The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Mountain pushed back his mask, which allowed him to breathe easier and see better. The enemy archers had retreated, and the Mountain felt safe. "Priestess Dolthy Quentina, what tribe are you from?"

"The Forka tribe."

"What is the name of the young leader?"

"Joyce Forka."

"I'm still a little confused. Why did he order his eight guards to cut down our banner?"

"If you have no banner in your hearts, no one will try to protect it. People from the outside world have come to our peninsula with the three-dragon banner, offering high prices to hire warriors. As soon as our warriors snatched the banner, they offered it up with both hands."

"The retreat was only because we didn't want to clash with you. No one would know that you were testing us, and with lives."

"The warriors who try to snatch the banner have been chosen and tested by the gods. Most warriors are not qualified for such supreme glory."

"But this time, all your banner-snatching warriors died."

"They died without regret. Lord, they have also gained eternal life, and your black stone banner bearer has also gained eternal life. Before the gods, who will not die without devout faith? And they did not die; they went to the temple of the Blood God."

The Mountain was silent.

The banner-snatching warriors regarded death as an honor, and the opportunity was rare.

The Mountain hoped that these wonderful opportunities would be left to others as much as possible, and that he and the Cleganes would best help others.

If Jani hadn't seen through this banner-snatching trick, the Mountain believed he wouldn't have wanted to engage in a full-scale conflict directly. If they just came to cut down two flagpoles, then let them cut them down. But if they were really allowed to cut them down, that would be the beginning of the disaster...

The people on Claw Peninsula have strange and unconventional thought patterns, Jani had warned.

"We all have special feelings for the Targaryen family, Priestess Dolthy Quentina. In the name of our shared reverence for dragons, can I release you and Joyce Forka?"

"You are already the most sincere friend of our Forka tribe, Lord," said Dolthy Quentina.

"But once you are out of my control, will you put us to death? After all, you swore to let the crows peck at all of our corpses."

"That was before you told me that the dragons had been reborn. Did you say the name of the dragon family revival person is Daenerys Targaryen?!"

"Yes, I swear in the name of the gods and the honor of my family that the name I said is true."

"Thank you very much, Lord, for being so frank in telling us the name of the new king of the Targaryen family, and the news of the dragons' rebirth. On Claw Peninsula, Dolthy Quentina is willing to lead you and ensure your safety."

"Priestess Dolthy Quentina, in the name of the Blood God, I trust your piety; but Joyce Forka wants to get my Ice Sword, and his eyes tell me that he also wants to steal my wife, Jani Westerling. Can I trust him?"

The Mountain's gaze was like a torch!

Although he didn't understand the secrets of the Blood God, nor the power of the Seven Gods, and had no close feelings for Melisandre's Red God, he had eyes to see, a heart to think, and a mind to judge. Jaqen H'ghar, the Faceless Man, and Syrio Forel, the dancing master, had repeatedly told Arya Stark about these things concerning wisdom.

"Lord, since you already trust me and have told me the secret of the dragons, I will naturally order Joyce Forka to dispel the greed in his heart and sever his love for your esteemed wife."

The Mountain looked at Dolthy Quentina. He believed she could do it, but he still had to prepare for the worst: "Priestess Dolthy Quentina, I still hope that you and Joyce Forka can accompany us to the lands of the Warner family."

"As you wish, Lord."

Dolthy Quentina turned her head and spoke to Joyce Forka in the local language for a long time.

Joyce Forka said in the common tongue: "Lord Mountain, the Blood God guided you to Claw Peninsula, and the Dragon God connected you and us. You are already our friends. The Forka people only snatch the lives of enemies and the property of guests, and will not attack friends and family."

He looked at Jani in the carriage, who was beautiful and refined, yet not lacking in heroic spirit: "Madam, when the moonlight in the sky fills the night sky, the stars will all be filled with love. Please allow me to hide this love in my heart."

Dolthy Quentina said, "Duke, Madam Jani, in the name of the Blood God, Joyce Forka has no blasphemous thoughts towards the madam."

The Mountain and Jani exchanged glances, knowing that the time was right: "Captain Elin, untie Chief Joyce's ropes and give him a horse."

Joyce Forka's ropes were untied, and the wildness and ferocity in his eyes disappeared. The pure gaze of a child from the mountains returned to his pupils: "Lord Mountain, can I ride back on my own horse?"

Joyce's horse was very handsome, pure brown, and its fur shone like satin, as if it had been oiled.

Even the Mountain's carefully selected steed was inferior to Joyce's thoroughbred.

"As you wish," said the Mountain.

"We Forka tribe respect Priestess Dolthy Quentina, and I also hope that she can ride back on her own mount."

The Mountain glanced at Joyce Forka, whose left face was so swollen that he couldn't see his eyes. This young man was thinking of Dolthy Quentina in every way. Why? It couldn't be that he had taken a fancy to Dolthy Quentina. The priestess was like a god in his heart. But he was so protective of her that the Mountain was always sensitive to a trace of deliberate flattery.

"Priestess Dolthy Quentina, would you also like to ride back on your mount?"

"Yes, if you agree, Lord."

The Dolthy Priestess and the Mountain rode together. She was a priestess and a woman.

Witches who believe in the Blood God are not estranged from men. Jani's branch is descended from the bloodline of witches.

"As you wish, Priestess Dolthy Quentina," said the Mountain, adding a respectful term to his words.

Since Priestess Dolthy Quentina was indeed of high status, it would be better to respect her.

The team moved forward. After half an hour, they walked out of the mountain road between two mountains. Ahead was an open flat land. Looking into the left-hand side, you couldn't see the edge at a glance. It was an increasingly wide trumpet-shaped valley plain. On both sides of the plain were yellow-brown cliffs, as if they had been cut out by giants with axes, standing vertically and bare.

The group came to the entrance of the valley plain. A small stream passed through the valley mouth and flowed into the hills and mountains that stretched to the distance on the right.

The Mountain looked into the distance. He saw green grass, flowers, trees, and crops in the valley, like a paradise.

"Lord, from here to the left, turn into the valley plain. After fifty miles, you will see our tribe's small village. After a hundred miles, you will reach our tribe's Forka Market. The widest part of the plain is a hundred miles, where we Forka people have lived for generations," said Dolthy Quentina.

"If you go straight from here, you will enter the territory of the Warner family," said the young leader Joyce Forka.

*

Joyce Forka's right wrist was hanging around his neck with a bandage. Jani had fixed the fractured wrist bone with two wooden strips wrapped in soft cloth. This way, whether he was riding a horse or walking, the injured bone was fixed and would not hurt due to friction.

Jani was proficient in medicine, and setting broken bones was a minor matter. However, for a wrist bone that had been forcibly broken by the Mountain like Joyce's, it was best to open it up and remove the small bone fragments, otherwise it would be difficult to heal.

Qyburn was an expert in this field.

However, judging from the expressions of Joyce himself and Dolthy Quentina, they didn't seem to care about such injuries. It was possible that Dolthy Quentina had some secret bone-setting techniques when they returned.

Jani also applied herbal medicine to Joyce's left face. Along the way, the swelling-reducing effect of the medicine was very obvious.

The skills of a maester and the skills of a priestess were completely different. Jani wanted to use the skills of a maester to alleviate some of Joyce's pain first, and Dolthy didn't think it would affect her authority. On the contrary, she was very interested in watching Jani simply treat Joyce's injuries.

*

"Priestess Dolthy, Chief Joyce, can we invite you to the lands of the Warner family?" said the Mountain. Having hostages in hand would be safer, especially the priestess.

Before he could finish speaking, two riders galloped out of the valley, shouting and yelling from afar. The Mountain, Jani, and the Clegane soldiers looked at each other, unable to understand what they were shouting.

Dolthy Quentina, Joyce Forka, and the hundred-man cavalry warriors of the Forka tribe were all overjoyed and excited, as if a great good thing had fallen from the sky and smashed on their heads with a crack.

The sound of horses' hooves rang out. A hundred-man team of Forka cavalry, which had been slowly following behind the Clegane army, also let out a series of shouts, galloped around the Clegane army, and roared towards the valley plain. The centurion and two guards came to Joyce Forka and Dolthy Quentina, excitedly shouting and yelling for a while. Dolthy and Joyce also shouted back and forth for a while. Then, the centurion and two guards shouted and rode away.

Two cavalrymen who had come to report rushed up, vying to give the priestess and the young leader a series of rapid-fire reports. They spat, their faces red and their necks thick with excitement. The two horses under their crotches were very handsome, but they were panting heavily from running, with white foam at their mouths.

The Mountain, Dunsan, Polliver, Brienne, Zelli, and the others were all dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what these people were saying so excitedly.

Everyone looked extremely excited. The hundred cavalrymen around the young leader had long been impatient, unable to bear it, and just wanted to break free and gallop into the valley.

The Mountain's three hundred-man cavalry teams and two hundred carriages were completely ignored by these people.

Finally, Joyce Forka waved his hand, and the two cavalrymen who had come to report showed happy expressions, turned their horses' heads, shouted, and galloped into the valley.

Joyce Forka's face was flushed, and he looked at Dolthy Quentina with excitement in his eyes. He said in the common tongue, "Lord Mountain, Madam Jani, the Warner family's territory is only a few miles away. I will send my captain Lancelot Forka to escort you into the Warner territory. The respected priestess and I have very, very important urgent matters and must return to Forka Market immediately."

The Mountain glanced at Jani, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

The Mountain said, "In the name of the Blood God, with the blessings of the gods, since we are already trusted friends, go ahead. May you be blessed by the Blood God and get everything you want."

"Thank you, Lord Mountain." Joyce Forka seemed to have forgotten about his broken hand and face injury. He shouted and spurred his horse to gallop away.

His hundred-man team immediately followed, carrying the female priest, like a whirlwind, roaring away. The shouts echoed through the valley.

A burly man and two cavalrymen stayed behind, staring at the backs of their comrades as they rode away, wishing they could chase after them immediately.

This burly man was obviously the young leader's guard captain, Lancelot Forka.

"You can go too," said the Mountain.

Lancelot Forka was overjoyed. It seemed that happiness had come too suddenly. He was almost grateful enough to jump off his horse, kneel on one knee, and give thanks, but time was too precious, and he had to catch up.

"Lord Mountain, Madam Jani, everyone generals, I...am very grateful..." He had already turned his warhorse when he opened his mouth to speak. By the time he said the last word, the three horses had run far away, and the last sentence was shouted from horseback.

Brienne looked at the dust raised by the galloping warhorses like smoke: "What happened in the Forka tribe?"

Polliver shrugged his shoulders: "I guess their lord had a son, or maybe a daughter."

"I think their Forka lord married the Blood God," Ser Gratten said frivolously.

"These barbarians are always mysterious, and their gods are also strange," said Dunsan.

"Lord, Madam, to be honest, I want to follow them and see," said Angai. "Their priestess said we were friends, and didn't even ask us if we wanted to go together."

"I have no interest in their gods and affairs," said Elin. "Haven't you noticed something else? If we can breed their thoroughbred horses, our cavalry's combat power will be truly invincible."

"Their horse-breeding secrets are never passed on," said Jani.

"We can buy them," said Elin, "but I guess I probably can't afford a horse at all."

"I would also like to have a horse like theirs. I would be willing to buy it even for fifty gold dragons. I like white," Brienne said with a tone full of envy.

"I wish I could have one, any color would do," said Zelli.

"Maybe we can buy one or two," said Jani, "but don't forget, we are here with the mission of conscription. The Prime Minister gave us two months to build a navy and one month to wipe out all the pirates in the Blackwater Rush and the territory's waters."

"Conscription? We need navy soldiers, we have to go to the seaside fishing villages," said Ser Gratten. "It's still hundreds of miles from here to the sea, and we will pass through more tribes."

Jani said, "Ser Gratten, don't worry. When Lord Mountain takes Kom Warner as a squire and asks the Warners to distribute the supplies according to the list to the families of hundreds of warriors who died in battle, we will get the support of these people. At that time, whether it's conscription or buying horses, it will become easier."

The Mountain looked at his soldiers: "George Gahl, the captain and commander of the Royal War Hammer, has three children in the Gahl tribe. I promised Captain George Gahl that I would take his son as an adopted son. I think, with this relationship, we will also get the support of the Gahl family."

"The Gull family is in a large town by the sea, a town made up of more than a dozen fishing villages, on the easternmost side of the peninsula," Ser Gerold Hightower said. "When I served as a courtier under King Robert, I managed the fleet logistics for a while, just a minor official doing odd jobs. I'm familiar with George Gull; he always hoped his whole family could leave the peninsula and come to live in King's Landing."

"Is that so?" Aylin asked. "People from the peninsula want to leave their homes and enter King's Landing?"

"Yes. The peninsula is barren, and wars often break out between tribes. Some young people from the tribes have had the opportunity to visit King's Landing, and a considerable number of them are not averse to the outside world; they don't want to live in their hometowns. These people are willing to come out and be soldiers."

*

The Mountain led the Clegane men into Warner's territory.

In Warner's territory, there were more rocks than soil, more hills than plains. In comparison, the plains of the Folca Vale seemed like paradise.

The road became increasingly difficult, and ahead, the carriages could no longer pass.

"Leave the carriages, put the goods on horseback," the Mountain ordered.

With one cavalryman having two horses, plus the horses pulling the carriages, the group transformed into a pack train delivering goods to the countryside.

Half an hour later, the group passed through a dense forest. A stench wafted from the roadside. A corpse, dressed in ordinary clothes and barefoot, lay in the roadside grass.

Brienne dismounted, turned the corpse over, and exclaimed in surprise. The generals all became alert.

The Mountain, being tall, saw from horseback a corpse with half its face missing. Judging by the horrific wound, it looked like some wild beast had gnawed off half the person's face, but it was unknown whether it had been bitten off before or after death.

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