Chapter 34: Family Ties
"Lord Anomen! Your father –" The guard to the Delryn estate was pushed aside as Anomen yanked the doors open and rushed into his family home, Harrian, Jaheira, Yoshimo and Haer'Dalis hot on his heels, uncomfortable but willing to stand with their friend and support him in this matter.
"Father!" Anomen bellowed as they reached the pool in the house, adjacent to the living area and the small kitchen. Harrian quietly noted what Yoshimo had – the valuables and other odds and ends, but also how sparsely decorated and devoid of objects of any great worth. For the estate of a nobleman, it was quite bare.
Lord Cor Delryn emerged from the kitchen, bleary, unshaven, but with the anger fifty wronged men in his eyes. "Ah, the prodigal son returns," he sneered mockingly and bitterly, taking a swing from the bottle of alcohol in his hand. "Heir to his mother's foolishness, as always. How far have you roamed, son, running away from me?"
Anomen's expression flickered to one of disdain for a moment – it had only just struck noon as they passed (tentatively) the Council of Six building. "Speak not of my mother, drunkard. You were never worthy of being her husband," he hissed, his anger building up within him as he glared at Cor.
"Yet I was, my boy, and her father as well!" his father barked, equally angry. "Your mother would still be alive if you children weren't such a handful!" He took another great swig from the alcohol and glared at his son.
"Shut your mouth, father," his son retorted, still with the same simmering anger and built-up pain within him. "We've had this conversation before and I've not the patience to listen to it again."
"You will listen to what ever I choose to tell you, Anomen," his father bellowed, taking another great swig from his bottle. "Respect your father, knightling. I am still the man of this family and you will obey me!"
Anomen lowered his head in deference. "Of course, father. I lost my temper and I apologise." Gone was any of the slightly arrogant certainty that the others had classed as his primary feature… here Anomen was cowering before his father, and Anomen cowering before anyone was a very strange feature indeed.
"It took you long enough to get here," his father continued bitterly, having found a point at which he could hurt his son and was using it to its full effect. "It wouldn't hurt you to come and see your father now and again."
Anomen stared at the injustice of such a statement, but refrained from making comment. "Father, where is Moira, your daughter? What happened to her?" he asked, his voice more than a little strained.
"Idiot boy! She's dead!" Cor yelled, spilling some of the liqueur down his ruffled shirt. "Murdered by the Calimshite fiends!" And, as if this would comfort and control his pain, he took another swig from the bottle.
His son started, his face a whirling maelstrom of emotions until he finally settled upon a mixture of despair and disbelief. "How did this happen?" he stammered, shocked and more than slightly shaken.
"How do you think?" his father demanded derisively. "It was Saerk the Calimshite. It was not enough for him to take my business, no… he had to take my Moira as well!" An expression of something bordering sorrow and probably as close as Cor would ever get crossed his face.
"But why would he kill her? She has nothing to do with your enmity!" Anomen exclaimed, a more than slightly perturbed expression on his face. His inner turmoil was plain to see in its franticness.
"Do you understand nothing?" Cor demanded mockingly. "He killed her because he could! For years I embarrassed him amongst the merchants, undercut his prices and stole his customers! When my business failed he had a monopoly on the Calimshan shipping routes. He would not be happy until I had nothing. By the end, Moira was all that I had, and now he's taken her too!" Cor finished, taking a giant swig from his bottle one more time.
Anomen frowned. "Where were the guards? Why was she not protected?" he demanded, getting increasingly angry and looking in danger of being about to lash out at anything or anyone to relieve frustration.
Lord Cor laughed humourlessly. "The guards left months ago. I had no money to pay them with. Soon I will lose my house as well. Saerk has taken all of it... all of your mother's and sister's things..."
Anomen's expression changed to one of sorrow as he lowered his head. "He didn't take it, father," he mumbled sorrowfully. "You lost it… you lost it…"
"I lost it because you abandoned your family," Cor told him, turning the tables again to place the blame on his son. "If you hadn't run away, Moira would still be alive. You should have been here to protect her! To save her from the brigands!"
Once again, the squire became submissive and apologetic. "I am sorry… I did not know…" he stammered uncomfortably.
"You should have been here, Anomen. Never forget that!" Cor yelled, now on a roll having moved all responsibility away from himself. "It is too late to save her but your work is not yet finished, Anomen."
"What can be done?" the squire asked, genuinely confused. "Moira is dead…"
Cor stared at him as if the answer were obvious. "She can be avenged, Anomen. You must kill Saerk and his son." He ignored Anomen's shocked and doubtful expression. "It is the only way that Moira's spirit can be at rest. As for your friends," he continued, glancing over at Harrian and the others, who seemed to be trying hard to pretend they weren't present at this situation, "they would do well to help you, for Saerk the Calimshite is a very wealthy man and his gold shall be their reward."
Ignoring the slightly peeved expression on the party leader's face, Anomen frowned thoughtfully. "I must see Moira's remains first, father," he said at length. "It will take but a moment."
"Go then. She was cleansed on the pyre and her ashes are kept in an urn by the pool. It was the place that Moira loved most of all." Cor spoke at last with a little fondness in his voice, and he smiled a small, sad smile.
Anomen nodded, before turning and starting towards the pool, stopping only to look at Corias. "Harrian, come with me to Moira's urn. I… I would speak with you," he asked quietly and a little falteringly.
The thief nodded but said nothing. He fell into stride with his friend and they headed in the direction of the urn, the other three following a little uncomfortably. This was not a situation they were confident in dealing with.
Anomen knelt beside the urn, head bowed, murmuring something – a prayer to Helm, most likely – as they reached him. Harrian raised his eyes skyward, trying to think of something to say which would not interrupt his friend, but came up blank and merely remained silent. Behind him, Yoshimo was muttering something in Kara-Turan – his own prayers for Moira, perhaps?
"I am well worried by what has gone on in this place," Delryn said at last, not looking up, concern etched all over his face. "Though the choice seems clear and right, I am hesitant to take it." He took a deep breath. "Surely if Saerk killed my sister I must avenge her murder. Yet killing for the purpose of revenge is murder by the tenets of the Order. I know not what I should do."
Harrian stopped, realising he would have to come up with an answer for the squire. "I am not somebody who is against vengeance in any form… but killing for revenge is murder. It goes against everything you have been taught by your Order. Saerk must be brought to justice."
"What you say holds truth yet, as my father says, I am honour-bound to find my sister's killer and take his life," Anomen replied, albeit a little weakly. Harrian knew the cleric was no murderer, but the words of his father had done an excellent job of confusing him and clouding his judgement.
"And what of your duty to the Order, to uphold its laws? The path you are considering is evil, Anomen. Do not consider it. I shall not help you if you choose to pursue such a road; in fact, I'll do everything to stop you," Harrian insisted. After his brief run-in with Duchinov and his Bhaal-essence raising its ugly head, the thief was intent on making sure nobody made a mistake like the one he had been tempted to make.
Delryn smiled, albeit a little tightly, but the gratitude on his face was clear. "Aye. This is right. I feel it in my bones." He took a deep breath and stood, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "I've lived under the bitterness of my father's spirit my entire life. It has tainted me to the point where I am willing to partake in it. He can keep his hatred and drown his sorrows as he has always done." He frowned a little. "Yet the question of my sister's murder remains."
"I know this may sound like an odd decision, coming from myself," Harrian mused, clapping the squire on the shoulder. "But it sounds like a matter for the courts to decide." He raised an eyebrow at Anomen's expression. "I may be a thief, my friend, and I may have performed a number of criminal acts, but I am not a murderer, nor do I condone them," he told him firmly.
Anomen smiled a little again, looking sorrowful yet more relieved. "We shall take this matter before the magistrate." He nodded resolutely. "My father's revenge be damned! I have sworn to uphold the law and unlike him, I shall do so. Come, let us return to my father. He may yet be convinced to follow the lawful path. It is not my place to take revenge. Such an act would lead to chaos."
Cor was waiting for them as they re-entered the kitchen. He had a fresh bottle of alcohol in his hand, and looked eagerly at them when they arrived. "You have seen the lifeless ashes of your sister, Anomen. Let not this terrible act go unpunished! Gird thy heart with righteous anger and slay thy sister's murderer!" he declared, raising his bottle to his son, and looking for all the world as if he had never considered there to be an alternate action to take.
Anomen shook his head firmly. "Nay, father," he said firmly. "It is time for this foolishness to end."
Cor frowned, suddenly angry again. "What do you mean to say, Anomen?" he asked dangerously, narrowing his eyes at his son.
Anomen's expression became one of distaste and resolution. "Only that killing Saerk in vengeance would be murder as surely as my sister's death was," he told Lord Cor, with certainty in his voice.
His father stared at the cleric with disbelief. "The destruction of evil is never considered to be murder. Do not these knights that you seek to join take such missions themselves?" he demanded, the anger returning to him, his tone a little mocking as he mentioned the Order.
The squire shook his head once more, smiling humourlessly. "Not in the manner that you suggest." He sighed deeply "We must take these charges to the magistrate. This is the only way to end this circle of violence that you have trapped us within."
The disbelief on Cor's face intensified tenfold "You fool boy! The magistrate will do nothing. She is a pawn of Saerk!" he yelled, dropping the bottle of wine and taking an uneasy step forwards that was clearly supposed to be threatening.
Anomen looked haughtily at his father. "Bylanna Ianulin is a good and noble woman. You said this yourself before you slipped into the foul clutch of the drink," he added, disdain and disgust clear in his voice.
His father stared at him with contempt "You dishonour Moira's memory! You would allow the killer of your sister to go free?" Cor lurched forwards, looking ready to take action. But even as Yoshimo prepared himself to intervene, Anomen's father stumbled to the floor, his equilibrium ruined by alcohol. "You are despicable! You are an insect!" he bellowed, still on his knees in the middle of the kitchen.
Delryn stood staunchly over his father, making no move to pick him up. "I will not allow him to go free! He shall be taken before the courts if he is indeed the one who murdered my sister," he promised solemnly.
"How can you doubt such a thing, boy? Saerk is the killer!" Cor yelled, grabbing the table and attempting to pull himself upright, his lack of balance and the effects of the alcohol making for a most pathetic sight.
His son sighed, then asked one final question that had been preying on his mind since Farrahd had been implicated. "Do you have proof, father?" he queried at last, raising one eyebrow at the man.
Cor stared as if Anomen was dabbling with insanity. "The proof lies in that fact that he has taken everything else from me! Killing Moira would complete my defeat," he told him stubbornly, clearly truly believing what he said.
Anomen's expression became sorrowful once more, and he bowed his head. "Aye, now I see. Such has always been the case in this household," he said regretfully, then raised his head, the anger and blame clear in his eyes as he glared at his father. "This is about you and only you. Your daughter's death means nothing beyond how it affects your pride and your comfort," he accused Lord Delryn.
Cor narrowed his eyes at his son, and would have been threatening were he less intoxicated. "Boy, you've fallen in with evil! Step back from the line and honour your family before it's too late," he warned the cleric.
"I will not, father. I suggest no evil. I suggest the lawful path," Anomen insisted resolutely, standing tall and firm.
"Again I say, obey me, Anomen!" Cor yelled, but his voice was now tinged with desperation and a little panic.
Anomen's face became one of disgust as he regarded his father with almost hatred. "I have obeyed you all my life and received naught but bitterness in return," he spat. "My friend and I shall take this matter to the magistrate, as the law requires."
"If you step out that door then you must never come within again!" Cor bellowed, solidly on his feet and playing the last card he had, the last card to ensure that the revenge he sought would take place.
Anomen took on a pained look, but one more regretful than fearful as he regarded his father. "Don't do this, father..." he asked quietly, clearly unmoved from his stance by the threat but shaken by it all the same.
"Shut your mouth!" Cor yelled, having found the only method to make Anomen pay for disobeying him. "If you leave now you are forever banished from this place. You will be cast from this family and become a nameless dog, not fit to cower at my feet!" He reached over and grabbed another bottle of wine, taking a large sip of it and glaring at his son.
"I've been cowering at your feet for all my life. Goodbye, father. Perhaps I shall see you again before you drink yourself to death!" Anomen snapped with absolute disgust, shaking his head with revulsion as he turned and strode out of the kitchen, the others milling a little uncertainly.
"You are nothing, boy! Nothing!" Cor's voice echoed as they started towards the door, Anomen making a point of not looking back, not faltering until they were outside in the warm sunshine once again, all problems and issues they had been previously confronted with paling in the face of this new trial.
Anomen closed his eyes for a moment, murmuring a quiet prayer to Helm. "Come, Harrian, let us leave," he said at length, having taken a second to compose himself. "We should go and see the magistrate in the Council of Six building and see if anything can be done, despite father's venom."