"You're awake!"Linde, who had been teasing Glory, heard movement from the bed and turned his head. Seeing that the girl who had been unconscious for two days had finally opened her eyes, staring around in confusion, he said, "Don't move around. Your injuries haven't fully healed yet. If you move recklessly, the wounds will split open."
After hearing this, the girl showed no reaction at all. She merely turned her head and stared straight up at the tent ceiling, her eyes filled with deathly stillness, as if what Linde had saved was nothing more than a body of flesh, while her soul had already died.
It was no wonder the girl reacted this way. After bringing her back to the camp and settling her in his own tent, Linde had summoned Horry, the maester who also served as the camp's accompanying physician, to treat her.
After Horry's examination, he discovered that the girl's injuries were simply too severe. Not only did she have multiple fractures all over her body, but she also had internal injuries that could not be properly diagnosed. Worse still, her private parts had been ravaged beyond recognition. The fact that this girl was still breathing was nothing short of a miracle.
Although Maester Horry had done everything he could with the medical skills he possessed, he still could not guarantee that the girl would survive. In his own words, all they could do now was pray to the Mother, praying that her mercy might fall upon this girl.
As for this, Linde said nothing. In his view, the fact that he had brought the girl back to camp and had her treated was already enough. If she still could not be saved, then it could only be said that this was her fate.
While Maester Horry was treating the girl, Linde also took the opportunity to examine Glory's body.
Although Glory had absorbed that chill that came from the cracked dragon egg, Linde did not find anything abnormal about him. The only thing that could even be considered unusual was that Glory's appetite had increased. At every meal, he ate nearly an amount of meat equal to his own body size, and he ate four meals a day.
This was only Glory's appetite as a cub. Once he grew up, his appetite would probably be even greater. At Linde's current salary level, he likely wouldn't be able to afford it.
Thus, training Glory to hunt for himself was placed on the agenda. Fortunately, his cavalry squad was entirely made up of hunters, and catching one or two live prey in the surrounding forests was no difficult task.
Over these two days, whenever Glory was hungry, Linde would have him hunt the captured live animals, training his predatory abilities.
After all, Glory was a shadow mountain cat. Even though he had been adopted by Linde, his hunting instincts were preserved just as intact as his wild nature.
The tourney was held as scheduled on the second day after the Red Keep banquet. Because there were simply too many participants, the schedule had to be extended accordingly. The archery competition, which originally would have taken only one day, was stretched into two days. After a morning of fierce competition, only fifty-six archers remained. It was believed that the champion archer would be decided by that afternoon.
Now, all the gambling houses in King's Landing had begun accepting bets. Some nobles even opened private wagers of their own. Among all these betting pools, the largest one was the wager opened by Jon Arryn, Duke and Hand of the King, in the name of the Iron Throne.
Although King Robert did not care about money, as the steward of the realm, Duke Arryn had no choice but to find ways to fill the financial hole created by the tourney. In the short term, the easiest way to obtain money was naturally to open betting pools and act as the house.
Perhaps the income gained through gambling could not completely fill that hole, but at the very least, it would prevent this year's finances from looking too ugly.
Because he was responsible for camp security, Linde did not leave the camp these two days to watch the tourney.
Naturally, he was no exception to the rule—together with his colleagues, he also placed a bet. The person he bet on was a Dornishman named Gai'an.
In his memories, more than ten years later, during the tourney held in King's Landing to welcome Eddard Stark as Hand of the King, an archer named Gai'an had become the champion of the archery contest.
Although he did not believe that this Gai'an had any connection to the Gai'an from more than a decade later, he still chose him as his betting target, merely to seek a bit of good fortune.
Unfortunately, that good fortune clearly did not arrive. The Gai'an he chose was eliminated in the very first round of the afternoon matches.
After several more rounds of competition, the archery champion of this tourney ultimately fell to a middle-aged man named Brin Rivers. It was said that he had a very close relationship with Lord Brynden Tully, the famed archer of the Riverlands, and that the two were evenly matched in skill.
Although the archery competition had ended, the enthusiasm of the people did not diminish much. That was because tomorrow there would be an even more exciting group melee. Historically, group melees were always the bloodiest events, with brutality and savagery as their themes. Naturally, their entertainment value was also the highest, and betting pools predicting how many people would die in the melee had already appeared early on.
House Tyrell had also sent their best archers to participate in this archery competition. However, for some reason—perhaps poor form—all of House Tyrell's archers were wiped out in the very first round.
This was naturally not something to be happy about. After leading Garlan back to the camp, the gloomy expression on Mace Tyrell's face never changed.
This was also Linde's first time seeing the Warden of the South, the Duke of Highgarden. Although he had already formed some expectations beforehand, when he actually saw this middle-aged man whose body resembled a wine barrel and whose beard had been carefully trimmed, Linde did not feel much disappointment. If he had to use one word to describe this duke, the only one he could think of was "mediocre."
Mediocre, however, did not mean that Duke Mace Tyrell was incompetent. In fact, compared to the vast majority of noble lords, he was outstanding. It was only when compared to great lords of the same rank that he appeared so ordinary. Coupled with his frequent tendency to act on impulse and make decisions that went against common sense, he ended up looking rather average.
But if anyone truly regarded Mace Tyrell as someone soft and easy to bully, like a ripe persimmon to be squeezed at will, they would definitely suffer a great loss in the end.
After returning to the camp, Duke Mace Tyrell summoned those who would participate in tomorrow's group melee, either asking about their condition or boosting morale. To him, this tourney was an opportunity for House Tyrell to make a name for itself. What he did not know was that the Queen of Thorns, far away in Highgarden, had no interest whatsoever in this tourney and did not believe House Tyrell needed a single tourney victory to gain fame.
Because of the duke's return, the guards of House Tyrell's temporary residence in King's Landing and the duke's personal guard also arrived at the camp. The original camp security was handed over to them, leaving Linde with little to do.
Just as Linde was planning to take a few of his men and Glory into the nearby mountains to hunt and train Glory along the way, Maester Horry came to him and expressed his hope that Linde could escort him into the city to meet Grand Maester Pycelle.
Linde naturally did not refuse. He instructed Raul to look after the girl he had rescued, then changed into a set of plain clothes. After informing Fortimo's attendants that he had business to attend to in the city, he followed Maester Horry down the slope of Aegon's Hill.
If King Robert was included, Grand Maester Pycelle had already served four kings in the Red Keep. This made his status extremely high in the eyes of some people within the Red Keep—so high that it even surpassed the king himself.
Because of this, after King Robert ascended the Iron Throne, Hand of the King Duke Arryn specifically arranged a residence for Maester Pycelle near the castle library. He also built a road from this residence directly to the outside of the Red Keep and purchased a house near that road for Pycelle, granting him the right to pass freely through the Red Keep. It could be said that he was held in extremely high regard.
Over the past year, Grand Maester Pycelle had also performed exceptionally well in helping King Robert stabilize the situation. For example, it was he who facilitated the marriage alliance between King Robert and Cersei Lannister, drawing in the powerful House Lannister and completely securing the Iron Throne.
Thus, he was also pleased to see Cersei pregnant and giving birth. When King Robert proposed holding a tourney in celebration, he voiced his support. However, over these past few days, he neither attended the banquets nor went to watch the tourney. Instead, he stayed in the library, organizing documents from the Targaryen dynasty and compiling the history of House Targaryen's rule.
In fact, as early as when he served as Grand Maester to Aegon V, he had already wanted to compile a history of the Targaryen dynasty. However, this involved many secret histories of the Targaryen royal house that could not be made public. The moment he had just begun, he was immediately stopped by Aegon V, and subsequent kings also prevented him from revising the Targaryen dynastic history.
Even so, Grand Maester Pycelle never gave up. Over the years, he continued to collect various related materials, organizing and storing them together, waiting for the day they could be used.
Now that Robert Baratheon had ascended the Iron Throne, the Targaryen dynasty was finished, and the Baratheon dynasty was beginning. Those once-forbidden secret histories of the Targaryen royal family were no longer taboo.
Moreover, because King's Landing had fallen so quickly, a large number of secret documents in the Red Keep had not had time to be destroyed. In addition, some documents found by Stannis Baratheon on Dragonstone, along with Valyrian historical materials related to House Targaryen provided by House Velaryon of Driftmark, meant that the materials and documents in Pycelle's hands were already sufficient for him to complete the compilation of the Targaryen dynastic chronicle.
However, these documents were simply too vast in number, and their contents complex and obscure. Many important texts were even written in coded languages. Relying solely on himself, his assistants, and his students to sort through them was extremely difficult. He needed to invite other maesters with historiographical expertise to participate and complete this classic work together.
Among all the candidates that appeared in Grand Maester Pycelle's mind, there was one person he believed to be the most suitable to participate in this matter—Maester Horry.
Back in the Citadel, Maester Horry was renowned for his expertise in history. Whether it was the family histories of great noble houses or the changing history of the continent of Westeros, he could answer with ease, as if reciting from memory. During his years of study, he had also corrected errors and omissions in many previously compiled historical manuscripts.
If not for the fact that Maester Horry's personality was simply too unsociable, that he did not know how to make friends and offended important figures in the Citadel—forcing him to leave—then perhaps by now he would already be holding a copper rod, wearing a copper mask, and had become a Doctor of History at the Citadel.
Thus, when Grand Maester Pycelle found the task of organizing the historical documents increasingly strenuous, he contacted one of his assistant maesters who had a good relationship with Horry, asking him to invite Horry to participate in the compilation of the Targaryen dynastic chronicle.
Horry quickly accepted the invitation and wrote back, informing that assistant maester that he would come to King's Landing together with House Tyrell's party.
After receiving the reply, Grand Maester Pycelle waited for House Tyrell's arrival in King's Landing. Yet when the Tyrell party arrived a few days ago, the Maester Horry he had been waiting for did not appear, causing him to suspect that something might have happened to him.
As a result, he sent someone to House Tyrell's camp to inquire. He learned that Maester Horry was indeed in the camp, but because there were still some matters he needed to handle, he could not come to see Grand Maester Pycelle.
Although somewhat dissatisfied with Horry's attitude, Grand Maester Pycelle did not grow angry. To him, the most important thing now was completing the history of the Targaryen dynasty.
So after learning of Horry's situation, he had that assistant maester wait at his residence outside the Red Keep. Once Maester Horry arrived, he would be brought directly to see him.
When organizing documents, Grand Maester Pycelle preferred to work alone at a slow pace. Thus, he dismissed all his servants from the room, then sat by the table, slowly flipping through the secret histories of the Targaryen royal house at hand while quickly recording their key points.
He did not know how much time had passed when night had already fallen outside. The candlelight in the room had also grown much dimmer, no longer suitable for reading.
Just as Grand Maester Pycelle closed the book and notes on the table, preparing to rest for a while and eat something, he suddenly noticed that someone was standing beside him—someone who had appeared without him knowing when.
Startled, Grand Maester Pycelle looked up warily, his hand slipping to the dagger hidden in his sleeve.
By the weak candlelight, he saw a familiar face. Yet he was extremely puzzled as to why this person would appear here, and he said, "Maester Henne, when did you return from Harrenhal? I had you bring back from Harrenhal—"
Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly felt that something was off about the Maester Henne before him. His brows furrowed slightly, and then, as if realizing something, his expression instantly darkened. In a deep voice, he said, "How dare you come back? The king's warrant for your arrest has not been lifted. Anyone would hunt you down for two thousand gold dragons. Why aren't you returning across the Narrow Sea? What are you still doing in King's Landing—don't tell me you intend to assassinate the king?"
The man raised a hand, signaling Pycelle to be quiet, then said coldly, "No need to be nervous. I'm not interested in your king. He's not on my list. I'm just here to collect a debt you owe."
"When did I ever owe you a debt?" Grand Maester Pycelle knew very well how formidable the man before him was. Resistance would be useless, so he withdrew his hand from his sleeve.
"You took my money, but you didn't tell me that bastard was protected by four heavily armored knights and a unit of archers. I nearly died there," the man said through clenched teeth. "Your intelligence was wrong and caused me serious harm. So you must return half of the money, and you also need to compensate me with an additional sum. Otherwise, I don't mind letting you, Grand Maester, fall asleep forever—never to wake again."
Although Grand Maester Pycelle was somewhat greedy for money, he also knew that compared to gold, life was far more important. Faced with the man's threat, he could only choose to compromise.
Just as he was about to agree to compensate the other party, a servant knocked on the copper ring hanging at the door and said, "Lord Pycelle, Maester Horry has arrived. Would you like to see him now?"
Hearing this, Grand Maester Pycelle hesitated for a moment, then gestured to the man to remain silent. He turned toward the door and said, "Let him in."
...
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(End Chapter)