The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 421: Daven's Sword Washes Clegane Territory

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*

The Westerlands, Clegane territory.

Morning, bright sunshine, light green grass, with a faint salty sea breeze blowing, the leaves gently swaying.

At the entrance to the Clegane Road connecting to Lannisport, a cavalryman appeared.

The cavalryman in the red cloak held a long spear, and because he was so far away, he looked like a tiny figure the size of a little finger.

Then came the second cavalryman, the third, the fourth, a whole team of cavalrymen, six abreast, advancing forward. But because the distance was too great, it seemed as if they were not moving at all.

Slowly, on the left and right sides of this cavalry, infantry appeared, infantry holding long spears, one, two, three, the infantry lines extending continuously to the left and right, one helmet after another emerging from the horizon, extending continuously to both sides, and after a long while, still continuing to extend, as if there would be no end… A huge fan-shaped formation, as if without boundaries, was slowly appearing…

At the entrance of Clegane Village, an old woman sat, surrounded by a group of children playing. There were boys and girls, the boys barefoot, the girls with small braids, chasing and frolicking.

"Dan, come here!" The old woman beckoned to a boy who was half-grown.

The boy had mud on his face, the masterpiece of his younger sister.

The boy came to the old woman, and was grabbed by her hand, the old woman's hand was very strong, like an iron hook.

"The time has come, do as I say," the old woman said in a low voice, with a very serious look.

"Yes, madam," the boy said with an uneasy look.

"Take your sister Nina and quickly go find Brother Gendry, don't ask why, go quickly."

"Is something happening?" The boy puffed out his chest. He had always dreamed of becoming a cavalryman in the Clegane army like his father, Black Stone.

"Listen to me, go quickly."

"Nina is having fun, she won't go with me."

"You'll find a way, hmm!"

The boy was twelve years old this year, his small frame already grown. If he were a child from a noble family, he would have already learned to ride horses, shoot arrows, and wield training swords in combat. He was thin, his face full of childishness.

He ran towards a few girls who were playing, reached out and snatched a silver needle pinned to a little girl's clothes, then turned and ran.

"Dan, give it back to me!" The girl said angrily, "That was Lady Jeyne's birthday gift to me, give it back quickly."

"Come on, chase me and I'll give it back to you," Dan laughed, "I'll only run on one foot, the other foot won't touch the ground, come on, come on!"

Nina got angry and chased after Dan.

The two children quickly disappeared at the entrance of the village.

Clegane Village had expanded tenfold, with various workshops and small factories operating in the village, and the number of residents had increased dozens of times. War is a disaster, but sometimes it can bring opportunities for development to those with discerning eyes. Jeyne deliberately absorbed war refugees. When Robb Stark burned the war to the Westerlands, Jeyne opened the gates of Clegane Keep to shelter any civilians who were willing to seek refuge, providing them with food and shelter, and promising to protect their safety.

From the beginning of the war to the end of the war, the Northern army did not invade the territory of Clegane Keep. After the war ended, Jeyne's reputation for loving the people quickly spread, and more refugees who could not afford to eat because of the war came to Clegane territory to seek opportunities for survival, and Jeyne accepted them one by one. After Jeyne went to King's Landing, there were two people in charge of managing Clegane territory: Maester Hallis and Grandmother Maggy.

The old woman sitting at the entrance of the village watching the children play was Maggy.

Outside the village was a large expanse of green grassland that could not be seen at a glance, and hundreds of cows were grazing on the grassland. The cows seemed to have sensed an ominous atmosphere, and from time to time raised their heads to look at a long black line of soldiers in the distance.

*

Dan and Nina ran one after the other into the blacksmith shop where ironware was being hammered with clanging sounds. Master Gendry was instructing an apprentice to forge a long sword, and three other blacksmiths were forging farm tools.

With the increase of people in Clegane territory, the wasteland near the Silverhall Serrett family needed to be reclaimed to grow food, and the villagers needed a large number of high-quality farm tools.

Dan was about to duck under a platform when suddenly his neck tightened, and his thin body was lifted up by a huge force gripping his neck. Nina ran over: "Brother Gendry, Dan stole my silver needle."

"Silver needle, give it to me!" Gendry held Dan up with one hand, raised him high, and shouted.

Dan obediently handed over the silver needle.

Nina reached out to take the silver needle, and suddenly her waist tightened, and she was picked up by Gendry. He had Dan under his left arm and Nina in his right arm: "Lady Maggy came early in the morning to tell me to hand you over to Maester Hallis, come with me."

The two children shouted and yelled, punching and kicking. Gendry's muscles were like black iron, and he ran like flying, carrying them, no matter how the two children kicked and hit him.

The Maester was not in the Maester's room, but at the gate of the main castle.

Several horses were parked at the gate, and the Maester was quickly tying up packages for two horses. Two other horses were already ridden by two people, one was Tobho Mott's wife, Addy Lora, and the other was Tobho Mott's little girl, Atla Mott.

"Maester, Lady Addy, where are you going?"

"Gendry, give me the children, quickly go to the armory, Master Tobho needs your help," the Maester said.

"What's wrong?" Gendry sensed something was wrong.

"Go quickly!" The Maester shouted.

Gendry put down the children, and the Maester put Nina on the horse: "Grab the reins, child, you are going to King's Landing to see your mother."

"Really?" Nina was overjoyed, her beautiful amber eyes shining with surprise.

"Yes, child, hold on to the reins."

"I can ride a horse, Maester," the five-year-old girl Nina replied proudly.

"Gendry, go quickly, we don't have time," the Maester continued to tie the packages, and shouted at Gendry.

"What exactly happened?"

"It's urgent, if we don't go, we'll be too late."

"If you don't tell me, I won't go," Gendry stood still.

Hallis was anxious: "Dan, what are you doing? You are a man now, get on the horse quickly?"

The child flipped onto the horse, clean and neat. He had always dreamed of becoming a cavalryman, and practicing horsemanship was his daily homework.

The Maester handed the sword to Dan: "Can you use a sword?"

"Yes!" The child straightened his chest and took the sword.

"The lady and the two sisters need your protection, understand? You are a cavalryman, a man, a Clegane soldier, understand?"

"Understood! Maester, are we going to fight?"

The Maester spoke quickly, tying the packages, and in his busy schedule, he handed the small round shield to Dan: "Gendry, go help Master Tobho."

"If you don't explain clearly, I won't go!"

"Lady Maggy saw a prophecy in the early morning, she said that we Clegane people will be slaughtered, everyone will die, she hopes that you and Master Tobho Mott's family, and Black Stone's two children can leave."

"I don't believe it!" Gendry's eyes widened.

"This morning, Daven will lead three thousand people to hunt down everyone in Clegane territory."

"Three thousand people? Two hundred cavalrymen can complete the raid, why three thousand people."

"I don't know why Daven would use three thousand people, maybe he wants to train the new recruits in Lannisport, but I believe Maggy's prophecy, don't you believe it?"

"It's already morning, but I haven't seen any cavalry, or even an infantryman, where are they?"

"Dan, Lady Addy, go quickly." The Maester tied the packages and handed the reins to the lady and Dan.

Lady Addy was dubious: "Tobho, I want to go with him."

"It will be too late, Master Tobho is skilled in horsemanship and will catch up with you, go quickly." Maester Hallis drew his whip and whipped several horses one by one.

"Giddy up!" Nina rode the horse and ran, very happy. The little girl Atla Mott was six years old this year and also ran along. Both children thought it was fun!

Dan said: "Brother Gendry, Lady Addy. I saw soldiers lining up on the Clegane Road, their figures are very small, but I know they are troops."

"They are on the Clegane Road? You saw them?" Gendry shouted in a rough voice.

"Yes, Uncle Gendry. They are very far away, but I can see their shadows, figures as big as fingers, but I know they are troops, their ranks are very long."

"I'll go take a look!" Gendry jumped on his horse, "Dan, quickly take Lady Addy and the two sisters away, take the Kingsroad, quickly."

"Don't take the Kingsroad, take the Silverhall path, go to the Silverhall Mountains. Remember, don't take any major roads, Lady Maggy told me in the early morning, once you leave the Silverhall Mountains, don't go south to King's Landing, go east."

"Early morning? Why didn't you tell me?"

"If you knew, you would want to save the whole village, but that's impossible. Lady Maggy hopes that you can leave quietly, once you alarm the villagers, you won't be able to leave."

"Since you saw the prophecy in the early morning, why are you leaving now?"

"Last night, Daven had already deployed manpower on all sides, blocking all the major roads out of Clegane Keep. Walking the Silverhall Mountains to the west at night is dangerous, there are children, you need torches to walk the mountain road, but you won't be able to leave. If you leave now, to the Silverhall Mountains, you may be able to escape."

"We, aren't you leaving? Maester?"

"Neither I nor Lady Maggy are leaving, we have decided to stay and accompany all the villagers."

"No, we should all leave, grab Daven, and we can coerce him."

"Gendry, if you don't want to kill Master Tobho's family, don't want to kill Dan and Nina, hurry to the armory."

"What about my blacksmith masters? Are they just going to be killed by Daven? I'm going to tell them."

"Don't tell anyone, once the village is in chaos, Daven's ambushers on all sides will appear and encircle and hunt you down, no one will be able to leave."

*

Aleka Yeda was a villager from the edge of Golden Tooth territory. When the Northern army came to the Westerlands, she and her husband took their children south to flee. Passing by Clegane Keep, they heard the news of Jeyne protecting refugees, so they came in to seek refuge.

After getting along, Lady Jeyne was so good to them. After the war ended, her husband, a blacksmith, returned to his old profession in Clegane Village and became a master under Gendry, while she was responsible for grazing for the village.

Aleka Yeda watched the red-cloaked soldiers advance in a line. Although she was surprised, she didn't think too much about it. The war had ended, were these Westerlands recruits training? The war was very cruel, the veterans had not yet returned to the Westerlands, and most of the Westerlands army was currently made up of new recruits.

From the flags, Aleka Yeda knew that the leading general was from the Lannister family.

Swish!

An arrow shot over, hitting a cow's neck.

Aleka Yeda watched the cow stagger back, and for a moment, she didn't understand what was happening.

Swish!

The second arrow shot over, hitting the back of the cow next to it. The cow was briefly stunned, then jumped up and ran away behind.

Aleka Yeda looked up in astonishment, in her pupils, the shadow of an arrow came whistling, getting bigger and bigger, suddenly filling her entire pupil, poof, the arrowhead pierced into Aleka Yeda's left eye socket, and as she fell, poof poof, two more long arrows fell, one hitting her shoulder and one hitting her abdomen.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Suddenly, the whistling sound became loud, the sky was densely covered with black dots, and the arrows were as dense as rain…

The other three herding boys were also shot by arrows and fell from the backs of the cows!

Indiscriminate carpet shooting, this is the arrow formation used by the army on the battlefield!

*

In the cornfield to the south, Elara was working with her head down when she suddenly heard a strange muffled groan. She raised her head and saw Bowen, the old farmer working in front, slowly falling down. A suddenly appearing soldier had a smile on his face, and drew a long sword from Bowen's body, the long sword was crimson red, dripping with blood.

Elara was dumbfounded, in disbelief.

The soldier was wearing a red cloak, a Westerlands soldier.

She wanted to run away, and wanted to raise her hoe to protect herself, but she found that she couldn't move at all.

From the field on the left, there was an extremely short scream, was that Brough being killed?

But, why?

The soldier came to Elara in front, and found it very interesting to look at her expression with her mouth open and eyes widened and unable to make a sound. Elara watched the soldier stab the long sword into her abdomen…

"No…"

"No what?"

"…I'm a Westerlander…" Elara reached out and grabbed the soldier's shoulder, suddenly having courage, the pain made her voice louder, "You beast, I'm a Westerlander."

"Blame the Mountain, woman." The soldier drew his long sword and kicked Elara, who instinctively wanted to cover her wound, to the ground.

"No…" The farmer Elara fell, knocking down several corn stalks, "Beast!"

The soldier's sword aimed at Elara's mouth and stabbed down hard…

*

In the farmland to the north, the soldiers stood on the ridge, took down their bows and arrows, and shot the farmers in the farmland.

The centurion stood on horseback on the avenue, watching the soldiers compete for whose archery was more accurate.

One by one, the farmers fell in the field, blood flowed out, dyeing the water in the farmland red…

*

At the entrance of Clegane Village, the cavalrymen launched a surprise attack, encircling and killing all the children playing at the entrance of the village. The chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep and livestock outside Clegane Village had been killed by this 'brave' cavalry.

East, south, and north, the three sides had been encircled! The soldiers were not in a hurry, slowly killing people.

The leading general was Davon Lannister. He rode his horse slowly to the village entrance, where an old woman sat motionless in the middle of the road, her face serene.

"Madam Witch, I'm sorry, but I'm under the secret orders of Lord Tywin Lannister. Because of the Mountain's rebellion, all the Cleganes must die."

"Do you want to save your own life, General Davon!" the Witch said faintly.

"You want to save your own life, Madam Witch!" Davon said mockingly, deliberately imitating the Witch's female voice, causing the cavalrymen around him to burst into laughter.

"General, you may not fear death, but you have a family," the Witch said, her expression unchanged. "The lives of your wife, children, brothers, and sisters are all in your hands."

"Oh? Madam Witch, I respect that you were once Lord Tywin's field priestess, and the Lord even granted you the title of High Priestess of the Westerlands, overseeing all septon monks and nuns. Very well, considering your prophecy once led to the defeat of the Lord's Westerland army, I won't have my cavalry kill you. I'll do it myself, as a knight."

"If you stop today, your descendants will still have a bloodline."

"Is that so? Are you planning to bite us to death?" Davon laughed.

"Davon, think about it. If the Mountain knew what you're doing today, would he spare you? Would his brothers, whose families have died, spare your family? You know the answer; you're not stupid!"

"Witch, do you think the Mountain still has a chance to return to the Westerlands?" Davon laughed. "Although you followed the Lord for half a year, you don't understand him at all."

"No, I understand the Lord very well; it's just that the Lord doesn't understand me," a hint of a smile appeared on the Witch's calm face. "The Mountain is my family, so naturally, I will stand with the Mountain to deal with his enemies."

"Oh? Witch, I'm curious. You are proficient in the art of prophecy. Why didn't you see your fate today, nor the fate of the Cleganes?"

"I saw it long ago, Davon," the Witch said faintly.

"Saw it long ago? How long ago?"

"Very long ago."

"Then why didn't you run away, or have these villagers leave?"

"I am not a god. Prophecy cannot change certain facts. When the sky rains, I can see it, but I am powerless to stop it."

The villagers believe in the Seven Gods, and their respect for the Witch's gods is almost nonexistent. This is completely different from the Crab Claw Peninsula's people's obedience to the blood witches.

"The villagers believe in the Seven Gods, not the blood god. The villagers are more willing to believe in my medical skills, and they respect and love me because I am Lady Jeynei's grandmother, not because of my prophecies."

"Do you believe the Witch's words?" Davon asked the cavalrymen.

The cavalrymen roared with laughter, mimicking his tone, and shouted, "We believe!"

"Davon, the civilians you kill were born here and grew up here. The Westerlands is their home. Where do you want them to go?"

"To find the Mountain!"

"To take their families and walk for a month to find the Mountain, so that the Mountain can give them land to cultivate in King's Landing? The Mountain hasn't gained a foothold yet. Even if he knew, he would be powerless to save them, but there is someone who can save them."

"Who?"

"You!"

"Alright!" Davon drew his longsword and dismounted. "Witch, give me a prophecy. Did the Lord order me to spare your life?"

The Witch did not answer, quietly looking at Davon.

Davon had brown eyes. After his father died at the hands of Lord Rickard Karstark in the Battle of the Ox, he vowed not to shave until he avenged his father. He had long yellow hair, a thick, messy beard, and a full head of hair, making him look like a lion.

"Fire, General! A house is on fire somewhere in Clegane village," a cavalryman said.

However, Davon had no interest in the house being on fire. He walked behind the Witch and placed his longsword on her neck.

"Do it, General!" the Witch slowly closed her eyes. "The blood shed today will wash the Westerlands, wash the Lannister family, and even the branches will be swept away by the Mountain. Every drop of blood shed today is a step to forge the Mountain's rise."

"Your life and blood too?"

"Yes. He is my family, so naturally, I stand with him."

"You're really not afraid of death."

"Who isn't going to die? I already have an heir, and my wish is fulfilled. Let my life add an even heavier debt to the Lannisters. The Mountain will demand that you repay it many times over."

"Good, I'll grant you your wish!"

A cold light flashed, Davon's longsword swung, the Witch's head flew up, rolled, hot blood splattered, landing under the hooves of a cavalryman's horse. Her eyes were still calm, and the cavalryman laughed, riding over it…