The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Littlefinger had never seen such a miserable person. The wizard's clouded, desperate, pleading, fearful, hopeful, and light-sensitive deep-set black eyes were etched in his memory forever. His long hair was gray, curly, broken, tangled, and filthy, with black fleas and gray lice crawling on the strands. The wizard's face was no longer human, devoid of color and muscle, just skin stretched over bone—a human-skin skeleton.

When the trapdoor opened, the stench was overwhelming and caught Littlefinger off guard. Although he retreated in time, he almost fainted.

When the trapdoor closed, everything returned to normal. The floorboards interlocked seamlessly, leaving no trace. Littlefinger had not yet recovered from the stench and shock.

Varys, on the other hand, seemed at ease, as if he was used to it!

"Does the coffin have air holes?" Littlefinger frowned, standing at the doorway, taking deep breaths of fresh air.

"The coffin bottom has drainage holes that connect to the Red Keep's sewers. Don't think I haven't considered these practical matters. I'm not as inconsiderate as you think."

The drainage holes connected to the sewers, allowing the stench to flow downward.

Littlefinger noticed that the trapdoor was sealed, with fabric gaskets around it. When closed, it was like a tightly screwed bottle cap, ensuring that the foul air inside wouldn't leak out.

Varys was meticulous!

"Lord Petyr, I don't want my blood to be controlled by a blood mage I've never met. It makes me very uneasy. If you and I face the same problem, we can defeat the blood mage by joining forces." Varys glanced at the floor where the coffin was buried. "The dark wizard in the coffin is very vulnerable. Wizards themselves are vulnerable; they are not warriors and have no self-defense skills."

"Good suggestion," Littlefinger said, "but I haven't seen the blood mage either."

"Who has?"

"The Mountain!"

"The blood mage also controls the Mountain?"

"I don't know."

"Who will you give my blood to?"

"The Mountain!" Littlefinger said with a wry smile. "If I don't give your blood to him, tomorrow night you might see my mangled corpse."

Varys felt a chill. "The Mountain is indeed terrifying."

"Your little birds are useless against the Mountain. Even if you know all his movements in King's Landing, what can you do? Your little birds singing won't kill the Mountain. He hasn't broken the law by killing anyone, and even the king can't do anything about him."

"I truly can't move the Mountain!" Varys said.

"We can't either, my lord. Your scent and my smile can't kill the Mountain or even injure him. Only a sharp blade in the hands of an absolute warrior can! So, Lord Varys, can you understand my predicament?"

"I can!"

"Do you have any other way to deal with that blood mage?"

"If the Mountain also wants to get rid of the blood mage's control, we can."

"You want me to ask the Mountain about the blood mage? Forget it. If the blood mage becomes aware and orders the Mountain to kill me, you might not even see my corpse. Any customer coming to the brothel could bring a dagger into my room and slit my throat. I believe my throat would be slit with just one cut." Littlefinger touched his throat.

Varys looked at Littlefinger's throat. Littlefinger wasn't burly, his head was small, and his neck was thin. Indeed, it would only take one cut.

"If there's a chance, or if I happen to hear something useful from the Mountain, we can discuss it." Varys hadn't given up. "Maybe we can try poison!"

"Poison? Good idea. Do you have any?"

"I don't, but Grand Maester Pycelle does."

In fact, medicine is toxicology. Those drugs, used in reverse, are deadly and incurable.

Littlefinger gave him an incredulous look. "Lord Varys, who does Pycelle admire most?"

"Tywin Lannister."

"Do you think Grand Maester Pycelle would help us poison the Mountain? Besides, poisoning the Mountain is useless; the Mountain isn't the blood mage. The blood mage is behind the Mountain."

"If there really is a chance, I'll take care of the poison."

"Then… okay…"

Littlefinger left with Varys's blood. Varys felt very uneasy; it would be a sleepless night for him.

Varys had personally witnessed the dark power of the dark wizards, a mysterious and unpredictable power that couldn't be measured by normal human thinking. Through various bizarre sacrifices, the wizards could summon creatures from another world. Varys had seen some of these creatures with his own eyes, and they were terrifying and unforgettable. Fortunately, those magical creatures had a very short lifespan; some died just a few heartbeats after being summoned. The wizards said that the rules of the current world had changed, and the power of magic and spells had been weakened to the extreme.

Nevertheless, a mysterious blood mage wanting his blood… why? The thought sent shivers down his spine.

Varys decided to go out. He had to save himself.

He could handle the dark wizard in the coffin because he knew where the wizard lived. Wizards weren't warriors, and they didn't have any guards. But the blood mage was hiding behind the Mountain, and that mountain was almost insurmountable. Any verbal jabs and conspiracies against the Mountain usually had only one result under the Mountain's greatsword and iron hammer: annihilation.

The Mountain's language was the sword, and his logic was violence. Varys's level in this kind of reasoning had always been very low.

Let you speak a thousand words, I only need one sword!

*

Varys's stone bed in his bedroom weighed a thousand pounds and had no flaws. But he fiddled with a certain part of the stone bed, and it rose with a click. A descending tunnel appeared beneath the stone bed.

Within the Red Keep, secret passages were as dense as a spiderweb, leading in all directions, some even directly to the Blackwater Rush. The Red Keep's secret passages were built by Maegor I.

In the 12th year of Aegon's Conquest, Maegor Targaryen was born. His father was Aegon the Conqueror, the founder of the Targaryen dynasty, and his mother was Visenya Targaryen.

After succeeding to the throne, Maegor focused on building the Red Keep and eventually completed all its construction. He ordered the construction of a city-within-a-city protected by moats, which later became the Maegor's Holdfast where successive kings resided. He also ordered the digging of secret passages under the Red Keep and personally supervised the work. The construction of the underground secret passages was very grand. To prevent the secrets of the Red Keep's secret passages from leaking, he threw a great banquet for all the participating craftsmen and then killed them all three days later, leaving no one alive.

After the Red Keep was completed in the 45th year of Aegon's Conquest, Maegor I immediately ordered the construction of another project—the Dragonpit on Rhaenys's Hill, which is now in ruins. He ordered the clearing of the Sept's ruins and corpses on Rhaenys's Hill and began construction of the Dragonpit to raise dragons. However, because he had killed all the craftsmen who built the Red Keep, no craftsmen in the Seven Kingdoms dared to work for the king anymore. Maegor had to hire craftsmen from Myr and Volantis across the Narrow Sea and force prisoners to build the Dragonpit.

In the 48th year of Aegon's Conquest, the tyrannical Maegor I faced a joint rebellion of the people and nobles, and the Faith Militant also rose up against him. Maegor I was deserted and eventually found mysteriously dead on the Iron Throne. No one knew how he died. The secrets within the Red Keep's tunnels were taken with him.

More than two hundred years later, the last king of the Targaryen dynasty, the Mad King Aerys Targaryen, hired Varys from across the Narrow Sea as the kingdom's master of whisperers. Varys spent more than ten years entering the Red Keep's underground secret passages, studying and meticulously mapping them. He was the only one who knew the secrets of the Red Keep's underground secret passages. Littlefinger also knew about the Red Keep's underground secret passages, but only superficially; he was only familiar with one passage.

For the complex spiderweb-like secret passages within the Red Keep, only the Spider had spent more than ten years exploring every road and drawing the most complete map of the secret passages.

Varys walked down the secret passage from his bedroom, avoiding all the guards and eyes within the Red Keep. Half an hour later, he appeared at the entrance of an orphanage in Flea Bottom.

Varys was unwilling to have his blood controlled by a blood mage. He decided to save himself!