When the martial arts tournament was held, Linde entrusted Gals with the task of protecting Velas, and also had Red Viper bring his Dorne Knights to participate in the protection.
Having a Dorne Prince act as a bodyguard for The Reach's heir was undoubtedly an insult, but because Red Viper had not yet found a result for the previous assassination attempt, he felt he was in the wrong and agreed to Linde's somewhat excessive request.
After arranging the Knight bodyguards, he also had Moroa stay by Velas's side, in case someone tried to assassinate Velas with poison or other means.
Velas did not know his aunt's capabilities; he completely misunderstood Linde's arrangement, but he also did not reject his aunt. The two had many topics about animal taming to chat about, and Red Viper was also an expert at taming animals, so the three got along very well.
However, Linde could still discern from the subtle expressions and changes in tone that Red Viper and Moroa exhibited when talking to each other that Red Viper knew Moroa, and they were not strangers.
Linde did not press the matter; in his opinion, it didn't matter whether they knew each other as long as it didn't affect him.
"You've arranged for us to protect your liege lord, but what about you? What are you, Linde, going to do?" Red Viper, who had accepted the arrangement, asked Linde somewhat puzzled.
"I want to go catch your Dorne Wild Horse King," Linde replied.
When leaving the camp, Linde did not wear armor, but instead wore a set of Dorne-style casual clothes, rode a horse, and left The Reach's camp with Glory.
Linde's departure was also seen by many interested parties. In their eyes, Linde's departure undoubtedly meant that the defensive strength of The Reach's camp was halved.
However, when they learned that Red Viper had brought people from Sunspear to assist in defending The Reach's camp, and that Red Viper had even humbled himself to temporarily become Velas's protector, they realized they had no chance. Recklessly showing up at this time could very likely lead to Red Viper targeting them.
So, the attention of these interested parties shifted back to Linde. They were very curious about what Linde was going to do by leaving Velas's side at this time.
Soon, they found out that Linde had left The Reach's camp to go after their Wild Horse King. As soon as this news spread, many Knights and horse catchers outside Godgrace who had come for the Wild Horse King no longer cared about participating in the martial arts tournament. They all eagerly left their camps and entered the Godgrace Mountains.
For the lords and nobles of Dorne, the Wild Horse King in the Godgrace Mountains was no longer just two magnificent horses. As many people failed to capture the Wild Horse King and returned, or were even led by the Wild Horse King into groups of beasts and bitten to death by them, or died directly under the Wild Horse King's hooves, the Wild Horse King had become a spiritual totem in the hearts of the Dornish people.
The Wild Horse King's resistance to horse catchers and horse trainers was like the Dornish people's resistance to the Targaryen Dynasty's conquest back then.
Therefore, some lords also offered astonishing rewards, stating that if anyone could capture the Wild Horse King alive and present it to them, they would be directly knighted and granted villages, making them landed Knights.
If they were already Knights, they would not only receive more land and villages but also be appointed to important positions within the territory.
As a result, a large number of Dorne's Knights, warriors, hunters, and so on, all poured into the Godgrace Mountains. However, they didn't even see the shadow of the Wild Horse King, let alone capture it. Only a few lucky ones saw the Wild Horse King's herd, but they had no way to capture it.
Moreover, they discovered that the Wild Horse King's herd was migrating towards the deeper forbidden zone of the Godgrace Mountains, and continuing to track them might mean not being able to come out.
It was precisely because the Wild Horse King was so difficult to capture that the Dornish people's worship of the Wild Horse King became even stronger. There were even rumors that the Wild Horse King was the incarnation of an Old Gods deity, and this belief was very popular among the common people in the Godgrace area.
Now, Linde's declaration to capture the Wild Horse King was, in the eyes of the Dornish people, equivalent to touching their forbidden fruit. And after seeing Glory by Linde's side, the Dornish people felt that if Linde truly encountered the Wild Horse King, he would definitely be able to capture it.
Therefore, the Knights, horse catchers, hunters, and others under the various lords were dispatched one after another. Even if they couldn't capture the Wild Horse King before Linde, they wanted to disrupt him when he tried to capture it.
Most Dornish people believed that Linde was an outsider and unfamiliar with the terrain of the Godgrace Mountains, so they could reach the deep mountain forbidden zone where the Wild Horse King frequented first. However, what they didn't know was that Linde actually had a guide with him, and this guide had even encountered the Wild Horse King head-on before. This person was Rossos, the Godgrace Knight whom Linde had asked about the Wild Horse King on the way.
Knight Rossos was willing to risk being hostile to the Dornish people to help Linde as a guide to find the Wild Horse King, mainly because he wanted to pledge allegiance to Linde and become Linde's sworn Knight.
As a Greenblood River Orphan, even if Rossos became a Knight, it was difficult for him to be truly valued by nobles, let alone gain power. The Allyrion Family of Godgrace was already the third lord he had served.
He had been a sworn Knight of Godgrace for three years and had always been ostracized by the local Knights of Godgrace. Matters like sending letters could be done with ravens, or at the very least, there were specialized messengers, but the captain of Godgrace's guard had him, who was injured at the time, deliver a letter to Sunspear, which directly led to a recurrence of his injuries after arriving at Sunspear, forcing him to rest for ten days to half a month.
As a result, when he returned to Godgrace two days ago, he was fired by the captain of Godgrace's guard for not returning in time to report the news.
Rossos, who had become a mercenary Knight again, could only look for the next noble who could hire him. Although Godgrace gathered most of Dorne's nobles, very few people were willing to hire a Greenblood River Orphan, and even if someone was willing to hire him, the conditions offered were very harsh.
Finally, he thought of Linde, so he went directly to Linde and offered to help Linde capture the Wild Horse King, on the condition that he become Linde's sworn Knight, and once he achieved merits in the future, he would become a formal Knight of the Terra Family.
Linde happened to be looking for a guide to take him into the Godgrace Mountains, and Rossos's self-recommendation solved his problem. As for Rossos's conditions, in his opinion, they were nothing. As long as Rossos's ability met his standards, making him a family Knight was not a problem.
Therefore, to give the Dorne lords and nobles outside Godgrace a wrong judgment, he did not let Rossos stay by his side but had him go ahead into a landmark valley in the Godgrace Mountains to wait for him. Then, he left the camp alone, making the Dornish people think he had no guide.
When the Dornish people discovered that Linde's target was the Wild Horse King and also sent people into the Godgrace Mountains, Linde and Rossos had actually already gone deep into the mountains, heading towards the edge of the forbidden zone where the Wild Horse King was last seen.
It is no longer known why the Godgrace Mountains got this name, but most people believe it is related to the Old Gods, because the Godgrace Mountains were the dwelling place of the Old Gods and ancient races during the First Men era.
Later, as the First Men increased, conflicts arose with the ancient races, eventually turning into war. A large number of ancient races perished, weirwood trees were cut down, and the ancient races, in despair, had to resort to their final means. Their Green Prophets performed large-scale sacrifices in the Neck, awakening the giants of the earth, tearing the land apart, shattering Dorne's Arm which connected to Essos, and completely severing the connection between the two continents.
Although the Godgrace Mountains were not the primary sacrifice site, they were the core location for receiving the power of the sacrifice. This was where the giants of the earth slept, so all the power from the sacrifice fell into the Godgrace Mountains and continues to influence them to this day.
The Dornish people all know the legend of the Godgrace Mountains and believe it wholeheartedly, and the reason they believe it is entirely because the Godgrace Mountains themselves are too peculiar.
It is important to note that the north of the Godgrace Mountains is the Dorne Sea, and the south is the Greenblood River, making the climate warm and humid, which is very conducive to plant growth. This can be seen from the lush green environment around Godgrace.
Although Torr City to the north is not as densely vegetated as Godgrace, the plant growth there is still much better than in most other parts of Dorne.
However, in such an environment, the Godgrace Mountains are extremely barren. Apart from some weeds and moss, no other plants grow on the mountains. Moreover, there is very little rain on the Godgrace Mountains, not even accumulated snow, as if some invisible force envelops the entire Godgrace Mountains, preventing all moisture from approaching.
Some say this is the curse of the ancient races, while others say it is the sleeping giants beneath the Godgrace Mountains causing mischief. In short, the depths of the Godgrace Mountains have almost become a desert-like human forbidden zone.
However, just as there are occasional human activities in the desert's no-man's-land, the forbidden zone deep within the Godgrace Mountains also has no shortage of curious people exploring it, and Rossos was one such curious person.
Before Rossos was hired by the Allyrion Family, he was a sworn Knight of the Toland family of Soul Hill. Soul Hill is located on the eastern side of the Godgrace Mountains, belonging to one of the outer branch mountains of the Godgrace Mountains.
He accepted the request of the Toland family's maester consultant to protect the maester in entering the Godgrace Mountains to conduct some research and investigation on the flora and fauna of the Godgrace Mountains.
That year, he and several other mercenary Knights and a dozen hunters repeatedly entered the Godgrace Mountains six or seven times, staying for more than two months at the longest. Although he couldn't claim to know the Godgrace Mountains like the back of his hand, he understood the situation there better than the average hunter, which was why he was able to find the Wild Horse King before.
After entering the mountains, Rossos directly led Linde towards the forbidden zone of the Godgrace Mountains.
Before setting off, he had already found out that the Wild Horse King had led its herd deep into the forbidden zone. He speculated that the Wild Horse King should have led the herd to the lake in the center of the forbidden zone, preparing to avoid harassment from horse catchers and hunters there.
The forbidden zone deep within the Godgrace Mountains is not a place that people shy away from because it contains some deadly mysterious power. It is mainly because the terrain and landscape here cause those who enter to lose their way, eventually becoming trapped and dying in this area.
The terrain and landscape here are all barren mountains composed of huge rocks. Looking across, not only are the hillsides covered with rubble, but the hills and mountains below the slopes are also entirely rubble, as if there was once a tall mountain here that was crushed by some force, turning into countless scattered rocks on the ground. Moreover, most of the rubble is very large, and people can only pass through the gaps between the rocks, making it possible to get lost after walking even a short distance.
Furthermore, and more importantly, in this area, let alone animals, there are no plants at all. Once trapped here, one can only wait for death. Therefore, such areas are also regarded as forbidden zones by the Dornish people. There are a total of five such forbidden zones in the entire Godgrace Mountains.
However, this kind of forbidden zone, which is very dangerous for most people, was not very dangerous for Rossos. He was not unfamiliar with such forbidden zones. He and the maester consultant from Soul Hill had once lived in another forbidden zone for over a month. That scholar taught him how to find food and drinking water in such forbidden zones, which was also why he was confident in leading Linde to find the Wild Horse King's herd.
Linde was not worried about getting lost in this place called a forbidden zone. Both Rossos and Glory could lead him out of this area. He was more concerned about the actual situation of this forbidden zone.
After entering this area, Linde knew that some of the rumors the Dornish people spoke of regarding these forbidden zones might be true, and that these forbidden zones might contain some mysterious magic. Because after entering this forbidden zone, Linde clearly felt that the Dragon Rune on the Lost Knight's Greatsword absorbed the surrounding magic much faster, indicating that the magic here was denser than the magic outside.
However, this density was only relative. Compared to the magic he saw on the Hightower in Oldtown, the magic here was simply not worth mentioning.
Nevertheless, even though the amount of magic here was insignificant in Linde's eyes, it had already caused a considerable impact on the surrounding environment. The most direct impact was that nothing grew here, and no animals were willing to enter this area.
Secondly, ordinary people who entered this area and were surrounded by the magic for a long time would inevitably be affected by it. At best, they would experience some hallucinations; at worst, they would likely completely lose their sense of direction, which might be the main reason why ordinary people who enter here eventually get lost.
Due to the Dragon Feast Ritual, Linde's physique had changed, and the Lost Knight's Greatsword could absorb the surrounding magic at any time, preventing him from being affected in any way.
And Rossos was also not affected by the magic here, the reason being that he wore a golden amulet around his Neck. This amulet emitted an extremely faint magic that resisted the scattered magic in the surrounding environment from approaching Rossos.
He said it was the Lorn Amulet passed down by his family. This amulet was thousands of years old, made by his ancestors when they were still in their homeland on Essos, and contained a drop of water from the Mother River Lorn.
Linde expressed belief in Rossos's account of the amulet's origin and told him to keep it safe.
This surprised Rossos, because even he himself didn't quite believe that the amulet's origin was as ancient as his father had said.
It was unclear whether it was because the amulet brought good luck, but not long after they entered the forbidden zone, they saw horse droppings and other traces left by the herd on the path. And Rossos, based on the dryness of the droppings, judged that they should not be very far from the herd.
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