Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 232 Lannister vs Tyrell

It's a dream.

Jaime dreamed that he was on a battlefield. He dreamed that he was leading the Lannister cavalry, fighting with thousands of unarmored foreign riders on the blood-stained fields.

A terrifying dragon roar resounded across the battlefield. He saw a huge black dragon appear in the sky. Driven by a white-haired rider, the dragon kept burning at the Lannister cavalry. The battle turned into a one-sided massacre. The counterattack of the Lannister army was useless, and the scorpion crossbows prepared did not cause any casualties. Soon, the Lannister army on the battlefield was completely wiped out, leaving only him.

And the dragon is still there.

James didn't know where he got the courage from. He looked at the dragon, rode on his white horse, and charged at the dragon. The battlefield was filled with smoke and the sun was blazing. James saw the golden armor on his body reflecting the sunlight and shining brightly. He pulled out a spear from the battlefield of flesh and blood and rushed towards the dragon without hesitation. Honor, family, affection, and love were all thrown behind him. He knew he would die, but he still rode forward.

The dragon was charging back at him. Jaime faced the dragon and its rider, his white cloak blowing in the wind behind him, like a brave and unyielding knight who would fight to the death. At that moment, he was the White Knight, the Captain of the Kingsguard, Jaime Lannister. He seemed to see the shadow of the White Bull and the sword of the Morning in himself.

But his charge came to an abrupt halt as a figure suddenly jumped out from the flank and pounced on James who was charging, knocking him into the lake at the side.

The dragon's flames swept across the water, and James was horrified, but also felt very painful.

Who saved him and why?

The next moment, the scene changed and he saw himself in the throne room.

"Burn them!" the man on the throne screamed frantically, "Burn them all!"

He looked up and saw that the figure was the Mad King Aerys, but more than that, as he/she looked back, the face changed to that of Cersei.

That hideous face was sometimes Aerys and sometimes Cersei. Jaime looked at him and felt uneasy and panicked.

"I command you, Jaime!" the monster on the throne shouted, the voice of Mad King Aerys blending with Cersei's. "Burn them!"

"No!"

He woke up with a start.

There was a rustling sound nearby, and Jaime realized that it was Josmine Pike who had risen and was fumbling with her sword belt.

"What time is it?" James said calmly. "No need to take a sword."

"Wolf time," the attendant replied.

He stood up: "I'm thirsty, pour me a glass of wine."

The attendant responded and left.

There were still two hours before the scheduled departure. James touched the armor on his body. It was not a comfortable thing to sleep with the armor on. He didn't expect that he could fall asleep like this and even have a dream.

The strange dream made it hard for him to fall asleep. Jaime thought back and felt that the dream was absurd. He thought that he might have the courage to charge the dragon, but he didn't believe that the Lannister knights would fight to the death after the dragon appeared as he did in the dream. Although it was a bit unfair, Jaime believed that if the Lannister riders encountered the dragon, they would only need one round of attack and he had no doubt that the battle formation would collapse.

As for riding a horse towards a dragon, it was even more absurd. In the Battle of the Whispering Wood, Jaime had seen Robb the Young Wolf's wolf. That wolf was only as big as a horse, and it frightened the rider's mount so much that it dared not move, allowing Robb the Young Wolf to have the upper hand in the battle. Jaime wanted to know where he could buy a horse that would not be afraid when facing a dragon and still dare to charge forward. Riders would be frightened when encountering wilder carnivores when hunting, and Jaime didn't believe that there was a horse around him that was not afraid of dragons.

Although this dream was absurd, perhaps it was telling something? James tried to recall the figure who threw him off his horse into the lake. His agility was amazing, and he was able to knock the rider off the horse without any injury at high speed. James even began to doubt whether the figure in his dream was a human.

As for the second dream, James didn't want to recall it.

He loves Cersei, gives up everything for her. If the gods are merciful, Jaime would rather die on the battlefield and be burned by dragon flames than face that situation again.

The night was still long, but Jaime did not sleep until the brass trumpets in the camp began to play low.

It's still far from dawn.

The army began to assemble, and the cooks had already prepared the pre-battle breakfast, including bread, bacon, dried beef, eggs and apples. The time before the battle was always the most generous time in the barracks, and every rider must be ensured to have enough food and drink.

When Jaime walked out of the tent, the army had already assembled. Two hundred knights were leading their horses in front of the tent waiting for the order to attack. Two thousand cavalrymen, one thousand horse archers, and two thousand spearmen were lined up in the camp.

"Ser Jaime!" a knight in gilded mail and a red cloak shouted, "Please give the order!"

James took the reins from the servant Josmin, jumped on the horse, and shouted, "Go!"

The sky was still dark, and the morning dew was thick and chilly.

As low trumpets sounded, columns of troops and horses marched out of the camp in the dark dawn.

In preparation for this battle, scouts went out last night and searched the vicinity thoroughly in preparation for today's surprise attack.

The Lannister garrison was about two leagues (five or six kilometers) away from the Tyrell army. This distance was neither too close nor too far. For the two sides in the siege, this distance was just right. It was almost impossible for the two sides to camp and confront each other with only a few hundred steps apart, as in TV dramas. Even if the army was besieging a city, the camp would generally be stationed at least ten miles away from the city. Therefore, the situation where the two sides immediately fought a decisive battle after leaving the camp basically did not happen.

If the two sides fail to agree on a battle and the fight does not take place in the open space outside their camps, then when one side needs to launch a surprise attack, it often needs to travel a distance to reach the enemy area.

To attack an enemy by surprise, one can only eliminate as many enemy scouts as possible and rush to the enemy camp.

Being able to form a battle array two or three miles away from the enemy camp before being discovered was already considered a remarkable raid.

In fact, naval battles and land battles can be roughly compared to surprise attacks. For example, Euron's previous surprise attack on the Redwyne fleet, which was close to the attack distance of two or three miles, was already a very remarkable surprise attack. However, the Redwyne fleet was already on high alert, making the surprise attack ineffective.

And this attack by Lannister was also another kind of raid.

The early morning hours are often the time when people are most tired, and it is also the most appropriate time to attack the camp.

Roose Bolton had raided Tywin's camp in a similar way before, but Roose Bolton was more ruthless. He marched south overnight and got within a league of Tywin before Tywin reacted in time, causing chaos in Tywin's army.

It was just that Roose Bolton was too impatient, and the rapid march southward was exhausted in the dark, and he ran into a tough nut to crack, Tywin, who responded properly, so that the surprise attack did not achieve a good effect, and was instead repelled.

Now Tywin intends to use this method to deal with the Tyrell army.

After Tywin issued the order yesterday, the entire army slept soundly last night and made early preparations, planning to march out in the early morning and arrive at the designated battlefield before dawn, in order to achieve a surprise attack effect.

In the early morning, the tents by the river were shrouded in a pale mist in the night, which served as a cover for the Lannister army. The men and horses stumbled in the pre-dawn mist, passing through the wilderness that had become increasingly familiar.

Only two miles from the hills where Randyll Tarly's camp was located, scouts sent by Ser Adam found Jaime.

Soon, Ser Adam Marbrand and his four thousand cavalry joined Jaime, bringing him Davon Lannister and three thousand lancers and shields.

The second-in-command of the attack on Ser Randyll was given to Davon Lannister, who looked like a lion king and had a hairy face. He was Jaime's cousin. It was he who led the Lannister troops outside Riverrun to the south, making the Lannister army slightly larger than the Tyrell army in number.

Jaime and his knights hid behind a hill as a backup.

Jaime knew that his orders were not to launch an attack. Even if the Lannister army achieved results or retreated, he would have to wait until the enemy's pursuit was disconnected before taking action.

This is just a feint attack, and the casualties may still be controlled.

But on the other side was the main attack direction where Tywin himself was in charge. In order to make the bait credible, Jaime knew that Tywin would attack with all his might until the enemy's camp was captured or they retreated.

In the mist, a layer of pale white clouds seemed to appear on the horizon in the east, while the sky in the west was still dark, with only a few stars dotted in the sky. James looked up and gazed deeply into the sky...

A military bugle call sounded in the distance in the west, its low, mournful sound was chilling.

Jaime spurred his horse to the top of the low hill. The horn sounded from Lord Rowan's camp, which meant that the army to the west had been discovered, but was close enough.

The rumbling sound of war drums came from the west.

Torches lit up in the darkness before dawn as the sound of war drums followed.

They are densely packed and countless, like slowly blooming flaming roses.

The sound of the horn seemed like a whimper.

James raised his hand, and the lieutenant beside him lit the torch and raised the flag.

Soon after, the sound of rumbling war drums began and countless torches were lit.

The spearmen's spikes gleamed in the firelight.

The knights of each tribe rode on armored horses and led the soldiers forward, and the standard-bearers held up their family flags and walked side by side with them.

The distance of less than two miles was so far. Lord Randyll seemed to have been prepared. There was only a moment of panic in the camp, but soon there was a response. Soon the camp gate opened, and a cavalry came out. The spearmen hiding behind the barriers of shields and spears from other gates came out one after another, and came to the front of the camp in a uniform goose formation, like a steel hedgehog with thorns, hiding behind the tall oak shield with the emblem of the striding hunter, ready for battle.

The enemy had appeared in front of them, and the Lannister army, emerging from the hills and hiding behind a barrier of shields and spears, was also marching forward in unison.

Gods be damned, the enemy was well prepared. This meant that their plan to cut down the outer guards, clear the fences, facilitate the cavalry assault, and let the non-main cavalry jump over the ditch and go deep into the camp to set fire had failed. Jaime sighed in his heart, but he knew what Tywin's back-up plan was. He only cursed secretly and continued to look seriously at the front where the battle was about to begin.

Now that the enemy is prepared, the next step will be a hand-to-hand combat.

Tywin commanded the soldiers to attack the west camp earlier than this side.

When the trumpet sounds faded, the speculative sounds of whining and hissing filled the gap.

Huge balls of fire were seen like meteorites, falling from the rear of the battle array towards the western camp of the Tyrell army. Hot oil, boulders and burning asphalt barrels were the first round of attacks.

From here, the western sky seemed to be filled with meteorites, which fell to the ground and splashed up terrifying clusters of flaming red flowers.

Smoke and the smell of burning began to spread.

On this side, the two sides were already within a hundred steps of each other, and a hissing sound was heard.

Ahead, as the archers rained down arrows, the Lannisters began to run, shouting, "Kill!"

The sound of killing shook the sky.

The crossbows from the Tully camp rained down arrows, and the arrows shot by the Lannister archers were like hail. Thousands of arrows crossed in the air and fell into the enemy camp in an instant. Many people fell to the ground after being shot, and their shouts turned into wails.

Second round, third round.

The rain of arrows caused limited damage to the shield-charging troops, but the vanguard spearmen with thick shields had already made contact.

Long rows of spears stretched out from behind the tall shields, piercing the enemy formation with cold light.

The Lannisters formed a wedge formation and charged straight into the enemy formation. Many people were pierced through the chest by the sharp spears and died on the spot. In less than a few heartbeats, Jaime saw more than a dozen people fall to the ground from his high position.

At this moment when the sharp spear arrays of both sides were close to each other, Ilyn Payne led a team of elite heavy armored death squads, and they filed out from under the heavy oak shields. They crouched down and launched an attack from under the spear forest formed by the spearmen, wielding swords fearlessly and rushing towards the enemy's shield array, occasionally slashing off the enemy's spear shafts and the exposed legs of the spearmen.

This death squad equipped with mail and plate armor and charging with swords formed the tip of the Lannister army's wedge formation. The sharp spears extending from behind the enemy formation failed to cause too much casualties, and the enemy formation began to press forward under the leadership of this tip.

But soon, the cavalry wandering around the periphery of both sides had circled to the side, found the weak points of both sides' formations, and began to attack from both sides.

When faced with densely packed spear formations, even heavily armored cavalry would not easily risk a frontal charge, not to mention that both sides were only deploying light cavalry.

Jaime discovered that Randyll Tarly seemed to have not seen the main force, so he did not immediately deploy his heavy cavalry.

The light cavalry began to charge. Two-thirds of the 1,500 light cavalry were horse archers. The cavalry array charged, and the horse archers fired volleys on horseback, causing casualties and chaos on the enemy's flanks. After approaching the long rows of spears that had been set up in the enemy's formation, many horses stopped sprinting at the last moment and dodged. Of course, some of them charged directly, and were pierced through the chest by the spear tip under the impact, and died on the spot. But these dead opened the way for the main force of more than 500 knights with horse harnesses and armor, who then spared no effort to rush into the enemy's formation with thorny spear tips.

This is a cavalry tactic in which a group of heavy cavalry are hidden among the light cavalry to launch surprise attacks.

The Tully army's flanks obviously had not anticipated this. Frenzy horses leaped into the enemy formation in batches, and although they reacted quickly and stabbed with spears from all directions, the shield wall also collapsed under the pressure of the heavy cavalry, and Randyll Tully's army was in turmoil for a moment.

But soon, Randyll Tarly's light cavalry also circled the Lannister army's flank. Both sides stabbed each other in the waist, but it was obvious that the Lannister stabbed harder in the first round.

Randyll Tarly's cavalry reserve was dispatched first, pressing against the flank torn apart by the five hundred heavily armored cavalry, trying to help the flank close the gap in the shield wall again. But the cavalry rushed in, the mad horses struggled desperately, and rushed left and right. Although the cavalry formation was already at the end of its strength, it still did not allow the enemy to close again.

War horses fell to the ground one after another, and the knights who were still able to move stood up from the pool of blood, holding high their two-handed swords and launching frantic attacks. They fought madly in the enemy camp and fought hard to create a piece of open space, freeing up an area for the rest of the heavy cavalry who rushed in and whose horses were not seriously injured to gather momentum for another attack.

But soon, the cavalry reserve sent by Randall Tully arrived at the torn flank, and the cavalry prepared and began to charge.

Someone among the Lannister cavalry noticed this and began to whistle continuously.

The heavy cavalry that had assembled in the gap torn by the friendly forces turned around, suddenly started their horses, and began to charge towards Randyll Tarly's reserve.

The light cavalry that had previously bypassed the spear formation had gathered again not far away. They tried to outflank the enemy again, but found that the enemy had already sent a part of its troops to wait in formation. The light cavalry launched a second round of attack, and at this time, a rain of arrows fell on their heads. Many people fell off their horses.

The clash of heavily armored cavalry was terrifying. But Randyll Tarly had more cavalry, and although the two sides still seemed to be evenly matched in the fierce clash, Jaime knew that he could not defeat the enemy by outlasting his troops.

At this time, the second round of charge of the light cavalry once again pressed into the enemy's formation. Similarly, the second round of charge of the enemy's light cavalry also rushed into the Lannister formation.

Under the impact of the cavalry, the shield hedgehogs of both sides were crumbling, and both sides were caught in a meat grinder-like melee.

The sky gradually brightened, the bloodstains on the ground became redder, and the number of corpses increased.

Even from a distance, James could hear the soldiers' shouting and screaming, which was deafening and breathtaking.

Observing from a distance, Jaime realized that if all the current cavalry were deployed to Randyll Tarly's side, perhaps Tarly's army could be defeated.

But James knew that simply causing the enemy to be defeated externally for a short period of time would not change the overall situation of the battle.

The enemy forces supported each other so that Mace Tyrell's army could provide support from the rear at any time.

Just as Jaime thought, the battle line commanded by Tywin in the west gained an advantage. The vanguard led by Gregor Clegane, the Mountain, once approached the enemy camp, cleared the fence, and even at one point, some cavalry had jumped over the ditch and rushed into the enemy camp with swords and torches in hand. But soon, as the enemy's central army reserve with rose flags arrived to support with the sound of horns, the Lannister cavalry who rushed into the enemy camp and set fire were quickly caught in the trap, with no way to escape, and were soon strangled in the camp by the Tyrell army that came to support.

Even faster, the Tyrell reinforcements that Rowan had waited for pushed over the fences and walls of the camp, and launched a cavalry charge against the Mountain's salient from inside the camp.

The troops on the Mountain's side were half infantry and half cavalry. It was visible to the naked eye that the infantry formation lasted less than ten heartbeats before being defeated, and the Mountain only had less than two hundred cavalrymen to prepare to meet the enemy.

And Tywin seemed to have really used up his old tricks. Kevan in the reserve led the remaining cavalry and launched an all-out counterattack against the Tyrell reinforcements from the right wing.

The elite Lannister cavalry were all with Jaime. Although the Mountain and Kevan fought bloody and desperately, when the sun rose, Tywin's army inevitably showed signs of collapse.

As for Davon Lannister, although the battle achieved better results than expected - the number of troops in Randyll Tarly's camp was smaller than expected, Davon's 6,000 troops relied on the advantage in the number of troops to push Randyll Tarly's troops back to the camp, and might even have had a chance to break into the camp.

But chaos inevitably broke out in Tywin's army line.

Now the main force of Lannister's cavalry, totaling 6,000 men, are all with Jaime. Tywin and Davon's cavalry have only 4,000 at most, and most of them are new recruits.

James' forehead was already covered in sweat, but he gritted his teeth and endured, remaining as still as a mountain.

No matter what the current battle situation is, he must obey the orders given to him by Tywin.

The heavy hopes of Lannister are all on his shoulders!

Finally, the horn of retreat came from Tywin's army in the west.

The army began to fall into visibly disarray.

On James' side, Davon, who took over the command from James, also began to blow the retreat horn.

The battle lines of both sides began to separate, and Jaime saw that many Lannister soldiers had no time to retreat and were trapped in the enemy's formation, either killed in battle or surrendered. Davon's reserve troops, which had never been sent out, finally took action to support the retreating troops. With the assistance of the reserve troops, they began to retreat in an orderly manner.

Compared to this side, Tywin's defeat is a bit terrible.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

The army began to flee like crazy.

The remaining cavalry under Tywin's command only responded for a while before retreating without a care in the world. Two divisions of at least two to three thousand men were left behind at the front line. They were defeated and either surrendered or were hunted down.

The pursuit on the west side began.

The Tyrell cavalry began to pursue, while the infantry began to gather up the surrendered soldiers and infantry.

The Lannister rout on the west was so horrific that the cavalry and infantry were out of sync. Lord Tywin fled like a lost dog, leading only the cavalry.

This bait seemed to have really worked, and the Tyrell cavalry pursuers were seen to be out of touch with the infantry. In order to pursue, the Tyrell cavalry formation was even in chaos.

James remained motionless.

Although the pursuers on the west were chasing him, on Davon's side, Randall Tully's pursuers were only chasing him symbolically. When they were frightened by Davon's covering troops, they began to stabilize and retreat.

Whether due to insufficient troops, caution, or reading Tywin's trap, Randyll Tarly did not leave the camp to pursue as expected.

"Alas!" Jaime couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He realized that even if the western army lured out by Tywin was killed, it might not be enough to win the entire battle, because Randyll Tarly would react after his attack and set up defenses in the remaining two camps in time.

But Jaime also knew that the results were enough for the Lannister army to escape from this unexpected battle and withdraw from the confrontation with the Tyrell army that was no longer relevant to the overall situation.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves is approaching.

James knew it was time.

James stretched out his golden right hand and raised it high: "Pass the order, the whole army is ready!"

Ser Addam Marbrand stepped down at the command, and the standard-bearer began to wave the banner.

As Lord Tywin's retreating cavalry passed the low hill where Jaime's ambush lay, and the rumble of hoofbeats drew near again, Jaime threw down his arms.

The sound of trumpets announcing the Lannister army's attack rang out across the plains, and six thousand cavalrymen, divided into three groups, emerged in droves from the tops of two hills, all over the mountains.

Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep.

The sound of the Lannister trumpet was low and long, like the cold wind from the north, chilling.

The loud sound of horse hooves was as powerful as a landslide.

"For the Lannisters!"

Jaime roared a command, and thousands of voices responded immediately: "For the Lannisters!"

Jaime kicked his horse and joined the noisy chorus, then rushed forward with the vanguard.

Jaime's attack was at the perfect time, and the Tyrell pursuers fell into a trap. The Lannister cavalry charged at full force, cut them off, swooped in from the flank, and routed Tyrell's cavalry like a whirlwind.

Ser Adam Marbrand, with a thousand cavalrymen, made a large circle and cut off the Tyrell army's pursuit. At the same time, he gathered the defeated Lannister army and commanded them to attack the pursuers.

Tywin was cruel enough to both his enemies and himself.

If the Tyrell army attacks in full force, then under Jaime's surprise attack, it is very likely that the Tyrell army will be wiped out.

It’s a pity that the Tyrell army has veteran generals like Randyll Tarly.

What was even more unexpected was that Randyll Tarly actually had fifteen thousand cavalrymen lying in ambush in the camp - it seemed that Lord Randyll originally planned to launch a surprise charge after Davon Lannister's army broke into the camp.

Now seeing that the armies of Tyrell and Lord Rowan were ambushed while pursuing them, Randyll Tarly could no longer hold back and sent troops to rescue them.

It has to be said that when the two sides were evenly matched, the commanders on both sides used all their strategies to the best of their ability.

As Jaime and his cavalry rushed out in force, charging at the enemy, the red and gold banners of the Lannister family flew across the open battlefield. Tyrell and Rowan's pursuit troops were quickly and completely broken under the impact, like glass being hit by a hammer.

Moreover, this was a pincer attack. Sir Adam had outflanked the pursuers from behind and had hoped to completely crush the pursuers in a field battle and win with one blow.

But Randall Tully's surprise attack caused a second accident.

Ser Adam and Lord Randyll personally led the cavalry to fight together, but in the end it was Lord Randyll and Tyrell's army who were desperate for survival and opened up the retreat route that Ser Adam had cut off with great difficulty.

As the retreat route was opened, because the Lannister army's previous feigned defeat did not notify the lower-level soldiers, these suddenly rescued soldiers were suddenly thrown into a state of hell and heaven. They were unable to react in time, and their determination to fight was not as great as that of the enemy. They could only watch Randyll Tarly lead most of the Tyrell defeated soldiers away.

When the sun rose to the zenith in the early morning, this ups and downs battle finally came to an end.

The handsome James' armor was stained with blood, but there was no scar on his body, only a red spot where the spear pierced his chest.

When the grim Lord Tywin found him, he was pulling out the arrows stuck in his body with the help of his squires. The squires pulled out the arrows one by one in silence, while Jaime complained that the arrows had pierced holes in his armor.

A few arrows lodged themselves into the armor, not penetrating the mail underneath, but still causing Jaime to feel raw pain on his skin.

They had now retreated to a temporary camp by the river five miles outside the enemy camp.

James ordered everyone to rest and sent Davon and Adam, who had joined forces, to deal with the captured knights.

Lord Tywin was still wearing his armor. He looked at Jaime with his light green and gold eyes without saying a word.

"It was a great victory!" said Ser Kevan, who stood beside Lord Tywin. "You fought well, Jaime."

"This is not a victory." Jaime smiled bitterly, "They also captured many of us." Although the battle was won, the Tyrells retreated to the camp and did not come out. The Lannisters were already exhausted and could not get in, so they had to retreat, leaving behind a large number of friendly corpses. This at most provided a guarantee for the Lannisters to withdraw. At least when they retreated, the Tyrells did not dare to chase them.

"Randal Tarly used his troops more cautiously than expected," Lord Tywin paused, and finally said in a cold voice, "But victory is victory. Are you injured?"

"No." James shrugged. "Their arrows are not sharp enough."

Tywin wanted to say something, but Davon and Ser Adam rode up and said, "Lord Tywin!"

Tywin stopped talking and walked forward to greet him.

Ser Davon knelt on one knee before Tywin and said, "My Lord, we have captured many prisoners, including Lord Caswell, Lord Foldley, Ser Hobber Redwyne, and Ser Aegon Ryvel. Lord Foldley died in battle. Unfortunately, if it weren't for Randyll Tarly's cunningness, Lord Matus Rowan and Loras Tyrell would have been our prey as well."

With so many prisoners, especially the two sons of Redwyne who were captured one after another, regardless of the loss of troops, Tywin's battle this time can indeed be called a victory.

But now, no matter how great Tywin's victory here is, it cannot change the Lannisters' steps towards the cliff.

There was not much joy on James' face.

Tywin said sternly, "Pass the order. After lunch, the whole army will move northwest. We will find a place to camp on the Kingsroad." Then he looked at Jaime, "Jaime, you will keep some troops and control the prisoners. It is up to you to decide how to deal with them." Lord Tywin turned around and looked at Kevan, "Kevan, prepare the troops, distribute the captured and brought goods as rewards, and set out after lunch."

After saying this, Lord Tywin looked at Jaime deeply, then turned and left.

Jaime realized that this might be the last time Tywin talked to him. He wanted to say something, but all the words seemed to freeze in his throat. In the end, he only said: "Father, take care."

Tywin paused, his red cloak fluttering in the wind. He did not look back.

(End of this chapter)