[color=A0A0A0][h2]Fleuri Jodeau[/h2][/color]

There was going to be a lot to discuss the many revelations rising to the surface.  About Veilena's role in this.  About her hiring of these mercenaries to investigate these matters behind the crown's back.  About the Mage's College secretly holding into a shard of Angoron.  About her claim that the assassination attempt was just a distraction to steal the shard.  In the face of a threat to the entire nation, the right hand of Thaln wasn't being made known what the left hand was doing.

However, those concerns would have to wait, because a much more pressing issue had reared its ugly head.

The Golden Boars.

The infamous mercenaries weren't alone- they had brought with them some supernatural support in the form of Curse Hounds.  Fleuri had heard of them- summoned creatures, not quite as taboo as undead, but nonetheless associated with darker things.  He recalled his mentor warning him long ago that these creatures could inflict curses with their bites.

[i][color=A0A0A0]Don't let them wound you, and strike to kill.  Easy enough,[/color][/i] Fleuri thought as he adjusted his helmet and readied his sword.  He took up a defensive position around Lady Cazt, heeding the captain's orders to defend the girl.

The Golden Boars had picked the wrong fight.  Between this and the fort, these already infamous mercenaries were now an explicit enemy of Thaln and for all the knights knew, accomplices of this terrible conspiracy.  With that in mind, this probably wouldn't be the last time the Iron Roses would cross blades with the Boars.

The first hound to get within sword range of Fleuri would find its head split in two by a downward swing of his greatsword.  As much as he preferred going on the offensive like Tyaethe was currently doing, his orders were to protect, and that is exactly what he would do.

Besides, he didn't have the luxury of a vampire's sheer durability, or the immunities that undeath conferred.