My arms closed gently around the older man which caused me more pain, but I could tell he needed comforting and I was the closest he could ever come again to experiencing the embrace of his own son.
Breaking off from me suddenly he stepped back, "Enough of that! I'm getting as sentimental as a woman in my old age!" He said as he cleared his throat.
Looking at his eyes I could see the hint of tears there, but I would never have shamed him by mentioning them.
"As I said I'm your grandfather, Thaddeus Ta'lont. Come with me boy I'm sure you're full of questions and I'll answer them as best as I can, but first I believe these gentlemen wish to have a word with you. They have been most insistent even to the point of waking you, but I wouldn't hear of it. A wounded man needs his sleep! It's the best thing for him. I should know since I've been in that predicament enough myself to know!"
On and on he prattled incessantly, but I didn't mind. Pulling on a shirt and pants, which were lying on a nearby table, I followed him into the other room. There were three men gathered there.
The youngest one of the bunch said to Thaddeus, as he limped forward with the use of his cane, "Good to see you out and about away from that mountain fortress you keep yourself cooped up in Thaddeus."
"Wish I could say the same about you Oswald, but I can't bring myself to."
The remark brought a dark look to Oswald's face. Something about the man put me off and I had to admit I didn't care for him either.
The older of the two remaining men, the councilman from the court yesterday nodded his head respectfully at Thaddeus, as a slight smile touched his lips while his companion's face was wreathed in a huge grin at Thaddeus's snub of Oswald.
Thaddeus nodded deferentially to both of them and turned to gesture at me, "Gentlemen, if I may let me have the honor of introducing my grandson Roric Ta'lont, my sole heir."
Again Oswald's face tightened up as he and the others welcomed me. He would bear watching more closely.
Later as I stood on a porch of the government building I gazed at the breadth of the wall that dominated the one end of the town, and I couldn't but help reflect on how much my life had changed once again. I had a grandfather and a castle with extensive lands that I was to inherit one day. I was a wealthy man, with a family and a place to call my home if I wanted it.