Game of Thrones: The Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

A week of torrential rains in the Riverlands caused the Green Fork River to swell, threatening the safety of the Twins. As a result, the Brecken family was forced to temporarily evacuate the Twins and seek refuge on the surrounding hills.

But then, as the recent torrential rains gradually subsided and turned into a light drizzle, the water level of the Green Fork River dropped significantly after a flood discharge. These people were tempted to return to Twin River City, since life on the mountain to avoid the floods was not easy; they were often hungry and cold.

However, at this time, the eldest prince, Herod Targaryen, who came from King's Landing, led an army to the Riverlands to provide disaster relief.

Therefore, as the host, Hendry Brecken, the governor of the Riverlands, naturally had to receive him, and he set off for Salt Fields, the town in the Trident River basin, which was the hardest hit by the disaster.

The guards of the Brecken family escorted Lady Kerrilin and the young master back to the Twins.

The Twins were submerged for some time. Although the castle was relatively sturdy and was not seriously damaged, the walls were still severely corroded.

After the water receded, the ground and the flooded walls were covered with moss. The rooms on the ground floor were also completely flooded, and most of the furniture was ruined. There were also animal and human corpses that had drifted in from who knows where. They had been in the water for many days and were highly decomposed. The air was filled with a fishy stench, and flies and mosquitoes swarmed everywhere, making people feel nauseous.

However, even so, living in a warm stone house is still better than being exposed to the wind and rain on a mountaintop.

Therefore, Lady Kerrilin, Hendry's wife, had no choice but to take her two sons and endure the nausea to live in the Twins, finding a room on the second floor that hadn't been flooded.

"Cough-cough-"

However, shortly after returning to the Twins, misfortune struck again when Hendry Brecken's eldest son, Rosso Brecken, suddenly fell ill.

The boy initially only had a poor appetite and was lazy and sleepy, but everyone was busy tidying up the castle and no one noticed.

Rosso Brecken's condition then deteriorated into a severe cough and he turned pale, and it was only then that people began to pay attention to the boy's condition.

Lady Caryline hurriedly summoned a scholar to treat her son. At first, the old scholar diagnosed it as a cold and brewed some medicinal soup for the boy to drink. However, it did not help, and Rosso Brecken's condition worsened.

But at this moment, Mrs. Careylin suddenly developed the same symptoms as the boy, and began to cough violently, even developing a high fever that was difficult to break.

In this era of poor medical conditions, contracting a disease is a terrible curse. Even high-ranking officials and nobles could easily die if they accidentally contracted a disease. Therefore, when the lady and the young master contracted the disease at the same time, chaos naturally broke out in Twin River City.

Then a letter from the Twins was delivered to Earl Hendry Brecken, who was far away in Saltworks.

When Hendry first received the letter, he was anxious but didn't connect his wife and son's illness with the plague, until this incident occurred...

Governor Brecken Jr. outwardly tried to remain calm, but in reality, he was already extremely anxious, which was why he was inexplicably distracted.

Especially after seeing the charred remains, his heart pounded so hard he didn't know if it was because of guilt or something else, so much so that he didn't react for a long time when the prince asked him a question.

Hendry was well aware of the horrors of the plague. Once it spread, a significant portion of those infected would die, and the plague's reach was extremely wide.

However, Hendry knew how terrible the plague was, but he knew even more about how people dealt with it.

Therefore, when he learned that his wife and son might have contracted the disease, his first thought was to keep it a secret.

When asked by Herlos Targaryen if he had heard of similar cases elsewhere, he quickly shook his head in denial, because he did not want his wife and son to be burned alive.

Hendry still harbored a sliver of hope, in case that what Kerriline and Rosso hadn't contracted the plague, or that they had recovered under the maester's treatment.

After all, plagues are not 100% fatal; many people who get sick eventually survive.

Therefore, when faced with Heros, Hendry ultimately chose to lie for the sake of his wife and son.

However, Hendry chose to lie and remain silent, but the plague did not stop there; instead, it continued to spread silently.

After a period of isolation and treatment, no new patients appeared in the army under the command of the eldest prince, Heros.

When they opened the door and came out, they found that the outside world had undergone tremendous changes.

Chapter 980 Controlling the Plague

Under the sky over the river region, the continuous drizzle has finally stopped, and the surging Trident River has receded back to its former position.

However, the damage caused by the flood could not be reversed overnight. Vast fields were destroyed, and villages and towns became much more dilapidated.

The road ahead was muddy, and stepping on it even caused some people to sink in and squeeze out bubbles. On both sides of the road were piles of homeless refugees.

Some of them had their families with them, while others were all alone. Their families may have been swept away by the flood, but all of them were dressed in rags, pale and weak, clearly having not eaten for a long time. And among these refugees, there were occasional coughs, which made people wary.

Now everyone knows that the plague has arrived, after all, there are many dead bodies everywhere on both sides of the road.

Some had already drowned and their bodies were rotting, but no one had buried them. Others were still breathing, but they lay on the ground staring blankly at the sky, waiting for death. Some of the coughing sounds came from these people.

Everyone avoided them like the plague, keeping their distance. No one dared to feed them or treat their illnesses. In this state, they were destined not to see the sun rise tomorrow, and would die tonight, becoming corpses by the roadside.

Besides these people, some others in the crowd couldn't help but cough, but after coughing a few times, they quickly covered their mouths with their clothes and looked around warily, afraid of being noticed by others.

...

Heros rode his horse and took in the scenery along the way.

However, he felt a little uneasy, because the development of this plague was indeed too fast, catching him off guard.

The disease was first discovered in the army camp he led, and at that time there was no news of the spread of the plague outside.

Heros responded decisively and swiftly, halting the spread of the epidemic.

He thought he could nip this disaster in the bud.

However, the first few patients discovered in the military camp were not the source of this plague. During the time his gates were closed, the terrible plague had quietly spread across the land of the Riverlands.

He also missed the earliest opportunity to stop the epidemic, and now it will likely take a great deal of effort to stop its spread…

"If only it had been discovered sooner..."

Heros's expression was slightly uncertain, but fortunately, he had some premonitions beforehand and made ample preparations.

He sensed that the plague might not end so easily, so he sent the news to the Vale, the Westerlands, and King's Landing as soon as he discovered it.

The Valyrian Crown Prince demanded that they stop the influx of refugees from the Riverlands into the country to prevent the plague from spreading throughout the Valyrian provinces.

Meanwhile, the Western Territory and the Valley, having received Heros's letter, decisively took action, closing off access to the two provinces.

The western border and the valleys have complex and mountainous terrain, so they only need to guard the mountain passes to prevent the influx of refugees from the Riverlands.

However, preventing the spread of the epidemic is not so easy for King's Landing, as it borders the Riverlands directly and is a flat plain.

There are no fortresses to defend King's Landing and the Riverlands, and as the capital of the empire, King's Landing naturally attracts a large number of refugees from the Riverlands.

Therefore, under duress and with the Crown Prince's orders, King's Landing had no choice but to temporarily close its gates to prevent the influx of refugees from the Riverlands and to avoid irreversible consequences.

After all, King's Landing already has a population of one million, and if the plague were to spread there, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Heros, what should we do?"

"Why don't we leave here first?"

boom--

The towering Kingsguard Artis stood with his feet firmly planted on the ground, his steps causing the earth to tremble slightly. He looked down at the 'little people' below, then turned to his friend, his voice booming with worry.

“No...we can’t leave, Artis.”

Heros, sitting on horseback, was much shorter than Artis. He looked thoughtful, then shook his head and spoke.

“If we leave too, countless people in Hejian will die.”

This is a tragic era.

War, long night, disaster, plague—any one of these can easily take people's lives, and only by avoiding them can one survive.

"We must stay and stop this disaster."

Then Heros took a deep breath, raised his head slightly, and spoke decisively.

...

The Empire’s eldest prince, Herlos Targaryen, led his army into the Riverlands to quell the floods, but unexpectedly, a plague broke out in the Riverlands, and the virus swept across the entire province in an instant.

As a prince of the empire, Heros could have safely withdrawn from the Riverlands, but he did not intend to leave. Instead, he decided to stay in the Riverlands to control the plague.

Meanwhile, news of the plague outbreak in Hejian had spread far and wide, and people were terrified of its horror, even recalling the great spring plague of more than a hundred years ago.

Fortunately, His Highness Herod Targaryen discovered and dealt with the plague in time, stopping it within the Riverlands and preventing the virus from spreading and causing terrible consequences.

“Diana, your brother has decided to stay in the Riverlands.”

On the distant Wall, Arya, holding a letter, strode into a recently renovated castle.

Upon hearing this news, Princess Diana of the Targaryen family, who was visiting the Queen's Gate at the Wall, was filled with surprise.

"what?"

Ten years have passed.

The graceful young girl had grown into a young woman. Diana was tall and voluptuous with a slender waist, short silver-gold hair, flawless white skin, and bright, clear pale purple eyes.

Her personality was as lively as her stepmother Renis's, and the two women got along very well. Diana preferred to be with Renis than with her own birth mother.

She often traveled the world with her Kingsguard Arya, riding dragons, and during these trips, Diana would occasionally visit Reynolds on Dragonstone.

Therefore, Reyne later gave Diana the Valyrian steel sword 'Dark Sister' that Viserys had given her.

Renis spends most of her time on Dragonstone, so keeping the divine weapon by her side would be a waste; it would be better to give it to someone who needs it more.

Diana's appearance at the Wall was simply a way to relax and unwind.

Chapter 981 Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch

"You mean Heros stayed in the Riverlands to control the plague?"

The Empire's eldest princess is healthy and energetic, and is a female knight with excellent swordsmanship and archery skills.

At the same time, Diana also had a beautiful face. She had short, wavy, silver-gold hair that reached her neck, a heart-shaped face with a touch of exoticism, and a pair of light purple eyes.

She was slightly surprised by Arya's words, then turned around and leaned against the windowsill, because in her opinion, her brother Herros was not someone who would risk his life for the fate of others.

Simply put, Diana felt that Herros was a very self-centered person.

Diana actually knew this when the two siblings were young. Heros liked to immerse himself in his own world, being low-key and reserved, although to others this was the demeanor of a future wise ruler.

"He probably wouldn't do that."

Diana hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"why?"

Arya, draped in a white cloak, heard Diana's words and asked with some confusion.

"Does His Highness Heros not know how to control the plague?"

"No, I dare say there's nothing in this world that this bookworm doesn't know."

Diana stood in the castle at the Queen's Gate, gazing at the distant scenery beyond the Great Wall, then shook her head and spoke.