Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-29461586-20150301192956/@comment-5583506-20150303021714

Back in the Vargine Hall there was no merriment to be held and Torsdolk wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It wasn't a victory they had won back at the Wolf Pit, it was... a massacre...

Valkyrie sat deeply sunken in her wooden throne and had her face lightly buried in the palm of her hand. Her arm rested slightly against the throne as she gazed out over the empty hall. There was a complete silence. The guards stood still and said nothing.

It was obvious to Torsdolk that her order troubled her as well, although perhaps in other aspects. While it was true that the Wolf Pit had been a place of great anguish and horror for anyone with the Blood of the Beast, there had been people there; servants, stable boys, maidens and whatnot, who had no part in the cruelties committed by Clan Cave-Bear, but they had been cut down just the same.

He was fearing that the news of Hemming's death had been a breaking point for his niece.

He slowly approached the throne. "Matriarch."

"Torsdolk", she said without so much as opening her eyes or turning her head his way.

"I wanted to speak to you about what happened at the Wolf Pit today."

"We avenged one of our fallen, that's what happened. You may return to your duties, Berserker."

"Listen!" he hissed sharply. "Listen to yourself! This isn't like you, Valkyrie. You are acting like a... like a..."

First then did she raise her head and slowly opened her eyes. They were reddened. "Like a tyrant?" she filled in.

He didn't want to humor her. "I know I am bound by honor and duty to follow your order, Matriarch. But don't you ever force me to acknowledge an order like that again! Eyes on the Prey. Not the Weak! Those are our words! Or have you forgotten?"

His outburst had drawn the attention of some of the household and some of the guards.

Valkyrie however remained unmoved. "And I won't, Torsdolk. Next time I will carry out the order myself..."

"That's beside the point! You ordered the slaughter of innocents back there! Ylgar must be turning in his grave!"

Valkyrie slammed her fist in the arm of the throne. "And how many innocents had been slaughtered there in the first place?! In the dungeons?! If those people didn't want to die, then they shouldn't have been working in such a foul place run by such shady people! They very well what was going on behind those walls and yet they remained! They deserve no less than the warriors of Clan Cave-Bear for all I am concerned."

Even though she had a point that the civilians  they had  slaughtered that had been working in the prison probably knew what was going on inside the Wolf Pit, the fact remained that they had indeed just been civilians.

The worst kind of casualty, he reflected.

Valkyrie shook her head as she stared at her uncle. "And don't you dare speak Ylgar's name in vain!"

Torsdolk found it hard to resist talking back. ''The lass has my temper, that's for sure... Her father had none of that in him from what I recall.''

He approached her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Listen, lass. I know you are upset about Hemming, so am I. But to kill civilians... bystanders... just to take out your rage? Those people didn't kill your brother! Clan Cave-Bear did! Direct your frustration towards them if you must, but leave the innocent out of this. And never force an order like that upon your subjects again..."

Valkyrie lowered her face again and disappeared into her palm. "Go", she sighed. "Just... just go... I need... No, I want to be alone..."

He nodded slowly. "I understand."

He turned around and headed down the hall, but stopped and looked back for a brief moment. Her chest and shoulders were heaving as she sobbed quietly, ashamed to show anyone else that she was indeed crying.

Whether she was mourning the death of her younger brother or the fact that she had forced her subjects to indulge in mayhem, or maybe both, he couldn't tell. But he thought it was a good thing for her to let her sadness out. His younger sister Katri hadn't... and it had led to one of the clan's tragedies in more recent years.

He still feared how this would end however. Hemming was dead. Their last hope now rested on the fact that Lilja was still alive. If she wasn't the clan would fall on dire times. More dire than they had been in the entire history of the clan in fact.

Valkyrie needed to get married soon, or if not at least have some children on her own. But unfortunately she was a craving woman. Any man wouldn't do. She wanted someone worthy.

''Wherever are we supposed to find that man? We are running out of time. If Lilja can't be found and if Valkyrie can't raise any children, this line is indeed doomed...''