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"Ha! What foolish nonsense," Baron Hanrahan roared, stepping quickly back into his role as a goad when he realized the merchants were taking the conversation well and truly off the beaten path.

"A little experience fighting wars for kings in the old world, and you think yourself invulnerable to attacks from demons! "

"Do you lot really think that you’re so mighty that you can fight off the Demon Lady of the Vale?" the baron asked, slamming a fleshy palm into the table for emphasis. "She’ll squash you like bugs!"

"Master Tiernan," Jocelynn quickly said, stepping in before things became too heated. Under the table, she gave Owain’s thigh a reassuring squeeze while she took the focus off of him so he could formulate a more reasoned response and decide if the Masters’ suggestion would still suit their plan.

"I’ll admit that I haven’t been in Lothian March for very long, but even I have heard nightmare-inducing tales about the Demon Lady of the Vale," Jocelynn said.

"They say that no walls can truly bar her unless the Church has recently blessed them and the Church charges an exorbitant amount of money for their services just to maintain the protective blessings on Lothian Manor and at the city gates. "

"I know that Master Isabell’s skills are very impressive," Jocelynn added, looking at the older woman with genuine admiration. "But if two seasoned knights of the frontier have already failed to hold those lands, what makes you think that you can prevail where they fell?"

"It’s simple, really," Isabell said, leaning forward and smiling at the perplexed-looking Lord Owain. "In the end, it comes down to faith. Not in the Holy Lord of Light," she added quickly. "But faith in young lord Owain and the army we will prepare for the Holy War to come."

"I’m sure that the Demon Lady of the Vale is a terrifying threat to all of humanity," Isabell said in a very severe tone. "And from what I’ve been told since we came to Lothian March, her demon spawn are just as dangerous, if not more so. But we’ve made this selection for two very important reasons," she said.

"First, as you’ve said, everyone else who has tried has failed," Isabell pointed out. "But everyone who tried so far has been a knight, and if you’ll forgive me for saying it, most knights aren’t known for their ability to create something out of nothing.

But our collection of masters can do what others cannot.

We can turn the River Luath into an engine that powers mills, a fishery that feeds thousands, and that’s just the beginning of what we can do with an opportunity like the lands at the entrance to the Vale of Mists. "

"The second reason," Master Tiernan said, stepping smoothly back into the conversation. "Is that unlike the people granted these lands in the past, we’ll be taking them at the start of a Holy War. We’re putting our faith in you, Lord Owain, to drive the Demon Lady of the Vale from these lands after you crush the demons of Airgead Mountain, freeing Lothian March, no, excuse me, Lothian Duchy, of the scourge of her presence forevermore. "

The way he said it, with a voice brimming with confidence and praise for Lord Owain, made it very difficult for Owain to back down from the Masters’ proposal.

Of course, Master Tiernan couldn’t tell him the truth, that the mysterious Marcel had assured them he and Lady Ashlynn could arrange protection against the forces of the Vale of Mists, but it didn’t matter.

The tale they’d spun contained enough kernels of truth that their proposal became one that Lord Owain would have to suffer losses to reject.

It was something that Owain realized painfully well.

On the one hand, he could tell them that it was presumptious to expect anyone to drive the Demon Lady of the Vale from her nest, but to do that, he’d have to admit to his own uncertainties about achieving something that his greatest ancestor, Cellach Lothian, had only managed to do temporarily.

On the other hand, if he accepted their proposal, then he would have to risk losing some of his most useful pawns very early in the war to come.

When this whole thing started, he’d wanted to stir them up and provoke their pride so they would offer to take up the ’challenge’ of improving Hanrahan Barony.

Now, however, it seemed like he and Jocelynn had underestimated just how proud and confident these Guild Masters were.

"I think this is too large a matter to decide over dinner tonight," Owain said carefully. "We still have time to tour the other villages of the barony while we’re here. Why don’t you take a better look around, and perhaps we can arrange to pass by the entrance to the Vale of Mists on our way back to Lothian City in a few days. .."

"That sounds wise," Isabell said, raising her goblet in a small toast to Owain’s concession.

"Thus far, Master Tiernan and I have only seen renditions of the Vale of Mists in paintings and tapestries. We’re very much looking forward to the chance to explore it first hand, especially with some of the bravest, most capable knights of the frontier to act as our escorts," she said with a smile that held much more warmth than her heart felt at the thought of spending even more time in Lord Owain’s company.

But, she owed it to Lady Ashlynn to keep an eye on her sister Jocelynn... and so long as the mysterious Black Merchant Marcel kept his word, doing this would allow her to reunite with her missing liege lady for the first time since Ashlynn left to marry Lord Owain.

It might be uncomfortable to endure, but if it got her where she needed to be, then she was more than willing to play the game for a little while longer. After all, if Marcel was right, the time to play games with Owain Lothian would be coming to an end soon.