As Arn went by Tyrhallan his voice was heavy and deeply apologetic.
“I regret bringing such an evil to your house and family.” He stopped a few steps away and told the man without turning. “But I truly appreciate your protection. You are a man of great honor and I am honored to know you.”
“I am a knight and a noble, poor knight would I be if I were to send those in need of help away from our door.” Tyrhallan calmly replied as he made no attempts to stop Arn, instead he reassured him.
“Rest well and rest easy. Have no fear of us for we will not turn you out. I would bring shame upon my family’s name if I were to do so. The Venray family does not shirk its duty for fear of some troubles and inconveniences. So do not worry about it. There is no debt to settle nor payment to fulfil.” He exhaled heavily clearly having some trouble breathing.
“Though I might trouble the young lady for an apology when she wakes. She cut rather deep, aside from flesh she cut my pride as well.” He showed a weak grin before following them out of the room, asking one of the servants to deal with the mess in the morning.
“The hour is late and we all could use our rest. I will see you in the morning, Arn. Even though you might not feel able to get some shut eye in, I suggest you do. After all I am sure Miss Eilis would not approve of you forgoing any sleep for her sake.”
Tyrhallan watched them go with Gretha one of the older staff members and lost in thought he missed his Uncle’s scraping of the throat, having thought him departed already.
“Such an odd pair they make. Such unusual people for you to end up with. I wonder though how much more of these oddities that shall come to disturb our carefully won peace. Walkure’s, mentioning of the Sundering of the World, the old war and what came before…” Uilles frowned mulling the words Scylla has said over in his mind.
“Uncle, you seem to call her a Walkure, do you know this person? After all she seemed to know you.”
Uilles turned to him with a look of cold calculation, a look Tyrhallan had rarely seen. One that had earned him his nickname undoubtedly, the eyes seemed to pin and root you to the spot, as if chaining you to the foundations of the earth.
“I recognised her magic and could recognise her for what she is, due to having dealt with her kind before.”
“Her kind?”
“Oh yes, they are slaves. People with a great aptitude for magic and chosen as children they are prepped and laced with powerful poisons and toxins to serve their masters by becoming the living embodiment of whatever their master desires them to be; a deadly weapon to aid the masters manoeuvring the rather dangerous scene of Vaimese politics. Usually they become Bodyguards or Assasins, in Scylla’s case though…she is known as the embodiment of Pleasure.” Uilles said before turning around as well walking away with his usual limping.
Tyrhallan spend a moment to think on what his Uncle told him, before his eyes widened and he eyed his Uncle with a stern look as he observed the retreating form.
“Uncle…was she there the night you saved the king and is she the reason….” His eyes flew to the bad leg and the cane.
The man stopped, but for a moment, before he cast a nonchalant look over his shoulder.
“Would it matter?”
Tyrhallan’s eyebrows knitted together in frustration.
“Of course it would matter! You hardly ever spoke of what happened and…”
“As was ordered of me. Remember Tyrhallan. Our lives are not our own. We serve. We fight. We do our duty without complaint. Without regard for our needs and wants.” His Uncle recited the mantra he had droned into Tyrhallan from an early age. “We are Knights, what’s more we are Venray’s Honour is in our Blood and by Blood it must be kept. Forsake our values and ruin comes over us. We serve to protect and to keep our oaths, such is our way.” He tapped his lame leg.
“Such is my reward for not heeding the ways of our ancestors. One day I faltered and caved in to my baser instincts. Just once did I stumble and all I ended up with were one night of short lived pleasures, broken promises and this.”
Tyrhallan stood there slack-jawed, barely capable to believe it. His uncle. The most honourable man he knew. The man who had been the living embodiment of duty and honour.
“She was a good deal younger then, but her beauty had been more akin to that of a rosebud that had just blossomed. Innocent I still had assumed her to be, yet I upon laying eyes on her I wanted no desired nothing more but to taste it and claim her as my own.” He snorted.
"She had amused me for her own gains and dare I say I did not regret any manner or lie or deceit I performed for her just so I could have her in my bed. For my carnal lusts I paid a hefty price. For after we broke bed, she left me with my dreams so she could do what she originally had come for. To kill our king. The man himself assumed she had been one of the courtesans or whores send to win his favour and so he did not raise the alarm when she had entered the room. It wasn’t until her hairs where choking the life out of him that he attempted raising the alarm. Had it not been for my timely waking and our own queen’s intervention she might have succeeded.” His uncle sighed taking the cane in his other hand and rubbed his leg.
“I did my duty and she did what she had to do to get away. Having observed me well enough she thrusted her dangerous hair into my direction, much like a spear or sword and cutting the tendons of my leg. She crippled me that day and fled in a manner similar to as she did just now.”
“Did you…” Tyrhallan could barely think or dare ask his Uncle anything further knowing how well he had kept this secret for all these years.
“I have regretted my stupidity, but I dare say if I had the choice to do it all over, I would not change a thing for never during all my battles have I felt so alive as I had when tempting fate with her.” He smiled wistfully. “I doubt she cared though. She had a mission and a goal. I was simply a means to an end. Such is the tragedy of Knights and Walkure’s, we cannot be selfish for the moment we are fate will intervene to right our wrongs. Don’t pay the same price as I have. Stick with honour and Duty. Love after all is often nothing more but Lust and Desire playing tricks on your heart and mind.” With those words the old man limped away leaving Tyrhallan standing there pondering over all that had been revealed just now.
He would have stood there for hours, if his wound had not started to sting again demanding his immediate attention.
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