Chapter 319 Sphinx (Puzzle)
The mist of the Mead River became thicker, and the water vapor overflowed the river, climbed up to the street corner, and flooded the cracked bluestone floor. It covered the broken sewer pipes with a thick velvet coat, hanging low on Greco flying in the wind throughout the house. Flag of the Yi family.
The sea monsters that live in the ocean are showing off their power in the streets of Old Town. Just a few days ago, the ironborn could be seen almost everywhere.
But it seems that all the iron types have disappeared from the world at this moment. People can no longer see iron types patrolling the streets without any scruples.
Surprisingly, the residents of the old town were not robbed by the iron type. Although the shops were closed and the doors of the residences were closed, there was no harm done.
Civilians looked through the window lattice to observe the iron bandits who often patrolled the streets. At this time, there were only a few Old Town residents walking on the streets.
Some bold traders also opened their shop curtains, holding a few pieces of silver deer in their mouths, and wandering around the mercenary's chainmail with their hands. Others thought they were pickpockets.
But people who have lived here for a long time know that the price must not have been negotiated yet. If the mercenaries see the iron species entering the city and do not want to leave the city in time, they must be thinking about increasing the hiring fee.
The choking and pungent beacon smoke rises from a distance, and the residents of Old Town who live here can identify the direction of the beacon smoke at a glance.
That is the direction of the bachelor towers in the city.
Laresa took the longbow out of the closet and deftly removed the leather sheath wrapping the bow, revealing the longbow as dark as night.
Anyone who is familiar with bow and arrow making can tell at a glance that this is not an ordinary longbow, but is made of a rare keel. It weighs very little but has great string potential.
He put the keel bow behind his back, reached into the closet, dug out the box, and took out a slightly smaller recurve bow. The Dornish craftsmanship was clearly reflected on it. The bent horns were common in Dorne. The material is olive wood, and when you take it out of the box, the spear-piercing-the-sun badge with gold and red paint shines brightly.
"Crack!" The glass shattered in response. Laresa held her breath, strung her recurve bow, set three arrows on her, moved cautiously, and lowered her body close to the door.
The sound of shattering glass like bells was heard everywhere, but no screams could be heard. Could it be that the maesters were frightened out of their wits and their throats were blocked by the way?
Laresa leaned close to the door, retracted her body into the darkness behind the door, and stared at the nearby window.
Through the shining windows, there are still soldiers resisting on the walls of the inner city of the maester's towers, and the banners of the Hightower family are still in the majority. However, the heavy armor of the Oldtown garrison seems to be unable to withstand the flexible machetes of the iron marauders and the occasional attacks. The flying axes were coming from the darkness, and the flags were falling down one by one, like grass and trees trampled by the army of knights.
The black spots on the arrows were visible to the naked eye, and a handful of arrows even fell on the shed below the house, making a crackling sound.
Laresa did not hesitate, did not continue to stare out the window, glanced at the approaching dusk, and rushed out of the door alone, her hands and feet were nimble and silent, and her obsidian complexion made him like a black cat under the night. People can spy on its traces.
The spiral staircase turned the maester's tower upside down. Pots and pans were discarded everywhere, and the smell of old maester's urine filled the air.
Laresa was thinking about it in her mind as she walked, thinking that Hightower made a wise choice by building the castle and the maester's towers together. This made the army that invaded the old town reluctant to go further because of their scruples about tradition and maesters. Offending the inner city, the Ironborn initially stood still after occupying the port and the dotted streets of the old town. He thought the Ironborn understood the truth, but he didn't expect that just a few days later, they would be surrounded by a large army, with flying axes and hidden arrows. .
The arrogant old town garrison was defeated in the outer city. On the towering walls of the inner city, they looked up at the sky from time to time, always watching the changes in the clouds.
"Roar!~" The roar of the dragon only shocked the civilians on the ground in the distance, but the dragon flames were never seen coming down.
Laresa opened the movable wooden board at her feet and looked at the corridor that went deep into the tower. The long corridor was dripping with water. Few bachelors entered here. Although the doctors knew this place, they found it dirty and wet and rarely passed by. Only apprentices who continue to work as laborers often hang around here.
Assistant bachelors, bachelor's apprentices doing odd jobs, some cooks, and craftsmen renovating the city's garden library are gathered here at the moment.
The school city has built many such escape tunnels, leading directly to the great library. Normally, there are iron doors that are sealed, and the key is in the possession of the doctor. However, there is no doctor here at the moment. The iron doors are sealed all year round, and even if you exhaust your strength, you can't push them even half an inch.
Laresa glanced quickly, looking for familiar faces.
Morand, whose face is still red despite not drinking for a while, Aman, who has a narrow and pointed nose, his hands tightly holding the four bachelor's chains hanging around his neck, Rooney, who is short and fat, with tears in his eyes, and, Leo Tyrell was wrapped in a green and gold striped satin robe and was shivering with cold. The luxurious shawl he usually wore was missing.
"Where is Pate?" Laresa asked in a low voice as she distributed the rations in her pocket to everyone.
"Perhaps he should have escaped on the mercenary's ship." Leo Tyrell said angrily, pounding the ground hard as he spoke, "What's going on with the Hightowers? They didn't do their best to serve Highgarden at all." It is the king's duty to protect the land and the people, and my father has no trace of me."
Just as he was talking, this young man from a noble family who usually seemed arrogant and domineering suddenly started to tremble all over and started sobbing.
Laresa reached out and tore off a piece of the biscuit and stuffed it into Tyrell's sobbing mouth.
The sobs stopped immediately, and before Leo could put on his shocked face, Laresa's low voice came:
"This time I will give you a piece of cake, and the next time I will give you a blade. If your cry disturbs the cruel and ruthless Ironborn, even if we all become prisoners or lose our heads, I will twist your throat first."
Tyrell's facial makeup finally changed, but with more fear. He looked at the silent people around him and nodded quickly.
"Where is Pate?" Laresa asked again.
Morand looked more awake. He waved his hand and said, "I saw him walking towards the Great Library."
Laresa looked at the closed iron door, "The right way?"
"No," Morand shook his head, "it's the stack of escalators that the doctors walked on."
Laresa turned back to look at the corridor she had walked along before. The faint light seeped in from the side and above, and she calculated the distance in her mind.
He picked up his bow and stepped quickly, but still without making any sound. He held the escalator with both hands one after another and climbed up. He quietly pushed the wooden board aside, looked around with his eyes, and quickly stood up after checking that no one was there. He walked up. Come to the window and look towards the inner city wall.
He didn't know what was going on in the outer city, but he knew that Earl Hightower was not in his castle in the inner city at this moment, but in a towering tower or a port building in a port town.
The sergeants of the Old Town garrison were still desperately resisting the fierce attack of the Ironborn, and the walls of the inner city were already congested into a mess.
Laresa lowered her head. The oak-paneled iron city gate in the inner city was only supported by brackets. The moat, which had not been repaired for many years, was only a shoal. It was like walking on the ground for the extremely water-resistant iron. Dozens of old people The corpses of the town garrison were blocked there, and rows of spear soldiers from the garrison behind were constantly using the gaps to move their spears in and out. Blood spurted everywhere, and blood holes kept appearing on the iron type's body.
Laresa knew the man who took the lead in commanding the Oldtown garrison, Leo Tyrell's father, the commander of the Oldtown garrison - Maureen Tyrell, and the uncle of Mace, Duke of Highgarden.
He was obviously injured, with a long bloody streak on his back.
Laresa didn't care so much. She recognized that the Ironborn were still entangled with the Old Town Guards, got up and ran towards the Great Library.
He deliberately avoided the busy crowd and walked along the wall. Someone deliberately stopped him, but he threatened to retreat with a dagger.
Laresa tiptoed, climbed over the obstructive bookshelf and inkstone, grabbed the escalator, jumped up, pushed the rotating wooden shelf from the corner, and walked into the escalator corridor where doctors often walk.
The noise was left behind, as if he had walked into a silent cave alone, with only the throbbing of his own blood vessels and subtle breathing.
The structure at the top of the tower wraps countless bookshelves. Even on such a long rainy day, the place remains dry. Countless books and even unique collections are quietly placed somewhere here.
The Great Library, from the dome of the Doctor's Tower to the bottom.
Hidden here are banned books and orphans, and only doctors can enter.
The heavy iron door was open at this moment, Laresa held her breath and escaped inside.
A pool of blood, thick blood slowly flowing on the ground.
In front of a bookshelf, Dr. Wargrave lay on the ground, breathless.
Laresa reached out to take the bow, but the cold touch was close to the skin of her neck.
"No"
The voice was familiar yet unfamiliar, it was Pat's voice.
"Did you kill Dr. Wargrave?" Laresa knew she had no chance to stand up, so she had no choice but to ask, hoping to divert Pate's attention.
Pat just replied calmly: "He was unlucky and happened to be blocking the road."
"Who are you? You are not Pate."
"The unknown."
The Faceless Ones! Laresa suddenly had a premonition that something was not going to happen and immediately gave up all thoughts of counterattack.
"I won't stand in your way." Laresa said to Pate while steadying her breathing.
"Yes, someone knows," Pate let go of Laresa, the cold touch on his neck immediately dissipated, and the physical premonition of the stranger approaching finally ended, "I know you, and not only that, you will also help me. Road.”
"The Sphinx is the puzzle itself." Pate faced the bookshelf in the depths, and there was a bookshelf that was already in ashes.
Laresa followed his gaze and knew exactly what was in the ashes of the bookshelf, about Valyria, about dragons, about dragon eggs, about Targaryen, about blood magic
< br>
Knowledge is sometimes a sharp weapon and a treasure that everyone in the known world wants to obtain.
Pate looked at him and took out the dragon egg. The surface of this dragon egg was as dark as night.
"Use your spear to attack your shield," Pate murmured to himself. "It's been a long time since someone saw the ashes that spread across the sky and the fire that burned the mountain walls red like Hardhome."
< br>
"The Curse of Hardhome?" Laresa immediately thought of it, "No, you can't, this is a great city, you can't."
"Valyria Free Fortress, in a sense, is also a great city, no, a group of great cities." Pate's response was an understatement. In his eyes, death is not a source of fear, on the contrary, it is relief. the beginning of.
Valyria's natural disaster or man-made disaster? Larissa thought.
"The school city is a balance," Laresa organized her words. "Like Asshai, it lives in one west and one east respectively. If the Faceless One destroys it, it will lose its balance and its bottom line, the bottom line of magic, especially blood." The backbone of magic, the blood witches of Valyria, the blood witches who blaspheme death, will never end their exploration of this kind of magic."
Pat was silent for a long time.
"Who did you listen to?"
Laresa knew that lying would be full of loopholes, so she told the truth, but did not tell all the facts. He had a secret. He was a Sphinx, so of course he had a secret.
"Dr. Marwyn told it to me. He said it was the secret told to him by the weirwoods and the crows. It was the tacit understanding of the gods, the design of the known world."
Pat put down the heavy package on his shoulders and took out the complex instrument, which was filled with boiling liquid.
How did he get the wildfire? Larissa thought to herself.
"Is this the embarrassment that someone's predecessors felt when faced with life or death?" Pate said, "It's really," his expression became painful, and even shed tears, "it's really painful."
< br>
He took off the dragon egg, put it in the package, and handed it over.
"King's Landing, someone wants you to send this thing to King's Landing. If you can see the king, please meet him and tell him that all mortals are mortal (valarmorghulis), and give this thing to him." Pate took it from his waist. The next coin was thrust into Laresa's hand.
The sound of the iron race getting closer and closer, Pate looked at the half-opened iron door, "Since someone is here, he still needs to solve one thing. Even if he fails, you hope to keep your promise, let's go!"
Laresa didn't know what he was trying to solve, but she could tell that it was the killer's mission.
He nodded, put his package on his back, and followed the familiar route in his mind, leaving the large library located in the dome.
Laresa decided not to return to the secret passage, but chose to leave, leaving the building on the windowsill where it was not easy to be discovered.
"Boom!" The wall of the city gate collapsed in the distance, and the tentacles of the iron species surged in like sea monsters. Sea water gushed out from the sewer pipes. The Old Town garrison collapsed and died. Laresa saw Sir Maureen's head being injured by the iron species. Cut it off and hung it on the top of the city.
Laresa was worried about what would happen to the Citadel, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Hightower had lost everything, and it might even have been intentional. He couldn't do anything, and his father who was far away in Dorne couldn't do anything, and Prince Doran couldn't do it either. There is no way, this will not be able to help the school city side who only made empty promises to fulfill their promises.
The Greyjoy flag rushed in, and Larissa could see that it was not the standard Greyjoy flag, but Euron Greyjoy's, the flag he had planted on the Serenity.
He touched the dragon egg in the package and felt the protruding edges on its surface. At this moment, Old Town gathered all the conditions needed for blood magic, flesh and blood, dragon flames (even wildfire), sea monsters, glass candles, witches, and Hosts like Euron.
Once the ceremony is started, the tragedy of Hardhome and Valyria Free Fortress is really likely to happen again in the Citadel.
Even if the old town is destroyed, the academy must not.
(End of chapter)