Chapter 130 Illusion in Fire

The news that Clay defeated Jaime Lannister's 12,000 troops, relieved the siege of Riverrun, and captured Jaime Lannister alive was spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms, including of course, in a very short period of time. Two stag kings.

Although these two brothers who are kings at the same time have not yet turned swords on each other, they both hate the shining golden crown on each other's head.

After Stannis Baratheon became king of Dragonstone, he originally wanted to raise an army to directly attack Storm's End, the home fortress of the Baratheon family, but he was dissuaded by Melisandre, the red witch from Essos.

The red-robed woman who had always supported him suddenly changed her temperament a month ago. She had no time to release her temptation to seduce Stannis. She just stood alone in front of the fire and muttered to herself.

Sometimes her face looked ugly, sometimes she was trembling. Although Stannis could not see anything in the fire, it did not affect his understanding that his consultant with mysterious power might have encountered a lot of trouble.

After his repeated inquiries, Melisandre responded to him in obscure language.

Stannis Baratheon knew the scene very well. It was a stormy evening. In the long table hall on Dragonstone, which was equipped with the entire topography of Westeros, Melissa looked extremely sad. Zhuo stood by the burning fireplace without saying a word, staring blankly at the fire.

"Melisandre, tell your king, what did you see in the fire?"

Stannis remembered that this was the first question he asked at that time, but after waiting for a long time, the woman in red robes who was once quite talkative did not pay attention to his meaning at all, which often happened during this period.

He must have drunk a lot of wine at that time. In the past, Melisandre was unwilling to say more, and he would not ask, but today, the stimulation of alcohol made his face, as pale as a rock, turn an angry red in the passing light. color.

No man likes a woman to reject him, even if this woman is not an ordinary woman in the ordinary sense.

Besides, he is now the only legitimate king of the Seven Kingdoms. Why doesn't this woman answer his question?

Then Stannis Baratheon roared at him:

"Answer my question, I am the king! If you don't speak again, I will put out your fire and drive you out of here, you arrogant woman!"

The sound was so loud that it was still transmitted into the heavy hall through the heavy wooden door, making the guards outside look at each other.

After waiting for a long time, Melisandre finally reacted. Her jewel-like eyes were still staring at the crackling flames. After a long time, she slowly said:

"I answer you because you, like me, are followers of our Lord, and believers should be honest with each other, my lord."

Melisandre bit hard on the title "Your Majesty", as if to remind her that the identity of the king is not easy for her. She doesn't care about Stannis's feelings now, because what the fire told her made her Terrified.

One day, she was observing the flames every day, and suddenly saw a face that had never appeared in the flames. She did not recognize this face, and she was sure of it.

This is a young enough face. The appearance of the stranger does not surprise Melisandre. She believes that everything in the flames is what her master wants her to see. However, the owner of this young face, then... What she did when she came down shocked her beyond measure.

In the flames, this unknown young man seemed to be fighting with some soldiers. Judging from the style of the armor on these soldiers, they should be Frey family soldiers from Twin River City.

This young man's physical strength and swordsmanship were at their peak. He entered the enemy formation alone and felt like he was in an uncharted territory. This did not surprise Melisandre. However, the young man suddenly raised his left hand, and then, there was a bright fire. The flow suddenly spurted out from his palm.

When she saw this scene, the flames trembled violently and the picture became blurry, but in Melisandre's downed brain, she only played the scene repeatedly.

The power of the fire was easily grasped by a young man who did not belong to R'hllor?

Her master, R'hllor, is the king of light and heat, and controls supreme power. But the problem is, these servants are not R'hllor!

As a powerful priestess, Melisandre cannot use fire so directly and roughly. She can't do it. This means that this mysterious young warrior is better than herself in mastering fire. Still strong.

This is something extraordinary!

All the light and heat in the world belongs to the great R'hllor. This is Melisandre's belief. For her, this is an unquestionable truth, but now, the facts tell her that this is not right.

"who is he!?"

Countless times, Melisandre asked herself this question, and also asked the flame this question, but except for some broken pictures, Melisandre could no longer see any more information.

Piecing things together, she roughly figured out that this mysterious young warrior was probably the heir of a great noble in the north, judging from his status and clothing.

Moreover, Melisandre also saw the scene when he commanded the cavalry, charged into the army, and defeated the Lannister army. Therefore, in a sense, she knew about Jaime Lannister's defeat earlier than Stannis. The news, but she hasn't told Stannis yet.

She could not fully interpret the will of the Lord of Light, but he only told her that this young man was extremely dangerous and the one who usurped the fire. Therefore, Melisandre gave up her original plan to persuade Stannis to attack Storm's End.

She must figure out who this young man is. As a person who is surrounded by magic, she knows all too well what it means for a brand new magical power to appear in the world, which will be the enemy of all magic owners.

In front of ordinary people, they are incomparably powerful, but in front of unknown magic, they may be as fragile as withered grass and will turn into fly ash at the slightest collision.

The current continent of Westeros has suddenly become extremely dangerous for Melisandre. She wonders whether this noble young master knows about his existence and what his attitude is towards the followers of the Lord of Light.

"Your Majesty, there is a person on the continent of Westeros that I am not sure about. I don't know how dangerous he is. He may be a friend, but more likely he is an enemy. He scares me, my Majesty."

Melisandre leaned tiredly by the fireplace, her tone was difficult and erratic.

"I prevent you from directly joining the fight for the throne now because I am worried about the existence of the old god in the north blocking my power. Without his permission, my power will be greatly damaged there. weaken."

After a long silence, Stannis gritted his teeth and asked the same question as Melisandre:

"Tell me, who is he?"

Melisandre also wanted to know the answer to this question, but the power of the Lord of Light was not that powerful. She could only shake her head bitterly and said helplessly:

"I'm afraid I cannot answer your question. My lord, I do not know his identity."

"Your flame didn't tell you the answer?"

Stannis's gray eyebrows were raised high. If he saw it correctly, this disgustingly calm woman actually had a look of distress and confusion on her face when she said these words today. Really It's strange!

Melisandre understood that Stannis Baratheon asked herself this. Obviously, the king defined his identity higher than the devout followers of R'hllor, although he was not devout at all.

"I think your Majesty, you should be very aware of the power of the King of Light, but the people shown in the fire have evil powers. We need to treat them with caution, my Majesty."

He pursed his lips and tasted the adjective "evil". Stannis felt that such a word coming from a witch's mouth could only be half believed at best. He might have a little power, but it couldn't change anything.

"As long as he is not used by my good brother Renly, oh, and that Lannister bastard on the Iron Throne."

Stannis muttered that he would not hesitate to have such a warrior join his ranks, just look at his attitude towards Melisandre joining.

"He was not the vassal of your brother Renly, nor did he fall at the feet of that boy whom I saw in the flames with the direwolf's banner."

"His last name is Stark?"

Stannis frowned. Melisandre had told him that the North was a place shrouded by the power of the old gods, and ancient bloodlines such as the Stark family were deeply bound to this power.

"Maybe, maybe not, I don't know, but the flame tells me that his power is different from that of the old gods."

Melisandre's jewel-like eyes were slightly narrowed, reflecting the beating flames.

Nodding, Stannis was no longer interested in talking. He nodded, his eyes moved away from the exquisite body of the red-robed woman, and fell back on the huge territory of Westeros.

He is the legal heir of the Seven Kingdoms and the only true king. Since the priests of the Lord of Light believe that he is the reincarnation of the hero, he does not mind using this power to help him. Stannis does not like the Seven Gods. not at all.

He touched his chin, which was covered with a beard as thin as a steel needle, pondered for a moment, and said:

"I will send Davos to the mainland to find out who this person is. Can you give me any useful information?"

"What I can tell you all comes from the flames. Your Majesty, rather than me, it is better for you to see for yourself. I will assist you to reproduce what I just saw. You can judge for yourself."

Melisandre regained her sickening composure and extended an invitation to her king.

Stannis Baratheon did not refuse. In the past few days, the red-robed woman had shown him enough things in the fire to make him believe that there were gods in the world who could interfere with others.

He walked to the burning fireplace, and under Melisandre's guidance, replayed the scene just now, as well as the scene where this man led his army from the valley and rushed down.

After watching the scene in the fire, Stannis remained silent. Unlike Melisandre, an outsider, as one of the few great nobles in the Seven Kingdoms, he quickly understood who the two sides of this war were.

"If I guess correctly, Lord Tywin's good son, the Kingslayer, and his army are finished. The power of the Usurper has received a huge blow."

After pondering for a long time, Stannis took a deep breath and expressed his conclusion.

Melisandre was only slightly surprised, but quickly digested the news. For her, the representative of the Lord of Light, she actually did not care about these wars in the Seven Kingdoms. Anyway, she was not a believer of the Lord of Light. , screw him to death?

"It seems that the North has won the first step. We need their support. Our troops are still too few. When Ed Stark was in the throne room, he once declared me king. I believe his son will also Make the same choice."

Stannis calculated in his mind that the lack of resources on Dragonstone Island was simply not enough for him to pull out an army to unify the Seven Kingdoms. Therefore, he must get the support of others. Looking at the Seven Kingdoms, except for the lack of Apart from Arryn Vale and Dorne who expressed their stance, other great nobles all had their own stances.

The West and the Iron Throne are his mortal enemies. Renly, his good brother who got married on an outing in the Reach, also wore that ridiculous crown of false king and stood on his opposite side.

Therefore, he must get the support of the North before they think of becoming king.

…

Cheers came from the road leading to King's Landing from Highgarden City. In the center of nearly 100,000 troops, a martial arts tournament was in full swing. It was very hot.

These knights and nobles from the Reach and the Stormlands just cheered for one reason, that is, their common king, Renly Baratheon, had just won another very brilliant victory.

His opponent, Dickon Tarly from the Horn Hill Tarly family, was getting up from the ground with his head in his hands. As the heir of Lord Randyll Tarly, he still lacked the skills to fight, and he was defeated in a few rounds. Lost to his Majesty the King.

But it doesn't matter. King Renly is so perfect in every aspect. Losing to such a monarch does not damage the family's honor.

King Renly Baratheon reached out and pulled up the knight sitting on the grass. With a kind smile on his face, he encouraged the somewhat ashamed big boy:

"That's a good fight. The reflex thrust just now was very good, but you still need to work hard and learn more from your father, Lord Randyll, Dickon from the Tully family."

Renly's tone was gentle, and he placed his palms on Dickon Tarly's shoulders, making him gradually relax. His actions also made the nobles and knights around him nod.

Soon, the cry of "King Renly" spread throughout the entire competition venue, and the soldiers around him were already used to it, because this kind of thing has almost never happened since Renly Baratheon became king in Highgarden City. It happens every day.

Taking off his helmet, Renly Baratheon walked towards his Rainbow Guard. The competition was over and he received cheers. Next, he wanted to see what trouble his status as king would bring him.

Holding a clean peach in his hand, King Renly asked while eating:

"Tell me, what interesting things are there in the north?"

Several guards looked at each other and told him the news that the vassal should have told him:

"Your Majesty the King, in the north, the army of Jaime Lannister, the Regicide, was severely defeated by the Northerners. He himself and many of the nobles of the West became prisoners of the Northerners."

"Also, this news may not be reliable. It seems that the pirates from the Iron Islands sacked Lannisport and set Tywin's lion's tail on fire from behind."

Looking at His Majesty the King who suddenly stood up, the Rainbow Guards all kept silent. Everyone could see the constant changes in His Majesty's face at this time.

But isn't this news good news for their King?