The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 732: Julie Clegane Dies

Whoosh!

The Three-Eyed Raven flew onto the wall, a letter in its beak, landing on Robb Stark's shoulder.

Robb took the letter, glanced at it, and said to Harris Moran, the captain of the guard beside him, "Quickly inform Anguy Clegane, the commander of the archer cavalry, and Julie Clegane, and have them go to the main castle to protect Bran Stark."

"Yes, General."

Harris Moran hurried down the city wall.

All the archer cavalry outside the city had entered, ascending the city walls from both sides. Archer Cavalry Generals Anguy Clegane and Julie Clegane, on their tall steeds, directed the archer warriors, now without horses, to line up on the city walls.

"General, His Majesty orders you to take the best archers to protect Bran Stark."

"Where is Bran Stark?" Anguy frowned. He had no objection to Bran Stark in a wheelchair, but with the White Walkers attacking, he preferred to be on the city wall shooting down wights and White Walkers.

"The main castle, General."

"Julie Clegane," Anguy called out, "Lead a ten-man guard to the main castle to protect Bran Stark."

"I'm not a Stark family nun serving little boys," Julie Clegane said coldly.

"Julie, that's an order," Anguy Clegane shrugged.

"General Anguy, His Majesty orders you and General Julie to lead the best archers to the main castle to protect Bran Stark," Harris Moran said in a deep voice. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword.

Anguy was unconcerned by Harris's implicit threat: "General, the Cleganes are here to fight the White Walkers, who are outside the city. Bran Stark is currently the safest. If the city walls can't be defended, we will return to the main castle to protect Bran Stark immediately."

"General Anguy, His Majesty is still the deputy commander of the allied forces. With the Mountain not here, His Majesty is the only supreme military commander of the allied forces. Are you going to disobey a military order?" Harris Moran's voice turned as cold as a blade.

Anguy looked at the city wall, listening to the sharp whistling of arrows and the earth-shattering shouts of the warriors. He shouted, "Jacob Wyz!"

A knight rode over on horseback: "General, what are your orders?"

Jacob Wyz came from Maidenpool and was a knight of Anguy's wife's Mooton family.

Anguy shouted, "Jacob, I'm leaving this to you. The remaining knights and warriors with horses, follow me to the main castle. Let's go ask the crippled brother of the King in the North why he needs us to protect him now when he's in the safest place. Damn the Starks!" Anguy directed the last sentence at Harris Moran.

Harris Moran's hand remained on the hilt of his sword, but he made no further move. As long as Anguy obeyed the order, he would not draw his sword.

The Clegane army's generals and soldiers were unruly and only obeyed the Mountain. The soldiers of the North and other allied forces had already experienced this. Eddard Stark had ordered that anyone who clashed with the Clegane army should yield three points first and not start a conflict over a single disagreement.

The sound of horses' hooves echoed as Anguy and Julie led more than twenty riders angrily to the main castle. They dismounted, and the main castle gate was ajar. Anguy kicked the door open. Bran Stark sat in a wheelchair, a tall, simple-looking man in coarse clothing holding the handle of the wheelchair.

Anguy strode up to Bran Stark: "Bran, there are tens of thousands of soldiers under the city, and tens of thousands of archers on the city walls. Everyone is fighting the White Walkers. You are the safest in the main castle, so why do you want us to protect you specifically at this time? Are you planning to have the Cleganes barbecue game meat with you in the main castle hall?"

Julie Clegane stood at the gate, not entering, ready to leave at any moment. She was not a Stark family guard. Why should she be here protecting this little cripple? There were plenty of Northern guards. Why them, the Cleganes, and not the Northern guards?

The reputation of Bran Stark, the Green Prophet, was not well known to the Clegane army and the Vale army. Most generals had little contact with Bran, knew very little about him, and were largely unaware of his stories. Many fierce generals and bandits had no reverence for Bran.

"Anguy, two ice spiders will cross the first and second city walls and enter the main castle to kill me," Bran said calmly. "The ice spiders are invincible. No soldiers outside can stop them. Only your and Julie's divine arrows can kill them, but you must use obsidian arrows." Bran tapped the armrest, and the man responsible for pushing the wheelchair ran to the corner and brought out several bundles of obsidian arrows.

"Are you sure?" Anguy was both surprised and delighted.

Ice spiders were magical creatures of the White Walkers. His father, the Mountain, had killed one while riding a dragon.

Ice spiders were invincible. His father, the Mountain, had specifically reminded all the generals in the army that if they encountered ice spiders, they must be careful and use obsidian weapons to kill them.

"Anguy, my Three-Eyed Raven can see any of the Night King's military deployments. I have observed hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and only you and General Julie are capable of the task of shooting the ice spiders."

This sentence softened Julie's blade-like gaze. Julie dismounted and entered with her elite soldiers.

Out of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, only Anguy and Julie could do it! This flattery was perfectly timed, making Anguy and Julie feel extremely comfortable.

"Bran, I have twenty-seven bows here, each of which is accurate, and every person is a sharpshooter, one in a hundred," Anguy said with arrogance and unparalleled confidence.

"General, ice spiders are magical creatures of the Night King. They are intelligent and extremely alert. If they sense something is wrong, they will not enter the main castle. Instead, they will attack the soldiers outside, and the soldiers outside will become their prey. No one can stop them. We need tactical cooperation, General."

*

An ice spider silently climbed onto the southern city wall. The defending soldiers were all looking to the north, where the shouts of killing were earth-shattering and the firelight reddened the sky. The southern city wall was completely silent.

There were not many defenders on the city wall, mostly Northern militia.

The ice spider suddenly appeared behind the soldiers. Its arrival brought cold. A militiaman felt something was wrong. He turned halfway, but his neck had already been severed by the ice spider's leg blade. As blood sprayed, several other soldiers fell in horror...

When the nearby militiamen noticed something was wrong and came to look, only a pile of limbs and a mess were left on the city wall. The soldiers on this section of the city wall had been completely killed, limbs were scattered everywhere, and the stench of blood permeated the air, but no enemies were seen inside or outside the city wall, or on the bridge of the moat between the two city walls.

The centurion and the warriors looked at each other!

The ice spider did not pass through the bridge surface of the moat. It walked on the back of the bridge. For the ice spider, walking on the bridge surface and the back of the bridge were equally fast, convenient, and unhindered. The ice spider quickly reached the bridgehead, came from the back of the bridge to the bridge surface, quickly climbed onto the second city wall, easily slaughtered all the soldiers on this section of the city wall, and then jumped down the city wall...

On the other side, another ice spider also easily broke through the defenses of the two city walls and entered Winterfell... Their goal was to kill Bran Stark first, and then raid the defending army in the north...

*

An extremely faint squeak sounded on the roof of the main castle, like the sound of a small mouse, insignificant. Soon, another faint squeak sounded in another direction. It was as if another little mouse was responding.

This little mouse-like squeak was perfectly drowned out by the rumbling footsteps outside the main castle, the fierce curses, the officers' loud shouts, the whistling of thousands of arrows, and the earth-shattering battle sound outside the city.

Two ice spiders arrived at the main castle from different directions, one after the other.

They climbed on the roof and outer walls of the main castle, easily and freely, as if they were on flat ground.

The ice spiders' translucent bodies were well concealed in the night. Only the eight blue compound eyes were their greatest flaw.

Several Northern guards stood on both sides of the main castle gate, their swords sheathed, and no one noticed the arrival of the ice spiders.

Bran Stark sat quietly in the hall. The castle gate was wide open, and his eyes looked at the blackness outside, unmoving. A white mink fur with a turned-down collar was draped over his shoulders, and the Three-Eyed Raven stood on the fur. Although the Three-Eyed Raven did not make a sound, its small head kept tilting, agile and active.

Bran wore a black robe that covered his body and dragged to the ground, even covering the wheels of the wheelchair.

Behind Bran stood a former kennel worker of the family, now his personal servant.

The young master and the old servant remained absolutely silent.

Besides that, the hall was empty.

A blue pupil appeared in the corner of the window, then a second eye, a third eye... The ice spider had eight blue compound eyes and eight extremely sharp leg blades. The compound eyes reflected Bran's calm, ice-like face. This face was always facing the darkness outside the gate... Outside the gate, the sound was noisy, people came and went, and black shadows flickered in the firelight...

Another ice spider also appeared on the ceiling of the hall, its eight compound eyes emitting a faint blue light in the darkness. The ice spider moved on the ceiling, silently, ready to fall at any time and cut Bran into pieces.

The faintest squeak sounded again on the ceiling. In the midst of the roaring noise outside the main castle, this sound could not be heard by human ears. However, the ice spider on the outer wall heard the sound and made a squeaking response.

Then, the ice spider on the ceiling released its leg blades and fell from the air, pouncing directly on Bran Stark in the wheelchair. The Three-Eyed Raven was startled and flew up, squawking in alarm, flapping its wings in the air... The old servant fell backward, a short crossbow appearing in his hand. The short crossbow fired obsidian arrows in rapid succession, emptying all the short arrows in an instant... The ice spider twisted its body in the air, and the arrows missed... Boom, the old servant fell to the ground, his eyes wide, with only an empty crossbow in his hand...

The ice spider landed in front of Bran, the size of a small horse. One leg blade was raised and slashed towards Bran's neck... Bran did not move. He did not even make an instinctive dodging movement. Under the thin black cloth robe, however, a strong clicking sound of gears rang out, and extremely sharp obsidian short arrows powerfully pierced through the black cloth robe and flew out like beads, hitting the ice spider's body... Pfft, pfft, pfft, three arrows in a row all shot into the ice spider's body... The ice spider cried out, its eight blue compound eyes flashing brightly, and it staggered slightly. Several leg blades were raised, and the squeaking sound was loud. The leg blades whistled down, like lightning flashing. Bran in the wheelchair still did not dodge. It was too close, and he could no longer dodge. The clicking sound of gears rang out, and Bran shot all the arrows in the short crossbow... All the arrows were nailed into the ice spider's body...

The next heartbeat, Bran, along with his wheelchair, was cut into two pieces by the ice spider's leg blade...

Bran Stark did not scream. Hot blood spurted out, splashing on the old servant's face and body...

The old servant's voice choked: "General Julie Clegane...!"

The old servant was Julie's guard. He had fought countless battles and was a iron-blooded warrior, but he was too excited at the first moment and fired the arrows an instant too early...

Bran and Anguy's plan had a serious deviation. The other ice spider did not come into the house, and the other ambushing sharpshooters could not show themselves to shoot. They had to ambush the other ice spider...

The original plan was to wipe out both ice spiders in one fell swoop!

But one ice spider was outside, and one was inside. When the attack was launched, only one ice spider attacked, and the other was always outside, not entering the hall...

*

Crack!

Cracks appeared on the body of the ice spider that had been hit by several arrows from Julie's short crossbow. Crack, crack, crack, the cracks quickly widened. At the moment when the ice spider turned and ran to the gate, with a loud bang, the ice spider shattered into a pile of ice chips...

The other ice spider jumped down from the outer wall, instantly cutting the several Northern guards at the gate into pieces. Outside the main castle, the frightened shouts of people rang out... The ice spider suddenly appeared, wantonly slaughtering anyone outside the main castle—outside the main castle was a militia affairs team composed of officials and Northern citizens helping to transport arrows, oil, wine, and food, as well as retreating wounded soldiers, many of whom were women...

The ice spider rushed into the crowd. The eight leg blades were invincible. The screams of the people and the screams of the women resounded through the castle. Limbs and hot blood flew together. The leg blades flickered like ice, so fast that people could not breathe...

Bran Stark appeared at the window on the second floor of the main castle. Behind him, the servant pushed the wheelchair. Several sharpshooters opened the windows. Bran shouted down, "Hey, I'm here!"

The ice spider wantonly reaped lives. The militia affairs team collapsed and fled in all directions. Then the Northern officials also collapsed. The soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled in chaos. Northern soldiers, Vale soldiers, and Clegane soldiers came in three routes. The warriors drew their longswords, their armor shining brightly, and their formations were neat...

The ice spider paused slightly. Its eight compound eyes saw Bran Stark on the second floor of the main castle. It immediately abandoned the crowd and pounced towards the main castle like an arrow. In just an instant, the ice spider jumped onto the outer wall of the main castle. With another bounce, it reached the window on the second floor...

Swish, swish, swish!

Several arrows shot out of the window. The ice spider disappeared, the arrows missed. The ice spider reappeared and appeared at the window again. With a loud crash, the ice spider smashed open the window and rushed into the room, while Bran Stark and the guard archers had already retreated from the room. Bran sat in the wheelchair, and the wheelchair was parked outside the door...

A general holding a longbow blocked Bran's path. He was Anguy Clegane, the number one archer in the Seven Kingdoms. He shouted Julie Clegane and shot an arrow. With a ding, the arrow hit the ground, and the obsidian arrowhead shattered... The place where the ice spider was lying—the ice spider was gone—it bounced onto the wall... The eight compound eyes stared at Anguy Clegane, emitting a faint light, and the squeaking sound was loud...