Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 70: Lance Duel
Prince Daeron was very frustrated because his request to participate in the tournament was rejected due to the joint opposition of Ser Mond and Prime Minister Otto, as well as Viserys and Alicent. He could only sit behind Prime Minister Otto and the king, waiting for the start of the tournament.

"Have all the lances and other weapons for the tournament been checked?" In the tent outside the arena, Steward Amor asked the representatives of the Summerhall blacksmiths and horsemen expressionlessly. Volantis did not have the tradition of knightly tournaments in Westeros. The Blackwall nobles preferred the Slaver's Bay-style arena duels, where slave warriors fought people or animals on the bloody sand in exchange for food and glory. So Amor was almost new to knightly tournaments. He did not understand why the tournaments had to use lances that broke at the slightest touch, unsharpened weapons, and even chain hammers and maces that had to be wrapped in thick protective cloth.

But his caution helped him, and at least no problems arose now.

"Everything has been checked, sir." The representative of the blacksmiths was the silver-haired Shufu. His superb skills were enough to support him to become the next representative of the King's Landing Blacksmith Guild and to represent the blacksmiths to meet the king in the throne room. After arriving at Midsummer Hall, he quickly stood out and became the representative of the blacksmiths together with another Volantis blacksmith.

"Our people guard all the weapons that the contestants will use day and night." Shufu said, "All the participating knights must get their weapons from our warehouse, my lord. The warehouse is guarded by sixty Unsullied. Except for me and the blacksmith Gaimon, no one can bypass them." Shufu tried to describe their efforts in elegant language.

Yamor nodded slightly and handed a bag of silver deer to Shufu.

The same thing happened on the horse herders' side. Hoffa the Law-Bearer was ordered to send a hundred cavalrymen of the Silver Blood Army. These knights who were familiar with war horses checked all the war horses together with the Dothraki boy Ago.

The war horses that had been fed drugs, as well as the mares and stallions in estrus, were all eliminated, and their owners were kicked out of the arena.

This made those who really wanted to gain glory on the field cheer.

Boys were forbidden to play, whether they were the queen's children or the princess' children, and as the organizers of the event, Longzel and Valar also gave up the opportunity to play.

"Hehe, instead of fighting with swords, it is better to speak with dragon flame." This was a poem sung by a bard who tried to curry favor with the patriarch of the Vareses family decades later, but the harsh and rigid silver dragon sneered at it.

"My uncle just doesn't want the game to be too predictable." That's what the prince said. Although people knew about Valar's bravery, they obviously preferred fictional stories.

However, Valar, who was actually in the audience of the tournament, was not very comfortable. He sat between his brother and his wife, with Princess Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent behind him. The two former best friends had now become enemies, and the strange atmosphere enveloped the entire audience, but the king ignored it. For him, it was a great victory to let his wife and daughter sit together without fighting.

"Mund, how are things going?" Lord Hobart Hightower asked in a low voice at the stairs leading to the auditorium. Lord Mond shook his head: "Varezes is too strict. We can't use the things we prepared for Prince Aegon at all."

"The Golden Dragon doesn't work either?" Hobart was a little anxious. Mond was also a little furious: "If the Golden Dragon worked, the things we prepared would have been put into the warehouse by now."

At this moment, Longzel's voice also echoed in the arena where flags were flying.

"This tournament will have two queens of love and beauty, and the final winner will crown the two queens." Longzel's voice echoed in the ears of every knight at the entrance. "One will compete on horseback, and one will compete in a group. I will wear a crown woven with flowers and laurel leaves for my wife Diana. My knights Aslan Longdel, Sebastian Jieyan, Hoffa Law-Bearer, and Earl Donald Tarly of the Tarly family, and our young Ser Alan Tarly will serve as defenders of my wife. You need to knock down all of them before you can take the crown off my wife's head."

Five fully armed knights rode into the arena on fine horses. Donald Tarly wore a visor-covered barrel helmet with a hunter with a bow on it, and the Earl wore a beautiful plate armor with his coat of arms engraved in enamel on his chest.

The remaining four knights were all wearing the standard plate armor of the Silver Blood Army, and their helmets were decorated with silver dragons.

"My sister-in-law, Layla, will be the Queen of Love and Beauty in the Tournament. Ser Clement Celtigar and my knights, Lynn Valtarken and Gunthor Ravage, will lead a team of seven to defend her crown. If you wish to win, defeat them."

Longzel's voice suddenly rose.

"The champion of the jousting tournament will receive a Valyrian steel giant sword." Longzel nodded to the person beside him, and Jacaerys sprinted to the door on the other side and took the big box that was almost as tall as him from the guard.

It was a huge sword decorated with carvings of two warriors on horseback, and the blade was engraved with blood-red stripes.

"The Seven Gods."

The same voice echoed throughout the arena, and everyone looked at the giant sword with burning eyes.

"Adrian! Tywin!" Lord Jason Lannister stood up from his chair, ran to the railing and shouted to the Westerland team outside the field.

The two knights also took off their masks with fiery eyes. One of them was the heir of House Tarbeck, eager to gain the praise of the lord and the people; the other was a branch of House Lannister, but was highly valued by Jason because of his martial arts.

"Bring the sword back to the family! Adrian, Tywin, no matter who wins, as long as you bring it back to the family, I will give you land, title, gold, whatever you want!"

"Don't worry, my Lord." Adrian shouted confidently, "If possible, I would rather marry my sun, Lady Sarah Lannister."

"I will personally marry you!" Duke Jason shouted. "Bring back the sword."

"I will, my lord," Ser Tywin Lannister replied in a deep voice. "I will bring back another Lightwhisper for House Lannister."

The same conversation took place throughout the tourney grounds, especially among the hedge knights and the unskilled knights. A Valyrian steel sword meant so much.

"The champion of the group tournament will also receive a Valyrian steel dagger and a reward of 3,000 gold dragons." Longzel announced the remaining rewards. "The champion of the archery tournament will receive a reward of 5,000 gold dragons. If the champion has not yet been knighted, I will immediately knight him." The voice fell, and the ribbons exploded.

The knights still entered in order and began to choose their opponents.

The Kingsguard were also on the field. These white knights attracted everyone's attention as soon as they entered the field, especially a man wearing black dragon plate armor.

"Christon Cole." Prince Daemon rode forward and tapped the white knight's breastplate with his lance. "Come on, let me see if you have improved over the years?"

The captain of the White Knights silently urged his horse and slowly came to the stage.

The eyes of the old men on the stage suddenly lit up. Viserys let out a long sigh. Several nobles who had participated in the tournament when Queen Emma gave birth looked at each other with strange expressions on their faces.

The first charge.

The prince and the captain's lances were both broken. The prince turned his horse's head and replaced it with a new lance.

"Criston, you're retreating!" The prince roared, raised his lance, and stabbed the white knight's breastplate hard, but his own breastplate was also hit by Christon's lance.

The two men looked up at the sky almost at the same time while riding on horseback.

The first one to adjust was Christon Cole. The White Knight decisively threw away his broken lance and launched another charge.

Prince Daemon was a step slower.

The lance broke, and Damon had to hold on to the reins tightly to avoid falling off. This time, Christon was able to sit firmly on the horse.

"You're old." The White Knight Captain said coldly.

Another round of clashes, this time neither side was so lucky. The lances exploded, and the two men fell off their horses almost at the same time.

"Request for foot combat!" Damon got up from the ground without hesitation, rushed to the servant and drew out the iron sword, and angrily rushed towards Christon who took out the mace. Of course, this sword was not the Dark Sister.

The hammer and sword collided, and the two shields collided with a loud bang.

"It's the same again," Queen Alicent commented expressionlessly. Princess Rhaenyra said nothing, and there seemed to be a thick wall between the two women.

"Brother, who will win?" Valar pushed Longzel's arm.

"Neither can win." Longzel narrowed his eyes and gave his answer. "Prince Daemon is holding back his energy, but he is old. Ser Criston is still fierce, but his skills seem a little rusty."

Click.

The shields of both sides shattered at the same time. The mace smashed Daemon's shield and fell on the prince's breastplate, while the prince's sword was against the throat of the White Knight captain.

"If my sword was the Dark Sister, you would be dead." Damon suddenly remembered what he said back then, and now he said it again, still with quite a strange meaning.

"If I had used my own hammer, you would have died too. That's what I said back then." Christon responded bluntly.

In this game, neither side won, so both sides can still stay on the field.

The knights came on the field one after another, and the sound of lances breaking was endless.

"Where's Rei?"

It wasn't until Lord Forrest Frey used three lances to knock Ser Adrian Tarbeck off his horse that Leila suddenly noticed something.

Her uncle was missing.

(End of this chapter)