20demayo Chapter 21 Attacked
Chapter 21 Attacked
The jousting, the highlight of the conference, had already ended. Next came some other group jousting, archery, axe throwing, horse racing, and single combat. The threshold for these events was not that high, and many civilians, mercenaries, and even the lord's soldiers could participate.
Of course, it also means that it is not formal. Most of the contestants do not have complete protective gear, and most of the casualties occur in this stage. It is common to see knights in the melee, killing others and making the blood flow. Of course, there are also some who fail, most of them are hired knights or free riders.
The entire tournament lasted for ten days, and all the events had winners. Rhaegar was the champion of the jousting tournament, and several of the Kingsguard also won the top places. Liu Yuan secretly praised: "Brilliant!" The prize money was originally sponsored by Rhaegar, and now the bulk of the prize money is back in his hands. Not only did he win the hearts of the people and increase his own reputation, he also won honor, and in the end, he didn't spend much money!
Robert won the team championship, probably because he was holding his breath! During the competition, he showed his violent side, and more than 20 people died under his hammer.
King Aerys returned to King's Landing the day after the jousting ended. His health did not allow him to stay away for a long time. Besides, there was a big matter in King's Landing that needed his attention. The kingdom's chief steward, Lord Tywin, simply quit.
Because Aerys II took Jaime into the Kingsguard, Lord Tywin was directly angered. Jaime is not an ordinary nobleman, he is the future heir of the Lannister family. The Kingsguard is an elite guard created by the Targaryen family to protect the royal bloodline. It is composed of seven of the best knights who swear to serve for life until death; even if they are old, disabled or mentally broken, they must continue to serve.
Moreover, the Kingsguard do not have fiefs, do not marry, do not have children, and only serve their monarch throughout their lives. Since they swear not to marry, even if they have children, they are illegitimate. This move by Aerys II completely broke his friendship with Duke Tywin. In fact, Duke Tywin, who had ruled the Seven Kingdoms for more than 20 years, threw away the badge of the King's Hand in anger and returned directly to Casterly Rock with his daughter Cersei. At present, the royal meeting in the Red Keep has been suspended for several days, and no one is dealing with all state affairs.
So King Aerys returned to King's Landing ahead of schedule with some of his nobles. He needed to choose a new Hand of the King. Soon after, Prince Rhaegar also received the King's decree, ordering him to return to King's Landing. This time, the Tournament of Harrenhal was successfully completed on the surface. Aerys II originally wanted to take this opportunity to regain the love of the people and nobles.
The result was counterproductive. It was at this conference that the lords of the Seven Kingdoms had only heard about the Mad King's actions before, but now they saw with their own eyes the king's madness and the decadence of the Targaryen Dynasty. The resignation of the Prime Minister, Duke Tywin, further weakened the prestige of the royal family, and from this moment on they had the courage to fight against the Iron Throne.
Prince Rhaegar, who seemed to have won all the glory, was also reckless in the eyes of some lords. You know, he was already married, and Princess Elia gave birth to two children for him. And Lyanna Stark was not only the daughter of the Duke of the North, but also the fiancée of Robert, the Duke of Storm's End. What Prince Rhaegar did was actually a trampling of the royal power on the rights of the lords. Even the high and mighty duke could be humiliated, not to mention these little lords. Of course, different positions would lead to different views.
Two days later, the ten-day tourney of Harrenhal officially ended. The Celtigar family, as helpers, stayed until the end, until all the guests left. Earl Adrian also bid farewell to Earl Harren. This time, the Celtigar family also won some honors, after all, they had many participants! At the same time, it also brought them closer to the royal family and other lords. Overall, Adrian was satisfied.
Earl Hean even held a banquet to entertain all the members of the Celtigar family. Even servants like Liu Yuan were allowed to attend. At the banquet, Liu Yuan also saw the Earl's family, the little girl Lyanna Celtigar, and Becot Celtigar. It seemed that they were living well in Harrenhal. They had gained a lot of weight.
Those underage servants all gathered around Becot, except Liu Yuan, mainly because he was a little young and usually worked in the blacksmith shop. Besides, he couldn't play with those little kids around ten years old.
But Becott was quite interested in him, because when he was on Crab Island, there were rumors that Liu Yuan was the earl's illegitimate son. In Westeros, ordinary noble families are not opposed to illegitimate children, because most of them will become the right-hand man of the heir. Due to blood reasons, the upper limit of the growth of noble heirs, even illegitimate children, is usually higher than that of civilians. So their fathers usually support and train them. At present, Earl Adrian has only two sons. On the surface, he doesn't care too much, but he has been paying attention to Liu Yuan's growth in secret. Old Parker accepted him as a blacksmith apprentice, and the lord also indicated it.
Becot often took the initiative to talk to Liu Yuan, and he did not look down on the illegitimate child. He also saw that the young master of the lord was a good person, but he just couldn't get close to him.
The next morning, the Celtigar family team left Harrenhal. The team quickly split into two groups, one of which was the vassal and knights from the Crab Claw Peninsula, who needed to rush back to their territory to deal with their own affairs.
The rest were Celtigar's own troops, or the Countess had a sudden idea to go to King's Landing for a visit. Finally, Earl Adrian agreed, and they went to King's Landing. They stayed there for a while, and then took a boat back to Crab Island from the port outside the River Gate.
Most lords would not bring so many people when traveling, after all, it would be a considerable expense, but Count Adrian was rich! The Countess had lived on the island for a long time and rarely came to the mainland, so she was happy. Besides, the two children also loved to travel along the way, so they often deviated from the main road.
That afternoon, the Setiga convoy camped in the hills not far from Sow Corner. There was a winding river flowing through here, and the hills behind were covered with dense forests. There was no shortage of water and wood, so it was a good camping site.
But Liu Yuan felt deeply uneasy. As someone who had experienced the battlefield, he certainly understood that this was a dangerous signal. He frowned and kept looking at the surrounding terrain. He was sure that someone must have ambushed them in those mountains and forests, and the target was their camp.
But Liu Yuan couldn't tell anyone else, so he had to prepare himself silently. He hid his body behind the carriage, checked his weapons, bows and crossbows, and pressed all the quivers. Even the lance head was installed on the gun barrel, and the gold silk soft armor was already worn inside. A small hat helmet was placed in front of him, and he could enter the battle state at any time.
In fact, it was not just Liu Yuan, but others also noticed it. However, their feelings were not so clear, just a little irritated, such as Sir Bandir, who had been a guard for a long time. He felt that something was wrong, so he planned to go to the earl to explain the situation. At this time, several servants who went to the lakeside or the river to fetch water were suddenly shot by arrows flying from nowhere. Four of the five servants were shot and fell to the ground, and their screams immediately alarmed the camp.