Chapter 63: Storm's End

"Is this the thing?" Cole took the ruby ​​necklace that Melisandre handed to him. Compared with the huge gem on her chest, this ruby ​​looked like a dim star compared to the bright moon.

This gem is a detection method from the Red God Temple. Whenever she sees the gem glow, she will know that her magic has been used successfully.

"When its light begins to flash, it means that the power of magic is approaching." Melisandre explained.

"But how can I defend against magical attacks?" Cole asked what he was most concerned about.

Melisandre glanced at him casually, "The cost of activating magic is not small. Different magics have different ways of dealing with them, and blood magic is undoubtedly a difficult one to solve. This kind of magic requires the blood of blood relatives as the trigger. The closer the blood is, the stronger the effect of blood magic.

Blood magic requires life as a sacrifice to ask the god of death, and the initiator will also be implicated and consume his own life flame. If a person has a strong life flame like His Majesty, even blood magic will not be able to hurt him.

But if you want to interrupt the activation of blood magic, you only need to drip blood into the flame and chant this spell."

"Varamiha." Melisandre chanted a long spell.

Kore chanted it again according to her accent, and the red-robed woman corrected a few pronunciations for him.

As Cole chanted, the ruby ​​in the necklace began to glow slowly, and it seemed that the magic was activated.

He noticed that Melisandre was stunned.

"I will keep my promise and give my own advice, but war is never a verbal thing. There are countless factors that influence a war, and my ability is limited."

Melisandre looked at him with a complicated look, which made Cole a little confused.

He actually admired this red-robed witch. Although it seemed that she was bewitching Stannis, it was undeniable that she had been working for Stannis conscientiously and responsibly, and Stannis must know this.

There were really not many capable people under Erlu, and after he killed Sanlu Renly, his subordinates were even more like two-five-year-old fence-sitters.

Cole wore the ruby ​​around his neck. With this thing, at least he would not be at a loss when dealing with magic in the future.

"Camilo, take a few brothers to escort this lady back to the castle." Cole called his deputy.

He had a lot of fun drinking last night, and his face was still a little tired at this time.

Cole went to inspect the morning exercises of each team. In fact, he was just holding a spear and piercing there. I don't know if this will be useful on the battlefield.

Cole walked to the training ground of his personal guards, where they were training one-on-one against each other.

"Hey, little Roca, watch your feet." Little Roca, who was about the same age as Cole, jumped up and down with a sword in his hand. People who didn't know him would think he was boxing.

Hearing Cole's words, Carlo stood up quickly, and then a piece of wood hit his head.

Cole walked over to correct him with a sense of disappointment. Although he was also a half-baked man and had little training experience compared to the coach of the Great Wall, he had really fought on the battlefield and knew how to better save his life on the battlefield.

Although jumping can make the body more flexible, it is better to be steady and protect yourself while thinking about killing the enemy on the battlefield where swords and arrows are flying.

Cole spent a lot of effort on the training of these thirty people. Some of the sneaky ones were replaced by him and thrown into the hunting group and the transport group.

In the past two weeks, their training has indeed achieved considerable results. With the same training, under Cole's supervision and careful teaching, they seem to be much stronger than the other ten groups.

Their training volume is greater, and Cole will also focus on their physical fitness and discipline training. Of course, they also keep up with their food. This is how they have achieved such results. They can't be called elite soldiers, but at least they are qualified recruits in this era.

In order to supply them, Cole even asked three groups of his men to go fishing. For this imbalance, there must be complaints in their hearts, but no one dares to say anything.

Cole is also helpless. He wants to train everyone, but his energy is limited, and food is also limited. Even if he has spent so much effort, he can only train them like college students after military training. It is still unknown how they will perform on the battlefield.

Camilo is a smart boy. It is said that he used to be a street urchin in the village. He did some sneaky things all day long, but no one caught him. As a result, he was sent to the military camp by the villagers to make up the numbers.

He knows how to speak nice words and is thicker-skinned than the dull-headed Namu fishermen. He is leading people back with a triumphant look. Seeing his arrogant look, Cole can't help but want to kick him.

Camiro walked to Cole's side as if to ask for credit, "Sir Cole, the beautiful lady has been sent back to the castle."

"Didn't say anything you shouldn't say?" Cole still remembered the scene of him molesting the prostitute.

He scratched his head, as if he was still embarrassed that Cole had caught him, "How dare I, sir."

Camiro is a fool, and he also knows that people living in the castle should not be messed with. Maybe one word will make his tongue move. Not every noble lord is like Lord Cole.

"Okay, you will patrol in my place after lunch. I have something else to do." Cole threw him a sword, "Practice well, don't be killed by the enemy as soon as you go to the battlefield. I don't want to change an adjutant."

After having lunch with his guards, Cole walked towards the sea with a bag in his hand.

Gradually moving away from the crowd along the coast, a white shadow glided from the sea. After a period of growth, the white dragon has grown to the size of a swan. With its silver-white color, it is difficult to tell what it is when it soars in the sky.

These days, the white dragon has been hunting on the sea. The dragon's wings have become much stronger during the training. At least he can now chase sea eagles in the sky.

When he soars in the sky, he looks like a white bird. Cole changed the bag on the white dragon's feet. Inside was a bunch of newly caught sea fish, all of which were difficult to catch in the distant sea and sold at a high price in the market.

There was no way Cole was too poor now. These fish were more popular with the nobles and tasted very delicious. Cole would let Camilo sell them to the kitchens of those nobles.

Generally speaking, such a bag of fish can be sold for two to three silver deer. After all, this kind of fish is really difficult to catch in the near sea.

The white dragon brought the beef and mutton that Cole brought back to the nest. This is a crack covered with dragon crystals. The white dragon would pick out dragon crystals from the wall every day to use as digestive tablets.

Then he rushed to the sea and soared in the direction of the sea breeze. The wind and waves of the narrow sea rose and fell. I don’t know how many ships sank in this sea. Even in the sunny days, the waves of the narrow sea were turbulent.

At a bay, the white dragon turned and flew in. The wind and waves in this bay were more fierce. The huge waves were like the claws of the devil rubbing the rock walls of the cliff. There were only a few shallows where ships could be moored. At the most dangerous place in the wind and waves, a thick fortress stood on it.

Looking from the sky, the fortress was wrapped in layers of outer walls. The thickness of the wall was unknown. It was many times thicker than that of Dragonstone Island. The whole castle was like a tower, with a towering spire in the center from the sky. From here, you can have a clear view of the situation on the sea and the pedestrians on the ground.

This is Storm's End, one of the solid fortresses that began in the Dawn Age.

The white dragon looked up at the sky and knew how difficult it would be to capture the castle.

Although the direction of the war has not yet been determined among the soldiers, Cole knows that Stannis will definitely come to besiege Storm's End.

Renly's 60,000 troops have already marched in the direction of King's Landing, with great momentum and unstoppable force. Almost all the nobles in the south have responded to his call, which shows how great his reputation is among the nobles.

If Stannis wants to ascend the Iron Throne, he cannot avoid the confrontation with Renly. If Melisandre does not use the shadow killer to assassinate Renly, the chances of Dragonstone winning are not great at all.

The only one who can compete with Renly is the navy, so the battlefield must be moved to the sea.

If they take down Storm's End, they can fight ten with one. With the Royal Navy of Dragonstone docked in Shipwreck Bay, their supplies can be transported from the sea. If Renly wants to besiege the city, he must fight a naval battle with them.

Cole knew that Melisandre would eventually give birth to a shadow assassin to kill Renly, but since he had already agreed to her, he still had to do some superficial work.

The purpose of the White Dragon's inspection this time was to observe the weaknesses of Storm's End. First of all, Stannis's army was limited in number, and he had to surround Storm's End quickly to prevent the castle from gathering troops.

To steal Renly's house, he would definitely send troops in groups, and Cole knew that he would come in person.

Cole's suggestion was to take down Storm's End before the arrival of the Sanlu army.

Stannis's original approach was definitely extremely clever, just killing one person and taking down a city. Attacking the city is inferior, and attacking the heart is superior, so Cole's first thought was to take down Storm's End without a fight, but after thinking carefully, as long as Renly was not dead, the castle would not be an isolated city, and they had no reason to surrender at all.

Then the only way to attack Storm's End is to use surprise troops and win by surprise, and infinitely magnify the advantage of the castle's weak points. It is best to steal the city, but it is also the most difficult. Ser Cortanay Penrose, who is now appointed by Renly as the acting lord of the castle, is not as careless as Edmure of Riverrun.

It's not that Edmure is a fool, but that he has a poor sense of war compared to his nephew Robb, and is easily influenced by others.

He ruined Robb's plan among the original five kings.

Ser Cortanay Penrose is an experienced commander, and Cole doesn't know him well enough. He knows Edmure because of the funny point of the boy shooting arrows in the series, which aroused his curiosity.

Cole was holding a piece of paper and drawing the defense of Storm's End until a detailed drawing appeared.

Cole started writing something on the defense drawing