Ordinary cats live barely a little more than ten years, yet no one knew how long the one-eared black cat had lived. Some of the aging Red Keep guards even called it "the old immortal."
They had seen it as far back as the days of Aerys.
By human years, the black cat was at least 120, yet it still leaped across rooftops with ease, swift as the wind.
Some joked that it was "the true king of the castle," for it moved as it pleased, unhindered and utterly free.
Once, when Robert hosted a feast for Duke Tywin, the black cat leapt straight onto the dining table and snatched a roasted quail right out of Tywin's hand.
Jumping onto the king's dining table, bullying Tommen's little pets, frightening handmaidens in the middle of the night—there were countless such episodes caused by the one-eared black cat.
But aside from that brief moment when Arya, during her training as a water dancer, once caught it, no one had ever managed to deal with it.
This year, Arya returned from her training. Nearing the Red Keep, she encountered her old friend once again.
This time, with a single thought, she "caught" it.
Easily, Arya returned to the Red Keep. When Eddard was Hand of the King, she had lived with him in the Tower of the Hand. With long-lost familiarity, she found the Queen Mother's chambers.
When she extended her poison-tipped claws and prepared to leap, intending to send Cersei on her final journey, a pair of dark pupils, gleaming with extreme malice, stared straight at her.
She had been discovered.
She saw him.
The consort of the Queen Regent, Euron Greyjoy.
She saw him staring at her with a cold, mocking grin.
She felt a terror so deep it shook her soul rising from his eyes.
She recoiled in fright.
Then she saw his gaze shift. The icy killing intent and biting mockery faded, replaced by something far more inscrutable.
"Get out. This is the Queen's bedchamber!" he barked at her. Then he turned to Cersei beside him and said, "It's the one-eared black cat that always bullies Tommen's little pets. It usually wanders to the king's chambers on the east side, but it seems to have taken a wrong turn today and entered our room."
"Perhaps I should tie a pair of anti–Faceless Man hounds by the hearth. At least they might chase off this annoying black cat," Queen Cersei muttered casually. She glanced at the cat, then ignored it and continued removing her makeup in front of the mirror.
Euron must have seen through my shapeshifter identity just as the Dragon Queen did. And he… he seemed capable of injuring me. Why did he let me go?
Filled with confusion, the one-eared black cat slipped out the window.
Then Arya remembered Euron's words. Tommen was in the east wing.
Cersei. Meryn Trant. Ilyn Payne. Sweetling Raff.
"Meow—"
The cat's cry was filled with a chilling murderous intent.
Because within the cat's soul, a death list was being whispered.
She went to Tommen's bedchamber. Standing on the balcony, she saw Tommen sleeping soundly inside. Outside his door stood Ser Meryn Trant.
Meryn Trant was fully armed, his gaze sharp, and two dogs sat beside him.
Four more guards in red cloaks and lion-helmed armor patrolled the hallway.
The one-eared black cat studied Meryn for a long moment, then gave a light jump and landed silently inside Tommen's room.
Before practicing the Death God's Scripture, Arya would have hesitated, torn between mercy and cruelty. Now, she felt almost nothing.
When the heart is clear as ice, even the sky collapsing brings no fear, let alone the death of an enemy's child.
She did not bite him. Instead, she slipped her purple-black claws into Tommen's mouth. The chubby Tommen even stuck out his little tongue and licked her.
"Meow—" Watching Tommen's rosy cheeks gradually lose the color of life, the black cat's mouth stretched open, as if smiling.
This was only the beginning.
With Tommen dead, Meryn Trant, who was responsible for his protection, was thrown into the dungeons by an enraged Cersei.
That night, Arya appeared before Ser Meryn Trant in another face while he wore prison rags.
She tossed down two bronze keys, unlocked his shackles, returned his knight's sword to him, and said, "I am a disciple of Syrio Forel, the water dancer. I have come to duel you."
Syrio had once been the First Sword of Braavos and had died to Meryn's blade.
It was not because Syrio's skill was lacking. He had been teaching Arya at the time and had only a wooden practice sword, while Meryn wore a full set of white-knight steel armor.
Even so, Syrio, with only a wooden sword, fought many gold cloaks at once, killed several, and struck Meryn countless times, driving him back repeatedly. But a wooden sword could not pierce armor. The gold cloaks wore no full armor, so Syrio struck their throats and faces and felled them. Meryn was untouched.
Afterward, Meryn landed a single blow. A swordmaster whose skill rivaled that of Ser Arthur Dayne died in humiliation.
Tonight, Arya avenged her teacher. In a flash, she thrust Needle—Jon's gift—into Meryn's heart. The white knight did not even draw his sword.
Fighting unarmored against a water dancer with high agility was overwhelmingly disadvantageous.
Syrio had crushed Meryn in swordsmanship even back then. Arya had long since surpassed her master.
The she-wolf then replaced Meryn's shackles, drew a dagger from her belt, and slid it into the wound on his chest.
Not long after, a rumor spread from within the Red Keep: Ser Meryn Trant had "taken his own life" in shame for failing to protect the king.
Arya, encouraged by her success, prepared to kill Cersei next.
She did not fear Euron. As long as she was not in her shapeshifted animal form, she feared no one, not even the Dragon Queen herself. The Death God's Scripture had transformed both her strength and her mindset.
Then Arya slammed headfirst into an iron wall.
Tommen's body was placed in the Great Sept of Baelor. Cersei wore a sorrowful expression and stayed by the coffin all night.
As an additional note, the High Sparrow had not refused to treat Tommen, nor had he refused to grant him the rites due to a king. It was simply that the High Sparrow himself had presided over Tommen's coronation.
Near midnight, King's Landing sank into its deepest darkness.
Inside the Great Sept, only a few dying candles burned quietly on the altar.
Beneath the statue of the Stranger, Archbishop Matthew led several septas in chanting the Book of the Stranger, praying the Stranger would show mercy to the young King Tommen.
The vast hall was empty and still. The scattered candlelight was not enough to drive away all the shadows.
The one-eyed black cat moved through the darkness beyond the candlelight, its steps light and soundless, already drawing close to Cersei beside the coffin.
"You wicked creature, how dare you!" Archbishop Matthew suddenly turned his head. Brilliant golden light flashed in his eyes, and the vast, shadowy Great Sept rumbled like thunder as a burst of white light filled the space.
"Meow—oww!"The black cat reacted as though struck by lightning. Its black fur stood on end, its body spasmed, and it stumbled backward.
In that instant, Arya inside the cat felt an immense and overwhelming sacred pressure descend upon her, like a sky-covering hand slamming down. The oppressive force even surpassed what she had encountered when facing the Dragon Queen at the Trident. Back then, Big Black had only just learned magic, and his realm was far below what it was now.
A heartbeat later, her soul shattered, and she was forced out of the cat-spirit state.
"Cough… cough…"In a small inn on Iron Street, Arya, who had been sitting cross-legged on the bed in meditation, suddenly felt as if she had been struck in the face by a club. She fell backward, pain piercing through her seven orifices, and blood welled up in her throat.
In an instant, her once-ruddy, rough face turned waxy and pale.
She had suffered a devastating blow and, dazed and overwhelmed, fainted.
At the same moment, in the Great Sept of Baelor—
Cersei looked around blankly and asked in confusion, "What just happened?"
"That cat…" Archbishop Matthew also seemed bewildered. He hesitated before saying, "I sensed an evil consciousness entering the Sept. I thought it was some sort of demon."
He had assumed it was the Mountain or Euron sneaking inside.
Well, the people of the Seven Kingdoms all knew by now that Euron practiced blood magic and dark sacrifice, and that he was an evil sorcerer.
"…I did not expect it to be only a cat."
Archbishop Matthew looked conflicted. When he sensed an evil gaze drawing near, he instinctively used a "Holy Judgment."
Borrowing Big Black's "Warrior's Soul," he unleashed a divine, dragon-shout-like spell.
This ability was never meant for skinchangers. It was mainly designed to help believers exorcise demons.
At first, Daenerys only granted the High Sparrow and other saints the Holy Healing skill. Soon after, Holy Light was derived from Holy Healing. But later, whenever the High Sparrow encountered difficulties, he would pray to the Mother for guidance and assistance.
If it was something she could handle, Daenerys created a divine spell for him to use, and he paid for its use as usual. If she could not handle it, Daenerys simply ignored him, and he was tactful enough not to disturb the Mother further.
For example, the High Sparrow once asked the Mother:"The Seven Kingdoms are short on grain. Is there a divine spell that can make rice bear grain even in winter?"The Mother could not be bothered to respond.
In short, priests also counted as extraordinary individuals. After Big Black usurped the position of the Seven Gods, their priests were no longer mocked as "fake" transcendents.
If a priest of the Seven were to attend a transcendents' gathering now, they would certainly not be turned away.
In fact, anyone granted divine spells by the Seven counted as a high-ranking devout believer—among transcendents, they were all heavyweights.
Even the High Priest of the Black Goat served as one of the Three Great Leaders in Volantis. Now that Big Black was ten times stronger than the Black Goat of Qohor, why should his own high priest not also count as a major figure?
This was also why Euron felt at ease letting Cersei spend the night in the Sept.
Well, they were both novice "heavyweights." Despite killing the powerful Arya in a single instant, they had no idea what had actually happened.
"Seven above, Sister Daphne is dead!"
Just as Matthew and Cersei stood in awkward silence, startled cries from monks and nuns sounded outside the Sept.
Arya had taken a severe blow and been forced out of the cat-spirit state. The one-eared black cat shot out of the Sept in a panic. The monks and nuns rushed to block it.
And then tragedy struck: a nun named Daphne was scratched on the arm. Within three minutes, she collapsed and died.
"Ah! There is poison on the cat's claws. This poison…" Archbishop Matthew's expression changed drastically.
Cersei quickly moved closer and looked down at the three faint purple scratches on the nun's right arm, then at her swollen, bluish-gray face.
It was exactly the same as Tommen's appearance in his coffin inside the Sept.
"Tyrion…"Cersei's beautiful face twisted into a demonic mask. Gritting her teeth, she hissed, "The one-eared black cat killed Tommen and now wants to kill me! That dwarf—such a vicious heart!"
"Why Tyrion?" Archbishop Matthew asked, puzzled.
"Who else could be so cruel and hate me so much? That little circus monster must have learned how to control cats and dogs from that whore-queen of Slaver's Bay!" Cersei said venomously."The whore-queen can control dragons. Isn't it perfectly reasonable for the little monster to control cats and dogs?"
Well, one could hardly blame these two muggles for their ignorance.
Even the Stark family, who had already become wolf spirits, resisted their instinctive connection with their wolves because of their limited knowledge.
If even the Starks of the North misunderstood skinchangers, how could the Andals south of the Neck possibly understand?
When Cersei insulted Saint Daenerys as a "whore-queen," Archbishop Matthew became displeased. He reprimanded her sternly, "Your Grace, this is the Sept. Do not insult the Holy Child of the Seven!"
Saint Daenerys and Saint Sparrow were both recognized by the Mother as Holy Children of the Seven—similar to righteous saints in Christianity.
"That woman violated her sacred oath! She swore not to provoke civil war in the Seven Kingdoms, yet she let a fraud pretend to be Rhaegar's son.
"She even ordered Tyrion to murder my son! Someone who breaks their oath like that—why shouldn't she be cursed?" Cersei screamed hysterically through her tears.
Grieving her son, ambushed by a strange and terrifying assassination attempt, she desperately needed to vent the pressure and hatred festering in her heart.
Unfortunately, poor Archbishop Matthew became her target.
And innocent Daenerys suffered collateral damage.
As for the black cat Balerion—there is not the slightest exaggeration in this book. I strongly suspect that in the sixth volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, Tommen will die exactly as described here: at Arya's hands, under Balerion's claws.
Balerion and Arya are old acquaintances. The earlier chapters have laid extensive groundwork, and Martin is unlikely to write contrary to that. Moreover, back in Braavos, Arya was already able to enter the bodies of alley cats and observe nighttime Braavos through cat-spirit form.
(End of chapter)
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