beside his armchair.
Both the legate and the captain immediately stood to attention, whilst the other officers hurriedly smoothed out their somewhat dishevelled uniforms. The cheerful atmosphere of a moment ago had vanished. Only Ceet, with a seemingly indifferent expression, began to pace between the bookshelves.
‘Speak,’ sighed Olaf, glancing at his son. ‘Don’t keep us in the dark.’
‘After breakfast, I decided to show Tahon around Stairon.’ The legate tensed even further and looked fearfully in the direction of the beastman. Ceet, upon hearing his name, merely looked up from the book he was holding and nodded. ‘We went down to the harbour, as it turned out, both of us thinking to check whether anything had happened during the night,’ Toinen continued, paying no heed to the legion commander’s obvious bewilderment. ‘Everything was fine until a minor commotion broke out on deck, and, amidst the shouts from the ship, one of the legionaries who had accompanied the legate to the banquet yesterday came down from the vessel. I believe his name was Flavius.’ Xives groaned, and from his weary expression Einar could tell that he had already anticipated what might have happened. ‘A legionary pushed one of our men into the harbour basin for no reason. Fortunately, nothing serious happened to him. Berren has already treated him, and considering he didn’t have to stitch the wound on his forehead, it wasn’t too bad.’ This time, the legate didn’t even try to hide his martyr-like sigh. ‘When I checked to see if our man was all right, I asked what on earth that was all about, and instead of giving me an answer, the legionary swung at me, trying to strike me.’ This was met with Captain Svenson choking, the father’s growl, and the legate’s groan, masked by a cough. ‘It seems that whilst defending myself with my shield, I broke his fingers.’ The captain choked again and coughed; Olaf breathed a sigh of visible relief, whilst the legion commander stared at Einar with his mouth slightly agape. ‘Flawius, now incapacitated, collapsed onto the pier, and the second of the
