When Derek woke, he found himself in a comfortable bed. He was in a single room cottage and as he looked across the room he saw a wizened old woman stirring a pot on her stove. Next to her was a slightly younger old man nodding off while poorly pretending to be listening to her.

As he smelled the food his stomach rumbled, startling the old man awake. When the woman turned to look at him, Derek felt a sense of familiarity from her. She peered at him for a moment, before waving him over with her ladle, “Awake already? Come here boy and eat. You will need quite a bit of nourishment to heal from what you have been through in the last few days.”

Derek sheepishly got up and sat where she indicated at her table, then began eating the food she provided. It was delicious and he was famished, so he began wolfing it down. The old man laughed, “Haha, boy there is no need to rush. No one will take it from you.”

As Derek finished his bowl, the old woman spooned out more for him. She didn’t stop until he had eaten four full bowls. Finishing he looked a little crestfallen that this was all before remembering his manners, “Thank you for the food, but who are you, and where am I?”

As he said that, the door to the cottage opened and he saw the homes of Redwyrm outside. An old man came walking in, “Ehehe, so the boy is awake? That’s good, we need to get him up to the castle before things get any uglier up there. Here is your gear boy, you better put it on and scurry on up to the clan hall.”

“Thank you, Ancestor,” the boy said as he started to equip his battle damaged gear. In little time he had it on and arranged for comfort. While he did so, the other three had already left the building so he decided to head on up to the castle like he had been instructed. As he approached, he saw that it was in an uproar. He quickly made his way to the castle where the guards led him to the main hall.

When he arrived, they kept him at the entrance of the room while one went to announce his arrival to the Patriarch. He saw his grandmother arguing with Elder Jacob before the Patriarch and the other Elders. “You lie! There is no way he would ever betray them. Anyone with eyes would see that you are making this up to cause harm to my family once again!”

Jacob laughed coldly, “Rebekah, you accuse me of lying but it was Elder Tanner that saw this. It is he that witnessed Derek abandon the others. I am merely fulfilling my role as Elder to levy this charge against Derek. The punishment for desertion is death and being stricken from the clan’s rolls! And that is what your grandson stands accused of, desertion!

“He abandoned his party in the lair of the demons and his absence caused my son, Feros, to be injured and Belany to suffer her current tribulation! Even worse,Hector is also unconscious from overdrawing his mana to heal his sister. Patriarch even if not for justice look to your own great grandchildren. They are in dire straights and may never wake again or may turn cripple from this. It is all the fault of that Derek!”

The Patriarch listened with a dark look on his face. Of the five children that left for the trial, Belany was in a coma, Hector had overexerted himself and was also unconscious, Feros was injured, and Derek had not been seen. Now, Elder Tanner had come forth with the claim that when the others had fled the cave they had gone into, it was because Derek had abandoned them at a critical junction, causing them to fall into harm.

Elder Jacob had even received word from Elton and Feros that corroborated this accusation. If it was true then Derek was indeed guilty of desertion and the penalty was death or expulsion from the clan at the least. This promising coming of age ceremony had taken a significant turn for the worse.

As he pondered this, a guard came up to inform the Patriarch of Derek’s arrival. When he did so, Elder Jacob turned and said with an imperious tone, “Ah, so the deserter has arrived and so boldly as if he thinks he has committed no wrong.”

At a signal from the Patriarch, the guards led Derek into the hall. He looked around. The majority of the adults of the clan were present as well as Prince Kylin and his knights and Nicholas Windreach and his retinue. They all saw him enter, with scarred armor and clothes and bandages over his wounds. His mother, by Baron Nicholas’ side, blanched upon seeing this. Ovid restrained her gently from approaching Derek.

He heard the others talking, mostly rumors and hearsay. Derek knew that most of it was false so he paid little attention to it. He walked up to stand next to his grandmother and bowed to the Patriarch. “Derek Thorne reporting back from the trial Patriarch.”

Elder Jacob snorted coldly, “So fortunate for you that you made it back uninjured. Because of your actions, three out of four of your companions were seriously injured. Don’t you feel any shame?”

Derek was at a loss for words. He had heard the allegations against him as he waited at the end of the hall. Indeed they were serious and Hector overdrawing to heal his sister was news to him but by his nature not unexpected. “I beg your pardon. Three seriously injured? When I last saw the others Belany was indeed in a bad way as she had dangerously overdrawn her mana by casting Sacred Blessing and Sanctuary in sequence, but other than a minor injury for Feros, the other three were in good health.”

Elder Jacob sneered, “So you admit it! You abandoned your party to attack by the demons. I have heard from both Feros and Elton that this is so and Elder Tanner here confirms it. You left them and they nearly died! Patriarch, this child has always been a troublemaker, fighting with my sons. This time he has gone too far! I demand this filth be given the harshest punishment as an example to all the other youngsters and before our guests that we maintain strict punishment and rewards in our clan. Elders, don’t you agree? He should be executed and stricken from the rolls of the clan.”

As he said this, three of the five other elders spoke their assent, Elder Tanner spoke up pointing at Derek, “Cur if I hadn’t arrived to seal the cavern, there is no telling what would have happened to the other children. Did you think of what harm they would fall into when you abandoned them? Execution is the most appropriate punishment for this crime.”

Derek was aghast when he heard this. He had covered the withdrawal of his team. If this old man hadn’t collapsed the tunnel, he could have joined them after he cleaned out the cavern. He looked around, the adults of the clan had stoney faces as they stared at him; the crime was serious. The Prince and his people’s faces were impossible to read and they watched quietly.

He couldn’t tell if the tier two stealth scout he had seen had made it back to them. That person would have been able to witness for him. That is assuming that the Prince was willing to admit that he had spied on the trial. Derek knew that it was unlikely for him to receive help from them.

He looked towards his mother who was absolutely quiet. He had never seen such a cold look on her face as she had now while looking at Elder Jacob. Her father placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. In a voice as cold as drawn steel he said, “I would hope that Elder Jacob wouldn’t use demonstrating your clan’s values to me as an excuse to kill my only grandson in my presence. It would be hard for me not to take offense in that case.”

Elder Jacob looked back at him and snapped, “Outsider, where do you think you are? This is clan Thorne territory and the magistrate here is the Patriarch of the Thorne clan.”

The Patriarch slammed the butt of his staff onto the ground and spoke up, “Quite right, I am the magistrate here Jacob. It is my responsibility to pass judgement, not you. Your role is to lay out evidence of wrongdoing.

“Baron Nicholas, I understand your concern but I must see that justice is served here. I assure you that I will take into account our relationship with your House when passing judgement. Please do not interfere in this.”

Nicholas looked to the Patriarch, “Your clan’s judgement is already in question, Patriarch Darren. The way some of you have treated my daughter and grandson in the past, even going so far as to deny basic foodstuffs and supplies, has not been particularly stellar. The future of how we will interact is entirely in your hands now.”

The Patriarch’s face reddened. He was not used to being spoken to in this way in his own hall, but he knew that the house of Windreach had the power to destroy his clan. In fact he was unsure that the Baron’s retainers currently in the hall were not enough to achieve just that. Yet the accusation against Derek was serious and he had to sit in judgement of this crime.

He calmed himself and looked to Baron Nicholas. The room had gone deathly quiet as any intelligent person knew what the Baron had implied. The Patriarch repeated himself, “I will take into account our relationship with your House.”

He then turned towards Derek, “You have been accused of deserting your party and putting them into undue risk. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Derek spoke up, “I did not desert my party. After Belany overcast Sanctuary I suggested that Hector take her and the others to withdraw while I held the demons at bay. Hector agreed with me and retreated through the tunnel we had entered the cave through. I underestimated the power of the Sanctuary she cast and was able to win the fight but when I did so, I heard the collapse of the tunnel that Elder Tanner described earlier so I was unable to join them.

“Knowing that I was trapped in the cavern I made use of the time remaining on Belany's enhancements to seek out the source of the demons. There I fought and killed a greater demon and disenchanted the gate it had created before returning.

“In no case did I abandon my team or even act with any cowardice. I reject this accusation and I denounce those that levied it against me!”

Elder Tanner turned livid towards the end but Elder Jacob laughed, “You see? This boy lies. How could he, a mere tier one, defeat a greater demon? They are beings that even challenge a whole group of our adult clansmen.

“Nevermind that he contradicts and even slanders Elder Tanner! It’s his word against Elder Tanner’s that he abandoned his team and I have confirmation from both of his conscious teammates that he did in fact abandon them! There is no question here as to who is lying and who is telling the truth! Derek is guilty of desertion!

“The only thing left in question is whether you will punish him, Patriarch, or whether you will cave before the pressure these outsiders are exerting and sully the honor that five thousand years of our ancestor’s achievements had earned.”

The Patriarch looked from Elder Jacob to Baron Nicholas before finally turning to Derek. “Derek, the evidence is your word versus that of Elder Tanner, Elton, and Feros. Their version of events is different than yours and Elder Tanner’s integrity is impeccable. I find you guilty of desertion in combat.

“Out of respect for Baron Nicholas, I hand you over to him for punishment. As for the Thorne clan, you no longer have a place among us. You are hereby banished from the clan and stricken from the rolls. You are restricted to the guest house that the delegation from Windreach is staying in until they leave. At which point you are forbidden from ever returning again. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Derek felt bile in the back of his throat. His entire identity was wrapped around being a member of his father’s clan. He had been mistreated in the past but he had always believed that if he accomplished enough they would finally accept him. He felt tears forming in his eyes as he looked at the hard faces of his clansmen.

He opened his pack and started tossing sackful after sackful of what he had collected in the cave out onto the floor. He made eye contact with each of them as he threw out the sacks and described their contents in a monotone voice. Among those bags were the head of a greater demon, the hell gate gem, the hearts of five true demons, the hearts of almost thirty lesser demons, and almost three hundred hearts of least demons.

As he emptied his pack the clansmen all started to stare with disbelief. Some even gawked with their mouths open. Elders Tanner and Jacob had dumbfounded looks on their faces while the Patriarch had leaned forward to closely examine what was before him. The Patriarch looked up, “Derek, you…”

Derek stepped back next to his grandmother. “Patriarch Darren of the Thorne clan, we have no further connection. Belany’s spell killed most of these demons and helped me to kill the rest, so these ought to be hers. I almost died fighting the greater demon so I will keep that for myself.

“To be honest, it is a relief that you have banished me from the clan. I have spent my entire life trying to please you all only to be treated like garbage over and over again by you people. In fact, I am only sorry that I won’t see Belany or Hector again before I leave. They were the only ones that ever treated me as a clansman.”

He grabbed his grandmother’s sleeve and tugged on it, “Please come with me.”

She looked at him and sighed, then turned to the Patriarch, who looked poleaxed. “Ever since I rejected Jacob when he tried to force me to marry him he has persecuted me and my family. He forced my husband to leave. He harassed my son until the boy could only go errant to get away from him. My son was the most promising youth of his generation and you let Jacob drive him away and what did that do for us but have him die in some no name town in Serris? What value to the clan is a dead genius? And you all let that happen.

“Now you are letting Jacob force out my only grandson, the last family I have. If that is the case then I too will leave. From now on I am no longer a Thorne, I will take my husband's name of Kennick and we will take care of our own. Your problems are no longer mine. Do not come seeking help from me.”

The room was quiet. Elder Jacob looked like he was about to erupt in fury when the Patriarch said in a dark voice, “Jacob, if you open your mouth I will have you strangled to death. One Rebekah is worth five of you, and one Jared was worth ten. You have already cost our clan too much.”

At this point another Elder spoke up for Elder Jacob, “But Patriarch, our clan’s wealth has doubled under Elder Jacob’s leadership, please remember his contributions. It is not fair to compare him to these dead weights.”

“About that, Elder… Jacob.” Prince Kylin spoke up while pulling a handful of forms from a satchel and holding them up. They appeared to be some form of receipt, “My father has been sending Sir Jared’s household a tribute every year since he died. This tribute was on the order of a couple thousand talents a year. I have received notification that it was you who signed off on delivery of this gold and yet upon arrival I found that Jared’s family has not received this wealth in years. Isn’t it convenient that this wealth has disappeared at the same time as your supposed growth of the clan’s income? What were you planning on telling them when we stop delivering the tribute now that Sir Jared’s son is an adult?”

He looked at the many stunned faces in the room. Then turned to the Patriarch. “When I arrived here your clan only had two things of great value to call its own. The first is that sword you all worship. The second was that boy you just willingly severed ties to. I assure you that if the house of Windreach doesn’t lay claim to this boy now that you have given him up, my father’s kingdom would spare no expense to acquire him.”

Derek was dazed as he walked with his grandmother to the side of Baron Nicholas. His mother hugged him tight and delved him immediately to check his injuries. He looked around him and the retainers of the house of Windreach looked upon him with reassuring glances. He was sad to be losing a home, but at least these people would accept him.

As the turmoil in the room started to build, an ancient voice sounded out from a dimly lit corner, “Ehehe, I see no problem with letting the boy return to be with his mother’s family for a time, but I will not have my descendents banished from my home in such a way. What would my precious Penny think if her favorite granddaughter was expelled like this? Let this farce end for now. Everyone return to your lodgings. Daren, you and the ‘elders’ stay here, I would like to have a talk with you.”