| Fred, Alicia, and Loam come upon the remains of the of the pirates
that had landed on this accursed island. From the appearance of things,
the cutthroats hadn't gotten five paces from the boat after beaching the
craft before keeling over! Any doubts about their actually BEING a plague
have been put to rest in Fred's mind. The fact that the pirate ship is
still anchored (and the bodies strewn all over the deck of the ship) denotes
a pretty rapid and lethal end. All Fred hopes, and hopes with all his heart,
is that he and the werefolk aren't playing patsy to the golems. He hopes
that they aren't plague carriers.
Fred turns back to the gathered Pack, and sees the fearful but hopeful
faces of the gathered on the beach. He waves, and the three jump into the
rowboat, and the row for the anchored pirate ship.
Loam and Fred each take an oar, and soon they are far enough away from
shore that even the enhanced hearing the werefolk are blessed/cursed with
can not overhear what will be discussed.
"So, Loam, what were you going to tell us?" Alicia asks.
"It's confession time, folks." Loam says, easily keeping to the task
of rowing while talking. Fred finds that he too is not winded by this task,
and can easily spare breath for idle chatter. "I . . . owe you an apology
for what I initially thought about you, Fred.
"I . . . . thought you were like some of your other kinfolk, and I know
now that was unfair." the werewolf says in a subdued voice. "I thought
you were like your father."
"Ack, my father." Fred says in anger, remembering. "That man......had
no honor. He was a bastard and a half."
The two werefolk look at Fred in surprise. Fred chuckles, still rowing;
there is not a trace of humor in the chuckle.
"Oh yes, I'm well aware of the shortcomings of my father and a few of
the friends in the family he runs with . . . .
"Alicia, Fred, I must ask you, by your honor, to NOT tell the others
what I'm about to tell you." Fred says, glaring into the startled faces
of his friends.
"You have mine, Fred." Alicia says. She wants to hear this so that she
can get a better understanding of him.
"And you have mine." Loam says. This guy was really turning out to be
more complex than Loam had even thought. . . . .
"The House D'Honair has always sworn to protect those who were sworn
to them . . . . . namely the serf . . . . but also other types of vassals."
Fred says in a low, even voice. "Honor and duty are a large part of who
I am . . . and who I wish to be. However, I can't say the same for my father.
He felt that the serfs under him were their for his pleasure. He made a
great show of being a true knight of honor, but . . . that was just a show.
In isolated incidents, he was . . . less than knightly. . . . When I was
a boy of ten, and learned of the truth, I confronted him . . . . and nearly
got beat within an inch of my life! What I learned from that is, I did
NOT want to be like that man. I dedicated my life to live up to the office
I had been born to . . . . and even hoped by becoming a dragon slayer,
I'd not only helping the downtrodden, but . . . ."
"But what?" Loam asks.
|
