Chapter 135 Tournament
Duke Ed immediately said to his wife:
"You will leave in a moment. After returning to Winterfell, immediately send a letter to Herman Tallhart and Galbert Glover in my name, ordering them to lead a hundred archers each to Garin Bay. Two hundred archers are enough to stop any army going north through the Neck.
In addition, the Earl of Mandalay was ordered to step up maintenance of the fortifications of White Harbor to ensure sufficient defenders.
Also, from now on, you must pay special attention to Theon Greyjoy. If war breaks out, I will need his father's Iron Fleet. "
"War broke out?" Caitlin's face showed fear, "Ed, will the situation be so bad?"
"It may not be so bad, but we must prepare early."
"Okay." Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help reminding again, "You must be careful in King's Landing!"
"Don't worry, I'll pretend nothing happened."
"Okay." Caitlin suddenly remembered something, and said again, "Actually, I planned to take a detour to the Eagle's Nest City when I returned. I heard that Lysa still doesn't want to come to King's Landing, right?"
"Yes." Duke Eddard was also a little helpless, "Duke Renly went to invite him personally, but she refused to come."
"How about I go to see her and persuade her by the way?"
"No." Duke Eddard immediately refused, "You can't say anything about your coming to King's Landing, and I need you to return to Winterfell as soon as possible. Lysa, let me go, Your Majesty has already lost his temper several times. , we can’t keep procrastinating like this.”
"You go? That's fine. But, as the hand of the king, if you leave King's Landing, won't it affect government affairs?"
"It should be okay to leave for a while." Duke Ed actually had some headaches, "This is something I can't help. It's a pity that I really don't have anyone I can trust in King's Landing, otherwise I can help share some of it."
The gray-green eyes naturally appeared in Caitlin's mind: "Petyr can be trusted."
"Petyr Baelish?" Duke Ed frowned subconsciously.
"Ed, I know you don't like him, because he used to treat me... However, those are old things. And after all, he is my father's adopted son, and he is a confidant who was single-handedly picked up by Duke Jon Arryn , you can try to ask him to help you."
Duke Ed was silent for a moment, and finally nodded: "Okay."
Then, the two left the room, and Kaitlyn refused her husband's send-off, in order to avoid attracting attention.
After watching his wife leave, Duke Ed looked at Petyr beside him and said:
"Lord Petyr, thank you for settling Caitlin this time, and for the news you provided."
"You are welcome."
Duke Ed hesitated for a moment, and said: "I am going to personally go to the Eagle's Nest City to persuade Lady Lysa to come to King's Landing. During my absence, you will have to worry about the imperial meeting. And that tournament..."
"I will hold it beautifully, and I will never disappoint your expectations." Petyr said confidently, and then he changed the subject, "However, if you follow the originally scheduled date, I'm afraid you won't be able to come back to participate Do you want to postpone it?"
"No. Just go ahead as planned."
"But after all, this is a tournament for you..."
"This is a tournament for the king." Duke Ed emphasized, "I never asked for it from the beginning to the end."
"Whatever you say." Petyr shrugged.
Duke Ed sighed, and said: "Also, what happened tonight..."
"Tight-lipped."
—————
The bright morning light dyed the world a golden yellow, the sky was as clean as indigo porcelain without a trace of cloud.
Natalie Dane sat in the carriage of the Tyrell family and went to the tournament with Miss Margery.
Lifting the curtain embroidered with golden roses, Natalie saw that hundreds of tents had been set up on the river bank, and thousands of civilians flocked to watch the competition.
Of course there are also knights wearing shining armor, riding tall horses, and holding bright banners.
"Just like in the song!" Natalie blushed with excitement, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Yes." Margaery took the arm of the little girl beside her and smiled, "And they will also become the protagonists in the song."
After arriving at the venue, the two were led by the guards to the seats specially arranged for the Tyrell family. All around were nobles from the Reach Land. When they saw Natalie with the star and long sword emblem embroidered on her chest, they all showed meaningful smiles.
It's a pity that Natalie didn't understand what was behind their smiles, so she was so foolishly pulled to sit down by Margaery, completely oblivious to the angry and hostile gazes of the Dorne nobles next door to her.
Margaery leaned close to Natalie's ear and introduced to her the families represented by the various flags fluttering on the field. Natalie remembered it carefully at first, but soon became dizzy.
"That knight is so strong!" Natalie exclaimed, pointing to a big man who looked like an armored giant.
"That's Ser Gregor Clegane, nicknamed 'Magic Mountain', a vassal of the Lannister family in the West."
"Oh, where's the big bald head?" Natalie couldn't help giggling when she saw a bald man in a red robe.
"That's Thoros, the warrior monk of Myr. During the last suppression of the Iron Islands rebellion, this man was the first to rush into Pike City with a flaming long sword."
"A flaming long sword? Lord Caesar also has one." Natalie turned her head and searched the crowd, "Why didn't I see him?"
"It's over there." With sharp eyes, Margaery pointed to a double-headed eagle flag in the northwest corner of the arena.
Natalie looked quickly, and sure enough, she saw Samwell wearing the armor with the help of his attendants.
It was a piece of snow-white plate armor, similar in style to the white knights of the Kingsguard, but his helmet had eagle wings on it, and he wore a sky blue cloak trimmed with silver piping behind him.
Natalie really wanted to say hello to Samwell, but unfortunately the two were too far away to hear her shouting.
Samwell also didn't notice Natalie and the others. At this time, he was ambitious to win the spear champion reward of the tournament.
That's 40,000 golden dragons!
In addition, jousting is actually very suitable for Samwell to play to his strengths, and it also covers up his Achilles heel—lack of agility.
So he felt that he still had hope of winning this grand prize.
While thinking, the jousting has already begun.
The cheers suddenly grew louder. Amidst the rumbling horseshoes, knights held spears in this field, colliding passionately, attracting bursts of applause.
Soon, it was his first appearance.
Samwell discovered that his opponent this round was actually Duke Renly Baratheon.
The king's younger brother is very popular, and he attracted thunderous cheers as soon as he appeared on the stage.
And Samwell looked much poorer.
Only the nobles of the Reach are cheering for him.
Samwell saw Natalie who jumped the highest and Margaery who smiled the most in the crowd, so he urged his horse to walk over.
"Two beautiful ladies, I wonder if I am honored to be blessed by you."
Natalie's face was red, she looked at the wooden lance stretched out in front of her, she was about to take off her hair tie and wrap it around it, but suddenly froze—
The little girl hesitated when she remembered the tragic end of the two knights who had received her blessing.
Margaery on the side took out her handkerchief generously, tied it on the tip of the gun, and said with a smile:
"Come on! My knight!"
At this time, Natalie just woke up like a dream, and quickly wrapped her hair tie around it, and sent her blessings.
Samwell leaned over the horse to express his thanks, and then rode back to the field.
"Master Caesar, can he win?" Natalie couldn't help asking, clasping her hands over her heart.
The corners of Margaery's lips turned up, and she said proudly: "Sam is a knight who can lead seven hundred cavalry to defeat tens of thousands of Dornishmen, but Lord Renly...he has never been on a battlefield."
"Yes!" Natalie felt relieved, but she still prayed to the gods secretly.
Seeing the two knights on the field start to accelerate, Natalie's heart rose to her throat. She didn't dare to watch the final collision before, but this time, her purple eyes opened wide.
Boom!
Amid the loud crashing sound, the wooden lance shattered, and Duke Renly almost flew back from his horse. There was a loud bang when his head landed on the ground, causing the entire audience to gasp.
Fortunately, Duke Renly's helmet was strong enough, and he finally got up staggeringly, but one of the antlers on the helmet was broken.
The audience burst into warm cheers.
Lord Renly bowed gracefully to the audience, as if the cheers were all because of him.
Later, he picked up the broken antler on the ground and handed it to Samwell:
"Baron Caesar, this is the spoil you deserve!"
This gesture immediately drew another wave of cheers.
I have to say that this king's younger brother is really good at showing off, no wonder he is so popular.
Samwell curled his lips secretly, he didn't really like this kind of person in his heart, but when he found out that the antler was actually made of gold, he immediately put on a smiling face:
"Thank you Lord Renly, you are a respectable opponent!"
The tournament continues.
Samwell played five more times, defeating two Knights of the Valley, a Knight of the Stormlands, a Knight of the Westlands, and once knocked off his old acquaintance Horace Redwyne.
The eldest son of Qingting Island is not recovering from his injuries, but he insisted on coming to the competition. I really don't know what he was thinking.
Although wooden lances are used in the joust, it cannot be said that there is no danger at all.
For example, Sir Gregor Clegane, the "Magic Mountain" from the Westland, created an extremely **** scene.
I saw that when he was facing a valley knight, his spear was upturned and hit the opponent's throat armor. Because of the excessive force, the spear went straight through the throat, and the valley knight was killed on the spot.
Death provoked waves of exclamations and cries.
Natalie tightly hugged Margaery, buried her head in her arms, not daring to look any further.
The crimson blood flowed out, soaking the cloak of the valley knight, and dyed the crescent crest on it blood red.
The servants ran into the field quickly, carried the corpse away, and turned the soil with a shovel to cover up the blood.
Everything is back to normal again, as if nothing happened.
The tournament continues.
(end of this chapter)