This is an abandoned residence of the Night Watch brothers. Under the long ice wall of a hundred leagues along the Great Wall, such a small fortress is not uncommon. The castle itself does not have much fame.
But the Nightfort is well known to most southern children. Whenever a baby cries, their mothers and wet nurses will name this place and use it to stop the baby's crying.
Because this place is where the Rat Chef incident where Guest Rights originated.
A cook gave bread and salt to a certain Andal king, then minced the king's son into minced meat, mixed it with onions, carrots and young mushrooms, supplemented it with pepper, salt and Dornish wine, and made a delicious dish.
pie, presented to the king.
The king thought it was delicious and asked for another piece, and the rat chef agreed. Later, the gods in the sky could not see such a cruel thing, so they sent down their magic power and worked together to turn the chef into a big white rat, and he would never be relieved of his hunger.
Let the rat chef eat his own children and grandchildren.
Anyone can take revenge, but the gods will never forgive someone who kills guests under their own roof. These are the original words of Wet Nurse Bran.
At this moment, Brandon Stark, wrapped in a black cloak, was slumped on the kitchen floor of the Nightfort, looking at Hodor who was sleeping beside the fire.
Hodor is his guard, servant and nanny. He has giant blood. He is named because of a brain development problem and can only say "Hodor".
Stark, whose nickname was Bran, felt that the nurse's words still rang in his ears.
I don’t know what happened to the nanny. Did she escape?
Because he didn't have to walk, Bran wasn't very tired. He couldn't sleep anymore, so he had to pass the time by watching his companions sleeping.
Meera Reed slept very peacefully, but the handsome boy Jojen Reed was not the same. He tossed and turned, not knowing what green dream he was having.
The two siblings are members of the Stark vassal Reed family, the lords of Greywaterwatch, and their members are known for their short stature.
If nothing unexpected happened, Reed's ancestors had been married to the children of the forest, which allowed them to receive the blessings of the old gods, and the weirwood trees were quite friendly to them.
Bran's younger brother Rickon (named Rickard, in honor of his grandfather) has been taken away by the wild man Osha to the castle of a Stark loyalist for thousands of years. He will grow up safely.
Just as Bran was about to close his eyes and have a good sleep, a subtle rubbing sound drifted into his ears.
In the dark night when he couldn't see his fingers outside the house and the only sound was the wind, like a woman crying, a sound of footsteps scraping against the ground squeezed into Bran's ears.
He felt the hairs on his body stand up on the spot, and the nanny's story about "Crazy Ax" suddenly appeared in his mind, and he could no longer get rid of it.
Mad Ax is a humanoid monster who likes to run around barefoot in the castle of the Night Watch brothers, and then hack innocent people to death with his bloody axe. Then, the people who were hacked to death will join his team and follow him.
Running around.
The fire beside him and the rough cloak on his body could no longer provide him with warmth, and Bran only felt cold all over.
After careful identification, he suddenly understood the source of the footsteps.
Not outside the kitchen, not on the floor, but coming from underneath.
The footsteps are getting louder and louder, and even the sound of breathing and the baby's whimpering can be easily distinguished.
This makes Bran even more desperate. Could it be that Hodor's snoring awakened the monster in the wet nurse's story?
He was so frightened that he did not dare to shout. Suppressed by the approaching voices, this Stark even wanted to sneak into the body of the direwolf Summer, but Summer was hundreds of meters away and could not help him.
The footsteps became louder and louder, and Bran could even imagine its huge size.
He remembered what his sister Sansa had said, hiding under the quilt, the evil spirit would not be found, but he did not have a quilt now.
So Bran, who was squirming on the ground, slowly approached Meira.
Under the well, Samwell Tarly, who was so scared that Stark didn't dare to speak, was also scared.
The chubby night watchman thought he heard an inexplicable sound, like a big insect crawling on the ground.
He was well-informed in the book and even imagined a variety of monsters that might appear here, and then became even more timid.
But after looking at Gilly behind him, Sam felt that he had the courage again, and he continued to climb up the spiral staircase.
The well was very slippery and the physical exertion was great, which made Sam's breathing become rapid.
He thought it was scary outside, but he didn't know that his heavy breathing frightened others even more.
When Sam climbed up the well, before he could pull Gilly up, he was already covered by a net.
"No, loose net, mom, save me." In desperation, the courage Gilly gave Sam ran away, so the fat man began to talk nonsense.
A few minutes later, six people, a child, and a wolf that ran over from unknown time were standing in the kitchen looking at each other.
The two parties began to communicate until they confirmed that the other party had no ill intentions, and then the situation began to ease.
"Seven gods," cried Sam, "your spear went through my belly."
When Meira heard this, she hurriedly knelt down to check the situation.
After all, she did it and she has to take responsibility.
After touching a layer of mail armor, Meira said contemptuously: "You are wearing iron armor, I didn't even scratch your belly."
Samwell was very surprised. He touched his pregnant belly and said, "Really, but it still hurts!"
As expected, nothing happened, so he pretended as if nothing had happened and started talking to a few people in the kitchen.
Bran and Meera were questioning whether this man was a brother of the Night's Watch, and Jojen was communicating with the wildling Gilly, but the child started crying again, and the kitchen was in a mess.
In response to this, A Duo, whose face remained unchanged despite the collapse of Mount Tai, calmly said: "A Duo~"
Sam finally explained his origins clearly, and he also mentioned that there was a strange man dressed as a Night's Watch Ranger waiting for someone north of the Great Wall.
"He said there was someone here and asked me to take him there." Pangpang explained.
The weirdo's hands are as cold as ten thousand years old ice, so Gilly and Sam call him "Cold Hands".
After many discussions, Bran decided to go to the north of the Great Wall to find the ranger, and the three accompanying people naturally followed.
Sam had no choice but to leave his abducted young wife and cheap son here, and then took four people and one wolf over.
"Only I can open that black door." He explained to several people.
After wandering back and forth dozens of times in the well, everyone came to the black door at the bottom of the well. Under the faint moonlight, Bran and Meira could clearly see that the door was white.
To be precise, the Black Door is made of weirwood, but the part with the human face carved on the weirwood is as pale as a corpse.
"It's obviously a white door, why is it called a black door?" Bran asked, puzzled.
Samwell turned around, smiled sweetly and replied: "Because its mouth is black."
The fat man's smile made Bran feel greasy, but a strange thought suddenly arose in his heart.
Could it be that the door is in the mouth?
How is this possible!
When Samwell walked to the door, something surprising happened to everyone. The doorman asked: "Who are you?"
"Who~who~who~"
Weird sounds echoed throughout the underground well.
"I am the sword in the darkness, the guard on the wall, the firework against the cold, the light at dawn, the horn that wakes the sleeping, the shield that protects the kingdom."
Sam said a series of words similar to the duty of the night watchman.
"Go for it!"
On the weirwood, the human mouth began to change, and a huge mouth slowly appeared in front of everyone.
Sam smiled kindly at his companions behind him, and then got in first.
Meera, Jojen, Hodor and others followed. After passing through the mouth, Sam gave a dragon crystal dagger and two dragon crystal arrowheads he had to the northbound team.
From now on, Bran and others, led by the mysterious man Cold Hand, will go all the way north, pass through the vast ghost forest, enter the territory of the savage tribe Therns, and then find the weirwood tree in the northeast of the Far North.
throne.
There, some of the children of the forest and the current bodies of the Three-Eyed Raven are waiting for the youngest Brandon Stark to take over the position of high priest of the old god and fight against the cold god's men.
Of course, considering that the Night King may also be named Brandon Stark, and most of the White Walkers have Stark blood, no matter who wins in the war between the living and the dead, it will be Brandon Stark anyway.
Stark wins.
…
King's Landing City, Grand Council Hall.
Several truly important nobles are discussing various details with the king.
The pungent smell of blood filled the Queen of Thorns, who was always fanning herself. Beside her, her son-in-law and nephew, Lord Paxter Redwine, was drawing on the map. Randyll Tarly and Orton Mawriwes were two
The count also stared at the map.
Now is the time to allocate some unclaimed territories. What the governors like most is territory that can be passed down for thousands of years.
Arthur pointed at Duskendale City, "The Tully family's reward can be here, but this will inevitably separate Earl Randyll's family, so we can also find a few territories in the Reach and add them to Horn Hill."
Horn Tomb is directly south of Highgarden, and Brightwater City is directly west of Horn Tomb. These three places are currently the focus of everyone's attention.
The serious Landao was very satisfied with the new king's handling of his family, "I only have one son who can inherit the territory, and he is serving His Majesty."
The meaning of his words was very clear, he wanted a reward from the Reach.
Arthur was also very satisfied with Earl Tully's choice.
His biggest threat at present is that the people of the River Bend are too ambitious and too powerful.
For fifteen years, Baratheon and Lannister had shown them what to do with this combination, and even situations that didn't happen could be deduced.
The Lion family has taken the lead, and the Rose family just needs to follow suit.
As for Arthur himself, the territories and soldiers directly under him are only equivalent to that of a powerful earl, and the most reliable territory is still under Sansa's name.
Hejian can barely be regarded as the basic base, but the Frey family is too strong, the other families are too weak, and the Riverrun controlled by Blackfish is not very good at Arthur, and the basic base is too fragile.
So weakening the Reach is inevitable.
To be precise, it was to weaken the Tyrell family. Although Hightower formed an alliance with them, they did not send any soldiers from the family to the north this time, which shows their attitude.
Arthur's current idea is to support the Tully family.
Lando's popularity among the people of the Riverbend is not very good because of being too rigid. Moreover, the Rose family's strong allies are all along the coast. Among the earls and nobles in Highgarden, only the Red Apple family has formed a marriage alliance with Tyrell.
"Count Tully's wife is the eldest daughter of the former Count Florentine, so his family should inherit Brightwater City." Arthur pointed to the small dot on the map.
He also knew that Tyrell would never let go of such a piece of fat. If Garland secured Brightwater City, the Rose Family could cover the sky in the hinterland of the Reach with one hand.
But the great medical student Lu Xun once said, if you open a window first, others will definitely disagree. If you propose to lift the roof, others will probably agree to open a window.
Without him, everyone likes to be neutral.
Brightwater is located between Oldtown and Highgarden, and the connection between Tully's Corner and the castle just interrupts the end of the Rose Avenue.
The Queen of Thorns adjusted her square head niche and said, "If that's the case, we Riverbend people might as well withdraw as soon as possible. It's all meat in the pot anyway, and we'll eat it no matter what."
She threatened the new king with the withdrawal of troops from the Reach.
At this time, Count Orton Mariweis, who had been roped in beforehand, came into play.
The family once had a prime minister during the Mad King's period, but due to incompetence in battle, Aerys II deprived him of his territory and castle, and the lord was exiled. After Robert came to power, he returned the Long Table Hall to Mariwei.
Si family, but only part of the fief was given.
The benefit Arthur gave his family was to restore their complete territory.
Earl Orton cleared his throat, "I have a suggestion. Sir Garland will get Brightwater City and half of the territory, and the remaining half will be given to Horn Hill. Considering Dickon's outstanding performance, I think we can also give Star Shuttle City's training
Take some of the territory of the Gram family and give it to the Tully family."
The Peake family was once a first-tier noble in the Reach, owning three large castles and three earls. However, due to repeated mistakes in siding with one another, it is now a fourth-tier and fifth-tier family, and the only remaining castle is Starshuttle City in the east of Horn Hill.
.
"Earl Tully deserves more than this, and the Baker family has not made any big mistakes for the time being, and it is difficult to reduce the title. Let's give half of the territory of Brightwater City to Lord Randyll first, and wait for the rest of the reward to Dicken.
Let’s talk after we bring the riverside soldiers to King’s Landing.”
Arthur has decided to form a standing royal army. He will use the new army he formed previously as a team and recruit young men from the territory of the Dragon Party family to fill it.
Dickon is the most suitable commander for this army, and he will discuss this with Randyll Tarly privately.
Of course, King's Landing most likely cannot afford to support this army, so the royal standing army should be stationed near Harrenhal.
After Sansa married Arthur, Harrenhal and nearby territories became the private property of the royal family.
Mrs. Olenna didn't speak. She nodded for a long time and reluctantly agreed to deal with Liangshui City.
Arthur still has several ideas to weaken the Tyrell family, but he has not stated them clearly. He has to wait until he gets married to Little Rose before taking his time.
Of course, there is one thing you can do now.
Arthur pointed at himself and said to the Queen of Thorns: "The old lady also knows that I have a dragon, and I don't have many golden dragons myself. The Iron Throne still owes a large sum of money to the Iron Treasury of Braavos. Since
Our two families have formed an alliance, and the dragon has a huge appetite, so I thought about asking the Tyrell family to pay for the dragon's food."
This is the trickiest thing.
"I remember that Your Majesty only has one dragon. How can he not be able to raise it?"
Since Alduin has claimed his master, Olenna has no interest in raising dragons.
"I still have six dragon eggs, and there is still a nest of dragon eggs in the name of the Stark family. There is no shortage of dragons. Well, if the Tyrell family is willing to pay for the dragon's food, I will let Margaery take care of it.
All the heirs born will be given priority to pick up the dragon."
It's one thing to challenge a dragon, but it's not Arthur's fault if you can't ride it.
When the Queen of Thorns heard this, she immediately became energetic.
She put her hands on the round table and asked, "Can your Majesty ensure that another dragon will be hatched?"
With dragons, it doesn't matter if Margaery's son is born later. The Hightower family, relatives of the Rose family, had a standard demonstration more than a hundred years ago.
"Yes, you don't have to wait long, Alduin will be able to hatch a dragon in a year or two."
Dragon flames also have magical effects. When the black dragon can continue to spray dragon flames, Arthur will prepare to hatch the remaining six dragon eggs.
After the seven dragons grow up, all the Rose family's calculations are no longer a problem.
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