Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

"No way, absolutely impossible."

Lysa Tully, the actual speaker of the Arryn Valley, held Robert Arryn, Warden of the East and Duke of the Vale, sitting on the high seat of the Gates of the Moon, the home of the Royce family in the Gates of the Moon, warming himself in a charcoal brazier. In the charcoal fire, he loudly announced:

"The Vale is protected by the Moon Mountains, and there is only one access road, the Vale Road. Even if the White Walkers arrive in the Riverlands, the Vale will not be affected. Send someone quickly to inform Sir Andrew Waywood and ask him to close the Blood Gate and isolate the Vale. Until the end of the long night! Send him another three hundred people and tell him not to allow anyone or any ghost to cross the Blood Gate."

The reason why Lady Lysa and Duke Robert are in the Gates of the Moon instead of the Eyrie, the home of the Arryn family in the valley, is because the Eyrie after winter is really not a place for humans to stay.

The Eagle's Nest City stands on the top of the Moon Mountains in the middle of the valley, straddling the largest mountain range in the valley, the Giant's Spear, and sitting atop a mountain thousands of feet tall. Even in summer, there is snow on the towering top of the Giant's Spear. The melted snow on the top of the mountain gathers into the miraculous alpine snowmelt waterfall "Alesha's Tears" in the valley, which irrigates the black fertile fields of the canyon plain. The climbing roads in the Eagle's Nest City are narrow and steep, making it extremely difficult to climb the mountain in the summer, not to mention the winter and long nights after the weather turns cold.

The cold winds of winter will let every human being who stays in the Eagle's Nest know the cruelty of nature.

The Arryn people of all generations have a tradition of descending from the mountains in winter and taking shelter from the cold at the Gates of the Moon below Alyssa's Tear at the foot of the mountain. In fact, during the Age of Heroes, when the Andal army invaded this fertile valley to seize the valley from the ancestors, the castle of the previous generations of the Arryn family was the Moon Gate Castle at the foot of the Giant's Spear Mountain. It was not until the Eyrie was built after several generations of hard work that the Arryn family left the Gates of the Moon and settled in the Eyrie.

From then on, for the Arryn family, the Gates of the Moon can be compared to Dragonstone and Summerhall of the Targaryen family, which are the second and third castles of the family.

Let's not say that Lysa Arryn was a prodigal. Under the instigation of Littlefinger Petyr Baelish, in order to divide the increasingly dissatisfied attitude of the valley princes towards Lysa during the War of Six Kings, especially Lysa's insistence on marrying the little one. The princes of the valley attracted by the finger resisted.

Lysa actually gave the Gates of the Moon to Nestor Royce, and the purpose was actually to appease Viscount Royce, who failed to pursue Lady Lysa and served as the steward of the Vale of Arryn for fourteen years, and at the same time resisted for the valley. The Royce family, the leaders of the princes, planted the seeds of dividing the princes of the valley.

In terms of results, Littlefinger's advice to Lysa achieved the desired results.

However, this kind of behavior can really be called "It doesn't hurt to betray my father." Lysa and Littlefinger use the Arryn family's second fortress as a bargaining chip, but it is only used to cover their marriage and maintain their personal power.

This move triggered a series of follow-ups, and the Hatton family was very dissatisfied with this incident. Because Ser Harold Haddon of the House of Hatton, according to the order of succession of the House of Arryn stipulated by law, even though Harold's lineage of the House of Arryn comes from the maternal line, he is still the legal heir of Lord Robert Arryn. According to Vale tradition, Ser Harold should serve as the "Keeper of the Castle" at the Gates of the Moon. He was not the owner of the castle but took charge of the castle on his behalf, until Robert Arryn gave birth to an heir and regained his rights.

In order to appease the Hatton family, Lysa and Littlefinger sold some of the rights of the Arryn family.

To be honest, if the ancestors of the Arryn family were alive, they would probably want to crawl out of their graves and strangle Lysa and Littlefinger to death.

Back to the present.

Lady Lysa was talking to Nestor, the High Steward of the Vale and the new Lord of the Gates of the Moon, about the letter from Oldtown delivered by the messenger crow that the maester saw in the crow's nest, frozen stiff today.

The Targaryen royal family claimed that the White Walkers had marched south, and the vanguard had already reached the Neck when they wrote the letter. Calculating the time it took for the messenger crows to fly from Oldtown to the Vale in the long night of winter, if the White Walkers' vanguard marched straight in, taking the King's Road, they would march as fast as humans. Based on his speed, I am afraid that he has already crossed the Twin River City and penetrated deep into the riverlands.

The Riverlands and the Valley are bordered by the Moon Mountains, which stretch for hundreds of leagues. Since the White Walkers have penetrated deep into the Riverlands, it stands to reason that they will undoubtedly pose a threat to the Valley.

Nestor, Viscount of the Gates of the Moon, habitually responded to Lysa's words with the attitude of the steward of the valley: "Madam, after lending troops to Stark in the valley, you have sent additional manpower to Sir Andrew. The two watchtowers at the Blood Gate There are already five hundred people guarding the Hegong Bridge, and the tower can no longer accommodate that many people. Two hundred people have to be camped in the valley behind the Blood Gate. In order to provide for them, every other month, they are sent from the Moon Gate Fort. It’s really not appropriate to send more troops through the long cold night.”

Lesa was a little nervous: "What, have you added more troops before?"

"Madam, have you forgotten? After Royce's army from Runestone City and the valley knights led by Sir Linn went out, the mountain clans in the valley thought they could take the opportunity to enter the valley to plunder and attack the Blood Gate. Hundreds of people died under the city and then fled back. Once you reach the Mingyue Mountains, you will order more manpower for the Blood Sect."

Lysa's eyes suddenly widened: "I remembered! Didn't I send people to annihilate the Alpine Clan tribe? Why is there no news about this matter? Why did it become a blood sect with more troops? Andrew dared to deceive me and did not enter the Mingyue Mountains to annihilate. Those tribal savages?”

Nestor felt tired of the ignorant and extremely self-centered Lady Lysa: "Madam, we are preparing to go into the mountains to clear out the troops, but we are still preparing food, supplies, ordnance, and horses. The long night is coming, so Sir Andrew put it aside for the time being. He sent a knight to tell you, but you were busy discussing winter escape and the approaching long night with the lords of the valley, so you forgot to leave the matter to me? "

Lysa's eyes were sharp: "I didn't let you withdraw my plan to eliminate the savages!"

"Madam," Nestor explained, "the Mingyue Mountains are very dangerous after winter. The roads in the valley are rugged and rocky, and will be interrupted when it snows. The roads are dangerous and are really not suitable for sending troops. I saw that it was snowing at that time, and the long night was approaching in the sky. And there were all kinds of visions, and then "

"You said the road was interrupted, then why are the tribesmen of the Alpine Clan still moving around and attacking the Blood Gate." Mrs. Lysa's voice was sharp, "Do you think I am easy to deceive and want to challenge my majesty?"

"Madam, we have no intention of challenging your majesty." Nestor said hurriedly, "I put the follow-up arrangements in the document and handed it to you. Didn't you see it?"

Lysa's anger was stagnant. She had no interest in those documents and books. Except for some things that she clearly knew were related to power, she rarely looked at anything else.

Although Nestor's reasons were sufficient, he actually refused to admit his mistake and had a bad attitude. This made Lysa angry for no reason, and she started to make trouble unreasonably: "This is not a matter of paperwork! It's the knights of the valley who are actually afraid of the wind and snow. They change and refuse the lord's orders just because of the slightest difficulty. They don't dare to attack on the snowy road like the wild men of the Alpine clan. Question! Since you just said that supplies can be transported from Perilous Rock Castle to the Blood Gate, it means that the soldiers in the valley can walk on the King's Road in snowy weather and long nights. This is whether the knights and soldiers of the Aylin family can still press Aylin. The problem of doing things according to the orders of the family lord!”

Sir Nestor understood Lady Lysa's attitude. After all, he had been the steward of the valley for more than ten years. How could he not know that what the other party really wanted was for someone to give her a step up and admit her mistakes. Before Lysa married Littlefinger, Nestor had handled many similar matters for Lysa, but at that time it was Nestor who was trying to please Lysa and gain the power that would come from marrying the Lady of the Vale.

But now, now that Lysa has married Littlefinger, Nestor's way forward is cut off, and he has obtained the Gates of the Moon. There is really no need to pamper her, just act like a good general manager: "What do you mean, madam?"

Lysa's eyes widened, in disbelief that Nestor would kick the ball back to her.

The guardian of the valley grasped the cold fur coat on his thigh with his fingers: "Let Sir Andrew come to the Gates of the Moon, and you two will tell me clearly in person why we can't send troops to wipe out the group of savages." As he said this, this The lady became more and more arrogant, "Also, when my uncles Ser Brynden Tully and Ser Donnel Waywood were knights of the Blood Gate, why didn't the wild men of the Mountain Clan attack the Blood Gate? Why did Sir Andrew just become the Knights of the Blood Gate? It didn’t take long for this Blood Gate knight to be targeted by the tribe’s barbarians? Tell Sir Andrew that if he is not worthy enough, there are many knights in the valley who can take his place!”

"Madam, this..." Nestor wanted to explain that the tribesmen of the Alpine Clan had not attacked the Blood Gate before because they robbed passing pedestrians and caravans on the dangerous mountain roads near the Valley Avenue, and robbed food and weapons. Later, in the early days of the War of Six Kings, Tyrion Lannister somehow connected with these tribesmen and took them to the river to fight against King's Landing. At that time, the Valley Road was really at its most peaceful. But after autumn, those tribesmen came back, and they also brought back sophisticated weapons and equipment from the Lannister. They had previously had a terrible impact on the caravans on the Valley Road.

Until the Vale soldiers responded to the Stark family's invitation and a large number of cavalry and soldiers attacked, these tribesmen may have thought that the Vale army was going to enter the mountains to clear them up, so they all fled into the mountains. But it was discovered that the army had entered the interior and was not killing the tribesmen, so they came back.

And I don’t know if these tribesmen are crazy, or because the trade routes are cut off in winter and they have no source of food. It may also be that they saw two waves of soldiers and horses leaving the valley, so they thought that the valley was empty now, and they wanted to take advantage of it. And then enter the eastern fertile fields inland of the valley to plunder.

This is why Nestor guessed that the Blood Gate was attacked by the tribesmen.

But Nestor thought about it and realized that he really didn’t need to explain these unsubstantiated speculations to Lysa, a woman who was obviously looking for bad luck and was angry. So he asked, "Madam, are you sure you want to do this?"

I don’t know if Lord Nestor knows that angry women hate rhetorical questions. It’s unclear whether it was intentional or accidental, but he just asked this question.

"Of course!" Lysa's tone was almost screaming, "Let Sir Andrew come to the Gates of the Moon, I have to ask clearly!"

"As you wish, madam." Nestor bowed slightly to Lysa respectfully, "I will send someone to the Blood Gate to summon Sir Andrew."

Lysa gritted her teeth and punched her fist bitterly: "Go! Immediately! Immediately!"

Her movement awakened Lord Robert Arryn, who was sleeping in the warmth of the coal basin in his arms.

The eight-year-old, still unweaned, frail little duke let out a child's characteristic piercing scream: "Mommy, there's a White Walker trying to eat me!"

He seemed to have had a nightmare and was sweating.

Lady Lysa immediately changed her expression when she saw this, and her face was full of pity: "Robin, dear, don't be afraid, there are no white walkers. With your mother here, you don't have to be afraid of anything. Dear, are you hungry? Wait, you wet the bed!" Suddenly, Lady Lysa, who found that the fur coat given by Little Finger was wet with urine, looked dark and screamed, "No! Dear Robin, what did you do! No! Someone, someone!"

The mother and son screamed for different reasons, which made the servants in the fortress panic for a while and rushed over. Even the guards drew their swords and rushed over, thinking there was an assassin.

When they arrived, they found that it was the Duke of the Valley who wet the bed and caused a series of changes.

The castle was in chaos for a while because of the mother and son. It was not easy to go back to the lord's room from the hall, and call the washerwoman, add charcoal basins, and call the wet nurse to feed milk, and finally calmed down the crazy Lady Lysa and the eight-year-old Duke.

And in this noise,

Nestor asked the maester to write a summons letter and brought it to Lysa for review.

Lysa only glanced at it, then stamped the letter with the seal of the Arryn family and sealed it.

Nestor saw that Lysa was actually going to send this extremely unreasonable letter. After all, he was the chief steward in the Vale for more than ten years during Jon Arryn's absence, and he wanted to say something according to his duty. But seeing Lysa's neurotic look, he was still afraid that the other party would vent all the anger on him. So he shut up and took the letter to the lower level of the castle to summon the knights of the Arryn family.

"My lord, send a letter to the Bloody Gate?"

The knights of the Arryn family who were responsible for guarding the Moon Gates did not know the content of the letter, but thought it was a very urgent military situation. After all, the entire Vale was now shrouded in a long night, the valley road was covered with snow and ice, and the road was slippery and difficult to walk. Moreover, it was cold and windy outside at this time, and even the messenger crows had a hard time delivering letters. Only the largest and hardest-winged messenger crows in the crow's nest could go out. So when he was summoned to deliver the letter, the knight was very cautious in his heart.

Going out in such a climate even made the knight have the intention of dying.

Lord Nestor looked at the knight in front of him who was very cautious and ready for battle, and felt an inexplicable compassion and helplessness in his heart, but he was just following the orders of the guardian of the valley. So he said: "Yes, go to the Bloody Gate. Sir, the mountain road is not easy to walk now, you must be very careful, and put your personal safety first. Just deliver the letter to Sir Andrew, the knight of the Bloody Gate, it doesn't matter if it takes a little more time."

The knight of the Arryn family took the letter solemnly: "Yes, sir!" From his appearance, he didn't understand the hint in Nestor's words at all.

But Nestor couldn't say it too clearly, after all, the knight in front of him was from the Arryn family.

However, the knight took the letter very seriously and immediately went down to call his two knight attendants to get three horses from the castle stables, and three bags of hot water and dry food from the kitchen. He put on the thickest cold-proof clothes and left the castle in a hurry.

Fortunately, the Arryn family had moved to the Moon Gates to avoid the winter. Otherwise, if they left the Eyrie in this weather, they would not only have to walk on the narrow path on the cliff, but also cross the three fortresses of the Eyrie on a steep mountain road at the foot of the Giant's Spear Mountain, Long Sky Castle, Snow Mountain Castle and Dangerstone Castle. Walking the road of these three castles in winter, a long series of slopes and paths that only small horses can cross will make everyone feel what despair is.

The Moon Gates is at the foot of the Giant's Spear Mountain and should be regarded as the second line of defense of the Eyrie. But in the long night and cold winter, the Arryn family's defense actually only has two dangerous castles, Bloody Gate and Moon Gates.

The Gates of the Moon and the Bloody Gate are not far away. If it is summer, it only takes two hours to reach them. But on a snowy day, and at night, even those who are familiar with this road will spend at least half a day.

This is Lysa's basic operation. Lysa Tully is an extremely self-centered person, and she is of the same type as her sister Catelyn, but Lysa's self-centeredness is more obvious than Catelyn's. Before, even when Catelyn herself visited the Eyrie, Lysa summoned her to the mountain to meet her overnight, regardless of what Catelyn thought. The last 600 feet of the steep mountain road from the Eyrie to the Eyrie almost left Catelyn with a psychological trauma.

Doesn't Lysa know how dangerous the mountain road to the Eyrie is at night? Doesn't she know how dangerous the Valley Avenue is now? If you remind her, she will know. But if no one mentions it, she will automatically ignore those "unimportant" things in her cognition. Anyway, she summoned you, so you just say whether you will come or not?

It was also during Catelyn's trip to the Eyrie that she truly felt the fickleness of Lysa's temperament. Because it was already early morning when Catelyn risked her life to climb the Eyrie at night. Lysa had a good sleep and spoke coldly to Catelyn for bringing danger to the Vale.

The Vale is blessed to have such a boss, and the Arryn family is smoking.

Just like that, the Arryn knight and two squires rode out of the Gates of the Moon under the long night, holding three windproof torches.

Under the night, the knight messenger wearing the Arryn family blue cloak with a white crescent falcon mark rode on the winding snowy road. In front of them was a valley with peaks and ridges, a snowy road stretched to the mountains to the west, and a valley passage between two cliffs. From here, you can even see the stone fortifications of the Bloody Gate stacked on the two cliffs and the beacon fire of the tower.

It seems that the Bloody Gate is not far from the Gates of the Moon, but the principle of "seeing the mountain and running the horse to death" is true even in the Vale.

The valley is not full of hills and valleys.

In fact, half a league in front of the Moon Gate, there is a three-way fork in the valley road.

The road to the Moon Gate is called the "uphill road". It is the only way to the Eyrie. In front of it are the four great passes of the Moon Gate, the Stone Castle, the Snow Castle and the Long Sky Castle. Further up is the Eyrie, which is located on the top of the Giant's Lance.

At the other end of the three-way fork is a road called "the road to the east". This road leads to the back of the Bloody Gate Fortress. Surrounded by mountains and protected by mountains, it is a valley field with fertile black soil. The most fertile alpine basin plain in the Moon Mountains is located here.

The ghostly torrent of "Alessa's Tears" runs down from the towering Giant's Lance West Mountain, irrigating this fertile land, where there are wide and soothing rivers, and hundreds of large and small lakes that are as bright as mirrors in the sun. The wealth and livability here are no less than those in the southern border.

This is not difficult to imagine. The Vale is to Westeros what Sichuan and Shu are to China.

The difficulty of the Shu Road is well known, and the fertile fields of the Bashu Basin are also world-famous.

The Vale is the Sichuan and Shu of Westeros.

When the knights of the Arryn family ran towards the Bloody Gate Canyon Fortress, the "Shu Road" in the Vale with torches, behind them, the land under their feet was the fertile eastern basin plain of the Valley, which was protected by the mountains and extended to the Runestone City and Seagull Town in the eastern cape.

Two-thirds of the population of the Valley, the most powerful noble families are concentrated in this fertile land.

Because of this, when they found that the Vale had sent troops, even the tribesmen of the Moon Mountain Range coveted the eastern towns of the Valley after the winter. Their idea is simple. They don't need to attack the castle. They just need to plunder a few ordinary villages and towns in the east, which is enough for them to survive for a long time in winter.

But the tribesmen didn't know that the Vale lords who could raise 40,000 to 50,000 troops with all their efforts only had a few thousand troops in the Vale, some of which were from the Royce family to support Arya, and the other part was formed by Lysa and Littlefinger to support Sansa and test the attitude of the Targaryens.

Except for the Royce family, the other lords and the Arryn family in the Vale did not use their full strength at all.

It is precisely because of this that Lysa would think that the Vale is impregnable, would subconsciously despise the tribesmen, and would be ignorant and fearless about the news that the White Walkers are heading south.

Lysa is really not afraid of the invasion of the White Walkers, and she doesn't take them seriously from the bottom of her heart. In fact, in the eyes of this guardian of the Vale, she regards the White Walkers as the same threat as the tribesmen.

She has a deep-rooted cognition in her heart, that is, the Vale has natural barriers, and once the bloody gate is closed, no one can enter except the dragons from the sky, and the White Walkers are the same!

Under the cover of the long night, the knights of the Arryn family slowly entered the canyon area from the steep uphill road of the fortress with letters, and approached the burning bloody gate little by little along the winding and rugged valley road. They braved the wind and snow, and carried the cold to deliver letters to the lord. Whether it was people or horses, the windshields on their faces were covered with a thick layer of white frost.

They were as fast as possible, but it still took them half a day to reach the great buildings built by manpower on the cliffs on both sides.

The long battlement buildings stood on the cliffs on both sides. The canyon road was so narrow that only four people could ride side by side. The two watchtowers climbed on the rock wall and were connected to each other by a closed arch bridge of weathered gray stone. Silent faces watched the visitors from the arrow holes in the tower, the killing holes between the battlements and the stone bridge.

"Who wants to pass through the bloody gate?" On the top of the bloody gate, a knight holding a torch asked loudly in the cold wind.

"In the name of Robert Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, Protector of the Vale of Arryn, and True Warden of the East. Lady Lysa has sent an urgent letter to Ser Andrew Waynwood." The knight of the Arryn family replied.

The Bloody Gate Knight did not dare to neglect the words. The officers and soldiers camped on the slope behind the Bloody Gate Fortress held torches and came out of the tent to greet him, following closely.

In such weather, everyone thought that the letter he brought might be extremely urgent news.

However, when the Bloody Gate Knight came down from the tower, he personally took the letter under the stone fortification, tore off the wax and opened it to read. The knight's face was full of strange colors: "Sir, the letter says that Lady Lysa summoned me to the Moon Gate to report on my duties. I wonder if something happened to the Moon Gate?"

"That I don't know."

Under the night, the beacon fire of the Bloody Gate Fortress cast a huge shadow under the city: "The tribe has been harassing these days. Lady Lysa asked me to go back now. Did she mention who would guard the Bloody Gate for me while I was back?"

The messenger looked at him: "I am only responsible for delivering letters, sir."

"Okay." Sir Andrew shrugged helplessly, "Please wait a moment, I will arrange for someone to prepare horses, and go back with you."

The messenger knight had just taken off his mask, and his beard was covered with frost. He was just about to rest and warm himself by the fire. He didn't expect that he would be so eager to set off again. But before coming, Lord Nestor - or Lady Lysa did not make it clear whether the messenger should go back with Sir Andrew, so they could only nod helplessly.

How to say it, they are used to Lady Lysa's style of doing things. If I don't go back, it will be fine if Lady Lysa doesn't ask, but if she is asked, I will have to face the "majesty of the Arryn family."

On the other hand, since the lord had not arranged for anyone to take over the Bloody Gate, Sir Andrew could only choose from the soldiers and officers. Most of the people guarding the fortress were from the Waywood family. Andrew could have just chosen a family knight. But now, there are more than 200 soldiers from the Arryn family who guard the Bloody Gate. A Waywood knight without the endorsement of the Arryn family may not be able to dispatch the soldiers of the Arryn family in some matters.

And because of Lady Lysa's marriage to Littlefinger, the Waywood family also participated in the "forced palace" of the Eyrie. Now, these Arryn family soldiers sent here are more or less aware of the meaning of surveillance. Without an acting appointee endorsed by the Arryn family, Andrew is going to leave, and the situation is very awkward. Because the letter asked Andrew to go back and report on his work, and it is unknown how long it will take. If it takes a day or half a day, it will be fine, but if Lady Lysa wants to replace the "Bloody Gate Knight" - Nestor's letter hinted at it, then Andrew is worried that the dispute at the Moon Gate will never end.

In the end, the honor of being a "Blood Gate Knight" overwhelmed the interests of the family. For the safety of the Blood Gate, Andrew gave the acting command to Jon Stone, a knight from the Arryn family.

Then, the Blood Gate Knight and three messengers set out on the road back to Moon Gate Castle in the night.

Andrew could never have imagined that his personnel arrangement out of honor was not wrong, but the next attack on the Blood Gate would no longer be the tribesmen of the high mountain clans in the Moon Mountains.

Fate always likes to play tricks on people, which is especially cruel to those who are stupid and unaware.

On the day when Andrew, the Blood Gate Knight, was temporarily summoned back to the castle to report on his duties, the tribesmen of the Moon Mountains welcomed a group of uninvited guests.

The tribesmen are primitive tribal groups living at the foot of the Moon Mountains in the valley, and can be traced back to the time when the Andals invaded the valley. They are the descendants of the ancestors who were unwilling to succumb to the Andals. They multiplied in the mountains and forests and formed clan tribes. Most of the time, they made a living by plundering villagers and caravans in the valley and the Moon Mountains in the river.

They can be seen as bandits who have developed in the Vale for thousands of years and have become part of history.

The tribesmen are accustomed to using violence to solve all problems. They have been fighting each other for many years and will only cooperate in some occasions where a large number of people are needed for looting. Before, Tyrion integrated several tribes to fight for Lannister during the War of the Six Kings. He won a lot of spoils on the battlefield. After being mocked and expelled by the people of King's Landing, he returned to the Moon Mountains.

Perhaps it was because Tyrion took them out that the tribes became inflated. They saw that the roads were blocked by heavy snow, and there were fewer and fewer places and goods to loot. After seeing thousands of knights leave the Vale, they set their sights on the heart of the Vale.

However, after several failed attacks on the Bloody Gate, these tribesmen remembered the horror of the Andal armored knights.

In fact, some of the tribesmen who attacked the Bloody Gate during this period were divided into two groups.

Many of the first group were tribesmen who lost their homes, property and women after being annexed by the Stone Crows, Burning People, Moon People and Black Ears, four tribes that obtained better weapons and armor from Lannister. Because they occupied their original mountain tribe strongholds after the four tribes left, but they didn't expect that the "Dragon King" of those tribes would not only take back the mountains and forests, but also annex and wipe out their tribes with superior equipment.

A very strange point is that after these poor tribesmen get good equipment, the first thing they do when they return home is often to purge the inside and annex those tribes that were once poor bandits like them, rob their wealth, land and women, and then turn their spearheads to the outside.

The first batch of tribesmen who attacked the Blood Gate and lost everything were oppressed and hunted to the point that they had no place to stand and could only seek a new living environment. So after seeing the Valley Knights leave, they thought of looting eastward. According to their understanding, the Valley soldiers and horses have left so many, and the Valley is now a naked woman, defenseless.

The result is of course very tragic. These oppressed tribesmen can't even beat the returning villagers wearing better equipment, let alone fight the Valley Knights who are well-equipped and have castles to defend. The survivors of the tribes being annexed managed to gather four or five hundred people, but they didn't even reach the gate of the Blood Gate, and nearly a hundred people died.

The small tribal alliance collapsed directly, and after returning to the mountains, they were driven to a more remote place in the mountains by the four major tribes that had already become powerful.

When the four tribes returned home in glory and unified their internal affairs, the cold winter came, and the long night followed. They had not yet finished annexing the mountain tribes, and they had to face a new problem: their food reserves were insufficient.

Although they began to consciously kill the elderly, boys and men of other tribes, leaving only women, food and treasures, what they snatched from the already poor tribesmen were just petty gains.

So, under the pressure of the cold winter and the confidence brought about by the annexation of the tribes. The four major tribes also began to unite and covet the rich towns in the east of the valley.

These days, the tribesmen have organized several waves of offensives, but unfortunately, these tribesmen who don't know how to attack the city at all have made no progress in the face of the tall fortress.

These mountain people who were isolated from the news had no way of knowing what the massacres and unnecessary deaths caused by their annexation of the mountain tribes were paving the way for.

In fact, no matter what terrible things happened, there were signs before they happened.

For example, the tribesmen of the Burning Tribe found the most obvious signs: in the past few days, the hunters of the tribe who went out hunting captured more and more prey, and even a hunting team killed two shadow mountain cats!

This rich hunting result made the Burning Tribe almost have no time to discuss with the other three tribes how to attack the Blood Gate and plunder to the east. Even the leader Timmet rejected the invitation of other tribes and personally led hunters into the mountains to hunt in the past few days. Because it was not Timmet himself who hunted the shadow mountain cat, his bravery and majesty were challenged.

This involves the customs of the Burning Tribe. During the coming-of-age ceremony, they will burn part of their body, usually fingers or nipples. The more important the burned body part is, the higher the reputation of the warrior. The current leader Timmet was chosen as the chief because he gouged out his left eye. They pay attention to the "prestige of the warrior". The captain of the tribe's hunter team captured two shadow mountain cats, which affected Timmet's prestige. If the other party does the same thing of gouging out the eyes, the position of the chief may be challenged.

These days, the herds of animals in the Moon Mountains seem to have just started their winter migration. Every day, large numbers of deer and wild goats migrate south from the familiar land in the mountains and forests, followed by wolves and shadow mountain cats.

As long as you find the right animal migration route, you can catch prey by setting traps, and as long as you wait patiently, prey will pass by.

Hunting has never been so easy, making the tribesmen feel that this is simply a gift from the old gods in the long night. So Timett also put down his work and led the team into the mountains to hunt. He needs to add a few shadow mountain cat skins or wolf skins for himself to let his prestige overwhelm the entire tribe.

It's not that no one is worried about the abnormal migration of animals, but in the face of unimaginable harvests, the voices of worry are always drowned out the fastest.

Yes, nature gave these tribesmen the most conspicuous warning, but the descendants of the ancestors who have forgotten the danger of the White Walkers only saw the prey.

Unknowingly, the mountain tribe has missed the best time to discover danger and avoid crisis.

After waiting for a long time on a trail made by a large animal in the snow, Timmet suddenly became alert: "Listen, there is a sound!"

The hunters under his command listened carefully and smiled happily: "It is indeed a big one!"

Someone said with certainty: "I can guarantee that it is a bear!"

In the dark trail of the forest, a huge black shadow appeared in the hunters' field of vision.

Chief Timmet took down his hard bow, drew the bow and arrow, and aimed at the prey.

It is a bear.

But.

"Strange, why are its eyes glowing blue?"

A gust of cold wind blew, and the trees rustled.

"It's so cold." Someone said.

"Shut up, don't make noise!" Timmet cursed softly, the bowstring was fully drawn, and the arrow was aimed at the bear's eyes.

He waited for a while, and shot the arrow with a whoosh.

"Hit!" Timmet saw that the bow and arrow did not hit the eyes, but hit the bear's head. He could not see clearly in the night, but he could vaguely distinguish that the arrow had sunk into the bear's head, which made him overjoyed.

But the huge bear did not roar in pain, so someone wondered, "Did it miss?"

"Damn, it definitely hit!" He drew his bow and aimed again, but saw the giant bear's pair of blue eyes looking at him from a distance, as if looking at him. This made him feel creepy.

The blue eyes reminded him of the strange stories passed down by the fire witches in the tribe, but he couldn't remember what the story was.

"It's a corpse bear!" At this time, someone screamed, "The servant of the White Walker!"

Timett's inspiration burst out, and a flash of inspiration came to him: Yes, it's the White Walker!

White Walker!

It was not until this time that he felt a sense of fear, and his back was soaked with cold sweat. He finally felt that the air around him had become much colder since he didn't know when.

"It's so cold."

Timett's eyes suddenly caught a white figure passing through the woods. He turned his head and saw a white shadow in the darkness, and then disappeared. He opened his mouth to warn, but the words froze in his throat.

Several shadows suddenly emerged from the darkness of the woods, surrounding Timmet and his hunters from all directions.

The leader of the Burning Tribe was panicked, wondering why no one had warned him. What about the hunters in other locations?

The branches trembled slightly in the wind, and Timmet's one eye saw strange shadows passing through the treetops. He shouted, "There's something on the tree!"

When he shouted, the shadows on the treetops had already appeared. They were several huge pale spiders.

Behind them were shadow mountain cats with blue eyes.

When walking up the slope to the Moon Gate Castle, a cold wind suddenly blew in from the canyon behind him.

Sir Andrew couldn't help shivering and couldn't help looking back in the direction of the Bloody Gate in the distance of the canyon. He was relieved to see that the beacons on the two towers on the Bloody Gate were still shining like lighthouse torches.

However, he was about to turn back.

The beacon on the tower suddenly rose, like two pillars of fire rising in the night sky.

Andrew's horse stopped.

The knight of House Arryn in front turned around and said, "Sir Andrew?"

"Sir, it looks like the tribesmen are harassing us again. Let's go quickly. Let's finish the report early so that I can go back to guard the Bloody Gate for Lord Robert."

However, when they walked to the castle gate of the Gates of the Moon and looked back.

Only a few dozen heartbeats had passed, and the canyon in the direction of the Bloody Gate was already glowing red and blazing.

Were the tribesmen attacking with fire?

Looking at the Bloody Gate Fortress in the distance, I saw dark clouds rolling in that direction. In the red light of the flames, the sky above the canyon was reflected by the light of the flames, and a white mist appeared. This strange scene made Andrew feel inexplicably uneasy.

When Andrew entered the Moon Gate Castle, the Bloody Gate was already shrouded in white mist. The familiar valley valley became hazy and ambiguous, and the firelight was shrouded in white mist, like a big red lantern blocked by a gauze curtain.

After putting the horse in the stable, Sir Andrew tidied his clothes in the warm room of the stable to make sure he was decent. Then he walked towards the main hall from the passage of the castle.

What made Andrew laugh and cry was that when he was thinking about what Lady Lysa was planning to call him to "report" under the night sky and how he should respond, it was Lord Nestor who received him outside the main hall and then reluctantly informed him: "Lady Lysa has gone to bed with Duke Robert. Come with me, I will arrange for you to find a room to rest first."

Since he was here, what else could he do. Sir Andrew could only agree and asked quietly: "Lord Nestor, why did the lady summon me here?"

Lord Nestor looked around and confirmed that there was no one around, and whispered: "Do you remember that the lady ordered you to go into the Moon Mountains to kill the rebellious tribesmen?"

"This," Andrew was numb, "wasn't it several months ago? Wasn't the battle canceled because of the strange phenomena brought by the snow and the long night? Didn't the lady reply to agree?"

Nestor explained: "I know, but I agreed to that matter on behalf of her. The lady received a letter today and remembered this matter again. She thought that you and I did not follow her orders."

"What?" Andrew was speechless, stiffening his neck, "Then the lady summoned me now to remove me as a Blood Gate Knight for this? Lady Lysa needs to make it clear that I am nominally only the representative of Sir Donal Waywood. Master, the Waywood family will not accept this humiliation! "

"Don't be impatient. Madam's removal of you is not only a humiliation to the Waywood family, but also a humiliation to me, Nestor Royce, Viscount of the Gates of the Moon. Now that Lady Lysa is resting, sir, why don't you ask someone to go to Iron Oak City to contact Lady Anya Waywood to seek justice for you?"

".But my servant stayed in the Bloody Gate and didn't come with me."

Nestor said meaningfully: "In this case, I may do it for you. After all, the Gates of the Moon is the castle given to me by Lord Robert."

Andrew tasted this sentence and caught the key point: "Lord Robert?"

Nestor did not answer, but only asked: "You are traveling in the wind and snow, do you want to drink something to warm yourself up, sir?"

It must be said that the valley has been so comfortable for too long that they are numb to the dangers of the outside world. Until this time, they are still thinking about messy things.

It was also because Lisa was not a wise leader and behaved too outrageously, which made Nestor think that he had seen some great opportunity and wanted to take this opportunity to make further progress.

Fortunately, the rule of the moth lord in the valley was about to end.

Before Nestor and Andrew started writing the letter, the guards on duty in the tower rushed in in a hurry.

As soon as the guards opened their mouths, all other thoughts of Nestor and Andrew froze.

The guard's voice trembled: "My lord, it's not good. The beacon fire in the direction of the blood gate has gone out."

"Impossible," Andrew jumped up from his chair, "Absolutely impossible! False military intelligence will be hanged!"

The guard was startled by this sentence and stood there in a daze.

Nestor hurriedly asked carefully: "What's the situation? Is it foggy and can't see clearly?"

"No, although there is fog in the direction of the Blood Gate, the beacon fire went out suddenly." The two adults looked at each other with burning eyes, and the guards did not dare to insist, so they swallowed their saliva secretly, "Maybe, it may be that the fog is too thick and I can't see clearly."

"Take me to the city wall!"

Andrew and Nestor could not sit still at all, and hurriedly followed the guards to the city wall.

When they saw that the direction of the canyon was pitch black, their hearts began to fall wildly.

"No, I can't report to Lady Lysa." Andrew gritted his teeth, "I have to go and see, the Blood Gate will not be in trouble! No, absolutely not!"

Nestor still understood the seriousness of the matter at this time, and hurriedly said: "I will arrange a hundred riders for you immediately."

Soon, the soldiers in the stables and towers of the Moon Gate Castle quarreled.

The noise woke up Lady Lysa, who was resting in the Lord's bedroom. Lysa, who had just fallen asleep, was so angry that she called the servants in a sharp voice: "What's going on outside? Why is it so noisy? Go and tell them to keep their voices down!"

The servants didn't know what happened, so they nodded and ran down to the castle.

After a while, the servants ran back to the Lord's bedroom again, screaming in fear: "Madam, it's not good. The guards said that the Bloody Gate has been lost!"

"What!" Even Lysa, who didn't know anything about military affairs, knew what the Bloody Gate meant to the Valley, and she quickly found the person to blame and cursed, "The Waywood family has betrayed the trust of me and Robert!" Of course, Lysa also knew who to find at this time, "Quick, go and call Nestor to the main hall."

The Bloody Gate was lost, and it was lost without any warning. It was unprecedented, so the Moon Gate was in chaos now.

It was not until Andrew led a hundred riders out of the castle with torches held high that Nestor came to the hall.

Let’s put this argument aside for now.

But Andrew led his troops out of the city, but still thought that the tribesmen of the Moon Mountain Range had broken through the Blood Gate in some way, so he thought he was going to rescue and fight with the tribesmen.

However, when he arrived at the fork in the road before the canyon, Andrew saw the white mist in the dark canyon, which was originally reflected by the flames. It was not the steaming water vapor that the people in the valley often saw in the basin, but the snow curtain of a blizzard.

And in the snow curtain covering the canyon, countless shadowy and dark shadows were pouring out of the canyon exit. Those shadows were people and various animals.

Andrew couldn't understand this strange combination for a while, but soon found their common points.

The eyes of these shadows all emitted a faint blue light.

Until you see it with your own eyes, the unbelievable rumors can be combined with reality.

These things are the servants of the White Walkers, the wights, that the Targaryen royal family has promoted countless times!

"Oh, no." Andrew felt that his heartbeat was stagnant at a certain moment.

"Sir, those things, yes, yes" The riders around him didn't dare to say the name, and only asked in panic, "What should we do?"

"I am the Bloody Gate Knight Agent of the Waywood family. In the name of Duke Robert," Andrew laughed bitterly and drew his sword, "I will defend the Bloody Gate Fortress in the valley to the death!"

This is not the Bloody Gate, but Andrew has already rushed towards the corpse tide.

The riders from the Moon Gate Castle looked at each other, watching Andrew, one man and one horse, charging towards the countless corpses in the snow curtain.

After all, the hot blood will be cooled by the cold wind, and the riders of the Moon Gate Castle soon found a new commander, an officer of the Arryn family.

And this knight, in full view of the crowd, made the most reasonable and honorable order he could think of: "Twenty men in the rear army, go back immediately and report the news here to the adults. The rest of you, seven layers of hell, if you still have balls in your pants, follow me!"

Honor and death are a choice, but he is a knight who has been personally anointed with holy oil by Lord Jon of the Arryn family, and he must do it.

But one hundred and eighty people, facing this group of corpses that can take down the Bloody Gate in just one hour, are like a drop of water falling into the sea.

Because they were caught off guard, they even had only a small piece of grease and torches that were the best for dealing with the corpses.

This drop of water was quickly submerged by the corpses, and it didn't even make much waves.

And as the corpses poured into the hinterland from the natural barrier of the valley.

The lords of the valley, who had preserved their strength for three years in the War of the Six Kings, are about to face the most brutal and difficult battle.

As for Lady Lysa of the Arryn family of the Gates of the Moon, after learning the news, she issued the most correct and wrong order in her life in panic: she ordered the Gates of the Moon to retreat across the board and retreat to the three dangerous passes of the Eyrie on the Giant's Lance in the snow, the famous Stonehold, Snowy Peak and Long Sky Castle.

The reason why it is correct is that the three famous dangerous passes of the Seven Kingdoms, the Eyrie, did block the attack of the zombies for a period of time, and won a chance for the Arryn family to survive the first wave of the zombies.

However, this order was also extremely wrong. Because the defenders retreated into the mountains, it meant that they actively abandoned the Gates of the Moon in panic, and the Arryn family who lost the Gates of the Moon and retreated to the Giant's Lance also completely lost the possibility of communicating with the outside world and obtaining supplies.

Yes, under Lysa's order, Duke Robert, Lady Lysa, servants, soldiers, and knights of the Arryn family escaped the first wave of attacks.

However, this chaos was destined to last for a long time, and all those who retreated to the three gates of the Eyrie would face the cruelest death in the long night, starving to death, freezing to death, and dying in despair.

No one expected this at this time.

It would take many years until the long night was over before people would find the body of the last blood heir of the Arryn family in the pile of frozen bones in Longsky Castle.

From this moment on, the direct bloodline of the Arryn family, a "noble" family that had controlled the valley for thousands of years since the invasion of the Andals, entered the countdown to extinction.