KOA 102 (Patreon)

Chapter 102: Deja Vu

“What did you say? Willas was injured?” Lynd, in the fortress on the west bank of the Mander River, was stunned when he heard the latest news reported by Jon, who had rushed from Tumbleton, and then quickly asked, “Did Willas participate in the Tournament?”

“No, he didn’t participate in the Tournament.” Jon shook his head and said, “The raven’s letter didn’t specify the reason.”

“What about Prince Oberyn and Princess Arianne? Have they returned to Dorne?” Lynd asked again.

Jon completely didn't understand why Lynd would ask this question. He looked at Lynd with a puzzled expression and said, “Of course not. Forget Prince Oberyn, how could Princess Arianne return to Dorne at this time? She is still taking care of the unconscious Willas.”

Lynd, somewhat impatient with the back-and-forth, reached out to Jon and said, “Give me the letter. Let me read it myself.”

Jon quickly handed over the letter he was holding.

Lynd took the letter and quickly read it. The solemn expression on his face not only did not diminish but increased significantly.

The content of the letter was very simple: Willas was injured and fell unconscious when his horse suddenly got spooked and galloped out of control during an outing with Princess Arianne.

Although the simple content was clear at a glance, its very simplicity, lacking details about the injury process or its severity, prevented Lynd from making any judgment.

“Let me see.” Malora, who had become Lynd’s important advisor, walked over and said.

After speaking, she took the letter from Lynd's hand and looked at it, then turned to Jon with a puzzled expression and asked, “Which raven delivered this letter?”

Jon replied that it was the raven specifically used for public messages.

Malora questioned, “Shouldn’t this kind of news be kept secret? Why would House Tyrell make this public?”

Lynd was stunned when he heard this, and a look of doubt also appeared on his face.

Indeed, as Malora said, normally, let alone the heir of Highgarden, even the heir of an ordinary noble family, if seriously injured, should temporarily conceal the matter until it is clear, or after making arrangements to stabilize the situation, before announcing the news.

But now, House Tyrell has directly announced the news of Willas's injury and unconsciousness, as if they are eager to let everyone know that something has happened to the heir of Highgarden, and that the situation in The Reach will become chaotic as a result, which is completely unreasonable.

“Could this be a bait?” Burt, who was calculating accounts, suddenly spoke.

“Bait?” Jon asked, puzzled, “Bait for whom?”

Lynd hesitated for a moment, then immediately ordered Jon to bring him the recent intelligence regarding the Westerlands, Crownlands, Stormlands, and other regions.

However, what puzzled him was that he did not find any abnormal content in these reports.

As in the past few months, the Iron Throne continued to issue useless directives, demanding that Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, come to King’s Landing for questioning, but the Iron Islands ignored these directives.

The lords of the North continued to verbally condemn the Iron Islands, especially the North, which was the most vehement.

Because as the prohibitions from King’s Landing and various lords took effect, the Iron Islands could not trade for any food or daily necessities, so the Ironborn of the Iron Islands returned to their old ways.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the Iron Islands did not plunder the wealthy Westerlands, nor did they plunder The Reach, which was very close to them, but instead plundered villages along the coast of the North.

This action by the Iron Islands completely exceeded everyone's expectations, so it wasn't until they had plundered all the villages and abducted the villagers that Winterfell learned what had happened, more than a month later.

However, by then it was too late. Winterfell couldn't even organize aid for the plundered villages, because an extreme cold disaster suddenly swept across the entire Westeros, which even the Citadel had not predicted.

This extreme cold disaster came very suddenly. The day before, it was still sunny and so hot that people wanted to shed their skin, but the next day, the wind was biting cold, and snow began to fall from the sky. This extreme cold disaster swept southward from the North, across the entire continent of Westeros, and even Oldtown, which had never seen snow, witnessed snowflakes falling.

Although Dorne had the Red Mountains blocking this cold wave, most cities were not greatly affected, but the temperatures in cities along the Dorne Sea, such as Tor and Yronwood, still dropped to unprecedented levels, and residents there had to wear thick robes, typically worn by Northerners, to withstand the cold.

This extreme cold disaster lasted for about three months before gradually ending, but these three months had already caused immense destruction to the various territories of the other kingdoms. Only a very few territories, like Tumbleton, due to ample accumulated resources, did not encounter too much trouble.

And because of this, in the few months after the extreme cold disaster ended, almost all intelligence from the Seven Kingdoms consisted of various disaster reports. Some remnants of the Targaryen dynasty also began to resurface, spreading rumors that the extreme cold disaster was a punishment for Robert, the usurper.

Although such rumors would not influence the thoughts of the various lords and nobles, they were enough to affect the common people, and coupled with the appearance of a large number of disaster victims, the rule of many lords over their territories was shaken.

Therefore, recently, the primary attention of the Iron Throne and the various lords has been focused on dealing with rumors and eliminating disaster victims. As for the issue of the Iron Islands and the marriage alliance between The Reach and Dorne, they have been put aside.

Having found no reason in the intelligence for House Tyrell's swift public announcement of their heir's injury and unconsciousness, Lynd did not continue to investigate. He could only wait and see.

Although it seemed that this matter had no impact on him, in reality, it could directly cause the things Willas told him half a year ago to fall through.

However, just like the news of Willas's injury, another message from Highgarden a few days later again surprised Lynd: Willas had regained consciousness, but the marriage alliance with Dorne was canceled. Prince Oberyn and Princess Arianne left Highgarden with their people that very day, and the relationship between Dorne and The Reach deteriorated again.

This news was not an official message from Highgarden, but a private letter from Vortimer. The official message should be sent later. Vortimer also mentioned Willas's injury: he was not limping, but paralyzed.

The Maester found a small, unnoticed injury on Willas's waist during a previous examination. By the time Willas regained consciousness, the injury had worsened, directly causing the loss of sensation in Willas's lower body.

When Lynd heard this news, his mind immediately thought of Bran Stark. Willas's current situation was almost identical to Bran Stark's situation over a decade later.

“Does the Three-Eyed Raven want Willas to be his successor?” At this moment, a bold idea popped into Lynd’s mind.

This idea seemed absurd at first glance, after all, House Tyrell worshipped the Seven. Even though Highgarden still retained some traditions of the Old Gods, their faith was still the Seven Gods, unlike House Stark, which worshipped the Old Gods and had no aversion to the Old Gods system like the Three-Eyed Raven or Greenseers. So, the idea of the Three-Eyed Raven choosing Willas as a successor felt somewhat unreliable.

But upon closer thought, Lynd felt that this conjecture might be true, because Willas was not an ordinary person. He could be said to be the incarnation of Garth Greenhand, possessing the ability to control and influence plants and animals, much like a Greenseer. Before Bran Stark was born, he was undoubtedly the best candidate for successor.

The reason Willas was discovered by the Three-Eyed Raven was probably an accident. Lynd's appearance led to a major event like the marriage alliance between The Reach and Dorne, which was enough to change the future direction. Naturally, this attracted the attention of the Three-Eyed Raven, who then discovered Willas's uniqueness and had some thoughts.

Now that Willas had been crippled by him, the marriage alliance with Dorne was naturally called off, and the future course was corrected back to its original path. He also gained another potential successor. This was simply a win-win situation.

Thinking of this, Lynd decided to go to Highgarden. He wanted to confirm whether Willas had truly been influenced by the Three-Eyed Raven, as this related to some of his future arrangements and plans. At the same time, he also wanted to inquire about his own appointment. After all, half a year had passed without any news, and even with his good temperament, he was getting a bit impatient. Even if things had changed, he wanted to know the reason for the change.

So, that very day, he traveled light, taking only Honor, and sailed south, heading to Highgarden once again.

A few nights later, Lynd's ship docked at a fisherman's pier near the Rose Bridge on the outskirts of Highgarden. As he didn't want to cause too much commotion, he chose not to disembark at the outer city's pier.

However, when he arrived outside the main gate of Highgarden's outer wall, preparing to wait at the entrance until daytime before entering, the gate opened from within. Then he saw Vortimer walk out. Upon seeing Lynd, Vortimer was slightly stunned, then went to meet him, and said to Lynd, who hadn't yet realized what was happening, “Willas is waiting for you in the Godswood, let’s go!”

Lynd was stunned, and immediately followed Vortimer into the city, then directly into the inner city. From the road beneath the inner city wall, they detoured and arrived outside the Godswood.

On the way, although Lynd asked Vortimer what exactly had happened to Willas, Vortimer did not say, only telling Lynd to follow him.

Vortimer stopped and said to Lynd, “You go in alone! Willas is waiting for you inside.”

Lynd didn't think much of it and entered the Godswood with Honor. However, the moment he stepped into the Godswood, Lynd's steps faltered for a moment, then quickly returned to normal, though the expression on his face became somewhat solemn.

Although Lynd did not personally visit this Godswood during his previous trip to Highgarden, he had controlled Honor to come here, and through Honor, he had experienced the extraordinary power contained within, as if he were there himself. At that time, Honor even wanted to devour the incarnation of Garth Greenhand here, but Lynd stopped him.

However, he now found that the extraordinary power contained within this Godswood had become very weak, so weak that it was even less than the extraordinary power he felt in the restricted area of the Godgrace Mountains in Dorne.

In just half a year, the extraordinary power in the Godswood had become so weak, which was clearly abnormal.

Soon, Lynd, filled with doubts, arrived at the three weirwoods personally planted by Garth Greenhand. He saw that these three weirwoods, unlike their lush appearance half a year ago with red leaves covering their branches, had shed all their leaves, leaving only bare branches, which had an inexplicable sense of desolation.

Since the weirwoods were in such a state, Garth Greenhand's incarnation naturally also had problems. Through Honor's eyes, Lynd clearly saw that Garth Greenhand's incarnation had become so weak that only a thin layer of light remained, feeling as if a gust of wind could scatter it.

At this moment, Willas was sitting beneath the weirwood, dressed in casual clothes, with a blanket covering his legs. By the moonlight, it was clear that he was in good spirits. Although his face was still pale from his recent illness, the expression in his eyes remained calm, as if he didn't mind his paralysis.

Through Honor's shared vision, Lynd saw more secrets about Willas. He saw that the blue light particles generated by the breathing of Garth Greenhand's incarnation, formed by the fusion of the three weirwoods, no longer diffused into the sky or drifted to the surrounding areas of Highgarden. Instead, they flowed into Willas's body, and with Willas's breathing, they were exhaled and reintegrated into Garth Greenhand's incarnation within the weirwood, completing a cycle.

Upon seeing Lynd, Willas smiled and said to him, “Actually, I saw you before your ship docked. I originally wanted to ask Vortimer to pick you up at the pier, but Vortimer would be too conspicuous at this time. So, I asked him to wait at the outer city gate, and once you arrived, he would bring you directly here, to save you from waiting too long outside the gate.”

“Willas, you can see me?” Lynd asked, puzzled.

“No, it can see you.” Willas shook his head, pointing to an eagle that had just landed on a weirwood branch.

“Skinchanger.” Lynd couldn't help but utter a magical identity that came to his mind.

“No, not a Skinchanger.” Willas was not surprised that Lynd thought he was a Greenseer, and explained, “It’s just a small trick of borrowing an animal’s eyes.”

Lynd did not press for details about these extraordinary powers, but instead spoke directly, saying, “I saw the letter sent from Highgarden. The content was very vague, only saying that you were injured, then paralyzed, and then the marriage alliance was canceled. For a moment, I didn’t understand what exactly happened to you, so I came to inquire about the situation.”

Willas smiled slightly and said, “You don’t have to worry, I’m fine, nothing serious! You also don’t have to worry about anything unexpected happening to the matter I mentioned to you before. In fact, that matter should have a result in the next two days. Perhaps the appointment letter will already be sent to Tumbleton before you even return.”

Lynd questioned, “Will that matter continue? But the problem is you are no longer marrying into Highgarden, is it still necessary to add more personnel and build a fortress on the south bank of the Blackwater Rush?”

Willas turned his head to look north, a hint of worry in his voice, and said, “No, the fortress is not just for the northern kingdoms, but for an even more northern enemy.”