Laurel Odon
Sir Laurel Odon
A knight and Mox Man in service to Garland IV and Dorreon II
Laurel was one of four dear boyhood friends to Garland IV, the others being Lord Jonah Slabh, Brother Aaran Dylaen, and Prince Harek Beth.
Laurel was widely considered the bravest, most charming, and comeliest of these five friends. He was the first to achieve knighthood, yet strangely was the only one never to serve on Garland IV's Council. He had many other friends, oft drawing a crowd, and was named the champion in several norther-style tourneys. He loved tellings and magic, though he had no skill for either himself. Perhaps strangest of all, though he was beloved by many, none would call him their closest friend, and he alone of the five neither married nor had any known children.
Under service to Garland IV, Sir Laurel would famously fail at an attempt to subjugate Castle Malbrand's mistress, Lady Helena Maraigh, the King's own aunt. Rumors would claim that his men were savaged by werewolves, though in truth most were butchered and perhaps even eaten by savage brigands in the Fiirwood. Lady Helena's nine ghastling sons were said to have murdered many of Sir Laurel's men as well whilst they slept, but much of this is speculation.
Sir Laurel was also greatly injured fighting with King Garland at Saolmoth, where the King died. Though scarcely able to walk, Sir Laurel insisted on riding beside the King's body as it was returned to Revelback, and was said to weep nightly over the King's corpse.
Under the minority of Dorreon the Green Prince, Sir Laurel would become one the Prince's Four Companions, the others being Sister Salvian, Speller Lily Finn, and Medrik Maan, who would be knighted by Sir Laurel west of the Nightfall. These Four Companions accompanied the Prince on his great progress through the major settlements of Revellia. The Prince was capricious, and frequently slipped away from his escort, especially Sir Laurel. The old knight was past forty, far older than the Prince's other friends, and far more cautious of his safety.
This chafing caution is no doubt why the Prince left Sir Laurel behind when he, Sister Salvian, Lily Finn, and the recently knighted Sir Medrik Maan snuck aboard a Khabarese merchant ship at Dubraigh and sailed north beyond the Pass of Peril. Sir Laurel sent the Mox Men Sir Lothar Paddox and Sir Barramos Dylaen to pursue by horse as he and a few picked knights tried to chase after him by sea. Sir Lothar and Sir Barramos would be slain just beyond the Pass of Peril in what was then Monosi land.
Sir Laurel would not catch up with his friends until after the Prince's victory at Tyr's Harbor. Prince Dorreon would receive his knighthood here. Most say it was Sir Medrik that knighted him, but some credit Sir Laurel, being older, more renowned, and from a greater lineage.
Mox Master Jonah Slabh, High Magus Aaran Dylaen, and the Warchief Prince Harek Beth had been governing the realm in the Prince's absence, and even before his departure they had begun squabbling for power. When the Prince and his Companions returned, the realm had been turned upside-down. Any loyalty Sir Laurel might have felt for his old friends was now gone, and when each of them compelled him to suborn the Prince and force him to back their own command, Laurel flatly refused all three. Instead, he would accompany the Prince on a march north to Ghastfort, responding to a plea for aid. Sir Laurel had missed the Prince's victory at Tyr's Harbor, and he would be a major part of the King's victory at Ghastfort.
Afterward, Sir Laurel was charged with protecting Dorreon's new bride, Queen Magaana Sirtal, back south to Revelback, for she was swelling with the child they had conceived on the campaign north. The King, accompanied by Sir Medrik Maan and Sister Salvian, boarded a ship at Tyr's Harbor with the presumed intention of sailing back. The ship would sink, however, leaving Sir Laurel and Lily Finn bereft of their friends.
