Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

The flames were raging on the Blackwater River.

The green wildfires and the flames of the boats that filled the estuary created a strange blue-green glow.

The mouth of the Blackwater River became the gate to hell.

At the wide estuary where the river merges into Blackwater Bay, huge iron chains stretch tightly. Many burning ships are piled in front of the iron chains, like a barrier. The fast black water is pulling other ships over. All the ships were burning, even those that were still intact were not spared. On the other end of the iron rope, there was a pirate ship with a painted hull that was too scared to approach.

The iron cables of the Blackwater River cross the river, erecting a long wall composed of fiery red steel, hot ship wood and rotating blue and green flames.

King Stannis's horse stumbled over a corpse, its hooves slipping and churning up the mud, and he nearly fell off his horse. His bodyguards guarded the horse. Fortunately, in the end, the troops and horses maintained their balance again.

King Stannis, surrounded by panicked sergeants, fled towards the gentle flow of the river outside the iron chain on the south bank. The ground was wet and slippery, half mud and half blood.

The sea army attack failed, and King Stannis originally had an army.

However, the golden rose flag appeared on the left, and the golden lion flag raided on the north shore, as well as Malbrand's burning tree, Rowan's golden tree, Tully's stalking hunter, Redwyne's grapes, and Oakhoe The oak leaves of the Countess, and Renly. When Renly appeared on the battlefield wearing bright green armor, leading his cavalry army to attack the center in a wedge formation, the Stormlands flags of Stannis's army scattered on the battlefield. Countless soldiers from the Storm Land abandoned their weapons and fled, and the military formation collapsed in just an instant.

The enemy pursuers were shouting long live Renly.

King Stannis looked ashen.

Fortunately, the loyal guards led the king to the slow-flowing muddy sand at the southern mouth of the sea outside the iron rope. The pirate Salladhor Saan's painted Lysian warship had already rushed to the river and was waiting. If you don't pay attention to the shoal, you will run aground. Even small warships cannot get too close.

Someone pulled the almost powerless king off his horse and helped him run along the muddy beach into the shallow water and get close to the ship. King Stannis was sent aboard first, then the guards climbed aboard.

Once a ship is full, it sails away immediately.

In the night, there were countless Stannis's sergeants fleeing madly here.

Wails, exclamations, and the shouts of killing from the pursuers from behind were endless.

More and more soldiers gathered in the small muddy land, and no one maintained order. Some shouted for help and abandoned their armor and swam directly to the boat. Some stepped into the deep water and drowned, struggling but unable to save them.

There are more than 20 Lysian warships, and the 300-horse Valyrian can't get close to the shoal. It can only symbolically set up its ballistae in the deep water area to defend itself against the still-unseen pursuers. She has put down all the accompanying ships. rescue boat. Even so, they could not rescue so many defeated troops.

The shouts of death from the pursuers gradually came closer, and the defeated soldiers began to trample on each other and fight to get on the boat.

King Stannis could only stare at this scene in confusion, but could do nothing.

Suddenly someone exclaimed: "There is a ship coming downstream! Is it the enemy?"

The king closed his eyes in despair.

Soon, someone shouted: "It's friendly forces! Quick, let them go to pick up the soldiers on the beach."

King Stannis looked down and saw five hundred-oared ships and one fifty-oared longship, all flying Stannis's king's standard.

More ships joined. Although they still could not get close to the shoal, these five hundred-gallop ships and the three-hundred-gallop ship of the pirate Salladhor Saan set up their ballistae, which was enough to cover the retreat for a short period of time. At the same time, they could There were more small boats accompanying the ships to meet the defeated troops.

This cavalry group of about 2,000 people collapsed and finally abandoned all their horses. More than half of them lost their helmets and armor and were temporarily saved.

The pursuers had no ships and could only watch as Stannis's defeated army fled across the bay.

Many people look at the map and think that King's Landing and Dragonstone are very close, but Westeros is a very vast continent. It takes 3-4 days to sail from King's Landing to Dragonstone by boat in Blackwater Bay.

King Stannis was transferred that night to one of the five hundred-oared ships.

After asking, they found out that they were the ships that were blown away by the storm when the fleet entered Blackwater Bay from the Throat. They were blown into the narrow sea. When they returned to Sharp Point Port, they heard that it had been half a day since the fleet had assembled and set off. , they originally thought they would miss the battle, and planned to repair the ships that were seriously damaged in the storm at Zijian Port.

Unexpectedly, Ms. Melisandre found them in the Pointe Castle. Ms. Melisandre told them: "The king needs you."

Then they rushed to King's Landing, and they happened to encounter the king breaking his troops and fleeing.

"Melisandre." The king murmured the name of the red-robed woman, and he slowly grinded his teeth from side to side in his mouth, "Where is she now?"

The people on the ship told him: "Lady Melisandre is at the Point Watchtower at the moment."

The king said indifferently: "Shouldn't she be at Dragonstone Castle?"

The people on the ship said tremblingly: "There is a raging fire burning on the watchtower at the top of Cape Marseille. The lady said that R'hllor asked her to accept the divine punishment there because she failed to insist on being by your side and blocking the invasion of darkness for you. You are surrounded by people who do not believe in God and are lost in darkness and chaos. God will punish you and she will be punished.”

"Punishment?" The king's eyes widened angrily, his lips tightened, and a swollen vein bulged on his forehead. But the anger was followed by heartbreaking pain, and finally by loss of soul and fatigue, "Leave me alone. "

The respondent immediately backed away quickly.

The king's bodyguards were still guarding him.

The king continued to wave: "Leave, all leave."

The guard then followed suit and walked out of the room.

He took off the flame-shaped red gold crown from his head and stared at it deeply.

In an instant, he seemed to have aged ten years.

The return journey was not smooth. When passing the Mermaid Reef at dawn, a Lys warship that was not familiar with the dangerous areas here hit a reef and sank. The rescue ship could not see the reef clearly in the darkness before dawn and dared not approach. The people on the sunken ship could only abandon the ship and swim to the rescue ship. More than a dozen people were swept away by the undercurrent and disappeared.

On the evening of the second day when the ship returned from King's Landing to Dragonstone, the weather suddenly changed. A strong wind blew over Blackwater Bay. The Hundred Oars, which was already severely damaged in the storm, was blown apart by the wind. The temporary repaired parts were blown into the cabin, causing a fire.

The king's ship was filled with smoke and dust, and the fire gradually became uncontrollable.

As a last resort, the king and the crew had to abandon the ship and change.

When the king and the fleet could do nothing about the burning ship and watched it gradually sink into the water. A sense of uneasiness permeated the returning Stannis army.

When the fleet set out for King's Landing, it also ran aground and sank in the Bay of Tarth, and also encountered an unusual storm in the throat.

Mermaid Reef has never been a particularly dangerous area in Blackwater Bay, but it still ran aground and sank... and there was an abnormal strong wind...

People began to think that this was the gods... the Lord of Light warning the king that perhaps the road ahead was full of dangers, and the soldiers who were already demoralized became even more depressed and nervous.

The captain of the guards sent by Melisandre on the longship asked to see the king and asked the king to summon Lady Melisandre immediately to interpret these visions for him.

The king chose to agree.

The fifty-oared longship then took the lead in heading to the Point and summoned Lady Melisandre to meet the king. After a day and a night, the longship carrying the red-robed woman met the king's fleet, which had slowed down, in Blackwater Bay.

Melisandre took a small boat to board the king's ship, and the priestess and his king met again.

"Your Majesty, your fate has come." This was the first sentence the priestess said to him.

Stannis asked, "What?" He found that the exposed skin on the priest's body had traces of burns from the flames, but it was recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye, and new tender skin was growing again.

The priestess told him: "The holy fire tells me that your destiny has come and the war has begun again."

"War?" Stannis said, "The war is over."

"No, your majesty, it is a real war." Melisandre stood before the king, wearing a shiny silk long dress, and said in a unique oriental accent, "Compared with the upcoming war, what you have experienced is just a glimmer of light. The ancient gods that mortals cannot know are gathering strength, terrible, evil and powerful forces that are difficult to contend with. The cold wind has already blown, and soon it will be a long night that never ends. Only heroes can muster up courage and take responsibility to lead the world to drive away darkness and uphold the faith of the flaming red heart."

Stannis waited for her to continue.

"Night is falling on your seven kingdoms, but the sun will soon rise again. Even the embers in the dust can reignite into a blazing fire." She continued, "Please let me show you." The red-robed woman opened her arms and slowly raised her hands. All the candles in the room were instantly lit. She led Stannis to look at one of the flames, "Do you see it, Your Majesty?"

Stannis stared at the flame. The flame was weak, and he stared at it. But there was nothing on it. He suddenly felt like a fool.

Melisandre guided him: "Your Majesty, you can see deeper and deeper if you recite the name of R'hllor in your heart."

He did so, and in the floating light of the flame, the white airflow and fire suddenly took shape, and a wisp of white dust slowly rose, but it seemed to fall. It was snowflakes.

He saw it.

The core white flame in this wisp of fire formed a ring in his eyes, surrounding a circle of torches. Through this ring of torches, he found that he was overlooking a high hill in the forest. The black core of the candle turned into a black figure, and there were some figures moving in the snow. He felt a strong chill all over his body, so that he trembled all over. Then the scene disappeared, and the candle flame became a flame again.

The king asked: "What is that?"

"It is the servant of the night and fear. Your kingdom is on the verge of death. The battle has begun, the sand of the hourglass flows faster, and the time of mankind is running out. We must act boldly, otherwise all hope will be lost. Westeros must unite under the name of the only legitimate king, the prince of prophecy, the chosen of R'hllor. I saw you command thousands of troops in the holy fire to resist the terrible darkness. There is no lie in the holy fire. You are the chosen of God, the son of the holy flame, and the warrior of light."

"R'hllor's choice is strange." The king showed a painful expression, and his heart was full of doubts. "Why me and not my brothers? Renly and his peaches. In my dreams, juice dripped from his mouth and blood poured from his throat. If he had been loyal to his brother, we would have defeated Lord Tywin long ago, a victory that even Robert would have been proud of. Robert." He gritted his teeth. "He appeared in my dreams too. Laughing, drinking competitions, boasting. Those were his best things. Yes, and fighting. I never beat him at anything. The Lord of Light should have Robert as his champion. Why me?"

"Because of your integrity." Melisandre said.

"Integrity?" Stannis felt that the word was far from him.

Melisandre said: "Your destiny lies in the north, Your Majesty. But to go north, you must first go south."

"What do you mean?" The king was puzzled.

"The holy fire indicates to me that your throne can only be stable in the south. The place where you were born belongs to you."

"Storm's End?" the king wondered. "There I will be surrounded by Tyrell and Lannister, and Renly's ghost-" He didn't finish. "Dragonstone is my place. Joffrey has no fleet unless the Lannister or Redwine fleet comes."

"Dragonstone is deep and dark. I saw it in the holy fire. It is now filled with blood and fire."

Disturbing thoughts came to Stannis's mind, and he asked: "Lannister or Arbor? I left three hundred men for Axell. Although his talents are mediocre and he occasionally makes mistakes, he is never stupid." It will fall so quickly.”

Melisandre was silent.

The fat and cowardly boy Earl of Baal Aemon who accompanied her and did not dare to refuse the request of the priestess to accompany her was quickly called in to explain the situation: "Dragonstone is probably in great danger. Your majesty, the bachelor of Pointed Castle has received the message from Dragonstone. But the frightened messenger crow was empty and refused to fly back."

"Where's Stridehead?" Stannis made a grinding sound in his mouth.

"There was a letter from Velaryon saying that they had received the same messenger crow."

"Why not send a ship to Dragonstone to check the situation?"

"In fact, we sent a fishing boat and went around in a long circle. It took a day to come back. The people who came back said that there were ships flying red dragon flags on black background to drive them away, and no ships were allowed to enter the offshore waters of Dragonstone Island. ”

Stannis looked shocked: "Targaryen?"

This is why fighting in the Westeros continent requires the coordination of enough ordinary troops even if there are extraordinary forces. The Westeros continent is too big. At very short distances, even the fastest longships would take hours to travel from one end to the other. Viserys did not have enough ships to do something like Stannis's blockade of Storm's End and the Throat, and he did not want to extend the battle line further, plus some misjudgments. Stannis's defeated army will have a lot of room for maneuver.