Eagle of the Valley of Ice and Fire

Twelve-year-old Attis came to King's Landing for the first time. When the White Knight Barristan and the Prime Minister's father personally sent him out of the city and back to the valley, he had only stayed in King's Landing for two weeks.

As the eldest son of the valley, he was required to visit every family and vassal in the valley. Lord Yohn Royce accompanied him again. Before leaving, he had another conflict with his father. "With all due respect, Lord Aylin, you trust others too much." Royce yelled at his father angrily.

"Trust is the cornerstone of mutual cooperation, Jon.", his father replied. In the end, the two broke up on bad terms. The surrounding knights and squires looked at each other. When the two ended the conversation, they all felt forgiven and followed their lords one after another.

Artis noticed that the main centers of dispute between his father and Lord Royce were the customs taxation of Gulltown, the expansion of the fortress along the Vale, whether the Vale belonged to House Tully or House Arryn, and even the ownership of the Crab Claw Peninsula in the King's Land. The problem. Although the Osprey family seems to be in harmony as before, the vassals under the Eagle family are ready to make a move, and dissatisfaction is slowly growing.

"Your father is still too weak in this regard!" Jon kicked the horse on his crotch, not hiding his dissatisfaction in front of Attis. "He left the finances of the Vale to the cunning Littlefinger, and handed over the Blood Gate to Tully. The Eyrie didn't even know who was in charge. Nestor, as the High Steward of the Vale of Arryn, had nothing to do at the Gates of the Moon all day long. !" Yon clenched his fists, sighing and looking at the increasingly gloomy sky in the distance.

Attis thought of his father's advice to him, "Attis, there are many ambitious princes in the valley, and Yoon Royce, who you serve, is one of them, but please believe in his loyalty, he is just a native of the valley." He is good at leading armies in battles and handling disputes between lords, but he cannot interfere in diplomacy and trade."

Royce's comment also surprised Attis, "Our Lord Arryn handled foreign affairs beautifully enough and made King Robert's shit less smelly, but he made a mess in the household affairs in the valley! ". Attis had always regarded Yohn's words as the mainstream view of the valley nobles, but he couldn't tell at this time.

It rained for a while, and the erratic rain lines in the sky swayed in the wind. After a brief rest at the hotel, the group set off again in the valley. The pony on Attis's hip kept a slow and steady pace in the rain. It was used to heavy rain in the valley. Pengtuo, the sky on the road leaving King's Landing is drab and gray, the mountains are bare, the fields were once full of life, but only two weeks have passed, they have become lifeless. The farmers on the road may have taken away the grain, and the King's Road is a puddle of mud. , the carriage is really difficult to move.

Yohn and a group of valley knights had dismounted and started walking. Attis was behind the team. He was pushing a carriage with Master Shidong and the blacksmiths and servants from Runestone City.

It was another week after he returned to the valley. He once again stood on the stone bridge of the Blood Gate and looked at the mountain road from where he came. He didn't know how many more years he would stay in this mountain range.

Later generations of maesters would tell him that it was four years later, in the year 296 of Aegon's calendar.

On the school grounds of Runestone City, Weimar held a spear, shook off the green cloak behind him, patted the horse on his crotch, and said to Attis in the distance, "Don't worry, Attis, we all use competition spears. , it’s hard to hurt people.”

Opposite Attis straightened his helmet, the fine double-ringed mail on his body simply protected his torso, and the jousting spear shook slowly and slowly. He gave Weimar a simple smile, lightly kicked his mount with his legs, and stepped forward.

The atmosphere gradually solidified. Coach Samwell Stonedong stood at a high place and looked calmly at the two people confronting each other. Weimar's sister Yasina looked at Attis nervously, and her hands were tangled together uneasily.

The horn sounded, and the two riders started slowly, both intending to gradually increase their speed to attack each other. Weimar stood the shield on the side and passed the spear between the lightning and flint, but the force was not accurate, and it shattered instantly when it collided with Attis' breastplate. At the same time, Attis's silver spear pretended to swipe through Weimar's shield and hit Weimar's chest, giving him a blow from the side. At the moment when the gun was handed over, the space between the two of them was longer and shorter, and they also hit each other's chest. Weimar's spear shattered, and he was knocked off his horse. Attis rushed out for several meters before stopping the horse's hooves, turned around and immediately dismounted. He ran to Weimar and kept a certain distance when he saw that he was okay, waiting for him to stand up on his own.

"Good guy." Weimar said excitedly, "You must have stronger armor!"

Attis walked closer and asked, "Are you coming, Weimar?" He saw Yasina slipping down from the high platform with a glass of water in her hand.

"Forget it, I won't let you knock me off my horse again." Weimar reluctantly returned to his mount, grabbed the beer handed by the servant, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Attis, do you need a drink?" Yasina flew over, wearing a pink dress, like a pink butterfly fluttering in the flowers.

Attis thanked her softly, raised the cup, touched her forehead with the base of the cup, and smiled charmingly at her, making Jasina blush on her cheeks. Weimar peeked sideways and raised the corner of her mouth, "Father always creates opportunities for Attis and his sister to get along." Weimar secretly laughed in his heart, because he knew that Attis was not interested in Yasina at all, let alone Duke Aylin. He has always wanted to arrange a marriage with the Tyrell family in the Reach.

At the end of the day, Artis and Weimar returned to Runestone City and saw Lord Yohn Royce teaching Harold Hatton, an 11-year-old squire, archery. This squire was the grandson of his cousin. Since his cousin passed away, Harold was adopted by Anya Waywood, the head of the Waywood family. According to the order of succession of the Arryn family, since his relatives were always unfortunate and there were too many deaths at an early age, this Harold Hatton was actually the third heir to the Vale after himself and Robert Arryn.

Sir Royce nodded slightly to him and continued to teach Harold archery. Artis could see that this boy was very talented. There were few men visible in the castle. Most of the soldiers had left. Only a small number of crossbowmen and spearmen patrolled the tower and the city. The Earl's two sons have been ordered to lead troops into the Vale of Arryn, suppressing the increasingly rampant banditry along the way. This group of desperadoes is very difficult to deal with. They often disappear in the mountains and forests to avoid being hunted. When they are not watched, they kill people in the Vale, rob livestock and food, and do all kinds of evil. It is said that they are a pirate gang that can't survive on the narrow sea. They bypassed the well-defended coastal defense of the Vale and entered the Moon Mountains.

The Arryn family has the traditional blood of the Andals. The invasion of the Andals began from the Five Fingers Peninsula. Their successive guardians of the Vale know how they have gained the right to rule this land. Since the founder of the Arryn family and the first king of the Vale Kingdom, Attis I, who has the same name as himself, the construction and maintenance of the Vale's coastline trade ports have always been secondary. Coastal fortresses and tower defenses are the primary projects. Even when the Arryn family spent a huge amount of money to build the Eyrie on the Giant's Lance, the consolidation of the coastal defense line has never been left behind.

Therefore, the spread of banditry from the Narrow Sea to the Moon Mountains is really strange.

"It must be the damned Ironmen." Weimar guessed. He was nearly eighteen years old. His original intention to go to the Great Wall was finally stopped by Atis and his father Jon. In fact, the reason why Weimar wanted to go to the Great Wall was mainly because as the third son of Jonroyce, his chance of inheritance was slim, and he was not much better than his two brothers. The arrival of Atis changed all this. Weimar actually knew in his heart that as long as he could take risks with Atis, he would definitely be able to achieve success, and his father Jon's idea was probably related to this.

Atis did not deny his guess. He and Weimar enjoyed the wine from the Qingting Island together.

"The Ironmen are used to looting. They sailed in from the river and burned, killed and looted without exception." Weimar said angrily. The Ironborn do not like to farm for their own living, and they are proud of plundering for a living. They have plenty of experience in seizing river channels and plundering on the shore. Moreover, they have been fighting with the Vale for many years and are very familiar with the defense line of the Vale coast. Therefore, this speculation is possible.

Atis calmly told Weimar, "The maester of the Eyrie has sent ravens to King's Landing to tell King Robert about this matter, including your speculation. Maybe the Royal Council is discussing it at this time.".

Weimar was a little happy to hear this and drank the wine in front of him. "By the way, you haven't been back to the Eyrie for a long time. The lords of the Vale now go to the Moon Gates to visit.".

"Uncle Nestor is the steward appointed by my father, so of course everyone goes to him." Atis didn't care about this matter. "Besides, I'm glad that he can help me do some things, so that I don't have to be like your brother, who makes it seem like everyone owes him 10,000 gold dragons every day.".

Weimar knew that he was referring to his eldest brother Anda, and he laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth, and called it "Insightful!".

Artis looked at the large map of the valley hanging on the wall. Moongate Castle is located at the bottom of the Moon Mountains. Compared with the Eagle's Nest, which requires climbing the mountain road, it is indeed more popular with visiting lords.

His eyes looked at both sides of the Five Finger Peninsula and the Arryn Valley. Most of the banditry was concentrated in the Arryn Valley, and there were fewer near the Runestone City. It seems that this group of desperadoes also entered the Arryn Valley from the Five Finger Peninsula and then mixed into the entire Moon Mountains. Longbow Hall was the first to be attacked by bandits. The livestock in the nearby villages were killed and injured everywhere, many women were robbed, and countless men were killed and injured.

It is said that the old Earl Hunter of Longbow Hall was furious. He asked his second son Eustace to lead 200 cavalrymen to advance westward along the Arryn Valley, hoping to find the bandits. At the same time, he asked 100 scouts in the city to search along the coast. Many wealthy knights in the Five Finger Peninsula also joined the Longbow Hall scout team.

The 400 Runestone soldiers sent by Sir Royce actually went with the Seagull Town soldiers to strengthen the coastal defense of this peninsula (Runestone City and Seagull Town are located on a flat peninsula in the valley). Although the coast of Seagull Town is guarded by a fleet and has sufficient soldiers, the valley will even find a mercenary group from the other side of the narrow sea to serve as daily guards.

Artis analyzed this, Weimar was carefully wiping the dagger in his hand with a cloth. The dagger had a dull luster and the dagger was as dark as night. After Lord Yorn gave him this dragon crystal dagger on Weimar's name day last year, he has been wearing it and carefully maintaining it.

When the two were concentrating on their own work, the door of the room was rudely opened. Artis looked up and saw that the visitor was Kelwei, the maester of Earl Yorn.

The always quiet maester wiped the sweat from his forehead at this time, holding a sealed envelope in his hand, and the eagle seal of the Arryn family was clearly revealed.

"A letter from King's Landing, Master Attis, I think it was given to you by your father." The bachelor looked quite nervous, as if he knew the content of the letter.

Weima, who was standing by, was also a little surprised. His father never liked people who acted cowardly, whether they were his children or his subordinates. "Do I need to avoid it?" Weimar asked.

"I guess my father also left a letter to Sir Royce." Atis took the letter, motioned Weimar to keep it, and he lay down on the soft chair and opened the envelope.

Bachelor Kelwei gave a positive answer, and then looked at Atis nervously.

The wine glass was leaning against Atis's mouth, the wine was as red as blood, and his lips were red. The angle of the wine glass gradually increased until there was no drop of liquid left in the glass. The room was unusually quiet. Weimar continued to wipe the dagger by himself. The sound of the cloth rubbing was clearly audible. When Atis looked up, he found that the bachelor's palms were sweating.

Atis put away the letter, stood up and said to Weimar, "Weima, do you want to contribute to the heir of the valley?" Weimar stopped his action and quickly replied, "I guarantee it with my honor, Atis."

"Well, it seems we need to go on an adventure together." Attis picked up his sword and left the room.