Chapter 132: Riverlands King

Night is often the peak time for schemes and plots.

Arthur looked at the two earls visiting his residence late at night and felt he should be on his guard.

After all, he was not truly familiar with these two men.

Only after he had Podrick carry out the foot-washing water did he ask in a deep voice, "Is there something?"

There were only two chairs in the room; one was being sat in by Arthur, the older Clement pulled over the other to sit, and Tristan had no choice but to stand.

To cover the awkwardness of having no seat, Earl Lygge spoke first: "The Northmen are gone, and the lions are still to our west; we must be on our guard."

"Why beat around the bush so much!" Clement first glared at his companion, then turned to Arthur, "Let's be direct: Tywin and Stannis are neither of them good choices; we want to support the dragon-bearing Lord Arthur as King."

Earl Piper's family seat, Pinkmaiden, had been burned, and the son he had carefully cultivated had also passed away, so he acted with a "broken pot" mentality, not even bothering with the preamble the two had agreed upon beforehand.

Tristan smiled ingratiatingly: "It is like this. Once the Northmen leave, we Riverlanders will be isolated and helpless. Both members of the Tully family are bedridden, and the Blackfish is merely a commander; he cannot manage the affairs of the entire Riverlands. If we do not take measures, then from the Stony Fork to Crab Bay, it will be torn asunder, and the Nan'an will become, in name and reality, the foot-binding cloth of the Seven Kingdoms—anyone who comes can step on it."

"Moreover, Tywin and Stannis are each more severe than the other. Compared to them, Lord Arthur is incredibly wise, quite reminiscent of Prince Rhaegar back in the day," Clement added.

Judging by his actions and appearance, the "Dragon-kin" before them was a replica of Rhaegar; judging by his temper and weapons, however, he was somewhat similar to Robert.

Earl Piper even secretly speculated whether Arthur was the child of Rhaegar and Robert.

Of course, this was impossible; two grown men could not produce a child.

Arthur brought the candelabra over, scrutinized the two men's faces carefully, and simultaneously pondered the true needs of these two houses.

After Edmure's series of divine operations, House Piper should no longer be that loyal to House Tully.

And Tristan's House Lynderly and Willow Wood had always been supporters of House Targaryen.

The two supporting him was likely to escape the potential punishments of Tywin and Er Lu.

After all, the examples of House Darry and Maidenpool were there for all to see, and the even more miserable House Connington of the Stormlands had already gone from an earl's house to Landed Knights, with their Jiaodu fleeing to Essos to seek refuge.

"Actually, I also have the heart to set myself up as King; I just don't know if there are any willing to acknowledge me." Since these two were sincere, Arthur did not hide or hold back.

Adding the two earldoms of these families, along with the territories of Harrenhal, Stone Hedge, Darry, and others, was enough to accomplish the deed.

Not to mention the support of four thousand soldiers and the money and grain from the Frey family in the north.

Tristan and Clement were overjoyed, and the two began to express their loyalty to House Targaryen.

"You know me, too; our Willow Wood has always supported House Targaryen. Now that a true dragon has appeared in the world, we should naturally walk the bright path once more."

"The actions of the Tully family show no sign of protecting the family; talents like you should rule this land."

The words of the two great earls left Arthur a bit stunned, but he quickly understood that the two were regarding him as "Dragon-kin."

This point did not need to be refuted; the Brackens had been vassals for thousands of years and had no royal title to inherit.

The rebellion experiences personally demonstrated by Eddard, Jon Arryn, Robert, and others showed just how fanatical the nobility of Westeros were in their pursuit of inheritance law.

Even though the four-house alliance had taken King's Landing and obtained the Iron Throne, and even though Robert was the person with the most right to inherit the Iron Throne after House Targaryen, and even though the magnanimous Robert had only punished three or four nobles while pardoning most of the Dragon Party families who had been his enemies.

Yet in the towns and the alleys of the streets, there were still a great number of people who called him and families like the wolves and hawks usurpers.

Therefore, Arthur truly needed to rely on having a dragon to make the world misunderstand him as "Dragon-kin," thereby reducing certain worldly obstacles.

"These words need not be said; I want to know how many families support me, and to what extent? Do they want me to re-aggregate the Riverlands, or support me in taking back the Iron Throne?"

To make others believe Arthur was "Dragon-kin," he had to believe it himself first.

Therefore, Arthur also used vocabulary like "take back."

In reality, the Brackens had never possessed the Iron Throne, so it was not a matter of taking it back.

The two earls looked at each other, and the older Clement summarized: "Basically all the nobles of the Nan'an support you. As for the degree of support, we can only temporarily guarantee support for you to revitalize the glory of the Riverlands and safeguard your lordship and our territories."

Although only two earls had stated their position, Clement still spoke brazenly, saying that all the nobles of the Nan'an would support Arthur.

Earl Piper prepared to get the "Dragon-kin" on the boat first, then consider the issue of whether the boat was leaking.

Tristan nodded, indicating this was also his attitude.

In the current situation, the continent's number one force was naturally the Lion-Flower Alliance after their merger.

They sat upon the sixty thousand troops of The Reach and the ten-plus thousand soldiers of the Westerlands, looking down upon all other kings.

If Arthur declared that he had a claim to the Iron Throne, then both the Lion-Flower Alliance and Stannis would first turn to deal with the dragon-bearing Arthur.

After all, only by killing the Targaryens on the continent of Westeros would House Baratheon have the legitimacy for the Iron Throne.

And both Tommen and Er Lu currently considered themselves the heirs of Robert.

"My attitude is the same as yours. I will continue to use the surname Bracken. The royal title shall be King of the Trident or Riverlands King, and the territory shall be the Riverland lords who support me. Let the lions and Er Lu scramble for that Iron Chair!"

If he did not claim the title of King, he would only have the noble title of Earl of Stone Hedge and would be unable to command the Riverland lords of the Nan'an.

Seeing that their demands were met, the two earls were greatly comforted and began to discuss with the new King how to contact the nobles of the Nan'an, and when and where to set himself up as King.

Arthur himself also had ideas; the atmosphere supporting the Dragon family was very strong in the several earldoms near Harrenhal, so he decided to use the area around the Gods Eye as his base and begin to develop slowly.

Of course, Harrenhal could not serve as the capital of the new Riverlands King, as the curse there was quite magical; any master who moved in to live would slowly decline.

According to what Arthur knew, the power of this curse likely came from the "First King" of the North, and Harren the Black, by imitating the practices of the Night's Watch and mixing certain unspeakable blood into the materials used to build the walls, had further strengthened the Blood Magic power within the castle.

Moreover, there were Weirwood trees in the city, and those familiar with such trees knew that this was the source of power for the Old Gods.

What was magical was that Weirwood trees generally could not be transplanted, yet after Harrenhal was built, a pile of Weirwood trees had actually been moved there, which showed how much the Old Gods valued this place.

This meant that apart from tearing down Harrenhal and chopping down the Weirwood trees, there was basically no way to break this curse.

Besides the castle's curse, there was also that ghostly place, the Isle of Faces, that required Arthur's attention.

This was the only place in the southern region where the power of the Old Gods remained strong; the Green Men, suspected to be the "Children of the Forest," were still active on the Isle of Faces, guarding the "forbidden ground" of the Old Gods.

Several types of magic might also be recorded on this island in the middle of the lake.

A certain master of Harrenhal, the House Lothston, was merely an ordinary Knight family before they rose to prominence, but after occupying Harrenhal, they quickly learned strange magic from somewhere.

The Lothstons even bathed in human blood in an attempt to gain abilities that surpassed ordinary people.

All sorts of strange occurrences made Arthur determined to unearth the secrets of these two places in his spare time, to prevent the gods from messing with him.

The three men discussed the future of the freshly minted Riverlands King very eagerly until dawn.

The Riverlands, near Stoney Sept.

It was nearly dawn, and two people, just like hedge knights, were wrapped in cloaks, sleeping on the ground, with their mounts, "Stranger" and "Coward," tied nearby.

Arya woke from a nightmare; for months, she had been entering such dreams every night.

In the dream, she became a wolf, with a large pack of gray wolves following her, led by her, running through the wilderness. Fur kept her warm, and food hunted by her brothers and sisters filled her belly.

If it were always like this in the dream, Arya would be willing to dream forever and never wake up.

But last night's dream was not something to be happy about.

After turning into a wolf this time, she smelled the scent of her mother.

Since being separated from her sister outside King's Landing, this was the first time she had encountered anything related to her kin.

So, without hesitation, she led her wolf pack toward the direction the scent was coming from, only to encounter something she never wanted to remember in her life.

Her mother, Catelyn Stark, was floating quietly on the Blackwater River; the stench of the corpse mixed with the stench of the Blackwater River itself made her wolf stomach retch repeatedly.

But this was her own mother; she moved her four paws, charged into the river without hesitation, took the corpse in her mouth, and used all her strength to drag it up.

She examined her mother closely with her wolf eyes, and then was too sorrowful to speak.

Oh right, she was a wolf at that time, so it should be that she was too sorrowful to howl.

Before long, a large troop of cavalry searched their way along the Blackwater River; she recognized the leader, it was none other than the Beric Dondarrion, the Beric Dondarrion who had acquitted The Hound a few days ago.

Because the wolf pack behind her was startled by this group of humans and scattered, and because Arya herself did not want to see her mother's corpse, nor did she want to see the follower of the Lord of Light who had let The Hound go, she ran away.

She ran to her favorite wilderness.

Running on four paws allowed her to temporarily forget her mother's miserable state, but she could not forget forever.

The scenery around her retreated rapidly, and her smooth fur was blown by the strong wind; the dream of longing to leave home for adventure since she was small was realized by the wolf dream, but overwhelming sorrow surged into her heart.

For some reason, she missed the mother who made her learn embroidery and learn to be more of a lady.

"If you're awake, go feed the horses." Just then, The Hound's rough voice sounded, interrupting Arya's sorrow.

This was the second time she had been caught by The Hound; the first time was not far outside King's Landing, when the Direwolf Nymeria was in a hurry to reunite with her own wolf pups, so she didn't care about Arya, letting her fall into the dog's hands.

Later, the Brotherhood Without Banners caught them both; after the trial of the Lord of Light, The Hound was released, but she was left behind, and Lord Beric prepared to send her to Riverrun.

It just so happened that the Lord of Light did not follow the wishes of his new follower; it was rumored that a troop of Lannister cavalry was searching for something along the Blackwater River, so the Brotherhood members went south to "hunt lions."

Displeased that The Hound was released, she took advantage of the chaos to escape the Brotherhood, but was caught by The Hound again.

Coincidentally, Sandor Clegane also thought about sending her to Riverrun to exchange for a sum of money.

Because the butcher's boy Mycah was killed by the dog, she hated this rider with half his face burned away to the extreme.

Although she had sworn several times to kill this person while he was asleep, she had never put it into practice.

Arya opened her cloak, stood up slowly, and prepared to feed the horses.

"Oh, the little wolf girl is crying." The Hound sat up silently, his tone filled with mockery, "Could it be that you're homesick?"

"I am not, I think it's you who is homesick, missing your brother." Arya glared at the dog and turned to walk toward "Coward."

"I do miss my brother, wondering why he didn't die by my hand."

The Hound found a cold chicken leg from his pack and started gnawing on it directly.

After finishing it in a few bites, he shouted at Arya, who was still dawdling while feeding the horses: "Hurry up, so we can reach Riverrun sooner; your sister and uncle are there, with them to keep you company, you won't be homesick anymore."

After saying this, Sandor Clegane drew his Dawn Sword and began to sharpen it with a whetstone.

Arya took advantage of The Hound not paying attention and spat at him.

"Riverrun, Riverrun, you will never be able to take me to Riverrun." She cursed in a low voice.

Although it might only be a month or two, she felt she had already been on the road to Riverrun for years.

The two people and two horses prepared quickly, and before the sun rose, they began their journey.

The Red Priest Thoros looked at the one-eyed Lord Beric and advised: "My close friend, your fire of life is already very weak; it cannot be used to trade for the life of Lady Stark, who has been dead for several days."

Not far from their side was the corpse of Catelyn, dragged up by Nymeria, whom Arya was controlling after warging.

Lady Stark's originally smooth hair was matted together, and her skin had been soaked white and bloated by the river water, like curdled milk.

Even more terrifying were the wounds on the corpse; Catelyn's dignified and elegant face was covered with gashes, some already rotten, some revealing the skull underneath, and there was an extremely obvious long wound on her throat, piercing through the entire neck; if nothing else, this was the cause of her death.

Dozens of Brotherhood Without Banners members stood guard all around; they had come with Beric Dondarrion to hunt lions, but only found a pack of wolves and a corpse.

It was the remains of the Lady Stark, whom Lord Beric admired the most.

This Earl of the Stormlands shook his head, "If I could trade back Lady Stark's life, what would it matter if I died? Besides, I have already died five or six times; I can't even remember clearly myself."

In the process of protecting the Riverlands Peasants, Beric Dondarrion had been killed several times by the lion family's foraging parties, but was resurrected by the blessing of his close friend Thoros.

The most recent resurrection occurred after the trial of Sandor Clegane.

The Red Priest touched the small topknot on his head in a dilemma, "No means no; you are the leader of our Brotherhood; if you die, who will uphold justice for the Riverlands Peasants?"

Lord Beric, whose memory was already unclear, pleaded bitterly with his close friend: "Just trade it; I can no longer remember what my fiancée looked like, but I can still recall the appearance of Eddard; he was in the Throne Room, upholding justice for me in front of the world. Such a noble person like an eagle in the sky, his wife should not die so indecently..."

The only thing he could remember in full detail was the scene where Eddard ordered him to arrest The Mountain in the name of Robert and protect the Riverlands Peasants.

This was also why, despite losing his memory repeatedly, he could still lead the Brotherhood Without Banners on the right path.

The Red Priest could not bear his companion's pleading, hardened his heart, and turned to leave.

Seeing that pleading was of no use, Lord Beric decided to try it himself.

Recalling Thoros's prayers, he walked slowly to the side of Catelyn's corpse and began to try to cast the spell.

After a few breaths, having finished the prayer, he knelt on the ground and kissed her lips gently, attempting to pass his own fire of life to Lady Stark.

Most of the Brotherhood members were Riverlands Peasants, blacksmiths, carpenters, and shepherds; these people were not very educated and watched their leader's actions quietly.

It might have been the time of a blink, or it might have been a long time, but the Brotherhood members witnessed another scene comparable to Beric Dondarrion's several resurrections.

The corpse that had been dead for three days was also resurrected.

Thoros, who turned to look because of the crowd's exclamation, felt that something was wrong; he rushed to Beric Dondarrion's side, ignored Lady Stark who was slowly standing up, hugged his close friend's head tightly, and began to recite the prayer of the Lord of Light over and over again.

It was just that this time his god did not respond; Beric Dondarrion had completely departed from this world to meet his idol, Duke Eddard.

The resurrected Lady Stark let out a "ho-ho" sound, and realizing something, she closed her throat, only then vaguely speaking her first words since her death:

"Kill all the Lannisters!"

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(End of chapter)