Eagle of the Valley of Ice and Fire

Sir Yohn Royce acquiesced to Weimar's move to follow Attis. He led the remaining hundreds of troops in Runestone City to follow Attis, and called his two sons to join him and go to war in the name of Attis.

Attis clarified the contents of the letter, which made him unable to calm down.

The most important point in the letter is that the old Earl Ian Hunter, who has been in charge of Longbow Hall for nearly sixty years, died. He did not die of a sudden illness, but according to what his father confirmed in the letter, he was Ian Hunter's eldest son. The heir Jerwood Hunter murdered the old earl with poison. Not only that, Jerwood also imprisoned his youngest brother Harlan Hunter. If the prison guard who guarded the prison was not loyal to the old earl, this information would not have leaked out of Longbow. hall.

The youngest son Harlan, with the help of the prison guard, spread the news that Jerwood Hunter had poisoned the old earl. He even told his father that the easy entry of the bandits into the valley was not the help of the Ironborn, but the traitor Jerwood's relaxation. The Five Fingers Peninsula should be heavily guarded.

The purpose of hiring pirates to invade the valley is simply to force the brave second son who is good at commanding to lead his troops to leave the Longbow Hall, that is, Eustace Hunter, who led the cavalry to search for the bandits, so that the entire Longbow Hall will be in danger. Under the control of the traitor Jerwood.

He claimed that he saw countless gangsters occupying the inside and outside of the castle, and all the female family members in the castle suffered misfortune.

The father was extremely convinced of this, and he did not think that Harlan would lie, because the old Earl Hunter's doting on his young son was well-known throughout the valley. He said that after careful consideration, he decided to lead his troops to Longbow Hall to deliver justice.

The letter mentioned that Harlan asked the jailer to send the letter directly to King's Landing, but the jailer said that he could not command the ravens like the maester, and the scope of delivering the letter was limited to the valley. In desperation, Harlan had no choice but to ask the jailer to deliver the letter to the eagle. Nest City.

"One more strange thing." Attis thought to himself. The youngest son of the Hunter family did not ask to give the letter to Nestor Royce, the High Steward of Arryn Valley, nor did he send the letter to Runestone City. , telling him that the heir to the valley was handed over to the Eagle's Nest City, which was managed only by bachelors.

What's even more strange is that although his father did not explicitly state the reason for letting him lead the army in the letter, it was just for him to uphold justice and establish honor. But for such an important event, involving the prominent nobles of the valley, one cannot order oneself to go on an expedition just because it wants him to gain some prestige and honor, even though Lord Yohn is the real commander.

Attis himself felt that the most appropriate approach was to send troops from the Gates of the Moon and Runestone City on land, clearing the roads of Arryn Valley of bandits and rendezvousing with Eustace, the second son of the Hunter family who was sent to the expedition, and crossing the moon the other way. Mountains, attacking Longbow Hall from the flanks.

At the same time, Seagull Town sent a fleet to blockade the Five Fingers Peninsula. It would be best if King's Landing could also send a fleet.

This is a major event of aristocratic rebellion. Jerwood, who committed parricide and broke the oath, has everything. Not to mention that the Five Fingers Peninsula is an important barrier to prevent invasion from the other side of the narrow sea. As the local leading family, the Hunter family and the Longbow Hall Order cannot be lost.

In other words, even if he leads his own troops, he will still need the help of the Grand Steward Nestor and the naval fleet to be able to do it properly.

This worry was mainly due to the fact that his father's letter did not mention the back-up force or the second echelon of reinforcements. It seemed that he just wanted to establish his prestige in front of the valley princes by being able to tell the inside story at a glance.

Jon walked up to Attis. He seemed to see Attis' doubts, so he reached out and took Attis's horse rein and said, "It's your first time to go out with the army. Are you nervous?".

Attis shook his head. He focused more on the politics of the Valley and the Seven Kingdoms.

"Good boy, you will be a good lord." Jon looked at him with admiration, and then said as if to explain Attis's doubts, "My good relative Nestor has fallen into a bad situation.".

"Grand Steward?" Attis asked.

"Yes." Half of Jon's thin face was illuminated by the sun. "The youngest son of the Hunter family mentioned in the letter sent to the Eagle's Nest that he often found him with his traitor brother Jerwood in his room. Correspondence from Nestor Royce in the Gates of the Moon, so he did not trust the High Steward of Arryn Vale, nor Royce in Runestone City.

It was also because of this that the maester of the Eyrie did not send the letter to Nestor, who was closer, but sent it directly to King's Landing. ".

Attis did not expect this, but he listened quietly.

"Your father, my Lord Arryn, said in his letter to me that it was the Hunter boy who was too scared and became suspicious." Jon said with a chuckle, a hint of disdain on his lips.

"The right idea." Attis praised his father in his heart.

"But Duke Arryn told me that he did not tell Nestor the content of the letter. He hoped that I would help you put down the rebellion before discussing it. This obviously trusts me more than him." Jon said angrily, "But he It’s simply unbelievable that Nestor was given the title of High Steward of Erin Valley before.”

For some reason, Lord Yohn seemed to like complaining about his father in front of him, and he was quite sensitive. Attis changed the topic, "How many rebels are entrenched in Longbow Hall?".

"Even if you include the unorganized pirates, there will not be more than five hundred." Jon seemed not to care about the war at hand. "When our armies meet in the Erin Valley, there will be nearly eight hundred soldiers. It’s not a big fight, Attis.”

"It's a good thing they're together, these gangsters." Attis said softly.

"Smart, I'm afraid they'll all run into the Mingyue Mountains." John sped up his horse and moved forward to order the army to increase their marching speed.

Weima rode his horse to his side when he saw John walking away. "Why does father look unhappy all day?" He looked at the figure in front of him and asked in confusion.

"Maybe he is too proud." Atis couldn't help laughing, and Weimar's surprised eyes looked particularly funny.

"Adam brought it." Atis asked.

Weimar pointed to the backpack on the horse and said softly, "It's inside. I'm afraid its sharp claws will tear the bag to pieces."

Attis seemed to be able to feel the moan of the mountain cat Adam, and his sense of security suddenly increased a lot. "As long as it is by my side, no sword can be faster than me."

The valley cavalry trampled the weeds in the valley. The weeds crawled on the ground, surrendering to the tyranny of force. The dust blew into his nose. After walking for a while, Atis's own chain mail was covered with dust.

The dusty road ahead was a little blurry, and the dust-covered situation around him made Atis calm down.

The words "small-scale war" entered Attis' mind. He carefully considered his father's intentions. His father obviously intended to arrange for only Runestone City to send troops, and kept the scale to a minimum, as if he didn't want the news of the troops to leak out.

The special terrain of the valley is indeed suitable for hiding news. The team always marches along the mountain road. Because of the mountain clans and banditry, few people would venture into the mountain road, unless they were hired knights who didn't care about their lives.

Why didn't the news leak out? Attis stroked the sword at his waist and watched Weimar waving his hand to drive away the dust.

"Nest." Attis found the answer. His father had doubts about Nestor. This was the only explanation. I'm afraid Sir Royce also mentioned this in his letter, otherwise he wouldn't react so much.

But Nestor has been managing the valley diligently for many years, and his father who is far away in King's Landing should trust him the most.

Attis couldn't figure out why. Although the youngest son of the Hunter family explained the situation, he still didn't fully understand it, so he had to accept the fact first.

After marching day and night, the men and horses were inevitably tired. Attis was unwilling to risk walking out of the sight of his personal soldiers, but sometimes he would quietly let the mountain cat Adam go out, knowing that Adam would find it himself in the early morning of the next day.

Soon after entering the Arryn Valley, the army assembled by Eustace, the famous cavalry commander of the Hunter family, and Andar and Robert, the two sons of Yohn Royce, had found his team.

Eustace Hunter knelt on one knee in front of Attis. He was nearly forty years old, wearing heavy armor, a long spear hanging diagonally on his back, and holding a sword in his right hand. His face was obviously not taken care of for a long time, and his stubble was particularly conspicuous. Attis noticed that there was a bag of short spears tied to the side of his warhorse.

"Lord Arryn, Eustace of the Hunter family salutes you." Eustace frowned and sighed, "The Hunter family has brought shame to the valley." After speaking, he lowered his head.

Attis hurried forward to persuade him, "No need to do this, Sir Eustace." He felt the deep shame and honor of the kneeling knight. "The honor of the Hunter family is related to the true knight, and the traitor who broke his oath has no right to involve the honor of the Hunter family." Attis said solemnly.

Eustace seemed to have no face to see the heir of the valley again, just hurriedly thanked him and retreated, and kept his head down.

Attis wanted to continue to communicate with him, but seeing this, he did not force it. He just kept silent all the way and tried to take care of the mood of the cavalry commander.

Another night came, the tent was simply set up on the hill, and the gathering scale of 800 valley soldiers was not large. The noise of the campfire at night was clearly heard in the dead of night.

Attis lay on the velvet bed in the tent. This was his privilege as the eldest son of Arryn. The blue robe guards were on both sides of his tent. If something happened, reinforcements would arrive immediately. Through the swaying door of the tent, the eagle flag of the Arryn family was drooping in the air in the distance. Soldiers were sitting next to the flag and taking a simple rest. They were not nervous and even talked and joked in a low voice.

Adam was allowed to run into the forest again, which caused Weimar to complain, but the blue robe was protecting him, so he was not worried.

This confidence was quickly broken by the wailing.

In the distance, tents were ruthlessly overturned, and the sleeping valley soldiers were pierced by sharp blades in an instant. "Someone attacked the camp!" Warnings came from all around, and the sound of horns also sounded. Unlike the marching horn, it was rapid and like drumbeats.

The arrow cut a trace from the night sky like a meteor and hit the thigh of the valley soldier. Ignoring his wailing, the surrounding valley knights raised their steel swords, "For Arryn!" "For Runestone City!" "For the valley" endless shouts burst in the camp.

His blue robe guards quickly protected their tents. Attis put on light armor, raised his long sword, and looked calmly at the enemies who attacked him.

Most of the enemies wore leather helmets with horns, and a whole piece of animal skin was draped on their backs. Stone axes and maces were the weapons used by most of them, and the few short warriors held short daggers in their hands.

"It's the damn mountain clan!" Weimar shouted not far away. He raised his sword to face a clan warrior and struggled to respond to the opponent's attack. There was obviously a comparison of strength.

Seeing this, Attis drew his long sword and said in a deep voice: "Knights of Ailin, fight with me." The blue robes around him shouted "For the valley!" and protected Attis on both sides.

A short clan warrior blocked the blue robe's broadsword head-on, lowered his center of gravity, and smashed the blue robe's feet that he had not noticed. The blue robe was in a mess, and his helmet was thrown several meters away by another axe.

Attis's long sword withstood another ax blow that was about to become a fatal blow, saving the blue-robed man. He skillfully used the sword blade to separate the space from the clan warriors, and cut across with all his strength. His flesh and blood suddenly burst open in front of Attis' eyes.

Seeing this, the blue robes no longer care about their hands and feet. The space opened up instantly, and the training advantage of the guards was instantly revealed. Most of the warriors of the Alpine clan were faced with the flanking attacks of the two blue robes. The distance between the warriors also widened, and the situation became clear. Many died in battle.

Attis once again overthrew a mountain clan, sealed his throat with a sword, and blood shot out like arrows, splattering on his mail.

Weimar lost his sword and was using his shield to resist the attacks of several people around him. Attis took the opportunity to step forward and swept his sword across. Then he used Weimar's shield to block several attacks with axes. Weimar used his shield to fiercely attack him. After hitting the clan's head, Attis jumped up and used his sword to hit the clan's lower body. There were streaks of blood, and the clan warriors lay dead at their feet.

The short dagger penetrated the gap exposed by the Valley Knight's face like a ghost, "Ah!", his wail resounded in Attis's ears, the enemy walked in front of him, and sprinkled a handful of sand into his eyes with his left hand. Dust, the dagger suddenly stabbed his throat.

In an instant, Attis raised his head with his sword. When he opened his eyes again, the opponent was split in half by him, his intestines flowed out to the ground like a snake, and the dagger flew out.

The sound of whistles was heard among the mountain clans, and they began to run farther up the hillside. The valley cavalry blocked their way with their spears, "Charge!" Eustace waved his sword in front, and the valley cavalry quickly followed behind. As soon as the war horse touched the human body of the mountain clan, the flying corpses became the night sky. In a flash, the attacking Alpine clan was almost completely wiped out. The remaining clan warriors who survived under the horse's hooves were nailed with spears. Their eyes, throats and even foreheads were mercilessly tortured by the spears. In Attis's eyes, this scene was like a bright light. So dazzling.

"There are many pirates here, Attis." Weimar, covered in blood and dust, came over. He found his sword and struck a blow at the enemy who was lying and wailing.

"I can see clearly, Weimar." Attis leaned against the hilt of the sword. He had no feeling at all about the first murder, and his heart was as calm as a river.

Eustace ran over to apologize, and he felt even more regretful, "We ignored the mountain road we came from, and the scouts did not investigate back. This was a low-level mistake. Lord Aylin, I am sorry."

"It is indeed a low-level mistake." Attis muttered in his heart, "But this is my army. I have no organization and no command." Attis thought to himself.

"It's not your fault, Sir." Attis decisively admitted his mistake. The sounds of the campfire reappeared, and a soldier was standing silently next to the man lying on the ground without saying a word. The fire burned his face, which seemed to be as big as himself.

Attis walked up to the dying Valley soldier, squatted in front of him, and held his hand in his. The soldier's face was torn and his bones were exposed to the Seven Gods. Attis gently held the soldier's chin with his other hand. "I will avenge you, I swear." Attis whispered.

The surrounding valley soldiers slowly gathered around, and the tired soldiers who sat down slowly stood up. They stared at the young Attis in front of them. The curtain of night surrounded them, and a quiet atmosphere filled the air. Attis stood up. He stood up and faced the soldiers. This night sky needed an orator.

"Actually, this is my first time to kill someone." Attis's face was as calm as water, his eyes were sad and firm. The soldier looked at him, Eustace looked at him seriously, and Weimar clenched his fists.

"I must perform well." Attis emphasized in his mind.

"It was the first time I saw my brother die, the first time I saw the miserable wounds, the first time I ate the dusty dry biscuits and the first time I drank the bitter march water." Attis said forcefully.

"This sword is sharp and fancy, just like the arrogant little eagle of Aelin before." Attis raised the sword, which was soaked with blood.

"And now it is licking the blood of its enemies." A voice came from the crowd, it was Weimar, which caused the soldiers to nod in agreement.

Attis continued, "While I called my father a lot of titles, I never knew what 'guarding' meant, nor did I know the honor contained in it." Attis walked back to the dead soldier.

"But now, I know the secret." Attis pointed at the dead soldier, "He brought this 'guardian'." Attis raised his sword forward and slowly swept across all the soldiers, "Yes What you have brought is brought by the thousands of warriors in the valley who are willing to sacrifice their lives for glory. You are the whole meaning of the guardianship of the valley. The name of the guardian of the Aylin family is forged by your iron swords and helmets, Aylin. The glory of the family also comes from you.”

Attis became more and more excited. He waved his long sword forward, "I, Attis of the Arryn family, swear under the watchful eyes of the old and new gods that I will avenge the brothers who guard the valley, kill the invading enemies, and punish those who betrayed me." I will not let him go, regardless of whether he is a commoner, a knight, or a noble."

Some of the surrounding soldiers were surprised to see this scene. They all knew what it meant to swear before the gods. Eustace drew his sword and shouted: "Attis Arryn!"

Weimar waved his sword vigorously, "Attis!", the soldiers in the valley picked up their weapons one after another, beating their armor, and the sound of "Bang! Bang! Bang!" in the camp resounded through the night sky, "Attis! Attis! Tis! Attis! ", his name was shouted rhythmically, the trees were solemn in the wind, the leaves rustled, the bright moon and stars reflected in the night sky, and the gods seemed to be watching here.

Attis had a sleepless night.