CHAPTER 20 #3
Come to our side, everything will be great, we have cookies. Of course we won’t tax you. What are you even talking about? By the way, we’d love to sell you an ocean property in Nebraska . . .
“The village didn’t resist openly, but the first night there, Pelegrin lost two of his soldiers.
He found them in the morning with their throats slit.
The next night he lost another to poison, then two more to hunting arrows.
The Empire’s forces were nowhere near the village.
This was a homegrown rebellion. Pelegrin gathered everyone in the town square and told them that the next time one of his soldiers was killed or harmed, he would take the life of a villager.
A life for a life. He hoped it would stop. ”
“It didn’t,” Berengur guessed.
“They didn’t believe him,” I said. “They thought he was young and soft. Another soldier died in his sleep, and Pelegrin picked an old man, the village head, marched him to the center of the village square, and ran him through. The man’s daughter, a young woman about my maid’s age, drew a knife, and stabbed the battle chaplain in the back.
He was the only unarmored member of Pelegrin’s command, and he died on the spot.
Pelegrin dragged her to the body of her father and cut her throat. The killings stopped.
“The villagers thought that not being soldiers would protect them,” Berengur said.
“Once he executed an old man and a young woman, he communicated his willingness to retaliate, and they realized they were not immune.
His actions prevented further deaths, both soldier and civilian.
He has nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing he has done would damage his standing as a knight. Those are the realities of war.
“And that is precisely the problem. In his eyes, he is a monster, and yet he was hailed as a hero when the conflict ended. To Pelegrin, either nobody understood that he was a monster and when they found out, the whole world would turn on him, or everyone knew what he had done and they cheered him for his evil deeds, which was even worse. How could he ever measure up to his father’s legacy, the man who in his place would have brought the villagers to his side by his authority and the sheer force of his will alone? ”
Berengur choked on air. “Our father did things far, far worse . . .”
“You didn’t tell Pelegrin any of that.”
“Of course not. Pelegrin was only seven years old when Father died. He was a child!”
I drank my tea. “You were trying to protect him then and I’m trying to protect him now.”
“Why?” Berengur asked.
“Because I understand his burden, and his story moves me. My father has also seen war, and his soul took years to heal. My heart goes out to your brother, and I feel the weight of everything he has endured.”
He stared at me.
“I can tell you the name of the monastery.”
I’d given him enough to find it anyway.
“In return, I want two things.”
“Name them.”
“First, swear to me that you will go alone, without your mother, that you will not speak to your brother or let him see you, but meet with the abbot privately instead, and that you will do your best to heed his counsel.”
“I swear,” Berengur declared.
“Second, I need to know who referred you to me.”
“His name is Shod. He works in the Three Moons and sells information on the side.”
No hesitation. Dropped his contact’s name just like that. This visit was connected to the Shears after all. Good. One worry off my shoulders.
“You will find Pelegrin in the monastery of the Pious Planters, north of Praul Britin.”
If he hurried, he could make the ride in two days.
“You have done me a great favor.” Berengur jumped up. “I will not forget this, my lady. The crest is yours to keep. Should you need me for anything, show this crest to the guards at the Citadel and they will take you to me.”
He turned to leave. His bodyguard bowed to me. It was a deep slow bow. He straightened and followed his liege to the tunnel.
I took the crest off the table and studied it. I hadn’t factored it in, but a favor from one of the Defender officers could come in handy.
“You said some things that are thought but not spoken,” Reynald told me. His voice was quiet and solemn.
“Perhaps if they were spoken, fewer soldiers would hang from beams.”
Reynald pulled his lancer’s coif down. “Do you think he will follow your advice?”
“I don’t know. I’ve done my best to convince him. It’s up to him now.”
“Whatever he chooses, the earl owes us a favor,” Reynald said, his voice calm and measured. “Berengur isn’t the wealthiest of nobles or the most renowned of knights, but that tower on his crest is well earned. He remembers his debts and he doesn’t flinch.”
To have a tower on your crest meant your family was stalwart. Reliable and loyal. The kind of family that honored its commitments and knew the meaning of duty.
“Good to know.” I tapped my fingertips on the table, thinking.
“What is it?” Reynald asked.
“Berengur is allied with Arvel.”
Doran Arvel, the head of the Arvel household and current Lord Commander of the Defender Order.
Of all the Eight Families, the Arvels had the best reputation.
Doran, in particular, was viewed as the kind of knight all others should aspire to be.
Brave, honorable, a gifted general dedicated to his duty and devastating in battle.
The main character to put all main characters to shame. The Golden Knight.
“And?”
“Shod, Berengur’s informant, works at the Three Moons. That tavern serves as the Shears’ headquarters.”
Reynald’s eyebrows rose. “Solentine supports Everard, but a Shears agent is feeding information to Arvel’s faction?”
I nodded. “Probably not exclusively to them, or Berengur wouldn’t have given him up so easily. Shod is moonlighting, and he isn’t choosy about who pays him.”
Solentine would lose his shit. Now I just had to figure out the right time and price to sell this juicy tidbit to him.
This wasn’t in the books. I had just gotten my first piece of real intel all on my own. Ha!
“What happens to Arvel in the future?” Reynald asked.
“I told you that the crown prince is assassinated. It happens during the Winter Hunt. The security for the Hunt will be provided by the Defender Knights. After the assassination, suspicion falls on Arvel, and he shuts himself and his knights within the Defender Citadel. Hreban decides against trying to take it.”
“A wise choice,” Reynald said.
The name of the order was a clue. Defender Knights specialized in defense. Once fortified in their stronghold, they were immovable. Especially while wrapped in the magic of Arvel’s Enduring Flame.
“Meanwhile, the city burns. Eventually Arvel and the entire Order ride out of Kair Toren, intending to rally and return. A tragedy happens, and someone close to Arvel is killed. When Arvel learns of it, he changes his mind and retreats to his territory instead. Sauven sends for him again and again, but Arvel never comes back to the capital.”
Reynald frowned. “He abandons the Savarics?”
“He does.”
“And Everard?”
“He leaves the city in the very beginning of the Kiel mess, before Hreban shuts the gates, and goes straight to Selva.”
They were always in opposition to each other, Everard and Arvel. Even their branding seemed to identify them as rivals: Everard’s crest of green, black, and silver, while Arvel’s colors were white, azure, and gold.
“Arvel always maintained that his loyalty was to the Throne and nothing could shake it,” I said.
“As long as the Savarics held the Eagle Roost, he would heed their orders. Everard can’t even bother to pretend to care about anything except the Selva Dukedom.
One is the renowned and honorable Golden Knight, the pillar of the realm, and the other is the heartless and cruel Sleepless Duke, a violent isolationist.”
Sauven had spent a good deal of his reign reinforcing that status quo. Which was why Arvel was celebrated in Kair Toren, and Everard was greeted with suspicion.
“I sense a but coming,” Reynald said.
“But when the Crimson Empire invades, they both react the same. The Empire crosses the eastern border in the north and the south.”
“A two-pronged assault.”
“Yes. Their northern offensive targets the lower Trihorn, bypassing Selva, so Everard could’ve just sat back and let them invade Rellas.
Instead, the Sleepless Duke moves his forces and hits the invading army.
He suffers great losses but halts the northern invasion.
Meanwhile, Arvel disobeys a direct command from Sauven, breaks his oath of loyalty, marches across half of Rellas, and crashes into the legions from the south.
It costs him a third of his army, but he fights the Empire to a stalemate. ”
Reynald sighed. “It is as expected.”
“How so?”
“Everard was born to protect the Dukedom. It’s the purpose of his life. He carries responsibility for the lives of the people in his domain. If Rellas crumbled, the Dukedom would be next. He’s acting out of pure self-interest.”
“And Arvel?”
“Arvel has never failed. He’s admired and celebrated everywhere he goes.
If all the adoration and praise were replaced with suspicion and accusations, he wouldn’t be able to deal with it.
He would turn his back and retreat to a place where he would be beloved no matter what.
But he is still a knight and a gifted commander.
Arvel’s lands are in the Western Middle Fields.
The advance of the Empire would pin him between the sea and the Copper Mountains to the south.
He calculated the odds and decided fighting the battle in someone’s else backyard was better. ”
I took a deep breath and blew the air out. We had to stop what was coming.
The private rooms on the third floor of Taryz were really nice.