"It's not exactly a long story. Just one that is a bit painful in the telling." Pasha shifted slightly to get more comfortable, adjusting his position so he was still sitting on the railing but with his back to the wall, staring out over the land.
"I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Kothitas. It's far southeast of here. A man named Dysevik Marlax rules the country." He took a drink and rolled his shoulders, trying to work some of the stiffness and soreness out of them.
"Dysevik's the sort of man who exercised Droit_du_seigneur. A lot. In addition to enticing women to him with his power... or just taking them anyway if they refused him.""She didn't live very long after my birth, and certainly didn't tell me any of it, but I believe my mother was in the third category, and escaped to Moun once he was through with her. All of this..." Pasha made a gesture that encompassed his body, meaning not only his looks but also the scars,
"I got from him. Some nights I'm scared that I inherited his mind, too." He closed his eyes for a moment and rested his head against the wall.
"It was roughly four years ago when I came into his service. A lord Percival d'Aubrani - a minor noble of his court - hired me for a few seasons. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the greater plan was to overthrow Lord Marlax. It didn't happen, of course. We won a few battles before he decided to take us seriously and crushed the rebellion. All the officers from the greenest lieutenant to the rebellion's leaders were beheaded one by one."He took a drink.
"Until he got to me, that is. He recognized me as a Marlax. Hell, how could he not? I look just like the old bastard." Pasha snorted in derision and bitterness. If his cup had been glass, and he was feeling slightly angrier, he probably would have thrown it against a wall to shatter it.
"So he gave me the name Atrineas Marlax, and placed me in charge of his forces. I suppose I impressed him during my time in the rebellion, and he had probably heard of me from the other nobles I had worked for. In any case, I led his forces for a year before he told me of a marriage he had arranged in Ligoria and sent me on my way to meet my bride.""The captain hadn't packed enough food for a full voyage, so we were forced to stop in Dalannor. That's where I met Tala." He smiled and looked down.
"Well... I already told you that story. I went back to Dysevik, told him I couldn't go through with it, I loved a different woman. That was a stupid decision." He scratched at his chest idly, where a few of the more prominent scars were located.
"I was stripped of the Marlax name, my rank, my rights, and locked in the dungeons below the castle for six months. Because I was such a disappointment, I ranked the attentions of his senior torturer, Angband. That was a fun time." If sarcasm was water, Pasha's last sentence would have flooded the world.
"Eventually he released me. I don't know why. I can't begin to comprehend why. Only that I'm grateful for it. The dungeons of Kothitas are no place for a man, William. I was one of the lucky ones - I don't think Dysevik wanted to kill me - and this is the result of only two seasons in there. I know of men and women who were carried down there and never came out... or did so years later, traumatized." He looked out across the landscape, but his mind wasn't in Ligoria at that moment.
"Sometimes they would put me in a normal cell with the other prisoners. I hated that more than the torture. The woman in the cell across from mine was d'Aubrani's daughter. Sometimes..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought.
He shook his head and came back to reality.
"It's not a good place. It's a country of murderers and outcasts, sociopaths of the worst kind. Sadistic and ruthless. If six months of torture is all I had to endure, I'm glad I paid that price to be well away from there, with the woman I love and a future worth looking forward to." Pasha stood and looked inside the room. Both women were still dozing.
"I'll have to wake her up soon. The wedding is later today," he said, before turning back to William.
"There will be a place there for you and Chironas if you want it. The ceremony will be in the town square, around noon."