(Eden Blackthorn and Bob Francis)
Donnan was taken back to the tower and then to his own home that had been built on the Tower grounds, giving the family much needed privacy. Elea had used her ring to heal Donnan as much as she could. For the next four to five weeks, Elea had provided healers to do whatever they could with Donnan's mangled back. For the most part, he would recover almost fully. What he needed now was rest, good food, exercise and love.
This did not help Elea's guilty conscious. Donnan did not seem to blame her. Valaria, amazingly enough, did not either. No one seemed to blame her for the torment and dishonor that Donnan had gone through. Only Elea seemed to realize the extend of the consequences of her actions. It was all her fault. She had ordered another woman's death as if she truly was the daughter of a Duke. Even if the world believed her to be Reynald's daughter, she knew better. How could she have taken the facade so far? She had no schooling in ruling. The only schooling she had was in how to be a bard and spell singer.
Still, Donnan and Valaria had Elea over a lot of the time. Aunt Elea was loved by all three of Donnan and Valaria's children. She found herself spending many joyful hours with the triplets and tried to be of help to Valeria as much as possible. Goldenmane was also very good and very, very patient with the triplets. Between them trying to swing on his tail and pulling on his large mane, he was constantly the object of the three's attention whenever he and the kids were in the tower together. Even with this, Elea thought that Goldenmane was very fond of the triplets. Bretonius and Ballarius were another matter. They were fine with the children when they were around them, however with Bretonius being so ill and Ballarius being gone much of the time, they did not spend very much time in the company of the children.
Elea went to her garden, the one with Britage's headstone. She stroked the band on her wrist, wondering how she could ever be a good duchess to his people. She wondered about the now dead Morena. Wondering if she had acted in haste. She had been so sure, when it happened. Now, Elea was paralyzed with indecision. 'I don't know how to rule. I may have killed an innocent woman.'
Her thoughts drifted to Donnan. He was recovering - slowly. They had not spoken about the trial or the punishment at all. The topic never came up. Still, Elea felt like she owed him something. It was her act - her command, that had destroyed his life. He had almost been crippled. He was dishonored and banished. Elea wanted to make it up to him anyway she could.
Suddenly, she heard Be'ornhelm's voice. "Elea, I need to speak with you on an important matter as soon as you can." He was talking to her through the Tower.
"Tower, can you tell where Be'ornhelm is, at this time?" Elea asked, frowning.
"Yes Mistress, he is in the East garden, awaiting your presence" the disembodied voice told her.
"Tell him I'm on my way." She hurried from her garden to where Be'ornhelm was - wondering what was wrong. As Elea entered the garden, Be'ornhelm began to get up, Elea gestured for him to stay seated. "I came as soon as I got your message. " Elea said as she sat down beside him. "What's wrong?"
He stopped to look at her critically. She was in all black, her hair pulled back from her face. He knew why she was doing it. And, try as she might, her beauty shown through her harsh look. "Black is not your color."
Elea frowned. "You know why I'm in black. Now, what's wrong? You sounded concerned."
Gently taking Elea's hand, Be'ornhelm began, "As you know, when you and the others rescued your father, he was badly injured. He had both legs broken and several ribs. Not to mention all the cuts and bruises he sustained. All these injuries can be healed with time, food and rest and a little magic to shorten the time." Elea nodded her agreement and understanding as Be'ornhelm spoke.
He continued, "As I said all can be healed in time and with proper treatment. However, Bretonius is suffering from and injury that those very same things cannot heal. Only he himself can do it and from what I've seen, he has lost the Will and Spirit to do so. It seems that all he wants to do now is sit in his hover chair in his favorite garden. When he wants to go somewhere else he just teleports to that location. He does not appear to even want to try to walk or work again. I see him from time to time spending a great deal of time in the garden staring at Britage's grave. I believe, that somehow, he feels partly to blame for Britage's death. I try to get him to open up and talk, but as of now, he has refused."
"I know the trial had his interest. He had something, someone to fight for, other than himself. But once we got back here... he closed up inside himself." Elea leaned forward a bit bringing her hand to her forehead, partially covering her eyes. "Let me think on this for a while and I'll see what I can do. I may have an idea or two, but I need to think it through." she did not finish the thought aloud as she left the garden. 'I need to think it through, before I make another horrible mistake.'
Elea went back to her garden. She paced. Now, she had her father and Donnan to worry about. "What can I do about Bretonius? How can I give him back the fire in his eyes?" She mused aloud, biting her lip. She had the glimmer of an idea that could be risky, but just might work. The knocking on the door to the garden interrupted her thoughts. She turned to look. Her heart leapt to her throat. It was Donnan.
"Am I interrupting?" Donnan asked.
"No. No. Please, come in, sit. Did you walk here?" Elea moved to his side, but he waved her away.
"Yes. I needed the exercise." He grunted a little as he sat. "I need to get back into top swashbuckling shape." He grinned at her.
Elea tried to grin back. This was the first time in the six-seven weeks that they had been back at the Tower that they were alone together. She felt odd, shy. Like a schoolgirl standing before the school headmaster.
"Elea." Donnan gestured to the opposite seat. "Please, sit. We need to talk."
Elea stomach hit the ground. 'This is it. Donnan is going to tell me that he hates me. That we are no longer partners. That... That...' Her mind spun out of control as she almost collapsed into the chair. She was very pale and knew it. Biting her lip, she tried to gather her courage to deal with whatever it was that Donnan was going to tell her.
Donnan took one look at her face and decided to get to the point immediately. "The trial. I knew what was going to happen. I knew you were going to be pardoned. I knew I was going to be found guilty. I knew that I would be drummed out of the Knights of the Hart and pain whipped. I knew all of it. It was a set up from the very beginning."
Elea blinked at him. She heard the words but her mind needed a few moments to grasp the meaning behind them. "You.... knew it?"
Donnan nodded. "Yes. I knew it. Your father and Sir Aaron came to see me the night before."
"Bretonius knew?" She sputtered.
"No. I mean Reynald and Sir Aaron came to me. They told me that the trial was a sham." Donnan sat back. "Now, I want to tell you everything but, I'm going to make you promise me two things."
"Anything." Elea responded and meant it.
"First, you are not to repeat this to anyone. At all. I mean it." Donnan looked at her hard. "Do I have your word on that."
"Yes. I give you my word."
Donnan sighed and shifted to make himself more comfortable. "Sir Aaron and Lord Reynald came to see me. They told me that the Emperor was going to pardon you, but I was to be found guilty. The nobles needed their scapegoat. It had all been decided before the trial."
"So, it was a dog and pony show." Elea's stomach was tight, knowing that Reynald somehow had a hand in this.
He nodded. "However, since this was going to happen, Sir Aaron thought to make the best of the situation." Donnan's voice grew bitter. "He knew that banished or not, I would still be seeking to rescue my father. He offered me a way back into Furyondi Knights of the Hart."
Elea watched him, wondering what made him so angry. "What was it?"
"I was to rescue something else while rescuing my father. If I rescued that one thing, Sir Aaron would proclaim that this had all been a set up, so that I could rescue my father and this thing." Donnan glared into the past.
"Thing...?" Elea frowned. "Save a thing?"
He nodded shortly. "A sword. A holy artifact. Do remember the story I told you about your family sword?" She nodded. "Well, Janort had that sword on him when he was captured. El Cortina."
"But...?" She frowned more, knowing that that artifact had be buried with it's creator.
"Yes. I know. Sir Aaron, over the wishes of Reynald, four decades ago had the artifact retrieved from its' resting place. Apparently, after much debate, Janort agreed to carry it, but never used it. The Knights of the Hart were very upset at its loss." Donnan's voice had gone coldly neutral.
"A sword. They will reinstate you if you rescue a sword?" Elea felt her anger rising. "What of Janort or anyone trapped with him?"
Donnan shook his head. "Sir Aaron did not care. What he wanted was the sword."
"They had you dishonored, your family sword broken, you tortured - all for the sake of a stupid weapon??" She was disgusted.
"Yes... and no. I would have been found guilty, no matter what. Sir Aaron found that this could be useful to him, as my father is being held in the Bandit Kingdoms." He shifted in his seat. "Oh, Reynald did save my family sword. The one that was broken was a fake."
Elea paced. "That's good. Reynald is a good man."
Donnan sighed. "There is one more disturbing bit of news. Sir Aaron hired Tranthor Lore to kill off Morena's family. 'Culling of bad blood,' he said. Reynald and I were really upset about this, but there is no way to get in touch with Tranthor now."
Inwardly, Elea was not too upset that Tranthor was killing off Morena's family. Lady Ophelia and Morena had both proven themselves to be cold hearted, sadistic women. She wished that it had not been Tranthor who had been hired. Elea also wondered at the head of the Furyondi Knights of the Hart sending assassins after a family. That did not seem particularly good or noble to her. Pushing her thoughts to the side, she turned. "What will you do?"
"The first thing I need to know - are coming with me?" He looked up at her.
She blinked. "Of course, I am! Why would I not?" Elea was stunned that Donnan would think that she would abandon him at this time.
He smiled. "Just making sure. Now... you have to promised me this - You will do nothing to endanger yourself to get El Cortina. Once Janort is safe, the sword is nothing. We will get it if we can. If we can't, do not try. Do I have your word, Elea?"
She thought of trying to distract him so she would not have to give her word, but something within her said that that would be a bad idea. He was trusting her with this. Finally, she nodded. "You have my word."
Donnan relaxed and smiled. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that. So, how is Bretonius?"
"Not good. He's curled in on himself. After the trial, he lost interest in a lot things. Be'ornhelm tells me that the Council of Nine wishes to see him. They want him to take up his duties again."
"Do I hear my name being taken in vain?" Be'ornhelm was at the door. He waved Donnan to stay seated.
Elea smiled. "Yes. We were discussing my father."
Be'ornhelm frowned. "I think the best thing for him would be to return to Greyhawk and heal as he recovered his strength. But, he won't hear of it. He doesn't listen to me anymore." He shook his head.
Donnan frowned. "What can we do?"
Elea hrmed. "I have an idea... but, what do you think? If all he does is teleport around the tower and brood... what would happen if he no longer had access to the Tower's power? He refused to take it back from me. He told me it was my tower now."
Donnan laughed. "I think... I am too tired to go home yet." He settled in for a front row seat.
Be'ornhelm looked at Elea. "That just might work. Though... be careful... when's the last time you were spanked?"
Elea grinned. "If it puts the fire back in Father's eyes, it will be worth it." She instructed the tower to no longer accept orders from Bretonius. Then, the three of them sat back and waited.
It did not take long before Bretonius was asking for a word with Elea. She told him that he could come up to her office and speak to her. When he finally made it up to the office, the ensuing conversation, and a few well placed barbs from Donnan, convinced Bretonius that it was time for him to do some personal healing - in Greyhawk. Bretonius and Be'ornhelm agreed to a leave date and Elea allowed Bretonius access to the tower again. All in all, Elea was relieved that her gambit had worked. Though, suddenly, she would be without a majordomo to help her with the tower. After some discussion with Donnan and Be'ornhelm, Elea decided that she would approach Be'ornhelm's friend, the Sage Alagorn about the position.
Elea was still disturbed that the trial had been a sham and that the Head of the Furyondi Knights of the Hart, Sir Aaron, seemed to be so cold minded over the rescue of the holy artifact over any people who were prisoners of Iuz... and that Tranthor was out there killing off Morena's family - hired by Sir Aaron, himself.
It all led back to an unseen, unknown enemy. Someone was pulling the strings. Someone had been trying to kill off Donnan and her. Was it connected with the attempted assassination of Duke Reynald and the sham trial? Where did the Furyondi Knights of the Hart fit into all of this? What was the over all goal? Who was behind it? Elea had so many many questions and no answers.
Continue on to: 25. Loose Ends