Warin
System-lord Wallis Wild of Dagport was the elder brother of System-lord Isabel Wild of Seahold. They shared a similar look, and taste. The feast on Dagport was wild an full of drinks.
Warin wasn’t the only guest on Dagport at the feast. Thane Payton Underwood had arrived in the system shortly after Warin and the fleet, and Warin found himself sitting next to the Thane of the Eight Systems and the System-lord of Dagport.
The System-lord Wallis Wild had the taste for drink like Warin’s own father, and Thane Payton Underwood kept his cup filled. The three of them joked and laughed throughout the night. Warin liked both men, they somehow reminded him of himself.
“We have heard of your exploits against the Holderness Fabian Order of Drala,” The System-lord said softly and quietly, and Warin had almost not heard, and was sure no one likely did.
“Yes lord,” Warin finally said and took a small sip of his cup. “Although I am not sure I would call them exploits.”
“Don’t be so modest friend,” Thane Underwood said and slapped him on the back. “The boy sent to bring the holy bones of the Fabian Hero Mason Jervis to New Holm by his father. The boy who would put down a violent protest. The boy who stopped the Order’s attack on your now wife, not once by twice, and her bishop father. The boy who refused his father to return home, and married the girl and launched a campaign throughout the north of the sector.”
The thane laughed, and Warin knew that Thane Underwood meant no insult by the word boy, but merely meant to stress his age. He had been young. He was young. What was he, sixteen, or had his birthday already pass and he was seventeen? He couldn’t recall and yet it hadn’t been that long. He was young at twenty now, one of the youngest in the Hall, and the youngest at the high table with the System-lord who wasn’t related to the lord.
“Oh the tales, they tell down here,” The System-lord said before Warin could say anything. “If half of what they say is true, than you are a gifted young man.”
Warin didn’t know what to say. It had been a hard couple years. He would be lying if he said it was too hard. Though. He might have been forbidden to wed Beth, and that marriage might have cut him off from the funds and income of his father, but the Bishop had granted him several rich estates on New Holm, and although they couldn’t pay for the fleet of Frigates, or even one of them, they were enough to pay for Warin and a few house hold guards.
“I have not met many who talk about the Fabian Order of Drala in open, not willing at least,” Warin said finally. It was true. Most ended up dead, at least in Holderness. He should have been dead at least half a dozen times in his conflict with them. “Nor did I know the Furia Sector was infected with them.”
The Fabian Order of Drala. Little more than the name was all he had been able to gather, and yet Thane Underwood and System-lord Wild gave it up so easily. It had taken him more than a year to learn that name. They were in the Fabian Faith, in bed with lords, and rich merchant traders. Anywhere where there was shred of power, he had found them polluting Holderness.
Both Thane Underwood and System-lord Wild shared a small laugh. “The Furia Sector, Anchorage Sector, The Whole Commonwealth, Walhaz. Hell they even say they have chapters in Kaledon Space although they fear the Eriu Tribes.” Thane Underwood said somberly. “It’s said the Order was founded during the time of the Fabians, and it’s members remained in Drala after their withdrawal.”
The System-lord nodded. “It’s also said that the Old Blood wiped them out when they arrived and conquered the worlds of the Fabian Tutha.”
“A pity it didn’t stick. Perhaps we would still follow the Old Ways of our ancestors,” Thane Underwood said, and looked at Warin. “There is much you do not know, and I hope you will forgive me for not speaking frankly on the subject, but I had to discover if the rumors about you were true.”
“And?” Warin asked simply.
“And I believe they just might be. At the very least I believe you are an enemy of theirs, which could make us friends, if not allies someday.”
