Chapter 40

The Riverlands, not far from the Neck,

Four days later...

“Your Graces, this is report that three different battalions of ‘Faith Militant’ seem to have simply been former Sparrows that lined up for their dragonglass and showed up armed with cudgels for now. When they were denied dragonglass as yet, because it’s not available here, and were instructed to put away their cudgels, they caused an uproar and the Gold Cloaks were forced to kill several before gaoling the rest. They will instead be marched, in chains, to the Wall, where they will be forced to join the Night’s Watch and serve under its regulations instead of their own command.

“Several septons and septas have interfered with the burning rites or refused to perform their walks of atonement, but they’ve been compelled to undergo them in King’s Landing itself. They were also struck on their buttocks by Gold Cloaks with the flats of their blades, which resulted in notable bruises on said buttocks. Six of them resisted and were burned alive by the City Watch. That seems to have had the desired effect. Resistance has largely died down since then. Ser Bronn of the Blackwater, Lord of Castamere, is pleased to report that the city is calm again,” Samwell Tarly’s message by raven informed Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, the King and Queen of Westeros, as they approached the Neck with impressive speed, given the size of their retinue on this northward progress.

“I guess that they believe us now, don’t they? We meant what we said and wrote. It is the law and it carries the most extreme sanction due to the extreme threat posed by the Dead. The cremation law must be upheld at all times without any kind of leniency whatsoever. You know that I’m a man of compassion and all that, but we have to be strict and severe about this. Lives and the safety of the realm are at stake here!” Jon Snow ranted for a moment, frustrated by the fact that some still doubted the necessity of burning all of the dead.

It simply wasn’t safe to do anything but burn the dead until all of the Dead were accounted for, was it? As long as there was a Night King who could quicken the slain enough to make wights of them, the defense and safety of the realm required a swift and complete cremation of all corpses, no matter what. That’s why the penalty was so stiff, to scare people into compliance. Fear had to be used to drive home the gravity of this matter.

At least Ser Bronn hadn’t softened. Maybe Sam would, and maybe he wouldn’t, having seen the Dead for himself, but Ser Bronn saw the brutal necessity of it and carried out the royal edict without any exemptions or clemency. The dead must be burned, and those who refused would themselves be burned instead. Even old bones must be exhumed and cremated, every last one of them. Nothing must be left for the Night King to revive as a wight peril within the city walls. That was good news for now at least, even if it angered some subjects to watch their ancestors burn like that. Even heads on spikes were cremated now.

Apparently, there was also an influx of Red Priests into King’s Landing, by all accounts, seeing their chance to spread their message to the populace. With the Faith of the Seven rudderless and torn between hostility toward the late Cersei and suspicion of Dany and Jon, the Red Priests seemed to present a more united front and appeal to people of all classes. Many of them not so subtly suggested that the Faith of the Seven always carried the risk of another brutal terror such as imposed by the late High Sparrow and his Sparrows toward the end of King Tommen’s reign.

No Red Priest would attempt to tear down brothels or taverns, they could be sure of that. No Red Priest would gaol or execute people for fornication, buggery, or adultery, either. The Lord of Light was indifferent to such matters, completely tolerant of people’s vices or foibles. He wanted worship and he wanted the victory of Men over the Dead, of Light over Darkness. Most of all, he wanted to empower Azor Ahai, the Prince That Was Promised. This was strongly implied to be either Dany or Jon, and in any case, they were a package deal.

The spread of the Red God and his worship already increased greatly within the royal progress, with even Ser Jaime Lannister asking to speak with a Red Priest in his captivity when the chance occurred. The Lord of Light never had a better chance to create a foothold in Westeros as he had now. It was unlikely that the Faith of the Seven would be entirely displaced, of course, but it was about to lose a lot of its popularity with the elite of the new regime, if nothing else. Odds were that the smallfolk would mostly stick to the Faith of the Seven, at least for now, but losing the support of the rulers was a body blow for a fact.

“Now that we’re halfway through the Riverlands, perhaps your Uncle Edmure will join us soon with his own bannermen,” Dany observed, “okay, I know that he’s not technically your uncle, but you get my point.”

“That was the plan, was it not?” Jon Snow forced himself to smile and not think about those who had been burnt alive on his own commands for breaking the new cremation law.

“To that effect, you might be interested to see this,” Tyrion presented his King and Queen with the latest report on the Riverlands.

“All knights of the Riverlands who muster for the northward progress are to be granted a bride posthaste, and the ones who do so first will be given a choice as to said bride from among both the trueborn and bastard ladies of House Frey. That’s a handy way to resolve two thorny problems at once. And to get a lot of knights out of the Riverlands, out of mischief, toward the North where they can do some good. What happens when they run out of Frey girls?” Varys asked the most obvious question.

“Plenty of widows, you know. Some of them smallfolk who would love to wed even a hedge knight. And plenty of work for the septons and septas to keep them out of trouble,” Ser Jorah noted for his part.

“That’s true enough. That’s one way to climb socially, I guess. Your husband the miller is dead, but not to fear, your new husband is a hedge knight of the Trident, my dear!” Tyrion laughed as he tossed back more wine.

Missandei couldn’t help but laugh at that witticism, of course, “And busy septons and septas mean less trouble for us, of course.”

“That they do. That they do,” Tyrion agreed heartily, trying not to flirt with Missandei too much, as tempting as it might be.

“Oh, dear, what in the name of every God?” Varys reacted as he showed the newest missive to the King and Queen.

“EVERY MAGISTER of Pentos dead, except for Magister Illyrio Mopatis, who has signed a contract with the Golden Company and nullified the alliance with Volantis? Illyrio rules alone, aside from the Prince of Pentos, who merely reigns? That man is a cold, conniving opportunist, but at least he’s a clever one and a survivor, to be sure. What could kill off that many Magisters, and is this correct ... that he is hosting a great banquet in honor of the Sealord of Braavos and key officers of the Iron Bank?” Dany reacted now with considerable shock, having stayed at the manse of Magister Illyrio for a good while just before her marriage to Khal Drogo.