Chapter 1249: This Isn’t The Big Secret? (Part One)
Loghlan didn’t know what to say, and neither did Mairwen. The baron had warned his son that he shouldn’t share anything too sensitive. The ti for that would co after the dinner, when they could speak in private! There were children present for this dinner, for Light’s sake!
But the young knight, Ollie, had the audacity to call Lord Owain Lothian, the man who was about to ascend to the throne of Lothian March, a liar, and he’d done it in front of half of Loghlan’s knights and their families.
As a baron of the march, if Loghlan didn’t take him to task for that, then it would set a terrible example for his knights, but when he did, it had been his own son who supported this ’Sir Ollie’ with a claim that the young knight had been present at a battle that was claid to have no survivors. Or at least, no survivors among the defending soldiers.
"We’ve heard a rumor," Mairwen said, recovering from the shock sowhat faster than her husband had. "That Lady Ashlynn was taken prisoner by the demons who attacked the sumr villa, and that she might still be alive," she said, shocking the knights at the table. "Sir Ollie, are you saying that this is false as well? That you were able to help Lady Ashlynn escape from the demon attack on the Villa?"
"And how do you know this, son?" Loghlan added. "Is it because you went to visit Lady Ashlynn at the Sumr Villa when you disappeared?" The timing felt about right, but what was his son doing running off to the Sumr Villa instead of coming ho after Lord Bors had made his decision about sending reinforcents to Hanrahan rather than Dunn? Was Liam trying to get Lady Ashlynn to pressure Lord Owain into supporting them?
At this point, the flap of the tent opened to reveal several servants bearing steaming platters, fresh from the camp’s cook fires, and everyone present seed to have the good sense to hold their tongues, waiting in pensive silence.
Or at least, almost everyone. Taliesin and the other young children at the second table fidgeted restlessly, torn between the desire to fill their plates with slices of roasted duck and piles of stewed winter vegetables and the desire to hear about the exciting battle at the Sumr Villa until Sir Brennus’s son, the squire Cadeyrn, gave them a stern, warning look.
"I missed Lady Ashlynn’s assault on the Sumr Villa," Liam said once the servants had withdrawn. "She and Sir Ollie had already left with their forces when I received Lord General Thane’s ’invitation’ to speak with Lady Ashlynn," he said, emphasizing the word ’invitation’ in a way that made it clear that it wasn’t an invitation he could refuse.
"Wait, wait..." Sir Gavin said, looking between Lord Liam and Sir Ollie in confusion. "Lady Ashlynn’s assault on the Sumr Villa? Not a demon attack? And who is Lord General Thane?" Gavin asked, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar title.
"He’s the knight who trained ," Ollie offered, finally answering the question that Baron Loghlan had asked, though the unfamiliar na didn’t help anyone place man. "Him and Sir Marcel," he added, giving everyone at the table yet another unfamiliar na.
"But Liam," Ollie continued in an attempt to be humble and honest. "I wouldn’t say that I fought in the battle at the Sumr Villa. I bungled things at the side gate badly enough that I took an arrow to the stomach for my trouble. Virve is the one who broke through the gate and charged the walls. I just organized the rescue of everyone inside the Villa."
"You say that like it’s a small thing, but it can’t have been easy keeping everyone calm in the middle of all that," Liam said, unwilling to allow Ollie to diminish his own accomplishnts. "I t Captain Ipiktok at the Battle of Hanrahan. He and his n are... more than a little intimidating to be around. Just managing to lead people away from the Sumr Villa without anyone fleeing or getting hurt doing sothing foolish is sothing I doubt I could have managed."
At this point, everyone at the ’high table’ was staring at Liam and Ollie with wide eyes and slack jaws. Sir Ollie and Lady Ashlynn had been the ones assaulting the Sumr Villa, not demons? And they did it in order to rescue people? And then there was Liam’s casual ntion of the ’Battle of Hanrahan’?
"All right, all right, stop," Loghlan said, raising his hand and pressing a fist to his forehead as he briefly closed his eyes in thought. "We can’t hear this tale in pieces; it’s just going to confuse things. Let
see if I understand what you’re saying, and we can fill in the bones from there," he said before pausing to gesture to the food. "And eat, everyone, please, eat, don’t wait for
to start," he said, shooting the children at the second table a warm smile.
"First," Loghlan said, turning to face Ollie. "You’re saying that Lady Ashlynn wasn’t staying at the Sumr Villa, but that she led an attack against it? How long ago did she leave the Sumr Villa, and what reason does she have to attack it now?"
"Sir Ollie," Liam said with an awkward expression on his face. "You don’t have to..."
"No, it’s fine," Ollie said. "Part of it at least. I don’t mind telling the story, and I think it will help the rest to make sense. Your father’s right, Liam," Ollie added politely. "We may not be able to share the greatest secrets at the dinner table, especially with children present, but the story of Lady Ashlynn’s first visit to the Sumr Villa and a little bit about why she returned to it shouldn’t be too much."
"Then you can tell them about the Battle of Hanrahan and Sir Hugo’s cousin," Ollie suggested, hoping that Liam understood his intention. After all, the story that Ollie was preparing to tell was true, but the conclusions that the knights of Dunn would draw from it were a different matter entirely.
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