Hero of the Day Part Two

Jp with Rosmary and LSP

Draken sat down, "Did anyone else really know or was it just rumors for everyone else?" He felt a bit disturbed by the fact his mother tried to make amends for her actions but something happened that led to her death. "Does anyone know what happened during their conversation?"

The Marquess was grim-faced, sad, and hesitant as he said, “You have to understand, that aside from Lord Halthenstrafe, this happened long before any of us were born, Draken. But, from the Black Witch’s files from the investigation, instigated at the direction of Queen Thalia, and the journal of Archer Craine, as it so happens I do know what happened next. But you must ask yourself, do you really want to know all the gory details? This was your dear mother, who by all accounts in life was a sweet and beautiful human being. Isn’t it enough to know fate conspired against her and those responsible for her death are now every bit as deceased?” The elderly man knew he was treading on sensitive ground, but Draken could tell his heart was in the right place.

Draken looked over at him, "I was there when she was murdered. She was beaten down by armed soldiers, rotting foods were thrown at her, not one person came to her aid. She never begged for her life, only mine. She was helpless, a mother caring for her son, and they burned her on the stake like a witch. I want to know the whole story." Rage filled his eyes, "so tell me the whole story."

“Well,” the Marquess said, “it went like this…”

***

The doors opened for Tyronn Cartagan, a lone servant greeting him, "The Lady is waiting for you." The servant guided him up the stairs. The house had become dark and quiet, clear signs of depression could be seen, Emilia having been heartbroken by Cartagan's words.

Soon they were at Emilia's chambers that Cartagan was well familiar with. The servant bowed before leaving him alone at the closed door.

Emilia called out, in a quiet voice, "Come in."

Cartagan entered the room and saw Emilia, angelically beautiful as ever, though with a strange, almost tentative expression on her face, a face that still haunted him in his dreams at night. Did she hope they could reconcile? Did she think he would not want to? As much anger and pain as she had caused him he was willing to forgive, if she would him. He had missed her terribly over much of the past year and there was not a day that went by that he did not mourn the life he had dreamed of making with her.

“Tyronn,” she said. “We must talk.”

“Aye,” Cartagan replied, walking across to her. “There is much we have to discuss.”

“Even more than you know,” she said.

He frowned at her, and then stopped in mid-stride as he noticed the bassinet arrayed in a blue knitted blanket facing the room's window. There was a look of puzzlement on his face. Then the puzzlement turned to surprise—and then to pure, bursting happiness.

“Oh no,” Emilia moaned, seeing the glowing smile that wreathed his face, and realising what he was thinking.

“Emilia!” Cartagan exclaimed, tears of joy filling his eyes. “How could you have kept this from me? Even if we were no longer betrothed, don't you think I had a right to know before now?” He turned the bassinet around toward him and grinned. “But it's alright, sweetheart! It's alright! If you're willing to forgive me for my overzealousness, my stupid pride, and insensitivity, we can put it all behind us and forget it all ever happened. The Queen can marry us without delay and we can raise our child together...” he trailed off, all joy dying in his heart... forevermore.

“Oh, Tyronn!”

The child, a boy, was a strong and healthy looking specimen, and there was no mistaking the resemblance his eburnean features bore to his pale tiefling father.

Cartagan recoiled, as if someone had punched him in the gut, and then reached into his chest and tore out his heart. He staggered back, sickened, horrified by the sight of baby Draken.

“Tyronn, please,” Emilia said, approaching him warily. “I didn't mean for you to think--”

“Get away from me you, you stupid whore!” Cartagan exploded with rage and hurt. “So after almost a year you summon me here to make up with me, I take it, thinking you can just twist me around your finger again and get me to take you back, after your demon lover had gone and left you enceinte with his seed? How much of a lovesick fool do you take me for, Emilia? Did you honestly think I could forgive you this? You breaking my heart and casting me aside for that absurd demon man...” He turned and looked hatefully at Draken. “And then you giving birth to this... this THING!”

“He's my son, of my own flesh and blood, not a thing!” Emila shouted.

“Where is the proud father? Off despoiling another high born lady no doubt, in Verden this time, perhaps? You know I did some checking, and found out who he really is. He's no simple man trying to live his life as you claimed. Your precious Soul is none other than Soularous, no less than one of the Nine Lords of Hell! Does your cousin the Queen know you laid with a demon lord? Is your family really going to accept this bastard spawn of the Abyss? They should disown you and cast you out! You and this disgusting creature you call a son! You are a disgrace to the great Sainte name, and you have tarnished mine, and I won't forgive you that!”

“I don't require your forgiveness, and I think you should leave now,” Emila said very quietly.

Cartagan made a noise that was half wail, half growl. He shoved her hard to the floor and grabbed a nearby marble bust off its plinth. Gone momentarily mad, he raised it over his head and moved toward the bassinet.

“Oh no! Nooo!” Emilia screamed, seeing what he intended.

Just at that moment, a blue ghostly arrow streaked through the air and the bust exploded into marble dust the consistency of powder, floating down like a cloud upon Cartagan. His head jerked around in surprise to see Archer Craine standing across the room, magical bow in hand and aimed directly at him.

Sobbing with relief, Emilia ran over and snatched Draken up from the bassinet and held him to her shoulder protectively. “Master Craine! I don't know what you're doing here, but I thank the gods you are!”

Archer spoke to her but his eyes remained fixed on Cartagan. “Mariane informed me the guards allowed him to enter, and from the way you spoke of him in the past I felt it was necessary to remain close by, and it would seem my feeling was right.”

His attention then turned to the man still holding bits of marble in his fists. “The next move is yours,” he said calmly in his gravelly voice. “Two choices: easy or hard. Easy way, you can leave and never return, or the hard way, you try to get to the child, and I down you before you can take a single step.” He placed his fingers on the string, and the light scent of crackling ozone wafted through the air. “Because no matter how fast you think you are, my arrows are infinitely faster.”

Emilia held her son close to her and backed away from Cartagan, "I knew Tyronn. Soularous revealed himself to me, I only wish to make amends. Soularous didn't wish to ruin me further, he knew he would outlive me, that his love for me would only cause pain. I knew you would be angry at first, however I thought you would have understood why I brought you here. Now I see who you truly are, you only cared for my status, you never loved me." She looked away from him, "I can't believe that it took me this long to realize."

“I did love you,” Cartagan snarled under his breath. “Fool that I was…”

Emilia got behind Archer to make sure she was safe, and kept baby Draken away from the enraged man.

Archer also made sure to keep himself between the pair and ushered Emilia out the door, his fingers still on the string, “I believe you should go to another room, milady, until I have settled this matter.” The Queen’s champion spoke coolly but uncharacteristically caring. “If things should happen to go poorly on his part, I don’t want you to have to see it; it won’t be pretty.” For a moment the room was silent save the hum of possibility that resonated from Archer’s magical bow, calling out to do its job.

Emilia gave a nod before giving one last glance at Tyronn. She quickly bolted out of the room and rushed down the stairs, trying to get as far away from her ex-betrothed as she could. Draken opened his eyes as his mother turned, his grey eyes staring into Tyronn's soul for a split second, the same grey eyes as Emilia. He slowly closed them as he was taken away by his mother.

Cartagan dropped the remains of the marble in his hands and slowly lifted them into the air, as if he was surrendering. "What do you expect from Thalia's loyal hound? Always finding trouble, aren’t you Archer?" He met the man’s gaze defiantly. "Why would Thalia want you to protect her and that child? You’ve seen that abomination, it must be slain before it's too late."

Archer's steely gaze never changed. “Tell me, Lord Cartagan, from your moral high horse. If the child was your’s and the product of you having a tryst with a succubus, would you feel the same way you do now? If the shoe was on the other foot? Would you be so willing to stove the child’s head in with a marble bust?” Archer continued to stare “Something tells me you’d be not so quick to action. I believe you’d think you were morally right because you are ‘the man’ and deserve to do whatever you wish, and that child should only die because you are not the father. And your poor little manhood can’t handle that.”

Cartagan sneered at Archer, "Shut your damn mouth. You really don't understand, do you? That child will only cause pain and suffering. That's it's nature, to be a creature of hatred, death, and destruction. Especially if it's the child of Soularous, the King in Blue. I forget you might not be so educated, merely being a warrior. Every spawn of Soularous are said to be the current Lords of the Nine, each causing suffering of their own degree. No doubt for that little monster it will be the same someday. I'm trying to save Emilia, the Sainte bloodline, and all of Dalen by killing that… thing."

“I’m tired of talking,” Archer said, actually pulling the string back so that a bright red glow filled the room, condensing into a blue arrow of light on his bow. “You can leave, and never return to this residence, or I can let this go and blow your spine out your back.”

Madness lurked in Cartagan’s eyes so that he was almost beyond being physically threatened. "You want Dalen to fall that much? Fine, I'll leave this blasted place. Her blood will be on your hands, Archer. Remember that." He slowly walked to the door past Archer, and left the estate without another word.

Not long after Emilia had run off, her father was poisoned the night after eating... an apple. As for Cartagan, he disappeared right after the funeral. But many knew why: to find Emilia, and kill her too, and her child...

***

Draken inhaled deeply, "What happened to this Tyronn Cartagan? I know my mother ran to Verden, and from what I remember she would sob, saying she ruined their marriage." He thought for a moment, "I never knew what she meant, until now, that is."

The elderly Marquess of Radogast put a comforting hand on Draken’s shoulder. “Don’t concern yourself with that man. Tyronn Cartagan died a very long time ago, of natural causes, supposedly. But according to rumours, he was slain by an assassin sent by Queen Thalia. Possibly a woman named Valade. She was suspected of killing a number of individuals in that same period of time for Her Majesty.”

Draken shook his head, "The story you tell, you said my eyes shook Cartagan. Are grey eyes natural in the Sainte family?" He looked at them all with curiosity, for a brief moment, his golden eyes were grey, however they returned gold again, probably a trick of the light, the Marquess thought.

“I believe they are,” Gaelbeck Halthenstrafe spoke up, who had been quietly standing with the others, utterly absorbed in the sordid tale. “I was acquainted with the Lord Sainte, your mother’s father, and he had those same grey eyes.”

Draken gave a nod, "I should have guessed. It's a shame I lost those during my time alone. Marquess, I can finish the story from here." He wiped a tear from his cheek as he spoke, "For five years, my mother raised me, teaching me how to live. She aided as many people as she could, telling me stories of great kings and queens of Dalen. She died, begging for mercy on my behalf, she didn't care that she was beaten or belittled, she only cared for her son, as she said, her story had been told, but mine was just beginning." He wiped a few tears from his face, "She never faltered to the end, even as they burned her. The Verdish Inquisitors, damn them all, wanted me dead too, but a mysterious man in a white cloak saved me, and he put me in an orphanage, and all of you should know the rest." Draken gave them a sad smile, "You said Archer Craine protected her, if he did, what did he tell Thalia? Did he think both of us were dead?"

The Marquess looked at Draken. “Do you recall the stories of the near loss of the whole Inquisition around that time?” he asked. “That was Craine’s doing. The only ones that were spared were those not in the city at the time, or those that got wind of Archer’s crusade before he could close the net on them. There was a good reason he was Queen Thalia’s bodyguard. Craine was death on two legs.”

Draken looked amazed, "That was him that did that to the Inquisition? Wait a minute, I remember him hunting me down too, with a scary woman. Don't tell me that they weren't trying to capture me because I was a criminal, but because of my heritage?"

“I can’t say the answer for that for sure, but I can for sure tell you that if Archer had wanted you dead he would not have been hunting you so long. He is an archer after all, and one that never misses.”

"That would explain why he kept directly hitting my warden, but never hit me. Sometimes I'm an idiot." He face palmed himself, "I just thought I was just that good at dodging. The woman was a very good archer too. Kalena I think her name was..."

“It is possible Craine was trying to wrangle you somewhere he could corner you in order to speak. Leading you where he wanted. A meeting on his terms. Though I can’t speak for sure on that matter. Only on what I know him to be like from his writings.”

"He nearly did. Those two combined, Craine and Kalena, made me more alert than I had ever been in my life. They were so skilled. The only thing that stopped them was when I lost them in the Dalen Alps, I believe that's around when Dalen fell, they must have been called back because of the war beginning to start." He tapped his fingers in his seat, "I'm glad I know this all now. If only I knew earlier." His wings fluttered for a moment as he sat there, thinking. "I can't wait to see who is going to take the crown and reunite Dalen again. Maybe they can rebuild the Sainte estate?" He noticed the glances his comment drew from around the room, and felt the weight of their eyes upon him. "What is it? I don't believe it will be harder to rebuild than the rest of Dalen, and I’d help chip in expenses...”

Soldor smiled at Draken. “If Dalen is to be restored to its former glory, it needs a very strong leader. Someone powerful enough to take the throne, hold it, and reunite the kingdom. And this someone needs to be a legitimate heir, descended from royal blood. There is only one person in all of Aeran who fits all those criteria, Draken...”

The gears in Draken’s head slowly turned, then it clicked, "You can't be serious! I don't think that would be a good idea. I'm a half breed, a demon's child just like Cartagan said. No one will accept my rule." He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

The Countess Elisabet Telsana spoke up. “There is always the Rite of the Crown,” she said. “Back when Queen Thalia was crowned, they gave each large city a gem from the original crown. If the lineage was tested the gems would be given to the one the council believed was the ruler to be placed in the new crown,” she explained. “If you wish to rule and to be tested you can seek out the holders of the gems and ask for their blessing. Though one of them was lost. That could be the best way to gain rule if that is what you wish.”

Lord Soldor frowned at this ludicrous suggestion and gave the Countess an annoyed look. What the hell was she playing at here? With the threat of Gelt looming, and so many other threats lurking in the shadows, Dalen needed a powerful king and needed one now. They didn’t have time for an idiotic scavenger hunt.

Draken got up from his seat, "I...need some time to think on this. I shall return and let you all know what I have decided. I'm sorry, I need to think, alone." His wings flapped out and he flew away through a shattered skylight in the ceiling, leaving Soldor's home and flying toward the ruins of Dalen’s old capital city, Opra Dale.

Little did Draken know, a certain being watched him from the shadows, a white mist slowly dancing around it.

"Looks like I have to act, and play some tricks only a god can play." The speaker faded, the mist traveling toward the west of Dalen, searching for a certain band of heroes that even then were making camp for the night...