The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Rosamund, born in 290 AC, was nine years old this year and looked just like Princess Myrcella Baratheon in the Red Keep of King's Landing.

Her father, Earl Odo, was in King's Landing and did not lead his troops back after the Battle of the Blackwater.

After Daven Lannister committed the crime of massacring innocent people and was frightened away by the Mountain's reputation, nine-year-old Rosamund had to sit on the city lord's throne.

“Report!” A guard shouted as he rushed in, panting, his voice panicked.

“Don't panic!” Maester Bancroft's voice trembled. “Is the Mountain here?”

“Yes, Maester, the Mountain is leading his cavalry and has appeared on the Golden Road. Centurion Balo Lannister has ordered me to ask the city lord, should we close the city gates or not? Should we fight or welcome them? If we welcome them, should we assemble the garrison? Do the city lord and Maester need to go outside the city to greet them respectfully?”

Bancroft looked at the city lord on the high platform—Rosamund Lannister. The city lord had already covered her beautiful face with her hands… Obviously, the city lord had given her answer, she was afraid of the light!

“Welcoming or fighting, what do you think we should choose?” the Maester asked the messenger. He himself didn't know what he was asking.

“I don’t know, my lord.” A foolproof answer, deeply embodying the essence of passing the buck.

The Maester felt small ants crawling on his back, tickling him, but he knew those weren't ants, they were cold sweats.

Bancroft wouldn't be so afraid and失态 of anyone else. The Mountain, a synonym for terror and cruelty, he wouldn't have to fear him before either, there was still Duke Tywin above him, but now…

“Soldier, what are you holding in your hand?”

“Uh, it's the Clegane banner.”

“Let me see!”

The banner was unfurled, a blood-red unicorn with a sword in its mouth!

“Maester, this is the Red Smoke Beast, this is the Ice Sword, the Mountain's new family crest design, he has abandoned the three-dog family crest. Silverhall of the Serrett family, Deep Den of the Lydden family, the Crag of the Westerling family, Fair Isle of the Farman family, Greenfield of the Greenfield family, and some other small nobles, the Clegane family's banner has been planted on their castles.”

Anger rose in Bancroft's heart, but fear was more powerful than anger, so his voice was not loud and still lacked energy, with a mysterious tremor that could only be understood implicitly.

There was a concern pressing on everyone's heart, but no one had the courage to say it out loud: a massacre!

Would the Mountain massacre the city?

It was possible for the Mountain to do anything that was outrageous, cruel, bloodthirsty, terrifying, explosive, or bizarre!

“What about the Lannister family's golden lion flag?”

“It has been replaced by the Clegane family's banner.”

Holding this banner in his hand, the Maester understood that the garrison soldiers were ready to 'welcome the Mountain'. They were actually just sending a messenger to inform the city lord, expressing the soldiers' desire not to die, and hoping to save their lives with this Clegane banner.

“Maester, Centurion Balo Lannister also asked me to convey the opinions of their soldiers. They are worried that if the golden lion flag of the Lannister family is still flying on the walls of Lannisport, it might arouse the Mountain's anger and lead him to attack the city. Miss Rosamund Lannister…” The messenger's half-spoken words were obviously more powerful than saying everything.

The Maester's face turned pale!

The Maester knew very well what kind of beast the Mountain was capable of.

Isn't it the responsibility of these soldiers to protect Rosamund Lannister? Now they want to attribute all the responsibility to me, Bancroft?!

Protect Miss Rosamund Lannister, if not by swords, then what? Abandon the city and run away? What if the Mountain, considering Earl Odo's face, had no intention of attacking the city, and another city lord abandoned the city and fled, wouldn't that be offering such a large port city to the Mountain with both hands, or begging for it…

“Change the flag!” Maester Bancroft said.

“Yes, Maester!” The messenger's expression relaxed, and he ran out quickly. Soon, the sound of horses' hooves exploded, and a voice shouted in the city, getting farther and farther away, “Change the flag, the city lord has ordered, change the flag!”

They are all talents at shifting responsibility!

If there are any mistakes in the future, if the Lannister family makes a comeback, this incident of ordering the flag change has nothing to do with the garrison soldiers… it was ordered by the city lord… and the city lord is just nine-year-old Rosamund Lannister, then, without a doubt, the responsibility lies entirely with her assistant, Maester Bancroft.

The knights and centurions of the garrison are all Lannister branches. Lannisport has always been in the hands of the Lannister branches. Without this bloodline, Earl Odo could not have become the city lord and lord of Lannisport.

The garrison was not Daven Lannister's new army and did not participate in Daven's massacre of Clegane's village. Nevertheless, facing the Mountain, any excessive caution is right!

*

The Mountain rode the unicorn and led his army, accompanied by his little attendant Komo Warner, adopted son Landon Gahl, adopted son Jendley Clegane knight, Master Tob Mott, Atley Mott, Madam Eddie, Dan, Nina, Captain Eryn knight, bow rider General Anjay, bow rider General Julie, Crab Claw Peninsula young leader Joyce Foca, Solo Curtis, Senji Leo, Dewey Warner…

His death squad was behind these leaders, two maids were in the middle of the guard group, they were Anna and Sansa, and a little girl Belle who was with her mother Anna!

Sansa's package was tied behind her horse, with a skull inside. She gradually got used to the skull. During lunch breaks or when she was in a good mood, if she had time alone, she could look into the two black eye sockets of the skull and tell the skull that she was not afraid of it at all.

Returning to Clegane's village, going on the Golden Road, would pass through Lannisport. If going north along the coastal road, it would be to the Lannister family's Casterly Rock. If going south along the coastal road, it would pass through Crackclaw Point of the Crabb family, and the destination would be Highgarden of the Tyrell family, the lord of the Reach. Turning east from Lannisport would lead to Clegane's village.

From afar, the Mountain saw his Clegane banner flying on the walls of Lannisport. The Lannister family's golden lion flag was gone.

Changing the flag was a declaration of power that the Mountain started with the Serrett family: the Warden of the West was the greatest in the West.

The Mountain's first assistant—Countess Sheryl Debbie of Serrett—had already helped the Mountain plant several Clegane banners on the castles of other nobles, and this action was still ongoing.

The Crag in the north of the West had responded positively. Reynold and Stinky Mouth, who had been forced away by Kevan, had led their troops back to the Crag. The golden lion flag on the city wall had been removed and replaced with the Clegane banner, and he ordered his vassals to change their flags one after another.

This move affected all the nobles, large and small, north of the Mountain, who had been conquered twenty cities in one night. Overnight, except for the Marbrand family of Ashemark, all the other nobles, large and small, changed their flags one after another.

Fair Isle of the Farman family in the Sunset Sea to the west received the raven released by the Mountain in Silverhall, so he ordered the entire island to change its flag—Earl Farman was the first to surrender and surrender to the Mountain on the top of Dragonstone Mountain in the city-breaking battle, under the inquiry of 'Tyrion Lannister' carrying a blood-stained axe.

The Farman family's soldiers are now in an awkward position in King's Landing. They were briefly incorporated into the Mountain's army. Later, after the war ended, Tywin was thrown into the black prison. After negotiations between the Mountain, Cersei, and Tyrell, the Farman Earl's soldiers were re-incorporated into the Western Army and now belong to Kevan Lannister.

As the various families who received the news changed their flags passively or actively, the news naturally spread throughout the West like wind.

*

The gates of Lannisport were wide open. Garrison soldiers stood on the city walls, bowing and paying their respects to the Mountain's army. On both sides of the city gate, centurions led their soldiers to pay attention, the formation was neat and tidy.

Above their heads flew the Clegane banner and the Lannisport sailboat flag. The Lannister golden lion flag was gone.

This is a signal!

A signal of Lannisport's surrender, and also a major sign that the Mountain's action to require the nobles of the West to change their flags would be fully implemented. After all, the largest city, the most populous, and the most powerful place loyal to the Lannisters is Lannisport.

Lannisport has changed its flag, this is a sign of the times. If the situation reverses in the future, other nobles can completely blame Lannisport. If they still do not take the initiative to change their flags, the Mountain will destroy these families and completely erase them from the map of the West.

*

The Mountain is back!

Although it seemed that there were not many cavalry, less than a thousand riders, but the news spread, and all the people, merchants, soldiers, knights, and lords in the city were uneasy.

On the street, people hurried on their way, and there were fewer and fewer pedestrians, as if in an instant, the pedestrians on the street had disappeared!

The crying child's mouth was covered by his mother, and she made a gesture with wary eyes, asking the child to keep quiet. Tears hung from the corners of the child's eyes, and his eyes were suspicious. Could it be the Others that his mother said were coming?!

The children fell silent!

The doors and windows of every household closed with a series of bangs.

Merchants took down the curtains, moved all the goods into the room, put on the door panels, and closed the windows.

In the western harbor, many merchant ships sailed away from the port, fearing being affected by the Mountain's city massacre.

A sense of crisis!

*

“Duke.” Centurion Balo Lannister did not dare to ride forward to greet him. He dismounted first and then stepped forward. “City Lord Miss Rosamund Lannister and all the garrison soldiers of the city, welcome you into the city.”

The Mountain rode on the Red Smoke Beast, looking down at the centurion, then looked up at the Clegane banner on the city wall: “Centurion, what is your name?”

“Balo Lannister, my lord.”

“Balo Lannister, are you a knight?”

“I am not a knight, my lord.”

“Oh! Do you know who came up with the idea to change the flag on the city wall?”

This was a difficult question to answer.

Balo Lannister came up with the idea, but what if the Mountain was not happy? Maybe he would prefer the feeling of changing the flag himself? But maybe he wanted to reward the person who came up with the idea?

In any case, first seek no fault!

“Returning to the Duke, it was the city lord who ordered the flag to be changed. You are the Warden of the West, so it is appropriate to change to the Clegane banner of your family.”

The latter sentence lightly flattered him, with just the right amount of strength.

The Mountain didn't like this kind of shrewd person, but as someone who wanted to achieve great things, he needed to accept wallflowers, softies, tough guys, and loyal people, just like the sea, regardless of whether you are a big river or a small river, it accepts them all.

“Oh!”

The Mountain looked at Rosamund Lannister on horseback at the city gate. The little girl was very beautiful, but she looked pitiful and about to cry. The guard captain next to her, whom the Mountain knew, was named Gena Lannister. The captain and Maester Bancroft were whispering something to Rosamund, with anxious expressions on their faces, but Rosamund was shrinking back, and the warhorse was also afraid of the Red Smoke Beast and refused to step forward.

The Mountain was a duke, with a status far higher than Rosamund Lannister, and he was also the Warden of the West. As the city lord, Rosamund Lannister should have come to greet the Mountain, but she was seized by fear and could not move.

The Mountain shouted: “Don’t make things difficult for a little girl, let’s go back to Clegane, don’t enter the city.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the soldiers above and below the city gate all breathed a sigh of relief in secret!

The shadow of being massacred had pressed on these people's heads for too long and too heavily!

“I know that some of the soldiers who massacred Clegane's village were incorporated into the garrison and also changed their surnames. Centurion Balo Lannister, Guard Captain Gena Lannister, Maester Bancroft, I order you to find these people within a day and lock them in prison to await a fair trial. If you can't do it, I will cut off your three heads and replace them with three others.”

Suddenly, the whole place was silent, as if the sea breeze of the entire city had stopped!

The Mountain had his own eyes in the city! After Daven fled, the actions of the Lannisport people protecting the Lannisters never escaped the Mountain's eyes.

The Maester, centurion, captain, soldiers on the city wall, and soldiers under the city wall were all terrified.

Daven had fled, but the massacre had not disappeared because of his escape.

Balo Lannister suddenly remembered that in the Mountain's army, there was an infantry leader, Chiswick the Big Head, who was the biggest rogue leader in Lannisport. His various relationships in the city were intricate and still affected the status and fate of thieves, rogues, gamblers, robbers, and other gang organizations in Lannisport.

With the Mountain's fierce reputation that surpassed the seven kingdoms, it was surprisingly magnanimous not to vent his anger on the lives of the innocent people of Lannisport.

However, but, that was the lives of a thousand soldiers.

“Maester, centurion, guard captain, can you do it?” the Mountain said lightly, and backhanded the astonishingly large hilt of the sword on his back, clang, the Ice Greatsword was unsheathed, and a cold light shot out.

“If you can’t do it, I will replace you with three who can!” The Mountain’s eyes looked at Balo Lannister. Without a doubt, as long as Balo Lannister answered carelessly, his head would fall to the ground immediately. If the garrison resisted, the Mountain would surely slaughter the two thousand garrisons!

There was a sound of weapons being unsheathed and colliding with armor, and all the soldiers around the Mountain had their weapons in hand, so fast that the soldiers above and below the city wall were shocked! Among these soldiers, every two of them was a murderer. Since there was no way out, some soldiers became angry from the heart and evil grew from the edge of their courage.