They were walking across the fields that spanned around the castle. most of the fields in the vicinity are harvested and in the distance, workers were still harvesting the crops.
Then Arlo started talking
"Marcus when I was young, I had a lot of dreams.do you know what one of them is?
To become a general in the military of Arthurian. I practised hard. In these very fields and forests, I hunted magical beasts. I went to knight academy and studied hard. And became a Guardian Knight. But I always wondered why my father forbids me from revealing my true identity as a Wargrave an entitled noble. I thought that was some kind of test to me to learn about life and realise what I can do without nobility and what I should do with my nobility.to fulfil his desire I always acted according to the code of knight. My classmates regarded me as a genius. I killed bandits and I saved many during floods in the northeast I did countless things for the kingdom and its people. At last, the war of Bluefire came I was excited about the credits I can earn and the rewards I can get and the reputation I can gain." he gave a pause.
Marcus, at last, found out that his father was capable of emotions.
From the starting to end, he felt the nostalgia in his words both happiness and sadness.
But the atmosphere slowly turned gloomy around him.
Arlo continued "but from the middle of the war. The high command started ignoring me. All my achievements were embezzled from me " rage touched his voice but he controlled himself he took a gulp as if he was trying to quench his parched throat"I was confused over what was happening, no one informed me about anything all my superiors said they sent their acknowledgements to the high command but they seem to ignore my achievements and were rewarding their kin, but to add fuel to the fire my brother died in the war. But I maintained my cool. I wanted to go against them through the court of justice. After the war, I returned to the capital. Many of my friends and acquaintances were in a position better than me. But there I was standing like a statue. An heir to a barony from the starting to the end of the war. And a captain eligible to become a commander but never promoted"
his hands started trembling. Marcus was feeling his father's anger to the bone. The atmosphere around them suddenly became hard to breathe. but surprising enough both of the boys stood their ground and waited for the Baron's monologue to continue.
Arlo suddenly realised he was overexerting his aura on the kids. His mood turned lighter when he realised that both of them were standing albeit struggling to do stay straight.
He gave a smile and said, "seems like I am still having issues with my past."
"and this is what I would expect from our blood at least."
the last sentence seemed strange to Marcus 'he just said blood, does it also include this boy?'.
Arlo continued his story.
"When I was feeling the worst period of my life. A letter came to me from my father. Which should have arrived before the war started but due to some unforeseen circumstances it came after the war ended."
"instead of telling you what it is .look at it yourself".
His hand moved into his pockets and brought out a small neatly binded book .
Marcus took it and opened it delicately as if he was handling millennia-old Chinese porcelain.
He noticed that the pages were fragile due to its constant motion in his fathers pocket and god only knows how much amount of pressure it faced when his father used full force in fights.
The boy moved forward to look at the contents of the letter. Arlo did not say anything to him
he just said "read it out loud"
It said
"To,
My Dear son Reamus Arlo Wargrave, I have always loved you, you are passionate about what you do. You have a good heart for a lord, a good body for a soldier. But you don't have fate on your side.
Son, there is a reason for me to tell you to conceal your identity and pulled many strings to let you attend the academy under the fake identity.
Arlo, like every noble family we have a history grand enough for us to become a noble household. Many centuries ago when Artharan was in its formative stage we were known as the killards.
By fighting wars and winning them for generations, we were granted the title of count and many of our ancestors were generals in the army, But our family was known for another thing. The Killard's men always die on the battlefield. Irrespective of their ranking and status or age, at some point they would in the battlefields. If not on battlefields at least at the time of war. if the men of killards pursue something other than war. accidents befall them continuously until they die.
Stories say we were cursed by the old gods for changing sides with the new. But no one ever knew. After many generations of observing the consistent deaths one of our previous lords decided to embrace fate and renamed our family name into the War Graves due to our curse. After that, we became renowned in matters of war. our power in the kingdom broke the barriers and we became one of the rising powers and we were given the title of Duke and the Duchy of Orion as our domain.
Our men filled the ranks in the military. our family produced many capable generals who were ruthless and fearless in matters of war. At some point, we were known as the Crazy wolved due to our kin's fearlessness towards death. Although the individual power of our family's generals was slightly inferior to other noble houses. our army relied not only on the general to lead the battle but also on themselves. they moved like a pack of wolves they lived like a pack of wolves and they served as a pack of wolves. it was good though no General of our Family lived past 50. Many of them ruled the wars like the kings ruled the kingdom and died like the old gods dragging enemies down with them.
In the 1500th year of the Kingdom's existence. Our family supported the crown prince in his inheritance and he succeeded in the war of inheritance.
But, what no one anticipated was the elaborate trap set by an evil witch to the crown prince. she somehow started controlling him. And she made him a mad and evil man. Everyone was shocked to find his majesty to become a pawn for an evil witch. He ordered manslaughter. For witch's experiments with souls. At that time our family's head and the general of the Canis legion was Sir Regitalio Arlo Wargrave.
He was unable to digest the predicament of the kingdom. No one in the kingdom was able to find the witch that was the cause for all this. If she was killed then the whole problem could be solved. Then a magus in the Wargrave family found out that the witch was actually inside the king. And he was killed long ago and the witch transferred her soul to him. That was a risky move but that move could have given her a kingdom's worth of resources.
After confirming the claim of the magus. The General went to the capital. He did what was unthinkable in the standards of past and present. He committed Regicide and stored the witch's soul in a forbidden artifact and destroyed it. Not only was regicide a taboo it was also reinforced by the oaths that the higher hierarchy takes to prove their loyalty to the king in presence of the gods. Violating it would lead one's soul directly into hell after death. To avoid those circumstances one can use the potion of trickery. But finding an ethereal grade magic crystal is easier than finding a potion of trickery which was said to be concocted by the old God Of Trickery Loki himself. After committing regicide The General submitted himself to the 2nd prince.
One must always remember that the path of power not only gives power but also enemies to keep the power in check .2nd prince was never the one to forgive his enemies. so he with the consent of our families enemies took the chance to make our family as weak as possible. Due to the moral righteousness of the general's action and the perseverance of our allies in this matter. The second prince who was by then the king gave his verdict. "Regitalio Arlo Wargrave committed the gravest of the sins by committing regicide and breaking the contract given in presence of the gods. So I the King and protector of the realm of Artharon. Order him to be executed in public and deprive his family from the possession of the Duchy of Orion and their nobility will be reduced to the stage of baron. And be exiled to the east of the kingdom neighbouring the desolate forest and guard the kingdom against the occasional beast hordes that originate from the forests and no one with the blood of Wargrave can be given a title above a baron and rank above a captain for the next 7 generations in the family. I give this decree under the name of the goddess of justice Nivathia".
And that Arlo was the start of our downfall. the king gave the harshest of the punishments in the softest of the ways. The war is approaching Arlo. I am starting to feel my imminent death. I hope you stay safe in the war. Please forgive our ancestors whatever they did was for the survival of the realm if we can blame anyone then we can only blame the witch, the king and the 2nd prince Rasthamus irises Artharan and our enemies. But it is not wise to punish an egg for the mistake of the hen. I learned to live with it, Arlo. I hope you will learn too. But the good thing is the curse was given by his majesty Raasthumus will end by us at least you and your brother's sons and my grandsons can set their eyes on something big that we never achieved in this life. Please explain this to your brother he is not a patient person and if he does something in rage I can't be sure if the bloodline of Wargrave can be continued.
Your Father,
Xyrus Partillo Wargrave
From Corinth Barony,
August 12 1682 ".