Chapter 676: Who is on Trial Here? (Part One)
Hugo’s declaration sent ripples of shock through the soldiers sitting on the rough hewn logs and even Sir Rain sat up straight, pushing himself off the side of the wagon and staring intently at the grizzled hunter named Eamon.
The portly knight prodded his tired mind, trying to think if he had ever seen the man when Owain visited Aleese Barony but in truth, he rarely paid much attention to the faces of servants unless they were charming lasses or skilled swordsmen. No matter how much he looked at the veteran hunter, he couldn’t recall ever having seen him but that didn’t mean that the accusation was false.
"My lady, I," Eamon said, turning to look at Ashlynn with helpless eyes. "I don’t know what I should say," he said as all of the attention that had been focused on Darragh seemed to have suddenly landed on him as well.
"Tell them the truth, Mister Eamon," Ashlynn said. "Tell them about the night we met and how you and your companions were treated. It’s all right," she added with an encouraging smile. "There’s no shame in anything you did that night," she said, sensing where his discomfort truly came from. "No one will judge you harshly for what happened when we stood as enemies."
"Thank you, my lady, for understanding," Eamon said, slumping in visible relief before recollecting himself and turning to face Sir Hugo and the other knights. "Just like your lordship said, Darragh and I went ’missing’ after Sir Kaefin died. Lord Owain ordered Sir Broll to take us and hunt up the woman who killed Sir Kaefin and the, um, the kitchen boy who escaped with her," he said awkwardly.
"Pardon, Sir Ollie," Eamon added quickly while his hands twisted nervously, clutching at the fabric of his cloak. "Meaning no disrespect, but those were his words."
"It’s not disrespectful to speak the truth," Ollie said with a bright smile on his face as he thought about how far everyone had come since that night in the wilderness six months ago. At the time, he really had been nothing more than a kitchen boy, swept up into something that felt vast and grand as the adventure stories he’d heard as a youth, only it was very clear that the protagonist of the adventure was Ashlynn rather than himself.
He’d never expected then that it was also the beginning of his own tale of adventure, or that he would find himself in a place like this, sitting among other knights as a peer rather than toiling away in the kitchens, afraid they might lash out at him for something as trivial as serving the lamb sauce with the beef or forgetting to add honey to their last cup of wine.