Jana Palace, Jana City, Kingdom of the Isles

A courtier hurriedly walks through the well-guarded door of a small office just off the Throne Room to speak to his King.

“There is nothing more we can do your Majesty the city will fall before the sun has set upon this day if not sooner, no one is coming to relieve us, any hope of that came and went days ago.”

“Dam those pirate scum and Duke Altus for encouraging them, I sure hope they pay that fool back for it in blood for we cannot. All right my old friend the time has come, kneel before me to receive that which has long been your due.”

“What point is there in this?”

“None I am sure but why not, you have earned it many times over haven’t you.”

“I suppose so Sire.”, he replies before kneeling on the floor beside the King who takes out his sword and rests it just above the courtier's left shoulder before moving it to his left one.

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“Well then as one of my no doubt last acts as King of these Isles I dub you Sir Samuel Weaver, arise and let no one gain say you or they will have me to deal with, well if I were still in any position to do so anyway.”

“Thank you, my liege, now what last service do you wish of me?”

“I entrust my two sons to you, carry them to safety if you can.”

A clearing just of the road between Cuffeve and Balero

A man sitting beside a campfire is approached by another who has just exited one of the nearby tents.

“Captain, we have tortured three of the four members of the party that we managed to take alive, they all more or less have the same tale to tell, they claim that the younger son is dead and the elder never travelled with them and was instead supposed to have stayed low in some hidey-hole in the capital until the coast was clear.”

“What of the fourth member of the party why was he not also tortured?”

“His condition is not great they feared even the lightest of torture would kill him, we can either try nursing him back to health in the hope he knows more than the others, or we could just kill him, which is your will?”

“What pray tell was his position in their party?”

“From what the others told me he took care of the horses, and since his clothes carry the mark of the royal stables, I am inclined to believe them.”

“No one of note then, just kill him and be done with it.”