Gendry came to the council table and had someone open a map of King's Landing. The entire city had been drawn by a maester, every street and landmark rendered vividly.
The most striking features of King's Landing were still the buildings atop its three hills: the Red Keep on Aegon's Hill, the Great Sept of Baelor on Visenya's Hill, and the Dragonpit on Rhaenys's Hill.
Rome in another world was the city of seven hills, while King's Landing in this world could be called the city of three hills, with a seaside position somewhat like Constantinople.
"My master, Tobho Mott," Gendry said, looking to Lord Roose Bolton.
"Master Tobho's residence is very easy to recognize. It stands on the top of Visenya's Hill, a huge house of timber and plaster, high enough to overlook the narrow alleys below. But Master Tobho handed his smithy over to his assistant and went traveling with a young serving girl. It was probably after Lord Eddard visited him that Tobho decided he did not want to be caught up in the Storm over King's Landing," Lord Roose answered at once, with perfect clarity.
"That is fine. It seems he does not wish to see me." Gendry nodded.
Gendry remembered the gates of his master's house. The man truly did have many mysteries about him. Gendry had lived in the smithy for a long time, yet had never seen through him. The two great doors of the house were made of ebony and weirwood, carved with a hunting scene. A pair of stone knights guarded the entrance, wearing wildly imaginative red steel armor in the shapes of a griffin and a unicorn. Black wood and white doors were also one of the marks of the Faceless Men.
So be it. Life was nothing but rises and falls. When they met again, who knew whether it would be as friend or enemy? If he truly had something to do with the Faceless Men, there would still be plenty of ways to deal with him.
Gendry set the matter aside for now and pointed his long finger toward the Dragonpit. "Although the Dragonpit has been abandoned, the basic frame is still there. The dome collapsed inward, and what remains is a charred ruin."
Great Lord Stannis Baratheon nodded. "So it would not be building from flat ground. That will reduce the manpower somewhat."
"How does the Prince intend to build the complex inside?" Great Lord Mace Tyrell asked.
"I plan to use the Dragonpit as the foundation. First, we will repair a small convalescent home for wounded soldiers. After that, a Hall of Honor dedicated to warriors, where the armor of those who died for the realm and showed the spirit of knighthood can be enshrined. There should also be a plaza for people to rest, and a central courtyard," Gendry said.
"As you command!"
"Prince Gendry, Lord Mace, seven is a sacred name and a sacred number. The Great Sept of Baelor has seven buildings. I think this King's Landing Veterans' Home should also try to make seven," Lord Randyll Tarly suggested.
"We will follow your suggestion." Gendry nodded. The buildings of King's Landing were indeed almost obsessive about making things add up to seven: buildings, the Small Council, even the main gate.
"I will organize men quickly and survey the Dragonpit on site," Lord Randyll Tarly said.
"Wait for me. I will go with you," Gendry said, looking at Randyll. Leading from the front was his style.
"And the hydrology of King's Landing. The Blackwater Rush is swift and deep as it flows into the sea, but even so, first find out whether there are any suitable anchor points for building a floating bridge."
"The section along the Blackwater Rush is probably unsuitable. The current is too fast," Great Lord Stannis said. "Farther upstream, where the river narrows, there may be some possible sites. I will send the best fishermen to survey it."
"Let us wait until the wreckage and wildfire on the river are gone. It is not especially urgent."
Great Lord Stannis nodded.
"As for the siege of King's Landing, though we won a great victory and the Lannisters were defeated," Gendry said, "there are still some lessons about the city itself that deserve our attention."
The lords and ministers held their breath, listening to Gendry's explanation.
"First is public order in King's Landing. Flea Bottom, its winding crooked streets, and the alleys so narrow two people cannot walk side by side are natural breeding grounds for riots. Second is sanitation. King's Landing has always stunk, and during our siege, bloody flux spread through the poor quarters around Stinking Bay." Gendry pointed toward Flea Bottom, where Stinking Bay was one of its streets.
"The people of King's Landing are indeed extraordinary," Roose said with deep feeling. The people of King's Landing were very good at turning outward rather than inward. "Once famine comes, or even a rumor, they rise in mobs."
"Tearing down Flea Bottom and those alleys would help prevent future riots. After all, every time the mob rises, they use Flea Bottom as their stronghold. As for sanitation, sewers, public toilets, and habits are all necessary."
"The people of King's Landing have all sorts of flaws, but the kings have never interfered much. The people of Flea Bottom are violent and quick to anger. Precisely because of that, we must be cautious with the people of King's Landing and their customs," the good-natured Selwyn Tarth said. "After all, even the Conciliator did not dare simply flatten Flea Bottom, nor did he change the basic facilities and sanitary habits of King's Landing."
"In my view, winter is almost here, so killing off another batch should not be much of a problem. With so many troops gathered around King's Landing, flattening Flea Bottom and Hook Alley would be easy. Some rioters are a waste of grain while alive. King's Landing is a great city of five or six hundred thousand people. With fewer vermin, there would be less pressure..." Lord Roose Bolton suggested.
"Lord Roose, are you trying to have us all branded bloodthirsty?" Great Lord Stannis said. "You can return to The North, but we must hold King's Landing."
Lord Roose smiled faintly and said no more. Northerners truly did not have experience governing a city this large. They thought in terms of small, sparsely populated lordships.
"Lord Selwyn is right. This is wartime, and it is not suitable for us to make sweeping changes. We could easily provoke new riots," Yohn Royce said with a nod.
"Indeed. That is why I believe we should proceed step by step, not begin everything at once and create too much pressure. But Flea Bottom and the terrible sanitation of King's Landing must be watched closely. You all understand how dreadful plague can be."
Mace nodded with relief. Though they had a great army, if they forcibly demolished Flea Bottom and built toilets across King's Landing, they really would be throwing themselves into a fight with the people of the city.
"As for order in King's Landing, given that the Gold Cloaks have scattered and fled, before the City Watch is reorganized, Lord Boggs, Lothor, and Lord Roose will lead soldiers to manage the city. In addition, your task is not only to maintain order in King's Landing, but also to find traces of the traitor Varys. I want him alive, but dead will do."
"Boggs... Lothor awaits your command."
"Roose awaits your command."
"As for matters in the Red Keep, since the former chief steward of the Red Keep and some of the attendants were involved in Cersei's adultery and the murder of the late King, I have decided that Lord Selwyn will temporarily investigate the matter, while Lady Scarlet and Septa Rhaelle assist with management. Do any of you object?" Gendry asked.
The hooded Lady Scarlet was Melisandre, and the other, Septa Rhaelle, was Tyene Sand.
The Red Keep was the King's household affair, so the other ministers had no objections to make. Still, Mace could not help feeling that something was odd about the two beautiful women under those hoods.
Once the affairs of state had been discussed, everyone withdrew.
"Do you know that Lady Scarlet and Septa Rhaelle?" Mace quietly asked his son Garlan. "They seem new."
"I suspect one is the red witch by Great Lord Stannis's side. I do not know the other," Garlan said softly.
"Has that woman stopped preaching? Has she changed trades to warming the future king's bed?" Mace almost laughed aloud.
"If the rumors from Qarth are not wrong, we had better bring our sister here as soon as possible. There is no shortage of pretty girls here," Garlan said.
...
Half an hour later, escorted by one hundred guards wearing golden cloaks and twin-horned helms, along with guards from Crackclaw Point and elsewhere, Gendry rode out of the Red Keep and through the gate.
Beside Gendry were his attendants, as well as Lord Randyll Tarly, who was accompanying him to inspect the Dragonpit. Bronze Yohn had specifically told his second son to follow them, since their ancestral sword had been lost in King's Landing years ago.
Looking back, the Red Keep was a fortified complex in its own right. Seven huge drum towers protected by ironwork, a massive and cold-looking keep, domed halls and enclosed bridges, barracks, dungeons, granaries, and thick curtain walls studded with arrow slits, all built of pale red stone.
"Clatter, clatter!"
The knights rode toward the Dragonpit. King's Landing had not yet recovered from the endless war and riots, though it had gained a little more life.
They rode on, golden battle banners fluttering and drawing the eye. The marble walls of the Great Sept of Baelor encircled the summit of Visenya's Hill, with seven crystal towers rising within.
When Gendry reached Rhaenys's Hill at the far side of the Great Sept, he saw the charred broken walls of the Dragonpit, the collapsed ruins of its enormous dome, and the bronze gates that had been sealed shut for a century.
"We can enter through the side gate!"