A twelve-foot-tall black stone statue crouched on the high walls of the ancient city of Valyria, its four claws like black blades, deeply embedded in the boulder walls, and on its black back was a row of hideous barbs, and its head roared with a huge mouth, revealing fangs like swords.

It's a Cerberus gargoyle.

Not far from this Cerberus was a long black pterosaur with huge wings outstretched, the head of the pterosaur was not large, the wings were almost everything, and the edge of the wings was a row of spikes several feet long, like the blades of a row of narrow swords neatly arranged in order of length.

Under the neck of the long-winged dragon is a very short body, almost with a long tail attached to the back, with a terrifying barb and bifurcated spikes, reminiscent of a venomous scorpion.

The body of the pterosaur was covered in black round scales, reflecting a faint scale light in the sunlight. From a distance, it was a living pterosaur, not a gargoyle.

The twelve-foot-tall gargoyles such as Cerberus and the long-winged dragon lined up the high walls of the ancient city of Valyria one by one, and there were more than a thousand.

This is Dragonstone Island at the exit of Blackwater Bay. A very important military location, and a necessary route for merchant trade in the port of King's Landing.

These gargoyles, and the towering boulder walls beneath them, were built by Aegon Targaryen, the conqueror of House Targaryen, using Valyrian masonry. The Valyrian masonry and Valyrian steelmaking techniques were lost in the apocalypse, so the castle is unique in Westeros.

The castle, including the walls, is made entirely of black stone.

Viewed from above, this boulder castle on Dragonstone Island is shaped like a dragon flying with wings outstretched.

And the architectural design of the castle is all related to dragons.

Towers, dripping spouts of different shapes of the city walls, and door openings are all designed in the shape of dragons. The dragon's claws sticking out of the wall are torch stands, and inside the huge dragon wings are the blacksmith shop and armory. The tail of the dragon forms the arches, bridges and outdoor staircases.

It is a castle worthy of the name of a dragon.

And on the city wall, one after another lifelike stone statues crouching are hideous and terrifying, like living creatures, giving people a sense of shock and fear. As if in the next heartbeat, the Cerberus will pounce on you, biting your neck with a bloody mouth, and devouring you even to the bone.

First-time visitors to Dragonstone Island are so disturbed by the sight of thousands of hideous gargoyles lining the walls of the city that they can't sleep at night.

The Duke of Dragonstone, Stannis Baratheon, lived in this dragon-shaped castle. Dragonstone was his fiefdom.

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The main fort of the castle - the stone drum tower.

Whenever a storm comes, the inside of the ancient wall of the stone drum tower will rumble and echo, as if the stone drum is beaten, so it is named the stone drum tower.

At the top of the stone drum tower is the famous picture table hall.

At this moment, Duke Stannis Baratheon was sitting in the only chair on the only high platform in the table hall.

In front of him was a large wooden table carved with an elaborate map of Westeros. This is a full-scale map table built by Aegon Targaryen the Conqueror, based on the terrain of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

The map table is more than fifty feet long, about twenty-five feet at its widest point, and less than four feet at its narrowest point.

Sitting on a chair on a well-designed high platform, you can see all the mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and city roads on the table.

This table hall has only one high platform and a seat overlooking the map table.

Stannis Baratheon was born with broad shoulders, strong limbs, a tense countenance, and skin that had been exposed to the sun for a long time, swarthy and hard as iron. He was not yet thirty-five years old, and the crown of his head was bald, except for a row of sparse black hair that surrounded his ears, like a circle of shadows of a crown.

The dark blue beard on his square chin is short, but very neat and meticulous, suggesting the steely character of his master. The eyes under a pair of thick eyebrows are intimidating, and the deep blue is like night.

Even more disturbing, however, was his mouth, pale and thin as a knife's edge, tense and never smiling.

"Robert is dead, and I am the King of the Seven Kingdoms. Eddard Stark is in control for the time being, Joffrey is not in King's Landing, but is returning from Castle Rock in the West, Eddard Stark is now the Hand of the King, acting as King, Raven has summoned me to King's Landing to ascend the throne as King, and it will change later, Sir Davos, what do you think?"

Davos is a very thin guy, with a mediocre appearance, and his eyes are not sharp, and his humble origin is obvious. His green cloak had long since faded from the sun and turned an unclean gray. Underneath the cloak was a battered brown tunic and trousers, which matched his brown eyes and hair.

Around his neck hangs a small, worn brown leather bag containing the four knuckles of his left hand, which he calls lucky charms.

These four knuckles of his were cut off by Stannis's own hands.

Robert, Eddard, and Jon Arryn raised the flag of rebellion, Stannis Barrashane's fort was blocked by Mace Tyrell on land, and the waterways were sealed by the Redwin family warships on Qingting Island, day and night.

The Riverlands coalition, led by Mace Tyrellle, continued to attack Storm's End, but were never able to take it, and the siege lasted for a year. When the rats in Storm's End were all dug into the ground and eaten, the defenders of Storm's End were left without any food.

As if the Seven Gods heard Stannis Baratheon's prayers, Davos, the most notorious and unpredictable smuggler of the Seven Kingdoms, took advantage of the dark moon and high winds to evade the Redwin patrols and deliver a shipload of onions and pickled fish to Stannis, thus keeping the defenders up until Eddard Stark's reinforcements arrived.

After the battle, Stannis canonized Davos as a knight and granted him the fertile land of Horn Windfury. At the same time, as punishment for his previous smuggling crimes, Stannis cut off the first knuckle of four fingers of Davos's left hand.

After being knighted, Davos gave his surname Seaworth, and he put his severed knuckles in leather bags and hung them around his neck as lucky charms.

Since then, Davos has also been nicknamed: Onion Knight.

Stannis, who never smiled, was unapproachable, but Davos regarded him as his sole lord. Stannis would ask for the opinion of a man who was unsure of any major matter, and that person was Davos Seaworth, who would only tell Stannis what he really thought about his heart.

Davos stroked his gray beard, then the lucky charm around his neck, "Lord Stannis, whether it's true or not, we have to go to King's Landing." The king's burial is imminent, and he should go both in public and private. Eddard Stark values honor above all else, and his raven letter, I don't doubt it. ”

"The king's seal, the handwriting, is all true. Stannis said. He handed the raven letter to Davos and told him to see the wax marks of the king's seal on it, Davos was illiterate, so he didn't need to read the contents, "It seems that Eddard Stark also knows that Joffrey is not Robert's own son, but the sinister seed of Cersei and Jaime's incest. According to the law, I am the heir to the throne of the kingdom. ”

"My lord, but we can't just go like this, just in case, we must go with our own navy and guard. Without further ado, let me order the vassals to be gathered. ”

*

PS: Timeline, Stannis's side ahead.