Return of the Lost Bloodline

Chapter 2.

Logan, Sean and Dylan followed him in, after witnessing what just transpired there, they knew he needed some friends and a shoulder to cry on even though they didn’t know the entire details.

It took a little while before Bob and Ben returned into the house after having a private conversation with Finlay. They were also angry that William lied to them but they quite understood why he had to after what they just saw and further heard from Finlay.

As they walked in, William asked, “Can I please spend the night here?” He wasn't in the mood to journey at the moment since that is what he has been doing for the past five years which made it impossible for him to be found.

“Sure.” Bob said with understanding.

“Well, I will be heading home now.” Ben said since that wasn’t his place, he took his wife and younger son with him since Dylan decided to stay with Logan and Sean because they had a lot to talk and find out about William.

Deep into the night when Bob and Gracie had gone to bed, Logan woke the others as they went to the guest room to interrogate William.

“What are you guys doing here?” William asked the three of them as he opened the door for them to come in, he was hoping to have a peaceful sleep after the day he just had and seeing them by that late hour he knew that would not be possible.

“We need answers, why did you lie to us?” Sean asked as they created a sitting space for themselves in the room.

William took a moment to look at their faces before giving his answer, “I’m sure you’ve figured that out already before coming to me.” He believed they had better questions, besides he also had a question for them which had been troubling him all day.

“Fine,” Logan began, since his brother and cousin didn’t have the courage to ask the real question. “Why did you leave your palace with no intention of going back?”

William exhaled heavily as he took a seat too, he knew they had a lot of questions and would ask him something like that, which was a very tough one. But he was expecting them to start with a simpler one first. After rolling his eyes for a while with no idea on how to answer that question, he had to go with the one he had for them instead. “I will answer your question but first you have to answer mine.”

They were amazed by that response, since they had nothing to hide about themselves so he was told to go ahead with his query, besides how difficult could his question be that they could not answer with ease and less contemplation.

“Who are you and why would such a monster attack you?”

The three of them exchanged eye contact wondering why that question was asked of all the things they could think of. Nevertheless, Sean replied honestly. “We have no clue. Maybe we trespassed into its territory or it did trespass into ours and felt insecure.”

“Truly, you have no clue.” William couldn’t help but show signs indicating that he knew a thing or two about the monster that tried to kill them.

Logan, being a good observer, picked note of this, thereby changing his question of interest. “Tell us what you know about the monster.”

“You were attacked by what is called a bugbear. An ancient enemy of my family once summoned them to end the royal bloodline in order to pave the way for a new line of kings that would do their biddings. So I will ask again, who are you?” This time his eyes were fixed on Sean because he was the one hurt the most from the attack so it was logical for him to conclude he was the target.

Instantly Sean and Dylan looked at Logan who was full of confusion because during their fight with the so-called bugbear, much more attempt was made on his life than that of his brother and cousin.

In order not to get further questions from William about who they were and why the bugbear was after them, Sean said. "You met our father already, and our mother died during the birth of our sister, so I guess running into the bugbear or whatever you call it was a coincidence."

"There is no such thing as coincidence when it has to do with the bugbears and their targets." William was confident as he concluded within him that Bob would be in the right position to provide him with a perfect answer although their earlier reaction didn't go unnoticed, implying that they had something to hide.

"Back to our questions, why did you leave your palace and why did you come to our aid?" Dylan raised the topic again even though Logan and Sean's focus of interest had shifted after hearing what William had to say about the monster that attacked them.

William had already tried to ignore that question before so doing so again would not be good if he was going to get the answer he needed concerning one or all three of them. "My father sentenced the girl I loved to death because she was not of noble blood, saying she wasn't worthy of my love. Seeing your sister today kind of reminded me of her, so offering to help was an excuse to talk to her until I saw and recognized the nature of your wounds."

"You say tales of the bugbear was and an ancient one, so how come you recognized the pattern of their cuts?" Dylan asked again, every answer he gave tended to open the way for another question.

"That's because I was attacked a bunch of times during the first year of my departure, soon they stopped coming, so I reckon they believed me dead."

"Well, we will continue this conversation tomorrow, for now, you should rest." Sean adjourned the meeting because if he lets Dylan and Logan along they could go on and on with the interrogation.

After returning to their room, Sean said, "If what William told us about the bugbear is true, you know what that means?"

"Sean don't! We shouldn't jump into conclusion, not yet." Logan knew what he was going to say and didn't want to hear it. He knew that they didn't share the same blood but they were his family and there was nothing anyone would say to change that, not even the story of how he came to be part of their lives.