Megan's eyes opened wide just as her mouth did to retort.
"My Lord speaks the truth." The temple Mistress spoke up. "He has told you exactly what the wise Lady told him to tell you. And his ordering you to go is both right and wise. As his sister if he wants to grant to you the right to speak defiantly to him that is his business. But you are treading on the wise Lady in your disrespect of him and the words she gave him to give to you. You will learn through the stories of the people of his lands just what horrors they have endured because of those who practice necromancy."
"Are you serious?" Megan asked the temple Mistress.
The temple Mistress nodded as she looked at Lord Walter. Before she could speak again the Mistress found herself no longer in control of her body.
"My Lord, I believe your sister needs to learn, an example if you will, of what she does not know, of what she won't hear in the towns. Strip to your waist." The temple Mistress demanded in a voice of choral proportions.
Without a question or challenge Lord Walter's hands rose up and began unbuttoning his dress coat.
Lady Paige's eyes went wide.
"That's the wise Lady. She's taken possession of the Mistress." Paige whispered to Lisa. "Go and watch for me." Paige regretted that she was nursing at the moment.
Lisa swallowed hard and walked to the door and peered out and her eyes went wide seeing the Lord stripping his clothes off.
"A-Are you really the wise Lady?" Louise asked.
"I have taken possession of my child as I grew grieved by your daughter's attitude." The wise Lady said in that voice of choral proportions.
They all looked at Lord Walter now standing there stripped to the waist.
"Show them my child, show them where all the foul magic of necromancy has touched your body." The wise Lady demanded.
Lord Walter pointed out in reverse chronological order all the places he'd been struck by that foul magic. Once he was done the wise Lady smiled.
"Tell them my child. What do you feel in those spots?" The wise Lady told him.
"Each spot is like a constant toothache. That very little has ever relieved before I met my bride, if it wasn't for all the conditioning I had, to force myself through there wouldn't be any respite from it. Bathed in the love my bride and I share, it salves those wounds quite effectively." Lord Walter said softly. Revealing that which he had kept buried under all the control of pain he learned at Lord Weir's keep from all the abuse he suffered.
"It is because of this that I searched so diligently for my daughter Paige. Each wound exacts yet more of my knight's precious reserve of happiness and makes it harder for him to continue in this life. But with her at his side he has a never ending reservoir of love and happiness to draw from and deposit to." The wise Lady told them.
"Perhaps this will help you to understand why it is he feels such pain." Athena gestured as Lord Walter's cheeks went red in shame. And each spot Lord Walter pointed out glowed and it was like they could still see the after affects of those attacks. Like there were pieces of him still missing, even though the flesh looked whole.
Paige heard everyone gasp at what they saw.
"And just so you understand the depth of that pain." The wise Lady said as she raised her hand up and her fingers came together.
"My Lady, please don't." Lord Walter begged.
"It has to be done my child." Athena told him and then snapped her fingers. Instantly that pain he always felt stopped and he saw the eyes of his family including Sylvester go wide and they all fell to their knees. As they all cried out under the burden of that sudden pain Lord Walter turned to look at the bedroom door and saw Lisa on her knees crying out in pain.
"My Lady, please, I beg you, stop. Lisa doesn't deserve this." Lord Walter begged.
Athena snapped her fingers again and that pain was returned to him and his eyes closed as tears welled up and leaked out of his eyes. He mentally shrugged and buried it down deep within himself again before he turned and walked over and helped Lisa to stand. He kissed her forehead and gently pushed her back into the bedroom and closed the door.
Slowly his family stood back up while staring at Walter and what they hadn't known.
Athena's voice rose up drastically in volume.
"Lisa didn't deserve it my Lord Walter. It wasn't meant as punishment in her case, but she needed to understand how well you know the pain caused by necromancy. She is a good and respectful child and she accepted all of this for no other reason than because of her love for you. She had no clue, none of them did, of what you have endured, all because you do that which I need you to do to make others safe. People think you trivialized their pain over this in coming to me for compassion over what happened because of Sylvester."
"They have not a clue as to what pain and suffering is. Of what you have and will continue to suffer my child, my knight. And that pain was amplified this day because a child couldn't come to you ahead of time and warn you of a Necromancer hiding among your subjects. And still, enduring that pain, you came to me in supplication, humbled yourself before me, before your bride and begged for my reprieve so he wouldn't have to suffer death or banishment. None of them have lived with the torment of necromantic magic on their bodies and souls. Missing a loved one is hard, harder still is to continue moving forward in the wake of so much pain that it causes other people to fall to their knees from the barest taste of that pain the moment it touches them."
"Tomorrow when your governors disseminate the information of what happened here today, on those words will flow a momentarily glimpse into the pain you live with day in and day out. Just like with your family here, and they will all know that pain is just a taste of what you endure for them." Athena told him.
Walter shook his head.
"Please my Lady, the people of your lands have suffered enough because of Necromancers, they don't need this burden as well." Lord Walter pleaded.
Athena shook her head.
"Normally I am willing, and it delights me, as you seldom ever request things, to give you whatever it is your heart desires my child for you have always been a good, true and faithful servant of my needs and wants and I wish to reward you, but not this time. My ears are deaf to this request of yours. For with the exception of your governor of Harris and her husband, you have not heard the thoughts of your other governors or their spouses as they sat at your table; ate your food and consumed your drink, all the while talking pleasantries to your face. Pretending to support you while their thoughts were black as night. And you have not heard the words and thoughts of the citizens of Brightsong over what came to light today and I will not put up with it. They rebuke my children as they bring the truth of my words to them as if you or they would lie about that at their peril. I am Athena, the wise Lady and it is high time they remember that, and while my wisdom is beyond question, my patience is not eternal."
Athena said it so loudly the stone walls shook with each sentence and dust fell about the Keep as her words roared out in anger into the night. The guards on duty at the great bridge looked back towards the Keep in trepidation at what had angered the wise Lady.
Walter's family along with everyone else in the Keep looked about the room they were in nervously.
Athena said the words with such authority that Lord Walter simply dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
"As you will it my Lady, I am but your servant." Lord Walter told her automatically.
Athena smiled down at him and reached down and tilted his head up as she stroked his cheek. She looked at his family.
"You see, even with all they have seen and heard, they still don't understand my Lord. You are my true knight and I am so proud of you." The wise Lady told him with her voice so sweet before she kissed his forehead. As she stood up the air seemed to shimmer for a moment and then the Mistress began coughing and choking.
Lord Walter reached out as he stood and caught her arm and sustained her until he got her to a chair and helped her to sit down.
Walter slowly stepped over and picked up his shirt and pulled it on over his head.
"Walter, I had no idea." Megan whispered.
"Good night." Walter said as he turned and walked into the bedroom closing the door solidly behind him.
A few minutes later Lisa stepped out as she hadn't stopped crying. Before she left she'd hugged Walter tightly saying over and over she had no idea how much he still suffered over what had been done to him in the wise Lady's crusade for him to rid the lands of Necromancers.
"It is okay Lisa. I never wanted you, or anyone to feel what I feel. Please see Raynold, he's got you set up in one of the suites to spend the night tonight. Lord Walter just smiled and nodded.
Paige came out of the nursery and grabbed Walter in her arms.
"Why haven't you told me the truth Walter?" Paige asked softly.
Walter looked her in the eye.
"It is complicated and yet so simple my love. I never wanted you to worry over it. Your love for me would have you seek out someway to protect me from it. But the only way it could happen I would never support. As it is the wise Lady revealed that which I wouldn't voice to anyone, but you and Happy, and made them feel the pain I use to feel every moment of each day because of the necromantic magic that I've been struck with. When the wise Lady said that their magic is used to twist and torment their victims she didn't exaggerate it. Before you it was constantly harrowing even with them gone from this life. Normal magic, unless imbued into an item like my sword, never out lives the caster. But as she said, our love gives me the salve I need to keep it under control." Walter told her.
Paige smiled sadly.
"I'm sorry Walter. I wish I could do something to take it away." Paige told him as she hugged him again and then her eyes opened. "Hang on a moment, if you are feeling pain, why don't our rings convey it to me?" Paige demanded.
Walter smiled as he pulled off his wedding ring and showed her a rune that was inside of his that wasn't in hers.
"This is a special rune I demanded of Happy and Sylvester to make. Happy knows why, but Sylvester does not. It blocks pain that was caused in the past. I could smash my thumb right now and then put the ring on and you wouldn't feel it." Walter told her before he slipped it back on.
"Speaking of that, why didn't I feel when you were hurt by that Necromancer earlier then?" Paige asked eyeing him.
Walter laughed.
"When I fish I don't like anything on my fingers, not even my tenant ring and so I had taken it off." Walter told her.
"Brat." Paige said as she slapped his arm playfully.
They both looked to the bedroom door as someone knocked.
"Walter, Paige, may I come in please?" Louise asked quietly.
Walter sighed but nodded before he walked into the bathing room.
Paige walked over and carefully opened the door and Louise smiled at her.
"It is just me my daughter. The rest of them left to deal with their heavy thoughts. I just wanted to be sure Walter is okay." Louise said.
Paige smiled and opened the door a bit wider and hugged her. And she stepped back so Louise could come in.
"How are the twins?" Louise asked seeing as Walter wasn't in the room.
"They are well, I just put them down for the night, but if you'd like to step in I am sure they haven't completely fallen asleep yet. Funny enough the nursery didn't rattle when the wise Lady got so upset." Paige gestured towards the nursery.
"I remember how hard it was sometimes to keep Walter sleeping. I won't stir them up so that the two of you have some quality time." Louise shook her head.
"Was there something you needed Mother?" Lord Walter asked as he stepped out of the bathing room.
"Only to be sure you were okay. That was pretty harsh, what the wise Lady had to do and I know it hurt you to have it exposed like that. I had no idea you were living with such a burden. I always assumed magic healed everything. And what with everything the wise Lady has done I never once thought you lived with pain out of the moment." Louise told him as she took his hands in hers.
"I am fine Mother, thank you for being concerned. It is pain I wouldn't wish on another for anything. But I willingly bear it as I would not see anyone else suffer at the hands of Necromancers. It is no wonder most people surrender to that foul magic when it is brought to bear against them. I think too it is because of what she wanted of me that she put me through Lord Weir's keep. It gave me great physical strength, but it was the catalyst for mental strength needed to bury this pain under, at least I think that was the best part that rude treatment. Before my bride if at times I had seemed distracted, especially after fighting, it is because I was trying to regain control over it." Walter told them.
"You mean so much to me Walter. To have you back and to have a new daughter and grandchildren, it has really made my life complete now. I hope you know that." Louise smiled as she nodded. She leaned in and hugged Walter and kissed his cheek before she turned and hugged Paige and kissed her cheek.
Walter smiled and nodded.
"If you don't mine Walter, I'd like to travel with Megan and Sylvester. It isn't that I don't trust the guards to care for Sylvester, I just think it would help me better understand things being able to listen to your people tell their stories." Louise said softly.
"That is fine Mother, if you get tired of being gone you just tell the governor of the town you are in and they will get you on a coach back to the Keep immediately." Walter told her.
"Sleep well my loves. I'll see you both in the morning." Louise told them before she left.
Greetings! Hope you are well! Thursday I have to be at the VA so I will try and post chapter 18 before I leave. It looks like this leg of the journey will end with chapter 20. As you can see Athena isn't too happy at this time and Walter has been keeping something secret from Paige but she seems to at least be accepting of that. Paige will learn a lot more in chapter 18 as well.
Lucy - Thank you! Yep, she was headed there but got the wind taken out of her sails quite quickly. lol Lisa growled in your direction. There are a number of people you could confuse her with, Linda is not on the approved list of people. LOL
Railman - Well as you can see that with the exception of the governor of Harris they really didn't. Some more of that in chapter 18! Megan is definitely fiery and a bit impetuous. Hope this chapter met with your approval!
Margaret - So sorry you've been so busy, but then that is life at times. Glad you are able to do and still have time to enjoy from time to time!
Susan - Yes, it is complicated for sure! As most of us know of sibling relationships, I can only imagine trying to add the layers of a feudal system on top of that. Then adding a deity...what was I thinking? lol
Franxine - Thank you! So glad you enjoy them so much!
Guest - Thank you, I'll try! Raynold is the Seneschal of Scorpion Keep, as such his authority is greater than everyone else but the Lord and Lady, well the temple Mistress as well, but she doesn't interfere in normal matters. He does sometimes try to get his way and before Paige, Walter usually let him as he trusts him. But he's been seeing things a bit differently lately and is taking back some of that authority.
To the Adventure! -Tim