Chapter 252: A war criminal?
Sir Forsythe chose that time to come back from his errand, and walked outside into a rather confusing situation. He glanced around the table, to the two knights that were outside as well, and then looked back at Cass.
"Is there...a problem, my Lord?" He asked and Cass shook his head, finally letting go of Lucian to get up.
"No. I just need to go smell some fucking flowers." Cass muttered, stomping off. Sir Forsythe watched him, before he looked back at the others. Fiona just shook her head at him, while Lucian continued to stew a bit. Edgar looked a little pale, while Lady Ava just...existed.
Cass was muttering to himself a bit before he crouched down and actually sniffed some flowers. He was amazed by how easily just the one sniff improved his mood. One deep, long inhale and a long exhale made everything a little bit better.
"I’m sorry I started this." Ser Hune said from behind him quietly. "I didn’t mean to stir the pot like this." She said quietly and Cass didn’t look back at her for a moment, just relishing the smell and the feel of the grass beneath his fingers. He hadn’t even realised that he’d sat down until he felt the strands of grass between his fingers.
They felt like they were welcoming him there.
"It’s okay, Ser Hune. I’m really not upset at all." Cass said to her. "I just haven’t felt big emotions like this in a while so it’s just a little overwhelming." Cass told her and Ser Hune, from her silence, didn’t seem convinced.
"I really was just checking up on your home. I wasn’t doing anything nefarious, not without your permission. I just..." She let out a soft sigh. "Sir Forsythe told me one time, when we were drinking together and you were just a babe. Your Mom had just passed, your Dad was missing, and Sir Forsythe was doing his very best to not get caught by your grandfather that...they cut down all the trees and put rocks over almost all of the grass on the estate." Ser Hune sounded ill recounting it. "He didn’t really know, but he knew enough that that would harm you. Even if you didn’t know it." Ser Hune’s voice trembled, like she was going to cry. "Seeing the estate today? I wanted to bury him in the ground." Ser Hune’s voice held an anger that was just as potent as when the plants had responded the first time.
It was far more subtle this time, but Cass could feel it. In the way that the grass grasped as his fingers, the flower became more potent. Ser Hune was a pure blood, and hadn’t been stifled her whole life. She was taught how to embrace all sides of herself, and Cass could feel in this moment what all of that meant.
"Can you do that?" Cass asked softly and Ser Hune let out a shaky exhale.
"That’s child’s play, my Lord. I can do much more damage than that." She told him grimly, and Cass felt his lips turn up slightly.
"Well, unfortunately, I feel like I’ve promised his head to quite a few people already, so you might have to get in line." Cass told her, turning his gaze up towards Ser Hune. He hadn’t realised she was crying, and when he did, a bolt of panic shot through him. "A-Are you alright?" Cass asked and Ser Hune wiped at her eyes, shaking her head.
"I am fine, it’s just...I’ve watched you, over the time that you’ve been living near the forest, in the forest, and I’ve watched how you’ve grown. Shifted. For the better, in my option. You’re so weak, and I can only think part of it comes from malnutrition when you were younger. You weren’t a normal child, you were, you are part fairy. You needed fields, forests, nature, and they took that from you. Tried to make you into a dried up husk and I-" Ser Hune cut off, covering her face. "I weep for what you could have been if only one person had advocated for you." It should have sounded presumptuous.
It was presumptuous, but to Cass? To the Lord Blackburn that was stuck inside of his own body? It was like pouring soothing water onto a burn. Onto an injury.
Cass had to drop his head again, unable to meet her gaze as he could feel his eyes water. He tried to control the emotions inside of him, letting out a shaky exhale. She was right. Sometimes, all it took was one person to step in and change everything. Both Lord Blackburn and Cass knew that.
No one had done that for Lord Blackburn, but Cass’ sister had done that for him. Cass wasn’t an idiot. He knew that he could have turned out completely different. There were several times that people had offered him jobs on the streets, things that could make a lot of money, but would have a heavy cost.
His sister had chased those bottom feeders off, protecting him.
Lord Blackburn hadn’t had that. Ser Hune had said it herself. Sir Forsythe had tried, but he couldn’t get too close. Couldn’t let the truth out because otherwise Lord Blackburn would have not a single soul around him that would care about him. It was a damn miracle that the man hadn’t turned out to be a full monster.
A true demon.
He’d somehow managed to keep parts of himself that were salvageable. Safe. Parts that weren’t just breeding grounds for hatred and bigotry. How he had managed to do so? Cass didn’t know. He did know that he had anger issues, had taken it out on his staff, but given all of the shit the man had gone through, and who his staff had normally been?
Cass felt himself shiver and he bent forward, burying his nose into the flowers again. He took a few more deep breaths, calming himself.
"Thank you." Cass finally was able to say. "Thank you for caring, Ser Hune." Cass told her. He meant every word. Both him, and Lord Blackburn. "Would you say that...my great grandmother is a good person?" Cass asked softly and Ser Hune let out a laugh that had Cass pausing. He looked up at her, and her eyes were creased at the corners.
"No. She’s not." She said, a smirk on her face. "To humans, she’s a war criminal." Cass honestly didn’t know what to say to that. Ser Hune laughed. "Shocking? That’s why I tend not to say her name in polite company." Ser Hune told him, crouching down until she was also sitting on the grass. Both of them had their hands buried in the grass, while Cass processed what he’d just been told.
So, Lord Blackburn had a grandfather who was racist, homophobic, hoarding money, wanted to kill a bunch of people and was putting in legislation to do so. Had hundreds, if not thousands of enemies, including his own grandson, and was just a very evil, evil man as Cass would consider it. He didn’t have much hope for the other side of his bloodline, but...he did have some hope.
To hear that not only was she also a racist, but was a war criminal?
Fuck, was Lord Blackburn damned from before even he existed?
"What...when did that happen? What did she do?" Cass finally asked and Ser Hune let out a sigh.
"Well, humans were getting cocky." Ser Hune started. "They were beginning to think that because they produced offspring quickly that they had the right to take over everything. Including our forests. Our homes. This war has been going on for a long time, and it’s only in the last 4 decades or so that this has calmed down. Mainly because we keep firing shots that they can’t ignore. But, at first, we went at this peacefully. Oh, I’m saying we, but I wasn’t alive when this all started. I’m old, but not that old." Ser Hune said, defending herself.
"Okay. I wasn’t thinking that, so don’t worry about it." Cass told her and Ser Hune grinned.
"Awe. What a sweet guy you are." She said before she continued. "So, they first tried to tell them what they were doing was wrong. And then the humans turned around, scoffed in their faces, and started burning trees and forests. Not just any forests. Nurseries." Cass felt a shiver of cold shoot down his spine.
He was sure he knew what she meant by nurseries, and didn’t need it explained. Cass knew of the cruelty of humanity well.
"So, the elders were pissed. So beyond pissed. Our matron of the forest at the time wept because one of her children had been in one of the nurseries. We hadn’t needed to protect them before. We were a pacifist race. No one had messed with us before. We didn’t even have the framework for violence then, not truly. No guards, no knights, no offensive magic." Ser Hune sighed. "It was your great grandmother who snapped. Like your mother, and presumably, you yourself, she had the ability to sing to the forests. Bring them to life. And she did many, many unspeakable things in her rage. Like the matron of the forest, she had a child in one of the nurseries, and unlike the matron of the forest, she didn’t sit back. She was the one who created our offensive magic in grief and anger. The forest moved with her, sang her song as she wiped entire populations off of the face of the world. The humans ran in fear at the sight of her. At her anger, her rage, and they backed off. They had no choice. They either signed our agreement, or would be chased until the ends of the world by your great grandmother in her anger and grief." Ser Hune said and Cass sat there, listening to what she said.
It was only after a minute that Cass voiced a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.
"Did...she make a deal with a demon?" He asked and Ser Hune let out a bitter laugh.
"She tried to. She tried everything she could. I only found out after that she had desperately tried to summon someone, anyone, but here’s something that isn’t taught to most people about fairies because it’s not a good thing for humans to know." Ser Hune leaned in, her voice a whisper. "Fairies normally can’t handle holy powers or demonic powers. We don’t have souls like humans or others do. Much like elves, who we are quite distantly related to, our forest is part of who we are, so our souls are too different, too warped. We have a god who listens to us, but they are both demon and god. They sit in between, not good, not bad, like the forest is. We aren’t beings that are supposed to be able to make contracts." Ser Hune told him and Cass had to grapple with the new information he had been given.
What the hell did that mean for him? Was he some kind of freak of nature? How was it even possible that he was partially a demon if fairies, by nature, weren’t able to make deals? Weren’t able to mix blood? And how was he able to me marked, made into a hero then as well? Cass may have been human, but he shouldn’t have even been able to go into Lord Blackburn’s body by Ser Hune’s words.
Cass stared blankly, his heart racing.
"She sounds...like a very powerful lady." Cass finally said and Ser Hune let out a soft sigh, leaning back.
"She is, which is why she was so disappointed when your mom ran off to be with a human. She was shunned because of it. Losing her ties to her family. It was done in anger, they had no idea that she would die while she was with the humans. Fairies, at least pure fairies and even 3 quarter fairies, have a very long life span. Nothing like dragons, of course, but quite a while. She was but a baby when she left." Ser Hune said. "A rebellious one. We didn’t know she had a baby until much later, and then it was too late. We couldn’t get to you without it causing a war. Especially since you were the sole heir to a Dukedom." Ser Hune told him, and Cass could begin to see why his grandfather might have changed his tune.
He’d been using Lord Blackburn as a way to keep the fairies in line.
Cass was so excited for when the old man realised that everything was slipping out of his fingers.