The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Mountain was overjoyed. As a person becomes stronger and represents a new and responsible power, they naturally attract related resources. As the saying goes, 'Many hands make light work.' Conversely, when someone is down on their luck, there will be no shortage of people kicking them when they're down, like 'Everyone pushes a falling wall.'

"Great Sage, the Mountain is very grateful for your help," the Mountain said, his joy evident. This joy was meant to be displayed for others to see. Now was not the time to feign depth. The power of the Alchemists' Guild was not to be underestimated, especially now that their magical powers had been revived.

During the Mad King's era, the pyromancers' wildfire was enough to destroy the entire King's Landing. The power of that wildfire was like dynamite.

"Mountain, you have taken on the great responsibility of resisting the White Walkers. The sages of the Alchemists' Guild deeply respect you. Regarding the rise and fall of humanity and the crisis of survival, I have looked all over King's Landing and found no one capable of undertaking this great task. The courtiers in the Red Keep are all gluttonous, selfish, short-sighted, scheming, and lacking ambition. I was anxious, but then the High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor came to see me and told me that you had tamed a dragon in the Mountains of the Moon and that you hoped to summon the kingdom's armies north through royal authority. The sages of our guild were all encouraged. Everyone unanimously decided to follow you north and slaughter the White Walkers. The High Septon will also send a team of hundreds of monks to support you. The monks will be responsible for healing the wounded soldiers and praying for the fallen heroes, and giving people hope and courage through hymns."

"The High Septon has also decided to help me?"

"Yes, the Sept's monks are the most experienced in treating the illnesses of the people and the injuries of soldiers. Their prayer power has also been revived, and their spell power has also been strengthened. All of this is thanks to you taming the dragon. With the dragon's birth, magic has been revived. This is all your merit," the Great Sage said to the Mountain with great respect.

"Great Sage, you are too kind. My ability to tame the sheep stealer is all due to the will of the old and new gods," the Mountain said modestly. "Is the High Septon in the Sept? I want to visit him."

"The High Septon is in the Red Keep. He is visiting the Queen Mother. The High Septon hopes to help the Queen Mother understand the greatness of your northward journey, so that the Queen Mother will not listen to the words of petty people, will not doubt you, and will support you as much as possible. This war transcends national and personal grievances and is related to the rise and fall of the entire human race."

The current High Septon was the former Warrior of the Faith. In 299 AC, the High Sparrow entered King's Landing, occupied the Great Sept of Baelor, controlled the High Septon, and imprisoned Cersei and Margaery in the Sept. The Mountain designed a plan to rescue Cersei and Margaery and killed the High Sparrow. With his support, the Warrior of the Faith, one of the seven High Septons, became the new High Septon. The High Septon and the Mountain established a private personal friendship.

The Mountain and the Sept of Baelor opened a bank in King's Landing. With the faith and glory of the Sept among the people and nobles, it was easy to gain people's trust, and the banking business progressed smoothly. The Faith of the Seven is the state religion of the kingdoms of Westeros. The Mountain tied the bank to the Sept, which was a way of leveraging power and a superb marketing technique. The Mountain, supported by the Sept, was more popular than the Mountain supported by the king.

In public or private, the High Septon also said many good things about the Mountain, so that Cersei and other nobles would not be so wary and hostile towards the Mountain. The High Septon's status and position allowed him to say some words that had an invisible influence on the royal family and the people of King's Landing.

"Mountain, the High Septon will come to see you here after visiting the Queen Mother."

"Oh, then I should prepare myself well," the Mountain said, looking at Bronn. "Bronn, go and bring the best chef in King's Landing from the restaurant to me, immediately."

"Yes, my lord."

"Don't go to the restaurant to hire a chef, Mountain. The High Septon and I both hope to understand your military arrangements and logistical support plans to see where else we can contribute. If you want us to give you advice on some tricky issues, we are also happy to share our views."

"Okay, please teach me, Great Sage," the Mountain said humbly.

The High Septon did not arrive at the Mountain's stone house until evening. The best chef in King's Landing had already been brought over by Bronn, and all kinds of exquisite food and wine filled the table. The Mountain, the High Septon, and the Great Sage talked until late at night, and the three had a pleasant conversation… The Mountain also accepted the High Septon and the Great Sage's suggestion. In order to stabilize the royal family's 'morale,' he agreed to arrange a marriage contract for future children with King Tommen.

Contracts can be made and broken depending on the situation! In this dark and bloody era—the Mountain's flexibility is very strong!

*

Two days later, the Small Council meeting was officially held in the throne hall. This time, three non-Small Council members were added to the meeting: Queen Margaery Tyrell, Lady Melisandre, the Mountain's accompanying priestess, and the High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor.

Petyr Baelish, the Master of Coin, who had been away from King's Landing for a long time, returned. Like the Mountain, he did not attend the wedding of the King and Queen.

There was only one theme for the meeting: the Mountain goes north to resist the White Walkers.

An iron tripod was placed in the middle of the hall, and a brazier was placed on the tripod. Everyone did not sit at the table, but gathered around the brazier.

The charcoal fire burned, and Melisandre stood in front of the brazier, her lips moving slightly, chanting spells. The flames began to move strangely, as if the flames had life. Everyone held their breath and stared at the flames.

However, Cersei and Margaery looked at Melisandre more.

They did not have this woman's beauty and charm, and her red eyes were full of fascinating mystery.

Among the crowd, the most uneasy person was Mace Tyrell. He had more respect for Melisandre. Mace had heard too many evil rumors about Melisandre, and he felt inexplicably afraid of women with dark magic.

There is no doubt that this kind of beautiful and charming woman has unknown magical powers.

Melisandre spread out the sleeves of her red robe. Inside her sorceress's red robe, there were densely packed small pockets, each containing powders of different colors. She took some powder from these pockets and put it into the brazier, and the flames began to expand. Then, a miracle appeared. Figures, mountains, the sky, and fluttering snow began to appear in the flames.

Although all the scenery and people were red flames, everyone could still tell what the images were. This did not affect everyone's judgment.

"Riding on the decaying horse is the White Walker!" Melisandre said softly.

Cersei and Margaery took their eyes off Melisandre and looked at the flames, no longer focusing on Melisandre.

"The White Walkers ride dead horses and use ice spears or ice swords. The spears and swords are extremely hard and cannot be compared with ordinary swords and spears. They are the generals of the wights. There are not many White Walkers, but each White Walker can enslave tens of thousands of wights," Jaime said, looking at the flames. In his hand, there was an extra flat wine skin. The lid of the wine skin had been unscrewed, and the smell of wine wafted from the mouth of the skin.

Two days ago, the Mountain warned Jaime and almost broke his neck. Since then, Jaime has had a flat wine skin with him.

"White Walkers can revive newly killed people and animals, and the Night King can revive all dead people and animal corpses. No matter how long the corpses buried underground have been buried, as long as there are still corpses, they can be revived by him. Think about it, once the Night King occupies the entire North, how many dead people in the North will he revive? How many people are buried underground, that's how many people he can revive and enslave them to become wight warriors," Melisandre said slowly.

Everyone stared at the terrible scene in the flames, and everyone's face was awe-inspiring!

Fear appeared on King Tommen's face! Cersei and Margaery's faces turned white. Mace Tyrell gasped and felt a chill down his back.

"Compared to the war with the White Walkers, the internal struggles of our human race are like a three-year-old's game. If we are not united, everyone will either become ashes or become wights. As for the Iron Throne outside the meeting hall, when the human race is enslaved into wights, what is the meaning of the Iron Throne to us?" Melisandre glanced over everyone, and finally landed on Cersei's face. When Cersei felt the strangeness and looked up to meet Melisandre's gaze, Melisandre's gaze had turned and returned to the flames.

"Does anyone still doubt the White Walkers in the North?" the Mountain asked.

No one answered the Mountain, and the courtiers all had strange expressions.

"No one doubts anymore, then we have reached a consensus," the Mountain asserted. "Okay, we should make administrative and military arrangements. Staying here for one more day will cost more lives in the future."

Cersei looked at Tommen, and the child king understood. The High Septon had successfully mediated the marriage, and the Mountain agreed to a royal marriage. Before the Mountain's army set out, the two sides would sign a marriage contract in the Great Sept of Baelor, witnessed by the High Septon.

With the guarantee of marriage, and with the High Septon of the Sept witnessing it, and the signing of the marriage contract in front of the statues of the Seven Gods, this is a solid insurance for the current fragile royal family, although Uncle Jaime does not think much of such insurance.

The Small Council meeting went smoothly. The Hand of the King was responsible for raising military supplies and ensuring that they were continuously delivered to the North by water and land. The Mountain was the commander-in-chief of the kingdom's armies, Jaime was the deputy commander, and the kingdom also issued the titles of Warden of the North and Warden of the East to the Mountain, and sent raven letters to the Martell family of Dorne, the Tyrell family of the Reach, the Baratheon family of the Stormlands, the Tully family of the Riverlands, the Arryn family of the Vale, the Lannister family of the Westerlands, the Greyjoy family of the Iron Islands, and the Stark family of the North—to inform them. At the same time, raven letters were sent to various fiefs, including the North, saying that the White Walkers were attacking the Wall in force, and the remnants of the Targaryen family across the Narrow Sea were also attacking. King Tommen ordered that the manpower, material resources, and financial resources of the entire country be used to jointly fight against the White Walkers and foreign enemies.

A few days later, the royal palace's ravens spread the news of the White Walker attack and the Mountain being the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the Seven Kingdoms.

*

The Mountain and Melisandre acted vigorously and spent ten days dealing with military and political affairs. A raven letter came from the Vale and was delivered to the Mountain.

This was a secret letter.

After the Mountain read the letter, he gave it to Melisandre. Melisandre said, "Lady Lysa Arryn has disobeyed orders for the second time."

"I am the Warden of the East. If she disobeys my orders, she is a traitor. Treason is a capital crime!"

"Show the letter to Littlefinger. He is the Lord Protector of the Vale and has the right to know what Lysa Arryn of the Vale has done."

The Mountain nodded, so Melisandre ordered Captain Alyn to summon Littlefinger Petyr Baelish. Littlefinger arrived quickly. The Mountain handed him the letter. Littlefinger read the letter and saw that the Mountain's face was unkind. He tentatively said, "My lord, may I write a strongly worded letter to Lady Lysa Arryn?"

The Mountain stared at Littlefinger, not saying yes or no. He had already given Lysa Arryn a chance. When Littlefinger left the Vale, he also clearly conveyed the Mountain's request. The king's raven letter also clearly issued the order to mobilize troops north. However, Lysa Arryn still went her own way and refused to mobilize the Vale's army, and not a single army of elites was sent.

The Mountain did not say a word, got up, and walked out of the stone house. Littlefinger was suspicious and busy followed him out. He saw the Mountain standing in the open space outside and shouting to the sky, "Sheepstealer!" This was the pronunciation in High Valyrian. Littlefinger did not understand what it meant. In the Red Keep, apart from Melisandre and the Mountain's guards, no one could understand the meaning of this strange pronunciation.

The Mountain's shout was like thunder, and his voice echoed throughout the Red Keep. Then they heard a dragon roar coming from the Dragonpit on Rhaenys's Hill. The Sheepstealer, which landed in the Dragonpit, flew towards the Red Keep like a golden-red cloud, and its spread wings blocked most of the sunlight, casting a large shadow over King's Landing.

In a few heartbeats, the dragon came to the sky above the Red Keep, retracted its hundred-meter-long giant wings, and landed in front of the Mountain. The Mountain stretched out his hand to grab the dragon horn, exerted force with his arm, and flipped onto the dragon's back. With a command to 'Fly,' the Sheepstealer carried the Mountain into the air, flying higher and higher, attracting the attention of everyone in the Red Keep.

The King and Queen and Queen Mother Cersei of Maegor's Holdfast; Duke Mace Tyrell of the Hand's Tower; the scholars in the Citadel; the Kingsguard brothers in the White Sword Tower… almost everyone in the Red Keep looked up at the dragon and the Mountain on the dragon's back, wondering where the Mountain was suddenly riding the dragon to? What was he going to do?

The Mountain's stone house, Melisandre, Captain Alyn, Littlefinger Petyr, and others were all looking at the Mountain and the dragon, until the Mountain and the dragon flew higher and higher, until they could not be seen at all.

"He is going to visit Lady Lysa Arryn," Melisandre said to Littlefinger.

"If it were me, I would throw Lady Lysa Arryn down the Moon Door," Littlefinger said lightly.

*

The Eyrie is a city built on the clouds. Because it is too high, whether it is the sun or the moon, it will appear particularly large and round. But no matter how big the sun is, it is difficult to bring warmth to the Eyrie. The peaks here are covered with snow all year round, and the climate is cold.

But what is colder than ice and snow is the sudden appearance of a dragon whose wings blocked the sky above the Eyrie and the Mountain's loud shout: "Lysa Arryn, I am the Warden of the East, the Mountain. You disobey my order as Warden of the East and only send thousands of ordinary soldiers to me. You have committed treason. I now, in the name of Tommen Baratheon I, in the name of Warden of the East and Duke of Dragonstone, sentence you and your Eyrie to death. Dragonflame—"