After waking up the morning after his return home Amondo Malla was refreshed and ready to face whatever the day might throw at him. He had left his valet behind with the main party so he had to dress himself and once he had done so he left his bedroom. His squire was waiting for him and they both headed down to have some breakfast in the great hall.
They were joined by the two knights and their squires that made up the rest of the advanced party, senior members of his brother's former staff such as his secretary Berthold Hicks and the cleric of Yechtai Vasyl Haroz. Being in confinement for the upcoming birth of her child his brother's wife was unable to attend and thus sent her regrets.
When the meal was over he arranged a meeting for later in the day with his sister in law and then he went with his knights and their squires to the practice yard. They were met by the other knights and squires that were currently residing in the castle.
Sir Justin Nedina had temporarily taken over the position of Marshal of the barony upon the death of his predecessor Primoz who had also died when the baron had been ambushed. Sir Neal Lee, sir Alvin Hubbard, sir Merle Padilla and their squires were also present.
For the next two hours or so they all practised the martial arts of sword, lance and shields plus maces and axes. Once they finish this Omondo's companions are taken on a tour of the village and the surrounding area by Justin and the others.
Meanwhile, Omondo headed back to the castle where he had a quick meeting with the constable during which he informed him that he was heading to the nearby Malla family tomb and upon his return would like to be shown his brothers will and second wedding contract before he met with the Baroness.
The Malla family tomb was located between the village and the entrance to the Membe Dungeon a league away to the south. The Membe Dungeon was the main reason that the village and castle of Membe existed were they did, well that and to a lesser extent the bridge.
The Family tomb had been the burial place of the Malla family for fourteen generations and it was now nearly full, within two generations or so it would either have to be extended, some of the bones of the older generations needed to be removed and buried elsewhere. or a new tomb created.
His brother Leonid or to be more precise hs half brother was six years his senior and they were like chalk and cheese, never seeing eye to eye. He had idolised his brother when he was younger, but it didn't last. Even at the age of twelve Amondo had proved to be a far better warrior than His brother ever could be, Leonid had resented this and he didn't even bother to try and hide it.
Leonid, whose mother had died after a short illness when he was two, had been sent as a page to the court of his maternal uncle Yousef Lomat, the Baron of Estrip and then to the court of Isaac Zayet, the Count of Neudon for his training as a squire. The year after Leonid had started squiring Amondo, who's mother had married Acemon Malla less than a year after the death of Leonid's mother, became a page at the court of his maternal uncle Levan Hechon, the Count of Presbur.
As mentioned earlier he then squired at the court of the Duke of the Western Marches who at that time was Ioan Haas. The Duke was Amondo's mother's Cousin and he had died during Amondo's second year of service at the court and had been succeeded by his eldest son Stefan. That same year Leonid had been married for the first time to Berenice Zayat the daughter of the Count of Neudon.
Amondo had, as mentioned in an earlier chapter, always felt that Leonid resented the fact that while he would in time become the Baron of Membe Amondo had better family connections on his mother's side than he had on his. Whether or not this was the case is beside the point which is that for one reason or not they never got on. While their father was alive this didn't matter but once he died well this was a different matter.
Perhaps the existence of their older bastard half brother Juan Mallason had a part to play in the insecurity of Leonid or perhaps Omondo read too much into the problems between the brothers. Whatever the difference between the two brothers only one of them was still alive and the surviving one needed to pay his respects to the dead one. At the same time, he also paid his respects to his mother and father and the rest of his departed family members that now resided within.
On the way back from the tomb Amondo dismounted his horse for nearly a minute before remounting it and continuing on his journey. The reason he did this is that he had seen his brother do the same thing after their father had been laid to rest in the tomb. When at the time he had asked his brother why he had done so he replied that it was a family tradition for the current baron to do this at the first opportunity upon the death and burial of the last. He further explained that the reason behind this tradition had been lost many generations ago but the tradition itself had still been passed on over the years.