The Mountain of Ice and Fire

At the southeasternmost corner of the Red Keep, a white, pointed tower rose higher than the walls themselves – the White Sword Tower, residence of the Kingsguard.

The White Sword Tower overlooked the entirety of Blackwater Bay.

Tonight, no Kingsguard resided within the White Sword Tower: Lord Commander Loras Tyrell had breathed his last; Kingsguard members Jaime Lannister, Boros Blount, Osmund Kettleblack, and Ser Arys Oakheart were not in King's Landing, they were in the Kingswood.

Jaime was hurrying back to King's Landing, but he faced an insurmountable problem: there were no ferries at the Blackwater Rush.

The Royal Fleet blockaded the Gullet at the mouth of the bay, and the Blackwater Rush crossing was also sealed off and controlled.

*

The White Sword Tower was the residential building for the Kingsguard.

It was a slender structure four stories above ground. The basement housed weapons and armor, while the second and third floors contained the chambers of the six Kingsguard brothers, three to each floor. The top floor held the Lord Commander's quarters, the largest room, which jutted out beyond the outer walls, offering a commanding view of the River Row, the harbor, the training grounds, and Blackwater Bay.

At midnight, a clicking sound echoed from the armory in the basement. A wall laden with weapons split apart, and a stone slab, like a door, was slowly pushed open. Torchlight spilled out, revealing a doorway just wide enough for one person. A general, unhelmeted and wielding a short crossbow, peered out – Julie Clegane.

Emerging from the wall, Julie Clegane's eyes widened at the sight of the armory's contents: longswords, shields, suits of armor, spears, shortswords, and daggers, all of the finest quality.

The second soldier emerged, eyes gleaming like a gambler spotting a pile of chips.

Then came the third, and the fourth. Each one's eyes shone with the same predatory gleam, like cats eyeing fresh fish.

"Take what you can carry, I'm going up. But be warned, don't let greed for weapons hinder your ability to fight," Julie said sharply.

"Hah!" The soldiers responded in unison, both surprised and delighted.

Captain Julie was allowing them to choose their weapons – what were they waiting for!

The soldiers immediately rushed towards the Kingsguard's finest longswords, armor, helmets, boots, cloaks…

Julie Clegane had not yet been knighted by her father. She craved military merit, and tonight's initial vanguard assignment was a chance her father had given her specifically.

From the insider intelligence provided by Bernie Clegane, Kevan had stationed men in the Tower of the Hand, the Throne Room, Maegor's Holdfast, the Sept of Baelor, the Godswood, and the black cells, anticipating a sudden attack from underground tunnels. However, he overlooked one location: the White Sword Tower.

The basement armory of the White Sword Tower was connected to the tunnel leading to the dragon skulls. The Mountain had decided to select a suicide squad from his men to emerge from the White Sword Tower's secret passage and launch a surprise attack.

A surprise attack could quickly demoralize the enemy, reduce casualties, and achieve their objectives, preventing any foolish individuals from misjudging the situation.

Julie Clegane had been given the task of leading this initial assault.

Anguy, also a mounted archer general, was already a knight with the title of lord, and had married Elinor Mooton, the heir to Maidenpool, achieving both fame and family. Julie, in contrast, possessed only the real power of commanding a mounted archer company and the empty title of general.

Julie desperately needed a glorious military achievement! Although she had killed Dickon Tarly in the battle against Randyll Tarly, the accomplishment made her father, the Mountain, uneasy.

Julie left the basement armory and ascended the spiral staircase to the ground floor.

This was a circular room, the Kingsguard's round chamber.

The stone walls were whitewashed. A fireplace stood on the south wall, above which hung a white shield and two crossed white swords. The round table in the center of the room was also made of grey-white weirwood, its surface a giant shield supported by three legs carved into the shape of three steeds arranged in a triangle. According to tradition, the Lord Commander sat at the front of the shield, while the six sworn brothers occupied the sides of the three steeds.

The round chamber, from floor to ceiling, from decorations to tables and chairs, was uniformly white.

White, the symbolic color of the Kingsguard, representing purity and innocence.

On the table lay a massive book, half the size of the table itself, personally written by the Lord Commanders of the Kingsguard throughout the ages: The White Book.

The White Book, also known as The Book of the White Knights, was a record of the deeds, merits, and lives of every Kingsguard who had protected the king for nearly three hundred years.

Julie had never seen such a large book. It was nearly a meter long and half a meter wide, and extremely thick. What attracted Julie even more was that the book's hinges were made of pure gold thread, which looked quite valuable.

Julie suppressed the urge to hack the book apart and take the gold hinges. Her father had strictly warned her that leading troops into the Red Keep was different from other places. It was the highest center of power in the Seven Kingdoms, a royal palace, and she was not allowed to kill, hack, or destroy indiscriminately. The goal of this military operation was to kill Lord Kevan, not to destroy things. Disobedience would be punished with death!

Julie resisted the impulse to 'vandalize' The White Book. She had wanted to throw a torch on the book, which would have given her a brief moment of destructive pleasure—she rushed to the fireplace and took down the white shield and two white swords, which had ritualistic aesthetic value.

She strapped the shield to her back, held the two white swords in her hands, and forcefully clashed them together. A metallic clang rang out, sparks flew, and upon examining the blades, she saw that they were made of excellent steel, the edges undamaged and chillingly sharp, clearly incredibly sharp.

Julie was overjoyed. She had not killed anyone yet, but she had already obtained spoils of war that would definitely make others jealous.

From the basement, a clamor arose as soldiers emerged from the secret passage, vying to choose the best weapons and replace their own weapons, armor, helmets, and boots.

The Mountain's soldiers' weapons were not bad, but they could not compare to the weapons in the Royal Kingsguard's armory.

The Kingsguard, the highest knights in the Seven Kingdoms, had weapons in their armory that were good things left behind by the Kingsguard throughout the years. It was a wealth of inestimable value. Many famous swords used by Kingsguard captains hundreds of years ago were not only sharp and refined, but also had historical significance.

Julie hung the two white swords on her sword belt, slung the small white round shield on her back, and held a short crossbow. Soldiers surged up from the basement armory one after another.

"Only good weapons are allowed to be selected. No damage to property, no arson, no indiscriminate killing. Disobeyers will be executed!" Julie shouted.

The soldiers had already understood this military order before entering, and they all responded in unison.

Thus, the doors of the White Sword Tower were opened from the inside. Julie took the lead, leading the suicide squad towards the Bronze Gate.

To the left ahead were the stone residences of the royal courtiers. Ahead was the Iron Throne Hall. Passing the Iron Throne building, passing the former Varys's small room, passing the woods and lawns, passing a city gate camp, was the Bronze Gate of the Red Keep.

Julie's mission was to cooperate with the Mountain's internal and external attack on the Red Keep's Bronze Gate, and strive to force the defending soldiers to surrender as soon as possible.

The defending soldiers were mainly the Royal Guards, many diehards, many true knights, and loyalists. Slaughtering these people was somewhat similar to Cersei driving away the fearless Barristan Selmy, the captain of the Kingsguard.

Unless it was the last moment, The Mountain would not order the slaughter of the Royal Guards. This was essentially different from slaughtering Randyll Tarly's cavalry. It was best to win this night battle in one fell swoop. After the Royal Guards saw the situation clearly, they would choose to surrender, and everyone would be happy! If the Royal Guards insisted on fighting to the death, then kill them all!

*

Julie led a hundred hand-picked suicide soldiers!

The hundred soldiers followed behind Julie. Once they came out of the White Sword Tower, they no longer used torches.

The Red Keep was lit with torches everywhere. Although the White Sword Tower was uninhabited, candles and braziers were lit in the round hall on the first floor.

The courtiers' stone residences were quiet, all the residences were dark, and no lights were visible in the windows.

The White Sword Tower was uninhabited, but servants had lit candles, while the courtiers' residences should have been inhabited, but there were no lights at all. However, there was torch lighting on the roads.

Late at night, in the early hours of the morning, Julie and others successfully passed through the courtiers' stone residences without a fight.

This made Julie and the soldiers a little unbelievable.

At the very least, they should have encountered one or two patrol teams, but they didn't.

Ahead was the Iron Throne building, with woods and huge shadows cast by the Throne Room. Outside the Iron Throne were lighting braziers supported by triangular iron frames. The firelight illuminated patches of space, but highlighted the darkness even more.

Julie and the soldiers all raised their short crossbows: repeating crossbows, one for each person! More than a hundred people meant more than a hundred repeating crossbows.

Julie slowed down and lightened her steps. She divided the team into three small teams. She led one team as the vanguard to take the main road, another team detoured through the lawn to take the flank, and the last team covered the rear to prevent being ambushed by hidden enemies.

This was a very cautious tactic!

Just as Julie was silently approaching the Iron Throne building, taking advantage of its huge shadow, a voice suddenly shouted from the roadside: "Who goes there? Night password!"

Julie's actions were silent, but the thirty or so soldiers behind her still made some subtle footsteps.

Now it was late at night, and any sound would become obvious in the silence of the night.

"Loyalty!" Julie replied.

Kevan issued the marching password for tonight's Red Keep, and the soldiers obeyed the order. Bernie Clegane quickly learned of it.

The password was passed, and several patrol soldiers flashed out of the shadows. Julie accelerated to meet them, and the soldiers behind her followed quickly. *Shuu*, Julie pulled the trigger of the short crossbow, and a short arrow flew out, hitting the leading enemy soldier in the throat.

The soldier fell backward in shock. The other soldiers were shocked. *Shuu shuu shuu, shuu shuu shuu*, a series of arrows pierced the air, and a dense rain of arrows shot out. *Puff puff puff*, the foreheads, faces, throats, chests, and abdomens of several patrol soldiers were hit by arrows...

At this close range, short crossbows could easily penetrate armor!

Julie squatted down and pulled out the short arrow. Several soldiers came up, squatted down at the same time, and pulled out the short arrows to reload.

On the other side of the Iron Throne, there was a strange noise, and then the sound subsided. After a short while, the flanking team detoured back and joined Julie. They encountered an enemy squad lying in ambush. There were six people in total. After the two sides exchanged passwords, they fought. The sudden dense shooting of their short crossbows was invincible in close combat. All six of the opponents were shot down instantly, with no one escaping.

Passing the Iron Throne building, they killed two enemy squads, a total of twelve people!

Julie's side did not lose a single person!

Short crossbows were too suitable for this kind of night raid!

Kevan had dispersed the only three hundred Royal Guards and his three hundred Hand's Guards. He was thorough in every aspect, arranging two hundred soldiers to focus on defending Maegor's Holdfast, the Tower of the Hand, the Maidenvault, the Sept of Baelor, and the black cells, to prevent the Mountain's suicide soldiers from suddenly emerging from underground. These places were all places where the Mountain's raiding team was most likely to appear through detailed analysis, but at the same time, he also had to defend the Bronze Gate. Suddenly, he realized that manpower was really very limited.

The Bronze Gate was easy to defend, but the underground was more difficult. It was said that the buildings in the Red Keep were almost all connected by secret passages. Kevan's limited forces could not take care of every building.

Julie reunited the three teams in the shadows of the Iron Throne building. She ordered all unnecessary things to be piled up in the bushes in front of the Iron Throne, and everyone would come back to pick them up after the battle. So the brothers still separated into three teams, kept their distance, and everyone was more careful to sneak.

Passing the Iron Throne, passing the place where Varys's small room used to be, ahead was the lawn, woods and barracks.

Looking up, they could already see the outline of the high Bronze Gate city wall.

Julie gestured, everyone dispersed, held their short crossbows level, and advanced forward.

"Password!" a voice came from the lawn.

Julie stopped. The other party was lying in the grass and did not show up.

Julie showed up and walked out: "Loyalty! Password?" she asked the other party.

"Glory!" the other party replied, and then stood up. He saw the white round shield Julie was wearing, "Which team are you from?"

What answered him was the crisp sound of a mechanism colliding, *shuu*, an arrow flew out and nailed into the other party's chest. The soldier turned around and staggered away. Julie drew out her short knife and stabbed it into his neck.

"Enemy attack!" another voice sounded from behind a tree. "Enemy attack!"

*Puff!*

A short arrow was shot into his mouth. The sound stopped abruptly. The brothers of another team advanced in parallel, had already detoured to the flank, and quietly took action to eliminate the sentry.

In front of the small woods, a team of shield soldiers turned out, about twenty people. The squad leader looked towards this side: "Sorro Eric, what happened?"

Shield soldiers!

This made Julie have a headache.

Short crossbows were not afraid of fully armed armor, but they were afraid of shield soldiers.

Julie blew the military whistle in the shadows.

The sharp military whistle exposed her position, but it well covered the other two teams. Julie issued an order to the flanking and third teams to encircle and attack the right wing.

First quickly eat this small team of shield soldiers.

Julie took the lead and rushed forward.

The shield soldier captain saw Julie and her team and was shocked. He immediately blew the horn: *Wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu!*

The shield soldiers even carried horns!

Kevan was also cautious and thorough to the extreme!

The shield soldiers rushed towards Julie's side, holding their shields high, and their movements were slightly slow.

Julie led the brothers to hold their short crossbows level and attack.

*Puff puff puff!*

Countless short arrows shot out and were nailed into the shields. The soldiers let out painful screams. The short crossbows pierced through the shields, piercing their arms and shields together, but this was not fatal.

On the city wall of the Bronze Gate, the sound of the enemy attack horn sounded: *Wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu wuu!*

The sound of a horn echoed throughout the entire city of King's Landing.

It was a horn blast that shook the whole city.

The Mountain had said he would breach the Red Keep at dawn, and now it was dawn, and the horn was sounding from the walls above the bronze gate!

Tonight, none of the city's nobles or commoners had gone to sleep. On the walls of King's Landing, none of the two thousand garrison soldiers were asleep either. Everyone was waiting with strange feelings for the sounds of fighting to come from the Red Keep!

What would be the fate of Ser Kevan, the Hand of the King, at the hands of the Master of War, the Mountain? And could the bronze gate hold until daybreak? This was the suspenseful question on the minds of all the city's commoners, garrison soldiers, wealthy merchants, nobles, and Reachmen soldiers.

Outside the city, the Mountain's war horn also sounded. Ten thousand soldiers were lined up in neat ranks, cavalry in the center and infantry on the flanks. Ten siege ladders were raised, and a battering ram had already been hoisted onto a siege cart, facing the bronze gate, waiting for the Mountain's command. At his order, the ten siege ladders would be placed against the walls, and the siege cart would forcibly ram the gate.

The Mountain, mounted on Red Smoke, drew his greatsword of ice. In the Red Keep's plaza, torches were lit densely, like stars in the sky, illuminating the Red Keep's night sky: "Foot archers, prepare!"

The five hundred bows, assembled during the day, moved in unison. The arrowheads were dipped in the oily rags on the braziers at the archers' feet, and the arrows were raised together towards the sky. The oily rags burned like blooming roses, and the dense clicks of bowstrings being drawn echoed.

Approximately four hundred well-trained soldiers garrisoned the walls of the Red Keep, and they were about to face several volleys of five hundred indiscriminately fired fire arrows!