Heirs of Hyarch

Chapter 129: Addressing the Rest

To be honest, Myronel wasn't sure what he could accomplish by speaking to the remaining knights.

He just knew he had to be doing something today, to try and smooth things out as best as possible before they left. Nela and Hamond were busy seeing to the captain and Sedat, while Edeline had decided she wanted to spend the day resting and revisiting one of her poetry books. Understandable enough for her, since she had done so much, but Myronel hadn't accomplished nearly enough to justify sitting there in the room with her.

Their difficulty came from one simple fact: the alderman didn't know he was here. So there weren't many promises Myronel could offer to the remaining knights, even if they proved more reasonable than their fellows. It was this simple hope that pushed him to think they might yet prove to be practical enough to see the value in working together to survive the days to come.

With their reduced numbers, the prisoners had all been moved back into a single house. It certainly made it easier on all fronts, be it meals, keeping them under watch, or in Myronel's case, simply talking to them. That had to be by order of Ayden.

It wasn't hard to notice, on entering, that there seemed to be more people here than he would've thought. Maybe he had underestimated how many of the royal knights had been sent to Lasfont, or had chosen to not attempt escape. It was hard to say with him having being laid up with his wounds. Regardless of their numbers, he was here, so he ought to proceed.

"Who...oh, it's one of you." A single guard, who had been standing casually to one side, stepped forward to greet Myronel. "Surprised it isn't that Hallowscroft girl. Uh, lady. No offense intended."

"It's not a problem." Edeline might be a little upset, true, but she wasn't here and had no need to know.

"So, what brings you here?" the guard asked.

"I want see about the possibility of the knights here being willing to help with labor and such." He certainly wasn't expecting them to be trusted with weapons, or even tools that could be fought with, but cleaning out buildings and moving supplies around should be easy enough. The more men able to do that, the faster those tasks would be completed.

"Not sure that's a good idea," the guard answered.

"If it means we get to do something other than sit around here with our hands bound, then I'd do it," one of the prisoners, a thin man with a raspy voice, said.

"What happened to loyalty to the crown?" another responded, "Besides, I didn't join the knights just to get forced into hauling sacks or whatever these fools want. I am-"

"Then why did you join the knights?" Myronel interrupted, "Those oaths you swore bind you to protect the people of the kingdom as much as they do to obey orders."

"What would you know about that?"

"I fought for the kingdom as well," Myronel told them, "I barely escaped dying to the Spellking's forces, unlike so many of the men there. So many lives lost...and then only to learn that the lord whose banner I marched under had deceived me."

"Spare us your sad story," the knight said, defiant as one could be seated on the floor with rope around his wrists.

"Wait...you can't be." The thin prisoner spoke again. "Shit, you're that brother that she mentioned, right? The one who's supposedly dead."

Edeline had to have asked them about his death. As much as he appreciated her attempt to gather information about the matter, she could've been more subtle about it. Myronel stopped himself, wondering why he felt so strongly about it. It wasn't like he had ever thought about denying that part of his life. Perhaps he did want that and hadn't yet realized it.

His own feeling aside, there wasn't any reason to deny it to these knights. "As far as I know, I am still breathing."

"You can't be him, and you know it. You're an elf." The stubborn prisoner refused to give in.

"That is also true," Myronel said, hoping he didn't get lured into this particular argument.

"People just can't magically become elves." The man's voice rose.

At this point, nearly everyone else in the room was staring at this one captive knight with various mixes of amusement and disbelief. Just as well, as it kept Myronel from falling to the temptation to say that was essentially how it happened. It not only was inaccurate, it forced a comparison with Sedat and the other victims of the Sluice that Myronel was not comfortable making.

"Why would anyone even think something like that was true?" the thin knight asked his companion, before looking over to Myronel. "But how did you survive the slaughter at Rustone Ridge?"

So that was the name of the place then? Myronel hadn't been aware that area had any particular names attached to it. Possibly it was some local name they hadn't learned, although that led to the question of what the scouts had even been doing back then.

Enough of that though, as it was time to move matters along. "I had someone save my life that day. This is not about me though, but your choice instead. The people here will need every bit of help they can get, and surely you see that you owe them that much after what your force of knights did."

"We owe them nothing, and-"

"Shut up." The thin man cut his companion off with a dark glare. "You can stay bound here all you want. I'll take this deal, if you'll have me."

"Might as well," another said, "Better than getting hanged."

Myronel almost told them that they wouldn't be killed, but stopped himself. With how Takhat had been prior to discovering Sedat, he couldn't ignore the possibility she might have acted on a dark impulse and ordered the death of these men. There would be no telling what would follow if that came to be.

"I will take word to the alderman," he said instead, "Perhaps by tomorrow he'll have jobs for you."

"Thank the heavens," the guard spoke up, "It was getting annoying having to come here and stand watch over them. Did you know that healer friend of yours tried to get us to hold the two guards who went along with Takhat's plan here? We had to talk her out of it."

To be honest, he didn't know, although that was absolutely something Nela would try. He did agree that those two men should face some form of punishment, but Myronel wasn't sure this was the answer. Another matter to bring up with Ayden, he guessed.

"Hopefully you'll be free of this duty soon," he reassured the guard. "May the grace and glory of the Fae go with you." It was beginning to get easier for Myronel to remember the greetings and farewells of the Elefae.

"Sure, I guess." Maybe in time Myronel was become used to people not knowing how to respond to such. That was probably why Nela didn't bother as often as she ought to. That, and she had never been much for politeness either.

Heading outside, Myronel took a moment to look skyward. It was a clear day, the usual warm bordering on hot that seemed to be the climate here. As peaceful as it appeared, this was a dead calm, not a living one. One way or another, the people here would depart, and the slow process of the wilderness retaking this land would begin.

How many years would it take before the houses crumbled, before the thin grass hid there had ever been a street here? Myronel did not know. But at least these people would survive, their descendants continuing on even as the memory of Lasfont faded from the world. As the Episkopiate had told them, not everything could be preserved.

Myronel turned to head back, only to come to a startled halt as he almost ran into Edeline. "How...how long have you been there?" he managed to say.

"I just arrived here a moment ago," she admitted, a momentary grin flashing across he face. It quickly faded though. "You seemed lost in thought, and I did not want to disturb you. Even though I did anyway."

"I thought you planned to hide away in the room the whole day," Myronel stated, the unspoken question obvious.

"That I did," Edeline admitted, "I realized though what I wanted was all of us together to relax for one. Me and Hamond, you and Nela...but even with the Sluice gone, there is still work needing doing. It never ends, does it?"

"It does at times, but it's too often the wrong things ending." What happened here in Lasfont would weigh on Myronel for the rest of his life, he knew. "Even with that, all we can do is keep fighting to save what we can."

"If we must." Edeline looked southward, towards a home they'd both left behind. "I am not looking forward to Melyn. We will likely have to use my full name to gain audience with the lord there, and that will spread word of us. The wrong ears may listen, and hear what they want to hear - a future queen has come to them."

"We could always use my name instead," Myronel said, finding the thought humorous. "I imagine the word of a dead man would get their attention as well, if for completely different reasons."

"Behold the living dead man." Edeline snorted. "That sounds like something from a street show. Aether, it has been years since I had the chance to see one."

"I didn't know you'd been to one." Myronel tried to remember when that would have been.

"Lendra took me when I was a child. I would have been about...a hex and three years of age. Now that I think about it, though, likely she defied our father to do it."

"That would explain why I didn't get to go," he noted gently, "Something for both of us to do in the future, if we have the opportunity."

"Wonder if Hamond ever got to see one." Edeline paused, thinking a moment. "We should get back to the others. You probably have plenty to say about your talk with those knights, do you not?"

"It was...enlightening." Myronel started to walk, with Edeline matching her pace. "So, about what you said to them before..."