Across the Red Fork River, Earl Smallwood of Acorn Hall brandished his lance and roared, challenging the Mountain to a duel.
The Mountain did not respond to Lord Thomas Smallwood's challenge.
Thomas Smallwood was a loyal and brave man, and his wife, Ravenna Swin, was virtuous and beautiful. They had a lovely daughter who was good at singing and dancing.
The Mountain has no interest in killing such a good person for the time being.
His Majesty Robert is like an authoritative homeroom teacher in Westeros. The homeroom teacher hasn't left the classroom yet, but the Mountain and Tywin already know that this homeroom teacher will be leaving soon.
Crossing the Mountain is like a green prophet in this world, and Duke Tywin foresaw this through the witch's prophecy. So, before the homeroom teacher leaves, students who want to be mischievous and fight should restrain themselves. After the homeroom teacher leaves, you can deal with your deskmate however you like.
Even the kindest and most benevolent homeroom teacher still has their authority. There's no need to defy them in front of others, especially since Robert Baratheon, the homeroom teacher, is a man with a particularly strong temper and high prestige. "Don't discipline your deskmate in front of the homeroom teacher": This is what Lord Tywin Lannister's Raven told the Mountain.
Of course, the Duke's original words had nothing to do with the homeroom teacher or the classmates who were about to fight, but that was the gist of it. Crossing the Demon Mountain used his own college experience to translate and understand it in his own words.
Raven letters were always sealed by the Duke with the Lannister crest, and no one dared to open the letters Tywin Lannister sent to the Mountain. Maester Weyman, upon receiving Tywin Lannister's raven letter, very conscientiously delivered it unopened to the Mountain.
No matter how excited Thomas Smallwood was, he couldn't leap across the raging Red Fork River. Moreover, even if he did fly over, the Mountain could kill him with a single blow from his hundred-pound hammer—that was without a doubt.
Countless soldiers of the Riverlands watched helplessly as the Mountain lifted the rope and pulled their future Great Lord, Earl Edmure Tully, from the raging torrents of the Red Fork.
Edmure was lifted off the river and slammed against the city wall, where he lay motionless, as if he were a dead man.
Only someone as wicked as the Mountain would think of throwing Edmure into the Red Fork from such an insurmountable rock wall. This method of punishment was first created by the Mountain!
When it comes to doing evil, the Mountain is serious!
Edmure's motionless body was lifted up the giant rock wall by the Demon Mountain and carried inside and outside the city, making everyone's hearts jump.
After all, no one had been tied up and thrown into the Red Fork River from such a high city wall. Was the young city lord dead or not? Everyone was filled with unease and uncertainty!
The Mountain threw Edmure at his feet, and Bernie reached in and took out the underwear he had stuffed into Edmure's mouth.
"Damn, it's wet and dirty, we can't use it!" Bernie said with a hint of regret.
"Blow on him mouth-to-mouth," the Mountain said to Bernie. This was the 'artificial respiration' technique he knew from crossing the Mountain.
Edmure was still breathing; he had only been submerged briefly by the water, and the process of falling from the sky into the river involved an absolutely terrifying experience of weightlessness, so it was perfectly normal for him to faint.
Edmure was strong and robust; judging from the rock-like contours of his face and his thick beard, one could tell that his physique was exceptionally strong.
Bernie was stunned!
"Blow on him mouth-to-mouth to wake him up, or I'll throw you into the Red Fork River," the Mountain said politely to Bernie.
Upon hearing this, the brothers around him immediately chuckled and looked at Mr. Bernie, the lord's steward, with ill intent.
Clearly, they really wanted to see Bernie tied up and thrown off the city wall.
They might think Bernie flew with more grace than Edmure.
"Wake him up? Is there any other way I can do it?" Bernie asked his idol cautiously.
Edmure, dressed in only a thin shirt, was still breathing, his chest beating slightly. Having lived by the Tengshi River and the Hongcha River since birth, Edmure was an excellent swimmer and had never experienced being submerged in water for long.
He was mainly traumatized!
The Demon Mountain nodded.
Bernie raised his hand and slapped Edmund across the face repeatedly.
Bernie hit so hard and loudly that the soldiers on the other side of the Red Fork River could probably hear it.
Sure enough, the younger generation of knights on the other side angrily denounced The Mountain and his lackey Bernie.
cough!
Cough cough cough!
Edmure spat out a mouthful of river water and woke up, his eyes blank and lifeless.
Bernie chuckled: "Lord Mountain, in our Alex Village, when children drown, they all get a slap like this, and it wakes them up immediately!"
Although the Mountain doubted that this'slapping technique' could compare to his 'artificial respiration technique,' Edmure did indeed wake up.
Edmure slowly sat up from the ground, a pool of water beneath him. The once boisterous and rugged man had become a drenched, lifeless corpse, demonstrating that even the most valiant general could not withstand the ravages of the Mountain.
The Mountain was playing new and exciting games that neither he nor anyone else had ever tried.
Bernie's ventriloquism is an innate talent, unparalleled in the world; while the Mountain has an unmatched talent for evil!
Specialization is key!
"Sir Gregor!" Maester Weyman's voice called out from below the city walls.
The scholar walked breathlessly, accompanied by two fully armed Clegane bandits.
"Bachelor of Arts, Wiemann!"
"Your Grace, please have mercy and release Lord Edmure. Whatever your conditions are, Your Grace, the Duke will grant them all. Please, Your Grace, do not harm Lord Edmure any further."
Duke Horst had been ill for three years, and upon his death, Edmure was the sole heir to the Tully family. He was an only son and had left no descendants.
If Edmure were to suffer any serious injury from the Mountain's torment, who would inherit the Tully family's millennia-old legacy?
The Duke had a younger brother, Brynden Tully, a renowned general in the Seven Kingdoms. However, Tully was even more stubborn than Edmure, refusing to marry the noblewoman the Duke had chosen for him. The two brothers fell out over the marriage, and in a fit of anger, Brynden Tully rebelled against Riverrun, going to the Vale to become a knight guarding the Blood Gate when Lysa Tully married Lord Jon Arryn. He remained there for over a decade, never returning, and never corresponding with his brother Hoster.
Blackfish remains unmarried, is getting old, and has no children!
Edmure is in his prime, 25 years old, single, with no fiancée and no children!
Compared to the Tully family's millennia-old legacy, horses, armor, money, food, women, and so on, none of it mattered to Lord Horst Tully as much as a single hair on his worthless son Edmure's head.
The Mountain showed no sign of joy or triumph upon hearing Maester Weyman's words: "Maester Weyman, whatever conditions I propose, the Duke will agree to them all?"
"Yes, sir, the Duke has agreed to everything. Please spare Lord Edmure and do not punish him any further!"
"Alright, a thousand warhorses, deliver them to the Clegane cavalry at the ferry crossing on the west bank of the Red Fork River first!"
"Yes, Sir Gregor!" Maester Weyman immediately replied.
The Mountain kicked Edmure with his toe: "I'm letting you go for your father, Duke Horst. Don't be ungrateful. It'll be easier for me to crush you than an ant." The Mountain suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "Sir Edmure, you damn well better get the horses across the river right now!"
"Yes, Lord Mountain!"
Edmure managed to stand up, his face pale and his eyes lifeless!