The Mountain of Ice and Fire

With Penrose's help, Lady Laura slowly stood up, her left leg fractured, crushed by a horse.

Penrose also had multiple sword wounds, with several terrifying gashes on his armor.

"Jonisa, Penrose, Whit, Cotton, help Lady Laura lie down," Jeyne said. She could see that Lady Laura's leg injury was serious and needed bandaging.

Jonisa, Whit, and Cotton helped Lady Laura sit down again, then forced her to lie down.

"What are you doing?" Lady Laura just wanted to get away as soon as possible.

Jeyne didn't answer, squatted down, and took off the lady's battle boots. The lady was about to faint from the pain, the friction of the broken bones was unbearable.

Jeyne's small knife smoothly cut off the lady's trouser leg, her fingers skillfully pressing on the broken bone position. Lady Laura's mouth was stuffed with a soft towel, and her face was covered in cold sweat, her whole body exhausted.

Jeyne remained calm, found the right position, took the bandage from the guard, and skillfully wrapped Lady Laura's broken leg.

"Madam, rest for a while, the pain will soon lessen, and you can leave."

"Lady Jeyne," Jonisa said, feeling sorry for her mother, "Give her some poppy milk."

Poppy milk can relieve pain and help people fall asleep quickly.

"Poppy milk can cause some damage to the body," Jeyne said. "It's best not to use poppy milk. Lady Laura, do you need some poppy milk?"

"No!" Lady Laura weakly but firmly refused.

"I'll mix you some dream wine," Jeyne said. Back then, Count Gavin wanted to cultivate a talented daughter to marry a powerful noble to revitalize the family, so he not only cultivated her skills in piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as her knowledge of history and customs, but also allowed Jeyne to study medicine.

The blood witch's medical skills were also very sophisticated, especially in dealing with hemostasis, stopping bleeding with a touch.

Lady Laura drank half a bowl of dream wine, and in just a short while, the pain in her broken leg was greatly relieved, giving her the illusion that she could stand up and walk.

"Rest for two months, and don't use too much force while the broken bone is growing. Use a wheelchair for the first month and crutches for the second month," Jeyne instructed.

"Humph!" Lady Laura responded. In King's Landing, she had her own maester.

The sound of horses' hooves rang outside the tent, and a cavalryman reported: "Lady Jeyne, Brienne and the other five generals have returned."

Laura, Penrose, Jonisa, and others were immediately on edge, wondering if Oberyn was dead or not.

Jeyne said, "Where is Prince Oberyn Martell?"

"The five generals brought back the Prince's little steed, armor, spear, cloak, and other items, but they did not bring back Prince Oberyn."

"Oh?" Jeyne was a little surprised.

Lady Laura, Jonisa, and Penrose simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

Presumably, Prince Oberyn was chased so urgently that he had to abandon his cloak, armor, and other items on the ground to confuse the pursuers and mislead them.

The group came out of the tent, with Jonisa and Penrose supporting Lady Laura on either side. In the other tent, eight knights and soldiers of House Brymond were also brought out, stripped of their armor and cloaks.

Lady Laura was saddened: "Lady Jeyne, what about our comrades?"

"These are all the Dornish prisoners here, madam. I'm returning them all to you."

"The rest were all killed?" The corners of Lady Laura's eyes were wet, unwilling to believe it. This was a battle that angered the entire Dornish nobility.

"No, Prince Oberyn is very powerful, he escaped."

Lady Laura was secretly saddened and speechless!

The group passed through the middle passage of the spear formation and came to Tyrion.

Tyrion had dismounted and was waiting for Lady Jeyne to hand over the 'Dornish criminals' for him to take away.

Brienne walked over and knelt on one knee: "Lady Jeyne, I picked up Oberyn's spear."

The spear was completely black, more than two meters long, and the shaft looked like it was made of fine iron, with a red viper pattern carved on it, as if a red viper was wrapped around the spear shaft, its tail at the grip and its head at the front end, its tongue being the spearhead.

The spearhead of this viper spear shone, reflecting a pure silver-like light in the sun. The spearhead was made of fine steel.

A rare good spear, even the shaft was extraordinary. Without divine strength in one's arms, one could not wield it.

This spear had an indecent name like its owner: Red Viper! When the Dornish people called this spear, they omitted the word 'Red' and called it Viper, a famous Dornish spear!

"Brienne, take this spear for now. Try it out and see if it suits you."

"Thank you, madam." Brienne stood up, held the Viper, and stood beside Jeyne.

Brienne was skilled with longswords, and Jeyne was unsure whether she was proficient with spears. If she encountered a knight who was most skilled with spears in the future, she would reward him with this famous Viper spear.

"Lady Jeyne, since this is Prince Oberyn's spear, hand it over to me," Tyrion said.

"I'm sorry, Lord Hand, I will personally return this spear to Prince Oberyn the next time I meet him, as long as the Dornish put down their hatred and are willing to reconcile with us."

Tyrion wanted to laugh out loud: After killing members of the nine great families of Dorne, either the heads of the families or their heirs, Jeyne still dreamed of being able to reconcile with the Dornish, what a naive idea.

"Alright," Tyrion squeezed out a smile.

Chiswyck came over and presented Oberyn's cloak to Jeyne. The cloak had been almost torn to pieces by swords, but it was still recognizable as a cloak.

Rorge presented Oberyn's leg armor to Jeyne. There were many scratches on the armor.

Polliver presented Oberyn's dented helmet and tattered armor to Jeyne, with many bright copper pieces with gaps hanging on it.

Sweetmouth presented Oberyn's little steed to Lady Jeyne. The little steed was covered in blood, with seven arrow wounds on its body, and the arrows had not been removed.

Tyrion's heart was in his throat. From these broken cloaks, gapped armors, and blood-soaked warhorses, he could infer that Oberyn was seriously injured and not far from death.

"Where is Prince Oberyn?" Jeyne asked.

This was a question that everyone was concerned about.

Sweetmouth Rafford Crakehall said apologetically: "Madam, after we chased into the forest, we found that Oberyn had escaped along a weed-covered path. We chased down the path, and at every fork in the road, we could see these things that Oberyn had abandoned, but we ignored them, knowing that they were deliberately abandoned by Oberyn to lure us to split up and chase him. The five of us agreed that we would just follow the hoofprints. When we caught up with the little steed, the horse was empty, and there was no Lord Oberyn on it."

Brienne said: "Madam, the five of us discussed it and were about to split up and continue chasing when we heard your order to return. We had no choice but to give up the pursuit and brought back the things that Oberyn had abandoned on the ground on our way back!"

Abandoning his cloak, armor, helmet, spear, and horse, Oberyn finally succeeded in leading the pursuers astray, while he himself escaped on foot in another direction.

To the east were endless hills and forests covering the mountains and plains, and it was not difficult to hide a person.

"I don't blame you for not being able to catch Prince Oberyn. Who would have thought that he would even abandon his horse and escape on foot?" Jeyne said. "All the things you seized from Oberyn are yours, this is the glory you deserve."

Tyrion looked at Jeyne, the adopted daughter of his father, his so-called sister. Jeyne had just said that she would return the spear to Prince Oberyn when they met again, but in the blink of an eye, she gave all the things Oberyn had abandoned to save his life to her generals, as if she had completely forgotten what she had just said.

*

Next, after a simple communication, the soldiers on both sides began to clean up the battlefield and clear the corpses.

In this battle, sixty-seven Crakehall spearmen died and over a hundred were injured; twenty-six heavy cavalrymen died and five were injured, most of the dead cavalrymen were killed by Oberyn alone, and Oberyn's famous spear pierced through armor without damaging the blade, comparable to Valyrian steel; twenty-one light cavalrymen died and over fifty were injured. There were no casualties among the archers.

Among the nine great families of Dorne, four family heads and three heirs were killed in battle; all the elite knights of the nine great families were killed in battle; all one thousand cavalrymen were killed in battle; only Oberyn escaped with injuries all over his body, and ten members of House Brymond were captured, including the head of the family Laura, the second son Penrose, three Brymond knights, and five Brymond soldiers.

Dickon Manwoody, the second son of House Manwoody, was bitten and injured by Fang in Flea Bottom, and did not participate in the battle, so he survived. The servants, laborers, grooms, and maesters of the various families did not participate in this pursuit and all escaped unscathed.

While the King's Landing soldiers and Crakehall soldiers were cleaning up the battlefield, Tyrion led Bronn, Podrick, Mace Tyrell, Kingsguard Osmund Kettleblack, and three gold cloaks into the eastern forest to search for Prince Oberyn Martell.

*

Harrenhal, a raven flew into the Tower of the King, landing on the long table.

The maester untied the parchment roll from the raven's leg. The wax seal was the red smoke beast and Ice, the maester handed the letter to Randyll Tarly, Randyll Tarly looked at the seal and did not dare to open it, and handed the letter to the Mountain beside him.

The Mountain was the highest military officer, as long as he was here, in front of the legion loyal to King Joffrey, he was the highest military officer, as long as he was happy, he could issue orders to Randyll Tarly.

The Mountain took the scroll, looked at it, and handed the letter to William Mooton beside him. William read the letter, shocked and surprised, and couldn't say a word.

Lord Mooton looked at the Mountain, the Mountain was expressionless, took the scroll, lit it on the candle, and the scroll burned into a ball of curled ashes.

Randyll Tarly's face was slightly displeased, and he reluctantly endured it.

*

The Mountain and Mooton's allied forces, Kingsguard Ilyn Payne and City Watch Commander Ben Buton's allied forces, Westerlands Addam Marbrand and Reach Redwyne brothers' allied forces, all chased the Brotherhood Without Banners north to the northern border fortress of Moat Cailin.

No one can break through the Northern Moat Cailin from the south. From ancient times to the present, only the Targaryen family flew over from the sky on dragons to break through the Northern defenses.

The Iron Islands legion stationed here was ambushed by Robb Stark with the help of the Crannogmen from the north and south, and Moat Cailin was captured. After the Northerners retook Moat Cailin, the Northern army, the Frey army, and the Bolton army, the three armies combined in one place, passed through hundreds of miles of the Neck swamp, and headed north to retake Winterfell.

At the Moat Cailin military fortress, only three hundred Northern archers made it impossible for thousands of people to advance an inch. A single path that could only accommodate two people to pass through was surrounded by vast waters and bottomless swamps. Seeing this situation, the Mountain ordered a retreat.

The Brotherhood Without Banners escaped the Neck and headed north, and the legions chasing them, from the Mountain to the Royal Justice Team, from the Westerlands army to the Reach army, all returned without success.

The Westerlands army and the Reach army returned to Harrenhal and followed Randyll Tarly's command to cross the Red Fork and attack the Riverlands lords; the Royal Justice Team and the King's Landing Garrison were ordered to return to King's Landing, while the Mountain, replied to the Hand that he would take Tom of Sevenstrings of the Brotherhood Without Banners back to King's Landing to report, but in fact he did not move a step. The Mountain's light cavalry and Mooton's mixed cavalry and infantry legions moved into Harrenhal, without saying they would leave or not, and just stayed there unreasonably.

Lord Randyll Tarly had no choice but to patiently coexist peacefully with 'Commander Mountain'. Fortunately, the Reach legion had one advantage, they did not lack food and grass. The Mountain and Mooton's allied forces moved into Harrenhal, eating and drinking well every day, then drilling the legion, while listening to Randyll Tarly's report on the Riverlands war.

*

The Mountain and Lord Mooton looked at the letter, and Mooton couldn't help but say: "Lord, I can't believe it."

"It's a letter my wife wrote to me!" The Mountain emphasized.

"Yes, it's not that I don't believe the lady, but in this way, the Dornish will never have peace with the Westerlands."

The Mountain tapped the table lightly with his finger, making a soft 'click' sound: "If the battlefield is in Dorne, we will lose; if the battlefield is in other places outside Dorne, we will win."

Lord Mooton pondered for a while: "Lord's meaning, if the Red Viper raises troops to retaliate in the future, he will fight us in places outside Dorne?"

The Mountain nodded: "If he dares to lead troops across the Reach and enter the Westerlands, that would be best, kill them all again!"

Randyll Tarly was confused and had no choice but to silently pick up his wine glass, feeling very depressed.

"Lord Hand agreed on a day to return to King's Landing, but when the time came, Lord did not appear in King's Landing, what will Lord Hand think?"

"Lord Hand would have been fine with just one glass of wine, but today he will drink three glasses, and his appetite will increase greatly, and a maid named Shae will have to endure his anger at night."

Mooton smiled slightly.

Tyrion's name for debauchery was well-known, and he didn't expect that he had recently taken a fancy to a maid, a step forward!

Randyll Tarly silently continued to drink, but he couldn't taste the wine.

Fluttering!

Another raven flew into the window.

Randyll Tarly looked at the raven, glanced at the unreasonable Mountain, and silently touched his wine glass again.

The maester untied the letter from the raven's leg, looked at the wax seal, it was the rose badge of House Tyrell. Was this letter to be delivered to General Randyll or Lord Mountain?

Randyll was the commander-in-chief of the attack on the Riverlands, but the Mountain was the Master of War of the Seven Kingdoms, Randyll's superior.

The Mountain reached out and took the letter from the hesitant maester, crushed the wax seal, and opened it to read. Randyll Tarly stared at the Mountain, he could tell from the maester's hesitation that this letter was mostly written to him, but, you can't reason with a superior like the Mountain...

Here, he is the ultimate authority!

After reading the letter, the Mountain tossed it to Randyll Tarly: "General, a letter for you."

Randyll felt a surge of annoyance. A letter for him, but you read it! Ordinary letters were fine, but what if there were secret words not meant for outsiders…

Randyll reached out, grabbed the letter, unfolded it, read it, and was as shocked as Lord Mooton, rendered speechless.

The letter was from Lord Mace Tyrell to Randyll.

The letter stated that the Dornishmen, in pursuit of the Clegane forces as they withdrew from King's Landing, had been ambushed and utterly annihilated. Only ten members of House Blackmont were captured and released. Prince Oberyn alone escaped, but he was severely wounded, with dozens of sword, spear, and arrow wounds to his head, arms, chest, back, waist, abdomen, and legs. His life hung by a thread, and he was currently receiving joint treatment from multiple maesters in the Red Keep, with his fate uncertain…

Seeing Randyll Tarly's shocked expression, Mooton immediately understood that the two letters were about the same event. Lady Jeyne, in the hills a hundred miles from King's Landing, had ambushed and nearly wiped out the thousand Dornish cavalry from the nine major houses. Many family heads and heirs were killed. Dorne suffered a great loss in this battle, with the core members of the most powerful nine houses almost completely wiped out…

Randyll Tarly was incredulous. He had long heard of Oberyn's bravery. There was a saying that had spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms: 'The Dornish warriors are as dense as sand, but only one is the best in the land' – praising Prince Oberyn Martell's unparalleled martial prowess!

Randyll Tarly was shocked, unable to recover for a long time. The maester beside him couldn't resist and took a peek at the letter, immediately stunned as well.

Oberyn, who had experienced many battles, was defeated so thoroughly by a noble lady who had never fought a war, and his entire army was wiped out. How was this possible? There must be something wrong!

Wouldn't Dorne be in great chaos because of this?

The maester glanced at the Mountain. This was an evil god not to be trifled with, and his wife was a talented general born to strategize?

Unbelievable! Unacceptable! Inconceivable!

*

"Lord, if Dorne raises an army in rebellion, the Reach will be their first target," Randyll Tarly said to the Mountain.

"The Reach has General Tarly, a famous general of the Seven Kingdoms. If the Dornish dare to cross the border, you will lead your troops to fight them back, won't you?!"

Randyll Tarly wanted to curse, but what he said was: "Lord, we are still fighting the Riverlands and cannot fight on two fronts at the same time."

The Mountain smiled, but Randyll Tarly seemed to see a tiger showing kindness to a little white rabbit: "General, Oberyn is seriously injured and his life is uncertain. Even if the entire nation of Dorne is filled with grief and wants to raise an army to march north, Prince Doran will suppress it first. Prince Doran will first ensure Oberyn's life. With the Prime Minister's treachery and cunning, he must be reporting good news and not bad news to the Dornish. If I'm not mistaken, all the Dornish in the Red Keep have been controlled by the Prime Minister. They won't even have the chance to send out a single raven."

Randyll Tarly was speechless…

Why did the Mountain's analysis sound so insightful? Was he still that violent and reckless brute?

Randyll Tarly looked at the maester, and the maester was also looking at him. Both felt a chill rising in their hearts. The situation in the Seven Kingdoms was changing too quickly, and why was Lord Mountain suddenly staying in Harrenhal?

*

ps: Also, two updates of ten thousand words, equivalent to five chapters of two thousand words each, to thank [Son-Giving Ahong] for the reward, thank you.

I'll return the reward from the Yamen tomorrow, I'm busy.