Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 275: Two or Three Things Before the Blood Gate Was Lost

"No way, absolutely impossible."

Lysa Tully, the actual leader of the Vale of Arryn, held Robert Arryn, the Lord of the Vale and the Warden of the East, and sat on the high seat of the Gates of the Moon, the home of the Royce family, in the warm charcoal fire of the charcoal brazier, and announced loudly:
"The Vale is protected by the Mountains of the Moon, and there is only one passage, the Vale Road. Even if the White Walkers reach the Riverlands, the Vale will not be affected. Send someone to inform Ser Andrew Waynwood immediately and ask him to close the Bloody Gate and isolate the Vale until the Long Night is over! Send him 300 men and tell him not to allow anyone, any ghost, to cross the Bloody Gate no matter what."

The reason why Lady Lysa and Lord Robert are now in the Gates of the Moon instead of the Eyrie, the home of Family Arryn in the Vale, is because after winter, the Eyrie is really not a place for humans to stay.

The Eagle's Nest stands on the top of the Moon Mountain Range in the middle of the valley, straddling the largest mountain in the valley, the Giant's Spear, and is located on a peak several thousand feet high. Even in summer, the towering peak of the Giant's Spear is covered with snow, and the melted snow on the top of the mountain gathers into the valley's miraculous alpine snowmelt waterfall "Alessa's Tears", which irrigates the black fertile plains of the valley plain. The climbing road of the Eagle's Nest is narrow and steep, and it is extremely difficult to climb the mountain in summer, let alone the winter and long nights after the cold weather.

The cold wind of winter will let every human who stays in the Eagle's Nest know the cruelty of nature.

The Arryns of all generations have the tradition of going down the mountain in winter and taking shelter from the cold at the Gates of the Moon, located at the foot of the mountain below Alyssa's Tears. In fact, during the Age of Heroes, when the Andal army invaded the fertile valley and seized the valley from the First Men, the family castle of the previous generations of the Arryns was the Gates of the Moon, located at the foot of the Giant's Spear. It was not until the Eyrie was built after several generations of hard work that the Arryns left the Gates of the Moon and moved into the Eyrie.

From then on, the Gates of the Moon became to the Arryn family what Dragonstone and Summerhall were to the Targaryen family, the second and third castles of the family.

It is said that Lysa Arryn was a spendthrift. At the instigation of Littlefinger Petyr Baelish, in order to divide the lords of the Vale who were increasingly dissatisfied with Lysa during the War of the Six Kings, especially the resistance of the lords of the Vale caused by Lysa's insistence on marrying Littlefinger.

Lysa actually gave the Gates of the Moon to Nestor Royce. Her purpose was to appease Viscount Royce, who had failed in his pursuit of Lady Lysa and had served as High Steward of the Vale for fourteen years. At the same time, she planted the seeds of division among the lords of the Vale for the Royce family, who were the leaders of the rebellious lords in the Vale.

In terms of results, Littlefinger's advice to Lysa achieved the desired results.

However, this behavior can truly be described as "the son sells the father's land without any pain." Lysa and Littlefinger used the second castle of House Arryn as a bargaining chip, but only used it to cover up their marriage and maintain their personal power.

This move triggered a series of follow-ups, and the Haddon family was very dissatisfied with this matter. Because Ser Harold Haddon of the Haddon family, according to the law of the Arryn family succession order, although Harold's Arryn family bloodline came from the maternal line, he was still the legal heir of Duke Robert Arryn. According to the tradition of the Valley, Ser Harold should serve as the "castle keeper" of the Gates of the Moon, a duty that is not the owner of the castle but in charge of the castle, until Robert Arryn gave birth to an heir and regained the rights.

In order to appease the Haddon family, Lysa and Littlefinger sold out some of the rights and interests of the Arryn family.

To be honest, if the ancestors of the Arryn family had spirits, they would probably want to crawl out of their graves and strangle Lysa and Littlefinger to death.

Back to the present.

Lady Lysa was discussing with Nestor, High Steward of the Vale and the newly appointed Lord of the Gates of the Moon, the letter from Oldtown that the maester had seen delivered by the frozen raven in the Crow's Nest today.

The Targaryen royal family claimed that the White Walkers had already moved south, and when the letter was written, the vanguard had reached the Neck. Calculating the time it took for the ravens to fly from Oldtown to the Vale in the long winter night, if the White Walker vanguard drove straight in and took the King's Road, based on the speed of human forced marches, they would probably have already crossed the Twins and penetrated deep into the Riverlands.

The Riverlands and the Vale are bordered by the Moon Mountains which stretch for hundreds of miles. Since the White Walkers have penetrated deep into the Riverlands, it stands to reason that they will undoubtedly pose a threat to the Vale.

Viscount Nestor of the Gates of the Moon responded to Lysa's words as the steward of the Vale. "My lady, after the Vale lent troops to Stark, you have already sent more men to Ser Andrew. The two watchtowers and the arch bridge of the Bloody Gate are already guarded by 500 men. The towers can no longer accommodate so many people, so we have to send 200 men to camp in the valley behind the Bloody Gate. In order to supply them, we have to send people from the Gates of the Moon to transport supplies to them every month in the cold night. It is really not advisable to send more troops."

Lisa was a little nervous: "What, did you send more troops before?"

"Madam, have you forgotten? When the army of Royce from Runestone City and the knights of the valley led by Sir Lynn left, the high mountain clans in the valley thought they could take the opportunity to enter the valley to plunder and attack the Blood Gate. Hundreds of people died under the city and fled back to the Bright Moon Mountains. At that time, you ordered to send more people to the Blood Gate."

Lisa's eyes suddenly widened: "I remember now! Didn't I send people to wipe out the Gaoshan Clan? Why is there no news about this? Why did they send more troops to the Blood Gate? How dare Andrew lie to me and not enter the Mingyue Mountains to kill those tribal savages?"

Nestor felt tired of Lady Lysa, who knew nothing about military affairs and was extremely self-centered. "Madam, we were planning to go into the mountains to clear out the enemy, but we were still preparing food, supplies, weapons, and horses, and the long night was coming, so Sir Andrew temporarily shelved the plan. He sent a knight to tell you, but you were busy discussing wintering and the coming long night with the lords of the valley, and left the matter to me. Did you forget?"

Lysa's eyes were sharp: "I didn't ask you to withdraw my plan to wipe out the savages!"

"Madam," Nestor explained, "the Moon Mountain Range is very dangerous after winter. The roads in the valley are rugged and rocky. Once it snows, they will be cut off. The roads are dangerous and it is really not suitable for sending troops. I saw that it was snowing at that time, and there were all kinds of strange phenomena in the sky as the long night was approaching, so..."

"You said the road was blocked, but why were those tribesmen from the Mountain Clan still able to move around and attack the Bloody Gate?" Lady Lysa said sharply, "Do you think I'm deceitful and want to challenge my authority?"

"Ma'am, we have no intention of challenging your authority," Nestor said hurriedly. "I put the follow-up arrangements in the document and gave it to you. Didn't you see it?"

Lisa's anger paused. She had no interest in those documents and rarely read them except for those that she clearly knew were related to power.

Although Nestor had good reasons, he refused to admit his mistakes and had a bad attitude. This made Lysa angry for no reason and she started to make trouble: "This is not a problem with the clerical staff! It's a problem that the knights of the Vale are afraid of the wind and snow. They change and refuse the orders of the lord because of a little difficulty, and dare not attack on the snowy road like the wild men of the mountain clan! Since you just said that supplies can be transported from Dangerstone to Bloody Gate, it means that the soldiers of the Vale can walk the Kingsroad in the snow and the long night. This is a question of whether the knights and soldiers of the Arryn family can still do things according to the orders of the lord of the Arryn family!"

Ser Nestor understood Lady Lysa's attitude. He had been the Lord Steward of the Vale for more than a decade. How could he not know that what the other party really wanted was someone to give her a way out and admit her mistakes? Before Lysa married Littlefinger, Nestor had handled many similar matters for Lysa, but at that time, Nestor was trying to please Lysa and gain the power that marrying the Lady of the Vale would bring.

But now that Lysa had married Littlefinger, Nestor's future was cut off, and she had already taken the Gates of the Moon. There was really no need to spoil her, so she just had to do her job as the chief steward: "What does the lady mean?"

Lisa's eyes widened, unable to believe that Nestor would kick the ball back to her.

The guardian of the Vale dug his fingers into the warm fur coat on his thighs and said, "Send Ser Andrew to the Gates of the Moon. You two can explain to me face to face why we can't send troops to wipe out those wildlings." As she spoke, the lady became more and more arrogant. "Also, when my uncles Ser Brynden Tully and Ser Donal Waynwood served as Knights of the Bloody Gate, why didn't the wildlings from the mountain clans attack the Bloody Gate? Why was the Bloody Gate targeted by the wildlings of the tribe not long after Ser Andrew took office? Tell Ser Andrew that if he doesn't do a good job in this position, there are plenty of knights in the Vale who can take his place!"

"Ma'am, this." Nestor wanted to explain that the tribesmen of the High Mountain Clan did not attack the Bloody Gate before because they robbed passers-by and caravans on the dangerous mountain roads near the Valley Road, stealing food and weapons. Later, at the beginning of the War of the Six Kings, Tyrion Lannister somehow contacted these tribesmen and took them to the Riverlands and King's Landing to fight. At that time, the Valley Road was really the quietest. But after the fall, the tribesmen came back, and they also brought back sophisticated weapons from Lannister, which had a terrible impact on the caravans on the Valley Road.

Until the Vale troops responded to the invitation of the Stark family and sent out a large number of cavalry and soldiers, these tribesmen may have thought that the Vale troops were going to enter the mountains to clear them out, so they all fled into the mountains. But when they found that the troops had entered the inland and were not going to kill the tribesmen, they returned.

It is not known whether these tribesmen have lost their brains, or whether they have lost their food source due to the cut off trade routes in winter, or whether they have seen two consecutive waves of troops leaving the valley and thought that the valley is now empty, so they have become bold and want to take advantage of the opportunity to sneak into the fertile land in the eastern part of the valley to plunder.

This is why Nestor guessed that the Blood Gate was attacked by the tribesmen.

But Nestor thought about it and realized that there was no need to explain these unfounded speculations to Lisa, a woman who was obviously looking for trouble and was angry, so he asked, "Madam, are you sure you want to do this?"

I don’t know if Lord Nestor knows that angry women hate rhetorical questions the most. It’s hard to tell whether he did it on purpose or by accident, but he just asked this question.

“Of course!” Lysa practically screamed. “Tell Ser Andrew to come to the Gates of the Moon. I must ask!”

"As you wish, ma'am." Nestor bowed slightly to Lysa respectfully. "I will send someone to the Bloody Gate to summon Sir Andrew."

Lisa gritted her teeth and punched the opponent angrily: "Go! Now! Immediately!"

Her movement awakened Lord Robert Arryn, who was sleeping in the warmth of the charcoal brazier in her arms.

The eight-year-old duke, who was still breastfeeding and frail, screamed loudly and piercingly, "Mommy, a White Walker wants to eat me!"

He seemed to be having a nightmare and was sweating all over.

Seeing this, Lady Lysa immediately changed her expression, full of pity: "Robin honey, don't be afraid, there are no White Walkers. With your mother here, you don't have to be afraid of anything. Honey, are you hungry? Wait, you wet the bed!" Suddenly, Lady Lysa found that the fur coat given by Little Finger was soaked with urine, her face darkened, and she screamed, "No! Robin, what did you do! No! Someone, someone, come!"

The mother and son screamed for different reasons, causing the servants in the fortress to panic and rush over. Even the guards came with swords drawn, thinking there was an assassin.

When they arrived, they found out that the Duke of the Valley had wet the bed, which led to a series of accidents.

The castle was in chaos for a while because of the mother and son. It was not until they went back to the castle lord's room from the hall, called the washerwoman, added a charcoal basin, and called the wet nurse to feed the baby that they finally calmed down the frantic Lady Lysa and the eight-year-old Duke.

And in the midst of this noise.

Nestor asked the maester to write a summons letter and brought it to Lysa for review.

Lysa glanced at it before stamping and sealing the letter with the seal of House Arryn.

Nestor saw that Lysa was actually going to send this extremely unreasonable letter. After all, he was the steward of the Vale for more than ten years during Jon Arryn's absence. He wanted to say something according to his duty. But seeing Lysa's nervous look, he was still afraid that she would vent all her anger on him. So he shut up and took the letter to the lower level of the castle to summon the knights of the Arryn family.

"Sir, send a letter to the Blood Gate?"

The knights of House Arryn who were guarding the Gates of the Moon did not know the contents of the letter, and only thought it was a very urgent military intelligence. After all, the whole valley was now shrouded in the long night, and the valley road was covered with snow and ice, making the road slippery and difficult to walk. Moreover, it was very cold outside at this time, and even the messenger crows had a hard time delivering the letter. Only the largest and strongest-winged crows in the crow's nest could go out. So when the knight was summoned to deliver the letter, he was very cautious in his heart.

Going out in such weather has even made this knight determined to die.

Lord Nestor looked at the knight in front of him, who was very cautious and ready for battle. He felt an inexplicable pity and helplessness in his heart, but he was just following the orders of the guardian of the valley. So he said, "Yes, go to the Bloody Gate. Sir, the mountain road is not easy to walk on now, so you must be extremely careful and put your personal safety first. Just deliver the letter to Sir Andrew, the knight of the Bloody Gate. It doesn't matter if it takes a little longer."

The knight of Family Arryn took the letter solemnly: "Yes, sir!" Judging from his appearance, he didn't understand the hint in Nestor's words at all.

However, Nestor couldn't explain it too clearly, after all, the knight in front of him was from the Arryn family.

However, when the knight received the letter, he took the matter very seriously. He immediately rode away and called his two knight attendants to ask for three horses from the castle stable. He also asked for three bags of hot water and dry food from the kitchen, put on the thickest cold-proof clothes, and hurried out of the castle.

It was a good thing that the Arryn family had moved to the Gates of the Moon to avoid the winter. Otherwise, if they left the Eyrie in this weather, they would not only have to walk on the goat path on the cliffs, but also have to cross the three fortresses of the Eyrie, namely Longsky Castle, Snowborn Castle, and Stone, on a steep mountain road at the foot of the Giant's Lance. Walking the road to these three castles in winter, the long series of slopes and paths that only small horses can pass through would make everyone feel what despair is.

The Gates of the Moon is located at the foot of Giant's Lance Mountain, and should be considered the second line of defense for the Eyrie. But in the long night and cold winter, the defense of the Arryn family is actually only two dangerous castles left, Bloody Gate and Gates of the Moon.

Moon Gate Castle and Blood Gate Castle are not far away. In summer, it only takes two hours to get there. But on a snowy day, and at night, even someone who is familiar with the road will still need at least half a day to get there.

This is Lysa's basic operation. Lysa Tully is an extremely self-centered person, similar to her sister Catelyn, but Lysa's self-centeredness is more obvious than Catelyn's. Even before that, when Catelyn herself came to visit the Eyrie, Lysa summoned her to the mountain to meet her overnight, regardless of what Catelyn thought. The last 600 feet of steep mountain climbing from Longsky Castle to the Eyrie almost left Catelyn with a psychological trauma.

Doesn't Lysa know how dangerous the hiking trails to the Eyrie are at night? Doesn't she know how dangerous the valley road is now? If you remind her, she will know. But if no one mentions it, she will automatically ignore those "unimportant" things. Anyway, she summoned you, so just tell her whether you will come or not?
It was during Catelyn's trip to the Eyrie that she felt Lysa's fickle nature. When Catelyn risked her life to climb the Eyrie at night, it was already morning. Lysa had a good sleep and was cold to Catelyn for bringing danger to the Vale.
The valley is blessed to have such a person in charge. The Arryn family is smoking.

And so, the knight of House Arryn and his two squires, three horses in total, carrying three windproof torches, rode out of the Gates of the Moon under the cover of night.

Under the night, knight messengers wearing blue cloaks with white crescent falcon marks of House Arryn rode on the winding snowy road. In front of them was a valley with peaks and ridges. A snowy road stretched between the mountains to the west, a valley passage between two cliffs, from where they could even see the stone fortifications of the Bloody Gate stacked on top of the two cliffs and the beacon fires of the towers.

It seems that the Blood Gate is not far from the Moon Gate Castle, but the principle of "one will die if one tries to climb a mountain" is true even in the valley.

The valley is not full of hills and ravines.

In fact, the valley road in the valley will be a three-way fork half a league before the Moon Gate.

The road towards the Gates of the Moon is called the "uphill road". It is the only way to the Eyrie. Going forward, there are four majestic passes: the Gates of the Moon, Stonehold, Snowmount and Skyhold. Going further up, it is the Eyrie, perched on the top of Giant's Lance Mountain.

At the other end of the fork in the road is a road called "Eastward Road", which leads to the back of the Blood Gate Fortress, surrounded by mountains and protected by them. Inside is a valley with fertile black soil. The most fertile alpine basin plain of the Mingyue Mountains is located here.

The ghostly torrent of Alessa's Tears flows down from the towering Giant's Lance to the west, irrigating this fertile land, where there are wide and slow-flowing rivers and hundreds of large and small lakes that are as bright as mirrors in the sun. The richness and livability here are no less than those in the southern border.

This is not difficult to imagine. The Vale is to Westeros what Sichuan is to China.

Everyone knows that the road to Shu is difficult, and the fertile land of the Bashu Basin is also famous throughout the world.

The valley is Sichuan and Shu in Westeros.

As the knights of House Arryn held torches and ran towards the Bloody Gate Canyon Fortress, the natural barrier of the "Shu Road" in the valley, behind them and under their feet was the fertile eastern basin plain of the valley protected by the mountains, extending all the way to Runestone City and Seagull Town at the eastern cape.

Two-thirds of the valley's population and the most powerful noble families are concentrated in this fertile land.

Because of this, when they found out that the valley had sent out troops, even the tribesmen in the Moon Mountain Range began to covet the eastern towns of the valley after winter. Their idea was simple: they didn't need to attack the castle, but just plundered a few ordinary towns in the east, which would be enough for them to survive for a long time in the winter.

But the tribesmen did not know that the Vale lords could only raise 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses with their best efforts, but the army they had out of the Vale was only a few thousand. Some of them were from the Royce family to support Arya, and the other part was formed by Lysa and Littlefinger to support Sansa and test the attitude of the Targaryens.

Except for the Royce family, the other major princes and the Arryn family in the valley did not use their full strength.

It is for this reason that Lysa believes that the Vale is impregnable, subconsciously despises the tribesmen, and is ignorant and fearless about the news that the White Walkers are heading south.

Lysa was not really afraid of the invasion of the White Walkers. Deep down, she did not take them seriously. In fact, in the eyes of the guardian of the valley, she regarded the White Walkers as a threat just like the tribesmen.

She had a deep-rooted belief in her heart that the valley was a natural barrier, and once the Bloody Gate was closed, no one could enter except the dragons from the sky, and the same went for the White Walkers!
Under the cover of the long night, the knights of House Arryn slowly entered the canyon area from the steep uphill road of the fortress, and gradually approached the burning bloody gate along the winding and rugged valley road. They braved the wind and snow and endured the cold to deliver the letter for the lord. Whether it was the people or the horses, the windshields on their faces were covered with a thick layer of white frost.

They were already going as fast as they could, but it still took them half a day to reach the great building that had been built by humans on the cliffs on both sides.

Long battlemented buildings stood on the cliffs on both sides, the canyon road was narrowed to barely allow four people to ride side by side, and two watchtowers climbed on the rock wall, connected to each other by a weathered gray stone closed arch bridge. Silent faces watched the visitors from the arrow slits in the towers, the killing holes between the battlements and the stone bridge.

"Who wants to pass through the Bloody Gate?" On the top of the Bloody Gate City, a knight holding a torch asked loudly in the howling cold wind.

"In the name of Robert Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, Protector of the Vale, and True Warden of the East. Lady Lysa's urgent message arrives, addressed to Ser Andrew Waynwood," the knight of House Arryn replied.

Upon hearing this, the Bloody Gate Knights did not dare to delay. The officers and soldiers who were camping on the slope behind the Bloody Gate Fortress came out of their tents with torches held high to greet them and followed closely behind.

When a letter came in such weather, everyone thought that the letter he brought might contain extremely urgent news.

However, when the Knight of the Bloody Gate came down from the tower, took the letter in person under the stonework, tore off the wax and opened it to read, the knight's face was full of strangeness: "Sir, the letter says that Lady Lysa summoned me to the Gates of the Moon to report on my duties. I wonder if something happened to the Gates of the Moon?"

"I don't know that."

Under the night sky, the beacon fire of the Bloody Gate Fortress cast a huge shadow below the city. "The tribes have been harassing us these days. Lady Lysa asked me to go back now. Did she mention who will guard the Bloody Gate for me while I am away?"

The messenger knight looked at him and said, "I am only responsible for delivering the message, sir."

"Okay." Sir Andrew shrugged helplessly, "Please wait a moment. I will arrange for some people to prepare horses and go back with you."

The messenger knight had just taken off his mask, and his beard was covered with frost. He was just about to take a break and warm himself by the fire, but he never expected that he would be so eager to set off again. But before coming, Lord Nestor - or rather Lady Lysa did not make it clear whether the messenger should go back with Sir Andrew, so they could only nod their heads helplessly.

How should I put it? They were used to Lady Lysa's style. If they didn't go back, it would be fine if Lady Lysa didn't ask, but if she did, they would have to face the "majesty of the Arryn family".

On this side, since the lord had not arranged for anyone to take over the guard of the Bloody Gate, Sir Andrew could only choose from the soldiers and officers. Most of the people guarding the fortress were from the Waynwood family. Normally, Andrew could have just chosen a family knight. But now, there were more than 200 soldiers from the Arryn family guarding the Bloody Gate. A Waynwood knight without the endorsement of the Arryn family might not be able to dispatch the soldiers of the Arryn family in some matters.

Moreover, because of Lady Lysa's marriage to Littlefinger, the Waywood family had also participated in the Eyrie's gathering of troops to "force the palace". Now, these soldiers from the Arryn family felt that they were more or less under surveillance. Without an acting appointee endorsed by the Arryn family, it would be very awkward for Andrew to leave. Because the letter asked Andrew to report back, and it was unknown how long it would take. If it took a day or two, it would be fine, but if Lady Lysa had the idea of ​​replacing the "Knight of the Bloody Gate" - Nestor's letter hinted at that, then Andrew was worried that the dispute at the Gates of the Moon would never end.

Ultimately, the honor of being a "Knight of the Bloody Gate" outweighed the interests of the family. For the safety of the Bloody Gate, Andrew handed over the acting command to Jon Stone, a knight from the Arryn family.

Then, the Bloody Gate Knight and the three messengers set out on the journey back to Moon Gate Keep in the cover of night.

Andrew could never have imagined that his personnel arrangement out of honor was not wrong, but the next attack that the Blood Gate would face would no longer be from the tribesmen of the high mountain clan in the Mingyue Mountains.

Fate always likes to play tricks on people, and it is especially cruel to those who are stupid and unaware of it.

On the day when Blood Gate Knight Andrew was temporarily summoned back to the castle to report on his duties, the tribesmen of the Bright Moon Mountains welcomed a group of uninvited guests.

The tribesmen are a primitive tribe living at the foot of the Moon Mountains in the Dale, dating back to the time when the Andals invaded the Dale. They are the descendants of the ancestors who refused to submit to the Andals, and they multiplied in the mountains and forests, forming clan tribes, and most of the time they survived by plundering villagers and caravans in the Dale and the Moon Mountains in the river.

They can be seen as bandits who have developed in the valley for thousands of years and have become a part of history.

The tribesmen are used to using violence to solve all problems. They have been fighting each other for many years and only cooperate in some occasions where a large number of people are needed for looting. Previously, during the War of the Six Kings, Tyrion integrated several tribes to fight for the Lannisters and obtained a lot of spoils on the battlefield. After being mocked and expelled by the people of King's Landing, he returned to the Mountains of the Moon.

Perhaps the tribes had become more arrogant after being led out by Tyrion. As the roads were blocked by heavy snow, there were fewer and fewer places and goods to plunder. After seeing thousands of knights leave the Vale, they began to plan to attack the heart of the Vale.

However, after several failed attacks on the Bloody Gate, these tribesmen remembered the horror of the Andal armored knights.

It is said that the tribesmen who attacked the Blood Gate during this period were actually divided into two groups.

Many of the first group were tribesmen who lost their homes, property and women after being annexed by the Stone Crows, Burning Men, Moon Men and Black Ears, four tribes that obtained better weapons and armor from the Lannisters. This was because they occupied their original mountain tribe strongholds after the four tribes left, but they did not expect that the "Dragon King" of those tribes would not only take back the mountains and forests, but also annex and wipe out their tribes with superior equipment.

A very ironic point is that after these poor tribesmen obtain good equipment, the first thing they do when they return home rich is often to clean up their own internal affairs and annex those tribes that were once poor bandits like them, robbing them of their wealth, land and women, and only then will they turn their spearheads to the outside.

The first group of tribesmen who had lost everything and attacked the Blood Gate had been oppressed and hunted down, leaving them with no place to stand and no place to live. So after seeing the Knights of the Valley leave, they thought of looting eastwards. According to their understanding, since so many soldiers and horses of the Valley had left, the Valley was now like a naked woman, defenseless.

The result was of course tragic. These oppressed tribesmen could not even defeat the returning villagers who were wearing better equipment, let alone the well-equipped valley knights with castles fortification. The survivors of these tribes that were being annexed finally gathered 400 to 500 people, but in the end, they didn't even touch the bloody gate, and nearly 100 people died.

The small tribal alliance collapsed directly, and after returning to the mountains, they were driven to a more remote place in the mountains by the four powerful tribes. When the four tribes returned home in glory and unified their internal affairs, the cold winter came and the long night followed. Before they finished annexing the mountain tribes, they had to face a new problem: their food reserves were insufficient.

Although they began to consciously kill the elderly, boys and men of other tribes, keeping only women, food and treasures, what they snatched from the already poor tribesmen were just petty gains.

Therefore, under the pressure of the cold winter and the confidence boosted by the annexation of the tribes, the four major tribes began to unite and covet the rich towns in the east of the valley.

In recent days, the tribesmen have organized several waves of offensives, but unfortunately, these tribesmen who have no idea how to attack a city have made no progress in the face of the tall fortress.

These mountain people who were isolated from the news had no way of knowing what the massacres and unnecessary deaths caused by their annexation of the mountain tribes were paving the way for.

In fact, no matter how terrible something is, there are always signs before it happens.

For example, the tribesmen of the Burning People Tribe discovered the most obvious sign: in the past few days, the tribal hunters who went out hunting captured more and more prey, and one hunting team even killed two shadow mountain cats!

The rich hunting results made the Burning Tribe almost in no mood to discuss with the other three tribes how to attack the Bloody Gate and plunder eastwards. Even the leader Timett refused the invitation of other tribes and personally led the hunters into the mountains to hunt in the past few days. Because it was not Timett himself who hunted the shadow mountain cat, this challenged his bravery and majesty.

This involves the custom of the Burning Tribe. During the coming-of-age ceremony, they will burn a part of their body, usually a finger or nipple. The more important the burned body part is, the higher the warrior's reputation will be. The current leader, Timmet, was chosen as the chief because he gouged out his left eye. They value the "prestige of the warrior." The captain of the tribe's hunter team captured two shadow mountain cats, which affected Timmet's prestige. If the other party did the same thing and gouged out his eyes, his position as chief might be challenged.

These days, the herds of animals in the Mingyue Mountains seemed to have just begun their winter migration. Every day, large numbers of deer and wild goats migrated south from their familiar areas in the mountains and forests. Following closely behind the deer were wolves and shadow mountain cats.

As long as you find the animal's migration route, you can set a trap to catch the prey, and as long as you wait patiently, the prey will pass by.

Hunting had never been so easy, and the tribesmen felt that it was a gift from the old gods in the long night. So Timett put down his work and led the team into the mountains to hunt. He needed to get a few more shadow mountain cat skins or wolf skins to make his prestige overwhelm the entire tribe.

It’s not that no one has expressed concern about the abnormal migration of animals, but in the face of unimaginable harvests, the voices of concern are always drowned out the fastest.

Yes, nature gave these tribesmen the most conspicuous warning. However, the descendants of the ancestors who had forgotten the danger of the White Walkers only saw prey.

Unknowingly, the mountain tribe had missed the best opportunity to detect danger and avoid crisis.

Timat, who had been waiting for a long time at a trail made by a large animal in the snow, suddenly became alert: "Listen, there's a sound!"

The hunters under his command listened carefully and smiled happily: "It really is a big one!"

Someone said with certainty: "I guarantee it's a bear!"

On the dark animal trail in the forest, a huge black shadow appeared in the hunters' sight.

Chief Timett took down his bow, drew his bow and arrow, and aimed at the prey.

It's a bear.

but.

"Strange, why are its eyes glowing blue?"

A cold wind blew, and the trees rustled.

"It's so cold." someone said.

"Shut up and stop making noise!" Timi cursed softly, the bowstring was fully drawn, and the arrow was aimed at the bear's eyes.

He waited, and then with a whoosh the arrow shot out.

"Hit!" Timi saw that the arrow did not hit the eye but hit the bear's head. He could not see clearly in the night, but he could vaguely make out that the arrow had penetrated the bear's head, which made him overjoyed.

But the huge bear did not roar in pain, so someone wondered, "Did it miss?"

"Damn it, it's definitely a hit!" He drew his bow and aimed again, but saw the giant bear's pair of dark blue eyes looking at him from a distance, as if staring back at him. This made him feel creepy.

The blue eyes reminded him of the strange story passed down by the fire witch in the tribe, but he couldn't remember what the story was.

"It's a corpse bear!" At this time, someone screamed, "The servants of the White Walkers!"

Timit suddenly had an inspiration: Yes, it's the White Walkers!

White Walkers!

Only then did he feel a wave of fear coming over him, his back was already soaked with cold sweat, and he finally realized that the air around him had become much colder since he didn't know when.

"It's so cold."

Out of the corner of his eye, Timett saw a white figure passing through the trees. He turned his head and saw a white shadow in the darkness, and then it disappeared. He opened his mouth to warn, but the words froze in his throat.

Several shadows suddenly emerged from the darkness of the woods and surrounded Timett and his hunters from all sides.

The leader of the Burning Tribe was panicked and was wondering why no one had warned him. What about the hunters in other locations?
The branches trembled slightly in the wind. Timett's one eye saw strange shadows moving across the treetops. He shouted, "There's something in the tree!"

As he shouted, shadows appeared on the treetops. They were several huge pale spiders.

Following behind is a shadow mountain cat with eyes glowing blue.

As we walked up the hill toward Moon Gate Castle, a cold wind suddenly blew in from the canyon behind us.

Sir Andrew couldn't help but shudder, and couldn't help but look back in the direction of the Bloody Gate in the distance of the canyon. He was relieved to see that the beacons of the two towers on the Bloody Gate were still shining like lighthouse torches.

However, he was about to turn back.

The beacon fire on the tower suddenly rose up, like two pillars of fire rising in the night sky.

Andrew's horse stopped.

The Arryn Knight in front turned around and said, "Sir Andrew?"

"Sir, it looks like the tribesmen are here to harass us again. Let's go quickly. Let's finish the briefing as soon as possible so that I can go back and guard the Bloody Gate for Lord Robert."

However, when they reached the castle gate of the Gates of the Moon and looked back.

Only a few dozen heartbeats had passed, and the canyon in the direction of the Blood Gate was already glowing red and blazing flames filled the sky.

Are the tribesmen setting fire?
Looking at the Bloody Gate Fortress in the distance, he saw dark clouds rolling in that direction. In the red light of the flames, the sky above the canyon was illuminated by a white mist. This strange scene made Andrew feel inexplicably uneasy.

When Andrew entered the Moon Gate Castle, the Bloody Gate was already shrouded in white mist. The familiar valley became hazy and ambiguous, and the fire was shrouded in white mist, like a big red lantern blocked by a gauze curtain.

After putting the horse in the stable, Sir Andrew adjusted his clothes in the stable's warm room to make sure they were decent, and then walked from the castle passage to the main hall.

What made Andrew laugh and cry was that when he was thinking about what Lady Lysa was planning to do by summoning him to "report" in the dark night and how he should respond, it was Lord Nestor who came to receive him outside the main hall and informed him helplessly: "Lady Lysa has gone to bed with Duke Robert. Come with me and I will arrange for you to find a room to rest first."

Now that he was here, what else could he do? Sir Andrew could only accept and asked quietly: "Lord Nestor, why did the lady summon me here?"

Lord Nestor looked around and confirmed that there was no one around. He replied in a low voice: "Do you remember that my wife ordered you to go into the Mingyue Mountains to kill the rebellious tribesmen?"

"This," Andrew was numb, "wasn't this several months ago? Wasn't the operation cancelled due to the snow and the strange phenomena brought about by the long night? Didn't Madam write back to agree?"

Nestor explained: "I know, but I agreed to that on your behalf. At that time, Madam received a letter today and remembered this matter again. She thought that you and I did not follow her orders."

"What?" Andrew was speechless, stiffening his neck. "Then Madam summoned me now to remove me as a Knight of the Bloody Gate? Madam Lysa needs to make it clear that in name I am only the acting leader of Sir Donald Waynwood. The Waynwood family will not accept such humiliation!"

"Don't be impatient. My lady's removal of you would be a disgrace not only to the Waynwood family, but also to me, Nestor Royce, Viscount of the Gates of the Moon. Now that Lady Lysa is resting, ser, why don't you send someone to Ironoak to contact Lady Anya Waynwood and ask for justice for you?"

".But my servant stayed at the Blood Gate and didn't come with me."

Nestor said meaningfully, "In that case, I can do it for you. After all, the Gates of the Moon is the castle that Lord Robert gave me."

Andrew pondered over this sentence and grasped the key point: "Duke Robert?"

Nestor did not answer, but asked: "You are traveling in the snow. Do you want something to warm yourself up, sir?"

It has to be said that the people in the valley had been living in peace for too long, so they had become numb to the dangers of the outside world. Even at this moment, they were still thinking about all sorts of random things.

It was because Lisa did not look like a wise leader and her behavior was too outrageous that Nestor thought he had seen some great opportunity and wanted to take this chance to go further.

Fortunately, the rule of the Valley's Troublemaker Lord is about to end.

Before Nestor and Andrew started writing their letters, the guards on duty in the tower rushed in hurriedly.

As soon as the guard opened his mouth, all other thoughts of Nestor and Andrew froze.

The guard's voice trembled, "Sir, it's bad. The beacon fire in the direction of the Blood Gate has gone out."

"Impossible," Andrew jumped up from his chair. "Absolutely impossible! Anyone who spreads false military intelligence will be hanged!"

The guard was startled by these words and froze in place.

Nestor hurriedly asked carefully: "What's going on? Is it foggy and we can't see clearly?"

"No, although there was fog in the direction of the Blood Gate, the beacon fire went out suddenly." The two adults looked at each other with burning eyes, and the guards did not dare to deny it, so they swallowed their saliva secretly, "Maybe, it may be that the fog was too thick and I couldn't see clearly."

"Take me to the wall!"

Andrew and Nestor couldn't sit still and hurriedly followed the guards to the city wall.

And when they saw that the direction of the canyon was completely dark, their hearts began to sink wildly.

"No, I can't report to Madam Lysa." Andrew gritted his teeth, "I have to go and check, Bloody Gate will be fine! No, absolutely not!"

Nestor still understood the seriousness of the situation at this time, and hurriedly said: "I will arrange a hundred riders for you immediately."

Soon there was a commotion in the stables and tower quarters of the Gates of the Moon.

The noise woke up Lady Lysa, who was resting in the city lord's bedroom. Lysa, who had just fallen asleep, was so angry that she called the servants in a shrill voice: "What's going on outside? Why is there so much noise? Go and tell them to keep their voices down!"

The servant didn't know what was going on. He nodded and trotted down to the castle.

Soon, the servant rushed back to the city lord's bedroom, screaming in fear: "Madam, it's bad. The guards said that the Blood Gate has been lost!"

"What!" Even though Lysa knew nothing about military affairs, she knew what the Bloody Gate meant to the Vale, and she quickly found the person to blame, and cursed, "The Waywood family betrayed Robert and me!" Of course, Lysa also knew who to look for at this time, "Quick, go and call Nestor to the main hall."

The fall of the Bloody Gate, and its fall without any warning, was unprecedented, so the Moon Gate Castle was in chaos.

Nestor did not come to the hall until Andrew led a hundred riders out of the castle with torches held high.

Let’s put this argument aside for now.

However, when Andrew led his troops out of the city, he still believed that the tribesmen from the Mingyue Mountains had broken through the Bloody Gate in some way, so he thought he was going to rescue and fight with the tribesmen.

However, when he arrived at the fork in the road before the canyon, Andrew saw the dark canyon. The white mist originally illuminated by the flames was not the steaming water vapor that the people in the valley often saw in the basin, but the snow curtain of a blizzard.

And in the snow curtain that covered the canyon, countless dark and shadowy shadows were pouring out from the canyon exit. Those shadows were people and various animals.

Andrew couldn't understand this strange combination at first, but he soon discovered their common ground.

The eyes of these shadows all emitted a faint blue light.

It is not until you see it with your own eyes that the unbelievable rumors can be combined with reality.

These things are the White Walker servants and wights that the Targaryen royal family has publicized countless times!
"Oh, no." Andrew felt his heartbeat slow down for a moment.

"Sir, those things, yes, yes..." The rider beside him didn't dare to say the name, and only asked in panic, "What should we do?"

"I am the Bloody Gate Knight agent of the Waywood family. In the name of Duke Robert," Andrew laughed bitterly and drew his sword, "I will defend the Bloody Gate Fortress in the valley to the death!"

This is not the Blood Gate, but Andrew has already rode his horse towards the tide of zombies.

The riders coming out of Moon Gate Castle looked at each other in bewilderment as they watched Andrew, alone on his horse, charge towards the countless waves of zombies in the snow.

After all, passion will be cooled by the cold wind, and the riders of the Gates of the Moon soon found a new commander, an officer of House Arryn.

And this knight, in full view of the crowd, gave the most reasonable and honorable order he could think of: "Twenty men in the rear army, go back immediately and report the news here to the adults. The rest of you, seven levels of hell, if you still have balls in your pants, follow me!"

Honor and death is a choice, but he is a knight anointed with holy oil by Lord Jon of House Arryn himself, so he must do it.

But the one hundred or eighty people were like a drop of water into the sea facing this tide of zombies that could take down the Blood Gate in just one hour.

Because they were caught off guard, they only had a small piece of grease and torches, which were the most useful for dealing with the zombie tide, for lighting.

This drop of water was quickly submerged by the tide of corpses and failed to even create much of a wave.

As the tide of zombies poured into the hinterland from the natural dangers of the valley.

The princes of the valley, who had preserved their strength for three years in the War of Six Kings, were about to face the most brutal and difficult battle.

As for Lady Lysa of House Arryn at the Gates of the Moon, after hearing the news, she panicked and issued the most correct and also the most wrong order in her life: she ordered the Gates of the Moon to retreat across the board, braving the snow to the three dangerous passes of the Eyrie on the Giant's Lance, the famous Stone, Snowborn, and Longsky.

The reason why it is correct is that the three famous dangerous passes in the Seven Kingdoms, the Eyrie, did indeed block the attack of the zombie tide for a period of time, and bought the Arryn family a chance to survive by avoiding the first wave of the zombie tide.

However, this order was also extremely wrong. The defenders retreated into the mountains, which meant that they abandoned the Gates of the Moon in panic. After losing the Gates of the Moon and withdrawing to the Giant's Lance, the Arryn family completely lost the possibility of communicating with the outside world and obtaining supplies.

Yes, under Lysa's order, Duke Robert of the Arryn family, Lady Lysa, servants, soldiers, and knights avoided the first wave of impact.

However, this chaos is destined to last for a long time, and those who retreat to the three gates of Eagle's Nest will face the cruelest death in the long night, starving to death, freezing to death, and dying in despair.
No one expected this at this time.

It would be many years later, until the long night was over, that people would find the body of the last blood heir of the House of Arryn among the frozen bones of Longsky Castle.

From this moment on, the direct bloodline of the "noble" family of House Arryn, which had controlled the Vale for thousands of years since the invasion of the Andals, began the countdown to extinction.

(End of this chapter)