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Toustain and his party arrived at the gates of the Donjon Briècque, dressed in Tilean garb, and asking for an audience with the Baron. When asked for his name and business with the Baron, Toustain told the garrison captain that he was Vincenté da Trantio, a Tilean merchant who sought to enter into trade discussions with Baron Pétois. Toustain and his group were escorted through to the Baron, who was, conveniently for Toustain, holding a banquet in the great hall of the castle. On entering the hall and being greeted by the Baron, Toustain announced to the gathering who he really was and that he was there to provide proof of the Baron’s foul deeds and hence reclaim the castle and estate as the rightful heir. After the initial furore in response to Toustain’s declaration had died down, the Baron decided to call Toustain’s bluff and hear his story, which was duly recounted together with the witnesses’ accounts of how Etienne really died. Unfortunately for Toustain, the majority of the people seated in the hall belonged to Pétois’ entourage or were his toady acquaintances; but there were plenty of servants and common folk present too.
The Baron denounced the witnesses’ statements as complete falsifications, trumped up by Toustain in a futile attempt to discredit and falsely accuse him of deeds he did not commit. He then called Toustain a liar and a trouble-maker, sneering at the fact that he was no more than a Tilean hireling and nothing better than the son of a whore. At this final insult, Toustain made a lunge for the Baron, but was soon overwhelmed by the Baron’s bodyguards. To the hoots and jeers of the Baron’s guests, Toustain and his six companions were bundled out of the hall and thrown into the dungeon. The following day, Toustain’s six companions were taken out of the cell and murdered by the Baron’s henchmen, to eliminate the risk of them giving testimony again. Toustain himself was brutally beaten by the same henchmen, while the Baron sat and watched. The young man was then dragged outside and, to provide some entertainment for the Baron’s guests, bodily thrown into the castle’s midden, as the Baron and his entourage watched from the castle’s battlement; Pétois calling down to Toustain to crawl away back to Tilea and never to show his face again in Bretonnia.
Much later, when Toustain regained consciousness, he did indeed crawl away back towards the road to Tilea, where fortunately the next day a Tilean trader found him slumped by the side of the road. It was indeed Toustain’s lucky day, had he known it, because the trader had been at the castle and witnessed what happened in the great hall, two days past, and the subsequent dumping of Toustain’s body in the midden the previous day. He also knew of Toustain’s reputation back in Tilea as somewhat of a hero and a successful mercenary commander. However, the trader was also aware that, when it was discovered that Toustain was no longer to be found on the midden, the Baron had ordered a search of the castle’s immediate surroundings, believing that the injuries Toustain had received at the hands and booted-feet of his henchman, would prevent him from getting very far. However, the Baron had not reckoned with the determination that drove Toustain for revenge. The Tilean knew it wouldn’t be long before the Baron’s men would be searching further afield for the fugitive, because the Baron realised his mistake in assuming Toustain would die of his injuries.
Again, luckily for Toustain, the trader was returning through the Nuvolone Pass to Campogrotta with some large, empty casks among his wagon’s load, and so he deposited the badly beaten and semi-conscious young man in one of the empty casks and then continued on his way south back to Tilea.
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