Chapter 461: Who to Hate?
"I’m just glad they’re still letting my Ritchel’s banner fly, even if it is at the back of the hall," Odette said, wilting slightly under the pointed gaze from Aspakos and trying to ignore the implication that came along with it. Instead, she pushed back as much as she dared, looking nervously in the direction of the white banner at the back of the hall that stood in stark contrast to either of the banners flown by their conquerors.
Ritchel’s glyph was simple, a few strokes to form a mountain and a final one to represent his horn sufficed. In ancient times, there had been more mountains on the banners of his predecessors, but now, simply holding on to one mountain at the highest point of the High Pass was an accomplishment for the dwindling clan.
How long that banner would continue to fly, however, remained to be seen. As the sun slid toward the horizon, the final preparations were set in place. Tonight was an assembly of the court. There would be no tables and no feast, only two thrones upon the dias where Nyrielle and Ashlynn would sit in judgment and two rows of chairs beneath the dias facing each other where the leaders from each side would sit.
The rest of the hall had begun to fill with with Frost Walkers on one side and Lady Nyrielle’s people on the other. All of the other tables and chairs had been cleared away, leaving a vast area that could hold more than five hundred people standing through the deliberation.
Some of those people were soldiers who had fought in the battle while others were common folk from either side of the conflict who had been given the opportunity to observe what would happen here tonight.
The dark furred Commander Jannik stood at the second of the Frost Walker seats, signifying that he intended to let Odette take the most senior of the seats to speak in her husband’s place. Next to him, the stooped figure of Old Svenja had already taken a seat, unwilling to waste her strength standing when the people in charge of their conquerors had yet to arrive. Two other elders stood beside her, leaving three remaining seats empty.
One would have belonged to whoever succeeded Paulus’s spot among the elders but two others belonged to elders who had stood as members of Lord Ritchel’s honor guard. Looking at the empty seats, Odette’s hands curled into tight fists and she lowered her horn in solemn respect. Without their courage and sacrifice, her husband might have fallen to the Thistle Witch before he could consume the Blood Vitality Crystal and defend himself. Each one of his honor guard who had died bought precious seconds for her husband and so she silently thanked each one of them even as she fought back tears for their loss.
She wanted to hate Talauia for slaughtering them and she wanted to hate Nyrielle and Ashlynn for bringing their army to the High Pass in the first place but no matter how much she wanted to hate them... she couldn’t. They hadn’t been the ones to attack first.