Chapter 120: Dragon Egg

When the Gardener Dynasty ruled The Reach, the Manderly family's growing influence alarmed King of the Reach Piesang III, who ordered his vassals to drive the family out of The Reach.

After wandering for many years, around nine hundred years before the Conquest Era, the King in the North accepted this southern family, whose sigil was a merman, and granted the Manderlys a vast territory near the mouth of the White Knife.

Since then, the merman family used the wealth they brought with them to build White Harbor, one of the five great cities of Westeros, and maintained the family's prosperity for a thousand years.

Like the Lannisters of Casterly Rock, the most famous traits of the Manderly family are their business acumen and wisdom.

In reality, among the latest generation of lions and wolves, only a few possess the traits of their ancestors, such as the clever and silver-tongued Tyrion Lannister, or Arya with the Blood of the Wolf. The strength of Taiwen Laoye and the noble character of Eddard were both caused by special circumstances, and are not the images these two families have presented to the world over the past millennium.

As the first heir to White Harbor, Willis acts very much in the style of the Manderlys.

"Could this be a trap?"

He first raised his doubts, then suggested not to negotiate and for the main army to set off immediately.

Willis's words won the support of those who sought stability.

For the current coalition, having Joffrey, the most important hostage, meant they held considerable initiative.

Arthur thought for a moment and said, "That could also work. You all go first, and I will take some men to King's Landing. We won't enter the city; we'll just haggle with them for a few hours in front of the Gods Gate. The Gold Cloaks don't have many horses and cannot pursue quickly. Once the main army is far away, I will catch up."

Although the garrison inside the city numbered at most five or six thousand, if Queen Regent Cersei, who was desperate to protect her son, went mad and sent the garrison out to snatch him back, the ten-thousand-strong coalition would have to lose a layer of men to escape.

And since Robb had no intention of taking the Iron Throne and only sought the independence of the Northern-Riverlands United Kingdom, the conflict between the lions and the Starks was actually not as intense as the conflict between them and the two Baratheon kings.

After all, whether it was Renly or Stannis, both claimed to be the master of the Iron Throne, and all other kings were pretenders.

And Renly, who commanded nearly one hundred thousand troops and was eyeing the throne from Bitterbridge, should be the one giving Taiwen Laoye a headache.

Sansa discussed it with several great lords of the North for a while and felt that what her brother Robb wanted was likely a ceasefire with the lions at the right time, and then to have the Iron Throne recognize the independence of the North and the Riverlands.

"Then you go. Let the lords present each give Arthur some men, fly your family banners, and make this stalling negotiation look a bit more official."

Sansa proposed.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and so Arthur set off with twenty mercenaries, one hundred and twenty coalition soldiers, and some food and water.

To bolster their numbers, these one hundred and forty men actually flew eighty or ninety banners, ranging from the white-bottomed broken wolf of House Stark, the X-shaped flayed man of House Bolton, the blue-green-bottomed merman of House Manderly, the black-bottomed sunburst of House Stark, the twin towers of House Frey, to the brown-bottomed sentinel tree of House Tallhart, the silver-bottomed battle-axe of House Cerwyn, the orange-bottomed moose of House Hornwood, and various banners of different colors and shapes from small Northern houses; in short, it really looked like the real thing.

Of course, Arthur's Gold Blade Horse banner was at the very front of the procession.

After the negotiation party left, the ten-thousand-strong coalition began to light stoves and cook, and after a meal, they headed north along the Kingsroad.

Outside the Gods Gate.

From a distance, Arthur ordered them to stop advancing, then sent a high-ranking Stark officer to the city gate to deliver a message.

After being tricked once outside Stone Hedge, he began to watch out for traps.

The King's Landing side clearly did not expect Arthur to be so cautious, and after dawdling for quite a while, the members of the Small Council finally appeared on the gatehouse.

Considering the feats of Bracken capturing Jaime single-handedly and kidnapping Joffrey, the people on the gatehouse did not dare to come out of the city.

The distance between the coalition's negotiation party and the city gate was likely over five hundred meters, which was still too far to communicate.

Thus, Master of Coin Littlefinger was sent to have the first confrontation with Arthur.

"Queen Cersei promises that after the coalition releases King Joffrey I, the North and the Riverlands will be allowed to be independent, and the war between the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and the Starks will end."

Littlefinger wore a knee-length black fitted robe, looking shrewd and capable.

Behind Littlefinger were a dozen Gold Cloaks on horseback, also carrying a dozen banners; besides those of House Baratheon and House Lannister, there were also banners of some Crownlands nobles.

"Since when does our independence need to be 'allowed'? This term is very disrespectful to King Robb. Have your Queen Regent rephrase it."

Since it was just to stall for time, Arthur began to nitpick over such small details.

The many Northern soldiers behind him were quite in agreement with this, nodding in echo.

Littlefinger had no choice but to tighten his reins and take his men back.

During the second conversation, the rhetoric from King's Landing was much more polite.

They promised that Joffrey would be the Protector of the Five Kingdoms in the future, and that the North and the Riverlands would never again be within the sphere of influence of the Iron Throne.

Arthur refused on the grounds that the terms were not clear enough, and demanded that King's Landing provide an accurate ceasefire time and specific territorial boundaries.

Littlefinger's expression was grim as he led his men away again.

Sure enough, he bore the brunt of Queen Regent Cersei's fury once more.

"What exactly does he want? That damned Bracken." A twisted-faced Cersei stood on the city wall, staring fixedly at the cluster of banners in the distance.

If the Lannister Heavy Cavalry were here, she would have ordered them to charge over and trample this bug from the Riverlands to death.

It was Bracken who took away her brother, and it was Bracken who took away her eldest son.

Grand Maester Pycelle admired Duke Tywin greatly, so he had secretly defected to the lion family.

Therefore, he was also very concerned about Joffrey being captured. After thinking for a while, he said, "Perhaps the rebels feel they haven't gained enough benefits. How about we offer some Gold Dragons and treasures first? That might improve their attitude."

"Don't bother. The Northmen are stubborn and proud. Giving them gold before the terms are settled will make them think it's charity, like tossing coins to a beggar." Master of Whisperers Varys opposed this.

"Exactly, we don't have much money left either. Expanding the City Watch cost a lot of money. If we don't borrow more, the Red Keep won't be able to sustain itself."

Littlefinger knew best how much money the Iron Throne had left, so he also refused to give Gold Dragons first.

Joffrey's younger brother, Prince Tommen, also followed behind his mother and suggested, "As long as we keep agreeing to their demands, we can always satisfy the Northmen. Let's go talk a few more times."

Cersei took a few deep breaths and gave Littlefinger instructions on the conditions she could offer.

Littlefinger had no choice but to confirm Cersei's bottom line first: "After returning King Joffrey, all soldiers loyal to the Iron Throne will withdraw from the Riverlands, and we guarantee that Robb's territory will be as large as the two kingdoms marked on the map."

The Queen Regent nodded and waved for Littlefinger to leave.

This time, Arthur's reason for refusal was that the Western Lands Army had to withdraw from the Riverlands first before Joffrey could be returned.

Just like that, the two sides engaged in about ten negotiations outside the Gods Gate, stalling for a full four hours.

When he felt that the coalition had also walked four or five leagues, Arthur explicitly refused to return Joffrey and then led his men away.

On the gatehouse, Cersei was dumbfounded on the spot; her face, already wearing a mask of pain, now added a look of bewilderment and resentment.

Now it was her turn to experience the feelings of Lady Stark.

There is nothing more cruel than extinguishing hope after giving it. The "rebels'" act of sending people to negotiate made the Queen Regent think her son would be back soon, but the way Bracken turned and left told her that this group was just playing with her.

"If anything happens to my son, I will surely kill this Bracken, I swear it by the Seven!" Cersei said through gritted teeth, filled with hatred.

……

Hurrying along, Arthur finally caught up with the allied forces before dusk.

A piece of bad news was waiting for him.

Instigated by many young minor lords of The North, Sansa wanted to kill Joffrey to avenge her father.

Meanwhile, the more rational Willis, Herman Tallhart, and others were in the main command tent trying to dissuade them.

Before he even entered, Arthur heard the incessant noise inside and immediately felt that something was wrong.

Rushing in, he saw Joffrey, bound tightly, looking at the Northern lords surrounding him in terror.

The once imposing King was now like a little lamb, the kind waiting to be turned into lamb skewers.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't kill Joffrey yet." He walked over hurriedly, separating several Northern lords who were holding daggers.

"Lady Stark, why are you being foolish too?" Arthur shook his head at Sansa, signaling that Joffrey really could not be killed right now.

At the very least, it could not get out that the Northerners were the ones who killed Joffrey, otherwise House Lannister would truly never stop the war.

Looking at Arthur, who still hadn't cleaned his armor, Sansa suddenly became ladylike.

"Then we shall listen to Lord Arthur, everyone disperse." Lady Stark said.

Many Northern lords were indignant, but there was nothing they could do, so they had to leave the main tent.

Of course, they still spat on the ground before leaving.

The wide-eyed, panicked Joffrey was also taken out of the tent by Sansa's Personal Guard.

The four people designated by Sansa to participate in the command remained behind.

"This won't do. There are over ten thousand people in the allied forces; there's no guarantee someone won't sneak off to kill Joffrey," Arthur said.

Lord Tallhart suggested: "Perhaps we could have a squad take Joffrey and leave first, sending him directly to Harrenhal or Riverrun."

Willis said: "What if word leaks out and King's Landing finds out? What if they send a group of elite Cavalry to snatch Joffrey back?"

King's Landing did not have a large Cavalry force, but a small unit composed of one or two hundred nobles and Knights could still be scraped together.

"I can escort Joffrey, and we don't need to decide which castle to go to yet. That way, even if someone in the allied forces reports this to Cersei, they won't know my route."

Arthur suggested.

In truth, he wanted to take Joffrey to hatch a Dragon, but since there was no news from Yule, he thought about going directly to Summerhall.

"That works." Robett had a fairly good impression of Arthur and nodded in agreement.

This Glover, who always held his head high, only acknowledged Arthur as a Riverlander.

Thus, the plan was finalized.

At midnight, Arthur left with all the Qohor Mercenaries, Gendry, Qyburn, and Joffrey.

He brought Gendry because he was Robert's Bastard, and Robert's grandmother was from House Targaryen. In other words, Gendry had slightly more than one-eighth of the blood of House Targaryen.

The reason it was said to be slightly more was that House Baratheon itself was a close relative of House Targaryen, so there was always a tiny bit of bloodline bonus.

Although Gendry could not ride a Dragon, the blood of House Targaryen could make a hatchling feel close to him.

Arthur himself did not have a shred of House Targaryen blood, and he did not know if a Dragon hatched this way would recognize him as its master.

If it didn't, he would have to let Gendry take care of the hatchling.

A group of over two hundred people made quite a commotion, and the spies of several houses who were closely watching the movements of Qiaodadi immediately reported back to their masters.

Of course, what puzzled these potential turncoats and Sansa's group was that Arthur had actually taken his men south.

……

Exactly four days later, Arthur's group walked out of the Kingswood, and five days after that, they arrived near Summerhall.

This had once been the summer palace of House Targaryen, the castle used for escaping the summer heat.

In the year 259 of the Conquest Era, Aegon V decided to hold a grand gathering at Summerhall to celebrate the birth of his grandson Rhaegar, so some members of House Targaryen and half of the courtiers gathered there.

At the same time, Aegon V thought about using some magical rituals to hatch a Dragon, so he used Wildfire and other means to heat the fossilized Dragon Egg.

But this caused a fire, and all the nobles participating in the gathering, along with Summerhall itself, were consumed by the flames.

This made the already dwindling House Targaryen's situation even worse.

Twenty-four years later, the Dragon dynasty, which had only been passed down for two generations, collapsed.

Beside the Bone Way leading to Dorne, Arthur led his team eastward, and then he saw the ruins of this massive castle.

Even from a distance, he had to admit that the fire had been large enough; nearly forty years later, the site of Summerhall was still charred black.

After leading his men closer, he discovered that there were still over a dozen people active on the ruins.

Among them were the soldier Piper and Arthur's uncle, Yule.

"Big nephew, why did you come yourself? I heard the fighting in the north is fierce; wouldn't they be missing a fierce general like you?"

Seeing Arthur leading the troops himself, Yule hurried up to greet him, fawning with a smile while holding the horse reins.

"How is the search for the stones going?"

Yule glanced at the riders behind his nephew and said in a low voice: "The approximate location has been determined, it's just that because of the lack of manpower, the search has been slow."

Because Summerhall was still a large castle, two people couldn't search it in a short time, so Yule went to nearby villages to hire over a dozen peasants and farmers to help search.

According to Yule, they had already combed through about eighty percent of the area and confirmed that there were no "oval stones" inside.

The remaining twenty percent of the area was exactly where the dungeons and the great hall of Summerhall were located; because the buildings were mostly made of stone, searching was somewhat difficult, which delayed the progress.

"Since you brought so many people, it will be found very soon," Yule said.

Arthur also wanted to end this matter quickly; after all, Cersei, having lost her son, was not far from madness.

Thus, the two hundred or so mercenaries were also sent to look for the "ellipsoidal stones."

Under the command of Yule, who had already planned the search, the entire team threw themselves into the tense work of finding the stones.

During this time, Arthur also helped move several large stones, and then, under a giant pillar, he found seven fossilized Dragon Eggs shimmering with pearlescent luster.

According to the current timeline, the Dragon Mother has already hatched three dragons, so magic throughout the entire world has begun to revive.

Then Blood Magic should be useful.

(End of chapter)