Heirs of Hyarch

Myronel lowered himself into the chair with a grunt. It was made for someone a bit shorter than him, forcing him to extend his legs out more than was polite. Syrkonel ought to understand though, considering it looked like he had to seat himself similarly. By comparison, the padded seats were perfect for Nela and even Jylania.

With the exception of Sedat, who was unable to, they were all seated around the same table they'd been earlier. Back then, they were in too much of a hurry for Myronel to take much note of the room, but looking at it had Myronel certain that the decor was not of Syrkonel's choosing. The wide tapestry on the opposite wall from where he sat confirmed that on its own, as it depicted a pair of men - clearly not Elefae - taking up arms against a wyvern.

Myronel wondered if Syrkonel thought such a creature to be a myth. He used to firmly believe they didn't exist either, but now he couldn't be sure. There were likely people in Hyarch who thought the same of sphinxes, and they'd fought both with and against them. There could be a remote corner of the kingdom yet where the winged lizards soared.

"It began when I was thrown in gaol." Syrkonel's words brought Myronel back to the present. "When I was young I cut purses and robbed people to get by. I, and several others like me, had to just to survive. Eventually, I got caught by a watchman."

Myronel couldn't help but notice Nela giving Jylania a brief stern look. Jylania definitely got the meaning, slumping down slightly in response. It wasn't a lesson they needed to hammer in any more than it already had. If Jylania was as tired as she looked, it wouldn't help at all.

"A few days after that, I met the man when they threw him in the cell across from mine. I didn't know who he was at the time, but he seemed all too cheerful despite everything. When I asked him why, he just said he'd be out of there soon. Then a few days later, his father arrived - the Lord of Melyn at the time. He was the lord's oldest son, Raimond Melyn."

"Did his father order him imprisoned?" Edeline asked.

Syrkonel nodded. "The old Lord Melyn was very corrupt. It spilled over to the city too. Life in Melyn now may not be good with the knights and the war, but it was even worse back then, and not just for elves. Raimond took the side of the people against his father, more than once."

"He had him beaten next? Or starved him?" Sedat's questions gave Myronel pause, until he realized those were the sort of punishments she and those near her had to face as bound laborers. Ashabti, he remembered...that was what they'd been called.

"You have darker thoughts than someone your age should have," Syrkonel remarked.

"Don't know what else they'd do in one of those...uh, gaols," Sedat said. No doubt if she could still shrug, the winged girl would've done it. The worst part of it was that she probably wasn't that far removed from the truth, at least for most people being held there. A lord's son, however, would've been spared from such cruelties.

"Fair," Syrkonel answered, "But no. Lord Melyn had come to do something else. He disowned Raimond, and told him he would rot there."

Myronel couldn't be certain, but it sounded very much like the man had a lot in common with Lord Kelshir. Both were greed-driven nobles who had no objections to turning on their subjects or even their own children. Without doubt there were more like them among the nobility of Hyarch too, and the damage they caused...they might well be the reason the kingdom so far had failed to contain or defeat the Spellking.

"However, Raimond didn't appear too upset after Lord Melyn left. I spoke to him for the first time to ask why. He told me he had a companion who would break him out."

Whoever this companion was...well, there weren't many people capable of a prison break on their own. Floire, or rather the Witch of Wrath, was the obvious guess, but Myronel wasn't about to interrupt to confirm it. Syrkonel would get to that answer eventually.

"There was no rescue that came for him though." Syrkonel took a sip from his wine before continuing. "There wasn't anything else for us to do, so we talked. I learned about his struggles against the lord's decrees. Then I told him of my life. I still remember him telling me that I was the sort of person he'd been working to help."

There was a hint of raw pain in Syrkonel's voice.

"After a month, I was able to grab a keyring off one of the guards. That night I freed myself, and was about to leave when he spoke to me again. He asked if I planned to go back to my old life. I told him it was the only one I had. Then Raimond made an offer. Get him out of there as well, and he'd help me find a new life and purpose.."

"You agreed," Edeline stated.

"It was the best choice I ever made," Syrkonel said with a nod. "We escaped together. For the next half year or so, I helped him as he tried to help the people of Melyn. I became...I don't know what you would call it, other than his closest friend."

Before everything went wrong, Myronel noted, knowing the story was about to turn grim.

"It was then that Raimond's companion finally tracked us down." Or perhaps not. "It was Floire. She claimed she had attempted to break into the gaol to find him, but was wounded and had to retreat. Raimond later let me know he doubted that was what happened, and she could've easily fought through to rescue him. He trusted me now more than her."

So there it was then - or at least how it started.

"Even so, the three of us continued to oppose the lord. We weren't alone, as many others also joined Raimond's cause. Some were Elefae, others were not, but we all wanted a better city for us all. Or so I thought."

"Floire betrayed him?" Edeline leaned forward as she asked the question.

"Not just her. Everyone other than me did...starting with himself."

Myronel had no idea how to respond to that. Neither apparently did any of the others.

"By that point, it had been...I believe a little over three years since I met Raimond." Syrkonel clasped his hands together. "We'd been fighting for that long, doing everything we could. Even though we won most of our battles, Lord Melyn refused to give in, and the people still struggled and suffered. It was starting to get to him."

Taking another sip of his own drink, Myronel nodded. It was a feeling he could sympathize with. His attitude towards the war against the Spellking had been heading in that direction. The difference though was that had been a senseless conflict, one easy enough to walk away from. Fighting for the men and women here...they couldn't just be abandoned, and yet, it seemed that Raimond Melyn had.

"That was when Raimond received an offer to pardon him. It was signed by his younger brother, Lord Melyn's current heir. In return, Raimond would have to give up the fight and return to live in the lord's manor. He would never become lord himself now, but he would be allowed the family name."

"I would have suspected a trap," Hamond noted.

"So did I," Syrkonel said," I was the first person he shared it with. I advised against it. Without his leadership and inspiration, we couldn't possibly continue, something they were probably counting on. He told me that the rest of us were braver and stronger than we thought. More importantly, he said he would continue the fight from the inside, trying to advise his brother to a better path. It was then I realized the truth."

"What truth?" Edeline asked.

"That part of him had never let go of being a noble. He wanted to go back to that."

"Are you sure?" Nela was done being silent. Myronel had been worried the trip around the city had taken too much out of her, but she sounded fine to him.

"Yes." Syrkonel's clasped hands tightened further, fingers paling. "I'd once asked him if he'd thought about taking the First Ascension. He told me then he wasn't the right person for it. That I needed to have faith there would be others willing to. Looking back, it was clear he had known his own weakness all along. Even as he lost his way, he knew it."

"Guess that explains the Witch of Wrath," Nela muttered.

Syrkonel didn't seem to pay her any attention, instead continuing after another drink. "He decided to agree to the offer. He announced it the next day, and that he was leaving me, his most trusted man, to lead in his place. I was not ready, and I knew it. Still I figured I had to try."

"I can understand now why you needed wine to tell this story," Edeline said. Myronel didn't quite understand why, since Syrkonel hadn't drank nearly enough for that to matter. Wait...looking at Edeline's cup, it was empty. It was a fairly strong wine, at least by Myronel's reckoning, so drinking it that fast wasn't the best idea.

"Don't you think you needed wine for him to." Sedat had noticed as well.

"It's a good wine," Edeline said in protest.

"Indeed it is, but I'm not opening any more bottles for you." Syrkonel took another long drink himself, not exactly creating a convincing argument. "So Raimond took the offer. A day later, we all got together for what would be the last time we all met."

"It didn't end well," Hamond said what Myronel was thinking.

"Most of the others were not Elefae, and some didn't want to follow anyone who was. A couple of others thought they were somehow next in line after Raimond. Then there were a few who thought his decision was so bad, they couldn't trust anything he had said or done. Imagine a room of two hex people trying to argue over each other. All the while, Floire sat in a corner and said nothing."

"I don't blame her," Nela commented, shifting herself forward on her seat. "Though she definitely should get blamed for what she did next."

"After the meeting, I did try to speak to her, since it seemed to be just the two of us willing to continue together." Syrkonel leaned forward, putting his head in his hands in an uncharacteristic gesture. "Instead she said that we would each continue the fight our own way, before leaving. If I had known, I would've stopped her."

"Knowing her, that would've just ended with your death," Nela said, "Unless you're somehow a secret magic master too."

"I've no expert," Syrkonel confirmed, "I have taken the Second Ascension, but what few spells I know wouldn't help in a fight though."

It was a reminder that Myronel still had yet to do his Second Ascension. It wasn't clear he would get the chance to work on it tonight. If they were staying here, he could hardly do it without alerting someone. Even then, he had to consider Edeline not being up for it. It had been quite the long day.

"A few days later, Raimond Melyn was killed in his bedroom in the lord's manor. A servant spotted Floire fleeing, and a bounty was put on her head. As far as I know, she never returned to Melyn. At least until now."

"Do you think she'll want you dead?" Edeline said, "Or would she even recognize you?"

"No. If she learns of our plans, she may suspect I'm involved." Syrkonel leaned back, looking a bit more relaxed now the full story was out. "I built all this from what resources Raimond had left to me. Although things did shift a bit when the old Lord Melyn finally died, and his younger son took the lordship."

"So things improved, but not for the elves," Nela said.

"There are those who think it did. I can't convince them otherwise." Syrkonel briefly picked up his glass, but set it back down without drinking. "I'm still not half the leader Raimond was."

"You seem better than many men I've met," Myronel told him, narrowing his eyes as he thought his words through. "Besides, that still doesn't explain why you wanted a noble to join the Elefae."

"Because most of Melyn's Elefae know of Raimond's choice." Syrkonel's voice turned rough again, the emotion taking hold again. "They see it as proof that no noble would ever willingly become one of us, not with any real loyalty. You saw how they reacted to her." He pointed directly at Edeline's face.

"So to prove otherwise, you need one that underwent the First Ascension," Myronel concluded.

"Willingly." Syrkonel pointed at Edeline again. "I saw your ears. I know what that means. A couple of men under me tried something similar once with an innocent woman. I dealt with them personally."

"You knew this whole time." Edeline drew back.

"Yes. You wouldn't complete the Ascension. Neither would that Lady Kelshir you mentioned."

Myronel knew what he had to do then, even if everyone else would see it as a stupid decision.

"For the old men and women who are too warn down by age to fight. For the families who are just trying to live their lives. For the children who deserve a chance to run and play without having to face a battlefield. For all of them, I would ready my sword and my shield."

"What?" Syrkonel said, confused.

"You...shit." Nela gave Myronel a disbelieving look, clearly remembering those words and knowing what was about to follow.

"I swore that oath before I became an Elefae, and I still stand by it." Myronel stood up. "It is only fair to tell you what we told Lord Melyn when we met him. Before I underwent the First Ascension...I went by another name. I was Myron Hallowscroft."

Syrkonel fell silent, staring hard at Myronel. Myronel simply gazed back, willing to wait as long as needed for the man to regain his composure. It was no surprise than Syrkonel had no idea how to react to the pinnacle of his life's work stumbling into his house by pure luck.

"You said before you needed to think about what role we were to play," Hamond finally said. "You may need to give that some more thought. In the meantime, though, we still need a place to stay, and I'm not sure you have the rooms here."

"I...right. No, I do have a pair of bedrooms, but they are...wait." It was strange seeing Syrkonel so openly flustered. "I think Tayfel may have put that guard in one of them."

That was entirely their fault, Myronel realized. "Do you have any idea where we might stay the night then?"

"We should be able to find a different place for him. Let me go arrange it. I'll be back soon." Syrkonel, still looking a bit flustered and dazed, hurried out of the room.

Nela stood up as soon as Syrkonel left, facing Myronel. "I have one question."

"Go ahead," Myronel said, a cold feeling in his gut. Aether's blood, he wished he'd had the time to talk to her about this in advance.

"Do you think the Witch of Wrath...Floire, that she was in love with this Raimond?"

It wasn't the question Myronel thought he'd have to answer. "I don't know," he admitted.

Nela let out a long low sigh, looking away. "Whatever it was, it sure messed her up."

Even without her saying anything further, Myronel could see that Nela had been hoping for a different answer. "Don't worry," he told her, stepping close to provide whatever support she wanted. "I'm not abandoning you."

"I know." Nela turned and embraced him. She also stepped on Myronel's foot in doing so, but he didn't mind. What was a little pain compared to being held by someone he loved?