[Mkguild] Here is tale #7

[Mark Ewing]

Well here's my seventh tale on Oberon and his misadventures in the keep and
its environs. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who've
worked with me to integrate their characters into Oberon's life. In this
tale it would be Charles Matthias for allowing me to use his Knight Sir
Saulius in one scene. In most of my other tales it's been Chris O'Kane with
Misha Brightleaf.


The Bandit King

Oberon Snowcat

I sat up out of my bed and thought about what I had been forced to do over
the past few days at the Deaf Mule. I had been, as a form of penance for
getting into a bar brawl on the first day of the Equinox Festival, with
washing dishes at the Deaf Mule. Tomorrow though I had to go out on patrol
with the team of incompetents that I had been assigned to. Therefore today I
had to spend some time practicing down in the practice field to ensure that
my edge hadn't been dulled. I looked over at the clock ticking on my desk
beside my sheaf of papers that I had written my journals on. I slowly pulled
myself out of my bed and went over to the window and looked out over the
inner ward of the Keep. I didn't mind living here in the Keep but it was so
restricted when compared with my old life. I had been a mercenary for more
years than most people could believe and now I was stuck here at the Keep
because of what I looked like. Don't get me wrong I liked what I now
resembled but it doomed me to spend the rest of my long life here in one
part of the world. After several more minutes of standing at the window I
turned and got dressed in my simplest clothing before I grabbed a towel and
made my way down to the baths. There were a few people in the baths but by
in large they kept to themselves. One person I did recognize was the dark
raccoon swordsman that I had faced a few days before in the swordsmanship
contest at the festival. Though I recognized him I didn't go over to him
because I preferred to keep to myself. That was just the kind of person that
I was, I had been this way for a lot longer than most people had been alive.


Some hours after breakfast I headed down to the practice ground in full
battle array with both real swords as well as practice swords in case
someone wanted to spar with me. Once I reached the ground I found went over
to where the archers were busying themselves by shooting arrows at the straw
butts in that were lined up against the wall. I pulled my atlatl out of its
position beside the quiver and nocked a spear-dart before I looked down
range at my target before I tossed the small spear with only as much force
as I needed for it to reach the target . I repeated the operation four times
and then waited while the archers finished firing arrows at the targets
before I walked down towards my target to check my aim. I was satisfied by
the results because the four darts were each embedded in the target all
within half an inch of the bull's-eye. That was good accuracy given the fact
that I wasn't firing these thing from their maximum range. I practiced at
the range for more than half an hour before I found myself a open space in
the practice ground where I pulled out my swords and began to practice my
forms with both blades weaving a singing net of steel around my body. In the
past month since my body had changed I had grown used to wielding swords
around my body even with my enhanced size, altered feet, and four and a half
foot long tail. I was halfway through my favorite forms with my swords where
I noticed something unusual from the corner of my eye. Riding upon a black
pony and dressed in chain mail, bearing a sword at his side, and a lance
tucked underneath one arm, was what appeared to be a rodent of some variety.
The pony stamped his hooves with regal bearing, and the rider, he looked
like a knight of the Midlands, watched me with clear intelligent eyes. Then,
rider and steed approached when I grounded both of my weapons, stomping just
beyond my reach. Tilting his head to one side, long whiskers twitching as he
spoke with a strange accent

"Pardon me, fine warrior, but wouldst thou consent to sharing this field? My
steed hath need of a run, and I hath a need to practice my skills with lance
upon yon enemy." With a paw-like hand the knight indicated a practice post
with arms that swiveled and a head that would snap free if hit hard enough.
I had at first contemplating using the target but I had quickly realized
that if I were to use it like a target in my homeland I would quickly reduce
the post to kindling in very short order indeed. After a second I replied
with as much dignity as I could muster in the face of this knight

"Certainly good Knight, I have seen your kind before on many a field of
battle and I know that you answer the call of honour like I do." I knew that
knights of the Midlands were excellent warriors who could handle themselves
very well on the field. They were people that I treated with a great deal of
respect. The knight nodded his head in gratitude. I noted that this rodent,
a rat I think, was as tall as I was while he was astride his pony. In the
Kelmar Clanlands there were men of many different sizes, but to see a
warrior that was sitting astride a horse and yet wasn't any taller than I
was standing on my own two feet was quite surprising. "You aren't all that
big for a warrior Sir Knight." I commented before I could reign in my
traitorous tongue. His whiskers twitched as he smiled and replied

"Tis not a warrior's size that determines his skills." I nodded my head
slowly

"I apologize for that errant comment. I've learned that much over the past
fifty five years that I've spent as a warrior." His eyes widened

"Fifty five years?" Ah, thou has been touched by two natures of Metamor's
curse."

"No the reason that I appear to you like this is because I am a Kelmar
Warrior and my people seem to live much longer than the people in the
Midlands." The pony on which the rat was mounted stamped his fore hooves and
the knight patted him to soothe him before he said

"Kelmar? Where dost that be? Ach! Forgive this knight a most grievous breach
in etiquette! I high Sir Erick Saulius, a knight of the Flatlands who hast
found a new home at Metamor. And who be thee, warrior of Kelmar?"

"My name is Adòn Naharél Sahnat'Haudörn of the Sundering Stone Clan, though
my clan has been dead for thirty years." The knight frowned and then shook
his head

"I hath ne'er heard of Kelmar, nor thy clan, Adòn. Forgive my ignorance.
Dost it lay perchance across the mountains?"

"No Sir Knight, lies far to the west over an ocean, where none of you kind
have ever ventured." His frown does not leave instead, he sat straighter in
his saddle,

"So what hast brought thee to Metamor."

"I was a mercenary, I was guarding a caravan of goods bound for the Keep.
The caravan was ambushed by bandits, just outside of the demesnes of the
Keep and I was badly wounded. So my comrades from the caravan left me here
at the Keep when they left for the Midlands to escape the curse of the
Keep." He nodded sagely

"A great many hath fallen to the same fate as thou hast. And e'en the
greatest warrior can be brought low by a stray arrow or blade."

"In this case it was a giant of a man who bore a massive axe. I had just
killed him with a stroke of my short sword. He dropped his ungainly hunk of
crude metal on my bare head and knocked me clean into the next week."

"Then thou wert fortunate not to be killed!"

"Yes indeed, but I remained in the infirmary for more than two weeks. It was
probably all that I deserved, not putting on my helmet before engaging an
enemy is just plain stupid." The rat rubbed his own head, as he is not
wearing a helmet either

"I hath come for practice only, but thou art correct. When in battle if thou
wilt not protect that which keeps thee alive, then tho art courting death."

"The problem with my helmet at the time, was the fact that it obstructed my
vision and disrupted my aim with a bow and arrow, so I didn't put it on. I
paid the price for that little slip up, almost with my life. What I really
wish, was that there was a helmet that wouldn't reduce my vision, and yet
would still protect my head." The knight smiled

"Ah, then thou must speak to DeMule. He wilt find thee a helmet that wilt do
as thee wishes. I didst take my armour to the smithy when I didst arrive,
that it might fit my new form."

"I don't use a bow anymore anyways because my claws do fearful damage to the
string." I demonstrated this fact by extending the five claws on my right
hand.

"Ah, I canst see that." He said his eyes going wide once more. He hefted his
lance and nodded to the target dummy. "I hath watched thee practice, perhaps
thou wilt watch me?"

"I would certainly enjoy the demonstration. In my lands we had little use
for a lance, because it was a fearfully heavy weapon and you usually only
got one pass out of it before it broke. On horseback we prefer to use short
bows to enhance our cavalry." I commented before standing back to allow the
knight a clear path to the target. The knight grinned broadly and began to
laugh.

"Ah, then you hath ne'er witnessed the art of the Steppe!" He guided his
pony back to the start line in the distance, and then with a firm kick, sets
the black steed racing towards the practice dummy. The point of lance stayed
steady, until it drove into the head of the dummy. The lance bent into a
bowed arc, and then snapped back into shape with devestating force, sending
the head sailing a good fifty feet. the knight brought his pony around, and
sits there, lance upraised, with a very self-satisfied expression on his
rodential face.

"You are very skilled with that weapon Sir Knight, but what about when it
breaks? Then you will be resticted to the length of your sword." The knight
scoffed

"Didst thee not see? This lance hast ne'er broken! It will bend like a
willow and then spring back, flinging the enemy from their steed's back!"

"I think I understand now Sir Knight, personally I now make use of an atlatl
and a spear-dart if I want to hit someone at long range. However, I am most
comfortable with my swords." The knight slid his lance into a bucket at the
end of the tilt.

"I hath watched thee with thy swords, both here and at the festival and
noted that thee are most skilled with them. I couldst stand a little
practice, if thou wouldst not mind a partner."

"Not at all Sir Knight. I feel that coming up against a skilled opponent is
often the best way to increase one's own skills." He hitched his pony to the
tilt and dismounted.

"Then I shalt gladly cross swords with thee, Adòn!" I smiled slowly,
sheathed the swords that I held in my hands before I went over to my two
practice swords that I had laid on the ground earlier and said

"Sir Knight perhaps we should use practice blades, because I fear that my
own weapons are far too dangerous to spar with, lest I accidentally kill or
wound you with them." The simple reason for my precautions was simply
becasue my blades were lethally sharp, they weren't designed for use in a
practice situation. The knight appeared to ponder my suggestion for a moment
before he nodded

"While my pride doth tell me that thou wouldst ne'er tough a strand of fur
on my body, if thou dost disarm thyself, then 'tis improper for me not to do
the same. Practice swords it shalt be then." I nodded slowly and then did
something that I didn't normally do. I unbuckled my heavy swordsbelt and
double baldric before I took them off and laid them down on the ground near
the post that the knight had tied his pony to. Now that I was suitably
disarmed, I picked up the larger of my two practice swords and hefted it
carefully in my right hand. The knight gazed at the second. "I fear that
sword be too large for me."

"Do you possess a practice weapon that is scaled for your size Sir Knight?"

"Aye, but I didst not bring it with me." He furrowed his brow, and then
smiled. "There wilt be on in yonder armoury. I shalt return."

"I shall await your return Sir Knight." I replied before I went through a
standard set of Kelmar limbering exercises. Sir Saulius returned a few
minutes later with a practice sword suitable to his small stature. He
stopped near me and then waited while I finished the current set of
exercises. As soon as I was finished the exercises I turned to face him. I
brought the cross-trees of the hilt up to my face in salute before I brought
the weapon up to my favorite guard position. This position required me to
hold the weapon vertically over my head with both arms. It allowed me to
bring the blade down to parry a blow and return with a healthy riposte. The
knight returned my salute, then held his blade before him with both paws. I
could see that he was studying me as he began to circle around to the right.
I was also regarding him as I moved in the same direction. I had to concede
that this rat knew what he was doing. Mind you I had met knights before in
combat, generally they were the most dangerous enemies that I had ever
faced. Though there were one or two mercenaries that had given me a run for
my money. We both continued to circle, watching each other with
concentration on our faces looking for the first move. Finally I swung my
own weapon down and to the right, I only used a very small part of my
strength because I had no desire to harm the knight, I knew that I could
probably knock his arm off, even with this weapon. he dodged to the left,
and closed in on me, close enough for him to swing his short sword straight
at my thighs. I unconsciously jumped up and to my left over the swinging
blade of his weapon. "That was a canny move Sir Knight." I made a point to
land beside my other practice sword. I dropped the larger weapon and scooped
up the smaller one as he replied, while he settled into a new guard position
with his thin hairless tail settling behind him

"I hath had to learn to use my size in a new way."

"Yes it appears that you have. Though I have only been in this form for a
short time I've been growing use to it. Most of the time I let my training
tell me what to do, but there are times when that fails and I must rely on
instinct. Trust me sparing with you is good practice considering that I have
to confront lutins when I go out on patrol. I hope that you aren't insulted
Sir Saulius, but you are just about as tall as those dumb little mosters."
he laughed and his eyes indicated approval as I took a new low guard
position with my lighter quicker sword.

"They dost hew most easily"

"They definitely do, I've killed my fare share of the bloody things, but
they keep coming back for more." He as he said that he reversed the
direction that he was circling, getting closer to me, giving me a quick
thrust, which I parried with my own weapon. The next several seconds we test
each other's skills and found we both were quite reasonable swordsmen. His
speed and quickness belied the chain mail armour that he wore over his body.
After a few more exchanges like that one we both got in a good hit. His
connected across the enameled plates that covered my belly while my own blow
hit his right shoulder. He grounded his weapon looking at me before he
commented

"Thou art a most astute student of the sword Adòn. I commend thy on thine
abilities."

"I can say the same about you Sir Knight, you have a most complete
understanding of how to use your body and your swords to your advantage. I
on the other hand still have something to learn about how to use my sword to
the best of my abilities with my new body. After all no Kelmar who claims to
be a Swordmaster of the Black should be that easy to hit, and yet you were
capable of hitting me with appearant ease."

"Thou shouldst not disparage thy skill. Thou hast only just changed in the
past month. 'Twill take thee more time to adjust to thy new form."

"I believe that you speak the truth Sir Knight. It is just that I don't
usually have to deal with people who've equaled me at my own trade." The rat
lowered his sword and then extended his paw out to me

"Then I wilt offer my paw in comradeship. Thou art a fellow warrior, e'en if
thou not be a knight. Thou has no need to worry over thy pride because of
this day." I grounded my own weapon and then reached out with my own huge
hand-paw to shake his own. This was were the contrast in our sizes was most
clearly illustrated. My massive hand engulfed his own as I said

"I thank you Sir Knight for that lesson in swordsmanship and I will try and
learn the lessons that are implied in it." The rat knight's eyes went a bit
wide as his ow paw vanished in my own fingers, but he laughed heartily.

"Thou art most welcome, Adòn. I wilt be journeying to Glen Avery in a little
over a week. Until then, I wouldst enjoy crossing blades with thee whene'er
thee wishes."

"Unfortunately I have to go out on patrol tomorrow. The squad that they've
assigned me to isn't all that competent, so I fear that if we encounter any
lutins I will be the only one who will make a decent showing of it." The
knight chittered and shook his head

"Do not discount what bravery alone canst accomplish."

"It's just that I don't like seeing people die when there is no need for
them to do so. I have seen far too much of that over the long years of my
career as a warrior. If the leader of the squad would only listen to me, the
voice of experience, then maybe we might have a chance, but she doesn't so I
have to do the best that I can to save the rest of the patrol from her own
follies." He frowned, but he did say,

"Then do the best that thou canst. Eli be with thee."

"I will do that good Sir. Though I wonder at the wisdom of putting me with
one of the worst squads in the Keep. All the same may Săvnator guide your
footsteps." Saulius narrowed his eyes, probably at the name of my god, but
said nothing. He wished me well and then went over and mounted his black
pony and headed over to the keep.

I practiced for several more hours until I was confident that I was properly
prepared for the next day. With my training for the day finished I spend
more time up in the library with Mael-Murie as she tried to teach me how to
read the common tongue better than I currently did. I could speak common
fairly well but when it came to reading and writing it I was still very bad
at it. The main problem with my script was the fact that most of it still
resembled Kelmar Runes in shape. As I sat beside her struggling through the
book that I was reading she said

"How can you just sit by yourself all alone all of the time?"

"I'm used to it ma'am. You have to remember that I've been a mercenary for
the past thirty years. If you work on a battlefield long enough you learn
that to create friendships is to experience pain and hardship."

"Well now that you're at the keep you can start opening up a little bit."

"I'm afraid I just can't do that anymore." She looked into my eyes

"Why not Adòn you can't go through your life all alone."

"Trust me I can go through my life alone. It is definitely better than the
alternative." She shook her head in a manner that I thought of as pity as I
closed the heavy leather bound book and replied "This is where I leave the
room and go down to my apartment where I can meditate on my patrol
tomorrow." With that said I headed down to my room where I could go down to
my room. Once I was there I pulled off all of my heavy equipment and went
into my forge where I could work on something, I had yet to know what I was
going to work on.

Four hours later I was looking into the glowing heart of the furnace where a
piece of thin strong steel was glowing bright yellow. I used a pair of tongs
to pull the piece of metal out of the furnace, laid it on the anvil and
began to beat on it with one of my hammers, sending showers of white hot
sparks flying all over the room. I was protected by a heavy leather apron as
I continued to beat on the steel with steady rhythmic blows of the hammer.
When the metal cooled to the point where it was red I finally realized what
I was making. I picked the metal piece and trust it into the trough of
water, sending up rank, hot clouds of steam as the metal cooled rapidly.
When the metal had turned cool and dark I pulled it out of the tub and
thrust it back into the furnace. When the metal was hot again I pulled it
out and placed it on the anvil. Only this time I didn't beat on it, I wanted
it to cool down slowly so that it wouldn't be brittle and break when it was
put under strain. With that done I had to go down in to  Euper to see if I
could find the right wood for my purpose. I was eventually forced to pay
three garets for a eight foot long yew stave that had been harvested in the
forests near the city of Saildon some ten years ago. In other words this
stave was perfectly aged for my intended purpose. I also had to go to the
butcher's shop where I managed to pick up a bucket of sinew, which I would
later use to put the other parts of this weapon that I was making together.

I didn't have any more time to work on my weapons by the time I got back to
my apartment, so I went had supper, then returned to my room where I turned
in early, since I would probably be getting up early in the morning. Being
based on a cat had its advantages, I could get to sleep at just about any
point in the day, and I could wake up just as quickly. When the alarm on my
desk clock started to ding at me I had to get up and go over and press the
lever to turn it off. The quality of the light coming through the window
told me that today would be pretty miserable, rain and lots of it. I shook
my head slowly at the thought, even though I was based on a cat that really
didn't seem to mind water all that much, I still didn't like getting rained
on. I carefully began pulling on my equipment, making that everything was
properly placed. I had to dip into my chest to come up with one of three
cloaks that I possessed that were enchanted with a water-proofing spell. The
final item that I grabbed was the shield that I had won the other day at the
festival. I glanced at the clock, and noticed that I was running a little
behind, the caravan that my squad was guarding was supposed to be leaving at
seven thirty in the morning and it was already six forty-five, that barely
gave me enough time to get breakfast. I quickly rushed out of the room,
cloak billowing in the wind of my passage, locked the door, and headed down
the hall towards my usual mess facility. I was considering what I would have
to deal with today when, Clunk, Thud! I was hit in the head by the thrice
cursed Snow's Tinsmithy sign. I had been hitting my head on this same sign,
every day for the past month and I had usually growled curses at it, but for
some reason today was different and I grabbed the offending object with both
hands with a snarl and pulled down on it. The pins that held the sign and
its support frame to the wall squalled in protest as I wrenched it out of
the wall. As soon as the gods blasted object was free in my hand I threw it
down the corridor and headed on my way towards the mess hall. At least now
my head was safe from that sign.

I arrived in the yard where the caravan was gathering and the rest of the
squad was waiting exactly on time. I was in fact still munching on beef
joint as I arrived, my hood pulled up to protect myself from the dismal rain
that was falling out of the sky. Barb looked at me, shook her head before
saying

"Today we're going to be escorting this caravan as far as the edge of the
valley. Recently numerous caravans have come under attack by a group of
bandits along the road to the Midlands. At least one of you knows what I am
referring to. With any luck these cowards will show themselves and we will
get to give them a taste of Metamorian Justice." I kept my face straight
while she said the last line, even though on the inside I was laughing. The
only people who should be afraid of this squad was perhaps the caravan
guards. I looked over at them and then recognized one of the guards. He had
served as my second in command. He was a reasonably good soldier, if a
little unimaginative, but all the same he had saved my bacon back more than
a month ago.

"Tallis is that you?" I shouted out to him. He turned and looked around
before he finally spotted me standing with the Metamorians. He looked me up
and down and then saw the small medallion that rested at the center of my
double baldric.

"Adòn Naharél is that really you?"

"Tallis Von Shrenk you should know better than to come out to this place,
didn't the last trip out here teach you that much?"

"I'm a stubborn man Adòn, you should know that by now. But I should be
asking you, why did you end up staying here." I laughed slowly before I
replied

"I would've left if I hadn't already been here too bloody long when I awoke
Tallis. I was gaining these black and white stripes on my skin when I
finally did wake up."

"That should teach you to wear your helmet next time Adòn."

"Don't you know it Tallis." We both laughed over that comment before Barbara
shouted

"Enough fraternizing with the outsiders Adòn we have to get this caravan
moving." I nodded slowly and made my way to a position on the point, in
front of the caravan. I really didn't like the point, but under the current
circumstances I was probably the best person for the job, considering the
fact that I had more training and experience than the rest of the squad put
together.

I believe that it was two days later when we were about to send the caravan
off on its own when we were ambushed, it was the same group of rocks where I
had received my head wound just over a month ago. This time however I was
wearing a my helmet, and I had my shield strapped to my left arm. As the
first arrows arched up into the sky, Daniel grabbed his bow and began to
fire arrows into the rocks. I dashed over to him just in time to shelter him
with my shield as four arrows arched down to hit him.

"Find some cover." I growled to him before I stood up and batted aside
another arrow with the shield. This thing was definitely coming in handy. I
was glad that it had been the prize for winning the contest at the festival.
I even found that it was handy enough to allow me to hold onto spear-darts
as I set them in the atlatl so that I could fire them at any one of our
ambushers as they exposed themselves in order to fire their own bows.

"Kill the freaks first. Eli wills it!" Shouted out a very familiar voice.
That voice triggered something in me that I hadn't used in more than a
decade. I roared out a reply and then dropped the atlatl on the ground,
ripped my long-sword out of its scabbard and jumped up into the rocks with
an ease that surprised me. I just barely remember catching a blow from an
ill-made sword on the shield before I batted the blow aside and countered
with a blow of my own that sprayed blood and viscera everywhere. The rest of
the assault that I made was in a haze of red vision as I charged through the
ranks of our ambushers until I came upon the owner of the voice that had
shouted out earlier on. He was holding a well made great-sword in his hands
almost as if daring me to attack him. On the chest of his tattered talbard
was something that I also recognized the gold cross of a Paladin Knight of
the Ecclesia. However I had seen that there was at least one of these
knights at the Keep so this man was probably a fanatic, the kind of person I
really didn't like very much. I had previously had several run ins with
religious hysterics and I disliked all of them. In my mind religious
hysteria was a form of madness that only had one cure. As our swords came
together I realized that though this man was a hysteric he was also very
well trained in the art of the sword. However, under the current
circumstances I had the upper hand because I was under the influence of the
Blood Rage. It was a very rare capability among Kelmar that gave the warrior
who possessed it a limited period of enhanced strength, speed, and
capability at a cost. That cost was that when the rage ran its course the
warrior would be left almost helpless as the fatigue of using it drained his
mind and body of almost all energy. however, for the time being I was able
to wield my long-sword with the speed and dexterity of a short-sword or a
rapier, using the shield to catch the renegade knight's own stikes against
me I dexterously peeled his plate armour away from his body with skillful
blows from my own weapon. As we fought he grew more and more desperate as he
realized the depth of his problems. But, I was also beginning to tire, and I
could feel the strength and capability that the Blood Rage had brought me
slowly ebbing away like a tide on the retreat. With my last reserves of
strength and speed I unleashed a powerful blow at the renegade's ankles
breaking both of them before I whipped the sword up to break both of his
exposed shoulders. This way the knight would face a trial, and almost
certain death at the Keep for preying on local caravans. Once he was on the
ground I managed to walk far enough away from him before I dropped my own
weapon and collapsed on the ground. Just before I passed out Daniel appeared
in my vision

"Are you ok Adòn?" I managed to nod before I spat out a couple of words

"When I wake up make sure that there is some food there, I will be
ravenously hungry." With that said I passed out.

I wasn't really sure how long it had been when I woke up in my own tent but
I was comfortable. I quickly sat up and looked around before I smelled the
odour of freshly cooked meat. At that moment my stomach growled at me almost
as if in a reminder of what I had done earlier. Without even bothering to
put anything on I scrambled out of the tent and headed straight for the fire
where Barbara and Hernado were turning a haunch of meat on a spit. I grabbed
the spit from the fire and sank my fangs into the meat ripping it apart with
an overpowering hunger. I polished off the cooked meat and looked over to
find Daniel sitting proudly by a large hanging carcass that he must've
brought down with that bow that he carried. The kid was definitely getting
better with that weapon but right now that wasn't really something that I
was all that concerned about.

Some time later when I had managed to gain control of myself, my stomach was
groaning with the amount that I had eaten, I listened while Barbara berated
me on my actions. This woman was beginning to get on my nerves with her
constant carping on my perceived faults. She claimed that I was
insubordinate, reckless, and a danger to the rest of the squad. Finally when
she asked me if I had anything to say in my defense I fixed her with a glare
before I responded by telling her

"Ma'am with all due respect," Though I didn't really believe that she
deserved my respect ", you are perhaps the worst commander that I've ever
had the displeasure of serving under in my fifty-five years of combat. You
don't listen to my advice on matters which I know more than you do and you
don't heed what I say when it could save your life." She looked at me
arrogantly

"You have conception of the differences and difficulties that we face here
in the Valley."

"I understand better than you are led to believe ma'am. I've fought those
little monsters to the north and I can tell you that I'm glad that we
haven't been sent out there with the training that you currently possess.
This little squad would get eaten alive." With that said I left her
spluttering in indignation at my comments as I dragged my sore feline tail
back to my tent where I could get some more rest.

Two days later when we arrived at the Keep, the renegade knight was tied to
a stretcher that Hernando and I had been forced to carry, since we were the
largest members of the squad, we were met by a group of soldiers who took
our burden from us. Once we were relieved of our burden Barbara came up to
me and said

"You are on report for insubordination, reckless behavior, and negligence. I
want to see you in George's office tomorrow at eight-o-clock sharp." I
simply nodded in acquiescence before I headed back to my room where I could
get out of my things and go have a bath. However when I reached my room I
found a slip of paper from someone slid under the door

Adòn Naharél I believe that we would prefer to keep things here civil so I
have yet to bring the Watch into this matter. You have destroyed my sign and
as such I would like to speak to you about it. The sign needs to be
replaced, how else am I supposed to get business? If we can't keep this
civil that I will be forced to bring the watch into this matter

Drift (Edward Snow)

I guess that I couldn't get away from that and I would have to deal with it
as soon as I finished my bath but that was something that I could take care
of afterwards. I just hoped that the white Samoyed morph would treat me with
more respect that Barbara had.
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