The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The wedding of Ser Anguy Clegane and Elanor Mooton took place in the Sept of Maidenpool. Red candles as thick as a child's arm and huge torches illuminated the scene. Over a thousand Clegane and Mooton soldiers, along with the townspeople of Maidenpool summoned from their homes by the Mountain's men, filled the Sept and its surroundings. A maester, accompanied by his apprentices, a few servants, and several family knights, began to chant hymns.

Lord Mooton wore a black face throughout the ceremony, but when Anguy and Elanor knelt before the statues of the Seven Gods, lit the candles, and had holy oils applied under the blessings of Septa Evelyn, his expression softened. He reached out and helped his daughter and son-in-law to their feet.

What was done, was done. A daughter marries when she comes of age. Alas!

The Mountain clapped his hands, and four guards carried in two large chests. Looking at Elanor and Anguy, he said, "Elanor, my daughter, General Anguy, I'm a rough man and didn't prepare a wedding gift for you. I didn't know what to prepare, so here are two chests of gold dragons as a wedding present."

Two chests of gold dragons?!

Lord Mooton wondered if he had misheard.

Yes, that's right, two chests of gold dragons.

The Mountain had seen the destroyed walls of Maidenpool—which weren't really walls, but stone fences—and half the town's shops damaged. Maidenpool urgently needed a large sum of money.

The chests were brought in and opened, the golden dragons reflecting the candlelight. Anguy, Elanor, Lord Mooton, the Septa, and the maester were all astonished.

The Mountain's gift was probably ten thousand gold dragons.

Such a large sum of money exceeded everyone's expectations!

When Roose Bolton married a Frey girl of equal weight in coin, he chose the fattest Frey girl, but Walder Frey paid in silver, not gold.

But the Mountain was paying in gold.

The combined weight of the two heavy chests certainly far exceeded Elanor Mooton's weight.

Lord Mooton looked at the Mountain with new eyes for the first time.

When Randyll Tarly came with his army, he robbed Maidenpool. When the Earl was forced to agree to the marriage between Dickon Tarly and Elanor Mooton, the Tarly soldiers were still carrying away antiques from his castle.

The Mountain, on the other hand, hadn't robbed anything, but had given a large sum of money sufficient to rebuild Maidenpool.

Comparing the two, Lord Mooton was smart enough to see who had truly come to form an alliance.

"Duke!" Lord Mooton addressed the Mountain for the first time. "Such a generous gift... the Mooton family is ashamed."

"Elanor is my daughter, and Anguy is my son-in-law," the Mountain said, simply and clearly.

There was no need to say more; more words would be useless.

Only money was truly real. Credit has an echo, but money speaks loudest.

At this moment, Maidenpool needed a large sum of money.

Mooton reached out and shook the Mountain's hand.

At the small tower outside the town, the Mountain had wanted to shake hands with the Earl, but the Earl had refused to even offer his hand, lacking basic courtesy. The Mountain had disregarded his shame and forced a handshake.

The Septa, the maester, the family knights, and the family soldiers all unconsciously scrutinized the Mountain.

There was certainly no robber who would come to your home and give you a large sum of money!

The Mountain had come with money and soldiers. He had rescued the Mooton family's six hundred soldiers from the dungeon and also saved Lord Mooton. After Anguy and Elanor's marriage, if Randyll Tarly tried to cause trouble again, the Mountain would undoubtedly not stand idly by.

With House Tully unable to be relied upon and the King in the North preoccupied, Elanor's foster father, the Mountain, seemed to be Maidenpool's only ally.

The Mountain's actions changed the impressions of many of Maidenpool's soldiers and citizens.

The whole town brought out their hidden good wine, the women cooked, and the butchers slaughtered sheep. Large pots were set up in the training yard inside Maidenpool's castle.

*

"Lord Mooton, I hope Maidenpool can build real, tall walls, not just stone fences a few meters high. Walls that require siege ladders to attack."

"Lord Mountain, building walls will take at least two years."

"Then build the walls on the west, north, and south sides of the town first, and leave the east side behind for later."

The east side of the town faces the sea, and any enemy attacking from the sea would have to travel a long, steep mountain road. Archers would have a geographical advantage from above.

"Duke, Maidenpool is wealthy, but Randyll Tarly just plundered most of its wealth..."

"I'll provide the money," the Mountain interrupted Lord Mooton. "Recruit stonemasons from the Claw and King's Landing. There are over seven hundred stonemasons and carpenters in the Clegane barracks in King's Landing."

Lord Mooton's hand, holding his wine cup, froze in mid-air.

He stared at the Mountain, still unwilling to believe it.

The Mountain patted Mooton on the shoulder. "Earl, we were strangers before, but now we are family. Elanor is my foster daughter, and my father-daughter relationship with my daughter was sworn in the Sept of the Seven. You can doubt the Mountain's sinister intentions, but you cannot doubt my oath before the statues of the Seven Gods. Anguy Clegane is a fierce general of my Clegane family, a hereditary baron, my family."

Lord Mooton said, "Duke, by doing this, you naturally want to gain the Mooton family's allegiance, and Anguy's future children will also be Cleganes. Your Clegane family's power will extend into the Riverlands, and Maidenpool will henceforth be named Clegane."

The Mountain laughed heartily. "Earl, Elanor is a daughter. If she didn't marry a Clegane lord, she would marry a lord from another family. I, the Mountain, am a hundred times more generous than Randyll Tarly, who came to rob Maidenpool's wealth. Anguy marrying Elanor isn't the Clegane family bullying people. If you're worried, Anguy and Elanor's first child, the eldest son or daughter, the family heir, can be named Mooton."

"Duke, have you had too much wine?!"

"These are definitely not the words of a drunkard."

"Then... um... will General Anguy agree?"

"His surname was bestowed by me. I can make the decision for him."

The wariness in Lord Mooton's heart completely dissipated. Right there at the table, he suddenly drew the short knife from his waist. Under the puzzled gaze of the crowd, the family knights, and the soldiers, and in Elanor and Anguy's astonished eyes, he knelt on one knee, held the short knife in both hands, raised it above his head, and swore allegiance to the Mountain!

*

Harrenhal, the Tower of Dread.

Randyll Tarly stood in the hall of the high tower, overlooking the vast courtyard. The people in the courtyard were as small as fists. A line of horses was leaving in a column. It was House Bracken, a Riverlands noble family, coming to surrender. Randyll Tarly accepted House Bracken's surrender and ordered Lord Bracken to attack his neighbor, House Blackwood.

House Blackwood declared that they would rather die than surrender. Randyll Tarly was not angered by House Blackwood's bold words. He decided to wait for Lord Bracken to attack House Blackwood first, and then send heavy troops to attack. If Blackwood would rather die than surrender, then they would all be killed.

House Blackwood and its neighbor House Bracken had a blood feud that had lasted for thousands of years. The two families had also intermarried for peace, but as soon as anything small happened, the previous family feud would be dug up as evidence of the other party's evil. History had long proven that whenever there was a change in the Riverlands, the two families always chose opposing sides to fight, with wins and losses over the centuries.

Randyll Tarly, who understood the history of the two families' grievances, knew how to use people. He promised to send heavy troops to assist Bracken in attacking House Blackwood. When Lord Bracken left, Randyll Tarly could see the cold light in Lord Bracken's eyes.

In Randyll Tarly's room, there was a large map showing the geographical locations of the various families in the Riverlands.

The northern seacoast cities of the Riverlands, such as Seagard and the Twins, were still hundreds of miles away. Those castles could wait until after Blackwood was dealt with. First, all the nobles near House Tully's Riverrun would be subdued, and then Riverrun would be besieged. As long as Riverrun surrendered, large cities such as Seagard and the Twins would be won without a fight.

Looking at the fat meat of the Riverlands, Randyll Tarly was confident. As long as he took the Riverlands, his military achievements would surpass the Mountain and make him the number one military figure in the Seven Kingdoms.

*

Outside Harrenhal, there was a lot of noise. Looking out from the window of the Tower of Dread, nothing could be seen outside the walls.

The walls were too high. The huge tower was just a half-grown child compared to the walls. Standing on the ground and looking at the walls, the catapults on top of the walls were as small as dragonflies.

Three columns emerged from the gate, all of them cavalry. The leading banners fluttered: Joffrey's royal banner, the banner of the Mountain's men, and the banner of a red salmon.

The red smoke beast and ice arrow represented the Mountain's legion; the red salmon flag represented Maidenpool.

The Mountain and the Mootons entered Harrenhal together.

Soon, a guard came to report to Randyll that the Master of War and Lord Mooton had led their troops into Harrenhal.

Others were afraid of the Mountain, but Randyll Tarly was not afraid.

When it came to fighting, commanding armies, and capturing territory, Randyll Tarly believed that, apart from the former Hand of the King Jon Connington and Tywin Lannister, he was unmatched in the Seven Kingdoms. The Riverlands' famous general, the Blackfish Tully, only dared to huddle in Riverrun and defend when he heard that he was leading a large army to attack the Riverlands, not daring to take the initiative to attack him, the invader.

Although the Mountain had killed Stannis Baratheon in the Battle of the Blackwater and earned glory and prestige, Randyll believed that the Mountain was purely relying on his extraordinary courage. Those arms thicker than tree trunks, that oak shield that no one could lift, that armor weighing two hundred pounds, that huge two-handed sword, while true combat required more than just personal courage, it also required military talent.

However, the Mountain was the Master of War. Since he had come to Harrenhal, he was the highest military officer inside Harrenhal.

Randyll Tarly was a brave man, but not reckless. He knew that dealing with a fierce and brutal person like the Mountain meant he couldn't be confronted head-on. This was a fierce man who didn't kneel before the king, an evil man who killed at the slightest disagreement.

The Mountain had driven out the Tarly soldiers from Maidenpool the day before and declared the marriage between Dickon and Elanor invalid. Although Randyll Tarly had a large army in his hands, he did not immediately send troops to argue with the Mountain. He knew that to deal with a rogue noble like the Mountain, he needed a suitable opportunity. If he couldn't kill the Mountain, then he shouldn't argue with him.

The Mountain's legion and the Mooton family's soldiers kept entering the castle. Randyll Tarly stood in front of the window of the high Tower of Dread, staring at the columns below without saying a word.

Whoosh!

A raven flew into the window.

The accompanying maester reached out his hand. The raven landed on the maester's palm. The maester's other palm opened, containing corn kernels. The raven cooed twice, pecked at the corn kernels, and allowed the maester to untie the letter from the raven's leg.

The letter was sent jointly by Ser Horas Redwyne and Ser Hobber Redwyne from the Reach. These were twin brothers from the Reach's wealthiest and most powerful House Redwyne. Their family's Arbor Gold wine was world-renowned and sold to the farthest eastern cities of Essos.

The Queen of Thorns, Olenna, came from House Redwyne.

Horas and Hobber, on Randyll Tarly's orders, led a thousand troops under the command of Addam Sarsfield to hunt down the Brotherhood Without Banners on the plains south of the Red Fork. They and Addam split into two groups and encountered a small group of the Brotherhood Without Banners at the foot of the High Heart, about three hundred miles from Harrenhal. The two brothers killed many of them and captured two Brotherhood prisoners, one of whom claimed to know who killed Duke Tywin, but he wanted to meet the highest military officer and receive generous rewards before revealing the truth.

Randyll Tarly was overjoyed. Having a member of the Brotherhood Without Banners who knew who killed Tywin and was willing to tell the truth was a great achievement. He immediately had the maester reply, instructing them to treat the two prisoners well and bring them back to Harrenhal as quickly as possible. As long as they were willing to tell the truth, whatever conditions they wanted should be agreed to first.

Thanks to 【*olzwege】 for the reward, thank you, handshake!