iron throne of ice and fire

Chapter 658 Wolf Forest 3
"This, this... there's too much, far too much."

The old hunter, weathered by life's hardships, was uneasy; this king from the south was far too generous.

Their mission was merely to harass others; it wasn't a particularly dangerous task, and they didn't deserve such a generous reward.

But gazing at the gleam of that golden shovel, the old hunter's greed, hidden in his wrinkles, flickered like tiny flames, quietly licking at his heart.

With these golden dragons, their families will be able to safely get through the harsh winter...

Green's eyes seemed to read the old hunter's mind, and he said frankly, "This is your home turf, and I need you to give your all for my hefty bounty."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old hunter visibly relaxed his tense shoulders.

He slammed his rough palms heavily onto his rock-solid chest, his previous unease vanishing, and proclaimed loudly, "Your Majesty, be assured! By the Old Gods, we swear on our lives that we will never let you down!"

……

Stannis's temporary camp.

The soldiers were still busy in the night. Some bent over chopping up rotten wood they had collected, while others added the last bit of hay to the horses. But most of them just huddled around the burning campfire. The bright red firelight reflected on their faces, but it couldn't warm the numbness in their eyes.

Exhaustion, both physically and mentally, left them with only the instinctive desire to survive.

Stannis, his tent pitched in the center of the camp, was dozing in a folding chair after finishing a bag of awful liquor.

As night deepened, the chill became increasingly biting.

Apart from the soldiers on night watch, everyone else squeezed into the uniform tents, where several people huddled under a thin blanket, using their body heat to ward off the cold.

The campsite fell into a deathly silence, with only the occasional crackling of the campfire.

Suddenly, a whooshing sound broke the silence.

Stannis opened his eyes instantly, and the captain of the guard roared from outside: "On alert!"

"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack!"

"Grab your weapons! Don't panic!"

"Don't panic! Be on alert! Everyone on alert!"

Stannis remained calm. He strode out of the tent, pushed aside the shield-bearers blocking his way, and squinted as he surveyed the dark surroundings.

Where is the enemy?!

The captain of the guard, holding a small round shield, was vigilantly scanning the shadows when he spotted Stannis and immediately moved closer.

“Your Majesty Stannis.” His tone was heavy as he handed over the arrow he had found.

Stannis glanced down at it, then frowned and said, "A bone arrow?"

The captain of the guard nodded, his gaze sweeping once more over the dark forest in the distance: "The attackers were most likely hunters living in the Wolf Forest. They must have left. Perhaps... they were just warning us not to step into this forest."

Stannis turned and glanced around the camp. The soldiers were still in a panic, some holding weapons and looking around, others pushing and shoving each other, completely out of order.

"A warning? Have they finished giving out their 'greeting gifts'?"

The captain of the guard followed Stannis's gaze, looking at the chaotic scene in the camp. His Adam's apple bobbed before he slowly spoke: "They must have seen that we were on guard and chose to retreat."

"Return?"

Stannis said sarcastically, "The ones who are truly frightened are our soldiers. Make them quiet down immediately, and if they dare to move or shout again, they will be dealt with according to military law."

After saying that, he turned and went into his tent, using the heavy tent curtains to block out the noise from outside.

The captain of the guard watched as the tent flap fell, sighed inwardly, and looked helpless.

He lifted his foot and walked toward the chaotic soldiers, but after taking only two steps, his steps suddenly faltered, as if he had been pulled back by something.

He subconsciously looked up at the darkness in the distance. The direction of the wolf forest was eerily quiet, without even the chirping of insects or the roar of beasts, only the whistling of the cold wind passing through the trees.

Immediately, a strange unease, like cold vines, wrapped around his heart, making him shiver involuntarily.

He quickly straightened up and shouted angrily, "Stand still, all of you!"

……

Before Stannis's captain of the guard could calm all the soldiers down, a sudden burst of arrows came from the woods to the west.

"Enemy attack!!!"

His roar was hoarse, and the soldiers who had just lain down in the tent were immediately awakened and crawled out.

In their panic, some grabbed their helmets upside down, some couldn't find their weapons, and others knocked down passersby in their haste. The once orderly tent area instantly descended into chaos.

This time, even Stannis' timely appearance could not stop the chaos from spreading.

"Don't panic! Don't lose your composure!"

The captains tried to calm the panicked soldiers, but their voices were like stones thrown into a stormy sea, failing to make a sound.

The entire camp resembled a runaway beehive, filled with running figures, chaotic footsteps, and shouts. They had no choice but to draw their swords and swing them at their own men who were making the most noise.

however.

What's truly despairing is...

After paying a heavy price to restore order to the camp, it was discovered that this was just another harassment, and Stannis had lost almost a third of his soldiers.

"His Majesty……"

Stannis glanced at the blood-soaked captain of the guard, but he didn't say anything, just stared intently at the direction of the woods.

Snow fell on his armor, accumulating in a thin layer. He ground his teeth together with a chilling sound, then turned and left.

"Increase the number of people on night watch."

"Yes, sir."

……

Corpses were piled up haphazardly throughout the camp. The soldiers on night watch huddled around the campfire, gnawing on dry, hard jerky, which they found difficult to even chew.

The night was unusually long.

After an unknown amount of time, a bugle call suddenly pierced the night sky.

The horn's call, a melodious tune favored by our ancestors, now sounded more like the wailing of the dead, circling through the forest and reaching everyone's ears.

"alert!"

The captain of the guard roared in quick succession, and the soldiers in the camp were slightly thrown into disarray, but they quickly picked up their weapons and crawled out of their tents.

This time, they assembled in an orderly fashion, and many of them angrily cursed towards the west from which the bugle call came.

At night, leaving the camp meant embracing strangers, and for the time being, they could only curse them bitterly.

As they were considering how to teach these reckless harassers a lesson, a series of whooshing sounds suddenly erupted from the other side.

The soldiers turned around abruptly; it wasn't to the west, it was to the east!

The night sky was pitch black, and a rain of arrows, like a swarm of out-of-control bats, rushed towards the camp.

"Raise your shield!"

Someone roared, but before the words had even finished, arrows pierced the bodies of soldiers with a series of "thuds."

The soldiers dodged the arrows while raising their shields to protect themselves, while some charged eastward with their swords drawn like madmen.

The sounds of battle cries, arrows whistling through the air, and shields being struck mingled together, instantly throwing the camp into chaos.

"Don't shoot me!"

"Gods, save me!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, wave after wave of arrows rained down from the sky, and more and more soldiers clutched their heads and screamed in despair.

There were no enemies to be found; Stannis's camp looked as if it were being massacred.

The only saving grace is...

The rain of arrows did not last long, and the cries of agony within the camp grew clearer.

The campfire in the camp had mostly died down, but the soldiers dared not approach it again, their faces filled with fear, afraid of becoming an obvious target.

Even if Stannis were as hard as pure iron, he couldn't stand upright under the biggest Bucks banner.

His raging anger finally burst forth from between his teeth: "You despicable Clayber!"

Stannis's captain of the guard, panting heavily, said, "Your Majesty, it's not wolf hunters, it's Kleber longbowmen. They... they're trying to wear down our fighting spirit little by little."

"We must hold out until dawn."

Stannis's voice was colder than the surrounding wind. His captain of the guard opened his mouth, suppressed the despair in his heart, and tried his best to raise his voice to reply, "Yes, sir!"

Stannis paused, nodded to him, and then walked away.

He stopped in front of the campfire, his gaze sweeping over the trembling soldiers with a deep intensity: "I will stay here."

"His Majesty……"

"Your Majesty the King!"

Stannis brushed aside the guards who tried to stop him, then sat down on a dead tree by the campfire and closed his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, and without knowing who led them, the soldiers, having regained their courage, slowly gathered around their king.

But war is cruel.

(End of this chapter)