Noble Choices

"How many years?" asked the King.

"Some three, now," answered Nim.

"Yes," said Vlado. "Though not documented nor proven, it is said that a local nobleman’s embittered court jester assassinated his master and then fled to the wild region where the Court now reigns, the region east of Anfang. That clown has gradually gathered other malcontents and miscreants to him, and they have forced their will over that patch of land, and their power has slowly increased unto what it is today."

"I hear they levy taxes upon those few who live there," added Rod. "They extort tolls from travelers, dabble in the slave trade, and engage in criminal activities like unto those found in places such as MalBoncton."

"Duke Teodore Lu’Guarde is capable of handling this," voiced Vlado.

"He is Duke of Anfang," agreed Nim, "but he is old, childless, and in debt to many a minor lord."

"We shall send Sir Dayren to aid the good Duke Lu’Guarde," intoned the King.

The counselors were shaken by this announcement. Vlado was the first to respond. "He is the son of Lady Constance."

"I am not daft!" growled the King. "I know who is his mother, I know who is his father. I also know that he has the Orange Knights at his disposal and they will do to this Foolish Court what should have been done long ago. Imagine, if we do nothing, their entry into our lands will only grow. That is not acceptable!"

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The Lady Rowena sat with her mother in the sitting room within Montefort, their castle and home in Bannock of Suffex. They were waiting for the Lady Fran to arrive, this being Rowena’s elder sister; they were waiting to finally leave this place. Three Ladies of the House D’Honaire; that is to what the once growing House had been reduced – a House of women, women who would not, could not carry on the Family Name.

"Our cousin Elaine DuChamps has sent condolences," said Rowena. "As has her father."

"We shall not leave Allaria, if that is what you are implying," said the Lady D’Honaire.

"But Mother! We have nothing here now. Fred is dead, Father is dead, all my brothers are... dead."

Fred had failed the Quest. If he had succeeded he could have redeemed his House, he could have become Duke D’Honaire in place of his dead father. But Fred failed. Suffex, which for years had been run by the Lady Morgwen and her son Lord Fred, would now be given to another nobleman. This was the play of State. This was the game of Court. This was the way the cookies crumbled. And as to the surviving D’Honaire’s - in Allaria, as in many places of the north, only men could own land and land was wealth. Though a married woman could hold much power, a widow or a virgin could not.

"Dred," whispered Morgwen, "my dearest Dred, how I need you," and a tear ran down her face. Thoughts of her husband had filled her mind and her heart these many weeks since the report of the death of her last and final son. Her man had died broken, four years ago now, yet it was still fresh to Morgwen. Her man had died broken and it was a long time coming. When their first boy, Charles, was only nine he fell into a well and drowned, that was the first blow. When their seventh son, Earlath, ran away to the Tower of Ilxior and later when that thrice-damned Tower exploded into terrible fire – that was the final blow, though Dredrik’s death took some time in coming. Of course, before that betrayal Dred had made his awful trek into the Southern Caves. He came back, a Dragon-Slayer! but a changed man, a haunted man, a man less than he who had been before. Morgwen had tried to break through the shell that Dredrik D’Honaire had pulled about him. It wasn’t until the day of his death that she realized that Dredrik had not placed a wall between he and her at all – rather, all that was left of the man she loved was that empty, haunted shell.

"We shall spend time in Waldryn Keep, then?" asked Rowena.

"Your father was Lord of that Keep before becoming Duke of Suffex," answered Morgwen. "We still have a claim there."

"And Bannock... to whom?"

Morgwen answered with no emotion at all: "To whomever our LeigeKing desires."

1. More dealings in noble circles...
2. Meanwhile in the lands near Croix...

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