Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 179 Marwyn's Request and Hightower
Viserys flipped through a few pages and asked grimly, "I would not expect the Citadel to leave a book like this lying around for anyone to read. You say you are not trusted, so why did you bring this book to me?"

Marwyn explained, "My Lord, as you say, this book was not made public. It was brought out from behind the doors of the Cardinals' Chamber by a secret society after the Cardinals learned that you had landed on Dragonstone with your dragon. They never imagined that I was watching them.

The news of your landing on Dragonstone Island has brought great shock to the doctors of the Citadel. I realized that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it is my chance to enter the secret door and find out what is going on. So before the secret meeting of the society, I knocked Colin the Quiet Stargazer unconscious and stole his mask - he is about the same size as me, and is a member of the secret society. I used his mask to attend the meeting instead of him. Haha, the group of gray sheep were frightened by the rumors about your dragon, and no one noticed that I had mixed in with them.

That weirwood door is a magic door. If you knew, Your Majesty, that a magic door with a magic contract can only be opened by someone who has sworn an oath in front of the corresponding ceremony - it is ironic that they hate magic but use magic doors to keep secrets.

I followed them in and saw the scene behind the door. Behind the door was a passage leading to a room with seven walls. I guessed it was the first floor of a tower. The wall shelves were filled with leather-bound books, boxes of ancient scrolls, and stone tablets carved with runes. I dare to guarantee that all the unknown secrets of the Citadel recorded and studied for thousands of years are there. The dragon is just one area, but there are also various records on two whole walls.

There I even saw the broken axe used to kill dragons - I think you have guessed it, yes, it was the axe that 'woodcutter' Habu used to kill Slikos in the battle of the Dragon Cave during the Dance of the Dragons.

This book was taken from the bookshelf by Theobald, the convener of the secret meeting and the current Cardinal Archbishop.

The rest was easy. I watched Theobald take the book and put it on the shelf in his study. Then I visited him that night. I stole the book. Then I set off for Dragonstone."

Viserys was willing to believe that what Marwyn said was true. The magic door that Marwyn mentioned reminded Viserys of the Black Gate at the deepest part of the kitchen well in the Nightfort on the Wall. The Black Gate was a secret door, as old as the Wall. The Black Gate was made of white weirwood and had a face on it. When someone approached the Black Gate, the eyes on the door would open and ask, "Who are you?" A brother of the Night's Watch had to answer part of the oath before the door would open. This secret door in the Citadel might also be a magical creation of the same kind.

As for the history of the Targaryen Dance with the Dragons, Viserys has more ideas. At the beginning, it might be understandable that the bloody civil war was caused by the two parties for their respective demands, but in the later period, it was obviously far from as simple as a civil war.

More than twenty dragons, one civil war, and all of them died?

Even five dragons died at the hands of the mob?

If you say something like this and tell others there is no conspiracy involved, it will make people laugh.

During the King's Landing riots in the later period of the Dance with the Dragons, it is said that a one-armed prophet named Shepherd called for the slaying of dragons, and the crazy mob attacked the dragon's lair in King's Landing at the call of this prophet without regard for their lives.

According to records, the young female dragon Silikos was bound by heavy chains, and a woodcutter named "woodcutter" Habu jumped on her neck and chopped her head with an axe. The dragon Silikos roared and twisted loudly, trying to throw Habu under him.

But Habu, the unknown woodcutter before the dragon slaying, seemed to have no fear or panic at all. He was like a killer who had practiced countless times and was very familiar with the blind spots of the dragon's vision. He clamped his legs around the dragon's neck and used the axe to smash the dragon's head seven times in a row. Each time he shouted loudly to one of the seven gods. When he shouted "Stranger", the axe went through the scales and bones of Slikos and hit its brain.

So Srikos became the first dragon to be killed by a mob.

Is this a mob?

Is this a woodcutter?
What kind of woodcutter dares to face a dragon?

What kind of axe does he have that can smash into a dragon's head?
In addition, there was a Burning Knight in the mob. According to records, during the riot that attacked the dragon's lair, the Burning Knight killed the second dragon, Mogul.

At that time, this man was wearing heavy armor and holding a spear, leading the charge towards the dragon's flames. Even as his steel armor was melted by the dragon's flames and his flesh was devoured by the molten iron, he still used the tip of his spear to repeatedly pierce Mogul's eyes and killed the dragon.

A lumberjack and a burning knight both aimed at the dragon's weakness and risked their lives to slay it.

Is this just an ordinary mob?

Or are they well-trained warriors born to slay dragons?
There was also Terekhu, who was still a young dragon during the Dance with the Dragons. It is said that the dragon was chained and could only retreat to its lair while roasting those who wanted to be dragon slayers with dragon flames. Its corpse even blocked the entrance. However, the mob rushed in through the back door. It was entangled in the iron chains and was killed.

There were four dragons in the dragon cave at that time, and only Dreamfire managed to break free of the chains and fly. But after taking off, Dreamfire was shot in the eye by a crossbow arrow, which made it mad and it crashed into the dome of the dragon cave, half of the dome collapsed and buried it.

The most outrageous thing was the giant dragon Syrax, which belonged to Queen Rhaenyra at the time. At the end of the Dragon Cave Battle, without a pilot, the dragon flew to Rhaenys Hill like a madman, descended in front of the mob that crawled out of the ruins of the Dragon Cave, and fought with the mob on the ground like crazy.

As if it had forgotten how to fly, it madly burned the mobs to death with its dragon flame and bit them with its mouth.

Of course, he couldn't escape the fate of being killed in the end.

There are many versions about Syrax's death. Some say he was killed by Habu's axe, some say a knight with a Valyrian steel sword cut off his wings, some say a crossbow shot his eyes, and some even say a warrior of one of the seven gods summoned by the prophet Shepherd cut off the dragon's head with a sword condensed from black mist.

It's really funny to say that the "mob" who attacked the dragon's lair were all fearless and daring. They were not afraid of the dragon at all. They were well-trained and could even hit the dragon's weaknesses accurately.

The mobs have axes and spears that can slay dragons, crossbows and dragon-shooting crossbows that are only equipped by the army, and can even accurately shoot the giant dragon Dreamfyre that has already taken off. There are also Valyrian steel swords and armored knights who attack under dragon flames.

Yet history has labeled these people an angry mob.

Because Rhaenyra Targaryen, who ruled King's Landing at the time, fled King's Landing in a hurry, these mobs disappeared since then, and no one tried them and their whereabouts are unknown.

Three months later, when Aegon II returned, there were only a few rebellious people who were easily wiped out. Half a year later, the Black Party army once again came to King's Landing, Aegon II was poisoned to death, and the Black Party supported Rhaenyra's fourth son Aegon III as king.

But by then no one cared to investigate the mob.

The Aegon III who ascended the throne was Aegon, known as "Aegon the Dragonbane". During his term, the last dragon, "The Last Dragon", was a weak and deformed guy hatched from a dragon egg after the war. He was weak and had withered wings. He died at a very young age.

From then on, the Targaryen family could no longer hatch a dragon.

Viserys listened to Marwyn's story, which was not easy to hear, and then looked at the book, and his thoughts ran wild. Viserys flipped through the book and found that the several dragon-slaying cases in the book were all recorded during the battle in the Dragon Cave.

This explains a lot of things. The battle in the dragon's lair was more like the last link to perfect the dragon-slaying theory in this book, that is, to verify the feasibility of the theory.

Viserys could not help but look at the Citadel's occult doctor. "You should have a last name before you take the oath of becoming a maester, Master Marwyn."

Marwyn answered: "A maester no longer speaks of his last name when he wins his necklace, and now I am a maester."

Viserys said: "But you are obviously not a maester who follows the ancients. You are not a person without political leanings. You are close to Targaryen, or rather, you are close to dragons, sorcery and magic."

"The maesters have no political leanings? Perhaps the Citadel has used this doctrine to deceive the world for too long, and even they themselves believe it. If you do not interfere with their position, they certainly have no political leanings, but if you conflict with their goals, Your Majesty, you should read that book and understand how flexible their position of 'no political leanings' is."

"Since you won't tell me your last name, I'll ask you another question. You risked your life to come to me. What do you want? What do you want from me, Master Marwyn?" Marwyn looked around, first at Nightfire, and finally at Viserys's dragonized hand. "I want to know how you hatched dragons, but if you think that's presumptuous, I think you have many other things here that I would trade my life for."

"I never hatched a dragon. I took their power," Viserys answered. "That is the truth."

Marwyn did not hesitate and asked another question: "Then please tell me, Your Majesty, is the city library still there in the ruins of the Valyrian capital? Or if you went to Tria, is Tria's study still there?"

Tria is a city in the Valyrian Freehold. It is said that Tria has the largest and most famous library, Tria Library. But after the Doom, the Valyrian Peninsula has become a dead place where humans cannot set foot.

Even if there are occasional legends of people who have come back alive from the Valyrian ruins, they probably never reached the center of the ruins. They only explored the edge of the Sea of ​​Smoke. Because the sky and land of the city ruins are said to be full of dangers. The sky of the city ruins is always covered with blood-colored clouds, and the land is haunted by demons, which are full of poisonous substances and curses that humans cannot touch. There are countless sea monsters and demons just outside the Sea of ​​Smoke.

But Marwyn believed that Viserys must have been deep in the ruins of Valyria, because this was the only reasonable explanation for Viserys's acquisition of dragons and magic.

But Viserys's answer disappointed him. "I do not know whether they still exist. I have not been to the library in the ruins of Valyria, or to the study of Telia. In the king's name, that is the truth."

Marwyn felt a little disappointed after receiving this answer, but he soon cheered up: "Your Majesty, if you plan to go to the ruins of Valyria again in the future, I beg you to take me with you. Even if you have to keep me there forever to keep the secret of the safe route, I still ask you to take me with you!"

Viserys did know how to get to those places. The soul in the Dragonbinder horn had tried to replace Viserys, and the vague memory of that soul allowed Viserys to know the location and route of the landmark buildings in the capital of Valyria and several large cities. If those city routes still had reference value.

Viserys even knew a secret route that led upstream from the river that flowed through the Valyrian capital to the palace of the Valyrian dragonlords - that was the route the dragonbinders had taken to escape the Valyrian capital.

But again, those routes may have changed over time, or they may have changed with the Doom of Valyria.

"I know where they might be, if they haven't migrated in large numbers or been destroyed by a catastrophe during the course of history," Viserys said. "But I don't plan to go there, Master Marwyn. As a doctor of magic and the occult, you should know how dangerous it is. Routes that were safe in the past may not be safe now."

Every word Viserys answered to Marwyn was true.

The only thing was that Marwyn had a preconceived notion that Viserys had been to the ruins of Valyria.

Marwyn saw that the king seemed to have some feelings for him, so he asked for what he wanted again to show his sincerity: "Then your majesty, if you think I can be of use to you, please let me stay with you. After you have cleared the cancer of the academy, let me read all the secret books hidden in the academy."

"Well, Master Marwyn, I intend to hire you as my royal advisor on magic and the mystic," Viserys said bluntly, "but I must make it clear that I will have many restrictions on you. To be honest, you are a dangerous person in my eyes. You were born in the Citadel, but you are betraying the Citadel. What you want from me makes me unsure whether you have any other purpose that you don't want to tell me."

"My purpose has been clear from the beginning, Your Majesty. I want to know how the magic of this world works, its power, its form, and its essence."

"Ordinary people don't have such absurd visions. What makes you so obsessed with magic? You are a doctor of mysticism. You should be over fifty years old. You don't want to mention your last name. Studying magic and mysticism will be despised in the Citadel, but you still chose this subject in an era when magic was declining and became a doctor.

You said you were not trusted in the Citadel, but the Citadel recognized your talent and gave you a doctorate. Your blood must be noble. My great-grandfather, Maester Aemon of the Wall, was 102 years old. Even if his talent was not very good, he should have been given an honorary doctorate according to his age. But he was still a maester. Considering the hostile attitude of the secret societies in the Citadel towards the Targaryen bloodline, you must not be a descendant of a Targaryen. "

Viserys spoke eloquently: "Let me ask you, what is your relationship with the old man Leighton Hightower in Oldtown? It is said that Lord Leighton and his daughter, Madwoman Morea, stayed in the Tower to study magic books and never stepped out of the Tower for decades. According to you, the Citadel is hostile to magic, so why did you let Hightower, who is also in Oldtown, study magic without any intervention? I guess your last name is Hightower."

Marwyn's eyes widened, white hair sticking out of his ears and nostrils. "My last name is Flowers. I'm sorry, Your Majesty, if that bothers you. I grew up in the Citadel. I served as an assistant maester to Dr. Cassander when he was still a maester. He was my mentor and the author of Song of the Sea: The Rupture of the Continent. My fascination with magic originated from him. But as you said, my parents must be noble. In fact, I know that I must be the illegitimate child of a maester in the Citadel and a lady of Hightower. I guess that's why I was promoted to a maester."

"Bastard? I'm sorry if that offends you, Master." Viserys looked at him. "But what you said about the Citadel's tolerance of the Hightower family's magical research has made me wonder. I wonder what your attitude towards the Hightowers is?"

"I have no feelings toward Hightower, sire. My mother married elsewhere, died elsewhere, and was buried elsewhere. And I, a maester, have no ties to Hightower."

"Since the Citadel secret society is so indulgent to Hightower, how do you think I should deal with the Hightower family, my magical advisor?" Viserys asked. "It was the Hightower family that invested in the construction of the Citadel and has been protecting it till now. As far as I know, the Hightower family has always been the biggest sponsor behind the maesters and the Church of the Seven."

This was sarcasm; what Viserys was actually asking about was the Hightowers' condoning of secret societies within the Citadel.

"I daresay that the Hightowers will surrender to you, sire." Marwyn looked up, breathing heavily from his thick neck. "The Hightowers have always been like this. They were once kings, ruling Oldtown and its surrounding areas.

Before the conquest, when the Andals invaded, they assisted and did not resist, and later they submitted to the successive kings of the Reach. During the conquest war, the Hightower family surrendered to Aegon the Conqueror, nominally to preserve Oldtown, but in fact to preserve themselves.

The owners of the towering tower were powerful and wealthy. Before Aegon's conquest, they had always preferred trade and disliked war, and rarely participated in the civil war in Westeros.

Until the Targaryen dragonlords came to rule Westeros, the only time the Hightowers actively participated in politics was when they married King Viserys I of House Targaryen.

The Dance of the Dragons that broke out afterwards was also because Hightower usurped the rights of the king's heir, Princess Rhaenyra, and supported Queen Hightower's eldest son, Aegon II, as king.

Your Majesty, do you think that the Hightower family provided the Citadel with an opportunity to exterminate the dragon? To be honest, now that I have put it this way, I cannot deny that there may be a connection.

Your Majesty, if you want my advice, I suggest you bring the Citadel, cleansed of its cancer, under your throne.

As for the Hightower family, it all depends on your decision."

"How can it be in my mind? Everyone knows that Hightower is the most entrenched family in the Reach. I am not Aegon, and he is not the Black King. If he surrenders with his entire clan, I am a wise king and I cannot destroy a noble family for no reason based on unfounded speculation."

Dislike war, rarely participate in the civil war in Westeros? Viserys doubts this. When the maesters and septons of Westeros all come from Oldtown, this sentence is like Viserys saying that the system of stewards he promoted is just to make it easier for his lords and vassals to have a standard for coordinating the whole territory, which can make it easier for the vassals to manage the territory.

Viserys deliberately designed a lot of special terms for the officers, just to make it difficult for them to replace the officers. In this way, no matter who takes over the work of the officers in Viserys' territory, they need to learn a set of professional terms of Dragonstone first. This is something that was deliberately designed to brand them spiritually.

"Your Majesty, I dare to assert that the secret chambers of the Citadel must contain records that are enough to shake the foundations of Hightower, so you must bring the Citadel under your throne."

"What if they saw you by my side before I arrived at the Citadel, and the Citadel caught fire for no apparent reason? Or what if you arrived at the Citadel with me and couldn't find the chamber you mentioned?"

"." Marwyn asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

"Doctor Marwyn, you are very knowledgeable. Do you know of a secret technique that can transform one person into another? The priests of the Red God call it 'flame weaving'."

(End of this chapter)