Madonna

June 20th, Albanus 1.  Evening.

[Out-of-time insert.  Leyna's conservation with her father, held now because Simone won't be able to make it for two weeks.]

As dusk fell, Leyna knocked on the door of her father's inn with trepidation.  "Who is it?" he said.  "It's me," Leyna replied, using one of her childhood nicknames for the General.  Immediately the door flew open to reveal the imposing figure of her father Martialis.  Moving quickly, the General threw his arms wide and...

...scooped Leyna up, smothering her with kisses.  Babbling very un-stoic things like, "You'realrightyou'realright oh thank the gods you'realright."  It took several minutes for Leyna to assure him that she was essential okay, even if she was slightly bent, folded, spindled and mutilated.  Where were her cousins, Martialis asked her.  Where they alright?  Leyna hedged her answers.  Her cousins were fine, she said, but not here.  And she wasn't sure she could contact them.

Quickly, Leyna gave Martialis the scoop on what had happened since Count Arius' death, hoping he'd say that the King, Surilla, and Magnus Tillaford were involved in some sort of demonic cult.  Martialis, however, blamed Surilla.  "She's always hated my brother.  I know she's close to the king, and she may well be conspiring with Magnus Tillaford.  Hell, she may even be worshipping demons;  there's not much I'd put past her.  The king needs to be warned about this."

Leyna objected that the king was part of the conspiracy too, however her father steadfastly refused to accept this.  Yes, he'd killed Count Arius and that tore Martialis apart.  "But he was a traitor.  As much as I love him, my brother was a traitor the moment he raised a dagger against the king..."  His daughter objected that Countess Matina would never be unfaithful to her husband.  "She confessed to me," Martialis said, shaking his head.  "Before she committed suicide."  People can be forced to say or remember false things, Leyna countered.  Even do things against their will.  At that, the General's eyes narrowed.  "Indeed.  And Surilla is a skilled enchanter.  Perhaps she enspelled Matina when she visited the capitol, knowing full well that my brother could never endure such an insult."

What about Arius' words?  Leyna pointed out that Arius warned them that, "the king, the Tower, and the Temples are all part of it."  Who had delivered this message, Martialis asked.  Abbot Micarius.  Her father shook his head.  "I would take anything Micarius says with a grain of salt.  He's not in the best favor with the Temple of Legis.  Phinias, the Pontifex Supremus of the Temple of Legis, has passed him over for promotions, several times."

Trying another tack, Leyna suggested that perhaps the king was ensorcelled.  Her father insisted this was impossible.  "The king is checked regularly for malign spells."  Who checked him?  "Phinias mainly, but all of the pontifices supremi.  And Archmagister Avena of the Tower."  So the Tower and the Temples, Leyna prodded... like Arius had said?  Martialis scowled.  "I find it easier to believe that one jealous man falsely reported my brother's words, rather than that there's a conspiracy that involves the greatest clergy and mages of Rostilla."

Finally Leyna brought up the problem that worried her the most.  A paladin (she said, leaving Titus anonymous) had told her that he'd detected the trace of something nefas about her father.  Martialis listened to the tale, incredulous.  "I've heard Tillaford and the king say that paladins were Viridian spies," he murmured, shaking his head.  "But until now I've never seen any evidence of that.  Clearly this Viridian bastard, whoever he is, is spreading false rumors that the commander of High Hold is unclean."  Why had Surilla told Tillaford that Martialis "was ours"?  That, her father couldn't explain.  "You say she schemes to be queen.  Well, perhaps she meant I was loyal to the king 'and her'."

Was he enspelled?  No;  like the King, the Generals were routinely checked for malign spells, lest Viridia should use magic to compromise the safety of the borders.  Maybe he truly was unclean?  No, Martialis insisted.  He knew himself, he knew what he'd done.  There was nothing wrong with him.  It was a faint trace, Leyna replied, perhaps a sign of something he was considering doing.  When he'd thought that she was dead, that everyone he cared about was lost, had he contemplated anything drastic?  At that, her father paused, uncomfortable.  "My thoughts turned... dark, I will admit.  But if that's what caused the 'shadow' this paladin says he saw, it should be gone now that I know you're alive.  We just need to find Titus..."

With that, Martialis announced what people were going to do.  "Larentius and I need to continue on to Surrexus.  I have Matina and Arius' bodies;  they have to have proper burials."  Leyna asked if he was sure he had the correct bodies.  Martialis nodded.  "I cremated Matina myself, in High Hold.  The King turned my brother's body over to me when I asked it, and let me burn him as well.  Brennus' body is still in Molossus, I believe."  Martialis explained that Tillaford had sent men into Molossus, supposedly on the king's orders, to bring Brennus before the king in Rostilla.  Brennus resisted, and was killed.  He mentioned briefly that there were several deaths, and that the situation was very tense at the moment, then continued giving orders.

"You," Martialis told Leyna, "will come with me.  When I've done my duty to my brother, I'll take you back to High Hold, where you'll be safe."  Leyna objected about going to Surrexus;  Surilla would be watching him.  "Let her," Martialis snapped.  "I've got a squad of good soldiers and she's a coward."  She suggested that she'd be safer on her own... an idea that made her father burst out laughing.  "Look, it's dumb luck that you've survived this fa... don't look at me like that.  Yes, it's dumb luck.  Titus was with you?  Well, alright, perhaps Titus kept you safe.  But he's not here is he?"  And, um, if he was?  Leyna said, batting her eyes.  After some argument, the General agreed that if Surilla thought she was dead at the moment, perhaps she would be safer with her cousins.

"But it is critical," he said, "that your cousins swear fealty to the king.  The king needs to know that they're loyal, that they won't rise up against him because of this.  If they give hommage to him, he'll elevate Ti... well, Severus I guess, unless Titus chooses to remain in Rostilla.  If they don't, the king will name Larentius count.  Or me, if Larentius abdicates.  I have no desire to steal my nephews' birthright -- but those are the laws of succession, if my brother's children will not serve the king.  So it is imperative that they go to Rostilla and submit."

With that, Leyna went to "search" for her cousins, so that they could talk to her father as well.