Just something I had been mulling over...
The scorched earth and timbers still smoldered in the cold morning mists. All that had remained of the Mott and Bailey castle were the beams of the great hall standing skeletally on the central hillock and a few posts of the palisade walls.
He had spent the whole previous day searching for survivors and signs of flight but had found none. There were many charred bodies throughout the ruins but he could not tell which ones had been his wife or daughter, the fire had burned too hot.
He knelt in silence before the mass grave that he alone had dug and filled through the night, treating each body as sacredly as the first. They had been his friends, his loyal servants and his family, now all taken from him by an unknown hand.He leaned on the hilt of "Justice" and felt the blade biting into the ground beneath.
The breeze caught his deep blue cape and gently lifted beneath it but failed to raise it far and filled his eyes with burning smoke that made them stream.
His thoughts turned back to the Vixtant, sat on her throne four days ride from her. He wondered if Ariana knew of what had happened or if she was behind it in some way. He shied away from those thoughts. This was not done by her hand or order, he could not believe it. He would not believe it.
No this was done by someone else, someone far more devious and underhand. It could only be by the hand of Beausted her left hand. For years he had been jealous of his standing with the Vixtant and they had often clashed over policy and often Council meetings had become quite heated especially of late.
He had hated leaving Lady Tabatha out here in his family seat whilst he was away at court serving Ariana. He thought of his feelings for Ariana, the way his heart pounded for her and his mind was fogged by even the merest thought of her. He had managed to keep it buried deep in his breast for years and denied it even to himself. Some how he knew his wife must have sensed it still, if not the love he had for another then definitely the hatred he had for himself and the guilt that gnawed at his soul. Tabatha was a good woman, and he loved her and honoured her as he did his daughter and it was now, as he stared at their final resting place that he felt the pain that he feared he never would. They had been his world and he thought of all the things he would never experience with them from his daughter's wedding, to grandchildren, growing old with Tabatha and even small things like his wife's smile. Anger rose inside of him, at himself for leaving them and loving his Vixtant, at Ariana for having allowing dishonourable men like Beausted to serve her and above all at Beausted.
He pulled himself to his feet and slid "Justice" back into it's scabbard and filled with a burning hatred and wrath spoke.
"I swear my Love that I will avenge you, I will bring down all that is wrong with this kingdom and then I shall return to you here forever."
He looked up at the gathering storm clouds that rolled over the Downs towards the forest clearing and thought of the storm that he would bring to Beausted's house.
Sir Mitchard Renily of Mereden would remind them all what a knight of the realm truly stood for.
