Honour Rae
patreon
B3 Ch10: Overdue Explanations
🕑 Added 2023-04-07 23:23:15 +0000 UTC** Re-edited Nov '23**
Arthur and Cressida watched their dragons fly off toward the crafting cave.
Arthur sighed. "I have a feeling that those two are going to get in trouble. But…" He trailed off.
Cressida sighed in agreement. "Yes, they are going to get in trouble, but we can't watch over them every second. They're growing up and would be flying freely in Wolf Moon.”
“This isn’t Wolf Moon, and we aren’t here voluntarily,” Arthur muttered, though he wasn’t arguing.
He… wasn’t even certain he was all that upset about being forcefully taken away from his home hive. He knew he should be, but he’d felt nothing but varying degrees of overwhelm and irritation back at Wolf Moon for months now.
And the idea of a hive he had not known ever existed was fascinating.
Cressida visibly shook herself, then turned to look at Arthur. She tilted her head towards red Laird, who was waiting patiently for them to continue their discussion as if he had all the time in the world. Maybe he did. Arthur didn't know how long he had stalked Baron Kane’s security cart before he finally struck outside his village.
Meanwhile, Chablis had made her way over to the blue pair and was talking to them in a low undertone. Arthur didn’t like that – certainly didn’t trust his… What? Kidnapper? Suddenly nice jailer? But, after a moment’s consideration, he gestured for Cressida to walk with him to the red dragon.
He didn’t trust Chablis but he’d waited for literal years to ask the red questions.
"So, you know Laird?" Cressida asked.
"Well," Arthur blew out a breath, "he gave me my Master of Skills card."
Hearing them, Laird turned his head their way. "Yes, that was quite the day. I had no idea that the seed I planted in the border village would someday bear fruit. Though, I was told it would be profitable."
Cressida spoke before Arthur could ask what that was meant to mean.
"So… you truly lived in a border village?"
"I told you that," Arthur said.
She gave him a look. "You've told me many things since I've known you. I don't know what to believe anymore."
Arthur flushed and Laird chuckled. "Well, I, for one, can verify that I discovered this man, then a young child —”
“I wasn't that young," Arthur muttered.
"—in quite a dire border village under the Baron Kane estate. Despicable place. Ruled by a despicable man," he added.
Cressida looked at Arthur with a hard-to-read expression. "How bad was it?"
"Not the worst that I've seen," Laird answered before he could. "There are some border Barons who work their people to death in mines, or pluck out the pretty girls for their own uses. But Kane just lets them die of neglect and starvation, mostly."
Arthur shrugged. Those memories were like scar tissue in his mind – terrible, but hard to feel anything underneath. “He had his vindictive moments.”
"I'm sure," Larid rumbled. “However, I am pleased by the reports that came out of his barony after the loss of that card. You successfully kept it away from him, for which you have my thanks.”
"You told me that you would kill my family if the card ever fell into his hands." It seemed a little ludicrous now as an adult, but as a 12-year-old child, having a dragon threaten him had been very effective.
"That was an incentive. And look what you did with yourself," Laird said brightly.
Cressida looked between them before settling on Laird. "I don’t understand. Why would you give a card — a Legendary card — to a child you didn't know?"
Laird shrugged a massive shoulder. "What should I have done with it? Putting a Legendary card in my core would only poison me. Introducing a card of immense wealth into this community would poison it, as well. Humans would tear themselves apart for it. Or the Kingdom hives would get wind and come after us. No doubt they have their spies here, as we have in theirs," he added, with the cock of his head. "Plus," he continued, "I thought it would be funny to stymie Baron Kane. His own land would be the last place that he looked."
"He did look for the card in our village," Arthur said. "If he had thought to search the kids… He would've found me."
"But he didn't.” Laird sounded very self-satisfied. “And now he is leveraged under painful loans to pay the value of that card back. Unless he gets very lucky in his harvests, which I doubt—you've seen how hard he works—his family's wealth will be destroyed within a generation.”
Cressida asked, "Kane was using that card as payment, I take it?"
"Yes, to cover gambling debts," Laird said with a draconic smile. “That’s not his only problem: I still go by every once in a while to steal the best rams and ewes from his flock. Ask any shepherd. That is devastating.”
"It sounds like you know Baron Kane," Arthur said leadingly.
"I do. He is my late rider's grandson, kicked out of Blood Moon hive for deviant behavior—and that says a lot, considering the state of Blood Moon hive," Laird sighed. "But he had good blood on his father's side and managed to weasel his way into a barony. He is a dangerous, corrupt man. After he was shamed in the hive… my rider was never quite the same, and we dragons, unless we're killed in a scourge eruption, we live for a very long time." Laird's smile was all threat. “We remember grudges.”
So, this had all started as simple revenge.
Arthur felt like there was much more to the story–especially that line about profit— but there were immediate, pressing questions as well. “What are your plans for us here? For me and my people?"
Some of the maliciousness in Laird's demeanor drained away. He looked towards Chablis, who was talking to Tamya and Len, gesturing towards the hive.
"The Free Hive Counsel has been thrown into a tizzy," Laird said, drawing Arthur’s attention back. "They’re unsure whether to use you, kill you, or befriend you. Their hands have been tied by inaction."
“Or you could just let us go,” Cressida said.
“That was also discussed.” Laird made a gesture with spread wings as if to indicate the vast desert beyond. “After all, neither of you would be able to find your way back.”
Arthur and Brixaby could find their way back after they’d copied one of the shimmer green’s portal abilities. Of course, he didn’t say so.
Laird looked at Arthur as if to judge his reaction, snorted at whatever he saw, and then gestured back toward the mesa. "What do you think of our little hive?"
"I haven't seen very much of it," Arthur admitted, but then, as the red dragon looked on, he blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Mostly, I want to know if the people I left behind in the border village—the people suffering under Baron Kane-- would have a place here."
"Criminals?" Cressida asked, scandalized.
He turned to her. "Most are the families of criminals. They didn’t do the original crime. They were just unlucky enough to be related to the person who did."
Laird hummed under his breath. Though through a dragon voice, it sounded like a very threatening growl. "Our resources are stretched thin, but not that thin. We do have some extra resources, and it has occurred to me to snatch up the peasants under Baron Kane’s rule. The problem is, many have taken an oath to the king to remain there."
An oath that Brixaby could easily rip out of their heart decks, as he had done with his father. Arthur kept the lid on that, too. He sensed Laird was happy to find some leverage over Arthur – and that was what he’d been fishing for.
"I have taken my own oath to the king," Arthur admitted, "though I'm certain it's lighter than what condemned men and women were forced to give. More important to me, as a Legendary Rider, I have to fight the scourgelings, but..." he looked back over his shoulder towards where Brixaby and Joy had gone, "I also want to learn about this place."
"To be frank, Arthur, you and your dragon represent both a great risk and a hope. We don't have a Legendary card in our ranks. We could use somebody with extraordinary skills. But… as I said, having a free Legendary card in circulation is… a problem. Other Free Hives have ripped themselves apart fighting over one.”
“Only if you can take it,” Arthur said, resisting the urge to raise his hand to cover his heart.
“That is why the faction calling for your death hasn’t won the whole council over. Most see the value of a young Legendary pair allied to us.”
Arthur understood, then. At least partly. There had been power plays among the Kingdom Hives when Brixaby had still been in the egg.
The little byplay a few minutes ago atop the Mesa had been a test. When Arthur had proven to be reasonable, able to control Brixaby, and willing to wear the card locks, they’d decided to use a carrot instead of a stick. After all, killing a Legendary for his card was no simple matter.
I don’t want to join a random hive outside the Kingdom, he thought. Though a smaller voice added, I don’t know anything about them. Yet.
Laird looked to Cressida. "What about you? Your Rare pink is a meta—not with a knowledge card, I take it?"
She nodded blandly. "She has random insights."
Which was a very guarded explanation of quests.
Laird shrugged. “I’ll have to report that to the council, but I’m sure they’ll be glad to have you. We are a Free Hive--a community of outcasts. Many of the dragons are like me, who lost their first rider and did not want a second. There are just as many dragon pairs who just became disenchanted with their home hive for one reason or another."
Speaking of riderless dragons… Arthur looked around for Shadow and realized that the dragon was gone. He felt bad for not realizing it earlier.
Laird continued, "We only wish to live freely and scrape out a little piece of safety in an unsafe world. We don't want anything to do with the kingdom's drama.”
He said that, but earlier he had admitted to raiding Kingdom lands. Arthur didn’t point this out, but he exchanged a look with Cressida that told him she noted the same thing.
"I will allow you to settle in,” Laird said. “Meanwhile, do not remove those card locks or cause undue trouble. Look around the hive, explore, and ask questions. And get comfortable with the idea that this may very well be your new home.”
The dragon bunched up as if ready to leap into the sky.
“Wait,” Arthur said, “You said someone told you giving me my card would be profitable? What did you mean?”
If the dragon were human, he would have had a roguish smile on his face. “We don’t have a Legendary card here, but it doesn’t mean we do not have access to them.”
“What does that–”
Arthur was cut off as Laird took to the sky, the first down sweep of his wings throwing dust and grit in all directions. Raising their hands to cover their eyes, he and Cressida backed away. When Arthur looked again, he and Cressida were alone.
“He did that on purpose,” Cressida said. “So you’d seek him out again. He’s trying to dangle information in front of you like a worm on a hook, hoping you’d bite.”
“It’s working,” Arthur said. “Who gives a Legendary card to a random twelve-year-old kid from the borderlands?”
Cressida shrugged, looked like she was about to say something, then paused and bit her lip. Suddenly, she turned to him. "I'm still upset with you, you know," she said, suddenly. "You told me so many versions of your life, half the time I don’t even know which name to call you. But…” Her lips pressed into a line, “But I do realize you haven’t had it easy.”
"My father was Duke Rowantree,” Arthur said. They’d had a version of this conversation once, a few weeks ago just after he came back from that near-disaster with the King. He suspected she had been too shocked and angry to properly listen. “That’s my true last name. But my father was caught with Legendary cards from the same set. Now my uncle holds his title as Duke."
"Legendary cards from the same set,” she repeated. “That's treason."
"I have a pair of Legendries," Arthur countered.
"And rumor had it that the King almost killed you," she snapped.
He almost smiled. Was that worry he heard in her voice? "But I got special dispensation.”
Exasperated, she threw her hands in the air. "From what I heard, the king’s moods are… changeable.”
They hadn't spoken much about the king. Arthur had been a little shell-shocked when he came back. And every time he wanted to tell her the full story about what he went through that day, he felt the tug at his heart. It strained the loyalty he promised in the oath. Not a lot, but he didn't want to test it in case the king could feel it on his end.
Did the King think he was dead now? Or did the oath tell him that he was alive? Thankfully, it wasn’t strong enough to punish Arthur for leaving the Kingdom entirely.
"He is… uh, changeable. I'm certainly not out of danger. I have to get stronger for many reasons, but the king is certainly one of them," Arthur agreed.
Cressida looked briefly away. "Well, the bloodline of the Duke is certainly more powerful than the bloodline of a Baron."
Arthur's eyebrows rose.
"What?" She looked back at him. "That matters with the other nobles. And the Rowentree name is more powerful than the baron who lords over prisoners. It’s important to high-ranked people. Were you truly twelve when you received your card?"
Arthur almost asked why it mattered, but it didn’t hurt to answer. "Yeah. I left my village soon afterward and took the name of Ernest. He was my best friend at the time. He died.” He swallowed hard. "So many people die out there, Cressida. Laird spoke of neglect, but those are pretty words. You wouldn’t believe what it’s like unless you see it. The scourge-dust blows in from the deadened lands and sickens people. Any little cut risks your whole limb rotting out from under you. My best friend, Ernie, died because his mother was stupid enough to plant vegetables on lands that had not fully been healed by dragon soil yet. You have to sneak that sort of thing because growing your food isn’t allowed. Anyway, they didn't know until it was too late. The scourge rot ate them from the inside out."
"Oh, Arthur," she sighed.
He hadn’t spoken like this before. It was as if a crack in a dam he hadn’t been aware of had formed and everything came spilling out. “No one from a hive can understand. The people there don’t have cards. No one has cards, so they're completely susceptible to every sickness. Families starve and die for the sins of one family member. And yeah, technically the kids can leave, but only after they turn eighteen. They know nothing of the world, have no cards, and can't even read most of the time. Most stay just because there is nowhere else to go—" he stopped, hearing his own words turn into a rant.
She was quiet; simply put her hand on his shoulder.
… And he just couldn’t stop speaking.
"I'm sorry I lied to you," he said. "My name really is Arthur Rowantree, but until recently, that name wasn't safe. And it still might not be safe now. The King can change his mind about me anytime." More things – long-held fears and anxieties bubbled up from deep inside him, and he couldn’t stop them. "Valentina and Whitaker didn't prepare me to face the King. They didn't think I would survive, and they were right. I only got out thanks to luck. Now, the trust is gone between all of us. Whitaker is supposed to train me, but he barely does anything. He cancels more classes than he attends, and when he does bother to show up, I'm doing paperwork I barely understand—his paperwork he should have done months ago."
"Valentina allows this?” Cressida asked. “She doesn’t strike me as the type of woman who would."
"I think if she were even ten years younger, she wouldn't. But she's getting old," he said bitterly, "and when she dies, Whitaker is going to be in charge, and..." He couldn’t finish because inside he desperately worried that without Valentina’s influence, the entire hive would be up a creek without a paddle. Or worse, everything would fall on Arthur’s shoulders.
Emotionally flailing, he sidestepped topics. "Meanwhile, have you seen how Athena treats our class? She won't teach me anything because she's terrified of my rank. I know I made mistakes back at the eruption – I shouldn’t have let our class overly that mass of scourge – but I don't know what to do. I don't want to make the wrong move with people's lives in the balance.”
“Arthur, we saved a lot of lives back there… all those people who were trapped and couldn’t flee--"
"I know, but I got our dragons hurt by a Common scourgeling. If I had been thinking, I could have told another veteran group to go and save them. Then we could have searched for Woodmours’ card library. If we had gotten there earlier, maybe we could have done… done something." Though he didn’t know what. Then he stopped because he realized he was just kind of verbally vomiting all of his worries on Cressida.
In fact, she looked a little overwhelmed by everything.
"I didn't know this was going through your mind," she said. "You always look so confident."
"That’s my Acting skill," he admitted.
She half-smiled, her hand still moving up and down his forearm, almost like she was gentling a horse.
"Well, I think you did a good job. And, if it wasn't you in charge, it would have been me, and... I don't know if we could have done any better."
"Cressida, you and Joy anchor the class. I'm so glad I have somebody to trust. If I didn’t, I would've gone crazy a long time ago."
"Well, there's not much of a class now," she said. “Just me, you, and Tamya.”
They both went quiet at that.
After a moment, Arthur said, "If I understand things right, Wolf Moon thinks that we're dead."
Cressida winced. “If we don’t make it back, then eventually it’ll just be Whitaker in charge.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” He’d tried to make it a joke but it came out as more bitter than he expected.
She heaved a sigh and her hand dropped from his arm. “You’re not the only one with… reservations, Arthur. I was expected to either marry well or link with the Rare egg. And now that I have Joy, I’m expected to send extra card shards back to my father.”
“What?” He was shocked. “I didn’t know that.”
“I’m to send back any children I birth, too.” She shrugged as if it didn’t bother her, but Arthur could tell that it did. “My stipend as one of your Retinue would have more than covered what my father expected, even before harvesting from scourge eruptions.”
His fists clenched and he forced himself to relax. Even if the thought of walking up to Noble Icehouse and ripping the cards from his heart deck was tempting. He did share Brixaby’s power, after all. He just had never used it.
“You could just… not send him shards,” he suggested in what he hoped was an even voice.
“No, I can’t.” She crossed her arms, looking away. “I don’t want to talk about it. The point is, I have my responsibilities back at Wolf Moon, too.” She glanced at the mesa hive and there was unexpected longing in her gaze. “I know they’re playing nice, that this freedom to ask questions is either an illusion or a trap but…”
She trailed off and silence descended between them.
“We don’t have to decide now,” Arthur said. “We can take our time and learn about this place. That’s assuming they’ll let us leave without a fight.”
“Oh please.” Cressida rolled her eyes, but her next words were said fondly. “Sooner or later, Joy will get a quest to leave. Then nothing will stop her.”
He smiled and tilted his head toward the mesa. “Think it’s time we check on them?”
“We may as well.”
Comments
Gary Haynes
But do you like ice cream? I need to know before I agree to start a relationship with you.
Secular Reason
And if you've ever been in a relationship, you'll know that facts don't matter when emotions get involved.
Samantha Sandlin
I wonder what hold her father has on her that she has to send him shards and her children.
Gary Haynes
Need to know basis on something that can get you killed. And she didn't need to know. He was right in not telling her. And they weren't that close yet. But people judging others unfairly because of social conditioning is a problem at all ages.
Samot0423
I think what she's more upset about is the fact that they're pretty close and still he didn't feel safe telling her the truth. Plus, u say grow up and move on... this is a coming of age story, they are still growing
Gary Haynes
Yes, I agree, I'm just saying that to lie to create a cover story so you aren't unjustly executed isn't wrong. I am strong on values and morality, and would do the same as Arthur, with a clear conscience. So Cressida needs to grow up and move on.
Rubeno
She is just a young girl working on assumption without knowing the whole picture. Frankly it does feel realistic and relatable as I personally met very smart people having weird flaws that shouldn't have a place. It's part of character growth, isn't it?
begna112
Her character just screams development possibilities in the future. As Arthur comes to acclimate to higher society and improve his position, she seems likely to come to understand him and people of low birth and their struggles.
Reaper
The interesting question to me is is the long quest long by time permitted or is it listing lots of relationship goals to complete?
Gary Haynes
The whole idea that Cressida thinks she has been wronged by Arthur, or that he is a habitual liar, because she says he has told her so many different lies, that she can't believe him anymore, is ridiculous. Arthur made up a cover story so that he wouldn't be summarily executed. Once that fact is known, there is no more basis for Cressida acting like she was wronged. His father was sent to slow death in a border town because of the corrupt kingdom politics, not for being a traitor. To create a cover story to stay alive is not even a lack of character. Cressida needs to get over herself.
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter!
Reaper
Why lead one hive when he can lead two. The differing diverse resource pools combined can aid each other. It would need subterfuge and discretion though that shouldn’t be hard. There should be a few portal cards from greens available somewhere. Brix might need to eat multiple to get the full effect.
Reaper
She might have a specific card for her long life.
Nathan Sto
I'm not sure we're supposed to have much sympathy for the character in this regard. As you said, she's a stuck-up noble. This entitlement isn't pleasant, but it's part of what being a stuck-up noble entails. To put it another way, it's an unavoidable portion of her characerization as written. She's a noble who believes there's a proper method of interaction between nobles and commoners And; Arthur failed to obey that interaction, and worse, lied to her despite being a commoner Thus; She is angry.
I don't have much sympathy for how entitled Cressida feels to know Arthur's secrets and how bitter she is that he lied to her. He's lied to everyone about everything for years, even Horatio and the innkeeper who he knew much better and for much longer than her. She was and still sort of is a stuck up noble who would never have given Arthur the time of day if not for his fake identity. Hearing her throw petty barbs about it in front of their nominal captor is not doing her any favors in my eyes. While I have a hard time imagining Arthur settling down outside the kingdom, it does sort of feel like Wolf Moon is a lost cause for him. I've felt from the beginning that Valentina was near hostile in how she responded when he was repeatedly solving her problems for her. Getting him to link the egg and still return to their hive was their big lucky break and they seem to be actively blowing the opporunity.
Rubeno
I really thought that Arthur will be rather bent on going back as he can be a leader of the Wolf Hive and Brix is a predator at heart no mater how much he is personified as he needs prey without which in time he may even start attacking innocent dragons or people but arguments tk stay are strong in this Chap.
Rubeno
It may be emotionally problematic aside from lack of love at that moment due to Cressida problems with her noble family as marrying Arthur means marrying son of Duke even if disgraced which would be fulfilling wishes of her family she doesn't really love that much.
Rubeno
I too liked Penn but he is now Arthur's mortal enemy. MC can check out his cousins attitude whether it's really antagonistic to the point of mortal combat and if that's the case then mercy would be idiotic and pathetic
Rubeno
Tapping enemy and ripping cards on touch does not count as combat ability?
Rubeno
Wait so dragons live longer than humans? I thought thst they have identical lifespan sans exceptions like mythic considering old woman leader of the Wolf Hive and her clearly decrepit legendary dragon.
Arch Fiend
I want my training/learning arc back, give me back my training arc and finally learning some combat spells and arts, Please!
Arch Fiend
So I'm just wating for Arthur to rip someone's card from their heart.... Preferably his cousin Penn, even though I and Art kinda like him, we need that card though.
Arch Fiend
Bro I feel like the first quest joy and Cressida got was for Cressida to marry Arthur way back then, they still never told him about that particular quest which involves him.
Yeah, I read that part and thought, “oh!…oooo!”
Thaldor
The prospect of Arthur simply tearing a card from another man's heart is both terrifying and incredible 🤩
Leonard Bukowski
Sooooooo. Shadow is definitely staying at this hive - IE why haven’t we even thought of him so far…. DUA…. I have a feeling the salt water pair will stay too - they are common and never seemed like a confident fighting pair so this will be a good fit. Everyone has been asking for crafting and skill progression etc. so that is def coming up soon with Brix new chain mail fetish - I bet they will work together to make new things including learning runes and how to use them. I think they will be asked if they want to join the hive and they will end up joining but going back and forth between the two hives and using their influence to help the free hive with supplies etc and the new hive will take in families in need. Anyone else seeing a complicated love story with Joy???
juno
Yey for emotional growth and honest conversations! Thanks for the chapter :)
Good, they're finally clearing the air ^_^ they make Good partners, romance or no romance.
Michigo
Agreed, i like it a lot so far. Sure i REALLY miss Arthurs skill development stuff, but i'm sure that's a matter of pacing for the sake of early book 3 chapters.
Michigo
Shadow seems to be the old and tired type as well, he could be a good fit for the free hive.
Doug Wills
Book 3 is a banger so far.
wilfredo zurita
Thanks for the chapter
Flabiano Castillo
damn good writing, I could feel the anxiety 😂
Yay! Another chapter! I wonder what Shadow is up to?
Menphy
Thank you!
Rielgesh
"You told me you'd kill my family if the card ever fell into his hands" then two paragraphs later you say Arthur neglected to say that. Tftc!
Honour Rae
Ack! Fixed! Thanks :)
hmDrake
"I have a pair of I have a pair of Legendries," duplicate text
Flopmind
Thank you, Rae <3
