Chapter 97: Flaxen Council
It had taken hours, including a lengthy recess. By now they were actually approaching dinner time, but it would seem the Flaxens had finally started to make up their minds, or they had just run out of energy to shout at each other.
Saph and the others had spent the time discussing what might be going on back at the keep, what kind of demands they would have for the Flaxens, and how exactly Victoria was supposed to be repaid for all this.
“They insulted both my family and the Royal Guard, we won’t seek compensation beyond what we will wring out of the Flaxens. Don’t forget you have already provided us with a very valuable piece of kit,” Victoria replied, glancing at Sapphire, or more likely the bow on her back.
“Well, you are certainly always gonna be a welcome sight at the keep going forward,” Dakota replied lightheartedly. Sapphire knew her well enough to know Dakota was worried sick right now about what was going on at home.
“I might take you up on that at some point. I need to know how Jarix is doing after all,” Victoria replied in a friendly tone. Sapphire tried not to look upset by the mention of that. ‘They are perfectly fine; they probably just got beat up a bit.’
“Besides, our work is not quite done. There is still the trial, even if it’s likely gonna get easier now, it still has to be taken care of. Then there is Ray, of course.”
“What do you mean?” Balethon questioned. “I mean the warehouse is a bit problematic, sure. But she doesn't seem like a troublemaker to me.”
“No, she's a witness. That makes her a target,” Sir Vianitus, the Hashaw family lawyer, replied, having arrived not too long ago to help with whatever settlement the Flaxens were planning. “She is gonna need to testify at Lady Flaxen’s trial; they might try to prevent that… or the Lady herself might at least. Though her right to private conversations is definitely going to be revoked following this.”
“Oh no,” the cautious voice of Ray went from behind them, Sapphire swinging her head around in surprise to look at her, not having heard her coming on the soft carpet. “I, I can just hide again, they won’t find me I promise,” she stammered out in reply.
Sapphire let out a pained sigh, looking at the crippled woman. “No, you won't. We are gonna keep you safe, no need to worry about it,” Dakota was quick to reply.
“Didn’t Tiguan talk about wanting to let her stay at his stable, I mean if it’s just for a bit,” Balethon added.
“We could just get her dressed up a bit and put her things down as evidence. You wanna stay with Tiguan for a while?” Victoria questioned, looking at Ray, who once again looked like a deer staring down its doom.
“I would just remove the Flaxen’s ability to hurt her,” Lady Hashaw interrupted before Ray got the chance to respond, from her position leaned back in a comfy chair that had been dragged over. “Could we get away with just locking them all up in here? And confiscate their weapons too, of course. I’m sure they have something I want,” she questioned, looking to the lawyer, who had a rather pained expression right now.
“No Ma’am, that’s not going to be possible unless they agree to it, nor do we know if the Lady has further confidants outside of the family itself.”
“Very well, hide her with the dragon then. It’s not like he’s gonna grow a spine today anyway.”
“Su… Sure… He seems nice.”
“And you will hardly find a safer place to be, I say we do that then,” Victoria added, looking to Ray and talking in a softer tone. “Was there anything else? I don’t think you should wander around in here.”
“I just wanted to ask what I should do for the food…”
“Absolutely nothing, but you should stay with Tiguan, it's safer. Jowa, would you mind showing her out?” Victoria continued, looking to one of her family guards, who politely nodded walking over to Ray who looked even more surprised.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you very much, it was delicious.”
“Don’t mention it,” Victoria replied with a smile, looking back to the ones around the table. Sapphire gave Ray a wave as she was led back outside. As if on cue, the doors to the big chamber where the Flaxens had been holding their family shouting match were opened, Jamila and a few other members coming out.
Jamila was looking rather pleased though, so Sapphire guessed she had gotten her way. “You took your sweet time. Personal affairs in order?” Sapphire went, not being terribly respectful.
“More or less. I’m delighted to inform you that I now do have the authority to negotiate your terms with you. If you would be so kind as to take a seat,” Jamila replied, apparently not letting Sapphire's little remark get to her as she gestured inside the room. “Who are you?” She questioned, looking to Viantius.
“The family lawyer, pleased to make your acquaintance. Now, shall we get to it?”
Sapphire spent the next hour or so switching between reveling in the angry and distraught faces around her and worrying about home as time went by. Jamila had indeed been made the new Lady of the Flaxen family and as such was leading proceedings. Dakota and Lady Hashaw had presented their demands for dropping the case, Victoria weighing in every now and again.
Jamila’s smug expression had well and truly vanished over the last hour, as the demands kept coming. They had to argue over every copper, but they were getting there.
“Well if you can’t pay in gold then I want that instead,” Lady Hashaw went pointing at a very fine-looking armor set that was standing beside the podium where the new Lady Flaxen was standing.
“You cannot be serious! Would you strip us of our history too?!” Jamila cried out. Sapphire was wondering just how much more they could ask for. The Flaxens were clearly rich, but the reason why was becoming staggeringly obvious; they didn’t part with anything willingly.
“No, I would strip you of something I want and that you don’t need. Not to mention just how much more good it would do in other hands,” Lady Hashaw retorted, with smug superiority. “And you seemingly lack the funds to actually pay what we want.”
“Your halls are strewn with such equipment Hashaw, these are relics of our family’s history.”
“Oh please, your history is one of sitting down counting your money. Interrupted only by putting down the odd uprising, when you don’t pay what you should have.”
“And yours one of running around, threatening the ones who displease you into giving you what you want, and then failing to defend honest folk when traveling, not to mention the frontier keeps now at your side. We won’t fulfill your kleptomania, you may have a proper set but not that one!”
“Oh, you definitely helped with the frontier keep situation.” Balethon’s sarcastic comment earned him a lot of angry glances from the Flaxens, though he didn’t seem to mind.
Lady Hashaw didn’t reply immediately, instead leaning over to whisper with Victoria for a bit before straightening back up in her seat.
“Two sets then, and two blades. One for each offended party; perhaps it can help alleviate some of the damage caused to Bizmati Keep in light of the late Dashu Flaxen’s actions. I am of the understanding you have a few sets in your possession. We will be taking our picks.”
“Do you have any idea what you’re asking for?! They are worth a fortune.”
“Assuming you haven't slacked on maintenance I would pay roughly 1500 gold pieces for the armor in question and perhaps 500 for the blades. We will allow you to deduct half that from the amount owed; you won’t get more than that selling them at this short notice anyway.”
Jamila looked ready to descend back into a murderous tirade before letting out a deep sigh, calming a little. “Will this conclude your demands?”
Lady Hashaw had another whisper with Victoria before looking to Dakota who leaned over to Sapphire.
“Are they discussing what I think they are?” Dakota questioned, sounding like she didn’t want to believe it.
“And we get to choose,” Sapphire replied, trying her best not to sound giddy. This was an insane day.
“We got anything else to ask for?”
“Do they have an enchanted bow perhaps?”
“Do we need one?” Dakota questioned rather pointedly. “I think the money would be better.”
“Fair.”
“We would consider that satisfactory, when combined with the funds, to exclude the Flaxen family from the case laid against Ursula, the Former Lady of the Flaxen family.”
“Very well, Viantius was it? I trust you have the list?” Lady Flaxen questioned in a defeated tone, looking at the lawyer.
“I do indeed. For the Bizmati family, one set of enchanted armor to be picked from the Flaxen family armory, one blade likewise requisitioned, 2400 gold to be paid in full, and a further 500 gold to be paid in fine goods, excluding liquor and honey and with a premium of one quarter placed on fine metals.” The lawyer held a small pause, looking at Dakota as if to give her another chance to change her terms, before continuing. “For Esmeralda Quinlin, 85 gold to be paid in full, and the right to keep the weapon used against her as well as medical care for her resultant illness to be provided by Quinlin Potions and Care.” Sapphire was still a little pissed they didn’t get more for Essy, though that was more than ten years’ pay for them. Granted, they didn’t make much. Still, if this all worked out, Sapphire doubted any of them were gonna end up poor in the long run and Essy could certainly get something very nice for that.
Viantius had then read off what the Hashaws were getting. They weren't getting nearly as much, and the armor and blade nearly took up all the monetary compensation, Sapphire had a sneaking suspicion that was by design though. Lady Hashaw certainly seemed pleased enough as the paperwork was signed. It stated that both Hashaws and Bizmatis agreed to dismiss the case against the Flaxen family with prejudice.
The Flaxens had just under a week to get the payments together. In the meantime, Sapphire and company had some work to do. First stop though was the Hashaw Estate for a nice dinner and general celebration that everything had gone according to plan
Convincing Ray that she too was invited inside for dinner had proven a slight challenge, but the reassurance that she could stick with Sapphire and company for the evening and that Tiguan would be in the courtyard throughout did assist considerably.
They had even managed to find a set of fairly decent clothes that she could have, the litany of “thank yous” taking nearly a minute to subside when she was finally convinced they were hers to keep.
Dinner was not something too extravagant, Sapphire guessed it was just a regular family meal spiced up a little for the occasion. The Lady had held a short speech, mainly just to bring everyone up to speed on the day's proceedings.
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“In other words, we bled them dry and humiliated them thoroughly. Well done everyone,” the Lady finished, lifting up a glass for a toast.
Ray had been seated next to Sapphire taking up the end of a table with Dakota and Balethon opposite. The food was very fine-looking, though Ray seemed to be struggling a little with the utensils. Sapphire politely looked away while she figured it out.
“Heh, it’s been a while,” Ray let out in a nervous tone.
“Oh don’t worry about it,” Sapphire tried reassuringly as Ray seemed to get the hang of it again. They all enjoyed the quality food, not talking much over their meal, in contrast to the Hashaws. They were chatting loudly, cracking jokes at the Flaxens, and just generally having a good evening. Sapphire felt like it was a bit of a hollow victory. She just couldn't be happy when they didn’t know what was going on at home. They still hadn’t heard anything.
“You're not happy?” Ray had asked cautiously after they had finished the meal, looking to all three of them. Even Balethon wasn’t his lively self at the moment despite good drinks being on the table.
“We don’t know what’s happened at home,” Sapphire clarified for Ray’s sake. “But something is not right, we should have heard from them by now.”
“You are from a frontier keep, right?”
“Yeah, Dakota got some magic earrings to talk with our lady back home.” Ray was clearly about to ask another question when Dakota stiffened up for a second, putting her glass down before leaning back in the chair and closing her eyes.
“Was it something I said?” Ray questioned, clearly worried.
“Shush, it’s not you,” Sapphire dismissed her, looking at Dakota. ‘Come on, just say everything is fine and Tom or Jacky got too drunk to fly or something.’ Balethon too had stopped chatting with Ylditz, who had come over after the meal, staring intently at Dakota.
It took too long, way too long. Sapphire spared a glance around the room, noticing people had quieted down a lot and were looking their way now. The lord and lady got up and came over. Victoria wasn’t far behind. When Dakota finally opened her eyes again, she gave a bit of a start to all the people staring silently at her.
“So, good news, right?” Sapphire tried, looking expectantly at her fearless leader, who turned to Saph with a pained expression and shook her head slightly. Sapphire's heart sank as her mind raced through what could have happened, Dakota taking a sharp breath and cutting off Sapphire's flow of thought.
“Hylsdal Keep was attacked and burned to the ground, there were only five survivors. All children, discovered by Jarix in a dugout,” Dakota stated, a tear creeping into her eye. There was silence in the room, only broken by a singular cough. They didn’t see the people at the other keeps often, but they still knew them. Dakota more so than the rest of them. She had often had dealings with them if a keep needed something the others had.
“Deriva was attacked too, though they managed to hold out. They have six dead and many wounded, and they have also lost all their livestock. They were saved by a daredevil rescue by Jarix, Jackalope, Zarko, and Tom. Jarix is heavily wounded and grounded for the time being. Jacky was wounded in the back and has lost her hearing. Tom has taken a bolt to the neck and has somehow ended up poisoned.”
“What? They shot him with a poisoned bolt?”
“No. She said it was something he drank. She wasn’t exactly calm. They are putting together some people to go to Deriva Keep to help out.”
“That's...less than brilliant,” Ylditz replied, clearly trying to break the silence.
“It gets worse I’m afraid… Prior to the attack on Hylsdal, the unicorn Kalestine was lured into an ambush and grievously wounded. Though she managed to escape with her life, the enemy managed to break off and steal her horn.”
That resulted in several horrified gasps from the crowd as people turned to discuss the consequences of that. Sapphire had no idea what you could do with a unicorn’s horn but it couldn’t be good.
“The horn was recovered during the battle of Deriva, and is currently in Jarix’s care.” Dakota continued, eliciting some relieved sighs and outbursts from the crowd.
“How long were they attacking the keeps for? A siege should take weeks at least. Don’t tell me they had traitors on the inside too?” Lady Hashaw questioned sounding ready for the worst.
“No. They had something Zarko described as ‘a giant mutant bat thing.’ ”
“I’m sorry, what?!” Lady Hashaw questioned in reply, looking at Dakota in disbelief.
“Look I don’t know, okay? She was hardly calm at the moment. apparently, it was only slightly smaller than Jarix and they had three of them”
“I’m assuming Darklings were involved then?” Victoria questioned. “Do we know how many?”
“What about the bodies? Were the bodies gone from Hyldal?” Ylditz added to the growing pool of questions.
“Ohhh yeah, there were darklings alright… They stated 75 bodies have been recovered from the battlefield, the inhabitants of Hylsdal among them.”
“Holy shit,” Sapphire let out as the room fell silent, people looking worriedly back at Dakota, waiting for her to continue.
“Those were backed up by three dark knights and the three mutant bat things.”
“That’s… That’s not possible. How did they defeat that?” Victoria interrupted, sounding incredulous.
Dakota looked to Sapphire with a gulp before continuing. “Tom alone was credited with over thirty darklings, possibly as much as forty, one Dark knight, and assisting Jarix in killing one of the mutant bats. Jarix managed to down the remaining two bat mutants on his own. Tom and Jackalope scored a further two dark knights and at least a dozen darklings leading a counter-assault on the keep alone.”
“What the fuck is that guy?” Yldtiz questioned as the room fell silent again.
“But they are okay, right? Just a little beat up?” Ray tried, sounding cautiously optimistic.
“I have no idea. Jacky for some reason chased down Zarko as she was heading back to Bizmati Keep, I think to tell her about Tom’s poisoning. Zarko then rushed to the keep, meaning we don’t know how Tom’s doing or where Jacky is.”
“Why wouldn’t they just tell Zarko before she left?” Balethon protested, letting some of the frustration out with it.
“It gets worse,” Dakota stated once again, gaining the full attention of everyone. “They found a dagger of very similar design to the one Vulzan brought to our keep. And there was not found anything else that could have turned the people of Hylsdal unless the bat things were capable of it.”
Sapphire leaned back in her chair with a thousand-yard stare off into the distance as the shock slowly lifted from the room, being replaced with shouting, arguing, and people running around. Ray had given Saph a pat on the shoulder as she sat there staring, clearly trying to repay the favor.
“What the fuck do we do?” Sapphire questioned at no one in particular, shaking her head slowly.
“You go and report it, that's what you do,” Victoria interjected, turning away from her lady after a brief discussion. They had followed Victoria to some sort of office where a scribe wrote down as much as possible from Dakota’s short chat with Nunuk. The result of the quick description of the bat things sent to the academy along with an apology that their meeting tomorrow wouldn’t be possible.
The letter was sent by courier so Sapphire guessed they were gonna be called in for more testifying and paperwork tomorrow. Right now though she was just tired. They had been awake for far too long. It had been bad news from the keep, and they still had Tom and Jacky to worry about. But it could have been worse… If only by a little.
They had rejoined the dining hall afterward, the lord bringing out several bottles of his wine, to toast the fallen. After that it was mostly quiet drinking, the festive mood from before washed away entirely.
They gave several toasts to the ones at home saying their prayers and not long after Sapphire finally gave up falling asleep at the table.
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Tom are you in there?”
Tom wasn’t entirely sure to be honest. He had the worst headache in history right now, though the voice was at least recognizable as Unkai.
“Yea… I thimke.”
“Well I’ll be damned, why did this work again?” Someone else added.
‘Wait… that’s Nunuk,’ Tom realized as he slowly became aware of the world around him.
“Something about his liver wanting proper alcohol first leaving the bad stuff untouched,” Unkai replied.
“Why my bed move? Jarisk?” It did feel like he was moving… He couldn't hear the wind though, nor was it cold?
“No Tom, you're drunk as an escort on leave. We let you sober up enough to wake up. But well… You've been under for a while.” Nunuk replied
‘Then why do I have such a headache if I’m drunk’ Tom cursed to himself as he tried to open his eyes, seeing nothing.
“No!no no nonono I can’t see see anything!” He broke out trying to move, only now realizing he had been tied down to the bed. “What… why, what fuckl?!”
“Calm down or I’ll crack your skull,” the very recognizable voice of Shiva replied, and she sounded pissed.
“Again, might I add,” Unkai decided to join in.
“I don’t care, I'm blind!”
“Oh, don’t be such a wuss,” Nunuk replied, not sounding overly concerned. “It's just bandages after Shiva hit you in the head with a chair. You should still be able to see.”
“That was very satisfying, might I add. Are you aware of how hard you are to catch? You just keep running when you should be resting. So I made you rest,” Shiva added very disapprovingly.
“To be honest he knocked himself out the first time, you just copied it,” Fengi added in from somewhere.
“Might have done, it still worked.”
“Let’s not hit him in the head any more than necessary, okay?” Unkai tried, cautious yet displeased.
“She did wha?! Why wa In... running?... Oh…. Oh noo.” It dawned on Tom that the last point he could sort of remember was discussing something about more of that wild brew stuff after that it was only a few scarce glimpses.
“Just be glad the children were in bed. When we got here Luke and Fengi were trying their damndest to pin you down.” Nunuk went, not sounding very proud of him right now. ”It really was a mistake to let you get away with taking your clothes off, claiming they were dark and evil. Then when Quin left for a few minutes you threw Unkai against the wall, screaming ‘Tag you’re it,’”
“and then you sprinted for the kitchens where found a jug of oil and that was right about when I made it here. You can guess the rest. Oh, and sorry about the scratch marks, you were very hard to hold onto” Fengi continued sounding a tad ashamed.
“That really hurt by the way,” Unkai added in. “Being thrown against a wall that is.”
“I havke decided to comite noalive... Wait, where is Jacky? Is she here?! Jacky!”
“No Tom, she landed in the forest. She was barely still going as it was when she reached Zarko, who had to turn back to meet her as she damn near fell out of the sky. Ethera stayed with her though, so we are guessing they are sleeping it off. She will be fine. Eventually” Tom let out a deep sigh leaning head back against the pillow. ‘she’s fine… as long as she’s fine’
“Speaking of which…” Shiva started, voice turning ominous. “Why is my daughter deaf and half-dead in the middle of nowhere? Not to mention she apparently has a bolt wound in her back!” Tom didn’t respond to that, trying to wrack his drunken mind for a good response.
“Uhm… I mean as far as I understood it all of those are kinda related to her saving his ass,” Unkai replied, very helpfully, as Tom froze.
Tom might be drunk but he had been in enough situations to know when it was time to book it, and he was fucking tied down... Of all the situations he could have ended up in with Shiva, it could hardly get worse than this. At least she didn’t seem to know everything yet, but if she figured it out... ‘No no Nunuk would save me, I’m just fine.’
“Are you trying to kill my daughter?!” Tom heard an uncomfortable cough come from Unkai at that. ‘Don’t you dare say a thing… Right, I’m not scared. She smells fear… I think… or is that Karens?’
“I asked you a question.” Shiva reiterated, voice raising in volume. Tom’s head was already killing him and she wasn’t helping.
“No, I’m too busy dying, and being blind,” Tom replied with what false confidence he could muster in his drunken state. Hoping that would prevent the fear from showing.
“Right on that front. Now that you are actually awake and apparently not crazy, untie him. If he runs, don't go for the head again,” Nunuk went, cutting Shiva off, who replied with an annoyed sigh. Tom felt the restraints be taken off as he was sat up in the bed. The all too familiar pain from his stomach region returning in full as well. “Here drink this. It’s watered down, don’t worry.”
“Moonshine, my favorite,” Tom replied, weakly taking the cup. He really didn't feel like he needed more booze right now, but rather they keep track of it than him. ‘I’m gonna be a proper alcoholic after this’ Tom tried jesting to himself as he downed what he could from the cup.
“So what, you are just gonna let him lie here after what he did?” Shiva questioned, still sounding rather pissed though this time Nunuk appeared to be the target.
“Yes, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. He’s not leaving that bed more than necessary until I say so. If you want to help out then you help by looking for Jacky. Now Tom, your eyes will be fine we’ve seen to that, though it might take a while to get them back to normal, I've done plenty of eye work over the years though so don’t worry”
“yeah Apuma would be blind by now if not for you” Fengi added in, sounding like she felt the mood needed lifting a bit.
“I’m more worried about your head being damaged to be honest. Though judging by some of the decisions you have made as of late I’m guessing that has already happened... You were supposed to scout for us, yet you leave us alone with no message of what’s going on. Nothing to pass on to the king, Dakota, or just letting us know we aren’t about to be wiped out. Then you apparently decided to have a party rather than send someone back home immediately to alleviate this. Which leads to you becoming perilously sick, placing Jacky’s life in danger, and forcing us to leave the keep. There better be a good reason.”
“I don’t think he’s quite ready to answer that one, Nunuk,” Unkai interrupted, to Tom’s relief.
“One, I wasb not in comand. Zroko... Zorkn… Zarko was… Two, Five kids there more here. That will do for mem,” Tom replied, feeling proud of himself holding up the cup. “Now can I get bandage off?”
“No. They are staying for at least a few days and, idiotic as it seems, you apparently need to keep drinking.”
“Almost enough to make you jealous,” Shiva added as Tom consigned himself to his fate, taking a draught of burny liquid.
“God it burns and the smell.” Tom wretched as he continued to drink the life-saving liquid.
“Are you gonna puke?” Unkai questioned.
“Fuck no. Lay me down. I be good.”
That turned out to be a blatant lie, though this time he was allowed to puke in a bucket rather than receive the more painful solution. Before being forced to replace the precious medicine that had just left him.
“I think he needs some time,” Unkai stated with pity in his voice, with which Nunuke had agreed.
Shortly thereafter the room had gone mostly quiet. Tom laid there trying to go back to sleep again, fighting the headache and just the general case of everything and hurting failing miserably. ‘Jacky is fine. Of course, she’s fine. Everything's just fine.’ He kept telling himself, feeling the bandages getting a little wet with a smile on his face.