Legacies of light

Getting off his horse, Ibar waves to all of the maids who were watching him with great vigour. As they wave back full of excitement, I can see the happiness appear on my brother's face.

But it soon vanishes as Setanta tackles him and says, “Well done my right leg, you are a splendid foot.”

“I am not a foot you freak.”

Setanta puts my brother in a headlock and says, “You are officially my servant and I refuse to allow you to disrespect me in my home.”

Fighting back Ibar says, “If you don’t want me to disrespect you be someone worth respecting!”

As the two of them fight Téad marches over and says, “You cheated.”

“What?” My brother says with a dismissive tone.

“There is no way nameless scum like you could have defeated me, that horse was obviously given substances.”

Ferdiad says, “Crunniuc is a horse owned by house Faoláin, be careful with the accusations.”

Moving up close to him, I say, “I thought the red branch was supposed to be the bravest in the land, but you're unable to even admit to losing to a bunch of fir bolg!”

“Fir bolg, that makes sense. I request a retry with a horse of my choosing since this deplorable fir bolg obviously slipped something into the horse when I wasn’t watching. Look at the shame they have brought to a duel between the houses of the red branch.”

“How dare you,” Ibar says as he prepares to get up.

But before he can do anything Setanta punches Téad in the face before we can even blink and sends him flying over to his men.

His men surround Téad and then moments later they pull out their swords and ask, “How dare you do such a thing to our master.”

Looking at the men as if he is staring at the dirt, Setanta says, “Shut your mouths insects. Did I not tell you that these two are my legs, and you have numerously insulted them, so all of my pleasantries are over? I am going to send all of you back to your land in pieces.”

Setanta walks forward with the same murderous aura he had when fighting Hubert, but there is noticeably much more rage coming from him than before.

Setanta lungs forward and as we blink we see his hand about to pierce the eyes of one of the men, but before he hits them he is kicked to the floor, and in between the both of them we see a man with silver hair.

He is a wolf beastkin just like Setanta, and is covered in scars from head to toe, no area is untouched. Unlike Setanta's hair, which is wild and unkept, his hair is tidy, the same can also be said of his bread which is well-kept.

He is also far more built than Setanta. If Setanta has some beauty that could confuse a man, he is the opposite. Muscles that show clearly through his clothes with broad shoulders that look like they could carry the world, not someone you would ever call feminine. All this creates a very handsome man.

Looking at Setanta, he says, “Did I not teach you the virtue of patience,” with a very emotionless tone.

Setanta who is usually very uppidy starts to act in a very mature and respectful manner, then says, “Yes you did, and I had foolishly forgotten it Dad.”

The man starts at Setanta then grabs and throws him into the ground, and says, “I told you to call me sir or father.”

“Sorry father,” Setanta says with his face buried underneath the ground.

Turning to face Téads men who fell on the floor out of the shock of almost dying, he says, “Overlook my son's actions today, he is brash and requires a tight leash to be effective, so he will be punished for almost killing you.”

Téad whose expression turns from fear to confidence says, “King of Gorias, Lugh Ó Faoláin I accept your apology-,”

“Stop right there, when did I ever give an apology to you.”

“What do you mean, your son attacked me?”

“After repeated insults against his character and his house, a house that you seem to think is your equal.”

“Your son wasted our time in, and then insulted our abilities first,” Téad says with a far more docile tone.

“My son is rash, but he is also fair, he gave you a chance to prove yourself and you couldn’t, now you fall to petty insults to somehow salvage your broken pride. It sounds like you are upset that my son my an intelligent choice by picking the best charioteers he could find.”

Téad looks around at the staff of the castle and understands they have passed his remarks off to Lugh. Sweating a bit, Téad says, “The remarks I made were against those fir bolg. Taking in vermin like them will only hurt Gorias in the long run, I was simply doing this out of your best interests.”

Lugh pushes his foot into the ground and breaks it a bit, then says, “Most of my staff here is fir bolg. Many of them are skilled in a variety of fields because it is the only way they can achieve anything in this country.

I know a man of such small scope such as yourself will struggle to understand this, but your clothes, horses, castles, food, and privileges do not exist solely because your father murdered humans, it was due to these vermin that you live on anything other than blood-soaked lands.”

With his pride wounded, he says, “How dare you say such a thing to a Lúcogadh, we are a family equal to yours!

Raising his voice, Lugh says, “If your claim is true then, I hope to see such when my army marches to your lands to pay to Lúcogadh a visit.”

Téad stutters in return to this, so Lugh says, “Oh 2nd son now that you have to back up your threats you seem to have sewn your mouth shut.”

“Two red branch families going to war is something the high king would never permit.”

“Unlike you the high king in my brother-in-law so I am such I can get away with far more than you can.”

Sweating profusely, Téad says, “Regardless of his permission it will be a rash decision that will only negatively affect the empire and Gorias, did you not give out to your son for being rash.”

“You're right, but there is a limit to the amount of insults that can be given to my house before I must spill blood in retribution, and you have long since passed that threshold. So, what are you going to give me to quell my anger?”

Téad stutter, then Lugh says, “I am not a material man so simple words combined with a gesture will be enough for me.”

Téad whose head hangs low, grips his fist in frustration at this, and then he shoots one of his men a look, who says, “This is far too exe-.”

Lugh with the back of his fist knocks the man to the ground, and says, “Your men are clearly untrained in any form of decorum, but I am sure you aren’t so what does one do when they disrespect another.”

Bowing his head, Téad says, “I am sorry.”

“I see, now vanish with your men, and I hope you know I have eyes everywhere throughout this land so you should make haste home otherwise my army might show up there first.”

Téad runs away with his men following close behind, then Lugh turns to all of the other riders who came and says, “I am sorry for the inconvenience, and I ask that you forgive my son of his actions.”

All of them had been staying out of Téad arrogant actions due to them lacking the same authority as a red branch family, but they had very visibly held the same disdain. Though now that Lugh has approached them their demeanour changes to that of a submissive pet.

“It was of no consequence.”

“He simply chose the best, how could we fault that.”

“It was an honour to simply be in this castle.”

“Though if possible, I would at least like to show how valuable my house could be for yours,” one of the many says.

Others join in on this opportunity, and start to say, “I think my family has excellent riders that would be happy to fight alongside your horse.”

“Our steeds are some of the fastest in the land so I am sure if you were to join hands with us we would be able to further strengthen your mighty house reputation.”

As they all gather around Lugh, Setanta looks on with sparkly eyes, and says, “Amazing.”

Peering over to Ferdiad, Ibar asks, “What’s going on with him.”

“It is just how he is around Sir Lugh, you should watch and feel happy because if you do well one day people will be enthralled by you just like that.”

Imagining the faces of handsome nobles looking upon me, I blush and say, “Oh no I cannot marry you all.”

Whilst the adults speak to Lugh, he interrupts them all and says, “Let us discuss this at a later date. We have prepared gifts for you all and escorts to make sure you all get home safely.”

He claps his hands and then a group of servants walk into the area and move all of the people away as they try and get in a few more words to Lugh.

Immediately after this Lugh turns and faces me and Ibar. Seeing him up close makes me terrified as if I am facing a beast thirty times my size.

He reaches into his pocket, and moments later he pulls out something and hands it over to me and Ibar. “Here you go.”

It is two small balls in his hand, and then he says, “Eat them.”

Out of fear both me and Ibar immediately put them into our mouths, and a moment later I say, “Sweet.”

Lugh says, “It is a type of food made mostly from sugar, one of the things my fir bolg have been working on, it is based on something we found when plundering a human settlement. Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes,” Both Ibar and I say.

He looks like a man who is completely opposed to the idea of sweat things and laughter, his facial expression barely changes, it is expressionless with only hints of anger appearing.

Looking over to Ferdiad he asks, “I assume the journey went well.”

Ferdiad with a bright smile, says, “It was the same as all our other journeys.”

“I see.”

Grabbing Setanta, Lugh throws him into the ground again, and says, “Your punishment won’t be light.”

Turning to us he says, “I hope you two truly become the legs of my treasure and are able to guide him out of stupidity.”

Ibar shouts, “WE WILL TRY OUT BEST!”

I snicker slightly at his panicky vigour, and then I say, “I will try my hardest.”

“Now since you have had the displeasure of being around him for an extended period of time, I can tell that you kids need sleep, so please head to your rooms.”

He claps his hands and a group of servants come and pick up all of us. Then holding us all, we are quickly dragged into the castle.

After a bit of walking, I am brought into a room that looks to be the same size as the entire lower level of my father's tavern. Turning to the two maids who brought me here, I ask, “Where are the other five residents.”

One of them gives me an evil glare and the other says, “Oh this place is all for you, little miss Freckles.”

“How amazing!”

The one who snickered at me, mutters, “Know your place,” Under her breath.

Pointing at her, I say, “She just insulted me.”

The other maid says, “No she didn’t you must be hearing things.”

“No, I am sure I heard her.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Holding in my frustration, I say, “I guess I didn’t.”

“Crazy,” The maid mutters under her breath.

Annoyed, I say, “Can you both leave.”

“With pleasure,” the maid says. As they leave they give me evil glares.

In response to this, I simply jump on my huge bed and say, “New life here I come!”