The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Cersei knew there were many things she could do, but couldn't say. Plan the murder of Bronn, eliminate Tyrion's most capable guard, and then get rid of Tyrion.

Tyrion was the Hand of the King, and eliminating the Hand's guard, murder, was naturally a major crime.

Luring Bronn out of King's Landing and killing him at Stokeworth wasn't a bad plan, but it failed due to a twist of fate.

After handing the mentally disturbed Falyse over to Qyburn, Cersei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Tyrion moved against Cersei's people first, but he had excuses. He moved against Ser Allar Deem because he killed innocent people—unweaned infants, young mothers, and some passersby; the excuse for moving against the other six knights was that they all had written letters volunteering to join the Night's Watch.

Anyone who volunteers to join the Night's Watch cannot be stopped and is no longer involved in any political disputes.

But Cersei, in moving against Bronn, couldn't find a similar legitimate excuse, and had to resort to the Mountain's suggestion of a ruse to murder Bronn. It was a sure thing, but Lady Tanda ruined it.

Cersei felt it necessary to let the Mountain know about this.

The murder of Bronn was the Mountain's suggestion in the first place.

The Hound found the Mountain on the north bank of the Blackwater, where he was leading a group of generals inspecting a trench along the riverbank.

The trench was shallow, easily jumped into and climbed out of by a child, but it was several meters wide, making it impossible for warhorses to leap across.

The trench was right on the riverbank, and the Hound didn't know why the Mountain had ordered the workers to dig such a shallow trench. Although warhorses couldn't leap across it, they could walk through it without any difficulty. And if Stannis's warships were to land, it wouldn't be on the north bank of the Blackwater, but on the west bank, near the city walls.

So, why was the Mountain digging such a shallow trench on the north bank?

The Hound didn't understand, and he didn't want to ask.

The Mountain was no longer the Mountain he used to know, the Hound was well aware of that. The current Mountain used his brain more than his strength.

"Mountain, the Queen Mother requests your presence," the Hound said, sitting high on his horse.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. Can you come with me to Maegor's Holdfast now?"

"Alright!"

The Mountain handed over the supervision of the workers to his subordinate, Raff the Sweetling. He mounted his horse, with Ice strapped to his back, and entered King's Landing through the Iron Gate.

*

"Mountain, the plan to have Lady Tanda kill Bronn has failed," Cersei said bluntly.

The Mountain frowned, looking at Cersei!

"Bronn's swordsmanship is indeed formidable, but it's impossible for him to defeat all the knights and soldiers in Stokeworth with just one sword."

"Lady Tanda chose trial by combat," Cersei's bitterness returned. The thought of luring Bronn to Stokeworth only to use trial by combat to kill him infuriated Cersei, making her grit her teeth.

"Trial by combat?" The Mountain snorted. "Queen Mother, Lady Tanda is simply too foolish."

"Yes!"

"So, what's the situation now?"

"Bronn killed Ser Balman, the mountain clansmen raided the castle at night, Lady Tanda fell from her horse and broke her bones; the guards, knights, and centurions loyal to Lady Tanda were all killed. With the help of the clansmen, Bronn took Stokeworth, Falyse was driven away and her whereabouts are unknown. Bronn married Lollys and became the new Lord of Stokeworth."

The Mountain's face was stern, his gaze unkind.

Cersei was also silent.

This matter was indeed a baffling and incomprehensible defeat. They had a good hand, but the Tanda family played it terribly.

"I estimate that Bronn had already sensed Lady Tanda's intentions when he agreed to marry Lollys. He and Tyrion used the situation to their advantage and planned to seize the castle," the Mountain said coldly. "Just how stupid is Lady Tanda that Bronn could see through her true purpose in luring him to Stokeworth beforehand? Her lips are too loose."

Cersei's face twisted slightly.

"Mountain, what should we do now? Falyse's whereabouts are unknown, and I think the most likely scenario is that she's been killed by Bronn and his gang. What do you think about Stokeworth?"

"Queen Mother, we can't provoke any more incidents now. If Falyse is missing, then the heir to Stokeworth is Lollys, and Lollys is Bronn's lawful wife, so Bronn has legally obtained Stokeworth."

"Stokeworth is a place with a lot of grain, supplies, and wealth, a large territory in the Crownlands. Are you just going to watch a sellsword get all of that?"

"What does the Queen Mother mean..."

"A great war is imminent, and King's Landing lacks food, iron, manpower, and coin. You are the supreme military commander of King's Landing, and you have the power to conscript troops and demand military supplies from all the nobles in the Crownlands."

"I understand, but I hope to get a formal order from His Majesty the King," the Mountain said.

"Alright."

"Queen Mother, I think it's best to bring it up in a Small Council meeting, so that Tyrion has to agree, and he himself has to sign the King's authorization."

"Good idea." Cersei was very motivated to do anything that would make Tyrion feel uncomfortable. "This afternoon, the King and I will convene a Small Council meeting for this purpose. I will demand that the Crownland nobles contribute money and goods, and then you will be responsible for leading the soldiers to collect them from the territories of the Crownland nobles. You will have an excuse to specifically target Bronn. If he dares to disobey..."

The Mountain sneered: "If Bronn dares to defy the King's order, I will cut him down to appease the army."

Cersei's brow smoothed out, and the Mountain's words made her feel much better: "Yes, that's what should be done."

Knock knock knock!

A knock sounded on the door.

"What is it?" Cersei asked loudly.

"Queen Mother, Maester Qyburn has brought a raven message," It was the Hound's voice.

Cersei had ordered Qyburn to send all raven messages received by the Citadel to her first.

"Come in."

The Hound, guarding the doorway, opened the door and Maester Qyburn walked in with a friendly smile. He was very kind, like a benevolent old grandfather next door. His back was slightly hunched, and he was tall.

"Queen Mother, Lord Mountain," Qyburn greeted them.

"Where's the letter from?"

"Bitterbridge."

Bitterbridge, where Renly had declared himself king. Currently, Bitterbridge had gathered an army of 100,000, preparing to march north and attack King's Landing.

Qyburn handed the letter to Cersei. The letter had not been opened, the wax seal was intact.

Cersei opened the letter, becoming more and more surprised as she read it. She was shocked after finishing it.

The Mountain and Qyburn were not ordinary people, both were old foxes, very patient.

Qyburn didn't know what had happened, but the Mountain could guess eight or nine out of ten. Since the raven message came from Bitterbridge, it meant that King Renly had been killed by King Stannis's shadow assassin.

"Renly is dead!" Cersei's voice was incredulous, and a smile slowly bloomed on her face. "Renly is dead, ha ha, ha ha ha."

Qyburn was shocked. Renly had gathered the forces of the Stormlands and the Reach at Bitterbridge, totaling 100,000, and he had suddenly died before even marching to King's Landing to fight?

Renly was handsome and dashing, the most beloved of the late King Robert Baratheon's three younger brothers; he was very much like Robert in his youth, deeply loved by the people of King's Landing. In this year of 299 AC, Renly was only twenty-two years old, in the prime of his life, but he had suddenly died.

"How did he die?" The Mountain asked.

"The letter has two versions of the story. One is that he was assassinated by his Rainbow Guard—the Blue Guard—Brienne of Tarth; the other is that he was killed by a mysterious shadow. Renly's fatal wound was on his neck, the sword cut through his fine gorget, severing his neck at the same time."

Cersei's lips curled into a sweet smile, and she handed the letter to Qyburn: "Read it to Lord Mountain."

"Queen Mother, I can recognize some words now," the Mountain said.

Cersei's sweet smile turned to astonishment, no less than her surprise from reading the letter: The Mountain knew how to read? How was that possible?

The Mountain said: "Queen Mother, my wife, Jeyne Westerling, taught me to read and write some words after we married."

Cersei looked at the Mountain: …………"

Qyburn handed the letter to the Mountain, who looked at it, and simply asked Maester Qyburn for the pronunciation of a few words, and then he read the long letter.

The letter said that after Renly was killed, the captain of the Rainbow Guard, Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, was grief-stricken and killed Robar Royce of the Red Guard and Emmon Cuy of the Yellow Guard in a rage.

When Renly was murdered, Robar of the Red Guard and Emmon of the Yellow Guard were guarding the door of King Renly's tent. The Knight of Flowers believed that the two Rainbow Guards had allowed the murderer to escape and killed them on the spot.

Robar Royce of the Red Guard was the son of Lord Yohn Royce of Runestone, a great house in the Vale, but because he was not the eldest son, he could not inherit the family's land and property, so he went out to seek his own fortune. Robar joined Renly's ranks and became one of Renly's seven Rainbow Guards. (Robar's younger brother, Waymar Royce, was the young knight who insisted on investigating the scene where the wildlings were killed in the first episode of the TV series and was killed by the White Walker.)

After Renly Baratheon declared himself king at Bitterbridge, he imitated the Red Keep's seven Kingsguard and established seven Rainbow Guards to protect the King. The cloaks of the seven members were named after one of the colors of the rainbow. This practice was also related to the Faith of the Seven, because the seven colors of the rainbow are a symbol of the Faith of the Seven.

Renly's seven Rainbow Guards: Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, was the captain of the guard: the Blue Guard; Brienne of Tarth: the Blue Guard; Ser Bryce Caron: the Orange Guard; Ser Emmon Cuy: the Yellow Guard; Ser Guyard Morrigen: the Green Guard; Ser Parmen Crane: the Purple Guard; Ser Robar Royce: the Red Guard.

The letter said that after Renly's death, Brienne disappeared; Emmon and Robar were killed in anger by Captain Loras, and the seven Rainbow Guards lost three members.

The Mountain said: "With Renly Baratheon dead, his army is leaderless, and the Rainbow Guard has also disintegrated. The 100,000 troops will inevitably split into two parts, the nobles of the Stormlands will still be loyal to the Baratheon family; while the nobles of the Reach will only be loyal to the Tyrell family."

"We have to tell the Small Council this good news this afternoon," Cersei said with a smile, in a great mood, her face glowing. Before the war even started, two major enemies had died.

The Mountain knew that King Stannis's journey to seize the Iron Throne had officially begun. Of the three Baratheon brothers, the late King Robert was dead, the third brother Renly was dead, and finally only he was left—Stannis Baratheon.

The Stormlands had been the ancestral base of the Baratheon family for three hundred years, therefore, Stannis Baratheon I of Dragonstone would officially become the heir to the Stormlands. Renly's Stormland vassals would all submit to Stannis Baratheon I.

When Renly was killed, his Blue Guard, Brienne, was dressing Renly in armor, preparing to formally fight his brother Stannis.

The two brothers both declared themselves king, and both wanted to persuade the other to become their vassal. Stannis received a letter written by Eddard Stark when he was Hand of the King, which stated that Joffrey was a bastard born from Cersei and Jaime's incest, and was not the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne. Eddard represented the North and acknowledged Stannis as the rightful heir to the late King Robert.

Renly had always looked down on his taciturn brother. Renly was more loved by the common people and the great nobles, his military strength was several times that of his brother, and he had the marriage support of the Reach's Tyrell family, his strength increased again, and he was unwilling to be a vassal under Stannis.

The two brothers, one was the rightful heir, but the other was stronger, and they argued with each other for the throne, agreeing to fight at Bitterbridge the next day. On the morning of the day of the battle, the Blue Guard Brienne was dressing Renly in armor, and personally saw a shadow that looked exactly like Stannis suddenly enter from outside the tent, drew a shadow sword and effortlessly cut through Renly's gorget like cutting cheese, severing Renly's neck. Because she and Renly were the only ones in the tent at the time, Brienne was accused of being the murderer, and the loyal Brienne had to flee.

This was a real shadow murder incident, the Mountain knew it well. This kind of killing magic came from the red priestess Melisandre, who had traveled across the sea from Essos, ten thousand miles away, to serve Stannis!

*

Afternoon, the Throne Room.

The Small Council was beaming with joy, all happily discussing whether Renly was killed by the rumored shadow or by his Blue Guard Brienne.

King Joffrey was especially excited, squirming in his chair. He asserted that Stannis Baratheon would also die a horrible death. The rebellious traitors will all die a horrible death, either killing each other, or being caught by Joffrey and having their heads chopped off by the King's Justice and stuck on the spear tips on the walls of the Red Keep.

The Mountain had no interest in the Small Council's rambling, he said: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, Hand of the King, with Renly dead, the nobles of the Stormlands have only one path left, which is to serve Stannis. Stannis only had a strong navy before, but now he has a strong army. The navy will enter the Blackwater from the sea to attack us, and the army will gather north from the Stormlands, come out of the King's Road in the Kingswood, cross the Blackwater and attack King's Landing. We have to prepare for a big battle, and King's Landing currently needs more grain, supplies, manpower, and coin."

Cersei said, "The Riverlands, the North, and the Westerlands are at war, the Stormlands and the Reach are in rebellion. The military supplies we need can only be obtained by conscripting grain, soldiers, and materials from the nobles in the Crownlands. What do you think, Lord Hand?"

"I agree to conscripting grain, soldiers, and materials in the Crownlands," Tyrion said.

"Then please have the King issue a written order, stamped with the Hand's seal. I will go to the territories of the great nobles in the Crownlands to requisition grain and supplies," the Mountain said.

Tyrion quickly reached an agreement with the King. The great nobles of the Crownlands had prospered and flourished for over a decade, enjoying wealth and prestige. It was time for those fellows to bleed a little. With the Mountain going, who would dare say no?