Raven sat in his study alone, it was early in the day, too early even for training to begin and he could hear snores from the rest of the barracks so knew he could enjoy however long his solitude lasted. Although he had risen by choice, his eyes were heavy, sleep had been hard to find after the night's activities, he'd laid awake for hours as the adrenaline slowly left him and his mind went over having to deal with his 3 failed recruits.
He'd been awake as Gaspar had come in muttering something about eyes, it was hard to hear through the solid wooden door that stood between his study/quarters and the rest of the barracks.
He'd been awake when Faldeir and the girl calling herself 'Crow' had dragged Taraveen home, dropping him or banging him on something more than once without him waking.
He'd been awake when Resamin had slammed the door, shouting at Dadaro for doing something and how they were all useless drunks or something to that effect, although when Dadaro had arrived was a mystery as the man was soft footed at the worst of times.
He'd still been awake, staring at the dark wooden ceiling from his small wooden bed as the first rays of light danced through his stained window, dyeing his room in greens, reds and blue. The window depicted some holy image of a large bird in front of a red sun and green hill, Raven had no idea what it represented and he'd had to take the room begrudgingly as it was the only private room in the upper building.
Raven now sat with his back towards the window at the expensive looking desk which the cleric had been sadly forced to leave behind as it wouldn't fit out any of the doors or into his new residence. It was well carved and had been stained with imagery on its face of the same bird from the window, some wolves and some cloaked figures joining hands. That had all been easily covered with a thin blanket so he could work.
Currently he had a few letters to get through that he'd been ignoring for a few days now, he liked training and patrolling and investigating outside the town, letters and documents didn't interest him but these were written with the familiar black ash ink from the Oathbinder mountain, whilst Faldeir would handle most of the written tasks he would always leave these alone and Raven had allowed them to build up for some time.
He ran his finger underneath the seal and unfolded it, it was always some variation of the same, requesting his return to Stonehold to answer questions on the Flock and his notoriety but they were toothless, written in clear anger but nothing more than empty words on paper. The Stoneoaths survived on unity, one in every holding and settlement working alone but as part of a larger force, there was fear and respect brought on by having a network of peacekeepers working across the land answering to no lord or king but only their own morality and oaths. This would be shattered if they openly rebuked any single oathbound like Raven, and so they sent only letters which Raven ignored, whilst he understood their anger, he had no intention of returning to Stonehold anytime soon and causing unnecessary turmoil. When his work was done and he was too old to keep his oath of protection to the people he would return and be suitably rebuked, until then he would continue to read the letters, admonish himself and then move on.
As he thought of moving on he heard the tell tale groans and moans that followed a night of heavy drinking and as it was just in time for training, Raven grabbed his sword belt hanging beside the door and drew the dark steel blade, forged by the Stonehold smiths and embedded with ash from extinct volcano they now called Oathbinder mountain, they put the ash in nearly everything, his people were very heavy handed with the metaphor of how the mountain and the oaths impact every aspect of their lives.
The water especially was disgusting to drink.
He rested his hand on the black leather grip and took a moment, as he did every morning, to admire the craftwork on the sharp silver talon on the hilt and the dual ravens that acted a cross-guard, a gift from his flock and one he'd not been happy to accept and whilst it wasn't his style it acted as a reminder to him every day of the man they needed him to be.
He swung his door open loudly, letting it bang on its hinges and then walked between the two rows of beds to the stairs on the other side of the room, dragging his sword behind him as he did so. He had found some time ago that the craftsmanship of the barracks had been of the finest quality, they nailed the floorboards door perfectly symmetrically with large thumb sized nails that his sword now scratched along one after another as he slowly paced to the stairs letting the screech of the two metals colliding to gently wake his followers up, a sinister smile creeping up his face as curses and pained cries came at him from both sides.
It was always the same ones suffering, they never learned; Taraveen was face down in a bucket as expected, Resamin and Faldeir were one in the same, you would rarely know they had been drinking for the most until the next morning when they suffered regardless of amount, those 3 were awake and pained Gaspar however was in a deep sleep, he didn't suffer from his wine but he would sleep for days if allowed after drinking it, Raven flipped the covers off his lower body and placed the cold flat of his blade the souls of his feet and he sat up with a shout.
"Good, you're all awake, training begins shortly"
He turned and left, ignoring the vacant beds of Jenary, Dadaro and Jesop and trying not to look at the empty beds that had been set up for the recruits who Raven would have to deal with at some point. He left hastily and made his way to the training ground on the other side of the town wall that the barracks sat almost against.
The training area was a patch of field Jaycob was too old to work, he let them use it for their practice and it was just a square piece of land that had been flattened by the daily presence of Raven and his people. As the sun was not long risen there were few places in the town that would be fully lit naturally, so to train Raven either had to do it outside the walls or on the Dukes estate and, whilst he had a good relationship with the lord of the land it would have pushed it if he were to stomp his gardens to nothing practicing swordplay.
He could see as he approached Jesop and Dadaro sparring with each other, Jesop much like Raven had been trained as a solider and so fought like one with a small buckler for a shield and putting his faith in defence before attack, Dadaro however used subtly and swiftness trying to dance around opponents and slice with daggers he preferred over longer blades, both men were more than capable and had come to Raven skilled already.
Jenary had not been so combat ready when they'd met, Raven was the first to admit he wasn't the best teacher but even the basics of swordplay she'd failed to grasp even with Jesop to support him she had been unteachable. Instead she had taken the bow and become rather adept over the years, she stood 20 paces from a self made target resting on a barrel against the town wall and fired quickly and accurately until she returned to collect her arrows, by her side was the young girl calling herself 'Crow' who apparently hadn't been put off by the days or nights events and was now trying to decide on her preferred method of combat, and causing Jenary some annoyance whilst doing so.
They continued their practice until Raven was almost on top of the two men, he had told them many times to not stop on his account and eventually they had listened.
"You're all very eager this morning, not often I am beaten here"
Dadaro danced backwards from Jesop and put his daggers out wide to signal his intent to stop before turning to Raven.
"Captain there was a bard at The Nest last night who was very interested in you, I came early as I assumed it would be an amusing exchange."
Raven was surprised Dadaro even cared to be amused the man rarely smiled or laughed or grew sad or angry, the man seemed bored more often than not unless he was entangled in some sort of fight, Raven assumed that he enjoyed the violent justice of their life a bit to much, but he'd never acted outside of his orders or been unnecessarily cruel and Raven refused to act solely on his suspicions.
What was more surprising however was that a bard wanted to see him, Raven couldn't care less about people of their ilk, no loyalties to anyone but themselves and offering nothing to the world but mind numbing songs and stories meant to rot the brains of regular people and make them wish for fantastical lives instead of living their own. What could someone like that want of him?
"I can assure you, if it happens, that exchange will be short and he'll be on his merry way. Do we need to be concerned about him?"
"I heard he got under Res' skin last night" Jesop laughed a few steps away
"A passing squirrel chewing too loudly could get under her skin" Jenary mocked coming over after she'd retrieved her arrows, 'Crow' a step behind
"He did make some accusations though, he has a ward who plays with him and he claims this boy to be a goblin. He was also able to conjure things from nothing, stating it was magic not just cheap illusions" There was no emotion, as there never was, in Dadaros' voice nothing to indicate whether he believed this true or not.
"No rubbish magician will tell you they're a rubbish magician, they just do some other stupid trick to distract you and move on, this fool will be the same. It is easy to impress a room full of drunks but it's a much bigger feat to fool people in broad daylight when they're sober" Jesop was quick to dismiss, and rightfully so Raven thought, as Dadaro shrugged.
"We're here to train not gossip about whatever it was that sang some songs last night, if he comes I will handle it, for now; get back to it"
With nods they all returned to where they'd started and Raven moved towards a scarecrow he'd found long abandoned in the mud and started practicing his thrusts and slashes against it, he always preferred to train alone, he found small talk wasn't his strength and it seemed inevitable when sparring with his followers, either that or he felt they went to easy on him and where afraid to beat him when in truth nothing would make him happier than to have a chance to really push himself in a fight.
Alayne Ducard stood in the middle of a high arched bridge that crossed the river Vandier that ran through the town, cutting the markets, housing, tavern, smiths off from the lavish estate the Duke and his family resided in on the other side. Behind him people pushed by each other trying to sell this or that or unload barges that came and went from either side and in front of him was an undisturbed swath of green with the odd guardsman making his rounds not far from where the bridge stopped. It was a long winding path from where he stood to the entrance to the estate, not that he had any intention of going; he had merely been distracted by the decadence that contrasted the rest of what he'd seen so far.
The Nest sat in a crossroads in the centre of town, south, east and west all led to a horseshoe shaped street that went north to the path that ran along the river, there was no order to anything; a blacksmiths sat next to a row of houses which preceded a row of shops and then a single house and then more shops. There was nothing unusual about anything, the shops were as you'd find anywhere, the local preacher was spouting the same nonsense you'd hear anywhere and the common folk where the same mix of worn down but hard working you'd find in most places, even the lavish estate opposite him was something he'd seen everywhere he'd ever been but that didn't stop it from frustrating him.
He was getting pulled gently as AJ tried to walk back the way they'd come, he was getting some odd looks but no-one had spoken out about him yet. One good night and everyone ignoring the oddities was something Alayne had found true of most towns, they wouldn't risk pushing away when a bard was such a rare occurrence for most this far from the main cities, even rarer to get a good bard let alone a master.
"Sorry, yes we can...what?"
Excited grunts came from behind as he turned to look at AJ staring off at street vendors moving amongst the passers by
"They sell nothing we haven't seen..."
He was shouting now, almost jumping as his harsh tongue came out, it was almost hard to understand, spoken too fast like a human child would speak the common tongue in a jumble when they are rushing.
"You want a what?"
He allowed himself to be dragged by AJ past scores of people as they headed for someone AJ could no longer see given his height and the small crowd around the docks.
AJ barked as they broke free of the throng of people and hit the curved path back towards the inner city, a woman of middle years wearing what looked like a hand knitted cloak stopped and jumped before she entered the tailors shop with its window full of hats and coats.
"Excuse me...just wait...yes...wait"
AJ was pointing at the woman who was looking more and more scared as Alayne tried to explain to her what he wanted whilst AJ grunted over him too quick to understand.
"Enough." AJ went quiet "Apologies, my impudent ward would like to purchase a hat he saw you with earlier"
She was carrying a box of odd clothing that she'd been attempting to peddle to passing sailors and with wide eyes she gently put the box down and took a hasty step back.
"Go on then." AJ started rummaging through knocking pants and scarves onto the dirty cobbled pathway "Sorry, he won't be long. Will you show some respect to this lady please."
AJ stopped and jumped with excitement as he turned back to Alayne and donned a bright purple flat cap, the same deep purple of Alaynes cloak, it wasn't the type of thing he'd pick for himself but it wasn't half bad, although it didn't go at all with the dark brown vest and pants the boy currently wore.
"Very dashing"
AJ tilted his head and his wide brow furrowed
"It means it looks nice, now....."
Alayne gave AJ a nod and flicked his eyes at the mess AJ had made and he quickly got to work putting the now dirtied clothing back in the box as Alayne gave the woman several coins more than the hat was worth to make up the exchange.
"Come now AJ, I believe it's time to start out story"
AJ nodded to the woman who grabbed her box and ran inside and grunted towards Alayne who sighed.
"Of course you can show everyone your new hat."
Whilst Alayne knew he should be annoyed that his young ward was more concerned with vanity over their objectives but he couldn't have been more proud to see one of his strongest traits mirrored in his adopted child, the vain might be looked down on by those of simpler minds but Alayne knew that Vanity built confidence and with confidence a bard could go from good to legendary. He took the little boy's hand and dragged him away from his reflection in the shop window where he had been checking out his new look.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
By the time they made it to the town gate the sun had barely moved in the sky from where it had been when they first left The Nest that morning, it really was a small town that thought itself bigger than it was. Alayne gave a nod to the town guard waiting at his post as he pretended not to notice either of them as they passed and emerged on the road they'd arrived on only half a day ago although it was a tad less empty now with a couple of travellers coming back and forth and a few passing the crossroads in the distance, this was as expected there was always more foot traffic at dawn then dusk.
Apart from the travellers there was also the sound of the clashing of swords to his left, this was a far more interesting sound and it drew him in and he dragged AJ alongside him.
He recognised a few faces from their brief conversation the previous night and they still wore the bags under their eyes of a night not well slept as they half heartedly sparred with each other, no-one yet seeing him or at least acknowledging his presence. He spotted the man who had spent half the night on the verge of passing out, Taraveen was his name if Alayne remembered correctly, he was trying to hit the stern faced woman, Res, with a wooden longsword as she batted him away with a small square wooden shield and a similar wooden sword held loosely in her other hand, every time a blow was deflected Taraveen flinched and went to tough his head, it was no surprise that he was suffering the worst in the state he'd left.
It was unfortunate that Res was the first to spot him, she grimaced and was distracted as a sharp crack broke the air as Taraveen, who had his back to Alayne, hit her square in the jaw with the wooden practice sword; leaving a large red welt already rising on her face. She had looked angry before seeing Alayne, she looked angrier still when she'd spotted him and now she looked like she could kill as her attention went back to Taraveen who dropped his sword and tried to apologise.
He was cut off after barely a sound had left his mouth and Res dropped her own sword and threw a heavy punch to the gut that rocked Taraveen and sat him onto his belly in the dried mud they practiced on.
"I see I've arrived just in time for things to get interesting"
Res stepped forward as if to do the same to Alayne as poor Taraveen who had decided to get comfy on the floor and seemed to be enjoying the chill on his assumedly aching head. Alayne reached a hand back to his lute and readied himself in case she went too far, luckily she was cut off.
"Resamin! Enough, go cool off"
The bark came from one of the figures Alayne had not recognised, he had assumed the grey haired man with the stiff and broad frame of a soldier was Raven but the figure approaching from the side who had been stood alone in the shadows working over a scarecrow with slow methodical attacks, was the one barking orders.
"Back to practice, the lot of you"
There was grumbling and murmurs as they returned to their half hearted practice, although now it was less out of tiredness and more because they were trying to overhear what their leader was going to say Alayne was sure. He was about what Alayne had expected in truth, tall but not towering, muscular but not overly wide, a typical soldier's short cut black hair and matching stubble kept as short as possible. He had pointed nose and weak chin and his green eyes were stern and full of expression, anger and annoyance for the moment.
"I assume you are the bard, what is it you want with me?"
"Oh straight to the point, I admire that but won't abide it."
Alayne drew his lute from its resting place on his back.
"This is an important moment for us both"
He plucked strings that didn't make a sound, not instantly anyway.
"I am Alayne Ducard Master Bard"
Thunderous applause echoed around them all from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
"This is Alayne Junior, Apprentice bard-" he was nudged in the back of his knee "sporting his new hat"
A few cheers mixed in with the applause and he could see over Raven's shoulder that Crow and Gaspar had joined in the clapping, clearly getting caught up in the magically made atmosphere.
"and we are here to tell the tale of 'The Renegade Raven Stoneoath"
The clapping stopped and was replaced by echoing 'ooo' and 'ahhhs' instead.
"No"
"No? I didn't ask a question" Alayne smiled pretending to be caught slightly off guard.
Raven had half turned back towards his flock who had dropped all pretence of training some time ago and he seemed to think he was done with the conversation, Alayne almost laughed, as if anyone could walk away from him without his say so.
"I am not some fairy-tale folk hero for you to romanticise or villainise for profit."
"Well no of course not, not with that attitude. But I can make you legend, a man spoken of for generations"
"Once again, no. I do my work and that's the end of it I've no need for fame, glory or legends, I would ask you leave now as you've distracted everyone quite enough"
He looked back to his followers who quickly pretended to be busy and weakly stabbed at each other in the small crowd they'd gathered whilst trying to steal peeks over each other's shoulders.
"I don't ask permission to work master Stoneoath, I do what I do and you can be a help or hindrance but as the woman who made me a man said 'this is happening whether you like it or not -"
Alayne threw his hands up as he slung his lute over his back.
"- but allow me to demonstrate properly what a good story means. You think selfishly, it's not just about fame and glory for you, it's about causing fear to be felt by those who hide in the dark and even the smallest spark of inspiration to those suffering in silence. My words extend longer than your sword my Oathbound soldier, my stories can topple empires and raze cities...come to the Nest at midday and humour me."
He turned to leave as they all stood in silence and called over his shoulder
"That invitation extends to all of you of course, but only if the Raven accompanies you"
Not quite the exchange he'd been seeking or expected but some spent lifetimes seeking their moment in the sun and some had to be dragged kicking and screaming into its light.
Raven spent the remainder of the morning rather mad, not in a screaming rage-filled way as that wasn't in his nature but in enough of a way that left his training scarecrow nothing more than a stub in the ground surrounded by hay. It wasn't just the appearance of the bard, he'd been expecting that and was ready for him to get under his skin in some way, no it was what happened after, when the bard and his little painted boy had turned back into the town and the sounds of even the lazy sparring had completely left the air.
He'd turned back to his flock to see them all staring at him with longing.
"No"
Just as he'd told the bard, no was his answer, he had no intent of going to the Nest at midday even if his fighters did. He'd spent the next few hours training alone as one by one they came to try and convince him:
"It would be good for morale sir.." offered Faldeir.
"You might enjoy it" suggested Gas with a crooked smile.
"If you humour him and deny him it may send him on his way faster" fair words from Jesop.
"If you're there we drink for free" Taraveen clearly had a drinking problem.
"Don't go, he's not worth it" Res as always was the only level headed one.
Dadaro had just looked at him for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and walking away
Crow and Jenary had said nothing and kept to themselves which Raven was thankful for at least.
He'd denied them but they persisted, in smaller groups between patrols and then slightly larger groups during woodland scouting sessions and then one large group as the sun was approaching its peak. No work was getting done and they were distracted and also distracting, so Raven finally gave into the peer pressure expecting that if he got it over with that at least they could spend the other half of the day been productive, begrudgingly he allowed himself to be pulled back into the town and towards the Nest, formally known as 'The fallen gnome' before Hilde the owner had renamed it in his honour, he hadn't even done anything at this point and to be honest he still felt he hadn't.
It was just his duty.
Raven found himself sitting in the dead centre of The nest in the middle of the day, the only patrons save for a couple of older gents who may just be part of the furniture at this point judging by how little they moved. His Flock had pulled some tables together so he couldn't even sit and be miserable alone, he was shoulder to shoulder with Gaspar and Faldeir despite the emptiness of the rest of the common room.
They'd been sitting facing the makeshift stage that Taraveen had pointed out to him for some time and nothing had happened, no bard, no boy, no nothing.
Raven turned to Gaspar
"How long do I we wa-"
He trailed off as his voice sounded like a whisper, like his ears had popped like when as a boy he'd reach the higher peaks of the Oathbinder mountain to inscribe his name in its peak, he poked at his ear and tried to yawn to get his hearing back, seeing Jenary and Res do the same.
"Can anyone.." it was still the same "HEAR ME" he shouted as loud as he could but it was still a squeak, a noise as loud as a snowflake falling in a stream, he was starting to panic although not visibly when the sound of music came form behind him.
O Dread pirate C
How they do fear thee
Take to their waves in your monstrous vessel
And they will hunt you through fear of the what will happen
Through sword, through strength and through fear you will conquer
Rivalling Lord, Lady or Emperor in power
Your throne of waves
Your crew of the damned
You soul may lost
But the sea is yours to command
O Dread pirate C
O Dread pirate C
How the empire does fear thee
Raven could see his mighty talons hanging on the every word of this fanciful bard who had appeared from behind them and danced to the front as he sang and played, the sound of waves and crashing steel echoed around them and his clothing seemed to change as he sang, his wide brimmed hat becoming for moments at a time the tricorn hat of a sailor, his body became larger, instead of the slender lanky man he became broad and tall a true monster of a man that the song seemed to speak of.
He had to admit it was impressive and beyond what he'd seen other magicians conjure, especially for a crowd of barely 10.
It went on for several versus, building up this monster of a pirate that had done horrific things but evaded capture as the bard changed his appearance over and over, the pale man with high cheekbones and in need of shave was replaced by smoke, a thick grey beard and the hint of an eye patch, as much as Raven tried he could never focus on the face as long as the song went on, it was almost as if the a cloud of smoke was sat under the hat at all times.
When he finally finished everything about the bard returned to what he'd seen earlier in the morning, the wide brimmed brown hat, long purple cloak, lanky frame and the face of a man who spent to long in the mirror.
Raven wasn't sure how this was supposed to convince him in any way though.
"My glorious audience we have someone even more of a stranger to these 4 walls than myself"
He gestured from his stage and scatter of feathers fell from above Raven and landed around him before disappearing as quickly as they'd appeared, this was met by applause from next to him which he ignored and behind him which surprised him, turning around slightly he realised the inn had started to fill, word of the bards lunchtime performance must have spread quickly.
"Raven Stoneoath ladies and gentlemen." he paused for further applause "Now I won't speak ill of such a fine man, however he does seem to think I am a man not worth knowing. I thought I could convince him but maybe you could instead. In the day that I've been here would you say I am a person worth having around"
Loud cheers came from behind and he noticed Crow and Gas joining in as well but stopped quickly as they noticed the look on Raven's face.
How had he gained such a following with nothing more than a few songs during one drunken night.
"Well maybe that convinced him, but just to add a little more sugar to the sweetness of the townsfolk, how about a song about the mighty Flock?"
It sounded like there were a thousand people behind him cheering, it was almost deafening and more than a few of his talons had started banging on the table to egg the bard on.
"Told you it would help morale coming here sir" Faldeir whispered leaning in.
"Shut up Faldier, that's an order" The man sat up straight and didn't say another word whilst the posturing bard winked at Raven and gave a nod to his small companion who began banging a tambourine somehow out of tune.
Talons,
fighters,
Swords,
and things of that nature...
"Not very good is it"
The entire table jumped back in alarm as Alayne sat in front of them lute in hand pointing over his shoulder at himself repeating the same words over and over.
"It could be great though, could be something that will infect the people with faith in something real"
"How-"
"It's just an illusion Gas, I'm just a rubbish magician after all"
A knife flew out from Dadaro's wrist and impaled in the wooden plank in the wall behind the illusionary bard, the handle visibly sticking out of the bard's neck as he continued his aimless song.
"What if that was really me?"
"I was fairly confident it wasn't"
"Fairly confident? You have no idea how this works"
The bard was clearly acting more outraged than he really was
"What of the boy-"
He jumped up and stepped in front of Dadaro as the fake on stage dissipated into the air and the child continued marching back and forth banging that poor instrument.
"He's real! Very real, no knives needed"
Dadaro relaxed and waved a hand in apology as Hilde shouted obscenities from the bar for damaging her wall.
"You told my men what he was but h-"
The bard seated himself and then leaned in as he cut Raven off.
"You have questions and I have grown tired of answering the same ones, but that is not your fault I know. But you know what I want. I'll answer any question you ask in exchange for one day in your company."
All eyes turned to Raven, who admittedly had grown curious, there was more at work that simple tricks from a street performer and the boy was more than just a deformed child, but did he really want to have this fool around him, he could tell it would be exhausting.
"Half a day."
A few jaws dropped off the talons and Res loudly got up and left the inn, knocking chairs over as she stormed through the room.
The annoying man in front of him could barely hide his glee as a cocky smile took over his face.
"A very fine deal master Stoneoath, ask your first question..."
Raven nodded towards the boy, he didn't want the bard thinking he was over eager or interested, he wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
The bard sighed, apparently disappointed in Raven's question.
"Goblins in the empire have been believed to be extinct for centuries and here on Rha'vander it appears it's been so long you think them nothing more than folklore although as it turns out everyone was wrong. They've been hiding very, very, very deep underground in what they call the Hollow. Whether there are more in the empire is anyone's guess, but due to some fortunate or unfortunate rock slides some very old passage ways slowly opened up after been long closed and a few have slowly re-emerge and stepped back into our world"
"Are we in danger?" Jesop was thinking like a soldier, he rarely didn't.
"No more than they are, AJ was in a raiding or scouting party depending on how you translate. They were caught, his party killed and his people sealed themselves back up, I took the boy in when I found out his intended fate, you don't need to look towards the centre of the earth to find monsters if you catch my meaning."
"I see" Raven had no idea whether any of that was true although he found himself having to fight to not trust the bard, he had a way with how he told tales and spoke in general that seemed to draw people in, his talons were no exception apparently as they sat slack jawed and eyes glistening with excitement, most of them anyway.
There was a tap on his shoulder that took Raven out of the conversation as the eyes of the bard and talons looked behind and above. He turned to see a young man who couldn't have been 20 yet stood before him looking nervous, he had no weapons but wore the familiar chainmail overshirt with the Duke's colours of blue and yellow pasted over the front and back, his name was Charlie if Raven's memory served him, the son of the Dukes 2nd cousin or thereabouts, it was hard to keep track as most of the towns-guard or more aptly titled house-guard of Duke Agelmar were of his blood, his way of ensuring loyalty and keeping his family from toiling in labouring jobs like common folk.
"Lord Stoneoath sir" the boy was stumbling over his words already despite clearly rehearsing them in his head, maybe the bard could do lessons "my unc- the Duke wishes to see you immediately"
"Jesop, take the rest on patrol out this afternoon, I want those missing sheep back by the time I catch up with you"
"Well, what a fantastic time to start accompanying you" the bard smugly noted as he pushed himself up along with the Talons
"S-s-sorry sir or m-my lord, he said you are to come alone"
Raven struggled to understand how a boy who could barely speak without wetting himself could be entrusted with weapons and carrying out the law, but then again his lot mostly stayed in the Duke's estate living well and leaving the dirty work to Raven and his people.
"That's a shame Master bard, never mind though after you Charlie" he didn't smile at the thought of leaving the bard behind so soon, or at the pout the man tried to hide.
He really wanted to though.