The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 491: The Mountain, I Want to Live

In another dark cell.

"The Mountain?" Tyrion asked.

The same darkness, the same inability to see the person arriving in the dim light.

"It is I!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I am the temporary Grand Justiciar appointed by Her Grace the Queen Regent, here specifically to handle this poisoning case. I'll take this opportunity to eliminate my enemies."

"Who are your enemies?"

"A dwarf called the Imp, and a Dornish prince called the Red Viper."

"We are not your enemies."

"Of course you are. You've prepared to cooperate from the inside, and the Dornish army will sail to the Westerlands to destroy me, the Mountain."

Tyrion was incredulous. How could the Mountain know about this plan? Has the Mountain had people in the Red Keep all along? Who are the Mountain's allies? The Tyrells? Grand Maester Qyburn? Littlefinger Petyr? His uncle Kevan would never leak this plan. The only person who would is Cersei!

"The Westerlands are Lannister territory, yet you want to seize them."

"To benefit the Westerlands, to make the Westerlands rise, to increase the Lannister family's tax revenue, to let the nobles and people escape the wounds of war and become wealthy and powerful. If doing these things is wrong, does that mean I should plunder the Westerlands, kill the people and nobles of the Westerlands, and that would be in line with the Lannister family's interests? Imp, what exactly is in your head? I am the Warden of the West, seeking welfare for the people of the Westerlands and letting them live a better life. Is that wrong?"

"On the surface, it seems like good intentions, but in reality, you are cultivating your own power."

"If I don't cultivate my own power, your father, Lord Tywin, would have already sent my head to Dorne as a gift. If you were me, wouldn't you be happy if someone chopped off your head to give as a gift? If you like that, I am willing to fulfill your wish. What sword do you want to use to chop off your head, and who do you want to give your head to as a gift? Tell me, and I will definitely fulfill your beautiful wish."

Tyrion prided himself on his cleverness and wit, but he was choked by the Mountain's words!

"Imp, if you don't want to die, neither do I. If I don't develop power, do you think I would still be standing here talking to you? My corpse would have already rotted, and I would have been nailed to the pillar of shame, never to be able to turn over. Do you want me to pursue this kind of life ending?"

Tyrion was speechless, unable to answer.

He had words to refute, but they were too pale, and the Mountain's eloquence exceeded Tyrion's understanding too much, giving him too strong of a shock.

"I once told Ser Anguy that you are a good person. Your change is because your father arranged for a camp of soldiers to rape your wife Tysha in front of you, and your brother Jaime was also there. Now Jaime is back. You can ask Jaime, is Tysha a prostitute or your legal commoner wife? Stare into his eyes, beg him to tell the truth, and you will know whether your father deserved to die."

"How do you know these things?" Tyrion's voice was unable to calm down.

"In this world, there are gods; in the North, there are Others; in the East, dragons have been resurrected. The world is undergoing earth-shattering changes. The Targaryen bloodline will ride dragons and come back. Faced with the dragons' revenge, will the Lannisters choose to submit or fight? Can the Iron Throne still belong to Cersei's children?"

Tyrion was stunned again!

In just a few words, he heard the Mountain's grand vision. This guy's eyes were not only on King's Landing but were also paying attention to the changes in the entire world situation. Not only Westeros but also the affairs of Essos across the Narrow Sea were on his radar.

Tyrion had never seen someone with such a high standard and broad vision.

The Others in the North, Jaime's return proved that it was true. Eddard Stark was willing to let Jaime return because he hoped Jaime could bring back the alliance and supplies. Eddard Stark was still the easily trusting Stark. But in any case, the Others who had disappeared for eight thousand years had indeed appeared and were making a comeback.

The rumors of dragons appearing in the Eastern world had already spread throughout Westeros. The owner of the dragons was Daenerys Targaryen, the Mad King's Dragonstone princess.

Extinct dragons reappeared, not one but three. Every merchant, mercenary, prince, and governor who came from across the Narrow Sea was talking about the story of the three dragons. It was not groundless; it was real!

"The Mountain, it sounds like your ambitions are not small."

"Kingslayer Jaime killed Daenerys' father, and I killed Daenerys' sister-in-law and one of her children. Cersei's children occupy the Iron Throne that Daenerys should inherit. Don't you think the Clegane family and the Lannister family will have a common enemy in the future? The Westerlands are nothing; your vision is too small."

Tyrion stood up, staring blankly at the Mountain hidden in the darkness after a dim light: "The Mountain, are you Brynden Rivers the Second? Are you the second Bloodraven to appear in the realm? Are you a skinchanger? Your change is too great. I really can't believe that the person with the whole world in his heart would be you."

Tyrion had read a lot of books. He knew what a skinchanger was. When the bastard Brynden Rivers transformed into a skinchanger, he was just an ordinary soldier. Later, Brynden's skinchanging ability became stronger and stronger. He could possess any bird or beast, using their abilities and eyes for his own use. From then on, he rose from an ordinary soldier, a bastard, to be reused by the king, being second only to the king and above the Seven Kingdoms, serving as Hand of the King for two generations.

Tyrion had read all the royal family's collection of books about Bloodraven Brynden Rivers, as well as the books about dragons. Although the books in the royal library were not as good as those in the Citadel, they were extremely rich, and many of the books were rare editions.

The Mountain's change was too great, from brutal to wise, from reckless to measured, from foul language to eloquent. Tyrion had awe for the mysterious power in this world.

"A blood mage gave me some prophecies." The transmigrator Mountain spoke cautiously.

"Does the blood mage's prophecy have anything about my future?"

"Yes!"

"Tell me!"

"The biggest reason Cersei wants me to kill you this time is because Maggy the Frog once told her a prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

"Her children will be wrapped in golden shrouds, and when she cries, a brother's hand will strangle her throat."

Tyrion's face instantly turned pale. Cersei only had two brothers, Jaime, who was her favorite, and Jaime loved her the most. Then there was only one brother left: Tyrion Lannister!

"Can I believe what you say?"

"Judge with your wisdom. Also, you can ask Jaime to visit you in prison and ask Jaime to verify the truth of what I said."

"Maggy harmed me?"

"Maggy wanted to harm Cersei. That year, when Cersei asked for a prophecy, Maggy was unwilling to say it. Prophecies are not something anyone can ask for. But Cersei threatened Maggy that if she didn't tell the prophecy, she would hang her on a big tree. This sentence offended Maggy. Maggy added a false prophecy to the true prophecy: her children would be wrapped in golden shrouds, and when she cried, no brother's hand would strangle her throat at all."

"Maggy told you the truth?"

"She is my maternal grandmother. I respect her very much. Cersei threatened to kill Maggy, so Maggy gave her a lifelong shadow of being strangled by her own brother; Tywin killed Maggy, and he and Daven lost their honor, status, power, wealth, and life because of it. Tywin and Daven both died without a burial place, losing everything."

Tyrion was stunned!

Don't provoke a witch!

But he knew it too late. More importantly, Cersei and Tywin had provoked a witch, and Tywin had ordered the witch's head to be chopped off.

After a long time, Tyrion said: "I want to live, Mountain, please save me again. Since you are a chosen one, you must have a way."

"I have already saved you once. Touch the scar on your face, Lord Hand." The Mountain's words contained sarcasm. "When the Kingsguard Mandon Moore came to kill you on the Queen Regent's orders, who sent Anguy to save you in the crisis? When you were locked in the underground storage room by Her Grace the Queen Regent waiting to die, who found Maester Qyburn to save you? But you are not grateful but are single-mindedly trying to put me to death. I don't strengthen myself and develop, and my head will be chopped off, but you blame me for not being strong. I will continue to grow stronger in the future. Am I going to save you today and then let you come out and continue to find ways to kill me?"

Tyrion was clever and witty, but the Mountain's words left him speechless!

A Lannister always pays his debts. The Mountain was ambitious, infringing on the Lannisters' interests in the Westerlands and developing his own power, migrating the tribesmen of the Mountains of the Moon who were only loyal to him to the territory of the Westerlands. What was wrong with him eliminating the Mountain? But in the Mountain's mouth, he was wrong and was an ungrateful villain, a hypocrite.

Tyrion realized that he had successfully become the person he hated!

"The Mountain, Cersei deeply believes Maggy's false prophecy, and I am the brother who strangled her throat when she cried. Now that Maggy's prophecy of the children being wrapped in golden shrouds has come true, she will definitely kill me, and you also deeply hate me. Okay, although I don't want to die, I can't think of any way. Do it."

"But I know that you are actually innocent, Imp."

"I am the fish, and you are the knife!"

"I know!"

"Hehe, you do know. You are now brave and resourceful, invincible. I can only curse the Seven Gods."

"I know who poisoned him."

"Who?"

"Oberyn Martell."

"...You have evidence?"

"He has already admitted it. Now it depends on whether you really want to die or want to end it all."

"I want to live."

"Then I'll give you a chance to testify that Oberyn Martell is the poisoner?"

"Bear false witness?"

"Don't say it so harshly. If you want to live, you actually have three paths. Are you willing to listen to my suggestions?"

Tyrion realized that he was stepping step by step on the stairs that the Mountain had designed for him, and he had no choice.

"I am listening respectfully, Mountain!"

"The first path is to listen and bear false witness, and I will arrange a way out for you."

"You want to kill Oberyn Martell?"

"A mortal enemy, must be eliminated!"

"What about the second path?"

"You can request a trial by combat, and then you have two best champion candidates in your mind, one is Jaime, and one is Bronn. If you ask Bronn to be your champion, he will refuse because he cherishes his life and is unwilling to be cut into two pieces by my sword; then you have one person left, Jaime Lannister. Since it is a duel, I will not show mercy to Jaime. I have Ice, and when Jaime was in the underground black cell of Riverrun, I have been practicing martial arts without interruption for a single day, whether it is mounted combat or foot combat, Jaime has no chance of winning. Unless you want to drag Jaime down with you before you die."

Tyrion's mouth was full of bitterness, and he snorted from his nostrils. If he wanted to die, he would not drag Jaime down with him. There was no doubt about that.

"The third path is to put on black clothes and go to the Wall to fight the Others side by side with Eddard Stark."

"I am willing to choose the third path. I am willing to put on black clothes."

"Absolutely impossible."

"Why?"

"The Queen Regent ordered you to die. If you put on black clothes, if you take a boat, I believe the boat will encounter wind and waves, and then you will accidentally fall into the sea. The only good thing is that you have the opportunity to meet Duke Tywin in the sea and personally ask him whether your wife Tysha is a prostitute or a good family daughter; if you ride a horse on the Kingsroad, I am afraid you will encounter bandits. The war in the Riverlands has lasted for two years, and this year is the third year. Bandits are everywhere. With one knife, your head will not be able to grow on your neck."

"I want to live. Apart from bearing false witness, you have not given me any choice!"

"You can also choose to die, so you don't have to bear false witness. Choose to die, Imp!"

Tyrion's mouth was full of bitterness: "No, I want to live. I want to live to be eighty years old."