The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Tyrion Lannister watched Varys. The Mountain had provided the manpower and resources to send Varys across the Narrow Sea, and Varys had promised to convey a message of peaceful alliance to Daenerys. However, Varys always maintained his own judgments and principles regarding villains like the Mountain.

The heart of Varys, the master of whisperers, was difficult to fathom!

Littlefinger slowly said, "Lord Varys, I wrote a letter to the Mountain not long ago. I believe he will offer Dragonstone to us. If the Mountain can submit, we will need him when conquering the continent of Westeros."

"Submit? Dragonstone?" Varys chuckled. "If the Mountain doesn't actively offer Dragonstone, with our fleet arriving, tens of thousands of troops, and Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion in the sky, can the Mountain's soldiers hold it?"

Tyrion shrugged. "The Mountain saved our lives. If we don't give him any chance, won't you feel a little awkward?!"

Varys smiled gently, his gaze fixed on Tyrion, hiding a scrutinizing look. What concealed his secret scrutiny was his frivolous smile. He didn't believe Tyrion was so naive. If he had two people to be wary of, one would be Petyr Baelish, the former Master of Coin; the other would be the one-eyed dwarf with a terrifying scar on his face—Tyrion Lannister, who was a true lion.

"Varys, do all the people of Dorne deeply hate the Mountain and his wife?" Daenerys didn't care about the bickering between the two ministers.

The frivolity on Varys's face disappeared, replaced by a solemn expression. "Your Grace, during the War of the Usurper, the Mountain brutally murdered Princess Elia Martell and killed her child by smashing him against a wall; Ser Gregor Clegane ambushed and strangled the lords of the nine great houses of Dorne and most of their heirs outside King's Landing. Among the noble lords, only Oberyn Martell escaped. The lord of House Brax, who was captured, was later spared, but the eldest daughter of the family, Jonisa Brax, was forced to agree to marry the Mountain's infantry general, Chiswyck Clegane. After that bloodbath, the Mountain beheaded Prince Oberyn Martell in a trial by combat in the plaza of the Great Sept of Baelor. The Mountain and his wife have forged an irreconcilable blood feud with the Dornish people."

Ser Barristan Selmy said, "Your Grace, the Mountain has been raping, plundering, and committing all kinds of evil since he was a teenager. He is bloodthirsty and cruel, killing people like grass. The people of the Seven Kingdoms are terrified of him. If we kill this great villain who no one can control, it will shake the Seven Kingdoms and win the hearts of the people of Westeros."

Barristan Selmy, since the death of the Sword of the Morning and other Kingsguard, had become the most upright and fearless knight in the Seven Kingdoms.

Daenerys slowly said, "Ser Barristan, Princess Elia Martell was my brother Rhaegar's wife, and her child, Aegon, was my nephew." Her gaze shifted to Tyrion Lannister.

Varys's words were like knives and swords. He naturally knew that Elia Martell was a queen, and he also knew very well that the child the Mountain had killed was of the Targaryen bloodline. Varys always relied on words to kill people.

Back then, the Targaryen family was destroyed, and the dynasty collapsed because Tywin Lannister, the father of the one-eyed dwarf Tyrion, deceived Daenerys's father, luring King Aerys to open the city gates. After Tywin led the Westerlands army into the city, he immediately ordered a massacre. And Tyrion's brother, Jaime Lannister, as a Kingsguard sworn to the king, killed Daenerys's father, King Aerys Targaryen, from behind with his golden sword.

Tyrion noticed Daenerys's gaze on him. This was a signal from the Queen that she wanted to hear him speak.

Tyrion said, "Your Grace, my life was saved by the Mountain, although he gouged out one of my eyeballs to deceive Cersei, which was not necessary. But without the Mountain, my head would have been stuck on a spear. The Mountain's reputation is indeed the worst in the Seven Kingdoms. If Your Grace decides to get rid of the Mountain to win the loyalty of Dorne and the hearts of the people throughout the Seven Kingdoms, weighing the pros and cons, I think it's a good idea."

Daenerys nodded slightly—but no one knew that Daenerys's heart was growing cold. She heard Quaithe, the shadowbinder from Asshai, in her ear again: The glass candles are lit. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal.

The appearance of Quentyn Martell verified the prophecy of the Sun's Son; and the lion? Prime Minister Tyrion Lannister is a lion. But is this lion the one in the prophecy that cannot be trusted? Daenerys didn't know.

There were also krakens mentioned in the prophecy. There were three krakens here: Victarion, Asha, and Theon. Which of these three krakens was the one in the prophecy that could not be trusted? If none of them could be trusted, then Daenerys would lose her powerful navy.

In Slaver's Bay, when Daenerys was trapped in a predicament, Victarion led the navy to appear in time, defeating the navy gathered by the slavers and wise masters of Slaver's Bay.

It would be foolish to trust no one; but it would be equally foolish to trust everyone. Moreover, Daenerys knew nothing about Quaithe. For what purpose would Quaithe come to tell her the prophecy? How credible was the prophecy? Or was the prophecy itself a trap?

Daenerys used Tyrion Lannister as prime minister for one main reason: Jorah Mormont's full recommendation. And Jorah, whom she regarded as family, had now been exiled by her.

What was the Mountain? His former sigil was a dog, and his current sigil was an icy sword, the Red Viper. Whether it was a dog or a red viper, it had no connection to any of the images in the prophecy.

Daenerys withdrew her gaze from Tyrion and looked at the mysterious red priest, Maghiro.

Perhaps it was time to use Maghiro as her grand maester. His arrival had allowed Daenerys to obtain the Dragon Horn, and he had a unique vision, proposing a military plan to conquer the Dothraki horsemen, which no other courtier had thought of.

Maghiro's black face was expressionless. He was now an advisor to the Queen, and the Queen still lacked a grand maester.

In Westeros, the grand maester to the king was appointed by the Citadel of Oldtown. Daenerys had not yet officially appointed Maghiro as her grand maester. She needed to observe him for a while longer. Her gaze at Maghiro was a kind of inquiry.

Maghiro said, "If Your Grace goes north to fight the Others, then I suggest it is best to ally with the Mountain's forces. If Your Grace is going to eliminate the Mountain, then our dragons will face the most deadly threat. Many of our generals and warriors will die in battle. The Mountain will consume most of our troops and the best generals. When we fight the Mountain and the Mountain's army is annihilated, we will also be scarred and have no strength to fight the Others, nor the power to fight for the Iron Throne."

Maghiro gave a lose-lose answer.

Barristan, Daario, and the three bloodriders who had just come up from the lower deck, looking as if they had been suffering from insomnia for a long time… The bloodriders' faces were unpleasant because they still needed to adapt to the ship—these military generals all showed disdain. They all disliked the priest and couldn't get used to the ubiquitous flame tattoos on the priest's body. Even Maghiro's lips were tattooed with flames.

"The Mountain has the ability to slay dragons?" Daenerys's tone was sharp as a knife.

She became agitated when she heard that the Mountain would bring a deadly threat to her dragons. Her gaze became sharp, and her voice became high-pitched.

On the ship, everyone's eyes were fixed on Maghiro.

Dragon slaying was not just a boastful word. Since his arrival, the priest's words and deeds had always been shocking, but the priest himself was like a millennium-old iceberg, and many generals had a hidden fear of him.

"Your Grace, in the arena in Slaver's Bay, when gladiators were fighting boars and lions, Drogon broke into the arena. Although his dragon flame was invincible, he was still wounded by the gladiator's spear. If Your Grace had not pulled out the spear in time and quickly left the arena on Drogon, the consequences would have been very serious. Your Grace, lords, what happened in the arena in Slaver's Bay has already proved that dragons are not invincible."

The crowd looked at each other. Was the priest a prophet-like figure? Why did he even know about the black dragon Drogon being seriously injured in the arena?!

Daenerys, Varys, Tyrion, and others all had a very strong feeling of strangeness in their hearts!

The priest was no ordinary person, nor was he an ordinary cultist.

Was he a dark priest?!

"Your Grace, lords, the Mountain has prepared a large number of ingenious and convenient dragon crossbows, which are the most terrible weapons specifically for our dragons. The dragon crossbows use spears as arrows, and the arrows can easily shoot into rocks. They can smoothly break through the dragon's scales and penetrate into the dragon's body to severely damage the dragon."

Daenerys was very surprised!

She slowly looked at Varys. Varys folded his hands into his white sleeves, stuck out his tongue and gently licked his lower lip, as if his lips were very chapped. He said softly, "Your Grace, if what the priest said is true, then I am very sorry that my little birds were unable to learn that the Mountain secretly manufactured dragon crossbows."

In fact, Varys couldn't even imagine what a dragon crossbow looked like. He had never seen one.

Maghiro's words caused Tyrion, Barristan, Daario, Missandei, and the bloodriders to change their faces slightly.

Dragon crossbow?

Many people heard for the first time that there were crossbows specifically for slaying dragons. And Tyrion had seen stories of dragon crossbows in books.

"Your Grace, the Mountain's dragon crossbow has undergone careful and original design. It can be folded, pulled by horses like a small carriage, and can be deployed on the spot into a dense phalanx. It is easy and convenient to use and can be installed and fired in mountains, plains, grasslands, and forests. The firing speed is also very fast."

"How does the priest know so much in detail?" Daario expressed suspicion.

"General, the Red God is the only true God. He is the God of Shadows and the King of Light. He has told me many unknown secrets through the flames. After Master Tobho Mott's careful experimentation and design of the dragon crossbow, two people load the arrows, and one person quickly shakes the handle to pull the bowstring and fire quickly. Compared with archers pulling bows and shooting arrows, it is not much slower. As long as our dragons are hit by a dragon crossbow, they will either die or be seriously injured. If we encounter a dragon crossbow phalanx, dozens or hundreds of arrows from different directions will instantly fill the sky. Dragons that fall into the range basically cannot avoid this indiscriminate blanket fire."

Daenerys's face became even more ugly, and her lips began to turn white.

She heard for the first time such a powerful weapon specifically used to kill dragons. What shocked her even more was that the Mountain had unbelievable long-term plans. He had secretly and silently manufactured finished batches of dragon crossbows. Then, his plan to manufacture dragon crossbows to deal with her dragons must have been very early.

This made Daenerys feel a chill in her heart. The Mountain helped Varys escape, so Varys could bring a message to Daenerys, hoping to secretly ally; and rescued Tyrion Lannister, still bringing a message to Daenerys, hoping to secretly ally in private; but secretly, he was racking his brains thinking of ways to slay dragons, and he came up with the ingenious and terrible dragon crossbow, this kind of mechanical crossbow.

While the Mountain wanted to ally with Daenerys, he was already actively preparing for war!

And Daenerys felt that she knew almost nothing about the Mountain's military secrets.

Daenerys naturally could not accept her children being killed by dragon crossbows!

And Varys, Tyrion, and others, who prided themselves on their ever-changing wisdom, smooth information channels, and little birds all over Westeros, had not even a single word of information about such important military information that determined the success or failure of the overall situation.

The information was wrong. The Mountain was not a reckless man and must not be underestimated!

"Maghiro, is your information reliable?" Daario was unwilling to believe Maghiro's words at all. Priests and monks always fabricated things out of thin air and made empty threats to make people fear them, so as to believe in the gods they promoted.

"Daario, I swear in the name of the Red God that I am loyal to Your Grace. There is not a single false word about the Mountain's dragon crossbows," Maghiro said lightly.

Missandei approached Daenerys, reached out, and gently supported Daenerys's arm.

Daenerys's face was as cold as ice and snow: "Pass down the order, order the fleet to quickly dock."

"Yes, Your Grace!" Missandei bowed and agreed.

She was Her Grace's messenger, and now that she was much better, she would not rest!

"Daario, you go and inform Victarion. After the ship docks, you and he will ride horses and go to the Dothraki Sea with me as my guards. We need the Dothraki's one hundred thousand cavalry to cross the Narrow Sea."

"Yes, Your Grace!" Daario smiled.

The three bloodriders looked at each other, and were about to kneel and request, but Daenerys said, "Bloodriders, take my khalasar with you."

"Yes, Your Grace!"

Daenerys believed Maghiro's words about the Mountain possessing dragon crossbows. Since Maghiro said that she needed people to protect her when she went to the grasslands, otherwise there would be danger, then she would do as Maghiro said.

Missandei passed down the order, and the fleet changed direction, no longer heading west, but north, to facilitate docking.

*

"Maghiro, can I ask you to guide me on the secrets of the Dragon Horn?" Daenerys's tone changed, becoming very polite and respectful.

"Yes, Your Grace," Maghiro replied respectfully. He speculated that he might not be far from the position of Grand Maester to the Queen.

Machiavelli's mission was to help Daenerys correct her course, persuading her to march north and help the Northmen and the Night's Watch defend the Wall and defeat the Night King's army of White Walkers.

Meanwhile, on the continent of Westeros, on the plains of the Vale, more than ten thousand soldiers marched slowly along the Vale Road, amidst the singing birds, fragrant flowers, and numerous ponds. The banners of the Crowned Stag and the Ice Sword-Red Smoke Beast fluttered in the wind. The Mountain had conquered the entire Vale, and now, it was the season of harvest.

The Vale had well-trained soldiers and ample food supplies, having not participated in the internal wars of recent years, and had suffered almost no war-related losses. The nobles were rich in both money and grain. Their reserves were full!

The Vale was a piece of fatty meat thrown into a hot pot, sizzling with oil!