Chapter 605: Hollow Victory
“Hold her arms still. Make sure she cannot cast a spell,” ordered Cedric, before barking several other orders to the rest of the soldiers.
A pair of his n hurried to comply. They marched over to the injured Ingrid and tried to grab her. She struggled against them and her aegis reacted to their force; the silver light of her aegis ignited and pushed the soldiers off her.
“She has an aegis,” said Freya despondently to the surprised n.
Ingrid glared at her. Freya ignored her aunt’s gaze and lifted Oginum silently. Ingrid’s golden eyes widened in fear, “W-Wait!”
Oginum swung down and exploded in a blast of golden energy. The silver shield flared for a brief mont before shattering and sending Ingrid slamming into the ground. Her head smacked into the terrace’s tiles with a heavy thunk.
Freya reached down and grabbed the aegis that was hanging around Ingrid’s neck. The magestone embedded in the silver aegis had gone dark, its mana no more, but otherwise, the aegis seed unhard.
“You can touch her now,” said Freya.
The n needed no other encouragent. They grabbed the dazed dwarf and yanked her arms behind her back. Ingrid grimaced as her broken legs shifted under their rough treatnt.
“Enough! Leave her be!” Aric shouted and rolled over with his wheelchair, but a guard stepped in his path. “Get out of my way!” He glanced at Freya, “Was all of this worth it? Our people lie dead by your command. Is this what you wanted? You wanted the throne so badly that you’d kill our family to take it? Freya!?”
“I didn’t try to kill our family, she did!” Freya pointed an accusing finger at their aunt.
Aric frowned and turned to Ingrid, “Tell it’s not true…”
Ingrid chuckled bitterly and spat at Freya’s feet. “You have no idea of what you’ve done, girl.”
“What I’ve done? You tried to have killed,” she growled.
“All this,” Ingrid gestured with her chin to the countless corpses strewn across the terrace. “This is all because of you. You brought in outsiders to try and supplant your brother, the rightful heir—”
“You were going to have murdered, even after I ceded the lordship to Aric.” Freya laughed incredulously, “I never wanted the Goldelm throne. And I was going to give it all up because you told it was the only way to avoid setting the precedence of Goldelm killing Goldelm. anwhile, you plotted to do just that.”
“It wasn’t the sa,” Ingrid muttered.
“How is it not the sa!?”
“I wasn’t going to kill you in broad daylight. You were ant to disappear, to fade from society. And in a few years, for the greater good of our House… I would have taken your life.”
“Aunt Ingrid, how could you…?” Aric mouthed in horror.
“No one would have known. There would have been no precedence of kinslaying,” said Ingrid.
Freya gritted her teeth. “And that’s sohow better?”
“None of you get it.” Ingrid shook her head. “Our House has managed to have peaceful successions for the last thousand years. No other House can claim that! And do you know why we were able to achieve it? Because of Oginum! The hamr of Lord Koval chose its successor for us.
“But when the Light of the North disappeared we were left wondering what to do. Sylas Goldelm was the last true wielder of Oginum. It was only because the Thorn King had him executed that our family was able to unite for vengeance. There was no dispute of who could wield Oginum. After that, for the last two centuries, the only reason we have barely managed to hold onto a proper succession is because of countless personal sacrifices. Just as how I left Hollow Shade in order for your father to rule.”
Freya glared at her. “And yet you thought it’d be better to just kill ? A great personal sacrifice to you, huh?”
“Because you changed everything!” shouted Ingrid. “You couldn’t just leave Hollow Shade. Countless people saw Oginum’s light ignite for you. There was no denying that Oginum had chosen a successor, even though your brother was heir. So long as you lived, there would be a dispute of power. The kind of civil war that would ultimately lead to our family’s demise, just like it did to the Veres.”
Ingrid glanced at Aric and sighed, “You may have won this battle, you could just execute Aric and I and be done with it, but nothing will end. Not anymore. From now on, future generations will think so long as they have that hamr they can just kill their siblings, their parents, anyone. And that they’ll be justified to do it. That is the curse you have wrought upon us. Soday, all war will break out amongst the Goldelms and our House will fall. All because of you.”
Freya swallowed the lump in her throat. “I didn’t want any of this… not the lordship, not this battle, you forced …”
“No, you forced my hand the mont you chose to ignore Cedric’s orders to retreat, and picked up that hamr. You disobeyed your family’s orders and all of this death is because you made your choice, you stupid, arrogant girl!”
“Why did you pick ?” Aric muttered.
“What?” Ingrid asked.
“All of this… you said it was to protect the family from an inevitable extinction. But if the lives of the family were really what mattered then why did you choose to support in the succession vote?”
“Because your father chose you as his heir. You were the one trained since childhood to be lord of House Goldelm,” said Ingrid.
“Yes, but, here you are willing to kill Freya, justifying it as necessary to save our House. If my father had been alive, if it was between honoring his choice of heir or killing his daughter, he would have chosen to save Freya without question. You had the power to make that reality true, you could have simply made Freya the heir. Maybe she wouldn’t have been a better lord than , maybe she would have. Either way, the House would endure and you would have avoided killing your own kin. Isn’t that what this was all about? Protecting our family? So, I ask again, why did you pick ?”
Freya looked at her aunt, confused and curious about what her answer might be.
Ingrid scoffed. “I already told you, your father chose you as his heir. I was only trying to honor my brother’s final wish…”
Aric slowly shook his head. “No, if you cared about honoring my father you would have saved his daughter, not tried to kill her. You’re smart, Aunt Ingrid, you always have been. Soone like you would have figured out a way to save Freya. So why? Why try to kill her…? What could drive you to despise your own niece so terribly that you would orchestrate her own murder?”
Ingrid’s expression grew darker as he spoke, but she did not respond.
Aric tapped the arm of his wheelchair pensively. “You hardly know Freya, you’ve spent most of your ti in Frost Rim. The few tis you t her, she was just a child. What slight could a child have done to you to warrant her death? No, this isn’t about Freya… This is about you. What you could never have. What you believed no one could ever have. After all, if the great scion of House Goldelm, Lady Ingrid, could not wield Oginum, then there was clearly no one who could.”
Aric glanced at his sister. “Except Freya did. She is the blatant truth standing in your sight, that you, Ingrid Goldelm, just weren’t good enough.”
“It doesn’t make sense!” Ingrid shrieked. “Why did Oginum accept you!? What did you ever do to earn its power? For all the ti I’ve known you, Freya, ever since you were small, do you know what I saw? Just a stupid, spoiled girl! You’ve never struggled a single day in your life! You’ve spent your days lounging about in the family’s wealth. You flaunt your surna around as if it elevates your own worth, when the only remarkable thing you’ve ever done is been lucky enough to be born a Goldelm!”
“...You’re right,” Freya admitted. “I haven’t accomplished anything noteworthy. I was arrogant. I was stupid. I thought being a noble ant I was sohow special,” she smiled bitterly in reminiscence. “Then I t people who are truly special. I t a vampire and goblin who stood alone against the armies of the valley to save a caravan of innocents. I t a human who carried an orc twice her size halfway across the city while severely injured in order to save her friend. Compared to them, I am no one special. I’m just a girl who picked up a hamr. You’re right, I don’t deserve Oginum.”
Freya lifted Oginum and pointed at Ingrid. “But that vampire saved my life. If I let you take it, then I would be dishonoring his sacrifice. And the other three I ntioned? My friends. They would be sad if I was gone. So even if I’m not deserving, even if I’m no one special, I will fight to protect this life.”
“Is that how you justify your own ineptness? Hiding behind the greatness of your friends?” Ingrid snarled.
“I’m not hiding. I stand before you to do what I must.” Freya took a deep breath. “You are powerful, Aunt Ingrid. You have connections that extend across the realm. If I imprison you, your allies will seek to break you out. Even my own siblings might do it. You will always be a threat—”
“Freya, don’t do this,” said Aric.
Cedric walked over and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, “She will do what she has to.”
“I’m sorry, Aric,” Freya whispered with a shaky voice. Her hands trembled and she struggled to grip Oginum properly.
“Look at you,” Ingrid bared her teeth. “Even when you must protect your own life you can’t find the strength to do what is necessary. And you think you can protect this House? Our House will fall because of a worthless chosen like you.”
“Goodbye… Ingrid…” Freya raised Oginum high above her head and clenched her eyes shut.
“Freya, don’t do it! I’m begging you, please! Father would never have wanted this!” Aric cried.
“What are you waiting for? Do it, you worthless girl! The gods damn you! Do it!” Ingrid scread.
Freya opened her tearful eyes and lowered her hamr. “…I can’t. …Soone take her away.”
“Oginum chose wrong,” Ingrid spat. “You—”
A dagger plunged into Ingrid’s neck and cut her voice off mid-sentence. She stiffened and her golden eyes went wide with panic. As the blade slipped out from her throat she collapsed and stared at Stryg standing over her. His clothes were in tatters, save his cloak, and his chest was scorched. One arm was slung over Gale’s shoulders, the other held a broken bloody blade, Naless.
Ingrid choked on her own blood as her eyes darted around, before slowly glazing over.
“Why?” Freya muttered to Stryg, confusion and pain in her eyes. “Her life wasn’t yours to take.”
“You shouldn’t have had to take it either,” said Stryg, strained. His every breath ca out ragged. “The burden of carrying your aunt’s death should not fall upon you.”
“But it should fall upon you?”
“Killing was never a burden to .”
“Then you’re stronger than ,” Freya whispered.
“Well, obviously,” Stryg cracked a pained smirk. “But not because of this. Not willing to kill your family does not make you weak.”
“Then what does it make ?”
“Not a monster.”
“...Thank you,” Freya smiled.
He inclined his head in what she thought was an acknowledgent, but then she noticed his eyes seed to be drifting.
“Okay, I think it’s ti my lord gets so much-needed rest,” Gale urged and helped Stryg away.
Freya walked over to Aric and knelt in front of his wheelchair. “I’m sorry for all of this. I understand if you wish to banish , I will go if that is your decision. But if you don’t, then I will try to support you as my lord in whatever ways I can.” She placed Oginum at his feet, “This belongs to you.”
Aric stared at her for a long mont, then sighed. “No. The hamr of our ancestors is yours. As it should be. As for the rest… I need ti to think.” He turned his wheelchair around and rolled away.
Freya couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt at the sight of her brother’s trembling shoulders. Ingrid was his aunt and he had loved her. Many of the bodies lying dead all around them had been Aric’s loyal n and won. He had grown up with many of them, as had she. Now they were dead.
She had won. How hollow it felt.
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