The Winds of Windholm: Conclusion

Outside of the city gates the Order Knights encountered the missing peasants: Those near the East Gate had fled during the Battle at the Duke's Wharf, and the rest had gone from the Main Gate and anywhere else they could to escape the blaze. Most kept their distance from the armed parties, having no desire to answer the question "Grey or Gold?" any longer.

The journeys of the Order Knights returning home stretched to each corner of Pendor, some by sea and others by land.  It seemed that regardless of the speed they traveled, the tales of the Winds of Windholm traveled faster.  Like all travelers' tales, they varied wildly.  So many Knights of the Orders in one place was bound to cause the bards to improvise.

The rumors of the fire were the most pronounced.  That the Order Knights had been present caused the event to be viewed with much suspicion.  Partisans of each Order blamed their archrivals, the country priests blamed sorcery, and more than one bard claimed a literal dragon had set the blaze.  The truth of the fire was to be found only at the end of the Knights' respective journeys... half the city had been burned to the ground, and Greysword now ruled over docks, ash, and slums.  Whatever her purpose had been in raising taxes, it was now lost.  If her treasury had once been overflowing, it would surely be emptied in the effort to rebuild. Without the charismatic Barbarossa to inspire them, the remaining city dwellers returned to their rightful place under Greysword's heel. The Merchants Guild was quick to pledge its loyalty to the Duchess, along with a small fine for their miscalculations. The considerable property of Conrad Valdor quickly found new owners, among the nobility and the other merchants. With so much destroyed in the fire, those merchants with the means moved away, many to Javiksholm and others farther north, to the Ravenstern lands.

A wave of terror swept over the minor nobility of Pendor.  Such devastation at the hands of Order Knights could remind them of nothing but the destruction of Marleons and the reign of terror that the Silvermist Rangers had once unleashed.  The greater nobles, the Dukes and the Consul of the Great Republic, were careful to silence their own courtiers.  Whatever the cost of the loss of Windholm, none wished to see their most prized possessions at risk of reprisals.

All eyes rested on the King, so often silent in the great matters of the realm.  The courtiers waited in a strained silence as the great doors to the throne room opened and closed again, the representative of the Duchess having crossed through and been lost to sight.  He returned with a scowl on his face, and rumors swirled until the following day when the criers of Pendor began announcing the King's decision:  The Crown would administer a charitable fund for the rebuilding of Windholm, and every concerned nobleman ought to donate.  It was cheered in public, and condemned in whispers.  The Prince would not have been so lenient towards the destruction of a city, or so they murmur.
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Renown!  

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