Pieces

For the average person news was something heralded in the plaza on official orders, or it was found behind a tavern bar, or on the side of the road where the traveling merchants plodded along. News of battles and deaths, of heroic recoveries and wondrous hiding places, were almost commonplace. It was part truth, part fabrication on the part of the news- teller, but the common folk took it all for the real thing. News of Lord Fred's salvation from the maws of the Dragon was heralded with great joy and received with sincere happiness. The fact that the Faire was soon to come and the fields would be left unworked for a few days also added to the ambiance of festive mirth.

For the Dukes, the knights, the men of rank and privilege, news of Lord Fred's miraculous comeback had to be proven, but that was what LordMage Urlathe, Thule, and the Family D'Honaire were there to do. Most accepted their words and explanations with respectful trust. After the King's Council proclaimed Lord Fred a true son of Suffex and of the Kingdom, many more also came to believe.

In a room within a hall attached to the Westwing Tower within Caemlyn the Chanticleer stood humming a tune. Down the hall was Easten, another bard who was doing the same. Up the hall was Sidney, yet a third bard doing the exact same thing. They had been commissioned by Duke Dredrik D'Honaire to compose songs celebrating Fred's exploits. Two bards, who were Suffexmen, were chosen weeks ago and were at that moment in Bannock. Easten and Sidney were chosen only two days ago, the favorites of King Emry. The Chanticleer was picked by the Duke as an obvious choice, the man who had been with his son for the latter part of his terrible journey.

Fred paced within his room. ~~Damn it all! I must escape, I must! The evil will come as surely as it did on the Tumbar... Oh, why won't they give me leave to run far from this place?!?~~

Meanwhile Carradene sat in his room, writing in his journal.

...is full of misery, no matter what we tell him, no matter how we show him the falseness of his fears. He did seem to calm some when going over his report of the Tumbar events with the Dukes and knights. Tomorrow is yet another military meeting, I hope with this shall come greater peace.

How curious that words of war may bring about the healing of this poor wretch's soul...

The Archmage Faith of Hill sat within a room of the Keep of Batlan. She was not happy with all that remained hidden from her and her compatriots, but she was glad to see the work that the militarymen had done since that awful night. Ursula, Orkney, and Britainnie sat in yet a different room, one which had a table with cups full of ale. They sat alone in part because they wished for privacy, but also because the men of Batlan looked at them with fear and something close to contempt. They were anxious to get on to their intended destinations: Orkney to the Lair of Minestus within the Goth, Britainnie to the Foxes Forest of the Goth, and Ursula beyond the Goth to MalBoncton. They would not leave, indeed, could not leave until they had the permission of their King. They knew they would wait yet another many weeks, for the King used men and horses as his preferred mode of communication.

Alexander the Young did not have to wait. His mission saw him even now northwards on his way to the Ducal seat of the Duchy of Farmoor. He held the belief that by the time he reached that place the Duke would have heard of his goal, and he believed that he would receive the Duke's permission to continue on. He needed to reach the Allarian village of Lemley to send off inquirers to the independant Duchy of Franken. He knew that he could not go to Franken himself without asking the King, which the plan did not call for, but it did call for pages and servants and it would be they who made the arrangements with associates of the White Hand within that foreign land.

Meanwhile, back in Caemlyn, Duke Dredrik and King Emry were in deep discussion, part of which dealt with additional lands for the Family of the Dragon-Slayer but most of which dealt with threats -known and only hinted at- threats aimed at the borders of the Kingdom...

1. Will Fred find peace? Will military plans bring him back from a morbid depression? What of events beyond Allaria even if near to her borders? And what of King Emry Exultaine?

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