Chapter 134: Dragonrider

Stormlands, Summerhall.

Hundreds of elite cavalrymen wearing plate and chainmail were scattered around the perimeter of these massive ruins.

From the banners they flew—the golden tree on white, the striding hunter, the gold-and-green lion, the red bull skull, the blue-and-gold crane, and others—one could guess the houses these cavalrymen belonged to:

House Rowan of Goldengrove, House Tarly of Horn Hill, House Osgrey of Standfast, House Bulwer of Blackcrown, and House Crane of Red Lake.

If one were even slightly familiar with the Reach, one would know these were truly second-tier houses or lower.

Aside from the Rowans and the Tarlys, the remaining houses were likely just there to make up the numbers.

Seven or eight nobles, wearing fine plate armor and cloaks made of expensive fabric, stood before a large bonfire in silence.

The appearance of a dragon at Harrenhal had left Duke Mace Tyrell deeply worried, and rumors were spreading like wildfire through the towns and villages of the Riverlands that Arthur the "Dragonrider" was a bastard of Rhaegar; before fully aligning with the Lannisters, he wanted to ascertain if a Targaryen had truly returned with a dragon.

Thus, Randyll Tarly, who had challenged the military authority of the "inflated fish" lord, was sent to investigate the dragon, and Count Mathos Rowan, who had kinship ties to the Tyrells' three-house alliance, was given the task of supervising Count Tarly.

Several minor nobles accompanied the two great counts, making this investigation appear more official.

According to rumors, the dragon first appeared in the vast forest of the Kingswood.

Consequently, Count Tarly began his investigation into the movements of Arthur Bracken from there, eventually tracking him all the way to the ruins of Summerhall.

Here, they discovered this massive bonfire, which looked abnormal at first glance.

Both counts had always believed there might be some secret here; after all, forty years ago, a great fire had occurred here, which had also burned a king to death.

Thus, some cavalrymen were sent out to find potential witnesses.

Before long, several cavalrymen arrived, driving a dozen peasants before them.

"My lords, according to them, they were once hired by someone to search for something here," the lead rider reported to the nobles.

Count Mathos Rowan turned, not even glancing at his own cavalryman, and waved them away.

His gaze remained fixed on the peasants who had been brought in.

"Tell me something useful, and I shall reward you handsomely."

The lord's words greatly tempted the peasants, and one of them took the courage to speak about being hired previously to look for stones.

"Fairly round stones—that is what those two were looking for, and they spent a full two or three months searching."

The bald Randyll Tarly asked carefully again: "What were the features of these two men?"

The peasant scratched his head, "One was a very ordinary soldier, and the other, how should I put it, wore a lord's iron armor but had the face of a wandering mercenary."

Mathos Rowan asked several more times, striving to find more details.

The peasants filled in the rest: a large troop of cavalry had arrived from the west, dismissed them, and that very night, a raging fire had been lit here.

"Oh, right, the group that came later wore very strange clothes, not like people from around here, and the giant horse and golden horse armor of the leader were also quite impressive," a peasant finally recalled.

Count Tarly's sharp, hawk-like eyes immediately locked onto the man, "Were they wearing strange black armor, and did many of them wear braids?"

The peasant nodded, "Yes, yes, I just said they felt wrong, but I couldn't say where—it was their braids, they were different from ours."

The hairstyles of Westerosi nobles were quite distinctive; noblewomen in the south often wore their hair in buns, while the lords wore theirs loose or shaved their heads entirely.

Soldiers, for the sake of wearing helmets in battle, would not keep long hair, let alone braid it.

Aside from mercenaries from the continent of Essos in the east, who else could have such a hairstyle?

Randyll Tarly already had his answer and stopped asking questions.

Mathos Rowan asked back and forth a few more times, and after confirming nothing had been missed, dismissed the cavalry to take the peasants away.

Of course, each peasant received a silver stag before they left.

The two great nobles called over the minor nobles who had accompanied them and began to confer.

"I believe I recognize the man with the mercenary face," a young knight from House Bulwer said to the group.

Count Rowan waved for the young man to continue.

"During a break in the tourney, Ser Loras once invited Bracken to lunch. At the time, the Ser was in a bad mood because of The Mountain, so the rest of us just ate in silence. I was very curious about Bracken, who had suddenly intruded into our circle, so I specifically observed the uncle and nephew. If I am not mistaken, that fellow who had a mercenary's face but wore plate armor is the Dragonrider's uncle, Jule Bracken."

The young knight gave this a more pleasant spin; he would never admit that he had been staring at the uncle and nephew only because he was jealous that the Riverlands noble could squeeze in next to the Knight of Flowers.

Randyll Tarly nodded, feeling that this point should be correct.

Although he was only there to supervise Randyll's work, Count Mathos Rowan was quite diligent, and he summarized:

"After snatching Tommen, this Arthur took the king thousands of miles to this place, and his uncle had been searching for round stones here for two or three months prior. After this, a great fire broke out, and by the time Arthur returned north and crossed the Kingswood, a black dragon appeared before the world."

"That must be it. Although there are many doubts, it is enough to report back to the Duke. It is unlikely the Dragonrider is Rhaegar's bastard; he just happened to obtain a dragon," Randyll Tarly said dismissively.

He did not care about the origin of the dragon; how to handle the relationship with the Dragonrider was the point.

Mathos, however, was relentless, "Hey, old friend, stop thinking about your Brightwater Keep and use your brain to think about whether the Dragonrider is truly Rhaegar's bastard."

The Florents of Brightwater Keep were one of the most powerful second-tier houses in the Reach, comparable in strength to House Rowan, with about four or five thousand soldiers in the entire house.

Outside Storm's End, the entire force of House Florent had defected to Stannis, because the wife of "Er Lu," Selyse Florent, was the niece of Count Alester Florent.

Thus, from the perspective of King Tommen, House Florent had become traitors.

And the Reach was currently supporting Tommen Baratheon.

Considering that Randyll Tarly's wife was the eldest daughter of Alester Florent, House Tarly had a claim to Brightwater Keep.

Therefore, Count Mathos Rowan believed that Randyll was thinking about how to obtain Brightwater Keep and had not seriously considered whether the Dragonrider was Rhaegar's bastard.

Count Tarly glanced at Count Rowan and waved for the minor nobles to move further away.

The tactful lesser lords walked off.

Only then did the two counts begin to discuss the real business.

"According to that rumor, which is being spread quite convincingly, the Dragonrider is very likely Rhaegar's bastard," Randyll Tarly signaled for Count Rowan to lean in, "but you and I both know that the dragon has been around for some time, yet the rumors of the Dragonrider being a bastard have only been circulating for less than a month, and they have spread rapidly throughout the Riverlands. Someone must be stirring the pot."

In the last half-month, rumors of Arthur the Dragonrider and his dragon had spread throughout the Riverlands, which had also brought the matter to the attention of some top-tier nobles.

Mathos lowered his voice, "I know that, of course, but even to stir the pot, there must be something to stir. There have been no dragons for over a hundred years; from Aegon III to Baelor I Targaryen, and then to Aegon V, several kings tried to hatch dragons but all failed. Now that a dragon has returned to the world, even if he is just a Targaryen bastard, the Dragonrider's claim to the Iron Throne is ahead of Robert's line."

Even without a dragon, the usurpers had still chosen Robert, whose grandmother was a Targaryen, as their leader, which showed how much the nobles valued dragon blood.

A Targaryen with a dragon—that was a completely different concept.

Lord Tarly habitually reached for the Valyrian Steel Sword "Heartsbane" at his waist, but suddenly remembered that Heartsbane had been taken away by his son, so he touched the substitute instead, withdrew his hand, rested his chin on his palm, and began to ponder.

A moment later, he said to Lord Rowan: "The Targaryens attempted to hatch dragons several times; perhaps they really did stumble upon the trick. Prince Rhaegar certainly knew many of his family's private matters, so it is not impossible that he let one of his bastards know where the dragon eggs were hidden and taught him the method to hatch them."

"Right." Mathos Rowan clapped his hands together. "That is exactly what I wanted to express. The Dragonrider learned from his true father that the dragon eggs were hidden at Summerhall and used a king to hatch a dragon. Coupled with the rumors that Rhaegar passed through the Riverlands and left behind a bastard, I think the credibility of the Dragonrider being a member of House Targaryen is quite high, it is just that the hair and eye colors do not match."

The eye and hair colors of Valyrians are very fixed.

Lord Tarly said: "Hair and eye color are minor matters. Yi Ge Rivers, born to a Lady Bracken and Aegon IV, had black hair and black eyes. This Dragonrider has black eyes and dark gold hair; such a change in hair and eye color is not impossible."

The two reached a consensus on the point that the Dragonrider was highly likely to be Rhaegar's bastard.

Then, the two lords began to discuss how to handle their relationship with the Dragonrider.

"We were supporters of House Targaryen fifteen years ago, back when the Targaryens did not even have a single dragon. Now that a dragon has appeared in the world, there is no reason for us to continue supporting House Baratheon," Lord Rowan said.

Randyll Tarly looked solemn. "But now Duke Mace Tyrell has already concluded a covenant with the Lannisters. Lady Margaery and the Knight of Flowers are to marry King Tommen and Queen Regent Cersei respectively. With the agreement already made, how can we change our faces?"

Although House Tyrell did not explicitly state what the price of the alliance between the lions and the roses was, some high-ranking nobles had already heard rumors.

Cersei will marry Loras, and her son will take Loras's sister as his Queen.

That is to say, the Knight of Flowers and Margaery will be upgraded from a sibling relationship to a father-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship.

Rowan waved his hand, expressing disdain: "What kind of agreement is this? Marriage is not completely tying us to the lion's chariot. Furthermore, neither pair has yet sworn their wedding vows. As far as I know, the Dragonrider is also single, and he is tall, handsome, and invincible in battle; he is more worthy of Lady Margaery than the child Tommen."

Lord Tarly shook his head and said: "I still think it is better to maintain the alliance with House Lannister first. After all, the Riverlands are truly too fragile, and that dragon is only in its juvenile stage. Of course, you and I are only investigating the dragon matter for Duke Mace Tyrell and cannot decide the direction of the entire Reach. Let's return to Storm's End to report!"

Lord Tarly beckoned to his Attendant to bring his mount over.

Mathos Rowan, however, thought of another matter: "Hehehe, you have placed your own son on the side of the Dragonrider, yet you advise us to stick with the lions."

It was no longer a secret that Lord Tarly's heir, Dickon Tarly, had appeared at Harrenhal.

When he heard this rumor a month ago, Lord Rowan found it very incredible.

After all, Randyll Tarly had spent a lot of effort to ensure his sons became qualified military nobles. To make his cowardly eldest son brave, Lord Tarly had invited two Warlocks from Essos to perform a sorcery ritual using blood-smeared magic.

After this proved ineffective, Lord Tarly drove the Warlocks away and officially decided to cultivate his second son, Dickon, as his heir. To ensure there were no issues with Dickon's inheritance, Randyll even sent his eldest son, Samwell, to the Wall to serve in the Night's Watch.

The entire nobility of the Reach knew how concerned Lord Tarly was about the heir he had carefully cultivated. According to rumors, Dickon even needed his father's permission to leave the castle, and could only go out after Randyll confirmed the destination was safe.

Under such circumstances, for Dickon to still be able to appear at Harrenhal, it must have been with his father Randyll's consent.

It was even possible that Lord Tarly himself had arranged for his son to go.

When he first heard this gossip, Mathos felt something was very wrong, but thinking about it now, it was perfectly normal.

Everything that happens has its reason.

If Dickon were following a minor noble of the Riverlands, it would not make sense, but if this minor noble were actually a descendant of the royal family and highly likely to retake the throne, then Dickon's following would have significant implications for the fate of his family.

Lord Rowan knew that the nobles other than Randyll must not have grasped certain information, which was why they did not understand Lord Tarly's move of sending his son to follow that Bracken.

After Randyll Tarly mounted his horse, he replied: "This is just your imagination. Dickon ran away from home; I have always been a loyal subject of Highgarden."

Having said that, he ignored Lord Rowan's expression and led his men away first.

The clean-shaven Mathos also mounted his horse. He looked at Lord Tarly's back and curled his lip in disdain.

You are hedging your bets on both sides, yet you want us to walk one path to the end.

Lord Rowan made up his mind that upon returning, he would send someone to greet the Dragonrider first, and when the time was right, he would raise his army to support the Targaryens and the dragon.

Mathos had already thought of this timing.

It would be when that black dragon grew to one-tenth the size of Balerion the Black Dread.

The Black Dread was one of the largest dragons to ever appear in Westeros; its mouth could swallow a whole mammoth, and its skull was larger than a luxury carriage.

According to rumors, Balerion's head was at least ten meters long. When Aegon I was still alive, the Black Dread had already grown to an exaggerated size of over seventy meters in length and nearly two hundred meters in wingspan.

More than sixty years after the death of Aegon I, the Black Dread continued to grow until it died of old age in the 96th year of the Conquest Era.

It is said that at that time, Balerion's wingspan reached over three hundred meters, and its length was nearly one hundred meters.

In the era when the three peerless dragons—Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes—were alive, the royal family's largest expense was the food for the dragons.

Rumor has it that each dragon ate nearly ten thousand sheep a year.

Cattle and horses were labor used for farming and were generally not used to feed dragons.

Later, the royal family could not bear the burden and began to adopt the method of keeping dragons in captivity to reduce the size of the hatchlings.

This method was indeed effective, but the effect was too good.

The skulls of the last generation of dragons were not even as large as a goat's.

If it had one-tenth the size of the Black Dread, it would still be a behemoth seven or eight meters long with a wingspan of twenty or thirty meters.

Based on the fact that Balerion lived for two hundred years on Dragonstone and in Westeros, the lifespan of dragons should be several hundred years.

With such a long-lived and lethal weapon in hand, it would not be difficult for the "Dragonrider" to rebuild the rule of House Targaryen.

It is even possible that the second rebuilt Targaryen Dynasty would be longer-lived than the previous one.

After Mathos made up his mind, he hurried to Lord Tarly's side to travel with him.

Their destination was the Reach Army camp outside Storm's End.

Harrenhal, King's Pyre Tower, Hall of a Hundred Hearths.

Except for two castles, the lords and Jiaodu of the Riverlands were basically all present: Lady Whent, Lyman Darry, William Mooton, Karel Vance, Norbert Vance, Clement Piper, Innes Frey, Tristan Lygge, Jason Mallister, etc.

Those listed by name were families of count rank or formerly of count rank, and there were a large number of families not listed by name, such as the Haighs, vassals of House Frey; the Smallwoods, vassals of Vance of Wayfarer's Rest; Walder, master of Meiren Jishi; Root, the town lord of Lord Harroway, and dozens of other small families.

These lower-level lords also responded to the call of several counts from Harrenhal to participate in the so-called Riverlands Alliance formation ceremony.

It could truly be called a gathering of the wise and the young and old alike.

These people had also long heard of the black dragon in Harrenhal; although Alduin was still in its juvenile stage, it was indeed a magic dragon that could breathe fire.

For humans, Alduin, with a wingspan of nearly two meters, was no longer small.

Moreover, a magic dragon in its juvenile stage is in a period of rapid growth; as long as it has a year or two, it could possess a terrifying size of several meters in length.

Before the "Dragonrider" could speak, William Mooton, the lord of Maidenpool, began to express his views:

"A person who possesses a dragon must be a Targaryen; thus, the Dragonrider has a legitimate claim to the Iron Throne. I propose that the lords of the Riverlands collectively support the just, the brave, the Warden of Harrenhal, the Dragonrider Arthur Targaryen, to be proclaimed king, and then retake the Iron Throne to bring the strife of the Seven Kingdoms to an end."

Arthur cursed his luck; he knew William Mooton was of the Dragon Party, but he had not expected him to bring up the "House Targaryen" claim to the Iron Throne right from the start.

If he were to truly claim to be a Targaryen, the Riverlands would inevitably be attacked by the combined forces of Stannis and the Lion-Flower Alliance.

For no other reason than that House Baratheon's right to inherit the Iron Throne was only obtained after the members of House Targaryen were all dead.

Arthur dared not let Count Mooton stir the pot like this any further.

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(End of chapter)