The Blood of Honour

Calm after the Storm?

Sera brought her hands to her face to wipe her tears when she noticed they had already hardened against her cheeks.

So much had changed in one day. One quest for honour had cost her so much.

Everything had prepared Sera for the war, nothing had prepared her for the death of her lover.

She had loved Cederic with all her heart. All those years had come crashing down in front of her eyes in one day.

She had done the right thing, she knew that, there hadn't been any other option. But it was still the man she had loved and she had lost him. Forever. This time for real. She had seen the body.

Fresh tears welled up in her eyes and she pressed her face against the pillow sobbing softly.

As she slowly regained her composure and lay on the bed with glazed eyes, she noticed she was in the same room where she had faced Cederic's true colours.

The room where she had been imprisoned and tried to be fed all kinds of lies.

But now she was free, no longer bound to bedposts. She had been given a warm blanket and on the side table she saw her jacket cleaned and neatly folded ready for her.

Cool sunshine was slipping in through the windows, windows which had been blocked by Cederic's haughty figure two days ago.

Something was gleaming on the window sill in the sunlight. Slowly Sera got up and hobbled over, suddenly feeling drained of all strength.

Outside everything was white. Dense snow covered as far as the eye could see and icicles on trees glistened in the bright sun like diamonds.

The night must have seen a cruel blizzard, the first snowstorm in the history of the land but the morning felt fresh and full of hope.

There was a cautious knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Sera said, though she felt like she knew who it would be.

Lord Cruez's rugged face peered into the room. "May I?" He asked.

"Come in Lord," Sera said softly and bowed as the lord entered.

He walked over to the window and sat down on the ottoman in front of it.

"Lord, does your castle have only one bedroom?" Sera said.

"This is the guestroom," Lord Cruez gave a dry smile. "Please call me Easton, you have called me Easton before anyways and you also saved my life so your honour allows you to call me by my name."

Sera's face turned sad. She sat down beside Easton and shook her head.

"I only wanted to save myself, I thought I wanted to kill you." She said in a low voice.

"Well you didn't, so allow me to show you our hospitality. What would you like to have? Tea? Coffee? Wine? Or do you have bladed weapons for breakfast? In that case I preserved that dagger....."

Sera got up again.

She couldn't seem to come to terms with all the events yet. All her training, everything she had heard, everything she had seen, so much of it had been wrong.

"What was all this for?" She muttered to herself as looked at all the snow.

She knew her rust gates must have collapsed in the blizzard, where were her people, she wondered.

"Why did I bring this war," she muttered again as she pressed herself against the window pane.

"For honour?" Easton piped up softly.

"No," she opened the windows wide and felt the chilly wind rush into the warm room. She welcomed the cold draught and the warm sunbeams that followed it.

"No?" Lord Cruez asked.

"This was never about war or honour or pride. This was about doing what is right and I'm going to do what it takes to put things right."

Sera leaned out of the window into the cold crisp air. As she felt the frost against her cheeks, she smiled, for herself, for Sera Rivera.

Anyone wants to know what's going on at the Rivera castle?
Peace
~R