"It is time for new beginnings in Plegia!" Validar cried, throwing a bony hand up in the air. His crowd roared in agreement, clapping their hands and stomping their feet. "We will rebuild our ruined towns and our broken people. We shall rise again from the ashes and show the world the strength of Plegia's good people! Together!"
The roaring of the crowd was now deafening. Validar grinned and extended his arms toward them as if he was trying to embrace them all.
"Validar for King!" they chanted. "Lord Validar for King!"
"Thank you, my good people!" he shouted. "And good night!"
He descended down the podium and into the throng of people. A tall woman with white-blonde hair stood waiting for him, and took his arm as they made their way through the crowd. Unbeknownst to the crowd, a figure clad in black silently walked along the shadows, carefully watching the movements of the lord.
"Validar for King!" the crowd continued to chant. Plegian women and men alike extended their hands out to him as he passed. He smiled and nodded and said words of reassurance as he passed, touching the hands of those that could reach him.
It took them a while to get through the throng of people. Once they were through, however, Validar said one last goodbye before he and his companion stepped into a carriage waiting for them. They rode away towards the setting sun.
"Finally," the woman hissed, settling down in her seat. She brushed away at her shoulders as if there was dirt on them. "I still do not see why you must touch the hands of those filthy peasants, Father." She wrinkled in nose.
Validar smiled at her. "You know very well that I must appeal to the people, my dear child. If that means I must soil my hands in exchange for a castle, then so be it."
"Well said, Lord Validar." A voice spoke from the corner of the carriage. "It seems you still have much to learn, Lady Aversa."
Aversa's face darkened considerably. "And it seems you must learn your manners," she snarled. "I do not like the way you hide in the shadows."
"She is right," agreed Validar. "Do come out of your hiding."
There was a sigh and a rustle, and out of the dark corner of the carriage a hooded figure leapt to life. The hood was lowered to reveal a woman in her late twenties. Her skin was dark – almost as dark as Validar's – and her purple hair was so deep and dark that it could've easily been mistaken for black. Her cheeks were high and sharp, but sharper still were her cunning eyes.
"That's better," Validar said with a smile, settling down further in his seat. "Now, tell us. Did you see anything unusual brewing in the crowd today?"
She sighed softly and threw her hands behind her head. "No, I didn't. The people were practically kissing your feet." She smirked wryly. "If I may say so, my lord, the throne is as good as yours."
Aversa laughed condescendingly. "Of course it is!" Nyphurri did not appreciate being talked down to as if she were a five year old; a flicker of annoyance passed her face. "We are simply ensuring that we make the people think that they have a say in choosing the next King. We cannot repeat the same mistakes the fool Gangrel made by alienating the people."
"Indeed." Validar nodded. "I reckon the castle will be mine by the next full moon."
"I've wanted to speak with you on that matter. Does–" The carriage hit a bump in the road, cutting Nyphurri's sentence short. Only then did she peer out the window and at the dark roads to realize that they were not heading towards her inn. "Where is this carriage heading?" She frowned.
"To the Council," Validar replied matter-of-factedly. She turned towards him sharply, her dark eyes narrowed. "For a hearing."
"A hearing?" Her face suddenly paled and the light died from her eyes. "A hearing about what?" Yet it was clear by the fear in her eyes that she already knew the answer.
"About you, of course."
She inhaled sharply through her nose. "I thought you said all charges of treason would drop once I was in your employ." Her voice warbled for a moment. Then her eyes hardened, and her expression of fear was quickly replaced with anger. "Was I foolish for taking your word?" Her tone was now harsh and accusing.
Aversa bristled and moved as if to speak, but Validar held up a hand. Though her eyebrows were still furrowed and her eyes were alight with indignation, she leaned back in her seat. Her eyes remained hard on the other woman.
"Dearest Nyphurri," Validar said softly, leaning in towards her. She stayed seated, glaring at him still. "It seems those years of exile have made you more cautious and less trusting than ever. Traits most helpful for a spy, of course, but I fear they will be your undoing." Her eyes flickered. "You must trust me, at the very least, and Aversa. I promised you that all charges of treason will be dropped, and dropped they will be."
"…Then why the hearing?" Her voice was softer now, but her eyes were still narrowed in suspicion.
"The Council should be aware of your return, and they must decide what to do about you. I shall make sure that they decide to drop the charges, of course," he added, when he saw that she did not seem too pleased by this news.
"But you cannot guarantee that they will drop the charges," argued Nyphurri. "You may be Head of the Council, but you can be overruled."
Validar chuckled softly. "You have thought of every possibility, it seems. Ease yourself, my dear, and worry not. All will work out in the end; you shall see."
She didn't reply. Instead, she turned away from him and looked up at the night sky, wondering where in the stars her Fate was written.
The chamber of the Council was as dark as she'd remembered it. Cold, too. It seemed like they had never fixed the problem with the draft. And they considered themselves grand Sorcerers! Nyphurri would've laughed if she wasn't frozen with fear.
Validar stepped in first, then Aversa, and Nyphurri a step behind. The quiet murmurings came to a halt as all eyes turned towards them. For a moment, it was so silent that it seemed nobody was even drawing breath. Then somebody spoke.
"It is good to see you again, Lord Validar, Lady Aversa." The man who spoke was of short stature, and his hair and beard was white; he seemed to glow in the dimness of the chamber. Nyphurri vaguely remembered him, though she had trouble recalling his name and position. "I was not expecting you to bring a companion with you." He eyed Nyphurri pointedly. A few murmurs went around the room.
Nyphurri glared at Validar. Hearing indeed!
Validar must've sensed her glare, though he said naught of it. He only smirked and kept his eyes on his fellow Council members. "Forgive me, my good sirs and ladies. I know it is short notice, but I wish for Nyphurri to be a part of this meeting."
It was silent again for the briefest of moments. Then, suddenly, a Councilman cried out incredulously, "Nyphurri?!"
A bright flame flickered in the dark, and a fire arose in the middle of the room. The torches that hung around the rims of the round chamber were then lit. The chamber glowed orange and shadows danced upon the walls. "Nyphurri!" he shouted again, sounding breathless, when he confirmed with his own eyes that it was her.
The chamber was suddenly filled with outraged shouts and confused murmurs. Despite knowing that they were all directed at her, she relished hearing her name spoken in the accent of her people; for they all rolled their r's when they said her name, as they ought to. Only Plegians could say her name correctly, and so she had not heard anybody say her name properly since she had last been in Plegia (save a few Plegians here and there she had encountered over the years of her self-exile).
"You have brought her here for execution, I hope, Validar!" The name of the small old man finally clicked in her head. He was Ragul, eldest of the Elders. She was surprised that so little a man could look so furious and intimidating.
"Off with her head!" shouted another, throwing a fist in the air angrily. Others echoed their agreement. Nyphurri noted that it was only the Elders who spoke ill of her; the younger Council members only appeared confused.
"Oh, yes," Nyphurri said to Validar out of the corner of her mouth. "They seem most eager to drop all charges."
Aversa seemed most amused by this turn of events. She stood smirking with her back to the wall, arms folded across her chest.
"Gentleman! Ladies!" Validar shouted over the noise. The noise died down considerably and instantly, but still the Elders muttered angrily to one another, their white eyebrows drawn together. "I am not here to execute our dear old friend. In fact, I've employed her."
"WHAT?!" The Elders shouted altogether at once. Their anger was causing the flames of the torches and fire to flicker irritably.
"How dare you employ her without counseling us first!" growled Maoul, the youngest of the Elders.
"And just what were you thinking?" added Luthin, Maoul's brother. "She is a traitor, a deserter! She has no place among our ranks!"
Nyphurri could no longer keep quiet; her pride would not allow it. Ignoring Validar's warning glance, she stepped forth, baring her teeth. "I am no traitor!" Color rushed to her cheeks. Her eyes reflected the flames, and they flickered angrily. "A deserter I shall admit to being, but a traitor I am not!"
"Deserter, traitor: same thing, different names!" Idre's blue eyes glowed orange from the flames. "You have betrayed us once, and you will do so again!"
"She shall not." Validar's voice was commanding and chilling, and all fell silent. "Fate has spoken, my friends. She is one of Us."
"Can you be so sure?" dared Ragul. "She may have been one of Us, years ago, but when she betrayed us she broke the pact of the Council."
"I fear age is catching up to you, my dear Lord Ragul." Validar smiled, and Ragul scoffed. "Have you forgotten about the blood of the Eighth that runs through her veins? It secures her a place here for as long as her heart beats."
The Elders bristled angrily at this reminder.
"The Eighth?"
All eyes turned towards a young Council member with blood red hair. She blushed and ducked her head when she realized that she had spoken aloud.
"Aye, the Eighth." It was Nyphurri who spoke. "I am Nyphurri, daughter of Juwayr and Anidryl, descendant of the eighth member of the original Grimleal Council!" She drew herself up as she spoke. She looked rather lordly right then and there, so lordly that some of the younger Council members indeed thought she was of nobility, although in truth she was nowhere near a lord.
"The Eighth is a joke," hissed Idre darkly. "The Eighth has only ever been more or less the servant of the First."
"And even that no longer holds true, as we have seen," Luthin added meaningfully, raising his eyebrows at Validar. "It barely even surprised me when I heard about her betrayal. The Eighth has always been the least likely of the Council to uphold the values of the Grimleal."
"As it should be," said Validar. "It seems that the Council is forgetting one very important fact: the Eighth is and has always been a spy. Spies are loyal to nobody but themselves. They are not loyal to Plegia, or the Grimleal, or even our Master. Certainly, they claim to be loyal to us, but at the end of the day they would sooner put their life before anyone else's."
"So you admit it!" gasped Maoul, pointing a wrinkly old finger accusingly at Validar. "She would not hesitate to betray us again!"
Validar opened his mouth to speak, but it was not his voice that left his mouth.
"I wish for a chance to speak." Nyphurri stepped forward, eyebrows furrowed.
The room fell deathly silent. Then, in an instant, it was in an uproar.
"I am here for a hearing, dammit!" Nyphurri shouted over the noise, stomping her foot. "I'll be damned if I let you old fools keep talking about me as if I am not here! I am here, Nyphurri has returned, and it is her chance to speak!"
Once more, the room fell silent. Aversa frowned. She had been expecting another uproar from the Elders for being referred to as 'old fools'.
Nyphurri took a deep breath to calm herself. "I understand your anger. I too doubted Lord Validar. I have turned my back on you once already; why not a second time?" She shrugged, and the Council members were not too pleased. "Well, to put it simply, Master Grima would have my head." She smirked wryly. "And let it be known to the Council that I turned my back on them not out of hatred or dismissal. No, I fled from the Grimleal out of shame."
A great mumbling passed through the room like a great wave in the sea, rising and falling in volume.
"Perhaps you have been told that I let the Destined One go free, that I had had a change of heart? Or maybe that was your assumption?" The chatter died down. "No, I was bested by him. Aye, I was bested by a ten year old child! I could not return to the Council! I could not face you all again, so ashamed of myself I was. And surely you would've had my head for losing the one chance I had at capturing Him."
A long moment of silence followed her confession. Nyphurri licked her lips and breathed hard.
At length, Idre spoke up. "We shall speak to Master Grima and hear his thoughts. Only then can we make a decision about what to do with you."
She bowed low. "I thank you for your consideration, my lords, my ladies." She drew herself back to her full height.
"We will need time," Ragul said. "So, for the time being, you may return home. In order to ensure that you do not...act up"–She raised an eyebrow–"I will send a few of our own with you. Bryne, Hevro!" Two young Council members scurried their way forward. One of them didn't look a day over twenty; he must've been one of the youngest, if not the youngest, of the Council. The other was older, closer to his thirties. "Accompany Nyphurri home and watch after her, will you?"
The older one nodded solemnly. "I shall, my Lord Ragul."
The younger one was more excitable. He reminded Nyphurri of a young pup. "With honor, my lord!" He bowed his head.
Nyphurri grit her teeth, resisting the urge to argue. She understand Ragul's reasoning, but it still angered her that she would have to be babysat like some child who couldn't count over ten.
"Very well." Ragul waved them away. "You are dismissed."
"But you must keep a close eye on her." A man shrouded in a dark cloak strode along the platform of the Dragon's Table. The hood was drawn over his head so that his face was shrouded in darkness. "You will not need to send her away on her mission for another year and a half. In the meantime, you mustn't let her stray far. I do not want her to step even a foot out of Plegia; it would be an ill omen if she were to flee her duty again. Keep her busy, though. You know how restless spies can get.
"Finally, I want you to try your best to reach out to her. Yes, Ragul, that's right. We must try to win over her loyalty. It will make the mission go smoother; for if her allegiance to us is strong and unbreakable, then we have no reason to fear that she will double-cross us." He stopped walking and turned to face the cluster of Grimleal before him. "Is that understood?"
"Yes, Master Grima," came the resolute replies.
Two red eyes flickered from underneath his hood, and though it was unseen to his followers, he smirked widely.
So I decided to continue this story after all! It was too good an idea not to follow-up. Thank you Raffie13035 for your review!
This is probably one of the quickest updates I've ever done for a story because 1) I'm on winter break and 2) my chapters are usually twice this length. But after this update I will probably be gone for a bit...school begins again on the 11th! :( Woe is me.
Since I have obviously strayed a bit from the plot in the game, I'd like to hear your thoughts about this little Grimleal world I've created! Thank you! After the next chapter, my story will intersect more directly with the game's plot, and I don't intend on writing too much more about the Grimleal.