DrowsyPangolin

When the Flames Die

Sophia wrapped an arm around Gareth, patting him gently on the head. "I'm so sorry Gareth..." She hugged him for a moment, releasing him when a large man approached the table. For a moment she was worried, afraid the man was there to ask more questions about the night's events when she was trying so hard to recover. Instead, his voice seemed to shatter the sense of dread hanging over the room, if only for a moment. He spoke with kindness, as if everything in the world was fine. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up to the man, forcing a smile. She had to compose herself, what would her mother say if she knew her daughter was falling to pieces in public? After taking a moment to gather her faculties, she replied to the knight. "Oh, greetings sir." Her smile seemed a bit less forced. The man seemed to emanate warmth, something she appreciated in such trying times. "My mother is doing quite well. Thank you for asking. Lyok is at peace, and the people love their Empress. She's busy, of course, always in meetings and the like, but she deals with it quite well, and her advisers are always helpful. She was very excited to make contact with Keilaudrin." The princess' voice took on a courtly tone, despite her disparaged state. While she spoke, she patted Gareth's hand reassuringly. She hadn't known the young man long, but she considered him a friend, and she worried for him.

Jezin's eyes gazed up at the wall of a man before him. He was quite large, and before he spoke his stature made him quite intimidating. The bodyguard half expected the man to begin interrogating them, but was surprised when he welcomed them warmly. He appreciated the change of mood. With the cloud of despair hanging over the room it was pleasant to see a friendly face. He shook the man's hand when it was offered to him, and smiled ever so slightly when the man mentioned the tournament match, something that felt like it'd taken place weeks ago even though it hadn't even been a day. "Oh you saw that, then? Thank you, I'm afraid it wasn't the best showcase, though." He chuckled slightly. Something about the man was reassuring, He looked from Sophia to Walden. Though he said nothing it seemed to be a silent gesture of thanks for brightening the princess' mood. "I don't believe I got your name." He was curious of the man's identity. Surely if he knew Cole personally enough to be chatting with him he was someone of relative importance.

When the Flames Die

Sophia glanced at Gareth, taking another short sip from her drink. She felt the liquid warm her stomach, but the feeling was barely helping her shaking hands. "I'm just... I'm trying to make sense of everything." She frowned when he said his position made him less important. "Royals, commoners, when things like this happen it doesn't even matter. We're all just people... scared people with no idea what's going on." She took another sip, wishing the drink would calm her nerves. Gareth's next question made sure that wouldn't happen any time soon. When asked about Thomas her hands began shaking more furiously than ever. She put her drink on the table, and any color that had returned to her face drained. Her eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling as she tried to speak. "He... he... um... he killed... he killed someone... J-Jezin..." She looked to the bodyguard, tears welling up in her eyes again.

Jezin looked across the table towards Sophia and grimaced. He patted the princess on the back softly before downing nearly an entire goblet of wine in a single gulp. "I'm sorry Gareth, he's in custody. He killed a woman and he's suspected of other serious crimes." The bodyguard's voice was flat and emotionless, something that may have come off as a bit harsh, but the boy had a right to know what happened to his friend, and Sophia was in no shape to form a coherent answer. "We found him after the feast, and I took him to Sir Redwyne Cole. He'll decide what will happen to him I imagine." Jezin looked down the length of the great hall to see Redwyne standing at it's entrance with a giant of a man. The other man with Cole was unfamiliar to the Lyoki, but he seemed to know Cole, as they were having a conversation. He stared long enough that at least one of the men would likely notice him.

When the Flames Die

Sophia looked around the great hall, scanning for familiar faces. The ill-fitting coat around her shoulders very nearly drug the ground as she walked through the building. Her eyes finally found Gareth sitting at a table looking quite downtrodden. She silently took a seat next to the half-elf and reached out from underneath the oversized coat, grabbing a goblet, which shook in her hands. She picked up a nearby pitcher, but the violent shaking in her hands caused her to spill a bit of the bright red liquid on the table. She frowned, feeling completely obliterated by the day's events. She reached for the pitcher again, but Jezin lifted it before she could, calmly pouring her drink and taking a seat beside her before pouring one for himself. They both needed it, after what they'd seen. After a long drink, Sophia spoke, her voice sounding frail and dejected. "H-hello Gareth. Are you.... are you alright?" Her voice shook.

When the Flames Die

Jezin nodded. "Right, I'll gladly appeared if need be, I doubt we'd manage to leave anyway." He waved a hand and turned on his heel before looking back at Sir Redwyne. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out." That was the second time someone had told him to watch out for Sophia in two days, and now he was a bit suspicious of everyone. Sir Redwyne seemed honorable, but he had spent too much time in bad situations to overtly trust anyone in their current predicament. He walked out of the Tower of the Thistle and walked towards the Great Hall, looking back at Sophia. The girl was still quiet, and seemed to be shivering. He frowned, removing his coat and stopping to drape it around her shoulders. He knelt on one knee in front of her. "Princess, I'm sorry for what you've seen tonight, but I promise you, I will protect you to my last breath. Everything will be okay." He smiled and stood, walking again towards the Great Hall.

Sophia had heard Cole's warning to Jezin, and was becoming increasingly nervous. What if she was next? People were dropping like flies, and she was a foreign royal. She shivered a bit, she felt like she was freezing, despite the warm weather. Jezin removed his coat and placed it around her, reassuring her that everything would be fine. For a moment she remembered the night he had saved her, he had said similar words then. She nodded and forced a smile, and followed the bodyguard into the Great Hall, which was nearly overflowing with people. It seemed everyone at the feast had been corralled here, at least for the time being. The pair stood in the doorway, looking for a place to sit.

When the Flames Die

Jezin's eyes narrowed when he heard mention of Arcartus. What were they doing in Keilaudrin? He listened to the remainder of Redwyne's speech, frowning at the phrase 'national hero', but keeping his mouth shut. The frown continued until Redwyne finished speaking. When he mentioned the Thomas was under suspicion for conspiracy, the bodyguard's eyes widened at the Morningstar's words. Conspiracy. He glanced at Thomas with confusion before looking back to Redwyne. What in the hell had he just walked into? Jezin regained his composure, looking to Redwyne again. "Right then, I'll leave you to this, then... Oh, and here's his sword." Jezin tossed Harmony into the air, catching it by the blade and extending the hilt towards Sir Redwyne. "Speaking of which, I'd like mine back as soon as possible. In the meantime, I suppose we should head to the great hall?"

Sophia stood silently behind Jezin and Thomas, her eyes glued to the floor for most of the conversation. She heard something about conspiracy and glanced up. Was Thomas a traitor? Everything was so confusing. She had been enjoying herself at a feast only moments before, and now everything had fallen to pieces. Her arms hung by her sides. She raised a single hand and wiped the tears from her eyes, though her face was still drained of color, and she was having to use every faculty available to restrain her own shaking.

When the Flames Die

Jezin followed the guard to the Tower of the Thistle, entering the tower with Sophia trailing a few feet behind. He nodded when the Morningstar told him to lower the blade. The bodyguard brought the brilliant white sword to his side and cleared his throat. "Sir Redwyne. I thought after what I witnessed you'd be the person to speak with." He eyed Thomas for a moment before looking back towards Cole. "After the events this evening, I took Sophia and fled, attempting to find somewhere safe during the chaos. We went to the interrogation room you'd taken me to earlier this evening. I was surprised to find the door locked and a number of weapons lying outside." The Lyoki glanced towards Harmony, which he still held in his right hand. "I knocked on the door and requested for Thomas to open it, recognizing his sword. After a while, he did." Jezin's face grew grim. "When he opened the door, I saw that he was injured, and noticed the furniture in the room had been overturned, suggesting a struggle. Against the far wall, I saw the body of one Lexine Tristan, a woman I met earlier at the King's tournament. Her head had been smashed repeatedly into the stone. Apparently during the struggle she blinded Thomas somehow, hence his injury." The bodyguard paused before continuing. "I questioned Thomas about what I saw, and he said he had determined Lexine was an enemy of the state, and dealt with her as he saw fit, he also claimed she made a move to attack him, and had brought weapons in despite being asked not to. I saw these weapons, three knives, all in their sheathes. If you inspect Sir Thomas you will be hard pressed to find any wounds from a blade. It is my belief that at least a portion of Thomas' story is a fabrication, as if she were, as Thomas says, a conspirator against the crown, taking her alive should've been his top priority. Also, there's this." Jezin reached into his coat pocket, removing the billfold and handing it to Redwyne. "Thomas claims it contains the names of other conspirators against the crown, I have not examined it, I figured such a task was better left to yourself." Jezin looked at Redwyne with the same seriousness he had maintained throughout. "Oh, and one more point. When I spoke with Lexine earlier today, she said she was the bodyguard of a 'Karl Leid'. If I'm not mistaken this is the man who fell from this very tower earlier this evening." The bodyguard's emotionless tone gained a bit of venom. "I thought the right thing in this situation would be to bring Thomas to you, and let you judge the actions of your knight. You'll find the body of Miss Tristan, along with all of her belongings, in the interrogation room."

When the Flames Die

Jezin remained silent for a while, leading the Knight of the Thistle outside and towards the center of the courtyard, where a few stragglers were still being led by various guards to the great hall. When they reached what was roughly the halfway point between the interrogation room and the great hall, and after Thomas finished his spiel, the bodyguard finally spoke. "In such situations prisoners are usually much more useful than corpses." He still couldn't wrap his mind around all the events of the night. First a man had been thrown to his death, and now a man he had previously seen as a friend had brutally murdered a woman. He couldn't shake the fact that if Thomas' story were true, the natural course of action would've been to restrain the woman. The difference in size and body weight had been vast, surely it wouldn't have been difficult for the knight to restrain her... unless that was never his intention. He glanced for a moment behind him, where Sophia followed quietly, her eyes glued to the ground. He could still see tears rolling down the princess' cheeks, even though she remained silent. The entire ordeal had shaken her up quite a bit. Knowing his current predicament would look incredibly suspicious, being a foreigner essentially holding a Knight of the Thistle hostage, he decided to forgo any attempt to search on his own. Jezin raised a hand and called to the nearest guard and motioned to both the sword in his hand and to Thomas. "I mean you no harm whatsoever, but I need to see Sir Redwyne Cole immediately." He kept the blade pointed at Thomas' back, but the voice he spoke with was significantly more calm than the one he had used earlier. "There's something he needs to know."

When the Flames Die

Jezin gritted his teeth. "I'll leave you to him, then, and we shall see just how good your deed was." Jezin raised the blade a bit higher when Thomas raised his chin away from Harmony's tip. A slight smirk crossed his face when Thomas devolved into throwing insults. "You're welcome to give your regards to every woman I've ever put in the grave, Thomas." He maintained his glare at Thomas. "Karl Leid and his entourage are none of my concern." He turned the blade again. "My concern is the fact that you have smashed another person's head into a stone wall until they fucking died." He took a step back, smirking at Thomas' last statement. "Careful what you say. A street urchin would slit your throat where you stand." He motioned for Thomas to come out. "Let's go to Sir Redwyne. If you make the slightest move towards one of the knives on the floor I will put this sword through your back faster than you can blink." He motioned behind him. "Sophia, come along. Stay behind me."

When the Flames Die

Jezin's eyes narrowed when Thomas called him 'sir'. His gaze refused to falter. "These documents are not mine to examine, Thomas. They will be delivered, along with yourself, to Sir Redwyne." He took the billfold and placed it in his coat pocket. Jezin kept the tip of the blade at Thomas' throat, fully prepared if the knight made any kind of attack. "It's funny, though, that you mention her 'devious cause'. I spoke to this woman at the tournament. She claimed to be a bodyguard for one Karl Leid. As you've been in here smashing her skull into a pulp, you'll be unaware that this man was thrown from the Tower of the Thistle mere moments ago. Perhaps all you did was murder a bodyguard, which would mean her charge's blood is on your hands as well." Jezin's faced remained unshakably serious. "Also, you made a point about her being armed... but none of those knives were used against you. They're clean, and you have no wounds from a blade." The Lyoki spoke one last time, with more venom than before. "I see no knight before me, Thomas, only a murderer. You will come with me. Now." He pressed the tip of Harmony's blade against Thomas' chin.

When the Flames Die

A fire surged behind Jezin's eyes as he took a step forward, kicking the stack of knives by the door and sending them sliding a few feet away. He raised Harmony's tip to Thomas' throat. He glanced at the battered corpse again, and then towards the pile of clothing nearby. He noticed three knives sitting on top of the pile, but none of them seemed bloodied. As a matter of fact, Thomas didn't seem to have any cuts or punctures that could've been caused by a blade. It seemed the woman had likely had no chance of getting to them during the struggle. "And tell me, Sir Thomas, is the usual method of execution in Keilaudrin smashing someone's head in? I hardly find that believable." Jezin turned the blade in his hand, still holding it next to it's owner's throat. A surge of anger overcame the bodyguard when Thomas recited his oath. "No man of any honor would do something like this. No knight deserving of their title would take a woman to a secluded room and beat her to death while off duty. Tell me Sir Thomas Morgan, was THAT in service of your king?! The king you abandoned while he was attacked outside?! I don't think I can believe that." He took a deep breath, his eyes locked on Thomas. "And if it was... then I'm sure Sir Redwyne and the other Knights of the Thistle will praise you for your good work here, don't you think? Why don't you and I pay them a little visit?"