The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 715 The Golden Company, the King's Hand, Aegon V

(Sorry, this should be Aegon VI, but the title cannot be changed.)

*

Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, wore his signature sly smile: "Lord Mountain, if Daenerys attacks the Iron Islands or King's Landing, shouldn't King's Landing, with its powerful navy and nearly 100,000 defenders, face and resolve it?"

"This lord is right, Mountain. We should focus our strength on the Others," Tormund Giantsbane said.

Tormund's words were met with unanimous agreement from the Free Folk and the Night's Watch.

The Free Folk and the Night's Watch felt little connection to the troubles of the South. The Others remained their primary threat.

"We can suggest Cersei send envoys to negotiate with Daenerys," Robb Stark said. "The Others are at Last Hearth and may already be marching on Winterfell."

"Your Grace, Queen Cersei is now sincerely and wholeheartedly supporting our Northern Alliance against the Others. If King's Landing is attacked, our subsequent supply and reinforcements will be severely hampered." The Mountain looked at Eddard Stark. "Lord Eddard, I know we have the most suitable negotiator here. Cersei doesn't have anyone like that at her disposal. That's why I want the Alliance to send an envoy to meet Daenerys. If Cersei had a suitable candidate, I wouldn't interfere in the negotiations with Daenerys."

"Who?" Eddard asked cautiously.

"Lord Commander Jon Snow," the Mountain said slowly.

Eddard's eyes met the Mountain's. Eddard was shocked that the Mountain knew Jon's secret. He hadn't even told Robb or Lady Catelyn. How did the Mountain know? Unless it was a divine prophecy! But which god? The Seven or the Red God?

Jon Snow's gaze shifted between Eddard's and the Mountain's faces. He saw Eddard's surprise and the Mountain's certainty. The Mountain's gaze held a clear implication. He was equally shocked that the Mountain knew his true identity. The Mountain's gaze was like language, telling Jon that he was a Targaryen. How was that possible?

Undoubtedly, the Mountain was truly chosen by the gods, a child of destiny. Melisandre asserted that he was Azor Ahai reborn. In that case, it seemed natural that he knew some secrets. Jon Snow's true identity should be Jon Targaryen. Daenerys Targaryen was his aunt, whom he had never met.

"Lord Mountain, where is Daenerys Targaryen currently?"

"She's on the Valyrian road."

"Not yet at Pentos?"

"She can reach Pentos whenever she wishes."

Jon understood the Mountain's words. Daenerys had three dragons. She could fly to Pentos at any time and command her army across the Narrow Sea. She could also fly across the Narrow Sea at any time and arrive anywhere on the continent of Westeros.

"Where can I negotiate with Daenerys?"

"Dragonstone. I'll send an envoy to contact her."

"I am willing to negotiate with Daenerys," Jon Snow said. He suddenly realized that he yearned to meet his family. After the tribulations, only he and Daenerys remained as blood relatives of the Targaryen family.

Melisandre said, "Your Grace Robb, Lord Commander Mountain, my lords, Daenerys has many talented people around her. Her courtiers and generals are formidable. If she is determined to take the Iron Throne, she probably won't just launch a surprise attack on the Iron Islands. We must warn the Red Keep and prepare for battle. Daenerys's Hand is Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion is familiar with King's Landing. He has already led the Unsullied and Asha's navy to Pentos. If they attack King's Landing, Asha's fleet may have already crossed the Narrow Sea and be hiding in some bay on Westeros."

Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, smiled faintly. "Lady Melisandre, we must trust Queen Cersei and the Hand in the Red Keep. The courtiers and generals in the Red Keep are also talented—Master of Whisperers Boros Blount, Grand Maester Qyburn, Lord Rosby, Lady Janei Westerling who went to King's Landing… Commander of the City Watch Alliser Thorne, Ser Balon Swann of the Kingsguard, Admiral Aurane Waters… and your father, Lord Gawen. None of them are incompetent."

"Littlefinger, Daenerys has dragons, three dragons!" Jaime said in a deep voice. He was very worried about Cersei and was not polite with Littlefinger, calling him by his nickname.

"Lady Janei has brought Master Tobho Mott, who can make dragon-killing ballistae, Lord Jaime," Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, said with a faint, sly smile on the right corner of his mouth, as if he deeply despised the world.

*

Night, Storm's End.

The gale stirred up sea waves, crashing against the rocks with a roar.

The garrison and people of Storm's End were used to the roaring waves that lasted until dawn.

The waters of Storm's End Bay were treacherous, and gales and waves were common.

Almost no patrolling soldiers could be seen on the city walls.

The wind was too strong, and everyone huddled under the walls.

The walls of Storm's End were strong, and the walls made of giant rocks were easy to defend and difficult to attack. On the upper part of the walls, there were white dots, which were the marks left by Lord Mace Tyrell's siege with a large number of trebuchets more than ten years ago—the trebuchets threw round stones, and the stones hit the walls, leaving shallow white dots.

Under the north gate of Storm's End, four guards were warming themselves by the fire. After the long summer, as soon as autumn arrived, the temperature dropped sharply, especially at night. After midnight, the temperature became extremely cold. After the centurion on duty went back to sleep, the four soldiers on duty lit a bonfire, and they sat around the bonfire, dozing off together.

Whoosh!

A black short arrow pierced the air and struck a soldier's neck with a thud. It went in from the left side of the neck, and the blood-stained tip of the arrow protruded from the other side.

The warrior fell, plunged into the fire, waking the other three comrades. Before the three comrades could get up and react, three sharp short knives strangled their throats. With a pull of the short knives, the throats were cut, and blood gushed out.

The garrison of the huge Storm's End was only a hundred-man team and two knights. The rest of the warriors had responded to the royal order and gone to King's Landing to garrison.

The four soldiers at the north gate were all killed and fell in a pool of blood. Several black shadows darted to the city gate like cats, and more shadows emerged from all directions. Looking at their clothes, some were foreign merchants, some were sailors from foreign merchant ships docked in Storm's End port, and some were dressed as local vegetable farmers and fishermen.

These people had entered Storm's End during the day. There were about thirty of them. They worked together to open the city gate.

The cracking sound of the city gate opening was perfectly drowned out by the sound of the sea waves. Black shadows flashed in one after another, continuously, a total of ten hundred-man teams.

These warriors were wearing fine armor, well-trained, and quickly entered the various main strongholds of Storm's End. The centurion in the military camp by the city wall had just grabbed the hilt of his sword when his head was cut off.

In just half an hour, the impregnable Storm's End was taken. The hundred-man team of soldiers defending the city, along with their officers, had their heads cut off, and the heads were hung on the four walls of the castle.

Early the next morning, the crowned stag banner of Storm's End was taken down and replaced with seven gilded skulls.

Gilded skulls, this was the banner of the Golden Company, the most famous mercenary group across the Narrow Sea.

*

The Golden Company was a mercenary group founded more than a hundred years ago by the noble bastard "Bittersteel" Aegor Rivers.

Aegor Rivers, the half-brother of Brynden Rivers, the Three-Eyed Raven, also known as Bittersteel. He was the bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen and his fifth mistress, Lady Barba Bracken.

Aegor had half Targaryen blood, so he had purple eyes, but his hair was black. As an adult, he kept a short beard and looked like a natural warrior. He was lean, agile, and tall.

He especially hated his half-brother Brynden Rivers (later the Bloodraven, now the Three-Eyed Raven) and his mother, Mylessa.

When he was young, he and Brynden Rivers both fell in love with their half-sister Shiera Seastar, but Shiera Seastar chose Bloodraven over him, which turned his dislike of Bloodraven into hatred.

In 196 AC, Daemon Blackfyre, the legitimized bastard son recognized by the king, rebelled to claim the Iron Throne. Aegor stood by his half-brother Daemon Blackfyre's side, fighting against Daeron II Targaryen and Bloodraven Brynden Rivers.

In the Battle of the Redgrass Field, Aegor commanded Daemon's right-wing army. After Daemon was killed, Aegor, holding the Targaryen family's ancestral sword Blackfyre, gathered his army and charged the Bloodraven's archers, taking one of his half-brother Bloodraven's eyes.

The rebellion was eventually suppressed by Bloodraven. Bittersteel Aegor fled to the Free City of Tyrosh across the Narrow Sea with Daemon's heir, widow, and the Blackfyre loyalists who had lost their lands.

To survive, Aegor joined the Second Sons mercenary company. The following year, he gathered all the Blackfyre's old subordinates who had fled across the Narrow Sea and created the mercenary organization, the Golden Company.

Although mercenary organizations are mostly notorious and unreliable, the Golden Company has a good reputation. Bittersteel Aegor never broke his word and put his own name in the slogan: "Golden under the gold, the bitter steel beneath."

In less than a year, the Golden Company became famous in the Free Trade Cities. When the Free Trade City of Qohor refused to fulfill its contract, Aegor commanded the Golden Company to take the Free Trade City in just three days. As a result, the Golden Company became the most powerful mercenary company in the Free Trade Cities, and no employer dared to default.

In 236 AC, Aegor led the Golden Company and Daemon III to land in Westeros at Massey's Hook, launching the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion. However, at this time, the Blackfyres had few allies on the continent of Westeros, and this rebellion failed faster than the previous three.

The rebels were completely defeated in the Battle of Wendwater Bridge, and the rebel king Daemon III Blackfyre was also killed. Bittersteel escaped again and returned to Tyrosh. As he lay dying, Bittersteel had his flesh boiled off his skull, plated with gold, and hung on the flagpole of the army flag when reclaiming Westeros across the sea in the future. He wanted to see the Golden Company return to the continent of Westeros with his own eyes and witness his heir take back the Iron Throne.

What Aegor did not expect was that this move formed a tradition of the Golden Company: before each generation of commanders died, they ordered their subordinates to gild their skulls and hang them on high flagpoles. Later, the golden skull became the military flag of the Golden Company.

Since Aegor, the Golden Company has gone through seven commanders, so the military flag of the Golden Company has become seven gilded skulls.

*

Early in the morning, the nobles and people in Storm's End were all driven to the training ground.

Around the training ground, a thousand warriors and fifty knights stood in unison.

A fat man was surrounded by elite knights, standing on the viewing platform of the training ground. He was the current commander of the Golden Company, Harry Strickland, also known as "Homeless" Harry.

Harry looked nothing like a warrior, but like a wealthy merchant with a generous heart and a fat body. He had a large round head, light gray eyes, and sparse hair that he combed sideways to cover his bald head.

Harry Strickland's great-grandfather lost his family's fiefdom for supporting Daemon Blackfyre's rebellion, so three generations from Harry's grandfather were born across the Narrow Sea and raised in the Golden Company. He liked to boast that his family was a mercenary family that had "served the Golden Company for four generations."

Before the previous commander, Blackheart 'Myles Toyne', died, Harry served as treasurer in the company.

"My lords, my people, don't be afraid. My name is Harry Strickland, the commander of the Golden Company. You may not be familiar with me personally, but that doesn't matter. I will introduce you to a great man you are all familiar with, the former Hand of King Aerys Targaryen: Jon Connington."

The nobles and people in the training ground were indeed looking different. People who were a little older knew Jon Connington's name.

*

During the reign of the Mad King Aerys Targaryen, after the Hand of the King, Duke Tywin, left King Aerys and returned to the West, there were three Hands of the King in succession, the most famous of which was Jon Connington.

Jon Connington, a vassal of House Baratheon, Earl of Griffin's Roost in the Stormlands, head of the Connington family, and former Hand of King Aerys II. He was one of Rhaegar Targaryen's close friends. He had no brothers. He was exiled for losing the Battle of the Bells, and after the war, he fled to Essos, took the name "Griff", joined the Golden Company, served in the Golden Company for five years, and became Blackheart Myles Toyne's most trusted right-hand man. If he had not left later, he would have been the new commander of the Golden Company.

Connington was expelled for stealing gold from the Golden Company, and later there were rumors that he fell into the sea drunk and died.

But the rumors about stealing gold and being expelled and falling into the sea drunk were all false. These rumors were deliberately spread by the Master of Whisperers, Varys, deceiving the entire continent of Westeros.

Jon Connington was an enemy that Eddard Stark, Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn, Hoster Tully, and others were all wary of.

During the Battle of the Bells, Jon Connington besieged Robert Baratheon. In order not to hurt the innocent, he surrounded Stoney Sept, rang the bells to let the innocent people close their doors and windows and hide, and then launched the attack, so that battle of Stoney Sept was also called the Battle of the Bells.

The merciful act of ringing the bells to tell the people to take cover delayed valuable time, allowing Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and Hoster Tully to arrive with reinforcements. Eddard, Arryn, Hoster, and Robert attacked from four directions, soundly defeating Jon Connington. Jon Connington lost his only chance to kill Robert, and because of this battle, King Aerys dismissed him as Hand of the King and exiled him across the Narrow Sea.

Harry Strickland clapped his hands, and thousands of soldiers applauded together. In the square, nobles and commoners also clapped stiffly.

A tall man with wrinkles around his eyes but an unusually resolute face appeared on the high platform. He had long, grey-red hair. He looked very experienced but was also very cautious, and when he gazed at you, a suffocating sense of danger lingered.

Life in exile overseas had made Jon more experienced and ruthless.

Jon Connington was skilled in both civil and military affairs. Due to his loyalty to the royal family and his outstanding warrior skills, Aerys II Targaryen removed Owen Merryweather from his position and appointed him as Hand of the King.

During the Battle of the Bells, Connington could have easily surrounded Stone Sept and ordered the burning of the entire town and Robert hiding within, ending the rebellion before Eddard Stark, Hoster Tully, and Jon Arryn could arrive with rebel reinforcements, as Tywin Lannister would have done; however, as Tywin said, killing innocent men, women, and children was too dishonorable for him, so Connington did not do so, instead intending to gloriously kill Robert in personal combat to achieve lasting fame.

Because of his 'mercy,' Robert sat on the Iron Throne, and the Targaryen dynasty he served collapsed.

But the name of Jon Connington still made the older generation who had experienced the War of the Usurper, like Eddard Stark, feel lingering fear.

"My lords, my people, I am Jon Connington, and I have returned with Aegon Targaryen VI, the heir to Rhaegar Targaryen. The child who was smashed to death by the Mountain in the royal nursery was not Rhaegar Targaryen's son Aegon; he had been switched by Lord Varys, and was just a child from a commoner family. The current Tommen Baratheon I on the Iron Throne is just a bastard born from Cersei and Jaime's incest, an ugly and disgraceful false king. The true king is outside Storm's End, guarded by a great army, and he will arrive soon. I will let you see the grace of the true King Aegon Targaryen. So, who is the castellan of Storm's End?"

"I am!" An old man stood up.

"Lord Nehemiah Chester."

"Yes, Lord Jon."

"What about the Baratheon family?"

"Robert, Stannis, and Renly are all dead. Renly has no heirs. Of Robert's three children, Joffrey is dead, Tommen and Myrcella are in the Red Keep in King's Landing, Stannis's daughter Shireen is at the Wall, and Robert's acknowledged bastard Edric Storm was also taken there."

"Who is the lord of this castle now?"

"Tommen Baratheon I."

"No, Nehemiah Chester, that is not Tommen Baratheon I, that is Tommen Lannister. Nehemiah Chester, are you willing to lead all the people of Storm's End to kneel and welcome Aegon Targaryen VI to reside in Storm's End?"

"...Yes, Lord Jon... We submit..."