Free Siege of Pailtar by Robyn Wideman Page B

tell me anything. It doesn’t matter what you have done before. You are mine now.”
    Everet smiled. “In that case perhaps I had best tell you. I would not want you to learn it from someone else and change your mind about how you feel.” Everet paused to collect his thoughts. Where does one start such a story? “I was born Everode Elmore Evollan III, son of Lord Everode Evollan. My father was a tyrant. He was a noble who ruled his lands with an iron fist. Mercy and kindness were foreign words to my father. My mother was a kind woman who loved me and tried to install some of those qualities into me. My father would beat them out of me at every opportunity. He wanted his son to be a fierce warrior, one who would lead armies and make his father even richer and more powerful. When I was young, I watched my father torture men those who crossed him. I felt bad for them and sometimes would sneak them water. Then one day my father caught me. I then became the one being tortured. It was simple for my father. I was going to either become like him or die. My mother saw what he was trying to do so she took my younger brother and me and fled. Father caught us and took us boys home. He killed her that night and took a new wife within the week. I quit trying to fight his training. I feared he would kill my brother next. So I became the fierce, merciless killer he wanted and together we fought, expanding his lands and those of the king he served. There was a great war and we ended up in a battle that should have ended in our retreat. We had met a large force of men on the battlefield and fought them to a draw. The other commander signaled retreat and withdrew his men. He knew the battle was even and if drawn out would result in both sides losing a majority of their men. Father did not see this. He saw the other commander’s retreat as weakness and ordered our men to follow the other army. What Father did not know was the other commander had a strong troop of reserves hidden in the woods. When we attacked the retreating army, we ended up surrounded and trapped. Father refused to surrender and was cut down by enemy archers. It was a shock to me, to see my father die. He had seemed an indestructible force, a cruel, unflinching, and undefeatable man. His second in command signaled the retreat and some of our troops were able to flee. Despite only being a teen, I took over my father’s position and despite the losses my father caused was able to help our king win the war. It took years and many battles, but when it was all over I was a duke. A trusted servant of the king, but true to my father’s training I wanted more and was always working to further my own cause. I wanted to be king. I fought hard, gaining my king’s trust and years passed. When I was given an assignment to clear one of the outlying areas of bandits, I saw it as an opportunity to gain even more power. I ignored the local lord and went out with my troops searching for bandits. We found signs of bandits around a small village and Bailmont, my right hand man, who was even more ruthless and bloodthirsty than I, convinced me that we should attack. I knew he really didn’t care if the village had bandits or not. I needed a victory. So I approved the attack. Bailmont and my men murdered innocent men and woman, but no bandits. Even more unfortunate, the village happened to contain a northern prince and his southern wife. Their child ended up being my downfall. The murder of his parents almost brought the entire continent to war. My carefully built up position with my king was gone, so I turned to robbery and treachery and made my way to Pailtar. The boy followed us for the girl I had kidnapped, and when he caught us he killed Bailmont. He likely would have killed me too if I had not hidden and fled like a coward in the night.”
    “You survived. It’s your instincts. So why did you change your name? You could have kept it in Meron. No one there cares what happened in