Chapter 15 - Part 4

“We should kill him as soon as possible,” Mazshi said. “From what I know of him, he’ll cause trouble for us simply to amuse himself.”

“We do that, we’re the ones that will be looked at first,” Marlal pointed out. “Feeding all of these troops and keeping them out of trouble while waiting for an inquest to end is not a good idea.”

Brogan pinched the bridge of his nose. They were sitting on portable chairs around a small, foldable table, trying to decide what should be done. “We are mercenaries,” Brogan said. “Not murderers. Now we find another way of neutralizing Delegado, or we ignore him and take our chances.”

“We can get these Children that you are hiring to give him a disease,” Mazshi said. “Let him linger for weeks. That will keep him out of trouble.”

Brogan hated that Mazshi had to come to these things. She wasn’t a thinker, but if she were kept out of the loop it could hurt their unity. Mazshi was the third in command for her loyalty, not her strategic skills. “We cannot rely on the Children of Winter,” he said. “When they are far away from this place and relying on us to help them against the monsters of Droaam, that’s when I know they will do their part. Let’s hear what we’ve discovered on Delegado’s companions.”

“The warforged has no number on his shoulder,” Mazshi said promptly. “Someone noticed that when his shirt moved. He may be a renegade. Perhaps Cannith’s representative can be recruited.”

Brogan looked at Mazshi with surprise. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “Marlal?”

“I was given to understand that Cannith’s representative here was a magewright and smith, not an artificer or warrior,” Marlal said thoughtfully. “But I can try to send out feelers. You think Delegado stole a warforged?”

Mazshi shrugged. “I think Delegado flew here with those two, they may be a weakness to him.”

“What do we have on the other?” Brogan asked.

“He calls himself Thomas,” Marlal said. “No last name given, no identity papers, and he kept his hood up and his cloak on. Delegado and the warforged dropped Thomas off at the Tharashk cottage, and then left. Thomas has not been seen since.”

“Odd to say the least,” Brogan noted. “Could he be something other than human?”

“Some of the stories before they came, of Merylsward,” Mazshi said. “They mentioned a hermit who came to town, a monster.”

“Those stories are hardly reliable,” Brogan said. “They had no mention of a warforged being part of the defenders of the town, for instance.”

Marlal pursed his lips. “Even if they aren’t true,” he said. “Even if this Thomas is just, I don’t know, hideously ugly from a sad defect or something, it’s enough to stir up interest. If not the Ashbound, maybe the Gatekeepers.”

“We need more information,” Brogan said. “Who do we have that –” Heavy feet cut him off.

“General Brogan,” came the heavy monotone voice of the adamantine-coated warforged. “Wardens of the Wood here to see you.”

Brogan grimaced. “Wait here please,” he said to them, then stepped outside into the early-afternoon light.

Three men stood waiting, the set of their shoulders making it seem like the armed camp of Blademarks answered to them, not Brogan. The two in the back were shifters, clad in chain shirts and carrying greataxes. The one in the front was human, a sword at his waist, and a look in his eye that said he wasn’t someone to mess with. Each one had a stylized pine tree on their lapel.

“General Brogan,” the leader said. “I’m Ryan. I need to talk to you.”

“I am always at your disposal, Captain Ryan,” Brogan said, bowing slightly. “How can I help you?”

“It’s not ‘captain,’ it’s just Ryan,” the man said. “Delegado d’Tharashk is here. Last time he and you were here at the same time there was trouble.”

“Yes there was,” Brogan said. “If you have heard of it, then you know what I said at the trial. By Galifar law –”

“Galifar law is meaningless here,” Ryan said. “We threw that out when Aundair was finally thrown out after going too far with their disrespect of our culture. Oalian’s law reigns here.”

“What do you want, Ryan?” Brogan asked, dropping all pretense of civility.

“While both you and Delegado are in town, no more than five of your members, and that includes you and your officers, are to leave this stretch of rented ground, unless it’s all of you that are departing. Is that clear?” On either side of him the warforged set their weight for possible trouble, and the shifters then eyed them even more intently, but Ryan seemed not to care.

“Very,” Brogan said dryly. “I hope you are giving him the same message.”

“He and his servant are in custody now, getting that message clearly,” Ryan said. “Now have a nice day.” The Warden turned and walked past all the Blademarks, his shifter backups giving Brogan’s men a snarl before following their leader.

Brogan bit his lip, then saw some of the men watching him. “You have duties,” he reminded them. “Get back to them.” After they had done so, Brogan ducked back into the tent.

“We heard it,” Marlal said before Brogan could ask. “What do you want us to do?”

“Pick two of the three Valenar,” Brogan said. “The ones who have experience raiding Cyre fortifications. They’ve experience with warforged. Have them go to the Wardens of the Wood headquarters and wait outside. I want them to follow Delegado and his warforged attendant. I expect that eventually they’ll be spotted, but they are to keep pressure on. If we shake Delegado up he’s bound to do something stupid. Then send one of the Deneith men we have in the company out to gather information, nothing serious, just whan people think. Have him listen for information about this Thomas. Use Viktor, he’s a subtle fellow. He’s out no more than an hour, then when he comes back you go out and act on his information. Go.” Marlal nodded and left. “Mazshi,” Brogan said. “I need you to start having Rahg do his most impressive exercises at the edge of this stretch of land we rented, right where everyone can see him. I want the Wardens to get nervous about us wandering, or more specifically, Rahg wandering. Have the dwarves spar as well. I’m going to send a warforged to Zuan’doh. It’s time I arranged for a meeting in that secured glade behind our latrines.”

Mazshi nodded and left, and Brogan fetched a pen. He would meet with these Children of Winter sooner rather than later. There was no reason to give Delegado more time to mess everything up.