The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1249: This Isn’t The Big Secret? (Part One)

Loghlan didn’t know what to say, and neither did Mairwen. The baron had warned his son that he shouldn’t share anything too sensitive. The time for that would come after the dinner, when they could speak in private! There were children present for this dinner, for Light’s sake!

But the young knight, Ollie, had the audacity to call Lord Owain Lothian, the man who was about to ascend to the throne of Lothian March, a liar, and he’d done it in front of half of Loghlan’s knights and their families.

As a baron of the march, if Loghlan didn’t take him to task for that, then it would set a terrible example for his knights, but when he did, it had been his own son who supported this ’Sir Ollie’ with a claim that the young knight had been present at a battle that was claimed to have no survivors. Or at least, no survivors among the defending soldiers.

"We’ve heard a rumor," Mairwen said, recovering from the shock somewhat faster than her husband had. "That Lady Ashlynn was taken prisoner by the demons who attacked the summer villa, and that she might still be alive," she said, shocking the knights at the table. "Sir Ollie, are you saying that this is false as well? That you were able to help Lady Ashlynn escape from the demon attack on the Villa?"

"And how do you know this, son?" Loghlan added. "Is it because you went to visit Lady Ashlynn at the Summer Villa when you disappeared?" The timing felt about right, but what was his son doing running off to the Summer Villa instead of coming home after Lord Bors had made his decision about sending reinforcements to Hanrahan rather than Dunn? Was Liam trying to get Lady Ashlynn to pressure Lord Owain into supporting them?

At this point, the flap of the tent opened to reveal several servants bearing steaming platters, fresh from the camp’s cook fires, and everyone present seemed to have the good sense to hold their tongues, waiting in pensive silence.

Or at least, almost everyone. Taliesin and the other young children at the second table fidgeted restlessly, torn between the desire to fill their plates with slices of roasted duck and piles of stewed winter vegetables and the desire to hear about the exciting battle at the Summer Villa until Sir Brennus’s son, the squire Cadeyrn, gave them a stern, warning look.

"I missed Lady Ashlynn’s assault on the Summer Villa," Liam said once the servants had withdrawn. "She and Sir Ollie had already left with their forces when I received Lord General Thane’s ’invitation’ to speak with Lady Ashlynn," he said, emphasizing the word ’invitation’ in a way that made it clear that it wasn’t an invitation he could refuse.

"Wait, wait..." Sir Gavin said, looking between Lord Liam and Sir Ollie in confusion. "Lady Ashlynn’s assault on the Summer Villa? Not a demon attack? And who is Lord General Thane?" Gavin asked, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar title.

"He’s the knight who trained me," Ollie offered, finally answering the question that Baron Loghlan had asked, though the unfamiliar name didn’t help anyone place man. "Him and Sir Marcel," he added, giving everyone at the table yet another unfamiliar name.

"But Liam," Ollie continued in an attempt to be humble and honest. "I wouldn’t say that I fought in the battle at the Summer Villa. I bungled things at the side gate badly enough that I took an arrow to the stomach for my trouble. Virve is the one who broke through the gate and charged the walls. I just organized the rescue of everyone inside the Villa."

"You say that like it’s a small thing, but it can’t have been easy keeping everyone calm in the middle of all that," Liam said, unwilling to allow Ollie to diminish his own accomplishments. "I met Captain Ipiktok at the Battle of Hanrahan. He and his men are... more than a little intimidating to be around. Just managing to lead people away from the Summer Villa without anyone fleeing or getting hurt doing something foolish is something I doubt I could have managed."

At this point, everyone at the ’high table’ was staring at Liam and Ollie with wide eyes and slack jaws. Sir Ollie and Lady Ashlynn had been the ones assaulting the Summer Villa, not demons? And they did it in order to rescue people? And then there was Liam’s casual mention of the ’Battle of Hanrahan’?

"All right, all right, stop," Loghlan said, raising his hand and pressing a fist to his forehead as he briefly closed his eyes in thought. "We can’t hear this tale in pieces; it’s just going to confuse things. Let me see if I understand what you’re saying, and we can fill in the bones from there," he said before pausing to gesture to the food. "And eat, everyone, please, eat, don’t wait for me to start," he said, shooting the children at the second table a warm smile.

"First," Loghlan said, turning to face Ollie. "You’re saying that Lady Ashlynn wasn’t staying at the Summer Villa, but that she led an attack against it? How long ago did she leave the Summer Villa, and what reason does she have to attack it now?"

"Sir Ollie," Liam said with an awkward expression on his face. "You don’t have to..."

"No, it’s fine," Ollie said. "Part of it at least. I don’t mind telling the story, and I think it will help the rest to make sense. Your father’s right, Liam," Ollie added politely. "We may not be able to share the greatest secrets at the dinner table, especially with children present, but the story of Lady Ashlynn’s first visit to the Summer Villa and a little bit about why she returned to it shouldn’t be too much."

"Then you can tell them about the Battle of Hanrahan and Sir Hugo’s cousin," Ollie suggested, hoping that Liam understood his intention. After all, the story that Ollie was preparing to tell was true, but the conclusions that the knights of Dunn would draw from it were a different matter entirely.