Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

Lightning pierced the sky over Storm's End, and the dark sky highlighted the heaviness of this castle, one of the strongest in the Seven Kingdoms. The thick outer city wall and the stones are so compact that not even a breath of wind can get in. The castle itself is a huge tower with strong battlements on top, like a giant spiked fist rising into the sky.

Legend has it that spells are woven into the stone of the city walls. The mighty fortress stood for centuries, and the harsh weather of Shipwreck Cove could not shake it. In its long history it has never been conquered or destroyed by storm.

Here you can even hear the raging waves of Shipbreaker Bay crashing on the stone cliffs, washing away the foundation stones under the solid cliff where the castle is located.

A few heartbeats later, thunder sounded, like the beat of a drum in the distance.

A huge brazier was placed in the lord's room. It was daytime, and the light was dark because of the heavy wind and rain. Stannis was sitting alone in the lord's chamber in the unlit tower, the coals in the brazier being the brightest source of light.

He looked very tired, with dark circles under his eyes, sunken eyes, unshaven beard, and a thin appearance, and the shape of his head could even be seen under his face.

He held the reply letter sent from Dragonstone Island in his hand. He wanted to throw the letter into the brazier several times, but never did so. He only held the letter tightly in his hand and looked out the window at the hazy storm land in the wind and rain.

During Robert's Rebellion, Stannis was responsible for the defense of Storm's End. After a year-long siege, he refused to surrender and his men had to start eating rats. Davos Seaworth, who was still a smuggler at the time, escaped. After crossing the sea blockade and sending supplies, the defenders finally survived the siege. That was the most difficult moment in his life. That victory was also his proudest.

After Robert became king, Stannis was supposed to become the lord of Storm's End, but Robert handed it over to Renly and drove him to the impoverished Dragonstone Island.

Robert was never a good king, and he was never a respectable brother. Stannis felt that he had no feelings for him. What the King of Dragonstone said in his letter may not be what he had always thought but could not summarize in writing.

It's just that the national law gives him responsibility. Responsibility, is that true?

He tried to put aside his inner doubts and think about the current situation.

There are five kings in the country, and the other three are richer and have more troops than him, especially Lannister and Tyrell.

But to the legitimate king and the many false kings, the biggest threat is undoubtedly the last one. That king is said to have fewer troops than Stannis. But there are dragons.

Stannis's responsibility...legitimacy has become elusive after the arrival of King Targaryen from Dragonstone, and his letter exacerbates Stannis's uneasiness.

The Targaryen's pen was sharper than the sword of the battlefield, and he was plunged into deep self-doubt.

People often say that all justice and justice in the world come from God, but all the justice and justice Stannis saw were all done by human beings.

Stannis asked himself, this is a good king, at least that is how he behaves and writes the letter so far, Stannis knows that he will never be the good king described in his letter.

Maybe, he should

He quickly put that thought away and continued to stare at the stormy land outside the house in the wind and rain.

The princes and the people will not love him, they never will.

In this case, it doesn't matter whether they are good or not, and it doesn't matter whether they love him or not. They have the obligation to dedicate their lives to the king and put the legitimate king on the throne. Is he still the legitimate king?

His attendant, Byran Fallin, announced at the top of the stairs: "Andrew Ismond wishes to see His Majesty."

Stannis said tiredly: "No, I don't see anyone. The Prime Minister's signature is with him. Let him make his own decision on anything."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The attendant responded and left.

The room fell silent again, except for the constant sounds of wind, rain and distant thunder.

Since Earl Allister was imprisoned, the only thing the king did was to take back the bachelor's power to send letters to outsiders, and ignored the rest.

There was no king to make the decision, and the prime minister was imprisoned. So Andrew Ismond, the only one who went to dissuade him at that time, was elected as acting prime minister. The prime minister's seal was sent from Earl Allister's room to the king's cousin. The king had no objection. , so the matter was decided hastily.

And the interior of a team that is about to break up is always the most chaotic.

There were two parties around Stannis before, one was the queen party, who followed Queen Selyse to convert to R'hllor, and the other was the royal party. These people were disgusted with Melisandre's foreign beliefs, aggressive policies and mysterious power. He did not follow Selyse and her followers to convert to R'hllor.

Now in Storm's End, it stands to reason that the Florentine family is mostly a rear party. They have a large army and a large number of people. The rear party is far more powerful than the royal party. But the three central figures of the party, Queen Selyse and Axel, were on Dragonstone Island, and the only one, Lord Allister, was imprisoned at Storm's End, leaving the group without a leader.

And once something happens to Earl Allister, the Florentine army will immediately turn its back on Stannis.

Stannis' decision to imprison Lord Allister out of anger now puts him in the same situation as Robb Stark faced with the Karstark family.

After Robb executed Count Karstark, Karstark's army left Robb directly, and the Northern Army was directly reduced by half. As a result, the Northern Army, which Robb could best guarantee his loyalty, only had more than 4,000 troops left when he went north, while Lu After Bolton sent away six to seven thousand soldiers loyal to Stark through formation on the eastern front, Robb's royal career was doomed to fail.

Now that Lord Alister is executed, Stannis will undoubtedly face the same thing. So even though Alister has been in prison for some time, no one dares to judge on behalf of the king. As for the Queen's party, even Melisandre can hardly burn down the Seven Sacred Sept, let alone an earl.

Except for Florent, the original Queen's party was mostly composed of lords of the Narrow Sea. They did not really believe in the Red God, but more because the number of lords of the Narrow Sea was relatively small and they needed to stick together.

Originally, Sir Justin of the Marseilles was trusted by the king. He was expected to become the new leader of the Queen's party, but the lords of the Narrow Sea are now under the rule of King Targaryen of Dragonstone. Now the lords of the Narrow Sea who are dragged to Storm's End are in an awkward situation, making this group of people, such as Justin, Bar Emmon, Triston and other nobles and knights from the Narrow Sea, a new branch of the Queen's party, suspected by everyone else.

Now there are many knights in Storm's End who would rather play badly than fight. They are still loyal to the king, but they have no hope for the king to obtain the Iron Throne. They just spend their time doing nothing.

Even the most optimistic knights under Stannis are defeatists. They are just waiting for the king to make a decision to execute, and are unwilling to betray their oath of allegiance.

The only one who can directly meet the king now is the red-robed woman Melisandre.

But now Melisandre can't arouse the king's fighting spirit, because even if she predicts that other false kings will be punished by the Lord of Light, she can't help him see the fate of the king and the dragon of Dragonstone.

Once, more than half of Stannis's knights didn't even dare to pronounce her name. She could act as a witch who spread panic and majesty for the king just by standing beside the king. But when people heard that there were dragons on Dragonstone, this panic was diluted by another panic.

No one wants to stand on the losing side.

Even Stannis himself knows that he has nothing. The king of Dragonstone is waiting, and the longer he waits, the stronger he will be. The Lannisters have the gold of Casterly Rock and are married to the wealthy Highgarden.

What Stannis is doing now is nothing more than waiting for the army of Dragonstone or King's Landing to attack. He wants to die in battle rather than surrender. He wants to be the "last Baratheon".

But neither King's Landing nor Dragonstone intends to attack him. Tyrell retreats to King's Landing, and the king of Dragonstone advises him to govern the country well and be a good king as mentioned in the letter.

And he knows that he can't organize an active attack now.

Stannis is dragging it on now, doing nothing, and even doesn't want to continue to reply to the king of Dragonstone. He knows that he is not a person who can argue with reason, and the king of Dragonstone is obviously much better than him in this regard. He will not surrender, but he will not humiliate himself.

Lightning flashed outside, and the blue and white light flashed alternately for a moment.

Stannis saw the crowned stag and the flaming red heart flag in the room, and felt a little sad.

One, two, three, four, the king counted silently in boredom, and then thunder came.

The servant reported from the stairs again: "Your Majesty, Maester Juna has sent a new letter."

Stannis ordered: "Bring it in."

When the servant brought the letter to the king and wanted to light the light in the room, Stannis stopped him with his hand: "No need to light the light, it's daytime now, I can see it."

The servant left silently.

There was more than one letter, Stannis opened the letter and looked closely.

This was actually a letter from Brightwater.

The letter said that the Tyrell army in Brightwater seemed to have stopped its plan to attack and stagnated in Highgarden. The trade route from Brightwater to Oldtown was also unblocked. The ransom and supplies prepared by the king before were disguised as a caravan and went by sea. After leaving Oldtown Port, they were detained by Redwyne's fleet. It was not until recently that there was news that they were on the road again, but there was still a long way to go to reach Storm's End.

The second letter came from Lannisport.

The letter was sent back by a spy sent to Lannisport at the beginning of the war. It said that King Balon of the Iron Islands fell to his death. It was said that Pike was choosing a king and there was chaos.

The letter from the spy in Lannisport said that Stannis of the Iron Islands estimated that when he read the news, he was afraid that a new fake king had picked up the crown.

The third letter was even more outrageous. It was from King's Landing.

It was a secret letter from a king who did not want to reveal his name. The letter told Stannis about the current situation of King's Landing. King's Landing was shocked by the news of Dragonstone and was actively defending and building a giant anti-aircraft crossbow machine, which was said to be to guard against dragons. The king heard that there was a rumor among the dignitaries in King's Landing that the weakness of the dragon was the eyes. The king suggested that Stannis write a letter to the Citadel to verify this matter and ask about the historical records and war records of Dorne shooting Meraxes. Perhaps he could know how to fight the dragon from them. And wished him to recapture Dragonstone, build a fleet, return to King's Landing, and bring justice to the country.

Stannis' teeth began to grind unconsciously.

Stannis was not stupid. He quickly thought of the meaning behind the first and third letters. Lannister and Tyrell intended to make him the first person to challenge the Targaryen King of Dragonstone.

Because he was the "legitimate king".

Stannis put the letter from the King of Dragonstone into his pocket. He thought to himself that he was destined not to be a good king who could make the country strong, the princes harmonious, and the people rich. Good kings can win the love of the people and even the support of their enemies. He couldn't do that. He didn't have that kind of talent.

Stannis realized that he was probably not the hero that Melisandre said he was. He actually had his own selfish motives and was not as fair as people thought. He was just a mediocre Baratheon king who kept fighting to maintain the throne of the Baratheon family.

He looked to the north, trying to see the Targaryen king in Dragonstone Castle through the rain and the horizon.

The Targaryen king undoubtedly showed signs of being a wise ruler, but wisdom could not win the war. Aegon the Conqueror conquered Westeros with blood and fire, and the young king must know this.

Stannis concentrated his mind. If the Targaryen king wanted to become the master of the seven kingdoms and sit on the ugly Iron Throne that could even cut people, he must defeat Stannis Baratheon on the battlefield, just as Aegon the Conqueror sent his queen Rhaenys to defeat the last Storm King on the battlefield.

"Byran," he ordered, "call Ser Andrew." After a pause, he added, "And Melisandre."

"As you command." The king's servant's boots landed heavily on the ground, bowed to him, and walked quickly to the door.