CHAPTER 906: NOT SAFE (PART TWO)

"I know you want to stir us up to fight," a white haired knight said from his seat close to Baron Hanrahan as he took up the conversation and kept it moving in the direction that Lord Ian clearly wanted it to move. "It’s good to remember that the demons are always lurking out there in the dark," he added as he took a heavy swig of wine. "But in more than fifty years, I’ve never seen the demons act like this. No demon has attacked villages in Hanrahan Barony since my father fought in the War of Four Templars."

Of course, that had been in an era when Baron Brighton Hanrahan had been alive and he had invested substantially in building a network of watch towers across the border to warn the people of impending demon raids. He’d nearly emptied the treasury to have giant bells cast from bronze that could be heard across an entire valley when they rang out, but after seeing the horror of the demons in the War of Four Templars he’d been willing to do whatever it took to keep his people safe from the threat of demonic retribution.

Around the table, several people nodded at Sir Dollin Halsall’s words. Even during the War of Inches on Airgead Mountain, few demons, if any, had ever reached their villages to threaten them. Raids on outlying farms still happened from time to time, and the great bells still rang out on occasion but even those raids were rare compared to the stories that many of them had grown up on and the people had become accustomed to a certain level of safety.

So when Loman Lothian said that they wouldn’t be safe until the demons were purged from all the lands between the mountains and the sea... the words that had been meant to remind them of the threat that had always been there rang a bit hollow. They had been safe behind the walls of Hanrahan Town or their own villages, but now, if they couldn’t even bring a caravan of goods to market without fearing a demon raid, then they weren’t safe behind their walls, they were prisoners within them.

"You’ve only known that sort of safety because men like Liam Dunn, Owain Lothian and Baron Tybal Aleese have been raiding demon nests and burning out their dens almost every year between the great wars," Sir Tommin reminded everyone at the table, breaking his silence at last when he realized that Loman was rapidly losing ground to Baron Hanrahan’s coordinated pressure.

A technique like this would never have worked against Owain Lothian. Sir Tommin had seen men like Baron Hanrahan try only to be swatted down and mauled like the victim of a bear attack as Owain bludgeoned them with his accomplishments and shamed them for failing to ride out with him against the demons. But against Loman Lothian, the young lord seemed to have little to nothing to counter with.

As much as Sir Tommin had come to loathe the man that Owain Lothian had become as he fell more and more into the sort of debauchery that Sir Kaefin corrupted him with, there was one thing that Sir Tommin couldn’t deny. Owain Lothian had killed more demons bordering more territories of Lothian March than anyone sitting at the table and he included himself in that figure.

Liam Dunn and Baron Tybal Aleese were cut from the same cloth. The only differences were that the Dunns used their raids to continually expand their domain while Baron Tybal Aleese had long ago accepted that it was impossible to gain territory where the nomadic Horse Lord held sway. But both men pushed the conflict beyond their own borders, keeping the unending skirmishes with the demons as far from their own villagers as they could.

If there was peace and safety for the common folk, it had been purchased with blood spilled across a decade of small conflicts in battles too small to have names, by men who knew they were only sharpening their swords for the next great war.

"That’s true," Sir Dollin said, yielding to the younger knight without hesitation. He’d seen Sir Tommin accompanying Owain Lothian each summer in raids along the borders for years and he knew the man was being humble when he excluded his own name from the list of men who had kept the villages of the frontier safe for many years.

"But this is still something very different from what we have known before," the white haired knight insisted. "My lord, Hanrahan is right to ask how we are supposed to fight back against such a threat. At the moment, we haven’t been able to do more than huddle behind our walls like frightened turtles and it feels... distasteful," he said with a sour expression on his face.

"I know you dislike it, Sir Dollin," Head Priest Germot said in a calm, soothing tone. After so many years working hand in hand with Baron Hanrahan to keep the people of Hanrahan town in line, toiling in their struggle to provide for those who had earned higher places in life, the aging priest knew what was expected of him at this dinner without needing prompting from the portly baron.

"But it truly has been the wisest course of action," the priest continued. "I have acolytes walking the town’s walls every day, praying over the stones and blessing the gates so that no demon can survive touching them, much less climbing them," he said confidently.

"When the snow clears, my temple is also willing to send an acolyte to travel with caravans, to pray over our knights and merchants," the priest continued. Of course, the Church would collect an appropriate ’donation’ for offering that service, but the people at the table were all experienced enough to understand the nuance without having it spelled out for them.

"The Holy Lord of Light will shield our people should the demons come again, but this is the most my temple can do," Head Priest Germot said. "Anything more than that will require talents that we simply don’t possess within my small, humble temple," he said as he spread his hands helplessly.

Sitting in the central seat at the table, Ian Hanrahan smiled as his pawns each made their moves. From Sir Thorryn to Head Priest Germot, each of them knew what he expected of them and they played their parts well, pressuring the young Lothian lord about the ’threat’ of these demon raids and placing responsibility for dealing with them squarely where it belonged.

If Bastian was right about what he’d seen, Loman Lothian might very well become the next Marquis, but he was still far too inexperienced at playing this game to make Baron Hanrahan take a loss over a single meal, especially one hosted within his own keep! Now, he just needed to give a small push and things should fall neatly into place.

"Lord Loman," Ian Hanrahan said as he set down his knife and fork and looked directly into the young lord’s eyes. "I know that you have served as a priest until recently, but my people need answers that extend beyond faith and sermons. We are facing an unprecedented threat from the demons this winter."

"So please, tell us," the baron said with a calculating smile. "You have the most powerful force in the entire barony under your command. What is it that you will do with that force to put an end to this menace?"