crossed the old stone bridge that led to the gates of the Citadel. When they finally came to see the two green sphinxes guarding the gates, they realized that several hundred people had had the same idea as them.

They had barely managed to cross the bridge when a huge crowd blocked their way. Young lads, elderly men, children and even mothers with their babies in their arms. All were seeking refuge behind the walls of the Citadel in the face of the imminent sack that was coming. They tried to make their way through the people who piled up at the gates, but for each one they managed to leave behind, two emerged in front of them.

"Lift me up!" shouted Armen. "I want to see what's going on! "

Pate and Roone, who had already stopped bleeding, lifted him up so that he could see above the crowd with all the forces they had left, but the race had left them exhausted and they could only lift him up for a few seconds.

"They've closed the doors," Armen told them with a gloomy face. "People are trying to bring it down, but it's impossible for them to make it."

"But we are novices," replied Roone astonished. "They can't stop us from passing, no..."

"They'll let us die out here, just like everyone else in this bridge," Mollander cut him off. "My father says that the first thing lords do when they feel danger is to close the doors of their castles, and the Citadel is no different. We have to get out of here and find another place to take refuge, maybe in the Starry Sept we'll have more luck or maybe in the Sailor's Sept."

Pate would have liked to say that nothing would happen to them here, that the enemy soldiers would leave them alone when they saw that there were only unarmed and helpless citizens on the bridge, but he did not deceive himself. He knew well what was going to happen in the sack, his father, who was part of the Lannister army when they sacked King's Landing during the rebellion, had told him of the horrors that he saw there before Pate left to study the Citadel. He never imagined he'd be part of something like that. Behind him, people kept pushing and trying to make their way to the doors, not knowing that all their efforts would be in vain. They tried to turn around and get out of there, but the tide of people who had formed behind them prevented them.

It's useless. We're going to die. I should have stayed with Rosey, I should have come back...

Then he heard it. At first the sound was distant and interspersed with the shouting of the people, but Pate clearly recognized the sound of horseshoes against the stone in the distance. Gradually the noise was heard so clearly that the crowd became even more hysterical than it was. Pate used all the forces he had left so as not to be crushed by the crowd, but by his side, Mollander was not so lucky. A rather imposing man gave him a nudge that knocked him down, and before he could stand again, one person after another stepped on him. Pate tried to go to him to help him, but the crowd dragged him out of his reach. When he realized, he had lost Armen too among the people and the only person he recognized near him was Roone, who was heading towards the edge of the stone bridge.

"I'm not going to die here. I'm not going to die," he said non-stop, and before he could stop him, Roone got on the railing and threw himself to the Honeywine. What has he done? He can't swim, let alone half-drunk. For an instant, Pate thought of doing the same as his friend, but like him, he had never learned to swim, so he thought better of it and walked away from the railing before someone inadvertently pushed him into the river.

Aruuuuuuuuuuuuuu, echoed the call of a horn of war in the middle of the night. Aruuuuuuuuuuuuu, others responded throughout the city. Many of them sounded not far from the bridge. He felt his guts stirring and tried to dominate, but he felt a thread of moisture run through his legs from the crotch to his feet. Pissing on myself before dying, Pate thought. It would certainly have been better to have thrown myself into the river.

He didn't have much more time to think, for at that very moment he witnessed how the riders had already reached the bridge. Many desperate people were doing like Roone and throwing themselves into the river, hoping they could escape from there, although Pate doubted that those who managed to reach the shore would be much luckier. The last thing he saw was a silver rider passing over the helpless citizens like a bolt of lightning. He didn't know if it was fear or alcohol, but it looked like a rainbow of a thousand colors was following him. He then received a heavy blow to the head and all was black.

He didn't know how long it had been until he regained consciousness, but when he opened his eyes, the blinding light of the sun caused him to have to close them again instantly. His head hurt a lot. He touched where he seemed to have received the blow and felt a deep wound in his head. All his hair was full of already dry blood, as well as much of his head.

"Well, it looks like you've finally woken up. I was already beginning to think that I was going to have to carry you to the Citadel by myself," a voice said next to him. Pate recognized it instantly.

"Alleras?" he asked, turning to where the voice came from. Standing next to him was his friend. He looked the same as when they had lost him in the tavern, as if for him the night hadn't happened. "Are you alive? Where's the rest? Mollander, Armen..." He tried to get up but he felt dizzy as soon as he tried to incorporate, so he stayed sited on the floor.

"Last night you took a heavy blown in the head, you better not try to get up yet," Alleras replied. "As for the rest... Mollander is in the Citadel's infirmary. He's got several serious bruises and he's broken several bones, but it looks like he'll survive, but I haven't seen Armen or Roone. Do you know where they might be?"

"I lost Armen in the crowd before the riders arrived, and Roone jumped into the river," Pate replied. "Alleras... what happened? How could they enter the city so easily?"

"I don't know…" replied Alleras. "Apparently someone must have opened the city gates to them in the night. The city felt in a matter of hours. Lord Leyton's forces have taken refuge in the Hightower, but no one knows how much they will be able to resist, as King Stannis controls the rest of the city and Lord Renly is a long way from here."

"Rosey... do you know if she's has survived? I-is she-okay?" Alleras' face appeared grim.

"She's alive, but... a group of soldiers entered the tavern during the sack and raped all the women they found… Rosey included. I'm sorry."

"Damn Stannis. May the Seven punish him, the seven hells are few for what he deserves."

"I wouldn't say that, let alone out loud. If it had been someone else who had taken the city, they wouldn't have stopped sacking until there was no stone was left upon another. Be glad the looting only lasted one night."

"I don't care. Roone's dead, and maybe Armen is too. I'll never forgive him, Alleras. Never."

"I'm sure you'll find a way. You should go see your dear Rosey. She'll need love and comfort these nights after what has happened. Come on," he said, holding a hand to help him get up. "I'll take you to the infirmary to take a look at that wound, and then I'll see if I can find Roone and Armen.

"Alleras" said Pate with half-tearing eyes. "Thank you. You're a good friend."

"Oh no, I'm not. Not by a long shot."