Swinging his sword round in the arena outside the headquarters, practicing his pattern forms both one handed and two handed, he began to work himself into a profuse sweat. Truth was, once again he was a little sodden, which as a habit he knew he had to break. But he was angry. Furious, in fact.
Firstly, Deorla had addressed the entire Company like she owned them during the debriefing. Rich, he thought. She wasn't even planning on staying. She had her own mind, and she'd chosen to abandon them. He'd learned to live with his expendability, but how dare she get high and mighty like that.
But that wasn't the worst part. Her puppet master, the damned General had swanned in like she could go where she pleased, and then dictated terms to them. To THEM! And, what's worse, the Company had let her. Fools, the lot of them. Damned, idiotic fools.
"Deorla will have to come with me. Unless, you have something that you want to trade".
Who does that?! Who thinks they can barter for someone's life?! Of course he wouldn't trade with this General. No. He'd been the voice of reason and helped guide them all throughout this Company. He'd even built this Company from nothing, with his own two hands. Took the contract from the previous owner, then had worked with Deorla to bring them all together, and he had created them into something. He had created somewhere they all called home.
"We will not trade. All you've done is show that you do not care for Deorla. You're willing to trade her away for something trivial from a company of merchants. Deorla has her own mind, she's free to walk away whenever she chooses. You'll not hold us to ransom".
The General ignored him. Of course she did, because it didn't suit her. He, after all, held all the cards.
"No knife ear is taking her!" chimed in Kildwin, the trusted Drill Sergeant he had bags of respect for and was proving to be a more trusty and reliable companion by the day.
"You aren't taking one of our family" chimed in Anastasiar. Respectable, and showing a united front.
The General simply stated; "Well so far, our options are this; if you want Deorla here one of you is coming back with me".
Cue pandemonium. The WHOLE Company! That united front just crumbled. Chaos reigned and they all got wet. Somehow, they'd all just decided to allow this elf to dictate terms. The Commander, Altheric, had tried to compromise with her, Amaken had offered an alternative but still on her terms. She had no right or backing to hold them to ransom like this, and suddenly everyone was letting her.
Sighing, he walked back to the table, drank more wine and ate more cheese. Daphne, as ever, his faithful friend who he'd grow rather fond of these last few weeks, followed. Listening to the Company bickering and falling to pieces, he looked on at the chaos and in anger at this General who seemed desperate to ruin his every design. Ignoring the usual "ex-Bree guard" slurs, he secretly rooted for the Sergeant, and strangely the fish man who were the only ones that seemed to see sense. But it seemed that they'd all lost their heads, and didn't want his opinion or vast experience in dealing with this woman at all.
In the end, it seemed that they had decided to turn the tournament next week; something that he and the Sergeant had put together to try and help train the Company in order to be more secure together when traversing the road, into a contest to decide the fate of Deorla. He couldn't believe it. They'd decided the winner would go East with the General to replace Deorla, or if Deorla won then they'd lose her to this General.
He watched as the Commander Altheric had brokered the deal, had shaken the hand of the General himself and thus deciding to seal their fate by giving her the terms she desired, and sighed. This was absolute madness, and he was ashamed that a group of people who should be cool headed merchants, had allowed someone to waltz in and bowed to their every whim. Still, he in no way owned their minds, and they as a group had the right to choose their paths. Or, choose her path, it seemed. But it wasn't over, yet. He could still try and save this.
Furley turned to Daphne. "What would you do? I can't ask them to do anything I wouldn't, and I will not trade anyone in this Company who came to us to be a part of it. "What would you do? It seems simple. Challenge the elf, or sacrifice"
Daphne, surprisingly, hadn't been scowling, but frowned thoughtfully as she watched all that is said. She looked at Furley, raising her brows. "I...don't know. The Company can't go on without you. You know that." She paused. " I'd take her place, but I know I can't. But who can...I can't give any answers. I'm sorry... " she crossed her arms, glancing at the blasted Elf with a scowl now.
He thought about it. To him, if they were going to decide their course of action, he had to then decide his own fate and path. After all, that's what he was there to do. As a Company, they may choose their own fate, but he had to do what he knew in his heart to be right, and not let this Company be torn apart or let anyone be cast out due to a folly of their own making.
"Very well" he said to her. "I am going to enter myself. And I am going to win. Then I'll challenge the elf for the right. If it doesn't work, then I'll have to take Deorla's place and go East with the General. My freedom for her freedom".
Daphne looked at him crossly, yet also concerned. A marvel of an expression he'd only ever seen her pull off so flawlessly. "it's a bad plan" she stated.
He nodded. "I know it's a bad plan. And I'm a bad fighter. But I can't expect to advocate for her freedom and not be willing to chance my own".
As all these thoughts flooded through his mind, he brought himself back to the present, realising he had exhausted practicing his sword forms. Everything he'd built was hanging in the balance. Though if he had to trade his freedom for Deorla's, he supposed that'd be fine. After all, they seemed to get on perfectly fine without him, and they'd have her to keep guiding them, providing she would actually stay and not abandon them as she had done so many times before.
But at least he had everything hanging in the balance. That made him desperate. Smirking, he grinned to himself. If Rohan had taught him anything, it was this; when he was desperate, he always found a way. When he was desperate, he was dangerous.
Kill the elf. Win Deorla's freedom. In that order. Swinging his sword again, he found a second reserve of energy, and continued his training.
