Chapter 685: Leaving Camp (Part One)
Silence filled the camp like a thick mist, hanging over everyone and stifling their will to be the first one to speak, or even to move, for fear of drawing Lady Ashlynn’s attention. Darragh’s blood covered the entire length of the longsword in Ashlynn’s hand, but strangely, none of it had stained as much as the sleeves of her dress as she stood over the traitor’s body.
"My Lady," Marcel said quietly, appearing beside her as though he’d stepped out of the dancing shadows cast by the camp fire. "We have some time still, but we should make preparations and depart soon," he reminded her.
"Depart?" Sir Rain said, blinking in surprise at the youthful merchant’s statement. "It’s the middle of the night. Shouldn’t we camp here and move again when there’s daylight?"
"You’ll be staying until dawn," Ashlynn said, doing her best to shake off the thoughts that clung to her mind and shrouded her heart when she looked at Darragh’s corpse. She’d thought it would feel the same as when she’d killed Sir Broll, or perhaps Sir Kaefin. But Broll died in a duel, and Kaefin... Kaefin’s circumstances had been unique.
But executing Darragh didn’t feel like either of those men, and he certainly didn’t feel like the Tuscans she’d fought on the ice in the High Pass. There was no fight in Darragh. No struggle, not really. He was bound, gagged, and held by two other men. He had already been captured and he was no longer a threat to her... but he still needed to die.
Darragh was the first man she felt like she’d truly killed when she didn’t have to. He could have been imprisoned in the Vale until after the war. He could have been exiled, sold to the arena in the High Fen to never see human lands again. He could have suffered so many other punishments but she’d chosen the one that was the most definitive because she couldn’t give him another chance to betray the people who were close to her.
It was a choice she made, and one that she would have to live with. Part of her felt that she should have been more disturbed by it, while another part, a part that had been shaped by conversations with Nyrielle, Amahle, and even High Lady Erna... That part of her reminded her that doing the right thing for the people she was responsible for didn’t always allow her the luxury of making the decisions her heart might wish for. And if she truly thought about it, even her father might have agreed with the necessity of what she’d done.
"Almost everyone here will be staying until daybreak," Ashlynn said as she finally tore herself free of the thoughts that swirled through her head like a reed caught in the eddy of a river’s current. "Sir Ollie, bring them to the castle when you’re ready. They are to be treated as our guests," she said as she handed Sir Rain back his sword.
"Sir Rain, thank you," she said as he took the weapon. "Ollie will settle you in quarters befitting your station. In fact, Ollie, see if you can find them space near Ritchel’s quarters. Talauia is still tending to him so she’ll be nearby if they give you any trouble, and Hauke visits his father frequently. I’m sure he’ll be curious about our new guests as well."