At the front of the Great Hall inside Crownbeak castle, Lady Crane sat in her seat at the center of the high table. Rays of morning sun cut through the tall gothic windows on one side of the room, illuminating the dust motes floating above the table, which had been cleared save for a few plates laden with large chunks of raw, red meat.
The noble first skewered a piece on a carving fork, then flung it over the table where it landed and rolled over the finely hewn stones of the Great Hall’s floor, coming to rest in front of a large, birdlike creature. The beast was tall as any man, sharply-taloned and covered in multicolored feathers—but a reptile face sat where its beak should've been. It shrieked before bending and gobbling down the meat down behind a maw of small, razorlike teeth. The short, pudgy-faced advisor seated to Lady Crane’s left looked away from the spectacle and reached for his goblet, already almost empty of wine.
Lady Crane smirked. Warbuck was a good chancellor, but he was no adventurer. The man’s fine silks contrasted against her own expensive but well-worn chainmail. My lady, why not retire the outfits from your past? Warbeck once inquired. You’re a noble now, and I daresay silks are much more comfortable!
She could’ve taken offense, of course, but she knew that Warbeck didn’t know any better. The man was soft. He came to his position through the guilds and the network of information he brought with him. He never had to risk his life, day in and day out, dungeon diving or slaying mobs in hunting grounds. There were some things he’d never understand. Because, she’d said back then, I want everyone to know where I came from. Adventuring came with a measure of respect in Starsword Online, and Lady Crane wanted to make sure nobody forgot how she earned her castle.
“What’s the matter, Warbuck?” she asked. “Not hungry?”
“I don’t know why you insist on doing this in the great hall. It’s disgusting.”
“Zaza hasn’t had breakfast yet.” Lady Crane motioned to the giant raptor, which was preening itself under a feathered arm. “I’m just giving him a snack before the days events,” she said, innocently.
“Bah, you’re just doing it to torture me. As always.”
“My dear Warbuck, I would never!” Lady Crane liked her advisor, all things considered, but she couldn’t deny she also enjoyed seeing him squirm… Especially when she was in a foul mood.
Unfortunately, Warbuck's discomfort did little to lighten her spirits. Even though the hexes of Lady Crane’s estate were farther away from the great Azurerun River, which demarcated the boundary between the frigid tundra of the north and the plains and forests south, the Northern Alliance’s aggression were now affecting her lands as well. She was essentially under siege, by an enemy that struck fast and disappeared like ghosts. It seemed like every week she received news of more workers going missing, or patrols getting ambushed and slaughtered to the last man.
The production of Lady Crane’s hexes had been slipping as a result; less furs and lumber coming in. It wasn’t nearly enough to threaten her, but like a gnat who refuses to leave, it was significant enough to annoy her. Keeping hostiles out was supposed to be the job of the marcher lords who owned the hexes along the Azurerun, but it seemed the enemy raiding her lands were professionals, paid in the shadows by the greedy lords of the Northern Alliance. Specialists, probably, high in stealth. Even her eagles, which she could send out to give her intel from the skies, could not seem to find the invaders.
And now the strange adventurer, Entrails, and his slave companion. Lady Crane frowned. His story didn’t quite add up, but adventurers were sometimes a difficult read—they always looked as if they always knew a little more than they divulged. She’d been told that herself many times. The boy, however, looked green as leaves. A little pressure…
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Maybe, just maybe, he’d let something spill.
“The captain,” asked Lady Crane, “he is being brought up?”
“Yes, Lady. Any moment now.”
As if on cue, the front doors of the Great Hall swung open. A group of six guards entered, wearing the standard of Crownbeak. Behind them trailed a man wearing nothing but grey rags and manacles around his neck and wrists. When they neared, the guards stepped aside and yanked on the chains, causing the disheveled man to stumble forward to his knees in front of the high table. The raptor to his left began pacing back and forth, fixing its beady inhuman eyes on the prisoner and emitting a low hiss.
“Captain Hessian. I don’t need to tell you why you’re here,” said Lady Crane.
The disgraced Captain of the Guard raised his head and pushed the blood-crusted brown hair from his face. His eyes were dark and swollen. He’d clearly been beaten. “P-please, Lady, it won’t happen again, I swear it,” he said. His chains rattled as he clasped his hands together in plea.
“You’ve been in this very room countless times before, Captain.” Lady Crane rubbed her temples. As if sensing her anger, the pacing raptor let out an earsplitting shriek. “You’ve seen the punishment for less. Why would this be any different?”
“ Because I-I-I served you well for years, Lady, please!”
“And because of it, your betrayal hurts even worse. The northerners must have paid you well, considering the risk you took all while knowing the punishment. And to send your own men, my soldiers, out on patrol knowing they’d be slaughtered! You should consider this a mercy, knowing how other lords deal with traitors.”
“You don’t understand! They threatened me,” pleaded the captain, “threatened my family!”
“And what message would that send to my enemies? That Lady Crane tolerates traitors in her court? Come now, Hessian, you know my hands are tied.”
“Oh god…” The captain glanced towards the raptor, who eyed him hungrily. Like prey. “Oh f-fuck, please, all my y-years of loyalty must c-c-count for s-something!”
Lady Crane sighed. She tired of all this, the pleading, the tears. “They do, Hessian. That’s why I’m giving you a chance that most others never get.” At a nod and the wave of her arm, one of the guards produced a keyring and released the prisoner from his shackles. When he was free, another guard stepped forward and handed him a spear. “If you survive, you can go free. You’ll be branded a traitor, of course. No respectable patron will work with you again, but at least you’ll still have your life.”
Hessian continued to stammer and beg for an alternative solution, but Lady Crane had heard enough of his plea. She ignored him, instead turning towards her familiar and uttering its name:
“Zazazel.”
In response, the raptor raised itself on its two taloned feet and screeched. Bent over, it was easily the size of a man—but standing up fully the beast reached over 7 feet tall. It had a long tail that ended in a tuft of feathers, and its arms were three-fingered and ended in wicked claws. A blanket of feathers adorned its body all the way from the top of its head down its back. Softer tufts of down covered its belly, hind legs, and most of the tail, but its eyes and maw were scaled like that of a lizard’s. It’s horizontal eyelids blinked as it neared Hessian, the spear shaking in his feeble grip.
“He hasn’t eaten much this morning,” said Lady Crane, motioning to her familiar, “but if you can drive him off, I’ll let you go.” She noticed a serving girl enter through the side door and whisper into Warbuck’s ear, who nodded. “And you know me to be a woman of my word.”
As Zazazel started circling his prey, snapping out periodically while Hessian tried to keep the spear out in front of him, Warbuck leaned over. “It seems the boy has awakened. You know the one,” he said.
Lady Crane pondered this news for a moment, then came to a decision. “Stop!” she demanded, standing up and holding out an open palm. Her raptor snapped its jaws in frustration, but stepped away from the prisoner. “You have a few more minutes to contemplate your actions, Hessian. We’ll soon have more guests.”
She turned back to Warbuck. “Excellent. Send for them. This show always makes honest men out of liars. We wouldn’t want them to miss it.”
Sensing its master’s mood, Zazazel threw its featured head back, shrieking with anticipation.