If you are familiar with Highgarden, you will know that this is a very ordinary party. The main guests, the Earl of Arbor and Earl Tully, are regular guests. Basically, except for Loras, all members of the Rose family came out to entertain the guests.
But for Dickon Tully, it was unusual.
Not to mention that his serious and cold father Randyll Tarly rarely allowed him to come to Highgarden, but the encounter with Arthur Bracken, the champion of the tourney at this party, was enough to make him excited.
This is the champion of a continent-wide martial arts competition, as well as the champion of lance competition and team combat.
Based on these two points, Arthur will definitely have a place in the population of bards in later generations.
The older people have their own circle of older people, and the young people have their own circle of younger people.
Dickon and many young men from the Reach families gathered around the Redwine twins, listening to them brag about how Arthur had smashed the Mountain's sword with several hammers and saved Loras.
"At that time, my heart was in my throat, thinking about how Loras, who fell to the ground, could escape from the magic mountain's sword, and then Mr. Arthur appeared carrying that peerless hammer."
Hopper salivated and described his feelings at that time in a somewhat exaggerated way.
Just the continuous talking made him thirsty, so he grabbed a glass of his own wine and drank it.
The interest of the surrounding audience had just been aroused, and they were getting excited when they heard it, but they could only watch Hopper's Adam's apple sliding up and down and listen to him gurgling wine.
In order to avoid being embarrassed, his brother took over his words:
"At that time, everyone in King's Landing was shocked. No one believed that Mr. Arthur could rescue the Knight of Flowers. After all, the Magic Mountain had a reputation for being vicious, but after only a few confrontations, the Magic Mountain fled because his great sword was
Mr. Arthur hammered it off."
"And unlike the stupid people of King's Landing, I knew the moment Mr. Arthur appeared that it was only a matter of time before the Mountain lost. My vision has always been accurate."
Most of the river bend nobles made a sound of surprise, regretting that they could not be there to witness such a famous scene.
But someone curiously asked Horace: "Why did you think so in the first place?"
The protagonist in their mouth, Arthur, was eating a plate of grapes. After hearing this, he replied vaguely:
"Because he has been beaten by me and knows that everyone is equal under my sledgehammer."
Everyone laughed, Horace's face turned slightly red, and the atmosphere became cheerful.
Dickon looked at Arthur with complicated eyes. He really yearned for the life of becoming famous in one battle and then being sought after by everyone.
He also longed for Arthur's free state. He heard that he was a minor nobleman, but he could go to King's Landing and play in Highgarden.
Dickon himself is in trouble, he is still young, and his rigid and serious father will only let Dickon follow him obediently, and will not let him leave Horn Hill and wander around the continent.
"It would be great if I could follow Lord Arthur for a while!" He sighed softly.
Someone encouraged: "Mr. Arthur is here, Dickon, you can just ask him directly."
Dickon's serious face was a little melancholy, "But my father will not let me leave the territory to take risks."
Arthur heard this conversation and looked at Hopper with some doubts, wondering who this young and serious guy was.
"This is Dickon Tarly, the second son of Randyll Tarly." Hobo introduced Arthur in a low voice.
Arthur was so happy that some of the unpleasantness caused by Randyll Tully in the morning suddenly disappeared.
Dickon is the second brother of Fat Sam, the night watchman. He was trained by Randyll as his heir since he was a child, and his military qualities are very high.
Randyll himself was a world-famous general. During the Usurper's War, he defeated Robert, who had won three of the previous three battles, at the Ashford Bank at the junction of the Stormlands and the Reach.
Although it was only a battle involving a few thousand people, it was enough to demonstrate Landao's military command capabilities.
How could the heirs he focused on cultivating be any different?
At least he is an excellent military commander.
Arthur's team is lacking people like this.
He put down the plate, pulled Hopper's silk sleeve to wipe his mouth, then walked quickly to Dickon and whispered:
"I heard that you want to go on an adventure with me for a while, so I would like to formally extend an invitation to you to travel to my territory."
Let's get this Dickon first and get him to the riverlands.
In a few weeks, Tywin will lead a main force of 20,000 Lannister troops stationed on the Golden Road. By then, the connection between the Reach and the North will be cut off, and it will be difficult for Dickon to return home.
Dickon, who had a long face and a serious look, suddenly became excited, "I...I'm not ready for this, and my father won't agree to it."
His expression visibly changed from excitement to decadence.
Arthur glanced back at the governors of the Reach who were surrounding the Duke of Mace and the Queen of Thorns on the other side of the hall. He found Randyll Tarly, and after confirming that he was not paying attention to this area, he quickly said:
"How old are you, are you still thinking about asking your father for permission? Even if he doesn't agree, you can still sneak out."
Dickon looked very troubled, hesitating and unable to say anything.
Most of the surrounding young nobles in the Reach knew about the situation in Dickon's family.
In order to choose a suitable heir, Randyll Tarly would rather send his eldest son Sam to the Night's Watch in the far north to suffer, which shows that he is stubborn, ruthless and extremely controlling.
With such a father, how could Dickon be happy in his childhood and now?
So they repeatedly advised Dickon to make his own decision and follow Arthur, an already legendary warrior, out for a while.
Arthur thought for a while and whispered: "Your brother, Sam, is currently in the Night Watch team in the north. With his character, it seems that his Night Watch brothers often make things difficult for him. You can go and see him.
By the way, use your noble status to support him and make his life more comfortable."
Fat Sam did not have a good life when he first arrived at the Wall. Several Night's Watchmen often bullied him, but after the kind-hearted Jon Snow helped him teach these people a lesson, Sam's life was still okay.
Of course, Arthur would not tell Dickon these things, he just needed to get this man under his control.
"I do miss my brother, he is a very good person." After Dickon said this, he looked at each other for a long time with Arthur, who was eagerly looking forward to him.
It wasn't until both of them were a little embarrassed that he finally made up his mind.
"I'll go with you. After my father and I return to Kok Ling tomorrow, I'll sneak out."
The Tully House's Cape Tomb is just a few dozen leagues south of Highgarden. It's not that far away, only about a day's ride away.
Arthur was very happy to see Dickon's strength, so he conspired with the son of the famous Riverbend general in a hall in Landau Tully on how to reunite.
The final result of the discussion was that after Dickon returned home, he would find a time to sneak out when his father was not interested and ride north to join Arthur.
Based on the distance from Horn Hill, Dickon would arrive at the Mander River two days after leaving home, and Arthur should have started his journey north by then.
But the time of Dickon's departure from home is not certain. Landau may have been asking his son to be by his side, so Dickon could not find the opportunity, so Arthur and he agreed to meet at the Bitter Bridge.
Bitter Bridge is located at the intersection of Rose Avenue and the main branch of the upper stream of the Mander River. It can be said that it is a must-pass point on the way north, and Dickon and Arthur's convoy will not miss it.
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