Doran Redleaf

Of an age with Ithel Goldbranch, Doran knew he would someday inherit his father’s seat on the Advisory Council. He was two years of age when his mother, Meraud, gave birth to twins. He now had a younger brother, Alastar, and a younger sister, Rhiannon. He grew to resent his younger siblings as they grew older, as they seemed to enjoy having fun at his expense. Though Alastar spent much of his time at Rhiannon’s side, and therefore at Meraud’s, Doran spent more time with his father, Daveth.

It was at Daveth’s side that Doran learned the importance of power and how to make plays for it at court. At the age of eighteen, Doran helped his father arrange Rhiannon’s marriage, scoring his first victory in the art of power plays when he arranged her marriage to Prince Ithel. He had successfully ensured that his sister would one day be queen and that he would find favor at court. He had hopes of perhaps even unseating Lord Emeraldleaf as head of the Advisory Council.

When Doran was twenty years of age, Daveth fell ill and passed away, and Doran took his seat on the Council. It was at this point that he was approached by a mysterious figure by the name of Bhimar. Bhimar promised him great power and wealth if Doran would ally with him, perhaps even the throne, if not for himself then for his children, if only Doran would insure that Ithel and Rhiannon had no heirs but him. Doran let Bhimar know that this would be tricky, as there was also Princess Agrona, but Bhimar assured Doran that, if Doran was willing to cooperate, he could get her out of the way. With this assurance, Doran agreed.

Recognizing that Agrona was taking lessons from Aidan Summerbreeze in the healing arts, Doran made overtures of friendship towards her. Once he gained information of herbs that were more harmful than healing, including herbs that could cause a woman to miscarry, he abandoned her. By keeping her guards well bribed for nearly a decade, he learned that she was pregnant and used the herbs on her without her knowledge. He used this to offer Bhimar a way in and watched as she kept Rhiannon from having a child out of vengeance for Rhiannon’s lack of compassion.

As the years went on, Doran kept in touch with Bhimar. When the Hearts went missing, he was the first to accuse the Shadow Walker guards, a unit that included his own younger brother. It was his own revenge for the tricks Alastar and Rhiannon had played on Doran in their youth. He knew when Agrona slipped up, and though Agrona thought that the young handmaid’s daughter, Fiona, was Rhiannon’s child, Doran was the one who knew that it was the older handmaid, Cliona, who was really his niece in disguise.

Eventually, Doran met, courted, and married Líadan, of the Sunburst family, and they had a daughter of their own, Orla, who was born in the hundred and fiftieth year of Ithel and Rhiannon’s reign. Doran kept his connections to Bhimar hidden from both of them.

When Cliona’s daughter, Tesni, was four years of age, Doran signaled Bhimar, and Bhimar led an attack that killed Rhiannon and Ithel, successfully framing Agrona, who was forced to flee. There was but one flaw in the plan, however. Cliona survived and went into hiding, leaving Linwood to be ruled by the Advisory Council, though Lord Emeraldleaf retained his seat at the head, much to Doran’s chagrin.

Doran continued to watch and wait, refusing to admit that he and Tesni were related when she took the throne at the tender age of seventeen. It was another twenty-one years before he saw another opening to help Bhimar’s cause. Lord Emeraldleaf’s only son, Ash, was now at the head of the Council, and he had a daughter, Seren, who often visited Líadan, who doted on the girl and gave her sweets, having no grandchildren to coddle.

Seren had begun to have affectionate feelings for Tesni’s son, Eogan, and Doran used this to his advantage. He persuaded Seren to steal some of her father’s papers, promising her more access to Eogan. Once she delivered the papers, however, he took her to a hidden room in the cellar of his home. There, he tied her up and regularly beat and tortured her even as he sent a ransom note to Ash.

Doran met his downfall when Tesni called an emergency meeting of the Council. She provided food and wine, slipping a truth serum into the wine to find the traitor she knew was on the Council. Once she found him out, she questioned him heavily until the truth serum ran its course. She then had him placed in the dungeons. He did not see her again until several months later, when Tesni came to question him again about how he communicated with Bhimar. She had Agrona and Cliona with her, and he knew that there was no use pretending that he thought she was a ghost. He told them everything.

Doran was released from the dungeons after the fall of Linwood to Bhimar, and he remained loyal to him for more than two months, until Bhimar demanded of him Orla. Tesni’s chamberlain, Gwydion, had also stayed behind, however, and he offered Doran a way out for Orla. Doran would not agree to anything aloud, but he did give Gwydion cryptic orders that the chamberlain understood. That evening, Doran bid farewell to his wife and daughter, knowing that his niece and grandniece would not forgive him his treachery, and returned to Bhimar, who had him beheaded.