The Paramount's Fall [PK Post]

[Frymark 2791]

The Paramount’s Fall

 

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Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8AeV8Jbx6M

 

Cedric sighed as he paced around the Knightly Quarters in the Nikirila Prikaz, the Paramount holding his shaking hands folded behind his back, as he awaited for the rest of his Knightly Orders to arrive - This was to be his final quest, the Paramount thought to himself, before the sound of closing footsteps began to rang from the stairway.

 

“Fritz, ich got ein idea, come.” 

Cedric, back then a small boy said with a small giggle leaving him, as he walked the steps up to Reinmar’s second floor, where his cousin, Friedrich Barclay was sitting on the edge of the wall, looking down at the wedding feast that was taking place downstairs. Cedric waddled over to his room, before calling out “Mr. Bear! Mr. Bear, come here!” 

 

Cedric let out a small grunt as he rose up from his seat at the end of the Knight’s Table, “Alright, we shall be heading towards the gates then, armor on.” The Paramount called with a low sigh leaving him after, as he was old, and tired.

 

“So … You’re marrying Fiske, then?” 

Cedric, now a teenager, looked at Juliya, who was standing next to the lake in Reinmar, the words he was about to ask stuck in his mouth, before he finally dared to speak, He looked with a glint of sadness in his eyes at the girl next to him, who blushed and stuttered in return. 

 

Cedric raised an hand up, then hushing down towards his men inside the wagon, “Wait here, and stay quiet.” The Paramount then dropped from his horse, and began to close on the pile of bodies which lay on the road, before a whistle was heard from the southern mountains.

 

“Go on then, and do vyr duty to Saint Tylos and the Kingdom.” 

Ser Cedric, newly oathed into the Order of the Crow dipped his head to the Knight Paramount, Ser Boris var Ruthern with a broad smile on his face, “Ich will, ser.” Came back his words with determination and pride, as the day he had aimed for his entire life, was finally upon him. 

 

Cedric grimaced towards the mountain, before unstrapping his helmet which was strapped to the horse, then calling, “**** this, we arent playing their little game. Ser Demitriyus, take a few men and advance from the right, the rest, follow me.” 

 

“You think we’ll be good parents?” 

Aeira Barclay asked him, to which in return, Ser Cedric offered her a small laugh, and a shake of his head, “Of course we’ll be! Raising children can't be that hard, und we got plenty of family to help.” He said with an assuring smile, leaning forwards to kiss his pregnant wife.

 

Cedric perked a brow towards the odd-looking man on the hillside, who was just .. playing his lute. “Watch out our flanks, Aaron and I will advance, the rest hold.” The Paramount called, before starting to move towards the lute-man, his crossbow aimed at him the whole time.

 

“You’re tearing this family apart, Friedrich!”

Came the teary cry from Adelric, Cedric’s brother, who stood next to him at Reinmar’s courtyard, a shovel in his other hand, and the dug up ground, where Nicolas lied, slayed by the Knights during the Red Diet. “Ich dont need you to like me, ich just need you to follow me.” came back the Duke of Reinmar’s cold response, before he began to walk back to the keep. 

 

Cedric continued to advance on the man, before, from up above the trees, and the bird’s nest that resided there came a barrage of caskets, flooding the hillside with oil, “Dont move, or we will fire.” came the voice from above, accompanied by the sight of flaming arrows, ready to burn down the entire retinue.

 

“What’s the most important trait of ein knight, vater?”

Klaus, then just a small boy asked Ser Cedric. A proud, wide smile spread to the Knight’s face as he took the notebook, onto which his son had gathered the opinions of previous knights, “Ich want to be ein gutt knight, just like you!” Klaus had exclaimed, which had caused the proud smile on Cedric’s face to spread ruther, “You’ll be ein excellent knight, surely.” He said back to the boy, ruffling his hair.

 

Cedric loosened the bolt towards the lute-man, which pierced through its neck immediately, dropping him head. Then, The Paramount turned towards the men in the nest, who had began to ask them questions.

 

“May ich have the honour, my lady?” 

Ser Cedric asked, dipping his head and extending his hand out towards his daughter. Adrianna took the hand, clear surprise in her eyes as Cedric began to lead the dance, a wordless and a proud smile on the Knight’s face as he looked down at his daughter, enjoying the rare moment of peace.

 

Cedric looked up as the silence stilled the hills upon the end of the conversation. Then, the flaming arrows came crashing down, igniting the whole hillside in fire! The Knights began to fire back with their crossbows, but then a chant echoed through the other sides of the hill.

 

“Come on now, steady, steady..” 

Ser Cedric held the horse’s leash, with his other hand, while helping his son, Reinhardt climb to the back of the horse. “Okay, now take this, and just i taught du, slow und steady.” He’d offer the leash to Reinhardt, and the boy then slowly started to gallop forth on top of the horse. Cedric crossed his arms, a small yet proud smile on his face as he watched the boy learn.

 

Cedric moved towards the northern side of the hill, where the bodies, previously thought dead, had woken up again. He could see Ser Zodd, Lynette and Casimir down there, as he began to flank their attackers.

 

“Rise now, as Knight Paramount of Haense. Your duty begins now!”

Heinrik II’s words echoed through the hall, and was soon followed by the noise of cheers and applause. Ser Cedric, now the Knight Paramount of Haenseti-Ruska raised his gaze to the King, and with a small smile, dipped his head towards the man he had sworn to live and die for, the man who would now command his absolute allegiance, and his sword.

 

Cedric bashed to the side of the attacker’s line, bringing his warhammer instantly onto the face of one of them, killing him. But then, a spear was struck deep to his leg, causing him to topple over. And then, the final thing he saw, was the knife surging for his throat.

 

“LORENZ! STOP!” 

Ser Cedric shouted to his brother from afar, then beginning to sprint towards him with a glint of rage in his eyes. Cedric tackled Lorenz, before lifting him up by the collar of his armor, “Where ist Ludvig?! You’ve been camping with him for three ******* months!” The Knight Paramount bellowed with a tired look upon his face.

 

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A single tear washed down Cedric’s cheek as he contemplated his life, his friends and fellow knights, Dame Marie, Nicolas, Ser Zodd, Ser Karl, Ser Demitriyus, even Ser Aleksandr. And finally, his choices. He had given everything for this Kingdom, and for its regime that he himself did not even fully believe in anymore.

 

He had been there, when the HRA had burnt down the Rimeveld troll’s totem, and started the war that would see so many dead, alongside his own father, and the extinction of a whole race.

 

He had been there, when the first sightings of the Nachezer were brought in, and when the first engagements had been fought.

 

For 50 years, he had served, first as a Soldier in the HRA, then as an Sergeant.

First as a Knight of the Order of the Crow and the Marian Retinue, then as the Knight Paramount.

 

All this had made him so tired, so very tired.

So, he closed his eye. And for the first time, in a very long time.

Felt at peace.

 

“For Ser Cedric!” 

The cry bellowed in the throneroom of the Nikirila Prikaz, where the Knights and Squires of Haense had carried the body of the fallen Paramount.

Then, Sigismund Karl spoke with the question every knight seeked to answer.

 

“He really was a true knight, no?”

 

[!] Letters, and Cedric’s will would be dispatched to the following.

[Note that the contexts of the letters are known for only those who receive them, unless roleplayed otherwise.]

 

Klaus & Adrianna & Reinhardt

 

Spoiler

I’m sorry for not being there for you, when you expected me to. I’ve failed as a parent, and wish that you may, one day forgive me. But know this, even though, to my great regret, I did not say it often - I do love you, and I am proud of you.

With love, vater

 

 

 

Aeira 

Spoiler

Even though I haven’t seen you in years, I hope you are well, and happy, and alive, wherever you are, my love. Although my absence during my later years, know that I love you. May we meet again in the Seven Skies.

With love, your husband

 

 

Friedrich 

Spoiler

I’m sorry for leaving you alone, especially in a moment such as this. I hope you don't take my death as harshly as you did Marcella’s, but well, hope tends to be such a fickle thing. Anyways, you were like a brother to me when my real brothers were running who-knows-where. Thank you, Fritz, and may we meet again.

With love, Cedric

 

 

Adelric & Albrecht & Lorenz

Spoiler

I don't know where you are, or if you are even alive, my brothers, but nevertheless, I wish you good fortune in whatever you have decided to devote your life to. I will be waiting for your arrival with our father in the seven skies.

With love, your bruder

 

 

Juliya

Spoiler

I’m sorry, truly sorry. I promised not to leave this soon, but well, i’m not the one to change godani’s plans. Don't mourn too much after me, please. We shall meet again soon enough.

With love, Cedric

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Frymark

[Javert 5498]

"Cedric...Ich may nicht have known du for ein long time, but Ich considered du ein friend nonetheless. In dur memory, Ich will watch over Reinhardt, Adrianna, und Klaus for as long as Ich can. For the life debt Ich owe dur family und the admiration und respect Ich harbor towards du. Gutt bye Ser Cedric, we will meet again in the Seven Skies."

 

The old Reinmaren Henry Bishop sighed softly, briefly coughing into a handkerchief before going off to find Reinhardt and Adrianna to console them and deliver the unforunate news.

[MotherLay 815]

Juliya clutches the letter to her chest, her aging body shaking as tears and sorrow overcame her. She sat in her bedroom, unmoving from her spot as she mourns her friend. "Niet yet... niet yet... vy can niet be gone yet..." She notes up to her ceiling, her head tilting back, as if she were aiming to stare at the seven skies. "What about the cabin?" She then asks in a meek voice, her throat hoarse from her sobs. 

 

Juliya would not be heard from for days after this, having locked herself in her room. She was mourning her best friend, afterall.

[Fionn__TWG 2616]

Klaus Barclay was there when it happened, Cedric's only family present as the man - his father - breathed his last. He had only come to help the knights and squires in their quest against the hedge knights. Whether he'd come or not if he knew what was to happen was unknown to even him. The walk back home felt like he walking all the way from Sutica, all he could do was look at his father's lifeless, armored corpse, as weel his gauntlets which were covered in blood as he had tried to stop the bleeding, whilst they made the journey back to Karosgrad. As for his mind, all he could think of was how difficult he had made his father's life in his later years. It was hard to even think of good times between the two, but there were some. He'd think back to when Cedric had written in his book of advice from knights, and the smile on both of their faces as he did so. There was also the time Friedrich brought a whole patrol of HRA soldiers, including Cedric, him and Isolde, as the two former went to buy a piano for the two latter. Another memory, only coming back to the man now, was when Cedric caught him burying the body of a bear cub he accidentally killed. A weird one, that. With all the mixed emotions from the memories and whatnot, there was no wonder Klaus' face was soaked the rest of the day. After a blur of salutes and walking to Reinmar, he'd be in the chapel of his family's Duchy, standing up after praying as he'd salute his father one last time.

 

"Ruhe ohne Rost, Vater."

[CopOwl 1668]

Lynette Stewart sits in despair within her house, holed upstairs in the living area away from her fiancé Carlos so she can think. Her newly bled and sutured leg lies out before her, a symbol of her battle scars. Her head in her hands and tears spilling down her red cheeks, she just cries. She just cries and cries. She never felt like she was close to Cedric, but he trained her, he worked with her, he had watched her since just 16 in the Order of the Crow. He had not even lived long enough to watch her be knighted... And she had been so close!

 

She had been so close...

 

And... She closes her eyes in pain as she remembers that sharp stabbing pain in her leg, and then the flashes in front of her of Ser Zodd and Ser Cedric coming to save her. She remembers her cry of pain, and having to wrap her leg with the spear still stuck... And then... Stepping forwards to help and that... That brief second of metal in her blurry vision as the Knight Paramount's neck was slashed open! 

 

Without him... Lynette could have never made it that far.. Sparring with him.. Speaking with him.. Just.. Watching his life from afar. She wishes she'd really made an effort. To get to know him better she....

 

That first day. Or one of her first few months in the HRA..

 

It was tavern night, and Lynette had been apprehensive about going, wondering who she'd talk to or what she'd do. She was young, barely an alcoholic at all. But... The Marian Knight had called her over. She had sad, nervously and listened to their conversation. She'd had a great time that night and just that had made such a huge impact on her.

 

Lynette's pained crying as she holds her own cloth keeping her wound from bleeding to the dying Knight Paramount's neck... And then he was just... Gone. She couldn't save him. She had failed. And she declared that he was dead...

 

 

He had died for her. 

Just as Marie had...

What a shame.

And she was so undeserving...

 

 

 

 

 

In contrast, Adrianna Barclay sits in her bedroom reading a book, a book on swordsmanship that was her father's with the small wooden toy that he'd give hen for her 14th birthday party, Ser Cerdic, sitting on her shoulder reading along. The young teen hears a knock on the door and gets up with a faint sigh to open it. She finds a messenger there with two documents, once declaring her father's death and the other the note he'd left her.

 

She reads the first document with wide, shocked eyes. "W-what?" She mumbles in surprise, stumbling to her desk and sitting down weakly. "M-mein Vater can't be dead! H-he just can't!" She exclaims as it finally dawns on her. "H-he's-" She stutters.

 

She could just pop downstairs and he'd be there, with open arms just as she'd always wanted, ready to tell her that it was okay... That it was a prank or a joke her brothers were cruelly playing on her. But when she popped downstairs there was no anxiously waiting figure. There was no one there..

 

"H-he-!" Adrianna cries, falling to a crumple in the hall of the Reinmaren keep, in a fit of sobs. 

 

"He cannicht be dead!!" She exclaims in fury and grief, "He never- He never walked mich down the aisle! O-or scolded mich for sneaking off to Oren! Or! Watched mich become ein adult... He never found out Ich wast shot.. He... H-he!" She gasps, getting choked up in grief as she stumbles up, then running, barefoot, to the Chapel in Reinmar just to be with Godan. But when she gets there... All she finds is her father's body and a plaque.

 

She falls to the ground in a piles of tears, remorse, grief, sorrow... "Ich never said Ich wast sorry! Fur breaking into Fionn's house all those years ago! Ich never said thank du! Ich never gave him ein proper hug!

"Ich never said Ich wast sorry! Für breaking into Fionn's house all those years ago... Für making him chase us when we were being Idioten... Ich never said thank du! Ich never gave him ein proper hug, o-or... He never finished training mich, or told mich.... He never..." She ceases her sobbing on the floor, pausing a looking up at his still body. Her heart beats fast and hard and terrified as she stares at it, just wanting him to wake up and give her a hug, to comfort her or to tell it was a lie, that her big brave father could never die... Like she had always believed when she was little.

She would come barreling down the stairs when she was younger, her mother not far behind as soon as her father or one of her brothers came home. He face was always bright with a grin, no matter how scratched they were or how sad they looked. And she'd always given her brothers a hug and sat on Cedric's big armoured foot, let him walk about with her attached... It... That was the closest they'd gotten to hugging.

"He never said he loves mich..." 

She whispers, on the cusp of an epiphany.

She scrambles around for a second or two before she pulls out the other note. The one written by him in his handwriting. With its loving message.

"Du never said, Vater!" She cries, "DU NEVER TOLD MICH! How wast Ich to know?! ICH NEVER KNEW!" 

It eventually morphs in a screaming fit of cries, or sorrow as the young woman finally realises that she loved her father, she really did. She rarely showed him either.

she had vied for his attention when she younger, going to galas and balls, participating in the Ledi Haense competition.. It was all for him. To impress him. To try and make him really see her.

After a few minutes of fits, Adrianna finds herself huddled under her father's body, possibly the most important relationship in her life up to that point.

"Vater... V-vater please... J-just come back... Ich miss du so much... Come back.. Wake.. Wake up, Vater.." She whimpers..

 

But eventually she stumbles up and putters off, still sobbing and crying to look for her mother or a brother, anyone to just give her a hug and tell her it'll all be okay, just as just her father's presence used to do.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by CopOwl

[Maevlin 681]

Dr. Aestenia Aevaris had just retired her white mourning clothes when the notice came through. She had only recently started to call him Cedric, not wanting to get close to another valah doomed to die before her, but she did and with each new streak in her hair her heart broke just that much more. "Housemage Barclay, you better be fine up there, especially with the rest of your family, or so help me Larihei I will personally make you smell bad.." She tries to joke, one shared over the countless times she had to heal him, but it just fell hollow like missing a friend to share the joke with.

[giambro 611]

reserved

[ItsMrCannibal 119]

Reserved

[sarahbarah 5008]

Prinzenas Petra Emma signed the Hussariyan over herself, praying that the Knight Paramount had made it safely to the Seven Skies.

[MildStatic 157]

Old Adrianna, who at that moment had been enthusiastically whisking together some ingredients in a bowl with her aged hands in the Reinmaren kitchens, would turn as some of the maids called for her attention. 

“What’a is it now?” The resident Barclay nonna would say in a huff, brushing grey hair away from her face with the back of her flour-covered hand. 

Then, as the servants rather apprehensively shared the utterly grim news, an awful crash could be heard as the bowl and its contents fell to the floor, followed by a heart-wrenching wailing that echoed through the grand halls of Reinmar. There is nothing worse than losing a child - which she now knew as she wept on the kitchen floor, utterly and entirely shattered. Her husband and now her first-born gone.

“Figlio mio!” She’d cry toward the ceiling and beyond, “Tesoro mio!” She’d wail, followed by some unintelligible curses and profanities, in Common and Illatian.  Through tears, she’d quietly hope that her son had found his father in the seven skies, and prayed desperately to join them soon. 

Edited August 3, 2021 by MildStatic

[Capt_Chief26 1205]

Reserved 

 

[GoodGuyMatt 7060]

Brandt grunts in the Seven Skies as he sees his son approach. He then gives Cedric a pat on the shoulder, letting out a sigh of understanding. He then smiles, glad to see his firstborn again before taking to show him all the unpatched duplication glitches with one of the greatest Barclays in the skies.

[MCVDK 1548]

On the other side of the field. In the heat of the fight. Within the rain & within the noise. All of the Knights had their own duties on the field, and all the Knights executed their duties to extreme satisfaction. There had been mere moments after the first collection of Hedgeknights were taken down, where those Knights near-celebrated their skills; but then came the roar from the other side of the field - then came the news. “Nie! False!” were the initial breathless words of the man but alas the truth came forth soon afterwards: Ser Cedric, ‘the Kind’, laid lifeless on the field before them. “We must ensure this man is honoured,” declared the Meyster Knight as the band started to mourn their fallen member. 

 

Ser Cedric was carried into Karosgrad, his lifeless body held between Ser Zodd and Ser Demitiryus, as the Knights followed the two of them with their heads lowered downwards. In those moments, an unheard voice within his mind started to discuss with the lifeless Paramount; “You had to be brave. You had to be kind. Never thought of yourself nor your own life. You were better than us all, Lord Paramount - You were the essence of Knighthood,” and then resumed the silence between the Knights as the somberness roamed within the Prikaz. “For Ser Cedric!” jolted Demitriyus as the rest of the Knights joined in a final honour for the Paramount. 

Once more the Knight murmured within his own mind, “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. And you, Ser Cedric, will never be forgotten.”

[Herod 802]

Tears rolled down the cheeks of Aaron as he carried the body of his mentor Knight, the usually stout Armiger was completely devastated. “We did not even depart formally!” He clutched his chest plate in anger, Cedric never instructed him what to do upon his death, he knew it would come sooner or later after seeing him rushed to a hospital after the battle of Krusev. The manner of his death shook Aaron to his core, the man would miss trainings with the BSK, meals with his family and gatherings of old friends. He felt truly alone in these times of mourning, no mentor or father figure to look up to.

[Gandhi 2658]

2 hours ago, CopOwl said:

Lynette Stewart sits in despair within her house, holed upstairs in the living area away from her fiancé Carlos so she can think. Her newly bled and sutured leg lies out before her, a symbol of her battle scars. Her head in her hands and tears spilling down her red cheeks, she just cries. She just cries and cries

 

Carlos Mendez sits at their family's kitchen table, a floor below his sobbing fiancée. His head rests in his two hands in ponder, his eye rests shut. Eventually his head lifts, just to stare at the ceiling for a moment with a frown. Then, his visage gazed about the room, the bloodied, still uncleaned blood dotting the floor under and around the table. He didn't care, it wasn't the time, he thought. Carlos, then mournfully starts his quiet, muffled murmuring into his own hands. Still not being notified of the Knight's passing. Simply waiting in ponder.