The Mountain of Ice and Fire

"Uncle," Tyrion said, riding his horse beside Kevan.

Kevan harbored no affection for Tyrion, but neither did he hold malice. He was better to Tyrion than Tywin.

Kevan looked at Tyrion calmly.

"The mountain tribe leaders and the Mountain… have grown closer." Tyrion considered his words. Growing closer didn't necessarily mean anything. Kevan and Tywin both looked down on the mountain tribes. They considered the people of the Mountains of the Moon to be barbarians, primitives. They despised the mountain tribes in their bones.

"Hmm!" Kevan responded.

"Last night, the Mountain used three spiked maces to… become sworn brothers with Timett…"

Kevan gave Tyrion a strange look.

"Are you worried that the mountain tribes won't follow you?"

"They fight better than the militia," Tyrion said.

"The Mountain is better at training troops, leading troops, and commanding troops than you are, don't you think?"

"…Uh… I admit that…"

"From Winterfell to the Wall, from the Wall to the Eyrie in the Vale, after all this gallivanting, the Mountain has already built a mixed cavalry and infantry legion of nearly two thousand men, and helped Gavin Westerling train a core infantry army of one thousand men. If your three thousand mountain tribesmen were handed over to the Mountain, I think they could be put to better use, don't you think?"

"…Uh… I admit… but…"

"Are you saying the Mountain's forces would become too powerful?"

But that wasn't what Tyrion meant. Kevan's words only proved that this was what Uncle Kevan actually thought.

"Obviously, yes," Tyrion said, following Kevan's lead.

"The Mountain is very loyal, there's no doubt about that," Kevan said.

Tyrion heard that these words weren't Kevan's, but his father, Duke Tywin's. Kevan was just repeating his father's words. People said that Uncle Kevan was his father's shadow, and it seemed very accurate.

In that case, his father was very confident in the Mountain, without any wariness. Tyrion remembered that Jeyne Westerling was his father's ward, and the Mountain had become his father's son-in-law. Whether the Mountain was drinking with Timett and the others, giving them weapons, or becoming sworn brothers, Tywin didn't take it to heart at all. It seemed that Uncle Kevan also didn't care, and the only one who was really nervous was Tyrion himself.

An elephant wouldn't care about an ant's thoughts, nor would it study why a rabbit eats grass.

Duke Tywin simply didn't care about Tyrion's concerns.

But when it came to the Mountain's loyalty, Tyrion really had nothing to say.

Twenty years as a vicious dog, loyal and devoted, couldn't be achieved by flattery overnight.

Tyrion felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He even felt that the Mountain could anticipate his displeasure and that he would seek out Uncle Kevan to test the waters. Tyrion hoped to get the support of the Lannister name and power to help him hold onto the three thousand mountain warriors. His goal was to control these three thousand warriors for his own use, rather than painstakingly coaxing them down, then handing them over to the Mountain.

But now, neither his father nor Uncle Kevan cared about his little thoughts.

"The Mountain is indeed very loyal, but I feel like he's a little too smart."

"Not at all," Kevan said. "The North, the Riverlands, the Vale, the Stormlands, Dragonstone, and Dorne are all our enemies. If the Westerlands don't produce a great general at this time, who will resist? I hope that during this extraordinary period, we can have more Mountains."

This was full of Duke Tywin's flavor!

Duke Tywin's shadow—Kevan Lannister—truly lived up to his name.

Tyrion noticed that Uncle Kevan didn't mention the Reach and the Iron Islands. He was inwardly moved. Since the Reach and the Iron Islands weren't his father's enemies, then what were they? With his father's strategy, they could only be allies.

The Reach, the Iron Islands, the Crownlands, and the Westerlands, these four places seemed to be another alliance.

"Uncle, don't worry about the Vale. Lysa Arryn won't send troops."

"Oh? Are you so sure?"

"Her heart is only on her sickly son. Now, people pursuing her in the Vale fill the entire Vale plain. Her dowry is too rich. Whoever marries her will get the kingdom of the Vale. Therefore, she and the nobles in the Vale have no intention of managing the war outside."

"Duke Hoster Tully of the Riverlands is her father."

"Father, sister, brother, in Lysa Arryn's eyes, based on my judgment of her, all of these people combined are not as important as her sickly son, Robert Arryn."

"I sincerely hope Lysa Arryn is as you say," Kevan said.

"The Eyrie is impregnable. Besides a dragon, nothing can break through. Lysa Arryn isn't worried about us attacking her after we win. We can't get past the Bloody Gate either. She has nothing to worry about, so she won't send troops."

"Oh! In that case, heaven is helping the Westerlands!"

Tyrion shrugged. He came to talk to Uncle Kevan about the Mountain, but he didn't get any help. Instead, he talked about Lysa Arryn for a while.

"Uncle, I'm going to the front. I still hope to control those mountain men myself. Can Uncle say a few good words to my father when it's convenient?"

"Say what?"

Tyrion felt a burst of shame. The Mountain, whom he had always dismissed, made him, the self-proclaimed clever man, suddenly realize that he had no good way to deal with him, and he had no choice but to ask for help from his father's power.

"The Mountain only listens to Father. If possible, let Father say, in a gap between eating, drinking, or meetings, not to interfere with my mountain men."

Uncle Kevan looked at Tyrion with that strange look again. "After this battle, we will defeat the Northmen and face Stannis from Dragonstone and Renly from the Stormlands. In King's Landing, inside the Red Keep, your sister and nephew obviously need someone to manage them, otherwise they will make the whole country even more chaotic. They are always doing stupid things that are not beneficial to us at all. Who do you think Duke Tywin will send?"

"Send you, Uncle Kevan."

"Oh?"

"Isn't that right?"

"No!"

"Then who will it be? I can't think of anyone more suitable."

"Himself."

Tyrion shrugged. "That's normal. He's the Hand of the King forever."

Hand of the King forever was the honor that the Mad King Aerys Targaryen bestowed on Tywin, and it was also the honor that the people of the Seven Kingdoms passed down.

"After Tywin sits in the Red Keep, who should lead the troops to fight the two Baratheons?"

"Jaime!" Tyrion said. "But Jaime has a shortcoming, he's brave but lacks patience."

"Jaime and the Mountain," Kevan said.

Tyrion immediately understood. After this battle, the Mountain and Jaime would become the two highest military commanders in the Westerlands. No wonder his father didn't care about the Mountain wanting to subdue the mountain tribesmen.

"What about me? What will I do then?"

Ser Kevan was stunned.

Tywin hadn't talked to him about the arrangement for Tyrion. Perhaps, it would be more appropriate to let this dwarf go to the brothel. What could he do? Fight? He hadn't learned martial arts since he was a child; logistics, he would only be drunk and hugging prostitutes every day.

Kevan looked at Tyrion and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Tyrion laughed. "I know, I'm just a useless dwarf. Fight? No! Handle government affairs? Besides drinking and playing with prostitutes, I don't have any real skills."

This was Tywin's view of Tyrion. Tyrion saw it from Uncle Kevan. After this battle, he would basically have no use, so what mountain men's armed forces did he still want to protect? Tsk tsk! Ridiculous!

Kevan said, "Actually… you can… assist Jaime…"

"Don't humor me, Uncle. The only thing you're better than my father at is hoping to protect my self-esteem. Dwarfs don't have any self-esteem. Dwarfs are bastards, hehe, I'm used to it," Tyrion laughed.

He kicked his little pony and left Uncle Kevan. Although his heart was full of scars given by his father, he could still feel his abandonment, and that feeling made him very uncomfortable.

Tyrion was sensitive and arrogant. The world had given him malice since the day he was born, but his heart had never become numb: pain, sadness, kindness and malice towards others, he could clearly touch and feel.

Tyrion traveled quickly, and after half a day, he finally caught up from the back of the team. The thing he was worried about still happened. One-Eyed Timett wore a full set of copper-colored armor, which was very eye-catching, with two ferocious spiked maces in his left and right hands, and a spare one at his waist.

Strongboar Shagga, Ulf the Lean, the little beauty Chella, and the clever man Ulf all changed into brand-new and eye-catching fine armor, majestic helmets, and brand-new weapons. Shagga had a heavy axe, Ulf a long spear, the little beauty a two-handed sword, and Ulf a chain mace, a long spear, a short sword, and a round shield.

These weapons were naturally given to them by the Mountain.

The Mountain gave the five leaders armor, helmets, and weapons. Every item was a fine treasure in the eyes of the mountain people, and it was worth a lot.

Tywin clearly refused Tyrion's promise to give the mountain people three thousand sets of armor, weapons, and helmets. He would only issue them the weapons they wanted after he had seen the mountain people's bravery.

In other words, the mountain people had to fight first, and only those who didn't die would get a set of armor, weapons, and a helmet.

Tywin's hideous face of using Tyrion and three thousand mountain people as cannon fodder had already appeared. This was Tyrion's first time participating in a formal war, and he was still a real rookie. He hadn't given up on his father yet, and he still had the heart of a family member.

The Mountain didn't give out three thousand sets either. He only gave out five sets, giving five sets to the five leaders, and captured the hearts of the mountain people. When Tyrion went up to greet the mountain people, the mountain people booed him.

*

The mountain people marched on the left wing along the banks of the Green Fork River. The Mountain's Clegane soldiers marched in the middle. On the right wing was Earl Leo Lefford of Golden Tooth. The scouts and decoy troops in front were Ser Addam Marbrand of the Marbrand.

Scout news, in about five days, the Westerlands army would meet the Northern army, which made Tywin in the center of the army overjoyed, but no one could see his excitement. He was expressionless, wearing a heavy cloak woven with gold thread that could resist arrows, and the saddle and horse blanket on the horse were all made of gold.

Tywin led five hundred personal guard cavalrymen, surrounding a luxurious carriage, in which sat the witch he regarded as a demigod.