Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 111: Slow in the past

"Maester Pylos, still no reply from the raven from Storm's End?"

Two days later, Viserys had to inquire about the matter. Now the raven correspondence with Stannis of Storm's End was the only external affair of Dragonstone that could be called "diplomatic", and it was also the focus of Viserys' work in the next stage. They had clearly established contact before, and they would exchange letters every six to seven days.

This kind of communication has been carried out twice, and Stannis is almost willing to give in.

The third letter was Viserys's offer and sincerity. He was willing to exchange Lady Selyse, Axell and some sergeants for Earl Bar Emmon, the lords of the Narrow Sea, especially the knights and soldiers of Bramble Harbor. In order to show his sincerity, Viserys temporarily put aside the willingness of the Marseilles of Stoneymbord to surrender - the joining of the Marseilles would make the Narrow Sea and the Throat completely under Viserys' control.

Of course, Viserys' purpose in doing this was not entirely to exchange hostages. He was actually forcing Stannis to respond to his existence, because Stannis was the typical example of his plan. Whether he decided to fight or make peace, as long as he responded, it was what Viserys needed.

This is one of the reasons why Viserys is not in a hurry to conquer Westeros. This continent is too large. It takes five to seven days for a raven to communicate from Dragonstone to Storm's End and back, and the raven can still fly.

When Storm's End stopped replying, what happened there became completely silent to Viserys. He had to wait for merchant ships passing through Storm's End to reach Dragonstone before he could hear from the merchant ships what happened there a week, a month, or even several months ago.

For someone who has lived in the information age, this continent, this world is like a bloated corpse, and the efficiency of information transmission is shockingly low.

Viserys had lived in the information age. As some people like to say: In the past, travel was slow, letters were far away, and a lifetime was only enough to read.
I really don't know if they would still be able to say that kind of thing if they were really thrown into Westeros to see how information is exchanged between Dragonstone and Storm's End, which is such a short distance.

For example, after Viserys dumped Arnie, the maidservant that Illyrio sent to Viserys, and Butch, the bodyguard, the last time they heard about them was more than a month ago. It was Jorah who told Viserys that they were still waiting for Viserys to show up in Volantis. It is unknown whether anyone has told them that Viserys is already on Dragonstone Island, and whether they will show up again.
Viserys has not yet established his own intelligence network. Except for the areas of Dragonstone under control, and occasional news from King's Landing and Storm's End, the map outside is now pitch black for him. After landing on Dragonstone, he is sure that his butterfly wings have caused tremendous changes to the world, but the only uncontrolled area he can confirm has changed is King's Landing.

Because Dragonstone is close enough to King's Landing, there is the most frequent merchant ship traffic there, and the traffic of merchant sailors is Viserys' only channel of information about King's Landing.

So Viserys came up with a public opinion offensive and frantically made chicken soup on Dragonstone, hoping that these chicken soup stories would spread everywhere and create momentum.

It was not until his first fleet commander Grole returned from Pentos and the fleet was taking shape that he finally had a free ship to disguise as a merchant ship and send scouts to King's Landing - because King's Landing was a greater threat in Viserys' eyes - and that merchant ship had not yet brought back the first news.

Viserys had no way of knowing at the moment, but because of his appearance in King's Landing, the Alliance of Lions and Roses decided to retreat from Storm's End, and because of this decision, Storm's End was now free from the threat of the Tyrell army.

Perhaps because of the lack of communication, by the time the news of Stannis's march south from Varys reached the Tyrell siege force via King's Landing, Stannis's army retreating from the Blackwater River had already landed and entered Storm's End, catching the Tyrell siege force off guard. Only then did the siege force pay attention and blockade the harbor of Storm's End.

Stonehenge supposedly belongs to Stannis, so the information channels are smooth, but in order not to provoke Dragonstone, they chose to remain silent during the siege of Storm's End.

This series of events has led to a large influx of new and old intelligence in Storm's End recently. The news that there might be a dragon on Dragonstone did not reach Storm's End until the siege was lifted.

The letter from Dragonstone, which Stannis had been ignoring, suddenly became extremely important.

But who would have thought that the person who had been secretly contacting Dragonstone "on behalf of Stannis" was Lord Alester Florent who was in Storm's End. The relief of Storm's End led to the arrest of this self-willed Prime Minister, who was sent to Storm's End prison by Stannis on charges of treason.

And this is the whole story of how Viserys did not receive a reply from Storm's End.

When Viserys attacked Dragonstone, why did he risk entering the waters of Dragonstone and walk on the edge of Stannis's naval lines? Wasn't it because information outside the field of vision was always lagging behind?

There is no omniscient person in this world, and no one can figure out what is happening right now. Viserys can only come to Maester Pylos to ask about the letter from Storm's End.

But what could Maester Pylos do? He could only answer, "Yes, Your Majesty."

All Viserys could say was, "Notify me as soon as you have any news."

Sometimes no news is also a kind of news. Viserys thought that something must have happened there.

-

There are ships coming and going between King's Landing, Dragonstone, and Storm's End, but the news is kept secret for now.

Once you reach the inland area where roads are blocked, information becomes even more difficult to obtain.

The waterborne news from the Reach basically comes in from Crab Bay and the Blackwater River above the Crab Peninsula. The Blackwater River basically won't let any news from the Dragon King into the inland now, and Crab Bay is the battlefield between the Northern Army and the Lannister Army. Several bay ports, Maidenpool, Saltpans, and even the mouth of the Trident and the town of Earl Harroway upstream of the Ruby Bank have been affected by the war. Basically, the ships traveling here are from Braavos, Gulltown, the Fingers Peninsula, and White Harbor.

The news about Viserys here was still limited to the letter brought by the raven a month ago, and there was not even any news that Viserys had a dragon. Those who had some information channels here regarded the sightings of sea monsters on Dragonstone and the Five Fingers Peninsula by King Targaryen as two major wonders.

Like now, as the Bloody Mummers looted a chapel, sat on the Virgin's chest, gouged out the chalcedony eyes of idols with daggers, hanged skinny bald monks, used civilian corpses as targets, and set their sights on Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, whom they had captured.

All Vargo Hoult was saying was: "My Lords, are you not aware that Dragonstone is under Targaryen rule? Is your father too busy in King's Landing to extend his hand beyond Harrenhal?" He spoke slurredly as he sat by the campfire eating a half-roasted bird with a fork, grease and blood running through his fingers.

Vargo Hoat, also known as "The Goat", is the leader of the Brave Brothers, a mercenary group from Qohor that has a poor reputation in the Seven Kingdoms. They are known as the "Bloody Mummers", whose "Mummers" are criminals and outcasts from around the world.

It's very dramatic. It was the warriors hired by Tywin who plundered the riverlands and spread terror. However, when Tywin went out to fight Robb, the warriors stayed behind to guard Harrenhal. But Goat and the acting castellan Amory Lorch didn't like each other, and soon they defected and made a deal with Roose Bolton, and the warriors offered Harrenhal to the Northmen.

Now, Tywin's son Jaime Lannister has fallen into the hands of Vargo Hoult, the captain of the warrior group.

Goat was present when Roose Bolton showed them the letter brought by Viserys's raven at Harrenhal, but he still thought the news was outrageous, and was even more bizarre than the recent news of a sea monster in the Five Fingers Peninsula.

"Dragonstone was occupied by Targaryens?" Jaime Lannister laughed as if he was joking, "What, has Aegon the Conqueror been reborn?" Even though he and the "Beauty" Brienne were tied to a horse face to face at the moment, in an awkward situation.

The goat didn't like the way he smiled: "Teach him to make a gesture with his mouth."

The men under the Goat cut the ropes that bound Jaime and Brienne, and Jaime was dragged off the horse. One of them leaned over and slapped him hard. In contrast to this slap, the completely arrogant expressions of the warriors who were sitting around the fire in front of the bloody statue of the Virgin Mary, covered in blood, made Jaime shudder.

They were not afraid of him, the Lannister Kingslayer realized. He went cold.

"Listen to me," Brienne the Fair was unaware of what Jaime had seen, and she was still begging, "In the name of the King in the North you serve, please listen to me—" She was ordered by Lady Catelyn to escort the Kingslayer to exchange for Sansa and Arya.

"Teach her to mouth as well," the goat ordered.

One of Goat's men immediately dragged her off the horse and started kicking her hard.

"Don't hurt your bones," someone warned, "this horse-faced bitch can be exchanged for sapphires."

This was the lie Jaime and his men had told when they were captured, saying that Tarth was named the "Sapphire Island" because it was rich in sapphires. This saved Brienne from being insulted and then stripped naked and hanged on a tree - they had seen many such scenes along the way.

Jaime wanted to make some more offers. "Lord Vargo, it is a pity that you have abandoned my father, but it is not too late for us to reconcile. You know that my father valued me very much. All the gold in the world comes from Casterly Rock, and a Lannister must pay his debts."

"Oh, please forgive me," said the goat, "I can have the gold of the Rock City. But first, I want to give my father a token of my love."

He spoke incoherently.

Someone brought out a well-worn carving knife.

-

Varys could have waited for Tyrion to leave before coming in.

But today Tyrion did not bring his mistress Shae in to make love in the cellar - they had done it in the dragon skull many times. Instead, he was alone, facing the dragon skull in silence.

Varys chose to show up.

The flames of the two torches seemed small and lonely in the huge cellar.

Varys sighed, "There are credible reports about dragons and sea monsters, but people only believe the news about dragons and are indifferent to sea monsters. Why do you think this is, Lord Tyrion?"

"Ah, that's a good question, Varys." Tyrion looked in the direction of the footsteps and thrust the torch into the giant dragon's mouth. The flames grew brighter, and shadows danced wildly between the walls, the ground, and the dragon's gigantic skull. The dragon's fangs were like long scimitars made of black diamonds. Tyrion stood in front of the dragon's open-mouthed head, like a dwarf standing at the gate of a giant's city. "Because I'm right in front of its ferocious and terrifying mouth. If it comes to life, crunch, gurgle, I'll be in its stomach. Will it find the taste of dwarfs delicious? How is it different from the taste of fat eunuchs?"

"There is a saying that dragons eat cooked food," Varys said. "After being cooked in the flames, my lord, we should taste the same."

"Hearing what you said, I want to buy some spices to take home and use for my bath." Tyrion said, "This way it will have more distinctive flavor after being roasted. It will remember my taste and wonder why this little guy smells different from others."

"Ah, dear sir, after hearing what you said, I will never dare to eat barbecue again."

"You just mentioned sea monsters. Is that true?" Tyrion reached out and touched the dragon bones that were as black as agate, smooth and shiny, and seemed to sparkle in the light of the torch. Every time he saw the skeleton of a dragon, he was amazed. He never imagined that they could be such beautiful things, so beautiful that it made people stunned and awe-inspiring.

The eunuch had already walked up to Tyrion and placed the torch on the other side of the dragon's mouth. He put his hands in his sleeves and put on his usual calm attitude. "Who knows? The person who brought the news said that a fisherman saw the sea monster dragging the Ibbenese whaler into the water. The red blood dyed the sea red like ink thrown into the water. Some people also thought it was the blood of a whale. The witness was frightened mad because of this. Poor fishermen, they dare not go near the sea again."

"Dragons, sea monsters, wild men," Tyrion said. "When will the White Walkers appear?"

"Do you believe it, Lord Tyrion?" Varys said in a mysterious tone, "Perhaps there is magic hidden in these dragon bones, the magic power they did not use up in their lifetime."

"You are a descendant of the Nine who came across the sea," Tyrion replied. "Now, Master Varys, what magic can you use to wake these bones? May I provide you with some wildfire?"

"You're joking." Varys pulled his hand out of his sleeve and reached out to touch the huge dragon bone. "Balerion. The Black Death has been dead for more than two hundred years. If anyone can really wake it up, it won't be my turn."

They stood before the massive skull of Balerion, known as the Black Death, with a mouth big enough to swallow a wild bull whole, or the mammoths that were said to roam the cold wastes north of the Port of Ibben.

There are a total of nineteen dragon skulls in the cellar. The oldest one is said to be more than a thousand years old and was brought from Valyria. The youngest is one and a half centuries old.

The skulls of the young dragons are the smallest. The two dragons are deformed and not much bigger than the skull of a hound. They are the last two dragons hatched on Dragonstone, the last two of the Targaryen family, and were once thought to be the last two in the world. They were very short-lived.

During the Targaryen dynasty, these skulls were hung on the high wall behind the throne room of the Red Keep as the pride of the Targaryens. Later, Robert Baratheon I picked up the dragon skulls behind the throne and threw them into a damp and dark cellar.

Only a few people would come to this dank cellar to see these.

Varys and Tyrion met by chance today.

Unlike in the past, they did not talk about government affairs or other secret matters this time. They just stood together in the damp cellar for a long time, staring at Balerion's empty and huge eye sockets, trying to imagine what the giant beast in front of them looked like when it was alive, imagining it spreading its wings, sweeping across the sky, and breathing flames.

I don’t know if you have any thoughts on the “Five Finger Peninsula Sea Monster” mentioned in the original book. Based on the timing of the appearance of this news, we can roughly calculate the time when the news reached King’s Landing. The incident happened around the time when Arya let Jaqen go.

And the Five Fingers Peninsula is right next to Braavos.

Many people speculated that the Faceless Man on Dragonstone was Jaqen, but he was not. Jaqen's route in the novel was that after being arrested in the Red Keep for unknown reasons, he went to Oldtown (to King Balon, and after dealing with Balon) [doubtful] and went to the Citadel to find a book about "The Extinction of Dragons".



(End of this chapter)