>>5233123>>5233128>>5233255>>5233267 "Garn, do you have a list of current personnel and their abilities and duties?"
He nods, drawing your attention to the scrolls he has secured in his waistband. "Of course, Captain-General. I have the full listing of Barathon's garrison and other staff with me just now. Brother Bardus has also helpfully dropped off a roster of your new initiates in the records hall. He has some of them working to reconcile the two and give you the full picture in utmost accuracy.”
“Thank you for your attentiveness, Garn. I think I have an idea Bardus may help me with. I'll leave you to it and go bother him instead.” The seneschal gives you a bow, and moves off to his other duties. You remember the wing of the castle given over to the archives, and begin to head that way. Two of the men at arms in the audience hall make to follow you, but you wave them off. Of course you have a harder time deciding what to do about the lone knight leaning against the doorway to the next wing. Friedrich. He looks like he has something to say.
“Captain-General, a moment of your time, if you please?” He says, voice level in the same detached monotone you've grown to be annoyed by during your journey together to Barathon.
“I have duties to see to, Sir, please be brief.” You try, somewhat unsuccessfully, to keep the frustration out of your tone.
He inclines his head. For once his helmet is removed, unlike most knights you have known the man is very rarely seen without it. His hair is short cropped and midnight black. A disfiguring scar twists his mouth into a sneer on one side, the scarring spreading up past his ear and to the beginning of his scalp. “Thank you. I will be brief. I believe you may be wondering why I swore to the Order after all.”
“I am, I can't deny.”
“The Emperor always intended for me to. He did not order me to swear myself away from his household against my will, but his wishes were made clear to me when he gave me the duty of your escort.”
“So, you are just following orders.” Your suspicion grows. Is he Alkaign's eye on you after all?
“Not exactly. When we arrived here I was resolved to leave with the troops returning to the Capitol. I also considered recommending your appointment be reconsidered, though the Emperor would not have heeded me. If I may be frank, I found you unimpressive.”
You raise an eyebrow. “Go on then.”
“You are reckless, I saw this when you dueled that savage, the very one you know keep as a pet. I saw it again when you charged ahead upon our arrival here. You owed your position to your personal relationship to the former heir and his family. I served the previous Emperor for twenty years. He had the same fault. The advice and service given him suffered.”
