Under the dim candlelight, Sansa cried holding her "mother" whom she had not seen for almost a year.
But Mrs. Shi Xin was unmoved. She was struggling to recall things related to her eldest daughter.
Since her resurrection, she can hardly remember the past.
Arthur stood beside them, wary of his mother-in-law, who was no longer human.
Lady Catelyn was previously known for her generosity and kindness, and the Tully family's motto of "family, responsibility, honor" was engraved in her mind. After she married Lord Eddard, she strictly performed her duties as a wife. Every letter from her finger was thrown into the stove unopened.
In her eyes, she only has her husband and five children.
But after being resurrected as Lady Stoneheart, her temperament changed drastically. Her original kindness turned into cruelty, and she frequently ordered her brotherhood members to attack innocent civilians.
Arthur couldn't figure out her temperament, so he was always on guard against her doing something strange to his wife.
Sansa cried for a long time, and finally regained her composure. She rubbed her red and swollen eyes, and then gently touched the big scar on her mother's neck.
"Does it hurt? Can you speak?"
Mrs. Stoneheart covered her neck with her stiff hands and said vaguely: "You killed Ned, my husband, and your father."
Sansa shook her head like a little girl, "No, no. It was damned Joffrey who had his father killed."
Looking back afterward, she only felt that she had done something wrong by revealing that her father was about to leave King's Landing, but her father's death was the work of the High Marshal, Joffrey's order.
"You killed my husband and your father."
Mrs. Shixin just repeated this sentence coldly.
Of course, we can't blame her, she has no body temperature to begin with.
Sansa saw her mother accusing her like this, so she explained again, but Caitlin, who had become a "fire ghost", was not moved at all.
Mrs. Stoneheart only had hatred in her mind.
The two of them stayed at each other like this for a long time, until Mrs. Shi Xin could not hold back her anger and stiffly raised her arms, ready to slap her daughter.
Fortunately, Arthur was prepared and held her back.
"Sansa did something wrong in this matter, but she was still a child. She only wanted to marry a prince and become a queen. It was a completely stupid girl's behavior. Let's not blame her harshly."
The king pulled Lady Stoneheart over and asked her to sit on a chair, while motioning for Sansa to stay away.
"Mother, I..." Miss Stark wanted to say something to excuse herself, but when she thought that her father did die because of her, she fell silent.
Until she remembered what was urgent at the moment.
"Mother, Arthur wants to marry another wife to stabilize the rule of the kingdom. I don't want to share my husband with other women... What do you think should be done?"
Sansa expressed her confusion to Lady Stoneheart.
She knew before that Princess Martell had an abnormal relationship with Arthur, but because the Dornish people had always been a bit confused about the relationship between men and women, and Arthur had already sworn to marry her, she pretended not to know.
Arthur looked at the mother and daughter without saying anything.
Lady Stoneheart was an extremely devout believer in the Seven Gods during her lifetime. Duke Eddard specially built a small chapel for her in Winterfell so that his wife could pray.
When Sansa was a child, she followed her mother in believing in the Seven Gods. Then when she was in King's Landing, she began to recall things in the North and tried to convert to the old gods.
"I can't control other people, as long as you only have one husband." Mrs. Shi Xin said coldly.
Sansa was a little dissatisfied with her mother's words, "Do you think it is normal for a husband to have two wives? If you look through the history of Westeros, you can't find such a person!"
The candlelight dimmed, and when Arthur looked back, he saw that one candle had burned into a puddle of wax.
So he walked over, took out the spare candle, and lit it again.
Then Arthur said to his wife: "There are still some. Aegon the Conqueror I had two wives, and those two were his sisters."
As far as he knew, Sansa was actually not that pedantic, and was not very pious to the Seven Gods or the Old Gods. She did not accept her marrying Margaery because she felt embarrassed.
After all, this Miss Stark is very vain.
"Roose Bolton killed my son." When she mentioned her enemy, Lady Stoneheart's tone suddenly became fierce. "As long as you kill all the Boltons, I will not let Sansa embarrass you in these small things.
.”
She stared closely at her son-in-law who was working near the candlestick.
Seeing Lady Stoneheart's attitude, Arthur immediately swore to the gods: "I will kill all the Boltons, including Roose Bolton and his illegitimate son Ramsay Snow."
The Bolton family has a smaller population than the Stark family, and these two are the main branch.
As for the Countess of Hornwood City, Donnara Manderly, she has been starved to death by Little Skin, and Walda Frey can be easily dealt with, so she can be sent to be a silent sister.
"What are you going to do?" Mrs. Stone Heart asked.
Arthur shared some of his ideas with the two of them. To pacify the North would require at least 10,000 troops and a general with outstanding strategy. Randyll Tarly was just the person.
"Is there enough time?" Sansa pointed in the direction randomly. She originally meant the Moon Mountains, but she couldn't tell the north from the south. "Even the mountains near the Blood Gate have begun to snow. By the time you capture the Western Region, it should have snowed all over the north.
.”
Autumn lasts almost a year, and winter even longer.
If this period is missed, the soldiers will either have to brave the wind and snow to march on the vast land of the north, or they will have to wait until the next long summer.
Westeros has just experienced its longest summer. If nothing unexpected happens, the next long winter will last at least two or three years.
"I will never allow Bolton to survive this winter safely. You must quickly send out Lord Landau's army."
Mrs. Stoneheart growled.
She stood up, and the dim candlelight shone on her pale skin, making her look like a ghost.
"But it's not safe over there in King's Landing. The valley has not yet made it clear who it is loyal to."
It is only a matter of time before the Western Territory is pacified, and there is not much trouble in the Stormlands. Prince Doran has been waiting and watching for such a long time, and it is time for him to send troops.
The only uncertain factor is that the valley is still strong, and they can also threaten the south from the sea.
After wandering around for a few times, Mrs. Stoneheart made up her mind, "I can go to the valley. Lysa must send out troops to kill all the Boltons, or I will kill Littlefinger to show her."
She lost her husband and no longer cared whether her sister had a man or not.
Arthur looked at his mother-in-law and felt that she and Lysa could form an alliance of husband-worshippers.
"If the valley sends troops to the north, then our progress can be greatly accelerated. You can leave as soon as possible, and I will return to King's Landing immediately. When Lady Lysa makes it clear to send troops, Randyll can also go to White Harbor by sea. The two families
The army is sufficient to defeat the combined forces of Bolton and Dustin."
At present, the main forces on the Bolton side are these two families. Even if we add in the newly recruited peasant soldiers and soldiers from other small families, the total number will be less than 10,000.
In the Stormlands in the south, there are the rivermen under Balon Swann. Secondly, Dorne is also a target to win over. They can also attack the Stormlands. In addition, the Golden Company and Stannis are spending time on each other.
Still on Arthur's side.
Mrs. Shi Xin reluctantly agreed to this arrangement, and they discussed it under the light of candlelight for half the night, and finally decided on the order of all actions.
When the sun rises tomorrow, a group of inconspicuous soldiers will quietly carry Lady Stoneheart to the valley.
Before the Northerners returned home, they had left a guard for Sansa, and a dozen soldiers from them would be singled out for this purpose.
…
Stormlands, outside Eagle's Nest.
The huge fire had been burning for a day and a night. During this period, Aegon VI ordered people to add more wood several times, but still no dragon was burned.
After the flames extinguished for a long time and the soldiers took out the eggs, the senior officers of the Golden Regiment found that the gold and silver dragon eggs were even more beautiful.
"What's going on? Did we ignore some steps?"
"I think we should let His Majesty enter the fire and become the father of dragons, as the rumors say, so that he can be hatched."
"It is said that the condition for a dragon to be born is pure Targaryen blood. Could it be..."
Everyone was talking a lot, and the failure to hatch the dragon was a big blow to them.
Illyrio has gone to Volantis to sell slaves, Jon Connington has also left, and only Harry Strickland is present to take charge of the overall situation.
Seeing that the officers and deputy captains began to doubt the identity of King Aegon VI, the regimental leader shouted loudly, calmed the situation, and then slowly explained:
"Everyone knows that Stannis has no shadow. I think it is because of this flaw that our dragon hatching ceremony went wrong."
There are basically no people among them who are proficient in magic, so they can't explain why this happens.
Seeing everyone nodding in approval, Harry continued: "But exchanging one life for another is a method approved by all gods. The Black Goat, the Red God, and the ancient gods of Valyria even allow believers to use fire sacrifices in exchange for blessings.
.Although the priests call it God's blessing, it is essentially an exchange."
Everyone continued to nod. Although they didn't know what the leader meant, they just followed what most people did.
"Stannis can't be replaced because he only has half a life left. The King of Light or other gods don't like it, so they didn't send a miracle to hatch the dragon in the stone. But we have other options, the wind
There are two people in the castle who also have the blood of the king, and they have dragon blood in them, which is enough for us to hatch the next dragon. Stannis's daughter always has a shadow, and her life can definitely replace the dragon.
life."
Because he wanted to stabilize the hearts of the officers, Captain Harry spoke in a very positive tone, but he just got the hang of it.
The key to Stannis's inability to hatch dragons is because he lacks the fire of life.
Tristan Rivers, who has become the deputy captain of the regiment, questioned: "How can we take Storm's End? Back then, Stannis used a few hundred men to defend the 60,000-strong siege of the Reach for half a year. Do we have 60,000 people?"
"
Several people agreed with him.
Harry was immediately furious, "Do you think I'm the same idiot as Mace Tyrell?"
Tristan Hewen lowered his head angrily and did not answer.
After convincing the new subordinates, Captain Harry expressed his thoughts: "It is definitely impossible to capture Storm's End from the outside, but it will be much easier from the inside. In short, I have a complete plan. Wait until I capture Shireen
Or something, let’s hatch dragons again.”
A faceless man is in this team, and Harry has a lot of confidence.
In the following time, the regiment leader began to mobilize his troops, and a large number of soldiers would suspend the action of capturing slaves and instead go to siege Storm's End Castle.
Of course, Harry did not forget the most important thing.
"Quinn, Tristan, Alto, you take your men to protect the dragon egg and His Majesty Aegon VI."
He assigned two deputy commanders and a senior military officer to protect the dragon eggs.
In the next hour, the Golden Company's base camp began to become chaotic. They wanted to quickly go north to siege Storm's End Castle, which was only a day or two away.
…
Storm's End, Godswood.
Fire mixed with thick smoke soared into the sky. Due to the burning, the faces on the weirwood trees became twisted and looked very painful.
The released Melisandre and Queen Selyse Florent were staring at the flames carefully, trying to find hints from the King of Light.
Axel Florent, who has a pair of striking ears, stood behind the two women, discussing the future situation in a low voice with the Florent members around him.
Onion Knight Davos, Andrew Ismond and others were relatively far away from the two waves of people. Anyway, they were burning the things of the old gods, and the believers of the Seven Gods were not interested.
What they were on guard against was Queen Celis secretly ordering someone to let the red robe witch go.
"Soldiers with a golden skull flagpole burned a girl and a young man to death..."
Melisandre whispered to Selyse what she had seen.
Queen Selyse could only see a vague outline, so she admired the red robe witch even more.
"What else can you see? Any hints on House Baratheon and House Florent?"
Celis asked.
"I'll take another look." Melisandre stared at the flames, hoping that the gods she served could give more hints to the devout believers.
"I saw a king with black eyes running at the feet of the gods. The Seven Gods, the Drowned God, the Black Goat, the Night Lion, the Weeping Woman and other gods were all bled by him, but the gods were completely ignorant."
In the flames, Melisandre discovered several famous gods and more nameless gods. The one thing they have in common is that they are bleeding.
A dark-eyed king, shrouded in a smoky gray haze, was slicing the gods' ankles to bleed them, as vulgar maesters do.
"What sword is smoky gray? And who is the king with black eyes?" Melisandre whispered to herself.
Selyse replied flatteringly: "The Valyrian steel sword is smoke gray, and the new master of King's Landing, the Dragon Bearer, has two black eyes."
Melisandre stared at the strange sight of fire, wondering what the Lord of Light meant by letting her see this.
But she quickly made her own judgment.
"It seems that Arthur Targaryen is the real king. I have to find him."
It is rumored that the Dragonbearer recently obtained a Valyrian steel sword, which matches most of the prophecies in the flames.
"What about us? What should we do with these soldiers?" Celis had no choice but to let the red-robed witch make the decision.
Besides, Davos and other generals may not let Melisandre go smoothly.
The red-robed witch turned to look at this stupid follower of the Lord of Light, and whispered: "You can tell them the first prophecy, and then ask Davos and Andrew to take Shireen and Edric away to a
A safe city."
The King of Light's first prophecy is very clear. The Golden Company will soon come to capture these two children with the blood of the king.
"Since His Majesty Arthur is the true king, I suggest that the Baratheon family and the Florentine family also surrender to the Iron Throne, so that I can serve as the envoy to King's Landing."
Melisandre's idea is obvious, she is going to assist the true king designated by the Red God.
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