CHAPTER 908: LOMAN’S SERMON (PART TWO)

While the baker and the grain merchant reeled from the pressure of Loman’s blatant extortion, backed by the threat of violence from the Temple Guard no less, the young lord himself had already moved on to another table as he continued to speak to Baron Hanrahan’s guests as if they were members of his congregation.

"I’ve worked side by side with the Sisters of Soothing Light," Loman said as he arrived at a table filled with women who had been gossiping earlier. "Together we’ve nursed the sick, the lame, and the mad. We’ve cared for the children left behind by the men who fought bravely and died in our struggle against the plague of demons that infest our lands," he said, leaving them with words that sent shivers down their spine as they tried to imagine themselves surrounded by diseased and deranged beggars, or tending to frightened and filthy orphans.

Just the thought of it was enough to turn their stomachs, and yet, when they looked at Loman’s handsome features and proud bearing, they realized that even walking among such vile retches could do nothing to dim the light that seemed to radiate from him as he walked through the hall.

"Madame Cossot, was it?" Loman said gently, addressing the young woman who had recently been boasting about sharing a few words with him at Lady Ashlynn’s wedding. "None of the Sisters were able to accompany us on the rough journey through the winter storm and I shudder to think about what would have happened to such kind and delicate women if they had tried," he said as he gazed at the young woman with kind, inviting eyes.

"But I know that the women of Hanrahan are stronger, more capable, and braver women who can feast and make merry even when demons roam the dark wilderness beyond the walls," he said with a gentle smile as he reached out to hold her hand delicately as if he were cradling a newly hatched bird. "So, when the time comes to care for the injured and the sick, can I count on you and your friends to stand by my side?"

"Of-of course you can, my lord," Cossot said as her face turned bright red and she stared into Loman’s soft hazel eyes, getting caught up in his long, delicate lashes as the hall around her fell away and her heart began to flutter in her chest. "I’ll do anything you ask," she said as she glanced down shyly before looking back up at him through her own lashes.

"I’m sure you will," Loman said as he placed the tip of his middle finger on her forehead and traced a sun and its shining rays on her brow. "Walk the path illuminated by the Holy Lord of Light, Madame Cossot, and you will find your struggles easier and your heart filled with his warmth," he said before he turned away to approach the next table.

"Cossot!" the young woman’s friend Roseen hissed from beside her. "What, what did you just promise that we would do?"

"Do?" Cossot said, blinking in surprise. "Roseen, did you hear? Lord Loman, he, he remembered my name! And he asked me to spend time with him," the young woman all but squealed in delight, barely able to contain the joy in her heart.

All around her, the young women looked on in horror as they realized just how badly smitten their friend was... and that they were doomed to suffer alongside her because of it!

"I have seen people at their very worst," he added as he moved to a table where master brewers and vintners rubbed elbows with their wealthiest clients who accepted only the finest alcohol to entertain their guests.

"I’ve gazed into the eyes of men so lost in drink that they’ve forgotten their own names because it’s the only way they can forget the pain of what they’ve lost and the horrors of what they’ve seen when the demons raided their farms," Loman said as he placed a hand on both of the men at the table who made their fortunes selling bottles of strong spirits to men who were desperate for an escape from the torment of their own lives.

Both men seemed to wither under Loman’s touch, shrinking back from him as if their mothers had walked in on them doing something naughty with a scullery maid as their faces grew hot with shame. He hadn’t said a word to condemn them, but he didn’t have to... not when his words painted such a clear picture of broken men clutching at bottles as though they contained a last, faint hope of salvation.

After all... they’d both looked into the kinds of eyes Loman had described dozens of times, and they’d taken coin from those men’s dirt-encrusted hands, even if they were the last snips the broken men had left to their names.

One of the men opened his mouth in a desperate desire to defend himself, but when he tried to think of what he should say, no words appeared, leaving him gaping, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water as he struggled to think of anything he could tell the radiant priest that would ease the sudden pangs in his heart. Loman, however, only shook his head, wanting nothing from these men beyond the cautionary tale of suffering that was all too easily exploited.

"So I know what it is that you’re afraid of, Baron Hanrahan," Loman said as he turned back to the high table, addressing the lord seated there from the far back of the hall, as if he was no longer one of them but instead stood apart from the things the baron feared. "You’re afraid that I’ve only brought a single Inquisitor with me, with just five Templars and twenty from the temple guard. You don’t think that fifty Lothian soldiers are enough to make up the numbers in a fight against a demon force that can raid across the frontier with impunity."

"You’re worried that I’m going to strip Hanrahan Town of its defenders in order to hunt the demons infesting your lands," Loman said, looking the red-faced and scowling baron directly in the eyes.

"You don’t need to worry, Baron Hanrahan," Loman said with a polite smile and a mild tone. "Your town is large, and you have not only your walls to man but your outposts as well. The three hundred men who follow your banner are all needed to do the work of keeping the common people safe in their homes," he said as he swept his arms out wide to encompass all of the people gathered in the great hall, even though he was mostly speaking about the common folk who were far too poor to attend such a lavish gathering.

"The only men I intend to take away from here are the brave knights who are visiting from their villages and the soldiers they’ve brought with them," Loman said as he turned his gaze to Sir Dollin, Sir Niall, and Sir Thorryn.

"Since they’re so concerned about the safety of their villages," Loman said calmly to the room that had been stunned into silence. "I’m sure they won’t refuse a summons from the house of the Marquis to defend the march against demons, will they?"