Lundenhold – City outside Dreadfort
POV of Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion looked at Dreadfort. Or Lundenhold, the name given to the city outside Dreadfort. And he realized that this was different from any city he had ever seen before in his whole life.
Mostly because the city was so covered with trees that it seemed like a half forest itself.
And the trees were not just any trees either, but the Heartwood Trees that the Northerners liked to pray to so much.
There were thousands of these trees in the city. Their crimson foliage covered the roof of the city until many houses and establishments seemed to have been buried under these trees.
Considering that the Heart Tree was said to have the Old Gods reside inside them and even the Starks only have one of these trees in their Godswood, he could see this city getting the title of 'Holy City of the Old Gods' or something equally pretensions like that in the future.
However, that didn't take away the beauty of the city.
There was also the fact that there was no smell of shit or piss wafting in the city.
That was a huge accomplishment in itself considering how even Lannisport, the jewel of the Westerlands, has the constant smell of shit and piss coming from it. Even if the smell was not as intense and nauseating as it is in King's Landing.
Truly, he must talk with the architects who designed the sewers of this city and see what they did differently than the other cities to make it so… clean.
Yes. A clean city. The concept almost seemed foreign to him. But he supposed that it was just 'one of those things' that were different in the Bolton lands.
Ambassador Mance told him that Lord Bolton had built bathhouses for his people to bathe regularly and public toilets for them to defecate and urinate.
He even declared that shitting and pissing in open spaces was a punishable offense and some shopkeepers even refused to accept customers with bad odors and told them to go to the bathhouses first.
Taking all this into account, the cleanliness of the city and the people did not seem so surprising. It seemed that talking to the architects who had designed the city's sewers was not going to work on its own.
If someone wanted to make their city this clean, they would have to invest heavily and follow Lord Bolton's innovations.
"We're still in Westeros, aren't we?" he asked Mance who seemed perfectly comfortable with all this.
"We are. Though I could see why you would ask such a thing." Mance said with a soft smile. "This city. It's like something out of a dream, isn't it?"
He could only nod in silence as the sight of the 100 glass houses greeted him. 'More than 100 now' his mind informed him.
And to think that even the Starks only had two of these.
This just went to show the difference in wealth between House Bolton and any other House in the North.
In fact, he had a feeling that even his own father, Lord Tywin Lannister, who shits gold, would find this whole endeavor an unnecessary extravagance.
He did not even want to think about the giants he had seen working outside the Walls, helping the others dig a moat outside the City Wall of Lundenhold.
Considering that the city's walls were two and half times taller than Lannisport's walls and the walls were filled with scorpions and catapults, he doubted that anyone who wanted to take the city could reach it without losing 100 times as many of their own men as those defending its walls. Maybe even that wouldn't have been enough.
"I know I've asked this a few hundred times already." He spoke "But how the hell is Lord Bolton able to pay for all of… these?" He said, pointing his hand at everything.
Considering that Lord Bolton financed the construction of the whole city from his own purse, he was not wrong either.
"A question that has stumped many, including me. But Lord Bolton always remains tight-lipped about this matter." Mance replied. "Some people joke that like the Lannisters, Lord Bolton has also found a gold mine underneath his castle. But I've never seen any such thing in my time living here. So truly. I've just as much idea as you in this regard."
He didn't reply. He had heard this answer a few times before already.
Suddenly, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes and his head swiveled around to take a look at the small child-like figure darting around a Heart Tree.
And then that strange sight disappeared as the carriage moved on. "Was that…?" he turned to Mance who simply smiled at him.
Who would have thought that in one day he would see not only giants but also the Children of the Forest?
After everything he had seen since the beginning of the day, he was surprised that he could feel a little more excited instead of numb to everything.
"Lord Bolton warned his people not to interact with the Children of the Forest under threat of severe punishment. The Children of the Forest are an endangered magical species. And Lord Bolton had to go to great lengths to bring a few of them down the Wall. Some kids get curious every now and then but either the policemen or their own parents set them straight."
"Hmm… That would explain how the Children of the Forest were able to play around in the open without being accosted by everyone."
"Ash. The Child of the Forest that you saw. Her name is Ash. She and some of her friends were the ones who carved a face on the trees that you see around yourself."
"I see." He said, not knowing what else to say in this matter. So, he remained silent as the carriage drew closer to the well-fortified Dreadfort Castle that seemed to loom over every other building in the vicinity.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.125: One Last Experiment
Ch.126: Ritual