Game of Thrones: Lord of Winter

On the wide Kingsroad, the embers of war have not yet dissipated.

Silver hair hung down heavily, rain flowed down the cheeks, dripping on the black and gold leather collar.

The rain in the south gradually took on the flavor of winter. Although the cold rain was soft, the gloomy sky and cold wind made people feel depressed.

"Sir, should we take a break?" Jose rode beside him and asked him. Because of his serious injury, Duran could only follow Dorne's team.

Braving the cold rain and soaking the coldness of the clothes, the brothers felt very uncomfortable.

They passed several villages and an inn, but Cole did not order a rest, but rode silently and hurriedly, and they could only follow.

"Hold on, we will soon reach the Royal Forest. We will rest there."

They could only watch the inn go away from them again.

The Kingsroad was full of people, some were fleeing with their families, some were hired riders and wandering knights, and there were caravans coming and going.

They saw the fully armed, column-like people and horses galloping, and they all retreated.

The horses' hooves stirred up the mud on the road. There were only ten of them on this trip.

When saying goodbye to King's Landing, Tommen led a group of nobles in the capital to personally escort them out of the King's Gate, and gave him gifts as a guest.

Dorne would stay in King's Landing for a few more days, so Cole entrusted the servants and wounded brought from Dragonstone to his uncle Martell, and then led ten riders to Storm's End quickly.

The reason he refused to stop and rest was that he was worried that Lannister might have prepared some special gifts for him.

The Royal Forest was right in front of him, and the rainy night was about to fall.

It was difficult to find people in the Royal Forest. Although there were many civilians living here, because of the migration of the mountain clan tribesmen and the war, many civilians either hid in the deep forests where few people went, or had already left here.

But finding a shelter, even if it was abandoned, would make them breathe a sigh of relief.

They split off from the fork of the Kingsway and entered the road leading directly to Storm's End.

This road was much more difficult to walk on. It was easy to slip on the muddy road on rainy days. The Wend River had many tributaries and streams here. They had to ride horses across many rivers. If the water level rose, they would even have to take a detour.

Cole stopped the reins and said to the soldiers, "Stop, we will rest here tonight."

There was an abandoned camp here, which should have been set up by Renly's army when they were marching.

They used the abandoned wooden boards and frames in the camp to barely build a shelter, and then lit a fire.

"Westor, Aggie." Cole called five names in a row, "You five will be responsible for the first half of the night, and we will take care of the second half of the night."

Cole hugged Winter Night and closed his eyes in meditation.

Caesar sent him the picture of Dragonstone, which was now occupied by the Golden Group, and the golden flag was hung above the castle.

At first, he thought it was an attack by the Ironborn and Dothraki, but Cole remembered that the flag of the Greyjoy family should be the flag of the sea monster.

When he arrived at King's Landing, he specifically asked Tyrion and Prince Oberyn, and then he learned that the army that attacked Dragonstone was the Golden Company.

When Prince Red Viper was young, he had been a mercenary for a period of time on the continent of Essos and joined a mercenary war group called "Second Sons". After leaving this mercenary group, he also founded a mercenary group by himself.

He knew about the most famous mercenary group on the other side of the narrow sea.

Cole didn't know who hired the Golden Company, or whether the remnants of the Blackfyre also wanted to take advantage of the chaos.

He, Cole Julius, owed the Baratheon family a life after all, regardless of whether he would continue to live with this identity in the future.

Caesar saw the situation of Dragonstone clearly in the sky, and then Cole began to formulate a rescue plan.

He ordered Camillo, who was stationed at Storm's End, to lead the army to Dragonstone quickly, and at the same time send the rescue message to the castle through ravens. With the white dragon coordinating in the sky, both sides could quickly grasp their respective movements.

After Camillo led the fleet into the waters of Dragonstone, Caesar threw a map with the retreat route marked into the castle. He chose the route with the weakest defense of the Golden Corps for the people in the castle to break out.

Afterwards, the white dragon appeared in person to harass the east coast where the Golden Corps' troops were most densely distributed.

This was his entire plan. Fortunately, everything was going as he expected.

However, it was expected that the news of the white dragon would spread soon.

Caesar had the ability to fight independently and did not need knights at all.

Cole would naturally not expose his relationship with him.

As for what others speculated, let them guess.

Losing Dragonstone was not a bad thing for them. At least their defense focus could be shifted to Storm's End and Stormlands.

The only difficult thing at the moment was Stannis and his problem.

From a family perspective, he and Stannis are enemies because he and his brother seized the Targaryen throne in the War of the Usurper, although he was only fighting the siege in Storm's End and the soldiers in the Reach.

Cole has to make a choice about his identity, either be his Cole Julius, continue to be loyal to Stannis, seize the throne for him, and then marry his daughter, Shireen Baratheon. As long as Stannis does not give birth to a male heir, he will still be the one sitting on the Iron Throne in the future.

Or he betrayed Stannis, seized the power of Storm's End, and presented himself as Aegon Targaryen, and then seized the Iron Throne with the help of dragons and Dorne.

Enemies, benefactors.

He fell into thought. He had never even met his so-called mother and father, and a lot of bloody events were just the troubles caused by his blood father, Rhaegar.

Although the minstrels liked to praise Prince Rhaegar, his romance and bravery, Cole did not think that this blood father was an honorable man in his heart. At least, Cole felt that he was too disgraceful to abandon his wife and children.

Perhaps he, an orphan who grew up on the Wall, could not understand the melancholy dragon prince.

He could decisively swing his sword against the enemies of the Targaryen family, just like killing the Mountain, which would make him feel happy.

But facing the Baratheons of Dragonstone, he could not regard them as his enemies.

Perhaps at the beginning, he integrated into this solemn group with an unfavorable perspective.

But before he knew it, this place became the place where he stayed the longest in Westeros except for the Wall, although he was still running around.

Stannis was indeed not suitable to be a king, but he never owed himself anything.