The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper, sat in the dark dungeon, the ground beneath him damp.

The darkness was almost tangible!

Of all the warriors in Dorne, as numerous as the sands, he alone was unmatched.

Now, this very man, once the pride of Dorne, felt a longing for death.

Dorne, including House Martell, consisted of nine Great Houses, and the heads or heirs of all nine had come to King's Landing.

Of those nine most powerful noble houses in Dorne, aside from Martell and Blackmont, seven had been wiped out by the Mountain's wife, Jeyne.

The insults he had hurled at Jeyne during the Small Council meeting had been repaid with her most 'benevolent' response, and the retribution had come swiftly.

This was the most devastating and heartbreaking lesson Dorne had suffered in a thousand years. Not even during the Targaryen conquest, when dragons rained fire upon Dorne, had the nine Great Houses been so utterly defeated.

Lady Jeyne's wound to Dorne was deeper than the Mountain's.

The Mountain had violated and murdered Princess Elia Martell, harming House Martell alone, but Jeyne had wounded the pride of every noble in Dorne.

If this debt wasn't repaid, the Dornish would lose their confidence and honor!

He and Tyrion had plotted their revenge: Dorne would raise an army, attack the Westerlands by sea, and join forces with the Westerlands forces to destroy the Mountain.

It was a brilliant plan, but he had underestimated the complexities of the Red Keep. Someone had dared to poison the King's wedding feast, killing the King, Sansa of the North, the Queen of Thorns from the Reach, the High Septon of King's Landing, several nobles from the Crownlands, and some ladies and gentlemen who, despite having eaten dozens of dishes, still wanted a bit more pigeon pie.

All the Dornish guests at the wedding had been spared!

Fortunately, the poisoner had targeted the pigeon pie. If the poison had been added to the first ten dishes of the seventy-seven-course feast, almost every important person in the hall would have died.

Who would want to kill most of the people at the wedding feast?

It had to be someone with the power to seize greater status, wealth, and power, someone ambitious, a truly terrifying mastermind.

The Red Viper suddenly wanted to laugh!

At the time, he had urged the Hand to remain calm, intending to investigate the culprit together. Instead, he and the dwarf had been given no chance to defend themselves before the Queen Mother ordered their arrest.

Inexplicably, he had become the alleged poisoner! And along with him, Cersei, in her infinite wisdom, had also arrested the Hand.

Cersei was not only an incestuous lover but also an utter fool!

Nevertheless, Oberyn did not regret coming to King's Landing. He had come for revenge; his only regret was bringing the eight Great Houses of Dorne with him. If he could turn back time, he would have come alone, with only his personal guard and servants.

King's Landing was a place filled with terrible curses!

Footsteps echoed from the distance, like ripples in the darkness.

The Red Viper realized that, judging by the sound, the person coming was undoubtedly heavy, which brought one person to mind: Ser Osmund Kettleblack of the Kingsguard. Osmund, nicknamed 'Little Mountain,' was huge and burly, skilled in arms, an excellent swordsman, and about two meters tall, with a body of solid muscle.

In the distance, at the end of the darkness, a light appeared.

The dungeon corridor had many turns, and sound traveled around the bends, while light was blocked.

The footsteps thundered, and the pressure and murderous intent, like the sound, filled the air, alerting the experienced Red Viper.

The Red Viper was very sensitive to killing intent.

Was this it? No trial? No choice? But then he relaxed. With the King's murder at his own wedding, the royal family wouldn't dare execute him without a trial. The people and the court would not be convinced. The living would want a public trial to get some semblance of truth.

The footsteps grew closer, and the light of a single candle moved forward, the person hidden in the darkness behind it.

The dungeon was too dark, deep underground.

The newcomer trod the ground like a giant bear. Osmund did not possess such power, so who could it be? The Red Viper's heart pounded wildly: The Mountain!

Suddenly, it all made sense. The Mountain was the mastermind behind the poisoning.

If the Mountain hadn't appeared, he would never have suspected him, but with the Mountain's arrival, all the motives, questions, and events became clear. Every logical point found its perfect explanation.

The person who stood to gain the most from killing him and the Imp was the Mountain!

Despair rose in Oberyn's heart.

The Mountain had come so quickly. Only one night had passed since he and the Imp had been imprisoned, and the Mountain, who should have been in the Westerlands, was already in the black cells of King's Landing. How could he have arrived so quickly? Unless it had been carefully planned and arranged beforehand.

Oberyn felt a chill run down his spine, spreading throughout his body, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar!

Such unconscionable audacity, such ferocious methods, such a timely appearance, all had to stem from a meticulous plan.

When had the Mountain, a man of pure muscle, grown a brain full of muscle too?

The despair in Oberyn's heart was not because he feared the Mountain's courage and brutality, but because the Mountain now possessed terrifying and far-reaching strategies. It was this ability that truly made the Mountain fearsome and terrifying. The Mountain, who only knew how to swing a sword and punch people, was not to be feared.

The person moved closer in the darkness, like a moving hill.

The pressure enveloped Oberyn like the substance of darkness, but then he remembered his status as Prince of Dorne. His honor and bloodline made him raise his head, staring coldly at the point of light with a disdainful smile.

The person stopped in front of the Red Viper, standing in the darkness. The light of the single candle could not pierce the heavy darkness, and Oberyn still could not see the Mountain's face, but he knew that the person was the Mountain.

"You're quite the poisoner!" the Red Viper said, revealing a set of snow-white, perfectly aligned teeth.

"Aren't you supposed to ask me how I raped and murdered your sister?" the Mountain's voice was as steady as a giant mountain.

The composed Oberyn felt as if he had been slapped hard across the face. He heard a loud crash as the chains binding his hands and feet were pulled taut. He stood up abruptly, like a compressed spring: "I will kill you, Mountain, kill all the Cleganes!" Oberyn shouted like a madman.

He had lost control!

The Mountain's words had struck the most painful place in his heart, and his anger was uncontrollable.

"I'll give you a chance to kill me, or I can crush you like a bug right now."

A chance? Would the Mountain give the Red Viper a chance to kill him?

That was naturally impossible!

Oberyn heard his own heavy breathing and the pounding of his heart. He glared at the Mountain in the darkness, his gaze as sharp as knives, but unable to pierce the darkness or kill the Mountain.

"I'll give you the opportunity to challenge me to a duel, a true warrior's duel. If the Seven deem you right, they will naturally let you take my life; if the Seven favor me, you will surely die," the Mountain said calmly.

"Good, I hope it's now." Oberyn rattled his chains.

"I also wish it were now, but time doesn't allow it," the Mountain said indifferently. "Red Viper, you have to pay a price for the chance to duel me."

"What price?"

"Admit that you were the poisoner, in exchange for a fair duel."

"You are the poisoner!" Oberyn gritted his teeth.

"Me? I wasn't even in King's Landing. How could I have poisoned anyone?"

"You're the mastermind."

"Evidence?"

"You appeared too quickly."

"Ha!" The Mountain showed no sign of amusement. "Oberyn, I understand your eagerness for revenge, but the people you really need to avenge are two: me and the Lannisters."

"I will naturally deal with the Lannisters after I kill you."

"Hmm, not bad, a perfect plan. I have seen your perfect revenge. The thousand Dornish elites you led and your seven vassals have all been killed by my wife. You have gone from a guest of honor to a prisoner, and have taken fierce revenge on me and the Lannisters. I really admire you. In war, you either kill or are killed. You have plundered countless women across the Narrow Sea, how many? One person? Ten people? A hundred people? A thousand people? Maybe even boys. Neither you nor I are good people. Think about how you got the name Red Viper. But I'm sorry, in this world, good people don't live long, bad people don't live long either, only those who are neither good nor bad can live a little longer."

"You will die horribly, Mountain, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times worse than me."

"I sincerely hope your dream comes true." The Mountain's eloquence was unmatched by Oberyn. A master of wordplay cultivated by a higher civilization could easily say things that would infuriate people to death. "But one thing I can be sure of is that you will die before me. Either you will be crushed by me right now and thrown into the Blackwater Rush after death, with no burial place, and your head will be stuck on a spear on the Red Keep, filled with asphalt for preservation, so that people coming and going to the Red Keep can see your face every day; or, you admit that you are the poisoner, and I will give you a chance for a public duel. You kill me, and then get acquitted, killing two birds with one stone."

"I will naturally demand a trial by combat from the Queen Mother and the High Justiciar."

"The acting High Justiciar is me. If you don't admit that you were the poisoner, I won't give you the chance for a trial by combat."

"You dare defy the law and the rules of the Seven?"

"Rules are created by the strong. If I want you to die, you have to die. I am the High Justiciar for you and the Imp, specifically responsible for hearing this poisoning case. Do you think I will let you go during the trial? In fact, whether you admit it or not, I can find sufficient evidence to prove that you were the poisoner. Your only chance: admit to the poisoning, and I will give you a trial by combat, accepting your challenge."

"I will never believe you! If I admit to the poisoning, I will be sentenced to hang, and there will be no trial by combat at all. I will never believe you!"

"Likewise, I don't need your trust either. In the name of you being the first warrior of Dorne, I will give you time to consider it. I will go see the Imp now, and I will come back later, and you will tell me your choice. If you admit it, I will give you a trial by combat and accept the challenge. If you are killed by me in the duel, your body will return to Dorne with the dignity of a prince; if you do not admit it, you will have no burial place, and you are still the one who poisoned them."