"I, I have much I need to atone for after serving him," Hugo had said. "And that begins by telling this Court what I know."
Hugo drew a deep breath, and his hand found its way to the hilt of the curved dagger that had rarely left his side since the night Lord Jalal pressed into his hands on the eve of the Battle of Hanrahan.
After the battle, before he'd returned to the Vale of Mists, he'd tried to return the dagger to the Eldritch Lord, but Jalal had refused.
"What need do I have for a second blade?" Jalal had asked, gesturing to the stump that was all that remained of his arm after Loman's Arrow of Judgment had nearly claimed his life. "The stars are there to guide us, young cub. My days of following the First Warrior are coming to an end," he said, tapping the hilt of the dagger with the tip of a claw. "Yours are just beginning."
"But, I, I'm not a warrior," Hugo protested. "I spent all night trying to stop people from fighting. A warrior would have…"
