Chapter 5 The strange banditry
Twelve-year-old Attis came to King's Landing for the first time. When the White Knight Barristan and the Prime Minister's father personally sent him out of the city and returned to the valley, he had only stayed in King's Landing for two weeks.
As the eldest son of the valley, he was required to visit every family and vassal in the valley. Lord Yohn Royce accompanied him again. Before leaving, he had another conflict with his father. "With all due respect, Lord Aylin, you trust others too much." Royce yelled at his father angrily.
"Trust is the cornerstone of mutual cooperation, Jon.", his father replied. In the end, the two broke up on bad terms. The knights and squires around them looked at each other. When the two ended the conversation, they were all forgiven and followed their lords.
Artis noticed that the main centers of contention between his father and Lord Royce were the customs taxation of Gulltown, the expansion of the fortress along the Vale, whether the Vale belonged to House Tully or House Arryn, and even the ownership of the Crab Claw Peninsula in the Crown. The problem. Although on the surface the Osprey family is in harmony as before, the vassals under the Eagle family are ready to make a move, and dissatisfaction is slowly growing.
"Your father is still too weak in this regard!" Jon kicked the horse on his crotch, not hiding his dissatisfaction in front of Attis. "He left the finances of the Vale to the cunning Littlefinger, and handed over the Blood Gate to Tully. The Eyrie didn't even know who was in charge. Nestor, as the High Steward of the Vale of Arryn, had nothing to do in the Gates of the Moon all day long. !" Yon clenched his fists, sighing and looking at the increasingly gloomy sky in the distance.
Attis thought of his father's advice to him, "Attis, there are many ambitious princes in the valley, and Yoon Roys, who you serve, is one of them, but please believe in his loyalty, he is just a native of the valley." He is good at leading armies in battles and handling disputes between lords, but he cannot interfere in diplomacy and trade."
Royce's comment also surprised Attis, "Our Lord Arryn handled foreign affairs beautifully and made King Robert's shit less smelly, but he made a mess in the household affairs in the valley! ". Attis had always regarded Yohn's words as the mainstream view of the valley nobles, but he couldn't tell at this time.
It rained for a while, and the erratic rain lines in the sky swayed in the wind. After a brief rest at the hotel, the group set off again in the valley. The pony on Attis's hip kept a slow and steady pace in the rain. It was used to heavy rain in the valley. Pengtuo, the sky on the road leaving King's Landing is drab and gray, the mountains are bare, the fields were once full of life, but only two weeks have passed, they have become lifeless, the farmers have probably taken away the sun-dried grain on the road, and the King's Road is a puddle of mud. , the carriage is really difficult to move.
Yohn and a group of valley knights had dismounted and started walking. Attis was behind the team. He was pushing a carriage with Master Shidong and the blacksmiths and servants from Runestone City.
It was another week after he returned to the valley. He once again stood on the stone bridge of the Blood Gate and looked at the mountain road from where he came. He didn't know how many more years he would stay in this mountain range.
Later generations of maesters would tell him that it was four years later, in the year 296 of Aegon's calendar.
On the school grounds of Runestone City, Weimar held a spear, shook off the green cloak behind him, patted the horse on his crotch, and said to Attis in the distance, "Don't worry, Attis, we all use competition spears. , it’s hard to hurt people.”
On the opposite side, Attis straightened his helmet, and the fine double-ringed mail on his body simply protected his torso, while his jousting spear swayed and slowly lowered. He gave Weimar a simple smile, lightly kicked his mount with his legs, and stepped forward.
The atmosphere gradually solidified. Coach Samwell Shidong stood at a high place and looked calmly at the two people confronting each other. Weimar's sister Yasina looked at Attis nervously, and her hands were tangled together uneasily.
The horn sounded, and the two riders started slowly, both intending to gradually increase their speed to attack each other. Weimar stood the shield on the side and passed the spear between the lightning and flint, but the force was not accurate, and it shattered instantly when it collided with Attis' breastplate. At the same time, Attis's silver spear pretended to swipe through Weimar's shield and hit Weimar's chest, giving him a blow from the side. At the moment when the gun was handed over, the space between the two of them was longer and shorter, and they also hit each other's chest. Weimar's spear shattered, and he was also knocked off his horse. Attis rushed forward for several meters before stopping the horse's hooves, turned around and immediately dismounted. He ran to Weimar and kept a certain distance when he saw that he was okay, waiting for him to stand up on his own.
"Good guy." Weimar said excitedly, "You must have stronger armor!"
Attis walked closer and said, "Are you coming yet, Weimar?" He saw Yasina slipping down from the high platform with a glass of water in her hand.
"Forget it, I won't let you knock me off my horse again." Weimar reluctantly returned to his mount, grabbed the beer handed by the servant, and drank it all in one gulp.
"Attis, do you need a drink?" Yasina flew over, wearing a pink dress, like a pink butterfly fluttering in the flowers.
Attis thanked her softly, raised the cup, touched her forehead with the base of the cup, and smiled charmingly at her, making Jasina blush on her cheeks. Weimar peeked sideways and raised the corner of her mouth, "Father has always created opportunities for Attis and his sister to get along." Weimar secretly laughed in his heart, because he knew that Attis was not interested in Yasina at all, let alone Duke Erin. He has always wanted to arrange a marriage with the Tyrell family in the Reach.
At the end of the day, Attis and Weimar returned to Runestone City and saw Lord Yohn Royce teaching archery to the 11-year-old squire Harold Hatton. This squire was the grandson of his cousin. After his death, Harold was adopted as an adopted son by Anya Waynwood, the patriarch of the Waynwood family. According to the order of succession of the Arryn family, since his family was always unfortunate and died young, Harold Haddon was actually the third heir to the valley after himself and Robert Arryn.
Sir Royce nodded slightly to himself and continued to teach Harold archery. Attis could see that this boy was very talented. There were very few men visible in the castle, most of the soldiers had left, and there were only a few crossbowmen and spearmen patrolling the tower and the city. The two sons of the earl have been ordered to lead troops into the Arryn Valley, suppressing the increasingly rampant banditry along the way. This group of desperadoes is very difficult to deal with. They often disappear into the mountains and forests to avoid pursuit. They went on a killing spree, robbed livestock and food, and committed all kinds of evil. It was rumored that they were a pirate gang that couldn't survive on the narrow sea. They actually bypassed the well-defended coastal defenses in the valley and entered the Mingyue Mountains.
The Arryn family has the traditional bloodline of the Andals. The invasion of the Andals began from the Five Fingers Peninsula. Their successive valley guardians all know how they gained the right to rule this land. Since the founder of the Arryn family, the Valley Kingdom Beginning with his namesake Attis I, the first king, the construction and maintenance of the valley's coastline trading ports was always secondary, while coastal fortresses and tower defenses were the primary projects. Even after the Arryn family spent huge sums of money on the During the period when the Eagle's Nest City was built on the Giant's Spear, the defense line on the coast had never been strengthened.
Therefore, the spread of banditry from the Narrow Sea to the Mingyue Mountains is really strange. "It must be the damn Ironborn." Weimar guessed. He was nearly eighteen years old. His original intention to go to the Great Wall was finally stopped under the joint dissuasion of Attis and his father Yorn. In fact, Weimar originally wanted to go to the Great Wall. The main reason why he wanted to go to the Great Wall was because as the third son of Yohn Royce, his chances of inheritance were slim, and he was not much better than his two brothers. The arrival of Attis changed everything. Weimar actually knew in his heart that as long as he could take risks with Attis, he would definitely achieve success, and his father John's thoughts were probably related to this.
Attis did not deny his suspicion. He and Weimar enjoyed the wine from Qingting Island.
"Ironmen are used to plundering, sailing in from the river, burning, killing and looting. They are a loser." Weimar said angrily. The ironmen do not like to farm for self-sufficiency, and pride themselves on plundering. They seize river channels and have a lot of experience in plundering ashore. They have been working in the valley for many years and have a very clear defense line on the valley coast. Therefore, this guess is possible.
Attis calmly told Weimar, "The maester of the Eyrie has sent a raven to King's Landing to tell King Robert about this. Well, it contains your guess. Maybe the Royal Council is discussing it at this time." .
Weimar was a little happy when she heard this and drank the wine in front of her in one gulp. "By the way, you haven't been back to the Eyrie for a long time. The lords of the valley now go to the Gates of the Moon to petition."
"Uncle Nestor is the housekeeper appointed by my father, so of course everyone ran to him." Attis didn't pay attention to this matter. "Besides, I'm glad that he can do something for me, so that I don't have to do anything like your brother." It seems like everyone owes him ten thousand gold dragons every day."
Weimar knew that he was referring to his eldest brother Anda, so he smiled from ear to ear and exclaimed "Brilliant!".
Attis looked at the large map of the valley hanging on the wall. The Gate of the Moon Castle is located at the bottom of the Mingyue Mountains. Compared to the Eagle's Nest City, which requires climbing up the mountain road, it is indeed more popular with the petitioning lords.
His eyes looked at both sides of the Five Fingers Peninsula and the Erin Valley. Most of the bandits were concentrated in the Erin Valley, but there were a lot less near Runestone City. It seemed that this group of desperadoes also entered the Erin Valley from the Five Fingers Peninsula, and then blended into the entire bright moon. Mountains, and Longgong Hall was the first to be attacked by bandits. Livestock in nearby villages were killed and injured, many women were robbed, and countless men were killed and injured.
The old Earl Hunter of Longbow Hall was said to be furious with the thunder. He asked his second son Eustace to lead two hundred cavalry to advance westward along the Arryn Valley, hoping to find the bandits. At the same time, he asked a hundred scouts in the city to search along the coast. Many wealthy knights in the Five Fingers Peninsula also joined the ranks of Longbow Hall scouts.
The four hundred Runestone City soldiers sent by Sir Royce actually went with the Seagull Town soldiers to strengthen the coastal defense of this peninsula (Runestone City and Seagull Town are located on a flat peninsula in the same valley), although Seagull Town's The coast is guarded by a fleet with sufficient soldiers, and the valley even recruits mercenary groups from across the narrow sea to act as daily guards.
Attis analyzed this, Weimar was carefully wiping the dagger in his hand with a cloth. The luster of the dagger was dim, and the whole dagger body was as dark as night. After Sir John gave him this dragon crystal dagger on Weimar's name day last year, He always wore it and maintained it carefully.
While the two were concentrating on their own business, the door to the room was opened rudely. Attis looked up and saw that the person who came was Kelwei, the bachelor of Count Yohn.
The usually calm maester was wiping the sweat from his forehead, holding a sealed envelope in his hand, with the eagle seal of the Arryn family clearly revealed.
"This letter from King's Landing, Master Attis, I think it is from your father." The maester looked quite nervous, as if he knew the content of the letter.
Weimar on the side was also a little surprised. His father never liked people who behaved cowardly, whether it was his children or his subordinates. "Do I need to avoid it?" Weimar asked.
"My father must have also left a letter to Sir Royce." Artis took the letter and motioned for Weimar to stay. He lay down on the soft chair and opened the envelope.
Maester Kelvi replied in the affirmative, and then looked at Attis nervously.
The wine glass was placed against Attis's mouth. The wine was as red as blood, making his lips red. The angle of the wine glass gradually became wider, until not a drop of liquid was left in the glass. The room was unusually quiet. Weimar continued to wipe the dagger. The sound of rubbing cloth could be clearly heard. When Attis raised his eyes, he found that the palms of the bachelor's hands were sweating.
Attis put away the letter, stood up and said to Weimar, "Weima, do you want to dedicate yourself to the heir of the valley?" Weimar stopped his movements and quickly replied, "I will use my Of honor, Attis."
"Okay, it seems that we need to take risks together." Attis picked up the sword and left the room.
(End of chapter)