The knight gave him a black look. “I am only one man. I just take heart knowing that the Governor of Landmoor will die when this is over. That he could betray the king like this…” He shook his head. “Well, justice will come due. And it will ride with hooves of thunder.”
Thealos cocked his head. “I didn’t know the knights were poets. What in Pitan makes you think that justice is coming?”
The knight regarded him and a cool smile lit his face. “I sent a message from Castun. A woodcutter agreed to carry it to Owen Draw for me. I paid him well enough to get the job done and promised him more if he could get it there in three days.”
“And will they answer it?”
“I sent it to the Knight General of Owen Draw. He should be the banned Champion of Owen Draw. Maybe he will get the title once Ballinaire is under the shovel.”
Thealos scooted back against the wall, letting his chains rest on his lap again. “And why won’t there be a Champion until Ballinaire is dead?”
“Ballinaire was the last. He destroyed a tradition of honor that had been with the knights of Owen Draw since we were established. You know we trace our origins to the Shae, don’t you?”
Thealos shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”
The knight leaned forward. “We do, Thealos. We patterned our order after the Crimson Wolfsmen. They were dedicated to protecting the Shae people and to defending the life of your king and his family. The knights of Owen Draw are the protectors of the kingdom and the life of don Rion and his family. It is our single duty. Our honor. In the past, there was one knight chosen as Champion of the realm. The one who had perfected his skills, the one who every other knight deferred to. He had power to lead the king’s army on his behalf, to stand in his place should the need arise. The next most powerful man in the realm, except maybe the heir to the throne.”
“Ballinaire,” Thealos said with a nod, remembering a little of Dos-Aralon’s history. “I knew he was originally a knight from Owen Draw – and that he did not lack for wealth or power. He fought during the Purge Wars, if I remember right.”
Sturnin Goff nodded savagely. “He won great honor for his courage. He was young back then, but already a great leader. No one ever questioned his loyalty. He was popular among the people and even won the respect of the Shae battle commanders. He was one of the few who defined the Accords of Dos-Aralon, giving the knights of Owen Draw power to command any garrison in the realm.”
“I did not know he had done that,” Thealos said, impressed. “So Ballinaire became Champion of Owen Draw after the Purge Wars. But when he rebelled against don Rion, it probably cast doubts on you all. It is easier to believe the evil in men than the good.”
“In no small way,” Sturnin Goff added with contempt. “There were many knights who remained loyal to the man and rebelled with him. It shouldn’t have lasted this long. The rebellion should have guttered out the moment he forsook his honor. For if a man would betray his king how could you ever trust him again?”
“Didn’t he rebel because he was not named the Duke of Owen Draw?”
Sturnin Goff nodded. “A right petty grievance, if you ask me. I guess it shows how far and deep hate and pride can go together.”
Thealos listened as Sturnin told him about the knights and their order. He had always wondered why the man was so aloof and distant, so unemotional about living and dying. He’d never thought to compare him to the Crimson Wolfsmen and their single-minded determination to protect the Shae. To the end, Sturnin Goff was a soldier who lived and breathed a life of trouble. His parents had both been killed during a Kiran Thall raid in Owen Draw. At first he wanted to be a knight to avenge them. But as he trained and studied the arts of war, he discovered that his pain was not the only pain in the valley. Many others had lost their homes, their families, even their lives because of the lightning attacks of the Bandit Rebellion. The Rebellion wasn’t strong enough to topple don Rion’s government. But it was too prideful to admit that, to try and soothe the wounds between an embittered Ballinaire and his king. Too many had died for there to be any forgiveness.
Thealos smiled fondly at Sturnin Goff. He was not a man with flowery words or fragile sentiments. Though hardened by years of war and training, he was still a man who wanted nothing more than the Rebellion to end so that peace could return and ease the suffering done to hundreds of shattered families. His duty would not allow him to quit until that end was accomplished. He knew many knights who had been killed by the Kiran Thall or trapped and outnumbered by companies of Bandit soldiers in the Kingshadow. In their memory, he continued to fight.