The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Soldiers of Hearthhome, open the city gates and advance!” The Mountain, riding his dragon, hovered in the low sky, issuing the command.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The north, east, and south gates opened simultaneously, and three columns of troops marched out of the city, heading towards Winterfell.

Ser Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight, led Shireen's army, with Lady Melisandre protecting Queen Shireen, while the Queen Mother left through the east gate, taking the Last River route to Winterfell.

The Umber forces of Hearthhome, under the command of Greatjon's uncle, 'Crowfood' Mors Umber, and his brother Hother Umber, known as 'Whore's Bane,' exited through the south gate, taking the ice plains path towards Winterfell. Accompanying them were the Free Folk from the north, led by Rattleshirt, Tormund Giantsbane, and Harma the Dogshead, closely following the Umber forces familiar with the ice plains path.

The Northern and Night's Watch forces, under the command of Eddard Stark and Jon Snow, exited through the north gate, taking the Kingsroad in a forced march back to Winterfell.

The people of Hearthhome had already been evacuated. The city was filled with troops, and with the Mountain commanding from the sky, the three armies moved out in unison. In less than half an hour, the vast Hearthhome became a ghost town.

*

Shireen's army, taking the Last River route to the east, consisted mostly of southern noblewomen, all members of Selyse Florent's faction and devout followers of the Red God. Many of their men had died in battle, leaving many noblewomen as widows. Under the leadership of Queen Mother Selyse Florent, they were a group of fallen noblewomen who placed their hopes on the Lord of Light.

Melisandre rode the Mountain's Red Smoke, serving as the spiritual leader of Shireen's army. Except for a few individuals and the Onion Knight's guards, the rest of the army consisted of members of the Queen's party and believers in the Red God.

At the Last River ferry, the noblewomen boarded the ships first. Their clothes were old and worn, their skin rough, and the glory of noblewomen was long gone. Only a distorted fanaticism remained in their eyes, as they firmly believed that Queen Shireen would restore the kingdom and their children would inherit their former territories. In the long night, filled with danger, only the Lord of Light was the one true god, and Queen Shireen the one true queen!

Ser Davos Seaworth directed the boarding process. Queen Mother Selyse Florent dismounted from her carriage and stood on the dock, instructing her guards and soldiers to board first, waiting for Melisandre at the rear of the column.

Melisandre, riding Red Smoke, led a rearguard of one hundred men.

It was a 'gloomy' procession. The colors of Queen Shireen's royal banner had faded, and the edges were frayed. The image of the crowned stag on the banner was also blurred.

Melisandre arrived and stood on the dock with the Queen Mother, realizing that the Queen Mother had something to say to her. The ships were cramped, making private conversations difficult.

“Lady, I have found a member of the royal family for you,” Selyse said, her eyes gleaming with fiery zeal. Imitating Melisandre, she wore a large red robe, dressing herself as a priestess of the Red God.

“Which royal family?”

“Mance Rayder.”

“The Wildling King was burned to death at the Black Castle.”

“His son.”

Melisandre was taken aback.

To fulfill the need for royal blood, she had already removed the ruby from her throat, transforming Mance Rayder into Rattleshirt, and Rattleshirt into Mance Rayder. The real Rattleshirt had been sacrificed in the flames in place of the Wildling King. The Rattleshirt currently in the army was Mance Rayder. This was Melisandre's secret, and she believed that only she and Mance Rayder knew about it, but there was actually a third person: Varamyr Sixskins.

However, the self-righteous Selyse had stolen Mance Rayder's son, the Wildling King's child born at the Wall.

“You have violated Lord Mountain's orders,” Melisandre said coldly. She knew how strict and ruthless the Mountain was in governing his army, especially towards non-Clegane soldiers. As a noble lord with a semi-pastoral, semi-agricultural background, the Mountain had not yet reached the point of treating his own people and others equally. His character was not entirely noble and upright.

“Rest assured, my lady, I secretly exchanged Dana's child with the child of one of our vassals.”

“When?”

“When you left Eastwatch-by-the-Sea to go south. Moreover, Dana is already dead, and her sister Val is not a meticulous person.”

“You killed Dana?”

“Many women are fragile and prone to illness during the period after childbirth.”

“Was it a natural death or did you administer poison?”

“We were merely concerned about Dana's suffering and helped her find relief sooner.”

Melisandre stared at the fanatical Selyse Florent: “This is too much, Queen Mother. Be extremely careful. This must not be known by anyone.”

“Lady, rest assured, the noblewoman who willingly exchanged her child is my closest sister and the most devout follower of the Lord of Light.”

Melisandre looked at Ser Davos Seaworth on the bow of the ship. She was wary of Davos, as the smuggler was proficient in water and the sea, and could also see through people's hearts. He was deeply wary of Melisandre and vehemently opposed her sacrificing living people to the Lord of Light.

“Be careful of Davos!”

“Lady, instead of being vigilant and guarding against Davos every day, why not kill him on the Last River?”

“No, if he suddenly dies in the Last River, we cannot explain it to the Mountain.”

“We do not need to explain the execution of our own vassals to the Mountain. The Mountain is of lowly birth, my lady. Moreover, he will not know.”

Melisandre's gaze remained on Davos on the bow of the ship: “Queen Mother, the Mountain is the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces and possesses a dragon. His blood witch, Lady Dorea from Crackclaw Point, is also about to arrive to assist him, and his wife, Jeyne Westerling, is also a blood witch who can foresee the future.”

“The Mountain, with a dragon and blood witches loyal to him, is still just the Mountain,” Selyse said contemptuously. “We are the noble royal bloodline, the rightful heirs to the Iron Throne. The Mountain is an evil man who killed the late King Stannis Baratheon, committing a capital crime. We will not avenge him by killing him for now, but we can use him to overthrow the Lannister rule. Lady, we need to have secret talks with the Mountain. As long as he rebels against the Lannisters, we will make him Hand of the King and grant him the Westerlands and Dragonstone. If he likes the Vale or the Riverlands' Harrenhal, we can agree to reward him with them after it's done.”

Melisandre withdrew her beautiful eyes from Davos and stared at Selyse Florent. Her heart was not truly interested in the Iron Throne. She had traveled tens of thousands of miles, and her real mission was to destroy the White Walkers: “Queen Mother, when the comet bleeds and the White Walkers attack, a hero will rise up with a sword and lead everyone to resist the White Walkers and kill the Night King. He is Azor Ahai reborn, and I have found this hero. He is Ser Gregor Clegane, known as the Mountain.”

Selyse Florent was completely stunned.

“The Mountain is Lightbringer?”

“Yes,” Melisandre said with certainty.

“But he is not a follower of the Red God. He worships the Seven Gods.”

“He conquered the dragon, and the dragon is the son of the Fire God. The Fire God and the Red God are both two aspects of the Lord of Light. It is not stipulated that Lightbringer must be a follower of the Red God. Lightbringer actually refers to the name of the sword forged by Azor Ahai, and does not really mean the messenger of the Lord of Light.”

Selyse Florent's shriveled lips moved without making a sound. She could not accept the truth that the Mountain was Lightbringer, and even more unwilling to believe that the Mountain was Azor Ahai reborn.

But Lady Melisandre's words could not be wrong! Unless she was abandoned by the Lord of Light. And not long ago, Lady Melisandre had just resurrected Jon Snow. She was currently favored by the Lord of Light.

“The Mountain is Lightbringer, so he is the son of God?!”

“Yes!”

“But he killed Stannis Baratheon the First. Stannis was the true king. Why did he kill the true king?”

“Lady, Stannis is not the true king!” Melisandre did not say this out loud, but responded to Selyse Florent in her heart. She said faintly, “Queen Mother, I initially misunderstood the Lord of Light's omens. The Lord of Light instructed me to go to Dragonstone. I went to Dragonstone and met Stannis Baratheon, so I thought I was here to help the true king regain the Iron Throne and then gather the strength of the whole country to resist the White Walkers, but that was not the case. The Lord of Light guided me to Dragonstone because a large amount of dragonglass is buried under Dragonstone, which is a weapon that can kill White Walkers. I failed to see the revelation of dragonglass in the flames, but the Mountain saw it.”

“So he occupied Dragonstone, mined the dragonglass, and forged dragonglass weapons to transport to the Wall?!” Selyse screamed.

“Yes. To this day, Dragonstone's dragonglass is still being continuously transported to Winterfell. We will have a decisive battle in Winterfell to kill the Night King before winter comes.”

“No, something must be wrong.” There was confusion in Selyse's eyes, her gaze flickering without focus. “The White Walkers were supposed to appear when winter came, but it's summer now.”

“In the North, it is already winter, Queen Mother. Moreover, today is already 301 AC. The long summer in the South has also officially ended. The archmaesters of the Citadel have calculated that the short autumn will only last for three months. This is just a small transition from summer to winter. In three months, the South will also enter winter. The Night King wants to enter the throne room in winter. He will kill his way from the North to King's Landing, and the timing will be just right.”

“The Lord of Light is the only true god, Stannis is the only true king, and the Mountain is not Azor Ahai reborn. You are wrong, wrong again, Lady Melisandre,” Selyse Florent said shrilly. Her thin ears trembled slightly with excitement. There was a strange pale blue ring on her clean-shaven chin, a trace left by her thick beard.

Selyse Florent could not accept the truth that Stannis was a false king!

Melisandre looked at Selyse indifferently, this fanatical follower. Could she understand that the fact was this: the Lord of Light was the only true god, and Stannis was not that one true king.

“If Stannis is a false king, how can the Lord of Light be the only true god?” Selyse murmured, her gaze losing focus. She turned around and stumbled onto the large ship, her face twisted and her expression pained, as if she had suffered an extremely serious sword wound.

Around midnight on the second day of 301 AC, while people and the earth were fast asleep, a rare fire broke out on the Last River. Several large ships caught fire simultaneously. The fire was so fierce that it could be seen from several kilometers away. The fire was so sudden that no one could have predicted it.

Queen Mother Selyse Florent, Queen Shireen, and the entire Shireen army were burned to death. Very few people managed to wake up from their sleep and jump into the water. Ser Davos Seaworth, who knew how to swim, escaped by swimming. The flames could not burn Lady Melisandre, but she was not familiar with swimming. Fortunately, she was rescued by Red Smoke, who carried her unconscious body to the riverbank. Red Smoke found Ser Davos Seaworth, who was dazed on the riverbank. The Mountain's magical creature, Red Smoke—the King of Land Travel—reunited the Queen's Great Scholar and the Onion Knight.

The entire Shireen army, which had taken the Last River route, was burned by a sudden and strange fire, completely annihilated.

This was a sensational public case that shocked the Northern Allied Forces! Soon, the fire also shocked the entire country, and rumors spread. One widespread theory was that the Mountain's dragon had breathed dragonflame and burned the Shireen army. Only dragonflame could rapidly burn several large ships in the river, giving no one a chance to escape. Of course, these were all later stories.

*

The Hearthhome garrison retreated, and the Mountain and his dragon covered the rear. He stayed in Hearthhome for two days until the White Walker army completely surrounded the entire city.

The Mountain and his dragon stood on the city wall, facing the dense White Walker army. The Mountain once again commanded his dragon to attack, only burning wights in areas without White Walkers. This time, the man and dragon cooperated even more tacitly. The White Walker cavalry futilely galloped back and forth in pursuit, like a person trying to catch up with a thousand-mile horse on foot. The Mountain's dragon was too fast, and the White Walker army was too large, occupying too much of the ice plains, and the White Walkers themselves were too few.

This time, the Mountain adopted a well-known military strategy that he had known since childhood: guerrilla warfare. This was an absolutely practical military tactic with significant results.

The Mountain burned wights to his heart's content, then commanded his dragon to ascend into the sky, laughing as he flew away in a dragon's roar.

The Night King and dozens of White Walkers could only watch the Mountain and the dragon disappear into the gray sky from under the city wall, while the dragon's roar and the Mountain's laughter lingered and echoed in the low sky for a long time.

*

The Mountain was the last to leave Hearthhome and the first to arrive at Winterfell. Closely following him was the Shireen army, which had taken the Last River and then the White Knife River, but only two people and one unicorn returned: Red Smoke carried Ser Davos Seaworth and Great Scholar Melisandre.

The world was changing, magic was reviving, and magical creatures were also undergoing subtle transformations. Red Smoke, like the dragon, was the proudest of magical creatures. Originally, they would not allow anyone other than their masters to ride them. But the sheep thief had allowed the Mountain to ride on the dragon's back, and Red Smoke had allowed Melisandre to ride on his red back. This time, after the great fire disaster, he carried the only two survivors back.

The wildness of magical creatures was fading invisibly, and the quality of being close to humans was growing imperceptibly.

*

Night, Hearthhome, in the great hall, on the city wall, the Night King used human remains to create a spiral pattern. He sprinkled the spiral pattern with blood, then knelt down and prayed to the Land of Always Winter. His language was actually the local language of the Northmen, as if he were originally a Northerner, and the Cold God also came from the North.

He muttered, praying to the God of Frost for help: "Oh, Supreme God of Frost, if we do not have a corpse dragon, I fear we cannot win this war. Dragons are in the sky, and we cannot fly to pursue them. All-powerful God of Frost, please grant us a corpse dragon, please guide your warriors to find a way to defeat the dragons. Our warriors can deal with human warriors, can conquer cities and seize territories, but our warriors cannot deal with the human dragons."

Bang, bang, bang!

The spiral limb diagram suddenly burst into flames, the flames gradually connecting into lines, turning into a map of Essos, and flying above the map were three dragons: one black, one white, and one bronze.

Thank you to [Feng Qian Yue], [Cang Lan Yu Yu], and [Kill Them All] for the rewards, thank you, and Happy New Year!