Godgrace is located at the confluence of the Greenblood River, the Winding River, and the Vance River, a place with abundant water and lush vegetation. The city is built within a large forest, making it look nothing like a typical Dorne city, but rather like a town in The Reach.
The entire area of Godgrace is very large, at least three times that of Sunspear. There are no tall buildings here, only low-rise houses. The tallest building is the main castle where the Allyrion Family resides.
Unlike other castles where the inner main castle and the outer town are completely separated by walls, the main castle and the outer town of Godgrace are not separated and are completely integrated.
The absence of city walls does not mean that Godgrace's defenses are inferior to other castles. In fact, the outer town can also serve a defensive purpose. These low-rise houses, combined with the surrounding trees and narrow streets, turn the town into a labyrinth.
Even if a large army enters this area, it would have to split into small groups to pass through these narrow streets, and once divided, the Godgrace garrison hidden within the town would be able to eliminate the invaders in the streets one by one.
Only when encountering a monster like a dragon breathing fire from above would Godgrace's defenses be completely ineffective.
When Rhaenys Targaryen attacked Dorne on her dragon Meraxes, the Lord of Godgrace at the time realized that his castle could not withstand a dragon's attack. So he made an extremely bold decision to completely abandon the entire castle, moving everyone to hide in the nearby Godgrace Mountains, leaving only an empty city. This is why Godgrace is one of the few Dorne castles that was not completely burned down by dragonfire.
Although during Aegon the Conqueror's time, the Allyrion Family of Godgrace was one of the few Dorne families whose strength remained intact, and they also occupied the fertile land where the three rivers converged, this family has always struggled to grow and prosper. It was as if their family was under some kind of curse; whenever the family prospered, the number of descendants would mysteriously decrease, and several times they almost faced extinction.
For example, Lady Delrone Allyrion, who currently governs Godgrace, had to take on the responsibility of supporting the Allyrion Family after all male heirs of the Allyrion Family's main line died.
In Dorne, it is not uncommon for a woman to hold power as a Lord, as the custom here is that both men and women have inheritance rights.
However, when a woman holds power, and the family has few collateral relatives to support her, yet she controls a large amount of resources, the dangers she faces will increase exponentially.
When Lady Delrone took charge of Godgrace, it was such a critical moment, surrounded by what could be described as wolves eyeing their prey. Major Lords from nearby Torr City, Vance City, and others all wanted to take a bite out of Godgrace.
Her decisive choice at the time was to intermarry with House Martell of Sunspear, choosing a husband from House Martell to become a matrilocal son-in-law in the Allyrion Family, thereby stabilizing the situation with the Martell's strength.
A few years later, Roger Allyrion was born, and with an heir for the Allyrion Family, the situation stabilized.
When Roger Allyrion was seven years old, Lady Delrone's Martell husband died of a serious illness. Some said that Lady Delrone poisoned her husband. Lady Delrone did not respond to the rumors, but she later made a vow of chastity and did not remarry, even to this day.
Lady Delrone has naturally made great contributions to the Allyrion Family's ability to maintain its current position, and the surrounding noble Lords also hold her in great respect. This martial arts tournament is being held in her name.
When Lord Linde and his party arrived in Godgrace, there were still two days until the martial arts tournament officially began. Compared to other Dorne nobles, they were considered to have arrived somewhat late.
The forest on the outskirts of Godgrace was densely packed with tents, at least three or four hundred of them. From the flags on the tents, it was clear that most of Dorne's noble Lords had sent representatives or come in person.
Because they had been notified in advance by raven, even though Lord Linde and his party arrived somewhat late, Lady Delrone still allocated two empty plots of land for House Martell and House Tyrell. These two plots were on the bank of the Greenblood River, connected, and both were flat and well-maintained grassy areas, very suitable for setting up camp.
While setting up camp, Velas, accompanied by Lord Linde, Gals, and other knightly escorts, went to the main castle of Godgrace to meet Lady Delrone.
Because the martial arts tournament attracted knights and warriors from all over Dorne, the population of Godgrace surged several times, which made the already not-so-wide streets even narrower. From time to time, ox carts loaded with goods would pass through the streets, making the congestion even worse.
Although Gals and the other knightly escorts protected Velas in the middle and tried their best to push away the surging crowd, they still couldn't resist the force of the surging crowd. Several knightly escorts were pushed away by the crowd, creating a gap in the protective circle.
At this moment, an ox cart that was slowly moving forward on the road suddenly seemed to be startled, broke free from its reins, and began to run wild, directly knocking over a dozen people in front of it and charging towards Lord Linde and his party.
To avoid the charging mad bull, those walking in front fled desperately, and many of the knightly escorts protecting Velas were again scattered.
Seeing this, Lord Linde shouted to Gals and the other knightly escorts, then pulled Velas and quickly moved into a relatively dark alley nearby to avoid the mad bull.
However, just as Lord Linde and Velas entered the alley first, a group of armed warriors suddenly rushed out from the houses on both sides of the alley and charged towards Velas and Lord Linde.
Facing these people, Lord Linde directly shielded Velas behind him, then drew the two broad-bladed hand-and-a-half swords from his back and met the assassins.
In the narrow space, he could still easily dodge attacks from all directions, and while dodging, the broad-bladed hand-and-a-half swords in his hands easily harvested the lives of these people. In less than a minute, a dozen assassins had already had their necks severed by Lord Linde and lay on the ground.
Behind him, Gals and the other knightly escorts had already protected Velas and drawn their weapons, standing ready.
"It seems the Dornish don't much like your peace agreement," Lord Linde turned to Velas and said.
"Can we find out where they're from?" Velas was not flustered by the assassination attempt. He motioned for Gals to step aside, then walked over to Lord Linde, looked at the bodies on the ground, and asked.
Lord Linde said in a deep voice, "I think you should consider returning to the camp now, rather than thinking about where these assassins are from. The mad bull just now shouldn't have been an accident, and we don't know how many more assassins are on the street."
Velas thought for a moment and said, "I still want to continue to see Lady Delrone."
Lord Linde frowned and said, "Aren't you worried that these assassins were arranged by Lady Delrone?"
Velas shook his head and said, "These assassins are the least likely to have been sent by Lady Delrone."
Lord Linde retorted, "On what basis do you make that judgment? Do you have evidence to prove it? Or is it just your intuition?"
Velas fell silent, unable to refute Lord Linde's words.
At this moment, the sight of so many knights standing ready in the alley had attracted the attention of the people outside. They all looked over and saw bodies scattered on the ground. Someone immediately screamed, and someone else shouted, "Murder! Call the garrison, call the garrison!"
Soon, the commotion spread at the alley entrance. The crowd, which had not yet calmed down from the mad bull's rampage, became chaotic again because of the bodies in the alley. People fled and hid everywhere, fearing they would be innocently implicated.
A little girl, while dodging the running crowd, was bumped into the entrance of the alley where Lord Linde and his party were. Her head hit the corner of the wall hard, and blood emerged from her forehead. The little girl also seemed to have been knocked unconscious, lying motionless on the ground.
Seeing this, Velas immediately walked over, wanting to check the little girl's injuries.
However, Lord Linde grabbed Velas and then gestured directly to the knight closest to the little girl.
The knight was stunned when he saw Lord Linde's gesture, then without thinking much, he directly raised his weapon and chopped towards the little girl.
The little girl, who should have been unconscious, suddenly opened her eyes and, with extremely agile movements, rolled away, dodging the descending weapon. She then quickly rolled a few times on the ground, got up, and rushed towards the crowd not far away, trying to escape into the surrounding people.
However, though her steps were fast, they were not faster than the weapon Lord Linde threw. A broad-bladed hand-and-a-half sword pierced through her body from behind, pinning her directly to the wall.
Velas was stunned by this scene, his face immediately darkened, and a look of anger appeared in his eyes.
The reason he was angry was not because he blamed Lord Linde for striking, as he already knew that the little girl was likely also an assassin. He was angry at himself, angry that he was too naive to fall for such a trick.
Lord Linde ignored the self-reflecting Velas. He gestured to Gals and the others to protect Velas, then walked over to the pinned assassin, drew his sword, wiped it, and returned it to its sheath. Then he checked the other assassins lying on the ground.
This person was not a little girl at all, but a dwarf disguised as a little girl. There was nothing suspicious on him, only an exquisite small box.
Lord Linde reached out and picked up the small box, looked at it, and was about to open it, but he quickly thought of something and immediately stopped opening the box.
At this moment, his extraordinary hearing caught a sigh from the surrounding crowd, as if someone was regretting something. Following the sound, he found that the person sighing was a seemingly ordinary peddler.
So, he turned and walked over, coming before the peddler.
Seeing Lord Linde, the peddler's eyes showed a hint of panic. Before he could say anything, Lord Linde's fist had already landed on his head, knocking him unconscious.
The surrounding people immediately fled in a panic. They clearly misunderstood that Lord Linde was in a killing frenzy, fearing they would become Lord Linde's next target.
Lord Linde ignored these people, directly picked up the peddler, walked back to Gals and the others, handed the person in his hand to a knight, and told him to find a rope to tie him up.
"Is this also an assassin?" Velas looked at the peddler and asked.
Lord Linde nodded and said, "He should be with that dwarf assassin."
"Dwarf assassin?" Velas was stunned, and soon realized something, looking at the body not far away.
"Let's go, back to camp," Lord Linde no longer asked Velas's opinion and directly ordered.
At this point, Velas also said no more. The successive assassination attempts had proven that his current situation was very unsafe. Even though he had absolute trust in Lord Linde's strength, he understood that returning to camp was the best course of action now.
So, surrounded by many knights, Velas and his party walked back the way they came.
Although on the way they encountered the Godgrace garrison who had rushed over from other areas after hearing the commotion, facing the imposing knights, the garrison did not dare to stop them and could only let them leave, while also sending someone to inform Lady Delrone and Ser Roger Allyrion at the main castle.
Soon, Velas and his party returned to the camp. Lord Linde immediately raised the camp's alert status to battle readiness. People in the camp were not allowed to contact outsiders, and any supplies purchased in Godgrace had to be inspected before being brought in. All types of food also had to be checked for poison.
The changes in The Reach's camp naturally attracted the attention of the adjacent Sunspear camp. The Red Viper did not understand why Lord Linde would suddenly become so vigilant, but he vaguely felt that something must have happened.
Not long after, the news that Velas Tyrell, the heir to The Reach, had been assassinated on the streets of Godgrace reached the Red Viper's ears. His face also became exceptionally grim, and he immediately led his men to The Reach's camp.
However, the Red Viper was stopped at the camp entrance. Then Gals and the knights under his command, carrying the assassin's accomplice who had been captured by Lord Linde earlier, came to the camp entrance and said to the Red Viper, "Lord Linde asked me to ask Prince Oberyn, are House Martell's promises as nonexistent as a whore's virginity?"
Clearly, the latter description was intentionally added by Gals.
Hearing Gals's questioning, the Red Viper's face flushed with anger. If the rage in his eyes could turn into real flames, at this moment it could burn Gals and the knights under his command to ashes.
However, he still suppressed his anger, took a deep breath, and almost gritted his teeth as he said, "This matter is my fault. I underestimated the madness of those fellows. I will give you an explanation."
Gals gestured to a knight under his command, telling him to hand over the assassin's accomplice to the Red Viper's men, and said, "This is an accomplice of a dwarf assassin. We are now handing him over to you. It's up to you, Oberyn Martell, whether you truly want to give us an explanation, or just find a few scapegoats."
After speaking, he deliberately gave a loud order to the guard soldiers nearby in front of the Red Viper, forbidding anyone with unclear intentions from entering the camp, then turned and left.
The Red Viper's heart was truly filled with rage at this moment. He was not angry at Gals's indirect accusation, but rather at the person who orchestrated this assassination for causing him to lose face. At this moment, he wanted to kill, to kill many people.
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