As soon as the young king finally stops, the village people break out into conversation among themselves. They talk in hushed whispers, cupping their lips to each other’s ears so that they cannot be overheard. Meanwhile, Thoren sits quietly in his own thoughts.
Finally, the elder opposite Arthur on Thoren’s other side taps him on the arm. He bows his head but even still she has to get up from her seat to whisper into his ear.
“The colony sent birds out before you arrived. The letter gave us strict instructions about what to do if you came here. It also contained a message,” says Thoren.
“What message?” asks Orrian.
A portly white-haired man on our right pulls out a crumpled roll of parchment and hands it down towards us. I lean over Orrian’s shoulder as Damaris leans over the other.
People of Tarrin,
A group of highly dangerous individuals have declared war against our people and the treaty. Their leader, Orrian, calls himself king and has led an army that has taken countless lives from the colony. These animals are a wild group of savages, intent on upsetting the peace we have all worked so hard to maintain.
These murderers were in captivity but have unfortunately managed to free themselves after brutally killing numerous fine soldiers. We now ask you to be wary of them if they try to approach you, for your sake and ours you should let us know immediately if they do. As a reward, we will lessen our requirements from you if you hand them over to us. You will earn the king’s favour and you will be honoured suitably.
One of the killers is a known traitor from the village of Avlym, which as I’m sure you are aware recently rebelled against our alliance. We do not want to hunt down the remainder of Avlym’s people, they have suffered enough. However, if you are harbouring them you should know that this group will likely try and contact you. It should also be noted that without these felons, Avlym’s destruction would never have occurred.
I must warn you that if any village is found to have let these people or their associates into their home they will be dealt with appropriately. I ask you not to forsake the peace over these lowlifes. We have stood together for too long and it would be foolish to let hospitality towards criminals come in the way of that.
Now, a message to the false king should he be reading this. You have abandoned your people and slaughtered ours. We appreciate that you could leave and we will likely never find you, but we urge you to do the right thing. We were generous and merciful, yet you betrayed us. Hand yourself over to us and we will spare your people. I hope it is clear what will happen if you don’t.
Too much blood has been needlessly shed, stop this madness or forever be hunted as an enemy of the crown.
In the name of his majesty,
King Breyden II
I sink back into my chair before Orrian and Damaris have finished reading. Tarrin’s village council all watch Orrian expectantly. A couple of seconds pass before the forest king lays the letter down on the table and raises his head to meet them.
“Well?” asks Thoren.
“We are clearly not the people they describe here,” Orrian begins. “They burnt down our home and then hunted the rest of us down. We only ever fought back in self-defence. Please, believe us.”
“It’s not a matter of believing you, we know what the colony’s like,” a villager says.
“It’s the question of why should risk ourselves to help you,” the woman on their right says.
“Because it’s what’s right, because we all know who the real enemy is!” I blurt out.
The woman turns to me with a patronising look on her face, “Obviously we know that they’re the enemy, but your home is gone and ours is very much still standing. I think we would all like to keep it that way.”
“I say we hand them over as soon as possible,” says the overweight man that had passed us the letter.
“No! These are our people!” Arthur steps in defiantly. I was wrong to ever suspect the man of evil, even after we left him and his home has been destroyed his loyalty towards his people is as strong as ever. My mother was right to leave Alice in his care, I’m sure he would die for her if he had to.
“I will not have him handed over to the colony, he is one of us,” Arthur continues.
“Careful Arthur, you’re lucky we’re allowing your people to stay here at all. Now you want us to risk our own necks for them and a group of strangers?” warns the woman next to Thoren. The enormous warrior stays silent.
“What would you have us do? I assume you weren’t planning on just collecting the girl and leaving,” someone asks Orrian.
“I want to fight,” Orrian answers simply
The room explodes into a frenzy of reactions. Some outright laugh, others scoff, and one even rises to his feet and shakes a wrinkled fist in our direction. Still, Thoren keeps motionless and voiceless.
“Fools! You dare to challenge the colony!” the overweight man bellows.
“Yes,” Orrian confirms boldly.
“This is insanity!” one of the elderly ladies’ sneers at the young king. “Let’s tie up this one already and hand him over.”
Damaris’ chair flies backwards as she launches onto her feet, her sword is already free and pointed towards the lady. “Quiet, hag.”
“Sit
