Dargys Sudwark listened to his grandmother ramble at the table while he and her other grandchildren ate. She was supposed to be eating too, but as usual, preferred to talk. It was a bit annoying. While the food was modest fare, he and his fraternal twin had worked hard to put it on the table.
"A red unicorn, that was the symbol of our house, yes it was. Your...ancestor, oh, about seven generations ago, was none other than Baron Dargo Sudwark, and he was a legendary warrior," She insisted.
The legend had not persisted if it were ever true. Dargys doubted it was. Oh the warriors in the family. His father had been a mercenary, then later a guardsman when he settled down. And his grandfather, who died when he was very young, taught Dargys dad some nice shield tricks that must have come from somewhere. But if there were some legends about some Dargo Sudwark, it sure wasn't being spoken of in the taverns by any bard he ever heard of.
Nanny Telena kept on rambling though as if it were carved some mountainside by the gods themselves, "Held the line ,he did!" She insisted.
One of Dargys' youngest siblings spoke up "What line, Nanna?"
The youngest ones still wanted to believe. Wanted to believe grandma's rambling about how once Sudwark was a noble family. With both his parents dead, and the pressure of caring for younger siblings and a dotty grandmother on his shoulders, Dargys just wanted to find a realistic way to make sure they all had food on the table, and good apprenticeships so they's survive.
"Well," His grandmother had hit that usual bump in her mental road. After all, she wasn't alive 200 years ago, so all she had was whatever story was told her, "I don't' recall, but it was very important" She harrumphed.
"Eat, that's important," Dargys finally said.
"Oh fuss fuss fuss, you're so serious, Dargys. You should find yourself a noble lady to wed, reestablish the house," She began to eat though.
The young fighter had explained to his grandmother that the women SHE thought were wife material were protected by groups of well payed warriors who would beat the living crap out of him for even looking at their charges.
Really, the only thing that lead to any credence to her tales was the fact that some of the shield tricks he had learned from his father were kind of distinctive, and his granny had always said that this Baron Dargo was a renowned shieldsman. When he was younger, he had tried to appease her by getting a red unicorn tattooed on his shoulder. Now he regretted it.
"You going out tonight?" Another of his siblings, not so young, asked, "Should we have the lineaments ready?"
"Yes and.. probably," he said. Fortunately the fights weren't usually to the death, but he had been wounded before. He only entered the 'mercy fights' where killing was frowned on, but.. accidents could happen. Healing would take sometime, but even losing (Which he did more often that he'd like to admit) paid more than porting would, and guard duty positions were so filled up lately that he was passed over.
"You aren't going to that awful Golden Skull place are you?" Nanny Telena looked up from her food, "You're too good for that place. You could do better!"
"Good night, Grandma," he said rather than answer that, "I'll be in late so you just get to sleep. The kids will handle the dishes."
He rose, and put his armor and armor on. Yes, he was probably going to the Golden Skull. He didn't like the place, but it was always having matches compared to other places that were less frequent if higher quality.
And while he didn't agree with his grandmother about her crazy notion that their family was once nobility, he did agree with one thing. He COULD do better... but for him to be able to find a better, some sort of opportunity was going to have to open up- Soon.
