The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Sergei headed towards the Weeping Tower.

*

The courtyard was dark, the five massive towers blocking out all moonlight.

The torches atop the walls looked like tiny stars, manned by soldiers arranged by Ser Gregor.

This decision made Sergei, Captain Vargo, Jaqen, and Fat Zollo laugh, because once the gates were closed, no matter how many enemies there were, they could just sleep soundly in the castle.

No army could breach such high walls, nor could they break through them; the thickness of the walls was akin to a mountain. A mountain of stone, it took quite a while to walk through the gate into the interior of Harrenhal.

They only needed to garrison the gate and the murder holes, and even if the gate was breached by a battering ram, no one could pass through the hail of arrows and spear thrusts from the murder holes above.

It was a miraculous castle that could not be breached by human force. Sergei, who had come from across the Narrow Sea, had never seen or heard of such a magnificent castle.

Sergei felt like he had been walking for a long time, yet he still hadn't crossed half of the vast courtyard.

This shocked him.

He looked up, and the Weeping Tower was right in front of him, as if he could reach out and touch it, but as he walked, it felt like he would never reach it.

Tonight, Sergei had eaten in the barracks hall. There were nearly seven hundred Clegane cavalrymen, over eleven hundred infantrymen, and more than three hundred Brave Companions, a total of over two thousand soldiers, all eating in the barracks hall, yet it didn't feel crowded at all. The hall even seemed quite empty.

At the time, Captain Vargo had been stunned when he entered the barracks hall.

The barracks hall was the soldiers' dining area, and even the three hundred Brave Companions had never seen such a huge dining hall.

*

Sergei withdrew his gaze from the top of the walls. The walls, reaching into the night sky, made him feel as small as an ant.

Behind Sergei, a nimble and silent shadow followed. And behind this nimble and silent shadow, another slender shadow followed.

Sergei had no idea that he was being followed. And those following him were focused on Sergei and didn't realize that they were also being followed by someone else.

*

Sergei stood in front of the Weeping Tower's door, a look of excitement on his face.

The Weeping Tower was very tall, all five towers of Harrenhal were tall, as if reaching into the clouds. Such a large tower must have at least hundreds of rooms, making it difficult to find someone. However, the tops of all the towers were deformed and no longer habitable. Especially the Tower of Dread, the upper part of which was twisted and deformed, with most of the tower's body in a liquid state.

That was the work of Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters' three dragons three hundred years ago. At that time, the three dragons could swallow even aurochs whole. The size of the dragons was staggering. The flames spewed by the dragons had burned the upper part of the Tower of Dread into a liquid state.

King Harren had been roasted alive behind the giant stone walls by dragonfire.

King Harren's ideal when building Harrenhal was to build a castle that no one in the world could breach. He realized his dream of making Harrenhal impregnable by human force, but he had not anticipated that dragons could come from the sky and enter Harrenhal without breaching his gates.

Two-thirds of the five high towers had not been inhabited for decades due to the dwindling numbers of House Whent. They had become a paradise for crows, small birds, mice, and other small animals. At night, strange noises began to echo from the five high towers.

Although Sergei had only arrived at Harrenhal today, he had done his homework in advance for tonight's operation. He didn't need to search the upper two-thirds of the Weeping Tower; he only needed to start from the first floor.

With Sergei's methods, he could quickly find the two children's location by threatening a servant with a sword, but he wouldn't do that. He wanted to snatch the two children without alarming anyone; that was the way he liked to do things.

One child's father was a cook, and the other child's father was a blacksmith. Both were masters in Harrenhal and had been with Lady Whent for many years.

Sergei wanted to steal the two children from their fathers' sides through his own means.

The necklace around his neck had made many Clegane soldiers feel nauseous during dinner tonight. Sergei's reputation had quickly spread in the barracks hall, and many soldiers looked at him with strange eyes.

Julie Clegane made no secret of her disgust for Sergei, Anguy also showed strong hostility, and Captain Alyn was even more menacing. If it weren't for Ser Gregor's order that his own people were not allowed to fight each other, Sergei estimated that the Northerner Alyn would have attacked him directly.

This made Sergei and Captain Vargo very happy as they ate a hearty dinner. They enjoyed the hostility shown by a small number of Clegane men, but there was nothing they could do to him, which was very satisfying.

Sergei had no interest in Ser Gregor's foster daughter, Julie Clegane. He didn't like women, nor did he like men; he liked young boys. Julie was still a little girl, and her pouting disgust and knife-like gaze made Sergei laugh.

Sergei walked into the Weeping Tower; he was very experienced. This afternoon, he had smelled the two children's scent. His nose could help him accurately locate the two children, and Sergei would not allow himself to alarm anyone else when taking the children.

Stealing children from their parents' sides was a process full of fun and excitement, and it was Sergei's life's pleasure.

Sergei was deeply trapped in this perverted pleasure and unable to extricate himself!

*

Sergei didn't spend much time finding the cook's bedroom; the cook's scent was always so obvious. Sergei landed silently and easily picked up the child from the cook's side. He carried the child into another empty bedroom.

There was no shortage of bedrooms in the Weeping Tower; there were rooms everywhere.

When he went to pick up the blacksmith's son, good heavens, the cook's child who had been placed on the bed in the room was gone. Sergei thought he had gone to the wrong room. He quickly searched several rooms and confirmed that he had not gone to the wrong room, but the child was gone.

This was very strange!

Sergei put the blacksmith's child on the bed, turned around and went out to find the cook's child. He saw the child who was still sleeping soundly next to the cook. He picked up the child and returned, and as expected, the blacksmith's child was gone.

"Which friend is playing games with me?" Sergei chuckled.

No one answered. A small shadow appeared at the window, staring at him. In the darkness, the shadow slowly grew larger. She had been crouching, but now that she stood up, the shadow slowly grew larger.

Sergei saw that the shadow was holding a short crossbow in her hand.

Clang!

Sergei drew his longsword!

"Hehe, it's Miss Julie."

"Sergei, drop your sword!"

"Put down your short crossbow and draw your sword!" Sergei laughed. "We can only spar; we can't kill each other. Ser Gregor has ordered."

"I can kill you. You violated my father's orders. All the servants in Harrenhal are under my father's protection," Julie said coldly.

"I won't hurt the children."

"You can't steal children from their fathers' sides."

"Ser Gregor doesn't allow me to steal them?" Sergei chuckled. "Miss Julie, put down your short crossbow and draw your sword. Didn't Ser Gregor teach you courage?"

"Okay, I'll kill you with my sword."

Julie put the short crossbow down on the window sill. She jumped into the room from the window, drew her short sword, and pounced on Sergei. Sergei thrust his longsword straight out. Julie dodged nimbly. Sergei let out a surprised sound at her agile movements. Julie did not stop moving forward as she dodged, closed in, and thrust her sword fiercely at Sergei's throat.

Very fast movements, agile as the wind, and very vicious, never showing mercy.

Sergei shifted to the side and dodged, but the sword's edge still cut his skin, startling him into a cold sweat.

If he had been even a fraction slower, his neck would have been cut open with a huge wound in his rapid dodge, and he would have died on the spot.

"What a vicious young lady," Sergei chuckled, quickly retreating, adjusting his breathing and footwork, and returning to a true dueling state.

He had clearly underestimated Julie's skills too much!

At another window, a dark figure stood quietly, slowly removing the bow and arrow from its back.

*

In Harrenhal's five towers, Vargo led the members of the Brave Companions into one of Harrenhal's five towers—the Tower of Dread. This tower was famous for the fact that at night, one could hear many people whispering in the darkness. Lady Whent had lived in Harrenhal for decades and had never set foot in the Tower of Dread.

And after hearing this story, Vargo Hoat happily led his brothers into the Tower of Dread. He hoped to hear the mysterious voices whispering in the darkness at night and have a conversation with those who were hiding in the darkness and whispering. If possible, he hoped to meet those mysterious people again.

Early the next morning, the horns blared in the courtyard, signaling the morning exercises. Out of his agreement with Ser Gregor and with professional spirit, Captain Vargo Hoat immediately got up and led his brothers to participate in Ser Gregor's morning training of the soldiers.

Vargo Hoat came out and saw a corpse hanging from the door frame of the Tower of Dread, swaying back and forth.

The corpse was naked. Its throat had been pierced by a sword, and an arrow had pierced its arm. The arrow was still stuck in its arm.

And the face of the corpse was Sergei's face. His face was full of horror, as if he had been frightened to death by seeing something unbelievable.

Someone had killed Sergei last night and hung him here.

Vargo was furious. This was an absolutely unacceptable murder and provocation. The Brave Companions would not be bullied.

Vargo let out a loud laugh: "Sergei, did you go out looking for fun again last night? Didn't you hear that there are ghosts in Harrenhal?" Vargo drew his short sword, cut the rope around Sergei's neck, and Sergei's body fell down. Vargo reached out and hugged it, carried Sergei's body on his shoulder, and strode towards the training ground.

The three hundred brothers of the Brave Companions were filled with righteous indignation and followed Vargo with a bang.

The training ground was very large, there was no doubt about that. The Clegane cavalry and infantry had already begun their morning exercises.

Ser Gregor was personally directing from the high platform. He saw teams of cavalry charging towards the 'enemy', forming an encirclement, then the second team, the third team, the fourth team, and finally wrapping the enemy into a large cabbage.

Vargo had never seen this kind of encirclement tactic training. He was a little dazed as he watched, carrying Sergei's body on his shoulder.

If the opponent had few people, this encirclement tactic was indeed very domineering, able to firmly wrap the enemy. No matter how the enemy broke through, they were always in the middle of the spiraling attacking army. This move was particularly effective for capturing the enemy's leader. Once caught, they could not escape.

Sergei had seen this rotating 'wrapping cabbage' tactic for the first time.

His brothers were also stunned.

The Clegane cavalry advanced and retreated freely. No matter how the enemy in the middle broke through, they were always wrapped in the core. Teams of circular cavalry moved with the enemy's movement, and they did not scatter at all.

Ser Gregor saw Vargo on the high platform, and he also saw Sergei's body on Vargo's shoulder. This was exactly what Vargo needed. Vargo smiled at Ser Gregor, but Ser Gregor remained expressionless and continued to direct the cavalry in this 'wrapping cabbage' tactic.

After the cabbage was wrapped, Ser Gregor's command changed, and the cavalry dispersed, chaotic and disorderly, but in the blink of an eye, they turned into several triangular formations, and the triangular formations launched a charge in the same direction at the same time. The cavalry formations got closer and closer, and it looked like they were about to collide with each other and cause chaos. Then the cavalry and cavalry actually intersected to form an array. The two triangular formations naturally formed a large formation, and finally all the triangular formations merged into a rapidly running wedge formation. This was an offensive battle formation to break through the enemy's defense line.

Vargo had never even heard of such a training method, let alone seen it.

Ser Gregor blew a sharp sound through a strange thing in his mouth on the high platform. This sound stimulated the eardrums, pierced through the rumbling of horses' hooves, and allowed every soldier to hear it.

If the training ground was not so huge, it would not be able to withstand Ser Gregor's free cavalry formation changes.

Anyway, Vargo trained his soldiers by shouting with his throat, and that was how he fought.

He could hear that the whistle in Ser Gregor's mouth was commanding everything, changing constantly, but he did not understand a single syllable.

On the other side, the Clegane infantry was training.

The infantry training method was even more special, even newer and more original than Ser Gregor's cavalry formation changes.

Vargo's Brave Companions were infantry, so he chose the infantry training area.

The training ground was large enough. Vargo issued an order, and his three hundred brothers began their traditional one-on-one sparring.

And Vargo, carrying Sergei's body on his shoulder, pointed and supervised the sparring of his three hundred brothers.

Vargo did not make any complaints or requests to Ser Gregor, but Sergei's body on his shoulder made his request: Ser Gregor must severely punish the murderer and demand a life for a life, otherwise the Brave Companions would reserve their opinions.

The guy in charge of infantry training had a very terrible scar on his forehead. Vargo had bet with Sergei yesterday when they were eating that the scar on the head of that particularly big guy was cut out by himself, and he had grasped the degree of strength to ensure that his head was not cut open.

This was a low-level means of pretending to be fierce. Chiswyck's forehead scar had successfully aroused laughter at the dinner table from Vargo and others yesterday.

Chiswyck also had a strange thing in his mouth, and like Ser Gregor, he issued very sharp and high-pitched training orders.

However, Vargo carrying Sergei's body on his shoulder to training affected Chiswyck's soldiers' training, and the soldiers all looked at Vargo.

Chiswick took the iron whistle out of his mouth: "Captain Wagg, are you deliberately trying to cause trouble?"

"Absolutely not," Captain Wagg laughed. "It's just that your soldiers aren't focused enough."

"Shagavy is dead. Why don't you put him down?" Chiswick said.

"He's my brother. He died inexplicably. Of course, I won't let it go so easily," Wagg said with a grin.

"Wagg, are you deliberately carrying Shagavy's body to the training ground to cause trouble?" The Mountain's voice rang out.

As Wagg expected, the Mountain had indeed come. After all, he was carrying Shagavy's body on his shoulder!

"Not causing trouble, sir," Wagg said. "Lord Mountain, Shagavy was murdered last night. The Warriors need justice."