Chapter 159: An Alliance with the Dragon Mother

Nightfall, like a graceful woman, arrived fashionably late, much to the longing gaze of Cersei.

Only in the darkness did she feel she was safe.

Listening to the clamor coming from outside Maegor's Holdfast, the Queen Regent poured herself a glass of wine, held it, paced to the balcony, and began to sip it slowly.

Even though the entire world was shrouded in darkness, Cersei could still see, under the light of torches, the servants of the Red Keep carrying buckets of water to wash the ground near the Throne Room.

She could hear even more clearly the shouting of men and the neighing of horses outside the Red Keep; that was the soldiers of the various houses of the Reach shouting their loyalty to the Iron Throne.

Creak!

The door to the meeting parlor was suddenly pushed open, and Sir Adam Marbrand walked in, covered in blood.

One of his left arms hung limply at his side; it looked as though it had been rendered useless.

Meryn Trant followed behind him; ever since the situation had turned chaotic, he had been the Kingsguard the Queen trusted most.

Cersei walked toward the newcomer with a smile, "Sir, how is our battle going? Have the Reach soldiers surrendered?"

Adam, his face full of pain, nodded in salute and reported the day's achievements to the Queen Regent: "A total of sixty-seven lords, great and small, were captured. Besides the three from House Tyrell, there are over a dozen highly valuable great lords, including Paxter Redwyne, Bryan Fossoway, and Aegon Leygood, all of whom have been sent to the Tower of the Hand. As for the Knights, one hundred and fifty-eight were captured and have now all been locked up in Chunvju."

The day's operation had been directed by Cersei, with Adam responsible for its execution.

Of course, Sir Adam, whose mind was quite sound, had rejected the Queen Regent's idea of beheading all the Reach nobles from the start, suggesting instead that they be captured and imprisoned in the Red Keep, and he had listed the potential consequences of both courses of action.

Cersei, who considered herself only two brains short of her father, pretended to accept Sir Adam's remonstrance with great magnanimity after hearing the proposal of a truly loyal subject.

"Garlan Tyrell did not enter the Throne Room at the start, so he led the Reach army to attack King's Landing from the River Gate and the King's Gate. Fortunately, your act of letting the commoners petition the King helped us a great deal; it significantly slowed the speed of the Reach soldiers' advance, allowing us to finish cleaning up the aftermath in the Throne Room and the Red Keep."

After the King was "assassinated," the Lannister soldiers hiding in the cellars and secret passages suddenly rushed out and closed the gates of the Red Keep under the pretext of capturing the assassin.

Thus, a crowd of commoners and Reach noble knights were like sheep entering a lion's den. The valuable Reachmen were fine, as they were taken prisoner. The hundreds of commoners who were of no use to Queen Regent Cersei were completely silenced, and then each received a front-row seat in Blackwater Bay.

"How did the negotiations with Sir Balon Swann go?" Cersei asked.

After the Reach soldiers had breached King's Landing, Sir Adam had requested that she send a noble of status out to negotiate. The Queen Regent had agreed and sent another member of the Kingsguard.

"Garlan has reluctantly agreed to lead his troops out of King's Landing and divide his forces to attack the Stormlands and the Riverlands. As long as the three Tyrells are in our hands, he won't dare to tear his face off with us."

To maintain appearances, the official story for this matter was that the King had been assassinated, and the royal family had kept the loyal subjects of the Reach in the Red Keep to protect them.

With his close kin held in their grasp, Garlan dared neither to attack the Red Keep nor to lead his troops back to the Reach, and could only let House Lannister manipulate him.

"Not bad. My son's kingdom is finally developing in a good direction."

Cersei raised the wine glass in her hand high, signaled to Adam, and drained it in one gulp.

"In this matter, you, Sir, hold the first merit, so I have decided to reward you. Title, land, gold—you may ask for whatever you wish."

Adam raised his left arm, "My arm is injured, and I have heard that the healers of Braavos can cure it, so I would like to..."

Cersei walked to the table, set down her wine glass, and slowly sat down.

After a moment of contemplation, she said, "After the Reach soldiers leave King's Landing, Sir Adam shall go to Braavos as an envoy of the Iron Throne. Firstly, to treat your arm, and secondly, to borrow money from the Iron Bank, then hire a mercenary company to bolster the royal family's direct military strength."

The Westerlands did indeed have gold, but it could not be transported to King's Landing in a short time, and given the current situation, Cersei did not dare to let Uncle Kevan, who was short on troops, send people to deliver gold. The mint outside the city had also been burned to ruins, making it impossible to mint Gold Dragon coins for the time being.

And the main force of the Lannisters, after several major battles, had been reduced to just over nine thousand men, which greatly weakened the direct military strength of the Lannisters.

Therefore, the wise and intelligent Queen Regent came up with this plan.

Adam Marbrand nodded painfully, bowed slightly, and left.

Now he only wanted to find Grand Maester Pycelle to get him a cup of Poppy Milk to ease the pain.

Oakenshield, the harbor.

Euron, wearing a full set of Valyrian Steel Armor, brought his tongueless crew to secretly summon his third brother, Victarion.

"I need a noble woman who matches my status to bear me an heir. Daenerys Targaryen, Stormborn, Dragon Mother, is the most suitable. The kraken shall unite with the dragon, and the entire world will tremble beneath our feet."

Euron was loudly describing the bright future after marrying the Dragon Mother to Victarion.

Victarion was not interested in the words of his cunning second brother; his eyes were fixed on the Valyrian Steel Armor on Euron's body.

This scale armor, as dark as smoke, was as light as a silk shirt when worn. The edges of the scales were red-gold, shimmering as he moved. The metal of the steel armor was decorated with spirals, glyphs, and mysterious hieroglyphs.

"... This trip to Slaver's Bay will take four or five months at the fastest, or half a year at the slowest. To compensate for your loss of being unable to loot the Reach, I will give you a precious Valyrian horn."

As he spoke, Euron ordered his mute crew to open a large chest nearby, then revealed the Dragonbinder to Victarion's eyes.

"This is the Dragonbinder horn, which you have seen before, and now I formally gift it to you."

At the previous Kingsmoot, it was with the Dragonbinder that Euron had stopped the conflict between the supporters of Victarion and the supporters of Asha.

This twisted horn was fully six feet long from end to end, flashing with black light and covered in stripes of red-gold and black Valyrian steel. The horn was as warm and smooth as a woman's thigh. Its surface was shiny, bright enough for one to see their own distorted reflection in it. Strange ancient magic runes were engraved on the stripes wrapping the horn.

At the Kingsmoot, the sound emitted when the horn was blown was like thousands of souls screaming; those who heard it felt as if their bones were burning, with scorching flames roasting their flesh from the inside out. The runes turned fiery red at first, then emitted a blinding white light that was hard to look at directly.

Once he saw the Dragonbinder, Victarion could no longer tear his gaze away.

Although he knew the gift his second brother gave was poisoned wine, he still wanted to taste it.

"Fine, I will go to Slaver's Bay right now and bring back the Dragon Mother Daenerys and her three Dragons. However, this route is too long, so I must take more ships."

Euron's only blue eye revealed a smile, and he spread his hands, "No problem at all. You may pick any of the longships of the Iron Fleet. To show my sincerity, I will also give you a Maester and a salt wife. Kevin, come here."

He pointed out a Maester to his third brother.

Victarion did not care about these details; he pointed at the iron ships docked in the harbor and began to ask for them from his second brother one by one.

"... It's not much, I'll just take these ninety iron ships, that will be enough."

After talking for a long time, he picked out all the ships he wanted.

Victarion had thought his second brother would withhold a portion, but he did not expect Euron to agree readily.

This raised his vigilance.

But as long as the iron ships were in hand, Victarion was not afraid.

The Dragon Mother Daenerys was his, and the three Dragons were his as well.

The two brothers were harmonious, and after discussing everything, Euron told his third brother to set off early.

"And what about you? A Reach should not be in your eyes, right?" Victarion asked.

Euron pointed toward Oldtown in the southeast, "There, the Hightower and the Citadel, those two are my targets."

He had traveled the entire world and learned many secrets.

According to "Strange Stones," a book compiled by Maester Sylloro, the foundation of the Hightower and the Seastone Chair were built from the same material, and both were constructed by Dagon the Deep One.

Dagon is an attendant of the Drowned God, and the relationship between the two is similar to that of the Three-Eyed Crow and the Old Gods.

Euron's goal is to take the Citadel and the Hightower, to thoroughly understand how to summon the Drowned God, and then make the entire world bow at his feet.

……

South of the Mountains of the Moon.

In a fairly flat dense forest, hundreds of soldiers from both sides were confronting each other across the distance of an arrow's flight.

With the help of traitors like Symond Templeton and Gerold Hunter, the strategy of a duel between the leaders of both sides was successfully executed.

Before the formation of the Vale army, Lyn Corbray, wearing a suit of silver Plate Armor, rode on his horse and cursed incessantly:

"I don't care if you are some Dragonrider or some champion of a Tourney, you must behave yourself in front of me."

Behind him, Vale knights like Symond were loudly flattering Lyn.

"Ever since you killed Lewyn Martell fifteen years ago, I have been convinced that you are the most powerful Knight in the Vale."

"Isn't it just an Arthur Bracken? Doesn't he only know how to swing a Great Hammer? In front of your Valyrian Steel Sword, Lady Forlorn, no one can last more than two strikes."

"What nonsense are you spouting? I think Sir Lyn can hack that little Arthur to death with one strike."

"Exactly, when Lord Corbray became famous, how old was little Arthur? Was he even weaned?"

These flatteries from the big shots of the Vale made Lyn Corbray extremely pleased.

Because his older brother was jealous that their father had passed the ancestral sword to him, he did not give him any living expenses, which had made his life quite unsatisfactory in recent years.

Usually, these high-ranking nobles did not take him seriously at all, but now that a great enemy was at hand, these people finally remembered his combat record.

"Silence!" The attention-seeking Lyn shouted at the Vale nobles and drew Lady Forlorn, "Watch as I cut off little Arthur's dog head with one strike."

The Vale knights cooperated by shutting their mouths.

He turned his horse around, lowered his visor, and lightly squeezed the horse's flanks, letting his mount trot slowly toward the enemy.

Opposite him, Arthur stared at the approaching Lyn with the eyes of a man looking at a corpse, then had Podrick hand over his Golden Guan Dao.

This Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao had been reforged by Gendry and was naturally sharp beyond compare.

After nodding to Anguy, the expert archer hidden among the soldiers, Arthur also lowered his visor and spurred his horse toward Lyn.

"I heard you are quite a fighter?" Even though the opponent's giant horse and Jiu Jiu Jiu Jiu Dadao made him wary, Lyn's mouth remained as stiff as ever.

He tightened the reins, slowing the speed of his mount.

"Surrender now, and I will spare your life."

The Riverlands King ignored him and stated his own terms.

As a benevolent king, he would always urge his enemies to surrender before every fight.

The arrogant Lyn laughed, "It should be the other way around; you should be the one surrendering to me."

Seeing that the persuasion to surrender was ineffective, Arthur waved his hand slightly, and a powerful arrow was shot from behind him, striking the eye of Lyn's mount.

This warhorse was covered in iron plates all over, even with a tail guard, but the area around its eyes was exposed.

Struck suddenly by the arrow, the warhorse immediately bucked, throwing Lyn off.

But Lyn's foot was still caught in the stirrup, which caused the poor Lyn to be dragged a long way by the frantic mount.

"Ah—"

His screams echoed throughout the entire forest.

Arthur did not remain idle; he drove his giant red horse to Lyn's vicinity and delivered a vertical slash, carving a deep dent into the enemy's breastplate.

Lyn's screams became even more miserable, and the injured horse finally shook him off; both of them collapsed to the ground one after the other.

The Riverlands King dismounted, walked up to Lyn Corbray, pulled the Valyrian Steel dagger gifted by the Rowan family from his boot, lifted Lyn's visor, and, amidst his terrified gaze, thrust it straight into his neck.

A large amount of black blood flowed from the corners of Lyn Corbray's mouth and his wound, and his eyes began to dim.

Arthur pulled "Lady Forlorn" from his hand, found the scabbard, and accepted this Valyrian Steel Sword with peace of mind.

After their Commander died, the Vale nobles retreated with their soldiers, putting on an exaggerated show of acting.

"Run! Even Lord Lyn, whose combat power was the best in the Vale, is dead; how can we possibly win?"

"Retreat, don't let the Riverlanders catch up."

Most of the Vale soldiers who went to battle came from families close to the Starks, such as Templeton, Hunter, and Wayn; the Jiaodu of the Corbray family had an average relationship with Lyn, so he did not send soldiers to help his younger brother fight.

This left Lyn's corpse to be carried away only by his Attendant, Mithras Redfort.

But the Dornish Princess Arianne, two Sand Snakes, and their guards intercepted this poor Attendant.

"He killed my great-uncle, so his corpse should be disposed of by us Dornishmen."

The spearmen wearing yellow cloth armor took away Lyn's corpse and captured Mithras Redfort.

Afterward, Arthur returned to the Battalion with his soldiers.

In the following half-day, the Vale army and the Riverlands King's army negotiated multiple times, and after exchanging hostages, both sides retreated.

Ronald Vance of Yalan Cheng was sent to the Vale army, while Harlan Hunter of Longbow Hall came to the Riverlands Army.

Because the relationship between the Frey family and the Hunter family was quite good, the hostage exchange went very smoothly.

The war in the North came to an end; next, Arthur had to consider how to form an alliance with his most potential ally, Daenerys Targaryen.

(End of this chapter)