Once they were all sat with food - or tea in Harold’s case - the knight started explaining.
"I’m afraid I didn’t tell you the entire truth about our current situation." He took a sip of his tea. "As you might already know, the Order recently went through... a change of leadership, a rather violent and sudden one."
"We got the gist of it." Calen nodded.
"The problem is that while the round table immediately sided with our new leader, a lot of people didn’t exactly believe the evidence presented by lord Arthur." He spat out the title like an insult. "When this tension combined with the possibility of a siege from the Blightborn... Let’s just say the atmosphere isn’t great."
"And what does your new leader make of this situation?"
"That’s the thing - I have no idea, nobody has, after being elected the new head of the Order he locked himself in his room and haven’t left it since, the only contact we have with him is through an appointed member of the round table."
"So let me get this straight - the Head of the Order isn’t talking with anyone, the round table isn’t interacting with the rest of you, and the rest of the organisation is split in two because of the recent events?"
"That would be correct."
"You sure have a pretty chaotic situation here considering you’re called ’the Order’." Isara joked.
"Is there a way to get things back to normal?" Calen asked.
"I can see only two solutions - either someone proves that sir Nickolas is innocent and he regains his position, or Arthur finally starts to do his job and fixes the mess he caused." Harold sighed. "I think we all know which option is preferable."
"I still don’t understand something."
"We heard that sir Nickolas didn’t have any allies, but from what you’re saying it seems like many who support him."
"They do support him - but they’re not committed enough to stand behind him while he was accused of treason."
"Well, thoughts and prayers clearly weren’t enough to help him." Calen snorted. "Do you know what evidence of his treason Arthur showed? Maybe we could help one of the sides if we knew what this is actually about."
The knight tenses visibly, and looks over his shoulder to make sure they’re alone.
"Look, I’m not supposed to talk about this - nobody is - but if you want to actually help, I’ll see what I can do. Since you won’t be seeing the round table in the near future, I’ll try to get you inside the room where they keep the original evidence, but no promises."
"Why do they even keep evidence? Nickolas was already convicted."
"Because his imprisonment is a half measure, Arthur wanted to have him executed, but the round table dissuaded him saying that people would riot if he did that - our gracious leader agreed, but I think he still wants Nickolas completely out of the picture."
"Well, I’m no expert at executions, but I don’t think you can do them without leaving your room." Caleb pointed out. "But now I’m even more confused about round table’s loyalties - they immediately turned on Nickolas, but they also didn’t allow Arthur to kill him?"
"The members of the round table are first and foremost loyal to themselves - they would never do something that could potentially harm them, that’s why they got rid of a potential traitor, but it’s also why they refuse to kill said traitor and risk their positions."
"I think you might need to change your governing body - Greenheart had only one selfish asshole in their council and it still almost cost them the entire city."
"I’m sure most of us would love to change it, but unfortunately round table members are elected for life, and the only way to re-elect them is for the Head of the Order AND majority of the knights to agree to do so."
"So they’re not going anywhere as long as Arthur rules, but deposing him and reinstating Nickolas while they’re in charge will be very difficult."
"I’m afraid so." Harold nodded solemnly. "For now I advise that you gather more information before you decide to make any moves - the Head might be locked in his room, but I have no doubt he’s keeping eye on everything going on in the fortress somehow."
"We’ll keep that in mind - anyone we should be wary of in particular?"
"Every knight with a golden crown somewhere on their armour, those are Arthur’s loyalists. You should avoid talking to them at all if possible, if they sniff out that you’re looking into Nickolas’ case they’ll report it to the round table right away."
Harold finished his tea and got up.
"One more word of advice - learn more about the castle itself, its walls hold plenty of secrets that might aid you in your quest."
With that he bowed slightly and left the mess hall.
"That was certainly an enlightening conversation." Isara commented.
"Was it?" Calen raised an eyebrow. "I feel like I have more questions now than before
"That’s because you’re not as smart as me."
"Then tell me what you got out of this talk, oh enlightenes one."
"We have to learn more about everything!"
"Wise indeed..." Calen rolled his eyes. "But speaking of learning, do you guys think Alfred managed to gather any information?"
"Doubtful - if people are scared to talk about it to the supposed saviour of the world, I don’t think they’ll just reveal it to a random teenager." Cassian answered.
"Probably true, but we could ask him about the castle - he was born and raised here, I’m sure he knows a few secrets of this fortress."
"What would those secrets even be?"
"I don’t know; secret passages, hidden rooms, deadly traps - I have no frame of reference for what you can find in a castle, you’re the only one of us who was inside of one prior to the invasion."
"When I was seven." Cassian reminded him. "It might be hard to imagine, but at that age I wasn’t thinking about hidden features of the building I was in."
"Fair enough, I guess we’ll just ask Alfred - or more precisely ask Thomas to ask Alfred."
Their investigation wasn’t off to a good start so far...