The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Mountain looked at Duke Tywin. This was a man who could make even his own son give way to the family name ‘Lannister.’ What else could he say?

More talk was useless, and more words meant more mistakes!

“As you wish, Father,” the Mountain said.

“Good. Did you send Brienne to Loras Tyrell’s camp? Or did he come to your camp to get her himself?”

“I will hand Brienne Tarth over to the Small Council tomorrow.”

Handing her over to the Small Council was undoubtedly the most correct course of action. The Lannisters couldn’t appear too humble before the Tyrells. The Mountain didn’t voice these thoughts, but he believed Duke Tywin understood the principle.

Unless the benefits were sufficient, the Duke wouldn’t force the Mountain to hand someone over simply for Loras Tyrell’s sake.

“Good, you may leave.”

“Yes, Father.”

*

Early morning. The Mud Gate military camp.

Big Head Chiswyck, Infantry Vice-Captain Tobolt, Anguy, Sweetmouth Ralph, Polliver, and Dunsen, as well as the Dothraki man, Fat Zorro, adopted daughter Julie, Captain of the Guard, Alyn… and a group of other generals were practicing martial arts in a circular training ground.

Anguy was practicing archery, having added two extra strands of bull tendon to the original bowstring, requiring greater arm strength to draw it.

Drawing the bow involved simply pulling back the string, aiming at the target, as slowly as possible, and then slowly relaxing, practicing the relevant muscle strength and endurance of the arms, while also using the strength of the waist.

Fat Zorro was practicing with a Dothraki curved sword, his swordsmanship skilled, swift, and unmatched. The rotating blade light was like a flying swirl, dazzling to the eye.

Adopted daughter Julie, on the other hand, was practicing archery on a galloping horse. With a ‘thwack’ sound, an arrow shot out, hitting the bullseye.

Big Head was practicing with a long spear. A scarecrow was suspended on a wooden pole, dressed in leather, with the vital parts of the human body drawn on the leather. Big Head charged on horseback, thrusting the spear, hitting the heart position on the leather.

Meanwhile, the cavalry and infantry, led by their centurions, were practicing battle formations.

The entire Mud Gate square was filled with Clegane soldiers. At the same time, on the drill ground outside the city walls, the Tyrell army of forty thousand was stationed. Except for the soldiers on guard duty, the remaining soldiers and generals were still sound asleep in their tents.

Brienne Tarth, hearing the sounds of military training and martial arts practice outside, finally couldn’t bear it any longer. She dressed neatly in her private tent, grabbed her training sword, mounted her horse, and trotted directly to the generals’ martial arts training ground.

Big Head Chiswyck circled his warhorse, about to perform the next thrusting practice, when he saw Brienne Tarth.

“Wow, what a burly and valiant chick!” Green light shone in Chiswyck’s eyes.

Brienne had seen such gazes since she was a child. She was very tall, half a head taller than most knights, but she was ugly, and had been mocked since childhood, which made her personality withdrawn and stubborn.

*

In the year 278 of Aegon's Conquest, Brienne Tarth was born on the island of Tarth, the only daughter of Lord Selwyn Tarth, the Evenstar. She was twenty-one years old this year, unmarried, and a virgin.

Brienne was extremely tall, with very broad shoulders, a flat chest, as if her chest had never developed. Her face was rough, covered in freckles, and her nose was crooked, a medal of cruel hand-to-hand combat training. A row of front teeth protruded unevenly, with a large mouth and thick lips, and dull, brownish-yellow hair. Her eyes were large and blue, sparkling with pure and straightforward light. This was the most attractive and beautiful part of her whole body: her eyes.

From childhood, Brienne lived amidst the ridicule of others because her appearance lacked the temperament of a noble lady, with the best-case scenario being nothing more than receiving pity from others. When she tried to dress herself according to the standards of noble ladies, she would feel so inferior because of her unwomanly appearance and lack of coordinated attire that she would hide and cry. When she armed herself as a warrior according to her talents, she would receive contempt and discrimination based on her gender.

Brienne had an older brother, Galladon Tarth, who drowned when he was eight years old. She had two younger sisters, both of whom died in infancy. She thus became Selwyn's sole heir. Her father, Lord Selwyn Tarth, found three men who were willing to marry her, but undoubtedly those men were only interested in her inheritance. During their interactions, all three fiancés were extremely contemptuous of her, greatly mocking her large mouth and protruding teeth, which caused a heavy blow to Brienne, who had a particularly strong sense of self-esteem.

She punched the first two fiancés in the lips, blackened their eyes, and broke their nasal bones, also breaking up the marriages that her father had painstakingly arranged twice.

The third engagement was with Ser Humfrey Wagstaff. Ser Humfrey insisted that Brienne should act like a lady after marriage, wearing skirts, headscarves, and floral ornaments. Although Brienne was only 16 years old at the time, she resolutely stated that unless Ser Humfrey defeated her in a trial by combat, she would not agree to such a request, and even after marriage, she would still wear a sword belt and carry a longsword.

The two decided to determine whose words were more effective through combat. In the end, Ser Humfrey fell to the ground after breaking three bones, and Brienne once again knocked out her marriage with her fists.

From then on, Brienne, who had reached marriageable age, no longer looked for a partner, and her father stopped this exhausting endeavor. In the year 292 of Aegon's Conquest, Renly held a tourney after coming of age, during which he visited Tarth Island. He treated Brienne very gentlemanly, respecting, caring for, and treating her with courtesy, which made Brienne, as a young girl, fall in love, and from then on, she deeply loved the elegant and handsome Duke Renly.

When Renly Baratheon claimed the throne, Brienne joined Renly's army marching towards King's Landing. In Renly's camp, Brienne was repeatedly ridiculed by squires and knights, but in order to be by Renly's side, she silently endured the verbal humiliation from these men.

On the march to King's Landing, Brienne used a morningstar at the Bitterbridge tourney to knock down many men who mocked her, and ultimately defeated Loras Tyrell, the hot favorite to win, in a group melee that involved 116 knights. Brienne won the final championship.

Renly asked Brienne what reward she wanted, and Brienne requested Renly to allow her to join Renly's Rainbow Guard. Renly agreed. Brienne thus became the only woman in the Rainbow Guard, wearing a blue cloak.

The army continued to advance, arriving at Storm's End. Renly's brother, Stannis Baratheon, also arrived at Storm's End. The two brothers' negotiations failed, and they decided to fight the next day.

Before dawn, as Brienne was putting on Renly's armor, a shadow that looked exactly like Stannis broke into Renly's tent, raised a shadow sword, and cut through Renly's gorget and neck. Brienne witnessed all of this. When her screams were heard, the shadow disappeared, and other members of Renly's guard rushed into the tent. They believed that Brienne had killed Renly. Brienne couldn't explain herself. When Loras Tyrell rushed into the tent and raised his sword at her, Brienne had no choice but to flee Renly's camp.

Brienne knew that the one who killed Renly was Stannis's shadow. This was the dark magic of Melisandre, the red priestess by Stannis's side. The one who killed Renly was Stannis. In order to take revenge, she disguised herself as a man and mixed into Stannis's logistics army, waiting for a chance to assassinate Stannis.

Stannis was defeated at the Blackwater. The Tyrell family's forty thousand troops suddenly arrived and attacked Stannis's logistics army. While escaping, Brienne was captured by Julie Clegane's horse archer squad and became Julie's prisoner.

When examining the prisoners one by one, the Mountain noticed her and recognized that she was a woman. Therefore, Brienne confessed her true identity and told the story of the shadow assassin killing Renly.

When the whole world misunderstood Brienne, what made Brienne unbelievable was that the infamous Mountain rarely chose to believe her! This greatly changed Brienne's impression of the Mountain. After spending a few days together, she discovered that the Mountain was not the demon in the legends. The Mountain treated her like Renly, a true gentleman.

Brienne was grateful to the Mountain from then on.

The Mountain was the second person who trusted and respected her with courtesy, the first being Renly Baratheon.

*

Brienne, who had arrived at the training ground, became very confident—as long as she was practicing martial arts or fighting, Brienne would become very confident. Her talent, like Arya Stark's, was not for red dresses, but for arms.

Brienne drew her training sword with a swoosh, clamped her legs, gave a soft shout, and galloped towards the sword target. The warhorse swept past the suspended sword target, which was a leather target of a person's upper body. The training sword struck out fiercely, and with a ‘bang’ sound, the training sword slashed through the chest of the leather target, cutting the leather target in two.

Tobolt, who was practicing swordsmanship on another sword target, watched in astonishment, in disbelief: “Is this chick the Mountain in disguise?”

Tobolt's shocked words caused the brothers to burst into laughter.

Anguy, who was concentrating on practicing archery, also put down his strong bow and looked over at Brienne, his eyes filled with surprise. This was the first time he had seen a chick cut a sword target in half with a single training sword.

“Miss Brienne, be careful!” Julie shouted on her galloping horse, suddenly firing an arrow at Brienne.

This time the distance was very close, and the arrow was swift and powerful. Amid the cheers of the crowd, Brienne leaned back, and the training arrow swept past her face, narrowly missing. Brienne didn't get up, but with a soft shout, the warhorse under her crotch suddenly darted out, heading straight for Julie. Julie hurriedly steered her horse to dodge, Brienne got up, and swung her training sword out, hitting Julie off her horse with a ‘bang’ sound.

The generals were immediately silent. Fat Zorro, who was frantically waving his arakh, stopped his blade. The blade light retracted with a ‘whoosh,’ and Sweetmouth and Dunsen both sheathed their swords, looking towards this side.

The generals looked at each other.

This blue-clad guard of the former King Renly, who was personally interrogated by Lord Mountain and ultimately given her freedom, was indeed worthy of her name.

Julie jumped up from the ground, and Big Head Chiswyck, holding a long spear, drove his horse forward. On the day he was granted knighthood and a surname by the Mountain, the gift Julie wanted was for Big Head Chiswyck to take care of the people who bullied her. From that day on, Big Head had always loved and cared for Julie as if she were his own daughter. Whoever bullied her, he would fight to the death with them.

“Julie, are you alright?”

“She'll be fine, I used skill.” Brienne said honestly.

She was a sincere person, telling the truth, but this truth, when heard in the ears of other generals, contained the intention of showing off her skills and martial arts, and Brienne's expressionless face made her seem even more arrogant.

The Mountain's subordinates, even the soldiers, were all very proud, not taking the soldiers of other legions seriously at all, let alone these arrogant generals who had just won a great victory.

Big Head shook his long spear: “Chick, let me try your skill. I hope your sword is more powerful than your skill in bed.”

The brothers were all rough men, and they burst into laughter and cheered.

“Knight, Julie and I were just sparring. She warned me before she shot the arrow. I also used skill when attacking her with the training sword, and didn't hurt her. I won't compete with you. Your words are frivolous and disrespectful to me.”

Alyn, the captain of the Mountain's guard, who had been silently practicing swordsmanship on the side, rode over and said coldly: “General Brienne, I am Lord Mountain's guard. May I ask you to give me some pointers on swordsmanship?” He flipped his wrist, creating a sword flower.

There was a good show to watch. Julie flipped onto her horse, signaling to Big Head, and the two rode away, clearing a space.

Big Head really wanted to compete with Brienne, but his specialty was not the spear, but the sword and knife. After the battle of King's Landing, he realized that the long spear was more useful than the sword when charging, so he decided to train a good spear technique. In the future, he would use the spear when charging on the battlefield, and draw his sword when he got close.

Big Head was still tender with the spear, having only trained for a few days. He knew he wasn't good enough, so letting the captain come forward to teach this tall woman a lesson was the same.

Brienne looked at Alyn with a slightly strange expression. Why did this guy, who had been silently practicing swordsmanship alone, suddenly come up and want to compete with swords. Alyn's words were very polite, but his eyes had a sharp edge, as if she had offended his dignity.

Alyn's eyes had hostility!

“General, I was just sparring with Julie, and I had no malice. I won't compete with you.” Brienne said.

“Does the Blue Guard look down on me?”

“I have no such intention, sir.”

Alyn said in a deep voice, “Guards, bring real swords!”

The expressions on the faces of the generals suddenly became interesting. The Northerners all had a kind of foolishness, their personalities were like stone. Once they got really angry, they liked to get real.

Brienne looked at Alyn with sincere eyes: “Captain Alyn, you are Lord Mountain's captain of the guard. Lord Mountain killed Stannis and avenged me. I am grateful to him. You have hostility in your heart, but I am not your enemy, and you are not my enemy, so I won't compete with you.”

Brienne's intention was to be grateful to the Mountain, so she wouldn't compete with the Mountain's people. She could see that Alyn was angry, not like Julie's sparring without malice.

If a real sword was used, if there was a mishap and someone was injured, it wouldn't be Brienne's sincere heart. She said everything she had to say, without any scheming.

If Alyn didn't have anger in his eyes, didn't have a sharp edge, and sincerely wanted to practice swordsmanship, Brienne would have agreed!

The guard brought over two real swords, one for Alyn and one for Brienne. Brienne saw Alyn staring at her intently. She wasn't afraid of fighting, but the Mountain had been too good to her these past few days, never treating her as a prisoner, giving her absolute freedom, and giving her a separate barracks to live in alone. When Loras Tyrell came here with his family guards and soldiers to take her, the Mountain also came forward to stop them. The Mountain believed what Brienne said, and was willing to vouch for Brienne's innocence and loyalty. This made Brienne's gratitude to the Mountain extraordinary and indescribable.

Love me, love my dog. Because of her goodwill towards the Mountain, Brienne also had deep goodwill towards the Mountain's brothers. Practicing swordsmanship was fine, but a real fight with hostility wasn't Brienne's choice.

When the whole world misunderstood Brienne, the Mountain chose to believe!

And Aylin was the Mountain's brother.

Brienne felt a pang of regret. From childhood, she had always been awkward, ridiculed, humiliated, and looked down upon. She always made mistakes and said the wrong things. To smooth things over, Brienne decided to apologize.

"Captain Aylin, I was wrong to knock Miss Julie off her horse just now. I apologize!"

The sound of hooves echoed as a figure entered the training yard: the Mountain himself!

"Captain Aylin, I'm afraid you can't spar with Brienne today. I need to speak with Brienne Tarth about something."

"Yes, my lord."

Aylin sheathed his sword.

"Brienne Tarth, the Knight of Flowers, Loras Tyrell, has approached the Hand of the King and demanded that I hand you over."

Julie said, "Father, we have explained to Loras that Brienne is innocent. You have also vouched for Miss Brienne in the name of the gods and the honor of our family. Brienne risked her life alone to assassinate Stannis, showing more loyalty than those nobles who immediately defected to Stannis's side. Why must the Hand of the King insist we hand over such a loyal and righteous person?"

The Mountain was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Brienne is innocent, and her loyalty is unquestionable. We all know that, but Ser Loras Tyrell wants her dead."

"My lord, the Tyrells have no military merit, and Brienne is our prisoner. What right does Ser Loras have to go to the Hand of the King and demand someone from our camp?" asked Chiswyck the Big.

"The Tyrells are a great house, with immense power," the Mountain said.

The officers were silent, resentment brewing in their hearts.

The Mountain looked at the pale-faced Brienne. "Brienne, I have no choice but to agree to the Hand's request. Today, I will take you to the throne room and hand you over to the Small Council for judgment."

Aylin said, "My lord, Brienne is certainly innocent."

"I am certain, in the name of the Old Gods and the New," the Mountain said, staring at Aylin.

"Then you cannot hand Brienne over. If you do, she will surely die." Aylin, a Northerner influenced by Eddard Stark, valued fairness and loyalty as much as life itself. "The Small Council, I don't trust them." Eddard Stark's fate was a cautionary tale.

"Who dares defy the Hand of the King's orders?" the Mountain said slowly, his voice low.

"We have achieved great victories, defended King's Landing, and killed Stannis. Can we not even protect an innocent and righteous person?" Aylin said with fervor.

"We cannot!" the Mountain said slowly.

"The Tyrells are going too far!" Julie said coldly, her eyes flashing with a fierce light!

For a moment, the officers were silent, their hearts filled with anger!

*

ps: Notice received, free for a limited time, two days.

Update plan: 1 update per day (5,000 words).

Reason: No manuscripts saved. The editor wants me to update a lot after the free period, but I can't. I'll move a few thousand words to after the free period to try to make a good impression on the editor, which will affect the fate of this book later. You'll only be reading a few thousand words less. To be honest, I can only do 2 updates a day even if I work hard, and I can't save manuscripts! Hope you understand!

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