"Wuwuwu, Aunt Dany, please come back quickly!" Sansa's eyes were swollen and red like peaches, her little face pale as paper as she sobbed and begged.
"What happened? How did he suddenly disappear?"
Aunt Dany was equally shocked. When she woke up, the magic mirror showed dozens of "missed call" notifications. Before she could check the messages, another signal came through, and then she heard her niece-in-law wail: Aegon was gone!
Hadn't that guy been completely overpowered lately?
Of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Dorne, the Vale, the North, the Riverlands, and the Stormlands had almost all become his core territories.
Even the Reach, because he held the oathbook left behind by the Old Rose, had theoretically pledged its loyalty to Aegon as well.
Westeros only had seven kingdoms in total, yet he had swept through six of them like a whirlwind. That momentum made him even more "Aegon" than the first Aegon himself.
She had fully expected her grand nephew to unify the realm before she finished securing the allied forces!
And then, he was gone?
Wasn't this far too sudden?
"We fell into a trap. That insidious, treacherous Stannis set a trap and framed Aegon," Sansa said, her tear-streaked pretty face twisted with deep hatred.
"You actually went to make trouble for Stannis? Are you sick? Leaving King's Landing untouched and running north to clash head-on with Stannis?" Dany said in disbelief.
Aunt Dany knew her nephew was sending troops north, but that was only a two-thousand-man detachment with a single purpose: to help the Starks retake Winterfell.
Aegon's real focus should have been King's Landing.
Just look at his two main armies at the time. In the north, twenty thousand troops from the Vale had already marched out of the Bloody Gate, crossed the Trident, entered the Crownlands, and even had their vanguard approaching the outskirts of King's Landing. In the south, the Golden Company, together with forces from the Stormlands and Dorne, a combined army of twenty-five thousand, had marched north toward King's Landing more than half a month earlier, crossed the Kingswood, and were now camped along the Blackwater Rush, staring across the river at the city.
The decisive battle for King's Landing was imminent. With an absolute advantage of forty-five thousand troops, Aegon had the city surrounded from north and south.
King's Landing itself had only ten thousand Lannister troops left, along with ten thousand Reach soldiers whose morale was already shattered.
If Aunt Dany had received news at that moment that her grand nephew had ascended the Iron Throne, she would not have been surprised in the least.
Yet at such a critical moment, that guy actually went north, looking for trouble with Stannis?
And even managed to get himself killed?
"Aunt Dany, Stannis has the Iron Bank backing him! We can't let a tiger grow in our midst. We should have eliminated him early, before the tens of thousands of Braavosi mercenaries arrived."
Her niece-in-law rambled on, explaining in full detail how they had plotted against Stannis.
When Brienne went to seek an audience with Stannis, she carried killing intent. If it was confirmed that Stannis truly had a hand in Renly's death, and if the opportunity arose, Brienne would have charged forward and split him apart on the spot.
She was not afraid of death.
Unfortunately, although Stannis kept arguing his case, his tone and expression showed not the slightest flaw. Of course there was no flaw, because he genuinely believed he had nothing whatsoever to do with Renly's death.
Brienne became uncertain. With five knights at Stannis's side, and Stannis himself no weakling in combat, she turned instead to Mel.
The female knight sincerely wanted to avenge Renly. That was her oath. Stannis was the mastermind; Mel was merely the blade. If a life had to be traded for a life, it should of course be Stannis's.
After learning the truth from Mel, Brienne carried out Tyrion's secret order without hesitation.
Yes, all of this was orchestrated by Tyrion behind the scenes.
That man was adept at dissecting the human heart and even more skilled at exploiting human nature.
He had Brienne's personality completely figured out, and she herself was manipulated like a puppet.
Just as he had seen through Jon's character and persuaded him in advance to betray Stannis for the sake of "family," the foundation for Brienne assassinating Stannis or Mel was Jon standing on Aegon's side.
"To kill Stannis, first eliminate the red-robed one," Aunt Dany nodded in agreement. "There's nothing wrong with that idea, and the dwarf's scheme was even more seamless.
Even if it failed, it would only be a personal vendetta between Brienne and Stannis."
Tyrion had, of course, considered the possibility of failure. In fact, he believed there was an eighty percent chance it would fail.
If it failed, he would persuade Aegon to temporarily give up on killing Stannis and shift his focus to the battle for King's Landing.
From the start, the dwarf had not wanted Aegon to get involved in northern affairs, nor had he agreed to become enemies with Stannis, since he did not consider Stannis a real threat.
Unfortunately, Sansa even brought the baby into it. Aegon was determined to be a good husband and a good father, so of course he had to go rescue Winterfell.
After taking Winterfell, if they did not conveniently deal with Stannis as well, neither Aegon nor Sansa would be able to feel at peace.
The dwarf had no choice but to design the most reliable plan possible in accordance with the king's objective.
To be honest, if Brienne's assassination attempt had failed, the dwarf would actually have breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately attacked King's Landing, taken down his "bitch sister," and saved the Lannisters who had been recklessly courting disaster.
But Brienne succeeded!
Just as Jon had said, no matter how powerful a sorceress was, once a knight got close, there was always the possibility of killing her, and Valyrian steel was indeed a weapon that could break curses and slay gods.
At that moment, the dwarf was overjoyed.
He had opposed Aegon and Sansa going after Stannis only because the risks outweighed the gains. If Stannis truly could be dealt with, sparing them the future threat of tens of thousands of mercenaries, he would be even happier.
And yet—
"The plan sounded great. What went wrong?" Aunt Dany asked curiously.
Aside from possibly losing a priceless suit of Valyrian steel armor, the dwarf's plan was indeed perfect.
At the very least, it was steady, with no great risks.
King Aegon sat firm as a mountain, calmly watching the winds of change. The Little Demon lightly turned his chess pieces, using the Seven Kingdoms as the board.
"Brienne killed Melisandre, and we formally declared war on Stannis. But when Aegon and Tyrion were riding their dragons and throwing wildfire bombs, Melisandre suddenly appeared. With just one move, she burned Balerion's eye and pierced through its wing."
Aegon and Balerion fell from midair, "Waaah, waaah…"
"Don't cry, first—"
First finish telling the story. Your aunt is listening with great interest!
"Sigh, I told you before not to provoke Melisandre, but you just wouldn't listen." Aunt Dany also rubbed her reddened eyes hard and said in a choked, tearless voice.
"Waaah, waaah, waaah." Remembering her aunt's warning that day, the niece-in-law was overwhelmed with grief and regret and burst into loud sobs.
"Stop crying. Once I finish the decisive battle with the allied forces here, I'll go to Stannis and demand an explanation."
Aunt Dany comforted the young widow sadly.
Sansa lifted her tear-washed, plain face and pleaded, "Aunt Dany, please come back quickly. Aegon isn't dead. He's waiting for you to come and save him!"
"Ah, no, not dead?" The sorrowful expression on Aunt Dany's face almost collapsed.
Furious, the aunt berated her tearful niece-in-law. "Why are you wailing? Speak clearly!"
Sansa quickly wiped away her tears and said rapidly, "Balerion's eyes caught fire, and his wings were burned through, but he didn't crash straight into the ground. He glided down instead.
Aegon was wearing the Valyrian steel armor you gave him. Although Balerion pinned him beneath his body, he suffered no fatal injuries, only twisted and broke both legs.
Unfortunately, Balerion landed on a city wall guarded by mercenaries, and together with Aegon, he was captured by Stannis."
"Oh, you gave me a fright. As long as he's alive, that's what matters." Aunt Dany let out a long breath and broke into a grin. "Send word to Stannis. I want to ransom him. He can name any price. One hundred thousand, a million gold dragons, anything."
"Aunt…" Sansa was so moved she was about to cry again.
After being emotional for a while, Sansa added, "Aunt, this is such a serious matter. You should really come back in person!"
Oh? Now she was starting to push her luck?
Dany said nothing. She simply drew back the curtain, dragged the magic mirror to the window, and aimed it toward the direction outside Meereen.
The Great Pyramid of Meereen stood a full 240 meters high. From its summit, the plains, rivers, and seas for dozens of kilometers around the city were all visible at a glance.
At that moment, through the surface of the mirror, Sansa saw a vast encampment stretching to the horizon, banners flying and soldiers swarming like ants.
The pressure of an army of a hundred thousand bearing down made her spine go cold even from thousands of miles away. She seemed to smell leather and horse dung and to hear war drums pounding, men shouting, and horses screaming.
"See it? There are also five thousand elephant troops whose whereabouts are unknown. I'm searching for them, but it's obvious that a major battle will break out here before long."
Sansa said helplessly, "Then how about sending a dragon over? Even a smaller one would do. Against Melisandre, wyverns are useless."
"How are they useless? Fire sorcery definitely has a range limit. Even I couldn't harm a sheep a hundred meters away, let alone a wyvern."
"But Aegon was at least three hundred meters above the ground!"
"That's far too exaggerated," Dany said in alarm. "How did that woman manage it?"
"I don't know." Sansa shook her head hard. "I don't even know how she came back to life. She was clearly beheaded by Brienne, and her body was burned by Countess Maggy. How did she end up alive again?"
"If you don't know, then have someone who does come talk to me. Where's Tyrion?"
"Tyrion is unconscious. We don't even know if he'll survive."
"Uh." The corner of Dany's mouth twitched a few times. This was good news. She really wanted to laugh, but forcibly held it back and asked, "Did he fall with the dragon too?"
"No. At the time, he and Aegon were dropping bombs from midair. Balerion's eyes suddenly spewed a stream of dark red flames, but Tyrion's Tysha was unharmed.
After Aegon fell, Tyrion even drove Tysha to land on the city wall, intending to rescue him.
It was then that we learned Melisandre wasn't dead. She swaggered onto the training ground, casually pointed a finger at Tyrion, and then Tyrion burst into flames as if doused with a barrel of wildfire.
Fortunately, Tysha had some intelligence and sensed the danger. She carried the charred Tyrion back to Countess Maggy's camp."
"That doesn't add up," Dany grew suspicious. "If Melisandre could burn Aegon's wyvern, there's no reason she couldn't harm Tysha. How far apart were they at the time?"
"Tyrion and Melisandre? About twenty-some meters."
At a distance of twenty-some meters, she could ignite Tyrion but not burn him to death. That was a normal effect for fire sorcery.
Burning a wyvern from three hundred meters away was simply unbelievable.
A wyvern's eyes were as big as millstones, and its wings were tougher than the oldest cowhide. Unless dragonfire was poured directly onto it, it shouldn't be possible.
Elemental flames condensed by fire control magic could at most scorch the flesh of the wings black and sting the eyes, and even that required close range.
"Did Stannis hold a sacrifice ritual that day?" Dany asked gravely.
"I don't know."
"Was Melisandre resurrected, or was she never dead in the first place?" Dany asked again.
"No idea."
"How can you know nothing at all?" Aunt Dany said in displeasure.
The niece-in-law was also a little dissatisfied. "What's the use of knowing all that? The priority is to rescue Aegon."
Dany's face hardened as she angrily scolded her. "Idiot. You haven't even figured out the enemy's background, and you want me to face Melisandre? You want me to send a dragon back?You need to understand this. That's an enemy. No matter how they scheme against you, it's never excessive."
"But I really don't know!" Sansa said aggrieved.
"Then have someone who does know come and talk to me."
(End of chapter)
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