Lilyth

Seeing the panic on the faces of Ren and Caei told me everything. They assumed the Viscount was coming for them, or likely, just for Ren. I didn't think Ireela was guilty of any crimes, other than having bad taste in men, I wasn't sure how much Caei’s identity was known around the block and it was too soon for him to have learned about Arcarius. Yeah, Ren it was.

I grabbed my cane and stood up, to the great displeasure of Chirpy. He sunk his claws into my legs but he could suck my resistance to physical damage. I still felt very wobbly

I looked at Aki and she didn't seem to be doing too hot either, though I wasn't sure if it was due to her fear for herself or the rest of us.

‘So… the question is…’ Savri said, defeated. ‘Do we stay or do we go? We can escape via the tunnel and just head off… somewhere.’

‘I vote for running,’ I said without hesitation. ‘They are likely coming for Ren, and maybe Caei. I don’t think we can fight them, which leaves us with precious few options.’

My friends looked at me in confusion.

‘What?’ I asked. ‘This is not a fight we can win. What the fuck do you expect to happen? We have two, potentially three, fugitives with us, an undead and two demons. At this stage, we are all either outright wanted by the law or “just” accessories to crimes. Let's not forget about that. We are fucked. Utterly.’

And that was all that needed to be said, really. Half an hour later our entire party was standing with hastily packed bags at the entrance to the escape tunnel.

‘It feels so wrong to run,’ Ren sighed, sounding to be on the verge of tears. ‘And even worse to drag you all with me.’

‘We all went into this with our eyes open,’ Aki pointed out.

Ireela approached her daughter and squeezed her shoulder.

‘Don’t blame yourself, Ren,’ she said sadly. ‘All the guilt for this is on me. If I stopped you… if I stopped your father…’

‘No time now to cry over spilt milk,’ Savri said. ‘We need to go.’

‘About that…’ said a male voice I didn't recognize.

It was muffled as if it came from…

The entrance to the escape tunnel opened and five men wearing chainmails poured out from there. They all had broadswords in hand. Behind them emerged a blue-eyed blonde elf in a… was that a fucking full plate armour? He had a bastard sword still sheathed on his side, but his hand was on it. All men had purple tabards with a white two-headed bird sigil embroidered on them.

‘Going somewhere?’ Elfy McElfface asked.

‘Just came here to enjoy some wine,’ I answered, pushing myself to the front of the group.

I did my best to signal to the rest to try to leave. I had no chance of running away, so I might as well hold those guys back a bit.

‘Armed to the teeth and packed to go?’

‘There are some rodents of unusual size living down here. You drop your guard for a minute and there goes your leg. And if those things ever unite… we may need to leave quickly.’

‘So…’ Ren picked up the thread,’ we are very happy you are here, gentlemen. With your help, we will be able to finally beat that scourge. Strength in numbers and all that.’

Judging by the expression on Elfy’s face he wasn’t buying it.

‘Enough!’ he snarled. ‘Stop wasting my time, woman!’

‘No,’ I said with an innocent smile. ‘Why would I?’

That gave the man a pause, and some of his men did their best to suppress a snicker. Poorly.

‘Stop mocking me!’

Caeileera

Lilyth's distraction was working. The elf and his men were so focused on her that they didn't notice us slowly inching away.

‘I can’t see a reason why,’ Lilyth retorted again ‘You guys are the trespassers here.’

‘We are here on Viscount’s orders!’ the elf growled.

‘And did the Viscount obtain a court warrant for you to be able to barge in here?’

What's a warrant?

Apparently, the soldiers didn't know either.

‘I have the Viscount's orders! That's all I need!’

‘Oh, so the executive branch of the government is violating the separation of powers, now? How can you bypass the judiciary like this?’

I have no idea what she is talking about. But gods do I love her for it.

‘I’ve had enough of your mockery, woman. Men… Get the Yamaokas. If the elf won’t step aside, kill-’

‘Captain!’ one of his men interrupted him, pointing towards us. ‘They are escapin’!’

Was worth a shot.

Several things happened then. A quick glance told me that Anika and Ireela made it to the bottom of the stairs. The ghûl gave me a quick nod and began to lead Ren’s mother up the stairs. At the same time, Savri pointed out my girlfriend to Arcarius. The dragoon grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards the exit as well.

‘What are you waitin-’ the elf began but stopped when he saw Lilyth swing her cane towards his head.

He ducked just as Lilyth's legs gave way under her weight, resulting in her barreling into him and both of them ending up sprawled on the floor. The worst possible thing happened then. The elf’s head hit the edge of the barrel stand and the nasty crunch told me he wouldn't be getting up.

A deathly silence then fell upon the cellar that lasted for several heartbeats. Then… all hell broke loose. The five men from Viscount’s army lunged towards Lilyth, but one of them was hit in the side with a bolt from Savri's gun and another with a [Lesser Abyssal Bolt] from Aki.

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And just like that… we all really became fugitives.

Sighing heavily, I extended my hand and fired off [Rock Spikes] towards another of the guards. Two of those were stopped by his chainmail but the third pierced him through the mouth and came out through the back of his head, spraying the barrel behind him with gore.

The remaining two men looked really unsure now.

‘Step aside, or you will join your friends!’ Savri warned them after a short stand-off.

I started summoning my glaive, just in case, but then Anika and Ireela barreled down the stairs followed by the sounds of heavy boots.

‘More of them!’ Ren shouted as she drew her sword.

The two guards were invigorated by the sudden reinforcements. We all, except Lilyth who looked to be in shock, resigned ourselves to a last stand and started assuming a circle formation to protect Ren and her mother, but before the battle could resume a strong male voice shouted.

‘ENOUGH! As the Viscount of this land I order you - everyone lower your weapons.’

I looked towards the man and saw that the noble was a brown-haired human, maybe in his mid-thirties. He had a neatly trimmed circle beard and sad blue eyes. I saw that he was dressed in a green doublet and black pants.

When none of us moved, the Viscount pushed through his men, looked at the scene of carnage and said:

‘I think there has been a tragic misunderstanding.’

In the end, it turned out that only two of the soldiers died. The elf, and the guard that I hit. Savri was able to heal the other two, but they would have burn scars for the rest of their lives.

The whole mess did indeed turn out to be a misunderstanding - between the elf and the noble, though based on the information we’d get later - this was really on the former. Essentially, the Viscount sent him to the escape tunnel to intercept us if we tried to leave and keep us in the house in case we got scared. The elf - Captain Tril, understood it as “arrest us”, while the noble just didn't want us to needlessly run away when he didn't have anything bad in mind for us. Still, judging by the hostile glances we were getting, we wouldn't be very popular with the Viscount's men. As Lilyth put it when we knocked out Arcarius “killing law enforcement is a bad idea”. The fact we would not be punished for the deaths of the two men only made it worse for us, but after it came to light that we really were only defending ourselves, the guards reluctantly admitted that Lilyth only swung her cane after Tril ordered them to kill her, the hostility lessened slightly. The sudden confession came after the noble pointed out that they were supposed to stay outside of the house, so putting all the blame on the elf, especially stuff we could corroborate, became advantageous for them.

After that mess was handled, we all gathered in the upstairs’ salon to have an actual audience with the Viscount.

‘Before we begin, my lord,’ Ireela restarted the conversation. ‘If you could satisfy my curiosity: you chided your men for trespassing, and yet I can’t help but notice you are guilty of the same sin.’

‘I apologise for that, my Lady,’ the noble replied. ‘When I saw you and your friend run away upon seeing us, I understood that something was very wrong, so I felt that if I didn't intervene, a tragedy could occur. I was too late, it seems.’

‘What brings you to my home then, Viscount Caiver?’

‘I hear your friends stopped a bandit invasion on my lands, so I’d like to hear a first-hand account of that. Before we get to this though, I have one extra matter to clear up. Ser Arcarius, I believe I told you and your… companions that if I ever saw you on my lands there would be… unpleasant consequences. I also distinctly remember having my men escort your party to the border. Since you specifically never struck me as a person that would violate such an order, would you care to explain to me why are you suddenly here, when, by all accounts, you should be still under the care of Sergeant Milten?’

‘Allow me to answer in his stead, my lord,’ Rennie quickly interjected.

‘Ah… miss Yamaoka,’ the Viscount smiled. ‘If you are involved I am even more curious as to the course of events.’

Ren gulped and said:

‘So, by the request of Elder Baial, me and my friend,’ she pointed to me,’ ventured to Lin-Vyme in search of a master-at-arms. Baial heard there was a retired soldier there who could be a good fit for the position. Yesterday, when me and Caeileera were eating breakfast, Ser Arcarius entered the inn and warned us about the Inquisitor’s coming.’

The Viscount eyed me.

‘And why would that psychopath have any interest in you, my dear? Other than him being a madman that is.’

‘I originate from the Pale Badlands, my lord,’ I admitted.

‘Ah, that would explain it. Continue please, miss Yamaoka.’

‘Yes, my lord. So when the kindness of Ser Arcarius came to light he was imprisoned for this great crime by the monster he was following. As I understand, he somehow got away from his captivity and we ran into him while in the forest near Lin-Vyme.’

‘Well said, Miss Yamaoka,’ the Viscount nodded in approval. ‘I feel that some details are missing…’

I could swear he threw Anika a side glance then.

‘... but I am willing to let the matter rest. Just answer me this question, Ser Arcarius - will I hear from my men that your “escape” involved any injuries?’

‘Not from my end. I cannot speak as to what happened after I left.’

‘Very well then. Ser Arcarius, on account of you having a conscience and using it to save some of my… subjects, I hereby lift your exile.’

‘Thank you, my lord.’

The Viscount nodded and stood up.

‘So… now we can properly begin. Allow me to officially introduce myself. I am Viscount Wilhum von Caiver, lord of Ror-Bhyk and all of its land. I wasn’t a frequent visitor here, so I plan to stay here for a few days. I will be speaking with you all tomorrow, but today I have just two short matters to attend to. Then I will leave you to rest, as I can see some of you need it.’

He vaguely gestured towards Lilyth who was sitting on a couch, staring blankly into some far-off point in space, and continued.

‘First, Ireela of the Bloody Perch Clan, please kneel before me.’

‘My lord?’ Ren’s mom asked with apprehension in her voice.

‘All shall be shortly explained.’

Ireela, reluctantly, followed the Viscount’s instructions.

‘I hereby make you my vassal and give you Mer-Cas and its surrounding lands in fief. Rise now as Baroness Ireela of Mer-Cas.’

That took us all aback.

What?

Ireela tried rising to her feet but lost her balance halfway through. Luckily, the Viscount managed to catch her.

‘Thank you, my lord,’ she said. ‘It’s quite a thing to spring on someone. ‘

‘I can imagine,’ the noble smiled. ‘We will hold an official ceremony in Ror-Bhyk in about a month, I think. I’ll send a runner to tell you the exact date.’

‘If I may, my lord, why?’

‘It recently came to my attention that your husband’s family has lost a lot of its power base on my lands. So… I have made sure to… finish the process. All the holdings of the Yamaoka Clan in Ror-Bhyk have been seized or will soon be. That includes your daughter's compound in Tyr-Mel.’

Ren winced at that.

‘If there are any items of personal importance there that you would like to have returned, please provide me with an itemised list. I reserve myself the right to veto any or all of these. There is also this…’

‘He took out a rolled-up document from his sleeve.

‘As you are now the heiress to the Barony, it would not be proper for you to be… a wanted criminal. So… as a thanks for your role in saving the Viscountcy you have been issued a conditional pardon for your actions. If I ever hear of your involvement in the family business again this goes away.’

Ren fell to her knees, tears streaking down her face.

‘Thank you, my lord. I will not disappoint you.’

He took out a second document and gave it to me.

What?

‘The same applies to your… confidante.’

Ohhh. Right.

‘Thank you, my lord,’ I curtsied.

He nodded, and then his expression grew grim.

‘And now we move on to the less pleasant part of today's visit. Baroness Ireela, I would request you sit down for this. Same for you, Ren.’

What's going on?

Once both women were seated the Viscount continued.

‘You may not be aware of it, but you and your husband shared a relationship of mutual respect and we have worked together on… occasions. So, I say this with a heavy heart, but when we were raiding your son's compound we found him in one of the cells. I’ll spare you the details, but unfortunately my medics, despite their best efforts, were unable to save him, and he died soon afterwards. I am so sorry.