One of the strongest castles in Westeros, Storm's Rest sits in the heart of the Stormlands, on the western shore of the Narrow Sea.

The castle walls are said to be 80 feet thick at their thickest point, and are impenetrable with two layers of rock and a sandwich of sand and gravel.

The walls are smooth and curved, and the stones are stacked so tightly that not even a hint of wind can enter.

From afar, Storm's Breath resembles a giant fist that soars into the sky, defying any enemy who comes at it.

Legend has it that the castle is the work of Brandon Stark, the "Builder" who built the Great Wall and the Tower, and has never been conquered since it was built.

The last Storm King, "The Proud" Argira Durandon, foolishly abandoned the defenses of Storm's End during the War of Conquest, and gathered his army to fight the Targaryen army and dragons in the wilderness, ultimately defeating them disastrously.

After the end of the Conquest, Aegon Targaryen canonized Storm's End to his illegitimate brother Auris Baratheon, and Storm's End became the clan fort of House Baratheon.

After the Reaver War, Robert Baratheon sat on the Iron Throne and canonized Storm's End to his younger brother, Lanli Baratheon, who died in Halberd City.

The vacant Duke of Storm's End was canonized by King Tommen, who now sits on the Iron Throne, to Adric Baratheon, the illegitimate son of the previous King Robert.

"Edric Storm!" Stannis Baratheon corrected his men, "What qualifies the False King on the Iron Throne to legitimize an illegitimate child?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." "Edric Storm has agreed to meet you in the afternoon, on the cliff shore east of Storm's End, with a maximum of ten followers allowed on both sides. ”

"Yes."

After the messenger left, Stannis turned to look at the people behind him and asked:

"Has anyone from the Stormlands nobles responded to my call?"

There was silence.

Stannis began to grind his teeth.

After a long while, "Onion Knight" Davos spoke:

"Your Majesty, it's not that the nobles of the Stormlands are unwilling to support you, but their armies are trapped in Dorne, and if you can convince Prince Dorlang to release them, they will definitely be willing to send troops to support your cause."

"There's no need to give them a reason!" Stannis said stiffly, "The Stormlands army trapped in Dorne is only over 20,000 men, so they have no troops to send?" They just don't want to fight for me. It just so happened that the Iron Throne had supported an illegitimate son to sit in the position of Duke of Storm's End, and they had even more excuses. ”

"Actually, there is also the threat of the Riverbend Army." Davos added, "Even if the Lords of the Stormlands still have a small number of troops, they will stay in the castle to guard against the Rivermen. ”

"Riverbend!" Stannis gritted his teeth and turned his gaze to his father-in-law, "Allister, aren't you vouching that Riverbend will support me?" What kind of support do they have? ”

Allister Florent, Earl of Bright Water City, was also a little embarrassed when he heard this.

Just the day before, they received the news that the Duke of Metz had ordered the Riverbend army to march on Storm's End, and although the Riverband claimed to be helping Stannis settle an illegitimate son who had usurped the position of Duke of Storm's End, anyone with a discerning eye knew that they wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to plot Stormlands.

After hearing from his son about the deer as a horse at the High Court Hunt, Earl Allister originally thought that the Tyrells would definitely support their son-in-law Stannis to ascend to the Iron Throne, so he rushed to Dragonstone with a large army, ready to seize the opportunity, but who knows, the Tyrell family's next ambiguous statement and ulterior motives made him dumbfounded.

He is now reminiscing, and his grandson, who is engaged to Gao Ting Rose, obviously has a different mind.

But by this time, the Florentine family had no way out.

The Earl of Alllister's daughters were all married to Stannis, and he himself went to Dragonstone in advance to lose his sincerity, and was given the position of Hand of the King by this king, so of course he would not and could not be half-hearted.

"Your Majesty." Count Allister pondered his tone and said, "As long as we get that bastard in Storm's Rest to give up his unrealistic delusions, the Tyrells will have no excuse to continue their march into the Stormlands. ”

"Do you think that kid would voluntarily give up his position as Duke of Storm's End?"

"As long as you promise to treat him well, I'm sure Edric Storm will see the truth."

"I hope so."

Hearing this, Davos suddenly opened his mouth and suggested:

"Your Majesty, if you promise that if you can legitimize Aderic's identity and even give him Storm's End, as long as he is willing to be loyal to you, then there is no reason for him to fight against you again."

"Impossible!" Stannis flatly refused, "A filthy bastard also wants to inherit Storm's End?" ”

Davos sighed and didn't persuade any more.

He knew that his lord hated the bastard of Adric Storm, who was conceived on the marriage bed of Robert Baratheon and Delina Florenton on the day of their wedding in Stannis.

It is even rumored that Stannis has not been able to give birth to a male heir because his marriage bed was defiled by his brother.

Such humiliation, how could Stannis let go.

As the afternoon ticked by, Stannis rode to the negotiation site wearing a red gold crown.

Soon, a group of people slowly approached in the direction of Storm's Rest Castle.

The man at the head was handsome and glamorous, dressed in a green velvet tunic and a satin cloak studded with pine bark.

When the two sides got closer, Stannis also saw his brother's illegitimate son, the other party had the black hair of the Baratheon family and the attractive ears of the Florentine family, and the body was strong, but the face was slightly green.

"Edric." Stannis greeted him and did not address him as duke, but fortunately did not address him by his bastard surname.

"Uncle." Edric's greeting was just as succinct.

The uncle and nephew then looked at each other in silence, and the atmosphere became awkward.

In the end, it was Count Allister Florent, who was behind Stannis, who coughed lightly and said with a smile:

"Adric, don't say hello when you see your grandfather?"

Adric was the child of Robert Baratheon and Count Allister Florent's niece, Delina, so the two were indeed related.

But the young Duke of Storm's Rest turned his head to look at Count Allister, and said in an indifferent tone:

"So you're Lord Allister, I'm afraid this is the first time we've met, and I really don't recognize you."

Indeed, of course, Earl Allister would not pay much attention to the illegitimate children of his niece, even if it was with the king, after all, King Robert had too many illegitimate children.

Before, he only knew that such a child existed, but he never cared.

"Edric." Count Allister tried to calm his mind, "Your Majesty Stannis is here with kindness and forgiveness, as long as you give up your resistance and give up Storm's End, Your Majesty can act as if none of this happened." ”

Edric snorted and asked, "And then?" Am I going to be an illegitimate child that everyone despises? ”

Earl Allister glanced at the king and said:

"Your Majesty can give the family name of the Baratheon family, and even give you a fief."

"Fiefdom? Storm's End? ”

"Don't even think about it!" Stannis flatly refused.

Adric shrugged, "Uncle, you're really stingy. No wonder no one wants to fight for you. ”

These words poked Stannis's sore spot, and his face instantly became extremely gloomy, and he gritted his teeth and roared:

"Boy! Do you know that your death is near? The Riverbend Army is already on its way to Stormcastle, do you think anyone but me can save you? ”

"I have Storm's Rest, and I don't need you to save me." Edric said lightly, "During the Reavor War, it was also the Riverbend army that besieged Storm's Rest Fort and failed to defeat it for a whole year. Uncle, you were in the city at the time, you don't know how strong this castle is, do you?

And, to learn from your lesson last time, this time I have three years of food reserves, and I want to see if the army of Hewan can surround this place for three years! ”

Stannis began grinding his teeth again, a sign of his rage.

But he really has a bastard who doesn't eat hard and soft, and he can't help it.

In desperation, Stannis looked at Ser Cortanay Ponloth behind Edric and said:

"Sir Cortanay, are you willing to mess around with this bastard?"

Sir Cortanay did not answer, but pointed to the flag behind Stannis, and asked rhetorically:

"Mistress Stannis, have you changed your coat of arms?"

The flag in the hand of Stannis's flag bearer was indeed a strange one, with a fiery heart drawn on it, surrounded by a circle of orange flames, and the mark of the Crown Stag was still there, but it was much smaller and outlined in the heart of the fire.

"This is the Flaming Heart, the banner of Rahlo, the Lord of Light." The red-robed monk Soros explained.

"What bullshit Lord of Light." Sir Cortanay took a sip and said disdainfully, "Stannis, you change your faith as casually as you change your boots, and you kindly say I'm messing around?" ”

"Enough!" Stannis jerked out his sword.

In the pale sunlight, the sword body shimmered with a strange light, one moment red, one moment yellow, and then it turned into a blazing white light, and even the surrounding air sensed the heat scattered by the blade, and followed the transformation and glow.

The horses of the crowd neighed in fright.

Stannis raised his glowing sword, pointed it at his bastard nephew, and roared:

"I warn you one last time, Edric Storm! I don't want to defile the Lightbringer with the blood of my loved ones, but if you are obsessed, even if you bear the curse of killing your relatives, I will kill you!" ”

Edric sneered:

"Uncle, do you know why the nobles of the Stormlands are willing to die for my father and fight for Uncle Lan Li, but they are unwilling to send a single soldier to support you? It's because of your cruelty! You can't change that, and you'll never want to sit on the Iron Throne. ”

With that, the bastard duke turned his horse's head and headed for Storm's Rest.

Stannis was left holding the longsword that shimmered with strange light, only to slash the air in anger.

(End of chapter)