Chapter 48: Destruction
A/N: Camilla's thoughts on these happenings~
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Renault 'The Viper' Correl. That was the name of the man that Camilla had killed today. He was the Captain of the Guard for House Godman and while he did not have a knightly title himself, he was still well known in the martial circles that Camilla had always traveled in.
Captain Renault had had a reputation for being incredibly dangerous and incredibly deadly. They said he was as silent as he was fast, always striking before his opponents so much as had a chance to react. He was a loyal dog of House Godman too, an upstart noble house that had widespread political influence despite buying their way into the nobility.
… He must have been having an off day? That's the only way Camilla can really explain how things had happened out there on the edge of the Darkwoods.
She'd been watching Lord Thomas conferring with Lord Godman from afar, her lips pursed and her hand on the hilt of her sword. Not because she necessarily thought she would need to use it… but just in case. Captain Renault had been standing beside her, the both of them keeping an eye on their younger charges without saying a single word to one another.
Then… Sol had gone in for a hug. Thomas had stiffened up, clearly uncomfortable, but he'd shown no sign of being in true distress so Camilla hadn't thought much of it at first. Only, as the hug had lingered, as Thomas' stillness had started to confuse her… she'd heard it.
The sound had been like a whisper on her ears, and yet her senses had screamed at her to move. So Camilla had moved. In a single instant, she'd pulled her sword free from its sheath and turned on her heel to block The Viper's Strike, Captain Renault's most infamous move.
Rather than his blade finding her neck and relieving her of her head, their Magic Steel Swords had clashed with one another and Camilla's muscles had bulged as she'd met the full might of the Guard Captain… and held still.
His eyes had widened in disbelief at around the same time that hers had. Hers widened because she couldn't believe he was actually attacking her. His widened because he couldn't believe she was actually defending herself.
A moment later and it was over as she pivoted, twisted, and redirected her sword right into the legendary swordsman's chest. Renault 'The Viper' Correl had dropped to the ground dead, his blade still held in his grasp, surprise evident on his features.
Camilla had stood over him, frozen for a moment as she tried to process what happened. But then a flash caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and when she looked over, it was to see Sol Godman holding a dagger on her Lord… and Thomas making no effort to protect himself.
She'd called out and raced forward then in a panic, afraid that she would be too late to save her Lord from the underhanded attack. But she needn't have worried… Thomas had taken care of things himself in short order and Sol Godman had joined his family's Guard Captain in death.
Now here they were back in Last Hope. Every single thug that the Heir of House Godman had brought with him was dead by Sevinarya's hand. But to hear the residents of Last Hope talk about it, she'd saved them from the brigands. And based on Sol Godman's dying words, they were all telling the truth too. If it wasn't for the Dark Elf's blades, there would have been a lot of collateral damage before Camilla and Thomas could return.
… Speaking of the nobleman's dying words, Camilla looks to Thomas as things start to calm down. She doesn't know how to say what she wants to say… or maybe she doesn't feel like she has the right to say it. But Thomas feels her gaze on him and turns a knowing look in her direction all the same. After a moment, he nods and waves her on to the Mayor's House.
"Go. Send off a warning. Might as well."
And that… that is why Camilla has sworn herself to Lord Thomas directly and no longer answers to anyone except for him. Because at the end of the day, he is a good man… a noble man worthy of her blade. Even after everything his own family has done to him, he's still willing to try and warn them of House Godman's plans.
Racing past Sevinarya and her pile of bodies and into the house, Camilla makes her way over to her room and quickly pulls out the magical tome she's been using to send reports to House Marlow all these months.
However, before she can even flip it open… the worst comes to pass. The tome bursts into flames and is reduced to ash in mere moments, leaving her staring blankly at her hands in disbelief. That was… she had…
Slowly, Camilla turns and heads back outside to find Thomas. Blood roars in her ears. It almost doesn't feel real. Everything… feels strange as she plods out onto the front step of the house and sits down heavily, back against one of the beams.
The removal of the bodies is already underway, the townsfolk banding together to get rid of the corpses before they can begin to stink up the place. But when Thomas sees her back outside looking lost… he stops what he's doing and comes to her.
"Camilla? What is it? Did you send off the message?"
Slowly, Camilla shakes her head.
"No my lord. I didn't get the chance. The tome… it destroyed itself."
Thomas pauses at that, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"What does that mean, exactly?"
Ah, right. His memory problems. He wouldn't know, of course. Slowly lifting her head, Camilla meets Thomas' eyes.
"… When the Master Tome is destroyed, then every tome connected to it across the Kingdom is destroyed as well. It's just how the system works as I understand it, but it also acts as a warning of sorts…"
Understanding dawns on Thomas' face as he glances back in the direction where they left Sol and Renault's bodies for a moment.
"So if your tome destroyed itself… then something happened to House Marlow's Master Tome. That's what you're saying."
Camilla nods wordlessly, her tongue feeling heavy in her mouth. Because… if Sol Godman was to be believed, something hadn't just happened to the Master Tome. Something had happened to House Marlow. Something… permanent.
Thomas turns this over in his head for a few moments before finally letting out a rough sigh.
"… I see. We'll talk about this more once the immediate situation is handled."
Camilla swallows hard… but nods all the same and lifts herself to her feet.
"Direct me to where I'm needed my lord."
He gives her a slightly uncertain look at that… but doesn't question further whether she can handle it or not. Her Lord knows her well enough at this point to know that she's better off being put to work when she's in turmoil like this. Otherwise she'll just sit and stew in her own thoughts forever.
Besides… it's all out of her hands anyways. Even as Camilla goes to help with cleaning up the bodies that Sevinarya has made, she reflects that her loyalty to House Marlow stops and ends with Lord Thomas. Whatever happens next… will be in his hands. Not hers. And frankly, she's rather glad that's the way it has to be.
… Still though, even as she pushes thoughts of all of that out of her head, Camilla can't stop thinking about the look of surprise on Renault's face as she'd blocked his strike and stabbed him through the heart. He must not have been taking her seriously enough. That's probably why she was able to overcome him so quickly…
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Fuck him, this was a fucking mess and a half, wasn't it? First that asshole had tried to paralyze and kill him, then they found out that his goons had tried to destroy Last Hope while they were away… and now it looked like House Marlow was no more.
Thomas… really didn't have any strong feelings one way or another about that. He'd come into this world at the end of the original Thomas' tale. Literally, as he now knew for a fact. The original Thomas Marlow had died in that carriage that he, the new Thomas, had woken up in. Sol Godman's poison had done its work the first time, killing the original dead… and leaving plenty of room for him to slip right on in.
So it wasn't like Thomas had any love or even hate in his heart for the Lord and Lady Marlow. He didn't know them other than in the purely abstract. Sure, Lady Marlow had given Camilla orders to all but ensure that he died within three months of arriving in Last Hope, but even that was… well, Thomas felt a bit removed from that situation.
Mostly because Camilla hadn't actually gone through with it and even months later, there'd been no further sign of House Marlow coming after him. So Thomas had sort of just put them out of sight, out of mind and focused more on things that were happening closer to home. Such as getting Sevinarya to cure Eloise's father of Rot Lung.
Now though… he really didn't have a clue what to do next. House Marlow getting itself destroyed wasn't his problem… on the most basic level anyways. Unfortunately, it very much was his problem on any level higher than basic.
Sol Godman was dead. So was every man he'd brought to Last Hope. There would be nobody returning from here to the Capital from the Heir of House Godman's retinue any time soon. Thomas knew better than to hope that Sol hadn't told anyone where he was going before he left either. No, it was far more likely that someone knew… and that eventually someone was going to miss the nobleman enough to come and check on him.
They could… fake him never arriving, maybe? Last Hope would certainly come together to hide that he'd ever been present in the town. They could dismantle the carriage he'd arrived in, bury all of the bodies, and hide the evidence that they'd ever made it to Last Hope.
Then, anyone who came looking after the fact would just have to accept the story that Lord Godman had somehow mysteriously vanished somewhere on the road and they had no idea what had happened to him.
… But that ignored how badly these people seemed to want Thomas dead. According to Sol, Thomas was a loose end that he'd tried not once, not twice, but three times to tie up. The first poisoning had been what led to Thomas arriving in this world. The second poisoning had failed because of his Gift. And now… this third time, Sol had come to do the deed himself… and died for it.
Whoever eventually came looking for the nobleman wasn't any more likely to be willing to leave Thomas Marlow in peace than Sol had been. They would try to kill him and possibly harm the residents of Last Hope as well, forcing them to defend themselves once more.
But at that point, where did the killing stop? Would an army eventually march on Last Hope after who knew how many people went 'missing' trying to visit it? Thomas certainly didn't want to find out.
So maybe the right answer was to leave Last Hope behind. Just… take Camilla and Sevinarya and go somewhere else. They could go into the Darkwoods he supposed. Though he knew Sevinarya had no desire to return home, so they'd probably be better served traveling along the edge of the Darkwoods until they found something new.
... However, that would be leaving Eloise and Mayor Harper and all the rest of Last Hope at the tender mercies of whoever came looking for Sol Godman. Sure, if Thomas wasn't there they wouldn't have any reason to harm anyone in the town… but also if Thomas wasn't there, the town wouldn't have anyone to protect them in case of the worst either.
So if staying was just going to bring death and destruction down on their heads… and leaving was just as likely to do the same… what the hell was Thomas supposed to do?
He didn't give two shits about House Marlow and whether or not they'd been destroyed at this point. He didn't care about House Godman's machinations or their plans for toppling his family in this world. However, regardless of how little Thomas might have cared about all of that… he was involved in it anyways. And if he didn't find a way to thread this needle properly, those he'd come to care about since arriving in this world were going to get hurt.
And he wasn't about to let that happen.
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A/N: Big decisions ahead of us…
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