"My Lady, Sylvester has broken major tenants of my lands, tenants set up in your name following along the tenants you set up for your Paladins and Clerics. He is guilty of conspiracy of the attack that nearly saw me killed this day by hiding the fact that the man was a Necromancer. I know what I'll have to order as punishment but I have come to appeal to you." Lord Walter said before he knelt down on one knee.
"To plead with you, please grant him mercy and give me an option that doesn't see his light snuffed out so soon. In truth I don't want to do that nor do I want to imprison and then banish him, but without you, I have no other recourse. I can't break the laws set up in your name for him. It would be seen as a form of hypocrisy on my part. Ask anything of me my Lady and I will see it done if you will grant this request." Lord Walter said as he placed his forehead to the ground.
Paige smiled down at Walter and his great heart that was breaking over what he would have to do.
Athena smiled down at her son.
"Arise and go forth my knight. For your heart has moved me. I grant unto Sylvester one final chance with a reprieve of the ultimate sentences. Too I wish to make up for what I had to do to your sister to bring you all back together and his death would break her in ways I can't stand to see happen. Let your subjects know, if there is any hypocrisy here, it is mine. Sylvester is however to be punished. For he is to journey to each town of your lands and once there he will spend a month serving those living there with the arcane power that is his to wield. Or the brute force of his hands and back if need be. He shall not shirk one request made of him during this time. He needs to learn just how many people and how badly they have suffered at the hands of Necromancers."
"He will learn there is no such thing as a good Necromancer. Their whole form of magic is to twist and torment living beings, even if they are lower life forms as some call them. A contingent of your guards is to go with him, not as enforcers of this punishment but as protection against any who might wish to harm him for what he has done."
"Send also a daughter of mine to stand as intermediary between Sylvester and the people. She will know my will and what is and isn't acceptable for the people to ask of him. Most of the people of your lands have suffered at one time or another at the hands of a Necromancer and they won't take this lightly. See to his safety above all my knight. Your sister is free to travel with him if she desires but they may not marry until after his punishment is over. She may comfort him from his toils if he needs it, but she may not help him accomplish that which is punishment for him." Athena spoke and then the Mistress began coughing and choking.
Paige reached out quickly to steady her as she came back from the possession.
"So you were successful my Lord. Athena has granted him a reprieve of the punishment you'd have to sentence him too. Thank you my Lady." The Mistress said hoarsely as she smiled at Lady Paige, for her assistance.
Lord Walter nodded even as he got up off the floor.
"I will have to convene the governors of the towns and we shall have a formal dinner tonight Mistress, your presence will be required to give further proof of the wise Lady's words and that I am not just playing favorites with Sylvester." Lord Walter told her.
Paige frowned.
"How will they get here to have this dinner tonight my love, other than Brightsong they are all days away, right?" Paige looked at him puzzled.
"They each have a mirror we can communicate through and an object powered like my sword that will bring them here, and return them, in the blink of an eye." Lord Walter smiled at her.
Paige shuddered inwardly remembering how she felt coming back from their honeymoon when the Keep was under attack.
"If he is to serve each town for a month, how long will Sylvester be away from the Keep for my love?" Paige asked as they moved to leave.
"Close to eight months. With six towns and a month in each, it will take nearly two months of travel time to visit each one. Too I think, while you have been introduced to those in Brightsong below us and at Aaron Springs, you have not yet been introduced in the others. I think it is time they met their Lady. We might have to take the twins and Ralph and journey to all the towns ourselves so that everyone can bask in your beauty." Lord Walter smiled at her.
Paige rolled her eyes but grinned nonetheless.
"If I am not out of line to ask my Lord, but may I be considered to travel with Sylvester during this pilgrimage?" The temple Mistress asked.
Walter frowned.
"Of course you may, but isn't this a bit beneath your station as a Mistress?" Lord Walter asked.
"It is a quest for the wise Lady, how could it be beneath me? I may have risen up the ranks of her Clerics and I am honored to have become your temple Mistress but that does not make me special. I will never ask or tell another to do something I myself would refuse in the wise Lady's name. And while being your private temple's Mistress is extremely prestigious and one that I am humbled at being accepted for; I am nonetheless drawn towards this task. But I will serve where you will my Lord with full dedication as I will feel honored and privileged at being chosen for it." The Mistress explained.
Lord Walter nodded.
"I will consider your request Mistress and give you my decision this day." Lord Walter replied.
"Who will we get to replace the Mistress during this time?" Paige asked feeling a little bit of a loss thinking of the Mistress not being there.
The Mistress smiled.
"Thank you my Lady for missing me already. But any of my sister Clerics would be happy and honored to fill in for me." The Mistress told her.
"There would be no need. If I need counsel in the meantime I can always go to the temple in town and speak with that Mistress. I'll have to get her to sit in with me as I begin investigating this John's life and those that are known to move in his circles. We must weed out any influence he has had." Lord Walter told them both.
"What do you mean boy?" Sean asked as all three of them were shocked by Sylvester's words.
"By keeping the truth of this man from the Lord I am just as responsible for this attack on him. And treason like that, against the Lord, is a death sentence if found guilty. Since I waived my right to a trial and confessed my guilt, my Lord has no choice but to sentence me to death." Sylvester explained with tears in his eyes.
Megan grabbed hold of Sylvester and hugged him tightly shaking her head.
"No, we'll flee his lands then. We can go to another town to live." Megan sobbed.
Sean watched as his wife ran over and hugged both of them. Sean struggled with his anger over what happened to his son. He knew part of that anger was because he almost lost his son after just getting him back a little over a year ago. But how much Sylvester had crept into his heart tore at him. To lose him over this was too much.
"Boy, I'm not happy that this happened and your part in it, but that should warrant a death sentence. I'll speak to Walter over it. I'll get him to see reason." Sean choked out even as he began to move to the door.
"Sean, no, thank you, I love you for that, but you can't. He is the Lord of these lands. The people love him. They trust him to be fair to them. He treats them as family and if one of them did this, he'd have to put them to death. If he withholds that from me he'd be seen as playing favorites, a hypocrite. Especially if it comes to light that other's knew about John and said nothing. And he can't pardon me and sentence them to death, he can't do that. He could get away with it for our Lady or his children, but for a member of his Keep? People would be outraged." Sylvester told him.
The small family stood for some time just talking expressing their feelings and confusion over everything.
Sean frowned as he heard the knock on their door but walked over to it. If it was Walter he was going to give him an earful, he didn't care if Sylvester didn't want him too. He opened the door and stared at the familiar face.
"Can I help you Sir Frederick?" Sean asked cautiously now seeing the two guards standing with him.
The man didn't smile. He stood there looking imposingly large in his full plate mail armor.
"I'm here for Sylvester. Is he here?" Sir Frederick said simply.
"Well you're going to have to give me more than that." Sean said even as he kind of pushed the door towards being closed.
"It's okay Sean. Sir Frederick, I'm here." Sylvester said.
Sean glared back at Sylvester but stepped back opening the door wider.
Sir Frederick stepped inside the room.
"Sylvester, I'm here on behalf of our Lord. I'm posting two guards outside of this door. By Lord Walter's order you are not to go anywhere without the guards going with you. Is that clear?" Sir Frederick asked.
Sylvester nodded.
"It is Sir Frederick, thank you." Sylvester told him.
Sir Frederick nodded and started to turn.
"Wait, that's it? You are just going to let him imprison you?" Megan asked.
Sir Frederick stopped and looked back at Megan.
"The guards are not here to imprison him Mistress. They are here to protect him." Sir Frederick explained. "What has happened today will ripple throughout the lands. People are going to be mightily upset over it and some may try to take actions against Sylvester for it. While the Lord's order for the Keep staff and guards will keep Sylvester safe, it is the other citizen's of the lands that are the greatest threat at this time." Sir Frederick explained.
"Wait, I don't understand. Why, would the citizens be so gung-ho to hurt or kill Sylvester?" Megan asked puzzled.
Sir Frederick smiled just a bit at that.
"You have to understand the history of these lands to understand that. In the lands that your brother, my Lord, first controlled there were three towns. They were besieged by necromantic activities. The worst one was the first town Lord Walter liberated with Happy. Dusksong, perhaps you saw it shortly after you enter the Lord's lands as you journeyed here." Sir Frederick told them.
All three frowned and shook their heads and then Louise's eyes got real big.
"There were some ruins we passed after Elizabeth of Caranth told us we entered the Lord's lands." Louise told him.
Sir Frederick nodded.
"Dusksong, after the Lord destroyed the Necromantic pentagonal forces that were raiding that town they followed Lord Walter north and became the first inhabitants of Brightsong, the town below the hill here. At their request and with the Lord's blessing Dusksong was allowed to rot away and the land marked as a shrine to those lost to those forces. Lisa, the young woman who serves the Lord and his family so diligently, was just a teen, not much older than Happy, when all of that happened. Her family was wiped out by those forces. The Lord took her in and gave her a new life, a purpose, a chance to reclaim what should have been hers to start with. Most of the people on his lands have similar stories. Aaron Springs was another one hard hit by those forces."
"But with Lord Walter's faith; and by his strong right arm they were saved and they voted unanimously to become subjects of the Lord. With his guidance that town along with Terrance prospered and grew as did Brightsong. As Lord Walter and Happy were joined by Sir Cabe they continued their campaigns against the forces of evil all around these lands. They went to the aid of other towns outside of his controlled areas and rescued them. People in their gratitude, and a desire for protection moved from other areas and provinces. Places where they lived, to come and live on his lands. The lands grew and Harris petitioned and was accepted to become part of Lord Walter's controlled lands."
"You'd be hard pressed to find someone whose life hadn't been affected by Necromancers in these lands." Sir Frederick told them.
"Even you Sir Frederick?" Louise asked softly.
Sir Frederick nodded.
"My wife was killed by Necromancers. Eight of us, along with my two youngest daughters, were part of traveling healers who moved from town to town. We were ambushed not far from Harris. I held the rearguard buying time for my family and the others to escape. I had thought I had seen my wife for the last time. Only it wasn't because I was going to die, but because she was. The fight had gone badly for me. I was surrounded by undead."
"My sword had been snapped in two, its magical energies bleeding out. As they moved in for the kill there was this voice of an angel as it yelled, for the wise Lady. There was an explosion of light and when I could see again all of the undead were destroyed. Then that voice sounded again, garrison. And I saw a faintly glowing hammer fly off the ground and into the hand of Lord Walter."
"I fell to my knees in exhaustion. Lord Walter rushed over and picked me up to ensure I was okay. That was the day I met him, Sir Cabe, Happy, Sylvester and Toby. I pointed up the road toward Harris and uttered to him, my family."
"Lord Walter sat me down and ran off into the night after the way they went. I saw white light cascade down his body as he unbelievably took off like a charging stallion. Happy cursed and ran after him. As she stepped into the area of ground where some of that white light still lingered it swept up into her and she was gone from my sight almost instantly. Even as Sylvester gestured and I found myself floating on a disc of some kind and with me in tow they ran as best as they could after Lord Walter. We'd passed by the bodies of the other three fighters before we found them." Sir Frederick told them.
Greetings! Hope this finds you all well! Doing okay, still struggling to write. Thought this chapter was already to go yesterday and then last night as I lay in bed proof reading I grimaced at all the problems with it. lol Hopefully today I was able to catch them all again and remove them so it makes sense. While I still want to write, the desire, the passion is still waning. Clearly there is yet another chapter to this leg of the story. Hopefully 14 will be the final chapter but if not, well, that's the way it is sometimes. lol
Lucy - Yep, he stepped in it. But at least the wise Lady is willing to cut him some slack.
Railman - Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in that position over someone I don't know, let alone someone I do. *shudder* Welcome to the club! lol So far this year I have done something similar twice! Hoping that won't happen again (to either of us).
Susan - Thank you! Yep, Sly's been pardoned for now. lol And the thought of him being executed certainly forced some changes to Sean's mind on him as well. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
To the Adventure! -Tim