The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 270: Dungeon Changes

(Thanks to [Golden Young Master] for the Spring Festival reward, adding an extra chapter for being the sect leader of this book. Thank you again!)

*

Adopted daughter Julie Clegane aimed her short crossbow at the Hound on the seventh step. The Hound had tried to kill her father, the Mountain, several times, causing Julie to harbor a deep personal hatred for him. This was a private feud.

The archer Anguy's arrow was aimed at Meryn Trant's throat.

Polliver Clegane smiled at Janos Slynt, showing a keen interest in his frog eyes, while holding a longsword.

Executioner Dunsen Clegane provocatively stood in front of Barristan Selmy, looking forward to a sword fight with him. The two glared at each other in a friendly manner, neither drawing their swords, but both had their hands on the hilts. If the King ordered them to fight, it was unknown who would draw their sword faster. Whoever struck first would be the one left standing.

Sweetmouth Raff smiled as he drew his sword and confronted Mandon Moore…

Captain Alyn, Notebook, and Ser Guyard Morrigen drew their swords and confronted the Kingsguard's bow-legged Boros Blount, handsome Arys Oakheart, and the small Preston Greenfield.

Clegane's fierce soldiers poured into the Iron Throne room, their spears and longswords forcing the Gold Cloaks to retreat step by step. The Gold Cloaks were instantly at a disadvantage.

The courtiers, noblewomen, and ladies in the throne room all turned pale.

Joffrey's nose was covered in cold sweat, and he was at a loss.

Queen Cersei's face was as white as snow, as if she were seriously ill.

Ser Ilyn Payne, the King's Justice, stood motionless to the left of the Iron Throne, not knowing whether it was out of fear or some other reason. His body was stiff, and he dared not take half a step forward.

The Mountain's gaze swept over the courtiers and key officials, landing on Sansa's face, which was filled with excitement. The young girl immediately lowered her eyes, hoping to hide the anticipation in her heart: Sansa hoped that the Mountain would go on a killing spree and then take her father, Eddard Stark, away. The black cells beneath the ground were not a place for her father.

The Mountain's gaze finally fell on Cersei: "Your Grace, Queen Cersei, Your Grace, King Joffrey, Commander Janos, Littlefinger and the Spider, Grand Maester Pycelle, I'm not Eddard Stark. When I enter the throne room, I don't bring only eight people. I brought a total of 1,800 men, and another 1,100 infantrymen. I believe they have already entered King's Landing. Your Grace, King Joffrey, Your Grace, Queen Cersei, the Duke Tywin and I are both your most loyal subjects."

"You… all of you, stand down… The Mountain and I… are just joking," Joffrey said, the smile on his face strained. Beads of sweat had already appeared on the edges of his golden hair.

This sentence was originally what Cersei wanted to say, but Joffrey had a tacit understanding and said it first.

"Put away your swords, drawing swords in the throne room, you all don't want to live," Queen Cersei said sternly, but her voice betrayed her fear.

"Put away your swords, all of you stand down," Joffrey shouted, "Whoever disobeys will have his head chopped off."

Clang!

Boros Blount of the Kingsguard was the first to sheathe his longsword.

This was a wonderful signal.

Clang, clang, clang!

The rest of the Kingsguard followed suit and sheathed their longswords.

Then the Mountain's generals who were confronting them sheathed their longswords, and the short crossbows and bows were lowered.

Littlefinger was overjoyed. The corners of his mouth turned up, revealing his signature sly smile, his eyes sparkling, bright and excited. On the surface, it was a confrontation between the Mountain and the King, but in reality, it was a confrontation between Tywin Lannister of the Westerlands and the King over power. In the end, unsurprisingly, Tywin Lannister, who controlled the army and wealth, won.

In the future, if any courtiers mention today's case, the one who will take the blame will be the Mountain, and the one who will be cooked and eaten will also be the Mountain.

Littlefinger was very happy to see such an obvious rift within the Lannisters. Joffrey and Cersei, this mother and son pair, were truly rare talents!

Why did Tywin send the Mountain to King's Landing to forcibly take Eddard Stark away? Whose idea was it? It wasn't necessarily Duke Tywin's. Why did the Mountain bring so many soldiers? Did Tywin foresee that the Mountain would not be able to take Eddard away with only a small number of guards? Who could foresee the future? Littlefinger remembered that his blood had been left in the Clegane's Sept, where there was a blood witch named the Hag.

Littlefinger squinted at the Mountain, and in a flash, his subtle expression changes returned to normal.

The Gold Cloaks lowered their spears one after another, and the centurions who used longswords sheathed their swords. The Mountain's bandits also lowered their weapons, and their swords were sheathed.

The Mountain raised his hand, and the Clegane soldiers withdrew from the throne room in formation. Their steps were neat and disciplined, the soldiers on both sides retreated into the ranks, advancing and retreating like mechanical gears meshing together, tightly and seamlessly, without any collision of swords and armor. The orderliness and discipline of the ranks far exceeded the Gold Cloaks.

Thus, under the auspices of Her Grace the Queen and His Grace the King, the key officials of the court reached a consensus to hand Eddard Stark over to the Mountain and take him to the Westerlands to see Tywin Lannister, hoping that Duke Tywin and Duke Eddard could reach some kind of consensus that would be conducive to national stability.

*

The Mountain, Queen Cersei, Grand Maester Pycelle, Kingsguard Captain Barristan, Littlefinger Petyr, the Spider Varys, Commander Janos Slynt, and others were all waiting at the ground entrance of the black cells, waiting for the jailers and several of the Mountain's generals to bring Eddard Stark up from the depths of the earth.

King Joffrey I was impatient waiting for the traitor to come up, so he returned to Maegor's Holdfast after the meeting to drink some wine to calm his nerves. The scene of the Mountain's bandits rushing into the throne room today had frightened Joffrey. Fortunately, the situation did not get out of control in the end. Although the Mountain was fierce, he did not dare to be disrespectful to His Majesty the King in the throne room. Although Joffrey had finally turned the tide and eliminated a disaster, he had no joy of victory.

Eddard Stark would be forcibly taken away by the Mountain, which made Joffrey very unhappy. He thought that he would find an opportunity in the future to chop the Mountain to pieces.

Joffrey was sulking alone in his bedroom in Maegor's Holdfast, thinking about many dangerous things. He felt that not only should he chop the Mountain to pieces, but Duke Tywin was not a good person either, and he should be chopped off as well, so that no one would dare to disobey him again.

And at the ground entrance of the dungeon, the Mountain and others quietly waited for the jailers to bring people out.

Sansa Stark was also allowed to wait with them for her father.

Because of his huge size, the Mountain could not enter the black cells of the dungeon. The passages there were narrow and the ceilings were low, making it difficult for the Mountain to go down.

The sound of hurried footsteps rang out, and a jailer ran up, his face full of horror, as if he had seen something incredible: "Reporting to Her Grace the Queen…" The jailer glanced timidly at the Mountain, "Lord Eddard… he… he…"

Varys shouted, "What's wrong with Lord Eddard?"

"Lord Eddard… he…" The jailer moved two steps to the side, further away from the Mountain who was glaring at him, so that he could feel a little more at ease, "Lord Eddard… he's gone."

"Who's gone?" Queen Cersei exclaimed in shock.

"Lord Eddard has disappeared in the dungeon," the jailer retreated two more steps.

Varys was shocked: "Lord Eddard is gone? Who let him go?"

Littlefinger Petyr Baelish was also shocked: "The royal dungeon, if there is no collusion with the jailers, who could let Eddard Stark go?"

The Mountain was furious when he heard this, and strode towards the jailer.

The jailer was shocked and turned to flee: "My Lord, My Lord, I'm just here to report the news."

The Mountain's one step was as far as the jailer's several steps. He caught up with the jailer in a few steps, reached out and lifted him up, and shouted: "If you have nothing to hide, why are you running?"

This was a very reasonable fallacy, logical and reasonable, and difficult to refute.

In the Mountain's roar, the jailer was thrown out and crashed into the wall, his brains splattering and dying on the spot.

"Your Grace, Queen Cersei, Eddard Stark is gone, we must thoroughly investigate the internal affairs," the Mountain shouted, his voice like thunder, his momentum like a galloping horse, "All the jailers are suspects."

Varys said: "I want to go down and see what's going on. This matter is no small matter, and we must not let go of any clues."

"I'll go too!" Littlefinger Petyr volunteered, "Although I don't understand intelligence and investigation, I hope to contribute a little of my own effort and analysis."

Grand Maester Pycelle was dumbfounded, his body trembling, his throat making 'ah, ah' sounds. He was old and frail, but once he entered the brothel through the secret passage at night, he would become vigorous. Many of the young girls in Shae's brothel were afraid of him.

The Mountain shouted: "Come on, arrest all the jailers and interrogate them severely."

Janos Slynt said: "Lord Mountain, let the Gold Cloaks investigate this matter."

"You're useless, you're a pig," the Mountain shouted.

Janos was ashamed. He was the son of a butcher.

The Mountain said: "Your Grace, Queen Cersei, Grand Maester Pycelle, I think this matter should be handed over to Varys."

"Varys is in charge of intelligence. If he goes to investigate, I believe we will get results as soon as possible," Grand Maester Pycelle agreed.

Cersei was in a state of panic due to this major change, and she agreed to the Mountain's suggestion: "Okay, this matter will be handed over to Varys."

"We must first find out the jailer's daily meal delivery time," Grand Maester Pycelle said, "Who was the jailer who delivered the last meal to Lord Eddard, what time was it delivered, and did Eddard have any unusual reactions at the time? All of this must be found out."

"No one delivered meals to Eddard. I ordered the jailers to give him a can of clear water every three days," Queen Cersei said.

…………

While everyone was discussing, Sansa Stark quietly retreated to the side, coldly watching this group of people in chaos. The beautiful image of Queen Cersei in her heart had completely collapsed. Her order to 'give Lord Eddard a can of clear water only every three days' made Sansa feel a strong sense of evil and ugliness when looking at Cersei's beautiful face.

"We must publicly try every suspicious person. Eddard Stark is a living person, how did he pass through the bronze gates of the Red Keep?" The Mountain looked at Janos Slynt, "Lord Janos, are all the guards of the Red Keep your men? I have long heard of your corruption and bribery. You are also a suspect in this matter."

Janos Slynt was shocked and almost turned to run away: "Lord Mountain, I was the one who captured Eddard Stark. His eight guards basically died at the hands of my guards, and I personally cut off Varly's throat. How could I let Eddard Stark go? Her Grace the Queen can prove that I am telling the truth!"

The Mountain waved his hand: "You greedy person, what can't you do?"

Executioner Dunsen immediately stepped forward, and the centurions beside Janos retreated one after another, fearing that they would be implicated by Janos. Dunsen pressed Janos down in a few moves, and the Mountain stepped forward and kicked the screaming Janos unconscious.