the beasts over the crown

The lord did not bother to fulfill the hospitality duties as customs and traditions dictate after receiving unsettling reassurances, leaving his guests lying on their backs against the wall to fend for themselves, and walked away without a word. His slender body soon disappeared into the crowd of many lords' men scattered in the stronghold courtyard.

How relieved Ser Declan felt when he realized, while carefully examining the many faces of the men standing before him, that none of them were among the fifteen lords, nor did they seem to recognize him or his companions. Although he knew that any of them would be pleased to carry news of him to their master, and perhaps that had indeed happened.

He had warned the witch miles before reaching the stronghold about entering the lair of the five wounded and hungry lions with scraps of solutions and half-baked plans, but she insisted on going to the stronghold of Lord Bertram or the stronghold of Bert the Hunched - due to a hunch in his back that appeared in his youth -. So he yielded to her command, but he nonetheless stripped off his green cloak only in case something happened .

The time was approaching noon and a full hour had passed since they sat down, when the hunter caught a whiff of food coming from the common hall of the stronghold. Hunger had struck all of them at that moment, so they hurried into the hall searching for cold water to quench their thirst and some food to fill their stomachs.

However, what they found in the hall, with its many narrow, high windows almost touching the ceiling, was only the lords of the four regions gathered together along with the lord of the stronghold, sitting at four consecutive tables, consuming some kind of soup and sipping wine. From their suspicious looks, it was clear to the witch that the lord Bertram had indeed filled their ears.

The hunter said sarcastically, hitting his forehead with his hand: "What a fool I am! How did I not notice the number of men and warriors present outside? .Customs are customs; whether the country faces the sea of Osman or is behind it, the lords eat first".

Ser Declan and the witch had no choice but to sit among them.

From his place, the knight spotted Lord Baldwin Kalter, the lord of the North and his protector, at the table of the northern lords, with his younger brother Bard sitting next to him.

The three of them were distantly related, as Ser Declan's mother was the aunt of the lord of the North.

He sat at their table and was warmly received by the other lords of the North. While the survivors of the lords of the West, who were three in number, made room for the witch on their wooden bench.while the remaining companions of their journey sat at an empty table at the edge of the hall.

These lords were no less urgent or more thoughtful than the lord of the stronghold. Their questions to the witch came with a commanding, angry and straightforward tone that left no room for beating around the bush, their shouts echoing throughout the room while the lord of the stronghold silently observed from his place at the head of a wooden table slightly higher than the others, reserved for him and his household. However, despite the lords' numerous and successive questions, she managed somehow, with the knight's help, to calm their fears.

For the time being at least ...