"Your Grace, the striped dragon offers the best value. It eats only half as much as a Shadow Dragon of the same size, yet its broad flesh-wings allow it to carry twice the load.
"Each of the three types of wyverns has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Queen also plans to phase out the small and medium swamp dragons in the future, retain some Shadow Dragons, and make the striped dragon the standard mount for most dragonriders."
"I am not short on that bit of food," Sansa said, though her brows still did not relax.
Talking about value for money with the Queen—what did that even mean? Would a regular at luxury boutiques ever care about cost-effectiveness?
No matter how bitterly cold and impoverished the North became, no matter how many smallfolk starved, House Stark would never lack the grain to feed dragons.
The Old Crab immediately added, "You are the Queen. You have no need to engage in close combat alongside dragonriders. The Shadow Dragon's only advantage is its sharp teeth and fangs, while the swamp dragon is far too cumbersome.
"The green-and-white striped dragon has a graceful build, beautiful scales, is faster and more responsive than a swamp dragon, and has a higher load-bearing ratio than a Shadow Dragon. It can truly be called the aristocrat among wyverns."
Queen Sansa finally showed a faint smile.
Though she had complained earlier, she herself felt that the slender, long-bodied green-and-white striped dragon, with its wide flesh-wings, was indeed more beautiful.
However, very soon her smile melted away like snow falling into a spring lake, vanishing in an instant. She then spoke to the Old Crab in a pleading tone. "Count Celtigar, you are Aunt Daenerys's right-hand man, steady and seasoned, with wisdom as deep as the sea. Could you accompany me to Winterfell and help rescue Aegon from Stannis?"
What could help her was not his wisdom or composure, but his status and what his involvement would signify: the Dragon Queen's formal intervention.
"Well…" The Old Crab understood this clearly and hesitated. He turned to Black Girl and asked, "Is Dragonstone's defense secure?"
If Dragonstone were in imminent danger, he would not be able to go north.
Black Girl, however, was comparatively simple-minded and insensitive to political nuance. She completely failed to grasp the deeply buried implication in the Old Crab's words and even nodded."It's not a big problem. Yesterday afternoon I shot and killed a dragonrider. This is Westeros. There are no reserve riders waiting to replace them. One dies, and that's one fewer."
No matter how tight Dragonstone's defenses were, surely they would not require the Dragon Queen's trusted minister to personally mount a dragon and fight them hand to hand.
The Old Crab shot an exasperated glare at the clueless Black Girl and, with no other choice, agreed to Sansa's request.
Sansa truly was pregnant. Traveling back and forth over several thousand kilometers exhausted her terribly. She could only rest at the Eyrie for one day and two nights.
During that time, she also made a strenuous effort to placate the Vale lords, barely persuading them to remain calm and wait quietly for Aegon to extricate himself.
"We can go into self-imposed exile, but does an exiled prince truly lose the right to ever return to the realm? Would Aunt Daenerys allow that?"
She even made such "suggestions" directly to the Vale nobles.
On the return journey, she also detoured to the Twins, where she explained Aegon's capture by the enemy and everything that had happened in recent days to her great-uncle.
Yes, the Freys occupied Riverrun, the Tully seat, while "the Blackfish," Brynden Tully, had taken the Freys' Twins on behalf of his granddaughter.
It was hard to say who had gained and who had lost.
After all, the Twins was extremely wealthy and sat on a vital transportation route. The Twins, the twin castles spanning both banks of the Green Fork, were connected by a stone bridge and tower and formed the only bridge across the Green Fork.
"Alas, I truly regret it," Sansa said, facing her great-uncle and revealing regret for the first time. "I should have listened to Tyrion, taken the Twins, and then focused on King's Landing, instead of confronting Stannis head-on when he had the support of a demigod."
"Even the savage, foolish horse-lords know to avoid witch-demons and not deal with them. Thinking about it now, I really was too arrogant."
The Queen wiped away tears and sobbed softly.
"This is not your fault," Brynden said, shaking his head with a bitter smile. "Who could have imagined such terrifying sorcery in this world? Resurrection, illusions that deceive thousands, sacrifices and dark gods. It's simply…"
He spoke the same words Tyrion and Littlefinger had once said.
"Now it seems that the Citadel's so-called 'real world' truly is the most friendly to ordinary people."
Sansa shook her head. "If there were no Others, that would indeed be the case. Unfortunately, without magic, even the Wall could not have been built. Humanity would surely have perished in the Long Night."
"Are we certain there is a Long Night?" Brynden frowned.
"The Dragon Queen, Jon, the wildlings from beyond the Wall, even the Red Woman all say so. I cannot help but believe it."
"Seven save us. The Riverlands have no grain reserves at all…" The Blackfish's face turned deathly pale.
"Let us first look after our own house," Sansa said sadly. "If something happens to Aegon, whether there is a Long Night or not makes no difference to me."
The Blackfish lovingly stroked his granddaughter's head and comforted her. "Although there was an accident this time, at least he is still alive.
"No matter how deranged Stannis may be, as long as he still wants the Iron Throne, he will not kill a noble hostage after taking the 'ransom.'
"As for the Riverlands, rest assured. I will firmly control the Twins and continue to rally the Riverlords in the name of House Tully.
"Other than Aegon, I will swear loyalty to no one.
"The Riverlands may be battered and broken, but it will forever be the unshakable support behind you and your husband."
"Mm. I brought Count Setiga with me. Aegon should be free very soon." Having obtained what she wanted, Sansa smiled with relief.
On the afternoon of the third day, Sansa returned to Winterfell with Old Crab and Illyrio.
With a fleeting glance downward, she was shocked to discover that the West Castle where Stannis had been staying was empty.
The two wyverns landed in the muddy training yard. After exchanging brief introductions, they followed Jon into the main keep.
The sitting room was spacious and lofty, its four sides bare gray rock walls. Thanks to the warmth channeled in from the hot springs, it was springlike inside even without lighting the hearth.
Only after the servants brought steaming hot milk and red wine did Jon explain, "Stannis said that Winterfell has been restored and that House Stark has once again taken control of the North. He has fulfilled his promise to me.
"Now it is my turn to fulfill my obligation to him, to help him ascend the Iron Throne.
"So before you took Ser Davos away, he had already ordered his men to pack. He left three days ago."
Sansa was surprised at first. Cradling the porcelain cup of milk, she thought for a moment and then felt that Stannis's actions were quite reasonable.
Stannis's goal had always been the Iron Throne, and that had never changed.
Clearly, sitting idly in Winterfell admiring the northern scenery would never bring the day when the crown fell into his hands, unless Cersei were as foolish as Aegon and ran all the way north to provoke him.
Jon asked in puzzlement, "Stannis's force of several thousand men marched along the King's Road. They would have been very conspicuous in the snow. Why didn't you see them?"
"We didn't take the King's Road."
Sansa then gave a concise account of the appearance of the allied wyvern squadron and the destruction of the southern army.
"To avoid ambushes, we traveled by day only to rest and moved at night, keeping as far from the main roads as possible."
"So that's how it was." Jon frowned as he thought over everything that had happened recently. It all seemed far too coincidental, which meant it could not be coincidence at all.
"Where is Stannis now? And what about Aegon?" Sansa asked.
Seeing the faint dark circles under his sister's eyes, a light suddenly flashed in Jon's gray eyes. In a sealed-off North, the flow of information should have been extremely slow.
He was the Lord of Winterfell. Even he needed his sister to travel back and forth tirelessly just to learn of the massive 'dragon and lion' battle of tens of thousands that had taken place by the Blackwater five days earlier. Stannis was an outsider, so how could he have learned so precisely and so quickly about events beyond the North?
In fact, Jon had already harbored this doubt during the negotiations that day, but he had not had the chance to ask.
Alysanne Mormont, the "She-Bear" and Lady of Bear Island, had never even heard of the Dragon Queen's deeds.
Some northern nobles did not even know of the famous "Mead River Champion"?!
In White Harbor, where news traveled the fastest, when local northerners first heard singers perform ballads about the Dragon Queen, they were still asking in confusion whether the Mad King's daughter had not long ago been thrown against a wall by Tywin and smashed into a bloody pulp.
Likewise, even now, many southern nobles still did not know that Stannis had gone to the Wall, let alone that he had marched thousands of miles to campaign against the Boltons.
That was the normal speed of information exchange between the North and the South.
Yet at the negotiating table that day, Stannis was not only thoroughly informed about matters beyond the North, he even kept abreast of real-time developments in the Crownlands.
Otherwise, he would not have directly proposed the terms for redeeming Aegon: command authority over the two armies by the Blackwater and near King's Landing.
"Jon, Jon." Sansa waved a hand in front of him, asking in confusion, "What are you thinking about? Where is Stannis? Is Aegon still in Winterfell?"
"Sorry, I was distracted!" Jon laughed awkwardly and replied quickly, "About fifty kilometers from Winterfell, roughly half a day's ride. Aegon went with them to White Harbor.
"But don't worry. Lord Glover and Greatjon Umber each brought a thousand cavalry to move with Stannis."
"After all, I swore an oath to support his bid for the Iron Throne."
As he said this, a trace of helplessness flashed in Jon's eyes. If only Stannis could have poured out his heart and risked his life to help House Stark deal with the Bastard of the Dreadfort without asking for anything in return.
Sansa felt somewhat reassured, but the plump spice merchant beside her grew anxious.
"His Majesty Aegon's legs have not yet healed. How can he hurry along with the main force? We should bring him back at once!"
Sansa had not intended to bring him along, because she did not think the fat man could be of much help. But he kept pleading, wiping away tears with ten fingers laden with jeweled rings, looking even more grief-stricken than she, the queen herself.
"Should we go to the Crab Claw Peninsula and invite Septon Meribald to help in an emergency?" Old Crab suggested. "Holy healing may not be omnipotent, but it works wonders for recovering from flesh wounds."
Sansa shook her head and said with a hint of displeasure, "On the way to the Eyrie, I specifically flew down to Harrenhal to look for him. He said he could take Aegon there, but he refused to leave the Crab Claw Peninsula for long. Tens of thousands of common folk along the Trident cannot do without him."
If there is no king left, what use are common folk anyway?
They did not delay. After a cup of hot milk, they mounted their dragons again and flew south along the King's Road. In less than half an hour, they landed amid Stannis's cavalry.
After taking Winterfell, Stannis had returned the northern nobles and clansmen he had recruited to Jon. At this point, he had only three hundred Flame Knights and two thousand sellswords left.
Well, during Aegon's last Black Reaper rampage, more than three hundred sellswords were trampled to death, along with forty brave Flameheart Knights who had fought dragons. Two small mercenary companies had then fled in terror.
After leaving Winterfell, Stannis also arranged for seven or eight Flameheart Knights to lead a hundred sellswords to guard the dying Black Reaper in Winter Town.
Upon learning of the Battle of the Blackwater, Stannis's face darkened. He clenched his jaw and ground his teeth for a while before slowly saying, "Once I receive Davos's reply, I will grant Aegon limited freedom, allowing him to move freely within the camp and receive outside visitors."
Before Sansa and the others could react, Illyrio's blue forked beard trembled beneath his chin as he shouted angrily, "We paid the 'ransom'. Why is he not released immediately?"
"Who are you?" Stannis asked sharply, his gaze keen and questioning.
(End of chapter)
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