274 AC, Harrenhal, Gods Eye Lake.
Viewed from the sky, one could see that the Kingsroad, reconstructed with black bricks, had been newly paved all the way to Harrenhal. The black road was mostly straight like a longsword, a low-spec Valyrian Road.
Next to Harrenhal, a factory for making black bricks had also been built, almost an exact copy of the one in King's Landing.
Besides that, there were tents where soldiers lived surrounding the factory. The black dragon on a silver field flags fluttered by the shores of Gods Eye Lake, and horses were tethered in the camp.
For this stretch of the Kingsroad, House Whent had shelled out quite a lot of gold. House Whent was not short of money and was happy to use this to expand their family influence, as well as to curry favor with the ruling Silver Dragon.
The dragon group flew over Gods Eye Lake. The demon dragons already had a wingspan of about sixty-five feet, looking more imposing and magnificent than before, their leathery wings casting shadows below.
The silver dragon was the largest, while the purple and black demon dragons were slightly smaller. Compared to others of the same age, they were undoubtedly fiercer and more agile.
The weather was bitterly cold, and there was a layer of solid ice on Gods Eye Lake. A carefree blue occupied almost the entire world. The azure ice filled one's field of vision, and everyone felt their minds wandering, as if they had forgotten all their troubles. Gods Eye Lake was like the last blue tear of Westeros. People were by the lakeside, fires were lit, the wind was blowing, and music played. When one treads on frost, solid ice is near.
Beautiful harp music resonated by the lake. Everyone listened to the melody: the tall, gentle, blue-eyed Ser Barristan, Myles Mooton, the red-haired Jon, the blond-haired, blue-eyed Jaime, and others. It seemed to occupy the weight of the whole world, graceful and moving. It made one think of their lover, and of the beautiful blue scenery before their eyes.
"This life, this time is too short / Not enough to prove the deep affection that melts the ice and snow / Then one day you suddenly appear / You are clear and mysterious by the shores of Gods Eye Lake / You are clear and mysterious like the shores of Gods Eye Lake." Rhaegar played the silver dragon harp and sang a song. In such a scene, it would be a pity not to sing a song.
Rhaegar wore a black velvet coat and a black cloak embroidered with twelve pairs of demon dragons, with red dragons and silver dragons symmetrically arranged. Rhaegar wore a steel circlet inlaid with red gemstones on his head and carried Orphan-Maker. Rhaegar was now six feet three inches tall, a dashing young nobleman. Even now, he stood out from the crowd, a tall, imposing, and dashing dragon. Rhaegar estimated that he could probably reach about six feet five or six inches; too tall would be undignified. It was said that the women of the Thousand Islands in Yi Ti could grow up to seven feet, and Rhaegar still wanted to see that; how tall must that be? In the letter Roberta Baratheon gave him, she also said she had grown taller; the girl was estimated to reach six feet or more.
"It is a pity there are no maidens nearby, otherwise they would be moved to tears by such music!" Myles Mooton said. This was Rhaegar's number one attendant.
"Every song of Prince Rhaegar is all the rage in Westeros!" Jon Connington also chimed in, the praise squad activated.
"Don't say every song; I have only created three songs in total!" Rhaegar put away his harp; Jaime and Rickard had not yet awakened from the music. Although Jaime was a warrior, he still understood a bit about appreciating music. Today was indeed suitable for playing the harp. It was a pity it was just a group of iron-willed men; it would be more suitable to have some maidens here. The three songs Rhaegar created—500 Miles, Blowin' in the Wind, and Gods Eye Lake—were all widely sung, spreading across both sides of the Narrow Sea, the only true god of Westeros. It was a pity Rhaegar couldn't collect royalties, otherwise he could have earned quite a bit of money.
"House Whent invited you to stay inside Harrenhal? Prince, should we decline?" Ser Barristan asked.
"I'd rather stay with my royal escort soldiers, and besides, Harrenhal looks truly too gloomy!" Rhaegar shook his head. Harrenhal was a huge castle with few people; according to Feng Shui, this was a place that couldn't hold popularity, a biased land. Although House Whent meant well, he thought about it and decided against it.
"House Whent is still rich, to be able to invite us to stay and eat with so many people? This place is truly a land of milk and honey. In just a few decades, House Whent went from household knights to the wealthiest in the Riverlands; this upstart has become the number one in the Riverlands. No wonder the lords covet Harrenhal without fearing death!" Harrenhal was an unparalleled majestic city with fertile surrounding land. At this time, House Whent, which controlled Harrenhal, was effectively the wealthiest lord in the Riverlands, the alliance of trout and bats at its zenith. Why House Tully fared so poorly later was also related to their in-laws, House Whent, nearly dying out. Otherwise, this alliance would still exist and could completely suppress the weasel Frey and other dissenting voices.
"The dragon group screeches every day, and now there are my royal escort soldiers; I'm afraid those green men dare not come out even more?" Rhaegar thought to himself. He could see the distant Isle of Faces. Legend had it that the Children of the Forest made a pact with the First Men on the Isle of Faces in Gods Eye Lake, with the green men guarding the pact. Currently, it was bitterly cold weather, and it was indeed difficult to see the green men on the island. However, the heart tree was also there, so how far could Bloodraven see from the heart tree? Harrenhal itself was a castle with a mysterious atmosphere, and there were also many traces of magic flowing. This included the green men on Gods Eye Lake, the curse of Harrenhal, and the mysterious House Hoare, among others.
By the side of Gods Eye Lake, Rhaegar and a group of attendants continued to roam the shores of this great lake. Everyone walked leisurely; everything was already orderly, and at this time, they certainly had to point out the landscape.
"Majestic fortress and great lake; Harrenhal is worthy of being a city that only a King deserves to enjoy!" In the cold, looking at the thick towers of Harrenhal that looked like crooked candles, Rhaegar said to the knights and attendants beside him. The majestic fortress was difficult to overcome. If the Conqueror hadn't used a demon dragon barbecue, House Harren the Black could truly be said to be impregnable, a great city built with decades of painstaking effort. Before the Dragon King landed, it was when House Hoare frequently attacked, fought against the Storm King family, occupied the Riverlands, and possessed two outlets to the sea, their influence unmatched for a time. House Hoare's troops marched everywhere, acting like they were the best in the world, bringing poverty and death to the Riverlands, the Lord of Khorne.
Currently, the road needs to be paved northward from here, and setting the base for aid to the North in Harrenhal is just right. In the world of Westeros, if Westeros were a chessboard, then Harrenhal would be the heart of the chessboard. Rhaegar decided to station part of the logistics and military facilities in Harrenhal, not only to go north to fight the White Walkers, but also to prepare to confront the Ironborn and the Sealord of Braavos; here, the location would be more suitable.
"A majestic city, but the curse of Harrenhal seems unable to dissipate! Changing lords is like a revolving lantern!" Ser Barristan complained. Almost everyone in the Seven Kingdoms had heard of the curse of Harrenhal.
"This curse is probably just a coincidence, right?" Myles Mooton said. "I see that House Whent is still very prosperous today, and they don't believe in such evil."
"I'm not kidding you, this curse is real!" Rhaegar thought to himself, but he didn't say it out loud. If it weren't for him capturing some of the curses and suppressing them, House Whent would have been wiped out in less than a dozen years. Such supernatural things would scare people if spoken out loud. However, Rhaegar did not understand whether the curse of Harrenhal was entirely due to the resentment of Harren the Black being burned to death, or whether House Hoare originally knew some dark magic and used it when building Harrenhal; both were possible.
"How much mastery did House Hoare have in dark magic?" Rhaegar thought while looking at the great lake. "The crow is a symbol of the old gods, but the crow is also a symbol of the god worshipped by the Ironborn." The coat of arms of House Hoare was the most complicated one, divided into four equal parts by crossed silver chains: a golden longship on a black field, a green pine tree on a white field, a bunch of purple grapes on a golden field, and a black raven flying in the blue sky. House Hoare displayed their great achievements on their coat of arms; the patterns above represented the distant lands the family had once ruled: the longship represented the Iron Islands, the pine tree represented Bear Island, the grapes represented the Arbor, and the raven represented Raventree Hall, all bound together by the Ironborn's iron chains. It could be said they were at their peak.
"The location of Harrenhal is indeed very good; it can quickly reach the two rivers of the Trident and the Blackwater Rush, and it also controls several roads. Back then, House Hoare called themselves the King of the Isles and the Rivers, ruling the vast lands from the Iron Islands to the Riverlands, with borders even reaching Duskendale and Duskendale. Unfortunately, the day the majestic city was completed was the time of House Hoare's destruction. The dragon flew over, and House Hoare made wedding clothes for others." Ser Barristan sighed.
Rhaegar was also very clear about this past event. House Hoare controlled such a large sphere of influence from the Iron Islands to Duskendale and Duskendale, mainly because they had two major outlets to the sea. The Kingdom of the Isles and the Rivers was once majestic, and this territory was the perfect terrain for the Riverlands. Later, because the Dragon King landed, anyway, House Hoare was extinct, and the House Targaryen cut out a piece of land for themselves. Since then, the Riverlands granted to House Tully became a lame duck, missing the Iron Islands and without an outlet to the sea, and the geopolitics suddenly exploded.
"The country depends on virtue, not on danger!" Rhaegar made the point. "However, kings say this on their lips, but in reality, the more majestic the city, the better. It is said that the people of House Hoare were not like typical Ironborn! Now the Ironborn will also curse them, not only because House Hoare mixed with a lot of Andal blood, which is a betrayal of the Drowned God's bloodline. At the same time, they also opposed plundering for a period of time, turning to advocate trade, focusing on continental hegemony rather than plundering the ocean."
"That is so; the last few kings of House Hoare were busy conquering the continent. Harwyn, his son Harek, and his grandson 'Harren the Black' Hoare were all cruel and warlike kings. Although the latter two were nominally Ironborn and worshipped the Drowned God, they acted more like Riverlanders and disdained the Iron Islands. After Harren succeeded to the throne, he ordered the construction of Harrenhal on the shores of Gods Eye Lake, far from the sea. This castle, which wasted national power and exhausted the people, was finally completed forty years later, when the Conqueror landed in King's Landing." Myles of Maidenpool replied; he came from Maidenpool and had heard something about the affairs of House Hoare.
"The past is gone, and it has all dissipated in the wind! We only have to hold our longsword tightly and stride forward!" Rhaegar spoke in a hearty tone, his voice like steel, and everyone was overwhelmed by his heroic posture. Rhaegar strode forward, and everyone followed his steps.
"Everyone, the winter has not yet dissipated, and we still need to continue working hard! I think this winter will probably last at least a few years! Be prepared, we may have to go to reinforce House Stark to fight the wildlings!"
"House Stark's distress letters and the Night's Watch's distress letters are coming in very frequently; is the situation so bad right now?" Someone was a bit puzzled. People in the South might not realize how terrifying the cold could be!
"Davos has returned from transporting supplies from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea! Let him tell us the situation!" Rhaegar pointed out the general. A thin, ordinary-looking youth with brown hair and brown eyes stepped out, his face flushed. According to Rhaegar's assignment, Davos occasionally went to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea to transport supplies for the Night's Watch, including armor, weapons, and food like onions and alfalfa. In winter, nothing was more important than having enough to eat.
This youth was still called the Onion Knight by Rhaegar, but he was now a decent person, having become an official sailor of the Narrow Sea fleet, and Lucerys was cultivating him well. The bright road had arrived just like this.
"The situation is very bad! Ice and cold snow; fortunately, when I went there, the sea was not yet locked by cold ice, and I managed to return with difficulty. Now I am afraid it is impossible to row there, and in this weather, I heard from the Night's Watch that the wildlings will definitely go south in large numbers! Behind them, there may be even more terrifying White Walkers." Davos thought of the terrifying White Walkers, and his face turned a little pale.
Everyone looked at each other, unable to believe that the White Walkers would attack again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like the story please give it some power stones and reviews. And if you want to read 40+ advance chapters or just want to support me please join my patreon at [email protected]/Translatingfanfics