The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Arianne Martell looked at the Mountain. The wind howled, but she was completely accustomed to it. The cold of the southern autumn nights could no longer bother her.

The Sheepstealer's body heat was the warmest and most comfortable furnace.

"Mountain, Daenerys has no husband," Arianne said. "If you want the dragons to breed, you can conquer Daenerys and have her serve you. I wouldn't mind."

"Hehe, Daenerys doesn't just want to be a lord. Her ambition is great, and her will is firm. If I want to breed with both her and the dragon, I'd have to get a divorce." But the Mountain didn't say these words. Instead, he said something else: "Arianne, I'm already very satisfied with you. Princess of Dorne, with a noble status and beauty like a flower."

Sweet words had little effect on Arianne. She stared at the Mountain with a suspicious look. It was normal for some of the great Dornish lords to be promiscuous. Her uncle Oberyn had countless lovers, both male and female. His scandalous behavior was legendary in Dorne and was an enviable example for many noble men and women. The Red Viper's private life had far more influence on his own daughters and nieces than Prince Doran Martell.

The Mountain met Arianne's gaze and nodded, thinking he looked sincere.

"You're lying," Arianne said clearly. "Daenerys is peerlessly beautiful. I'm not as good as her."

"Not every great lord is Oberyn Martell," the Mountain said calmly. "The exquisiteness of your features is no less than Daenerys', but your figure is much more perfect. Daenerys isn't tall."

"Hmph!" Arianne snorted coldly. Although she thought the Mountain was hypocritical, pleasant words were always more comfortable than unpleasant ones.

The Mountain smiled slightly!

Arianne Martell was a realist, which was an advantage that ensured her loyalty to him. It would be even better once she was pregnant with a little Mountain. The Mountain needed to turn Dorne from an enemy into his own people, and the best way to do that was, of course, to make his son or daughter the heir to Dorne. Arianne understood this point, but the Mountain had never concealed it.

Arianne noticed that the dragon was turning again in the sky, farther and farther away from the lights of Daenerys' fleet.

"We're flying east?!" Arianne asked with a tone of certainty. She knew that the Mountain only needed to gently stroke the dragon's head, and the dragon would understand where to fly, whether to fly high or low.

"To the city of Pentos."

"Why?"

"The governor of Pentos is Illyrio Mopatis. He's a close friend of Varys. They started together in the city of Lys and established the Little Mouse intelligence organization. Varys was responsible for gathering intelligence, and Illyrio was responsible for selling it. After they made a lot of money, Illyrio donated money and became the governor of Pentos, and Varys' reputation grew, and he was hired by King Aerys Targaryen to be the master of whisperers in King's Landing on the continent of Westeros."

"Are we going to see Illyrio?"

In Arianne's eyes, the Mountain's plans were always novel, unexpected, and profoundly unpredictable.

"No need to see him, just going to have some fun. We need to create opportunities for Daenerys' three dragons and the Sheepstealer to meet, and then get close to each other. I hope the Sheepstealer can become the leader of the four dragons."

"Don't you care about Daenerys' siege at all? You killed the Night King, and your reputation has reached its peak in the hearts of the people of the Seven Kingdoms. The dragon has recovered from its injuries. Why don't you take the opportunity to defeat Daenerys? After defeating Daenerys, you can still ride the Sheepstealer to conquer her three little dragons."

"Once the war starts, the first thing will be the dragon battle. I don't want any of Daenerys' little dragons to be killed. Moreover, I can't ride the dragon to engage in dragon battles. I'm not the Unburnt. Riding on a dragon to fight dragons, if I don't dodge a dragon flame in time, I'll turn to ashes. Let the Sheepstealer get close to Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion in the sky first."

Arianne's heart was churning with emotions. The Mountain's ability to remain so calm made her realize that she needed to correct her own brave and reckless character. She had imprisoned her father, and now that she thought about it, it might not have been the right thing to do.

"Arianne, I want to recreate the heyday of the dragons. The struggle for the Iron Throne doesn't interest me much."

"You don't want to sit on the Iron Throne?"

"I don't want to. I hope the Sheepstealer can take away one or two of Daenerys' little dragons," the Mountain said with a relaxed smile.

Arianne was silent.

The Mountain's words and actions made her clearly feel the limitations of her own vision. Not only her, but Arianne believed that Tyrion, Daenerys, Cersei, Melisandre, Eddard Stark, Jon Targaryen, Bran Stark, the Green Prophet, and other contemporary heroes and outstanding figures, they probably never thought that the Mountain's mind was on the breeding of dragons.

Eddard's goal was the independence of the North and the power to protect itself. He needed allies, and the Mountain was his ally and his savior.

Cersei's goal, of course, was to keep the Iron Throne.

Daenerys' goal was the same: to seize the Iron Throne, sit on the throne, and fulfill her wish.

But the Mountain beside her, he had never cared about the Iron Throne at all. His goal was to breed dragons and restore them to their heyday.

When a person or a family has a dragon team, can't the Iron Throne be forged at any time?

Aegon the Conqueror had his dragon melt a thousand swords of defeated generals into a throne. The Targaryens put the dragons in the dragon pit, which led to the extinction of the dragons. And with the extinction of the dragons, the dynasty established by the Targaryen family also declined rapidly and was eventually overthrown by vassals.

Arianne's thoughts were racing. The Mountain's words, vision, pattern, and plans always brightened her eyes from time to time, surprised her greatly, and made her admire and sincerely submit...

Unconsciously, Arianne hugged the Mountain's waist tightly. It wasn't a waist; it was a mountain.

The Mountain was like a giant, and his pattern and vision were equally lofty. This was exactly the real man that Arianne wholeheartedly wanted, a well-deserved great hero!

*

The city of Pentos has a very high military stronghold.

This stronghold overlooks the entire port of Pentos.

This is the home of Illyrio Mopatis, the wealthy governor of Pentos.

Pentos has forty governors, of which Illyrio is the most powerful.

Illyrio calls his home a small house.

This house has twelve-foot-high red brick walls with a row of sharp iron thorns on the top. There are three doors. The main gatehouse is the main way in and out of the house. Another has a hidden ivy garden. The third door is the kennel at the back door.

In a marble pool stands a naked boy statue, handsome and elegant, made of painted marble. The boy has shoulder-length golden hair, holding an assassin's dagger, posing in a fighting stance. The boy's face is actually the outline of Illyrio's face when he was young.

The entire house is guarded by Unsullied.

After Illyrio's two wives died, he no longer married but slept with specially trained women from the brothels of Lys every night.

Each of these women is beautiful and professional, and every woman who can stay by his side must start as a virgin.

In the joy of wine and beauty, Illyrio slept soundly.

But the beauty beside him woke up.

She was a new woman and was being favored by Illyrio, so she was relatively tired at night.

The little beauty got up, looked at the fat governor beside her that she could no longer bear to look at, and frowned slightly.

Although the governor's figure was too fat, he wore gemstone rings on every finger. He had an oily yellow forked beard and a mouthful of uneven yellow teeth, four of which were made of real gold.

This governor, who mainly deals in spices, gems, dragon bones, and other shady deals in Pentos, has always been attracted by two things that aroused the curiosity of the little beauty: a delicate pendant around his neck and a fragrant brocade wooden box.

The little beauty found that Illyrio always carried these two things with him, whether he was going out, taking a car, attending a meeting, sleeping, or resting.

The little beauty knew that she could not steal any of the governor's jewelry. Even if she stole it, she would not be able to get out. The outer door was guarded by loyal Unsullied.

But curiosity is a kitten, always gently teasing the little beauty's heart.

Under the light of the candle, the little beauty gently took the fragrant brocade wooden box. The wooden box was not locked and could be easily opened.

Just open it and take a look.

The little beauty's hand touched the brocade wooden box, but suddenly, her heart beat very violently, as if it were thunder.

The governor's snoring came, very peaceful.

The governor was physically exhausted and slept soundly. Just open it and take a look. No matter what treasures are inside, as long as she doesn't steal them, he will definitely not know.

The little beauty gently exerted force with her hand, looked at the snoring governor, opened the box, and quickly glanced at it. Suddenly, she felt her heart stop, her face turned pale, and she couldn't help but let out a suppressed exclamation of surprise—ah—

A hand, a bone-covered hand, like a skeleton's hand, was placed in an expensive sandalwood-scented brocade box.

Squeak!

At the same time, a dragon's roar came.

This dragon's roar covered up the little beauty's exclamation well...

The governor seemed to be sensitive to the dragon's roar and woke up all of a sudden. He sat up abruptly, his fat flesh undulating.

"Doreen!" The governor saw the little beauty beside him also sitting up, her face pale.

"My lord, the dragon's roar."

"Don't be afraid, it's Daenerys, our distinguished guest."

The governor shouted loudly, and the maids ran in one after another to dress him.

The dragon's roar resounded throughout the world, and that arrogant metallic sound echoed in the room.

The governor came out and saw a huge black shadow in the sky, more than ten times larger than Daenerys' dragon in his memory. It was a moving mountain.

Illyrio and his Unsullied guards and maids were all stunned.

They had never seen such a huge dragon.

A fireball suddenly appeared in the night sky, as bright as the sun, dazzling and blinding, making people involuntarily close their eyes and dare not look directly. With everyone turning their faces and closing their eyes, there was a loud bang, and the fireball hit

a large merchant ship in the port. There was a loud crash, and the wooden debris of the merchant ship flew everywhere. In the loud crash, the ship's side broke in the middle, as if it had been hit by a giant rock.

Bang!

The cracked merchant ship suddenly burst into flames.

Illyrio Mopatis was as stiff as a wooden chicken and could not move.

Such a huge dragon, such a terrible fireball, the powerful impact was like a boulder thrown by a trebuchet.

The entire sleeping port was awakened at once, and countless exclamations sounded.

The dragon was so huge that, although it was quite far from the governor's house, it seemed that he could touch it with his hand.

A voice came, like a thunderbolt, suddenly hitting Illyrio's body, paralyzing him, and it seemed that a thousand drums were beating in his ears at the same time: "Illyrio, long time no see."

Illyrio would never forget this voice!

It was the Mountain's voice!

This voice was a nightmare that Illyrio had been unable to shake off for several years.

In the dense forest of the Riverlands, he was always on the verge of life and death by this voice. Finally, he paid one million gold dragons to finally escape from the continent of Westeros with Varys and return to Pentos.

"Don't forget the oath you swore to me, my lord. I'll give you and Varys one more chance to live. I won't burn your house, nor will I burn your port, nor will I burn the entire city of Pentos. I order you to tell the other eight Free Cities that within seven days, all the warships of the Free Cities must retreat and then return, severing ties with Daenerys, otherwise, every city will be burned to ashes, and Pentos will be the first. Illyrio, let the navies of the nine Free Cities all withdraw. This is an order."

The Mountain's voice resounded through the night sky.

The dragon rose and quickly left.

The people who put out the fire dared to appear in the port...

Unsullied soldiers also appeared on the city walls...

Pentos does not have its own city army, only guards responsible for the city gates. The number of guards is small and not a real legion. Pentos once went to war with the city-state of Braavos, was defeated, and signed an agreement not to have its own city legion. Once there is a war, the city hires mercenary groups. Other city-states also have fewer fixed legions. This is a major reason why mercenary groups are prevalent in the Free Cities. Also, because it does not have its own army, the walls of Pentos are particularly high and thick.

But the defense of this city wall does not exist for dragons.

The dragon had been gone for a long time, but Illyrio was still motionless, as if he had been frozen to death!

"My lord," the little beauty said softly.

Illyrio suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had just woken up from sleepwalking. And outside the gate of his house, people had already begun to gather. After losing the power to have a city garrison, Pentos vigorously developed trade, and there were as many wealthy merchants in the city as there were hairs on a dog. Each wealthy merchant had his own small guard legion, mainly Unsullied.

Although Pentos does not have a city garrison, it still has a certain foundation in the navy. This is the basic combat power to protect the city-state's merchant ships, not for invasion. This time, all the naval warships of Pentos went to assist Daenerys.

This time, all nine Free Cities contributed.

The news of the dragon's appearance in Pentos awakened the entire city in advance. The Mountain's thunderous voice was no less shocking than the dragon's roar.

"Withdraw troops within seven days? How is it possible to deliver the message in time?" Illyrio muttered.

Although Pentos is the city-state closest to King's Landing in a straight line, it would be a huge challenge to get the Free Trade City's navy to receive the order to withdraw within seven days.

But if the retreat is unsuccessful, Pentos will definitely be the first city to be slaughtered by dragons.

Illyrio had spent some time in the Mountain's hands, and he knew what kind of person the Mountain was.

Weren't the Mountain's dragons dead? How could they be resurrected?!

Unless, it was actually a—trap!

Thanks to [Chau534] [Book Friend 20171013134223443] for the reward, thank you, handshake!