Simon couldn't fault the Lord's hospitality. There appeared to be plenty of food for everyone. He helped himself to a large assortment of fresh fruits and freshly baked bread. The servants who waited the dining hall were all quick to aid and friendly. Most of those eating were friendly but efficient in getting done and back to work in whatever they did.

Raynold stepped down into the dining hall and looked about and saw the one face he didn't recognize and walked over speak with Simon.

"Simon?" Raynold asked as he stepped up.

Simon looked up and smiled before he stood.

"I'm assuming I am meeting Raynold, Lord Walter's Seneschal?" Simone held out his hand.

Raynold nodded his head as he reached out and shook his hand.

"Please sit and enjoy your breakfast." Raynold told him as his hand swept out gesturing towards the table.

Simon nodded as he gestured back.

"Would you care to sit and join me?" Simon asked as he sat back down.

Raynold pulled a chair out and sat down.

"I was wondering if you could advise me as to the nature of your message for our Lord and Lady." Raynold said as his eyes probed into to Simon.

Simone smiled as he picked up a piece of bread.

"Well I don't wish to go into detail at this time. The story is long and involved and will be at times incredulous. I will need the Lord and the temple Mistress to use their divine gifts to ensure they understand that what I have to say to them is the truth. But it is information that is vital to them." Simon said before taking a bite of his bread.

Simon's head turned further as he looked back towards the entrance of the dining hall and he smiled seeing Ralph standing in the hallway speaking with a young girl, a few years older than himself.

"Our Lord and Lady's son Ralph is turning into a strapping young man isn't he?" Simon said as he looked back to Raynold.

Raynold turned and looked seeing Ralph.

"Lord Walter's exercise plan for him is helping him to develop quite nicely." Raynold nodded.

"So you know Master Ralph and his Mother the Lady Paige then? Do you know our Lord as well?" Raynold asked probing for possible reason as to why Simon was there.

Simon wiped his lips with his napkin as he put his drink down.

"I have not yet met our Lord face to face. But I have seen his face many times in visions. Not to mention all of the many tales of his daring. But I knew our Lady even before she became pregnant with Ralph." Simon told him truthfully.

"Visions, are you a Shaman then Simon?" Raynold asked.

Simon shook his head.

"Nothing like what you are thinking I assure you Raynold." Simon told him.

Ralph walked up to them.

"Good morning Raynold. Dad sent me to let you know he is ready with Mother to meet with this messenger you told him of." Ralph told them.

Raynold studied Ralph's face as he gestured to Simon.

"This is Simon, the messenger who has come to see your parents. Do you recognize him?" Raynold asked.

Ralph shook his head.

"It is nice to meet you Simon." Ralph greeted him.

"Indeed it is good seeing you again Ralph. Though the last time I saw you face to face you were just days old and you and your Mother were living with Drew in San Francisco." Simon said as he held out his hand.

"Really? So do you know why Drew left us?" Ralph asked.

Simon nodded even as he stood up.

"I do. Unfortunately I was forced to leave with him. Would you mind escorting me to your Father?" Simon asked.

Ralph nodded and turned and led the way up to the great hall even as Raynold stood to go with them.

Simon held his hand out beside Ralph and he snapped his fingers and a single purple flower appeared.

"Give this to your young lady friend the next time you see her Master Ralph." Simon told him.

Ralph stared at the flower in amazement.

"Thank you Simon, it is beautiful. What kind of flower is it?" Ralph asked as he took it.

"It is a purple tulip Master Ralph." Simon told him as they walked up the main staircase.

As they reached the floor the great hall was on Ralph ran ahead and into the great hall to his parents.

"Look Mom." Ralph said as he stopped in front of her sitting in Lord Walter's high seat and showed her the flower.

Paige smiled.

"It is a beautiful tulip Ralph. Where did you get it?" Paige asked him.

Ralph pointed back at Simon as he walked into the hall.

"Simon gave it to me to give to Patty." Ralph told her.

Paige's eyes went wide.

"Simon?" Paige said in shock.

Simon grinned broadly.

"My dear Lady Paige, it is indeed a joy to be remembered." Simon greeted her.

Walter stood next to her as his eyes probed into Simon.

"My love, this is Simon. He was Drew's manservant when I was with him." Paige told him.

"But Simon isn't your real name is it?" Lord Walter asked but clearly he didn't need it confirmed.

Simon inclined his head.

"It is not my Lord. And I mean no disrespect using the name but my real name is quite impossible to pronounce with the human tongue. It is a true honor to finally meet you my Lord Walter." Simon said as he bowed deeply with extravagance to them both.

"We do not do that here Simon." Lord Walter told him.

"I understand my Lord but, you are the Lord and Lady of these lands and I insist on paying proper respect to you both. And after all you have granted me the greatest of boons. You have given your love to and cared for this beautiful soul. And because of you I have been set free from years and years of forced slavery when you killed the despicable king Merrick and his disgusting son Drew." Simon told them.

"Have a care Simon. While Drew had many faults he was still Ralph's Father and I won't have you impugn him here, especially in front of my son." Lord Walter told him in his commanding voice.

Simon smiled.

"But I assure you my Lord Walter I have not insulted Ralph's Father. I have nothing but warm feelings for him and have only shown his Father respect." Simon told them even as Paige's eyes narrowed.

"I know that is cryptic and I don't really mean to be my Lady. Is your temple Mistress present my Lord? I wanted her here with you. I wanted you both to use your divine gifts to know that what I must tell you is the truth." Simon told them.

Lord Walter gestured and an older woman stood up from beside the fireplace and moved over.

"The temple Mistress of my private temple, Mistress this is Simon." Lord Walter gestured.

Simon inclined his head to the Mistress.

"What I must tell you is delicate and it might be better if the young Lord was to perhaps go be with his, friend." Simon suggested.

Lord Walter nodded. And even though he burned with curiosity, Ralph hugged his Mom before he ran out even as his grandparents entered the hall followed not long after by Megan and Sylvester.

"Where to begin, do you know I have played this scene out in my head a dozen different ways and not one of them is the same as another? Very well, my personal story is long and involved and mostly not needed for what I must tell you. But I must delve back into the ages to explain some of it." Simon started as he began pacing a slight bit.

"Just over millennia ago I met a disgusting human named Mahn. I was just relaxing and enjoying the sun when he discovered me. I hadn't really worried about it as he wasn't a man of power such as you my Lord. Or so I thought. But he was a man of infernal power, a necromancer. And he used those infernal powers to enslave me. For century after century I was bound to serve that disgusting being. I watched helpless as he sired child after child only to use his revolting necromantic magic to rip their souls from their bodies and cast them into the underworld before installing his own soul into the child's body."

"One child he had was a bit opportunistic but not enough to carry out much of my plan. But I gained a bit of freedom because of her and I used that freedom to curse his people. I couldn't strike at him but I could strike at his power base. Each year fewer and fewer children were born to them." Simon continued.

"Fortunately he never learned that the curse came from me. His so called diviners weren't much better than charlatans to be honest. Still I had to bid my time. Several times I thought I was finally going to escape him but then one concubine or slave would finally give him a child and he continued. It was infuriating that he was getting away with his dream of living far beyond the time granted men." Simon told them.

"After years he'd move his people a bit further westward. Ever westward as he feared the powers worshipped by the European nations. For many had sent their agents to end his unnatural life. He marched his people ever westward before taking them right up to the edge of the sea. He conquered a town famed for its ship building and used them to build ships to cross to the great North American continent. He enslaved many of the men of the indigenous peoples of the North American continent. As he moved down the west coast they were pulled along with what remained of his dwindling people." Simon explained.

But then one day he had a son, Andrew." Simon's eyes lit up.

"Now this was a human I could work through to accomplish my goal of regaining my freedom. He wasn't as disgusting as his Father, or so I thought, and he was power mad but too cowardly to challenge his Father. But he was intrigued enough by my telling him that there were things his Father planned of him that he would not like." Simon spoke.

"My price was a drop of his blood. With just a drop I could break some more of his Father's hold on me. Not all, for that I would need all of his Father's blood to be spilt. But it allowed me to show him the truth of who his Father was and what he planned for him. I provided him with a key to the treasury and thanks to the blood I was now able to flee with Drew. So I was one step closer to my freedom." Simon told them.

"It is here my Lady I must apologize profusely to you and ask your forgiveness in what you are about to come to understand." Simon bowed deeply to her with sorrow etched across his face.

Paige frowned.

"Simon, you always treated me with kindness, I don't know what you could mean." Paige said puzzled as she looked at her husband who just nodded that Simon was telling the truth so far.

"I know my Lady, but it will become apparent shortly. The reason I was able to leave his Father was because I was able to transfer some of the control from his Father to him. And the disgusting brat learned this quicker then I thought he would. He told me he wanted me to come up with a plan to save him from his Father. Now several came to mind quickly but wouldn't work because he would never go back to his Father's home. The only one left would be a child, one that his Father could be made aware of and then Drew could disappear and he could live out his life without the fear of his Father." Simon took in a deep breath.

"Because of the spell I had to tell him the truth of the plan for him to be safe. Of course the disgusting maggot liked that idea. But he never once question why in the ten years he had been sleeping with countless women that none of them had ever gotten pregnant. And the truth is as long as he was in his Father's lands he was affected by my curse like so many others. But out in the open he'd be able to have a child which was the last thing I wanted. Thanks to that drop of blood it gave me the power to do something else." Simon explained.

"I was able to make him sleep soundly. Because of the magic binding me, I couldn't kill him or make him sleep indefinitely or cause him any true harm. So I used a spell while he slept to render him incapable of fathering a child, ever. That way if my real plan failed, at most I was only looking at a few more decades of slavery and then both Mahn and he would be dead and I would be free again and able to resume my life." Simon told them.

"Wait, if you did that, then how did I become pregnant with Ralph?" Paige asked.

"You will learn soon enough my Lady. We'd moved around a lot hiding from his Father. We finally settled in Hesperia and Drew quickly met three women he was interested in. Understand I take no pleasure in this part of the story my Lady. He asked me which of the three of you would see my plan succeed."

"I was lucky he asked my plan as I was forced to answer him honestly that you would see my plan to succeed, but not the plan I told him of. I was then forced to bear witness as he set about to try and make you fall in love with him. When you were resistant to his desires of love he took it a step further and used magic to enhance how you felt about him. And while you did grow to love him, you still resisted his desires of love. So he persuaded a man of power to approach your Mother in hopes she'd conclude a deal with him for your hand in marriage." Simon told her with pain in his eyes.

"It had the desired affect on you. It drove a huge wedge between you and your Mother. You threw away your opportunity to go to the University of Los Angeles and ran to him. I was forced to watch as he used magic to guide you into desiring to run off with him. And so we set out for San Francisco. Drew was extremely upset that you weren't pregnant by the time we reached the city. It was then I took my biggest gamble." Simon told them.

Greetings! Hoping everyone is doing well!

2LawDog - Thank you! Glad you are enjoying it! Raynold definitely got a wake up call. hehe I'm reminded of a comedian named Mike Armstrong. One of his jokes he tells is when he'd go to his wife's family functions he'd tease her twin sister. "I know what you look like naked." lol

Lucy - Yeah poor Sly, that had to be intimidating! He says he's not as concerned about her Father, after all they've had their dust ups just trying to be together. Plus he's pretty sure Megan will say yes even if her Dad says no. lol Nope, not much delay in that, just a lot to be said. lol

Railman - That's a good question but my thought he, Raynold knows one of the punishments just short of death is being branded so if he returned to the land he'd be put to death. Who wants a glowing hot piece of magically enchanted metal shoved up against their neck, right? lol I've a feeling Sean might try to a little obstinate about it, but hopefully he remembers his other dust ups with Sylvester and decide being shocked like he was once isn't a good thing to be repeated. lol Simon is definitely not a white Witch, and not a sorcerer like Sylvester. But he is a magic wielding being.

Margaret - Sylvester is more worried about asking his Master for his blessing than Sean. I hope you have a great and safe trip and visit with your family!

Susan - Thank you! Yep, Raynold definitely was a no nonsense boss and he pushed the boundaries sometimes. His heart that time was in the right place, but he definitely went too far. Lord Walter definitely doesn't like skuttlebutt going about the Keep. And so now you know a bit about what Simon is there about. lol

Franxine - Thank you! Boy that would be pretty epic...I'd said before on Twitter if this story could be made into a movie, I think I'd prefer it be done as animation...Since Riley is too big to be 9 year old Ralph again and Elyes isn't as physically imposing as Lord Walter. But they could still do the voices.

Marie Mac - So glad to hear from you! Was worried after your last comment before I started posting Happy Secrets. I hope you are doing okay and hopefully improving. Things didn't sound too positive back then. Thank you! I'm so glad so many of you have enjoyed this twist of our beloved geniuses and liaisons into fantasy heroes! You're welcome!

To the Adventure! -Tim