The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Eddard slowly sat down, his mood becoming very heavy.

While the other key members of the Small Council were preoccupied with the 'Hand's Tourney,' he felt completely detached.

He was busy investigating Jon Arryn's death, and he felt himself slowly approaching the truth.

The Mountain's threat indicated that he was close to the truth, and the Lannisters were afraid.

He had investigated the list Littlefinger had given him, and four people on it had been close to Jon Arryn: a stable boy, a cook, a serving girl, and a squire. The suspicions surrounding the other three had been eliminated, leaving only the stable boy as suspicious. He had been promoted after Jon's death, becoming a knight and a guard in the capital. When Captain of the Guard Jory Cassel went to question him, this fellow named Mathew was very arrogant and refused to answer any of Jory Cassel's questions because Jory wasn't a knight.

Even though Jory was more than a dozen years older and a hundred times better with a sword, this former stable boy of the Hand from the Vale simply ignored him. He proudly stated that unless the Hand himself came, Jory Cassel shouldn't say another word to him.

Besides this stable boy who had suddenly been promoted to knighthood by the Lannisters, Eddard also visited several brothels.

Jon had visited several brothels with Stannis during his lifetime, and Eddard visited all the brothels they had frequented. He discovered that King Robert had lovers in these brothels, one of whom had just given birth to a baby girl.

Robert's list of bastards had gained another glorious addition.

Besides the brothels, Eddard also went to Tobho Mott's smithy on the Street of Steel because Jon had visited this smithy and commissioned a suit of armor and a helmet. Stannis Baratheon had accompanied Jon Arryn to the smithy. After Jon Arryn's death, Stannis had retreated to Dragonstone and hadn't told anyone when he would return, even though he was a member of the Small Council.

Unfortunately, Tobho Mott's smithy had closed down several months ago, and no one knew where he had gone, nor did anyone know where his apprentices had gone.

This was another very suspicious matter.

How could Tobho Mott disappear for no reason?

Unless someone was hiding something? Making them disappear or leave, like silencing them.

Eddard considered asking Varys, the master of whisperers, to help investigate Tobho Mott's whereabouts, but he could only think about it. Eddard had no idea whether the eunuch was a friend or foe, or which side he was on. He decided that caution was best, to avoid alerting the enemy.

Finally, Eddard found a book from Grand Maester Pycelle. The book's full title was 'The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children,' written by Grand Maester Malleon. Pycelle was right, it was indeed tedious and boring.

Jon Arryn had specifically sought out this book from the Grand Maester to read, and Ned believed there must be a reason. Surely, some important clues were buried within these yellowed, fragile pages. But what were they? Eddard had flipped through the book several times, still without success. The book was over a century old. When Grand Maester Malleon compiled this genealogy of the great houses of the Seven Kingdoms, almost everyone alive today hadn't even been born yet.

Since the Mountain had come and threatened to kill him and all his guards, what had he done right to make the Lannisters lose their composure?

Eddard decided to flip through the book 'The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms' again.

*

Regardless of how unwilling Hand Eddard was, the national tourney held in his name began with great fanfare.

First to appear were the Kingsguard, their snow-white cloaks so dazzlingly pure. The seven of them rode past the stands side by side, as thousands of spectators cheered for them.

Except for Jaime Lannister, the other six Kingsguard were all clad in milk-white scale armor, their cloaks as white as fresh snow. Ser Jaime also wore a white cloak, but he was covered in gold from head to toe, with a lion-headed helmet and a golden sword.

If you took away the white cloak, Jaime was encased in gold from head to toe, showing off the Lannister family's wealth.

Following the Kingsguard were the courtiers who would participate in the tournament: Lord Renly Baratheon, the master of laws, wearing a golden antlered helmet; Thoros of Myr, the red priest; dozens of knights and sergeants from the city watch, including the incredibly arrogant Ser Mathew, who didn't give Jory Cassel the slightest bit of respect.

Before Hand Jon's death, this guy was just a small stable boy.

After the royal courtiers passed the stands, it was the lords, knights, and sergeants of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Mountain from the Westerlands caused everyone in the audience to gasp as soon as he appeared. He rode his horse thunderously past the king and the Hand's stands, and the ground seemed to tremble. His horse was a giant among horses, but everyone worried that the horse's back might be crushed by the Mountain's weight with the next heartbeat.

Sansa watched from the stands as the Mountain led the many noble knights of the Westerlands like a god of slaughter through the tourney grounds, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. The Mountain's eyes were also terrifying, looking at people like knives, and the knights around him all looked particularly vicious.

The knights of the Vale were led by Yohn Royce the Bronze. Yohn Royce's youngest son, Ser Waymar Royce, was the arrogant knight who had met his end in the haunted forest beyond the Wall.

The armor of the House Royce of the Bronze was made of bronze, unlike the steel armor of other noble houses, which was the origin of Yohn Royce's title. Legend had it that their family had been making armor out of bronze for thousands of years, and the bronze was engraved with magical runes that were said to protect the wearer from swords.

The knights of the Riverlands were led by Edmure Tully, closely followed by his bannerman Lord Jason Mallister. Lord Jason was the lord of Will, the Night's Watchman whom Eddard had beheaded. Will had been sent to the Wall by Lord Jason for poaching a stag in the Mallister woods.

Lord Jason wore a blue-purple cloak with silver trim and an eagle-winged helmet. He had single-handedly killed three marquises under Rhaegar's command on the Trident River, and his martial prowess was still unmatched in the Riverlands.

In addition, there were a dozen knights from House Frey, five knights from House Bracken, and several knights from House Hayford.

The nobles and knights from the Riverlands were the most numerous of the Seven Kingdoms. Edmure led dozens of his bannermen past the stands, and the cheers of the crowd were deafening.

Then came the tourney teams from the Reach, Stormlands, Dorne, and the North, passing the stands to pay their respects to the King, Queen, Hand, and Prince Joffrey.

The spectacle of the knights in the tourney took the breath away of many: the gleaming armor, the gold- and silver-covered warhorses, the loud cheers of the crowd, the bright banners fluttering in the wind… and those knights, especially those valiant knights.

Men like tigers, horses like dragons! Heroes emerged one after another, each more radiant than the last!

"This is better than the songs," Sansa said to Jeyne Poole beside her.

"Yes!" Jeyne Poole stared intently at Lord Beric Dondarrion of Blackhaven, a vassal of the Stormlands.

Beric Dondarrion had reddish-gold hair and a black shield emblazoned with lightning. Jeyne told Sansa that she was willing to marry him immediately. If Beric was already engaged or married, Jeyne was willing to be Lord Beric's mistress.

Jeyne's infatuation with Beric Dondarrion made Sansa laugh until many people looked in their direction, and she restrained herself. However, Sansa was also stunned by the beauty of Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers from Highgarden. When Loras Tyrell rode past her, she found it difficult to take her eyes off him.

After all the sergeants and knights participating in the tourney had ridden past the stands, King Robert stood up and announced the official start of the tourney!

The first day was the jousting competition, and because it was a national tourney in the Hand's name, the honor of the first jousting match was given to a warrior from the North.

Jory Cassel, the captain of Hand Eddard's guard, was the first to appear, facing Ser Horas Redwyne from the Arbor, a vassal of the Reach.