Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 6)

(You got it right!)

"Michael's." Ingrid looked down in discomfort, rubbing her arm. "When Lord Gaius returned from exile he ordered a purge of sorts. He replaced servants, found himself a new General and threw the old one in prison, and had Lord Michael's best friend arrested and beaten. He got rid of everything he could, but the library made a case for Michael's documents."

(Yay! Also lol I feel like we are witnessing the closest thing Ky is capable of having to a villain arc haha)

“Oh…” Ky nodded. It sounded horrifying to get a glimpse into the mind of a verifiable psychopath. And yet she had every intention in the world of reading it, once it seemed polite to ask for it. “Reasonable.”

But it raised so, so many questions.

“… who was his best friend?”

"Loren Carthe," Ingrid said grimly. "He's still in the dungeons over a decade later, or so I hear. He was nearly as bad as Michael, though not nearly so creative." She looked pained. "Dear, your uncle Gaius is a wonderful man, but his fury is a sight to behold."

Ky’s eyes went wide. A decade in prison? She couldn’t imagine. Couldn’t imagine Gaius… she disliked the fact that she almost could imagine Gaius doing that. What would he have done to Aleth if he’d learned the truth when he was here? Would he still be alive, suffering? Would he be rotting in a dungeon until he died? He didn’t deserve to be tortured, of course. No one deserved that. But she almost wanted to believe he deserved a decade in prison alongside Loren.

And she was, once again, confronted with the uncomfortable question of what Gaius would have done to her if he’d met her as a spy.

“That’s… a long time,” she answered lamely.

"The general--Nox is his name--is there as well, I believe. And there's a man imprisoned by Lord Septimus who's been there for something like thirty years." Ingrid grimaced. "A cannibal, as I recall. Hunted down easy targets in villages and did horrid things to them. He probably should have been executed."

Ky forced the shock off her face. She didn’t want Ingrid to stop talking. She had to play her cards right. Even though she was absolutely horrified by everything that had just come out of Ingrid’s mouth. “I daresay this was worse than death… is there anyone else?”

He’d been in prison twice as long as she’d been alive. Her brain couldn’t comprehend that.

"Two rapists, I believe. And one of the slavers Lord Gaius took prisoner quite recently. A man traveling with Gol Nasa. They're all very securely in their cells," she assured her. "Those three are awaiting sentencing, I believe. Unless they've already had it. I've kept away from those matters."

“Oh, I’m sure,” Ky agreed grimly. Gaius was treating Zander like a prisoner — she couldn’t imagine what he’d do to an actual criminal. Well. She could imagine. But she didn’t want to. “… what happened to Michael?”

It was nice to meet someone who knew the story without having the trauma attached.

"He died in a duel," she replied with a humorless smile. "Challenged some lowly bandits when they stopped him on the road. Loren Carthe brought his body back to the Keep."

Ky nodded. A rather anticlimactic story. “How did Gaius hear about it to know to come back? Did someone here know where he was all along?”

That seemed wildly unsafe if so. For a homicidal maniac with the resources of a Lord and a grudge to know where you were.

"Sera kept in touch, as well as a few other people he trusted. Sera rode out personally to tell him and Tomhas the news."

Ky nodded. That seemed fitting. A reunion of friends that they all deserved. “And Tomhas came back with him? And Sara and Anneke?”

"That's right. About a year after that, Brogan Loquitur died and Lord Tomhas, being his only child, became Lord of Caracal Keep. His daughter Lyra was actually born here in this Keep."

“Oh… I don’t think I knew that,” Ky said with a nod, putting together the pieces into a neat little timeline. “… did Tomhas do a similar purge of staff, do you know?”

She was absolutely certain Tomhas wouldn’t leave someone rotting in prison for a decade. But she didn’t know what he might have done outside of that. Executions? Banishments?

"I'm afraid I don't know." She shook her head. "That'd be a question for Caracal Keep's librarians. Perhaps he removed a few staff members, but I can't imagine he was nearly as thorough as Lord Gaius. He never spoke to Brogan Loquitur, as far as I know. Not at length, at least."