Archon of Strife: Segment Nine

Back in Daldenvale things weren’t peaceful either, despite a cessation in the fighting. In fact, most of the bandits were still having their fair share of action as they met Rashida’s wrath over the disorganized capture of the town. Currently the group that wasn’t guarding the townsfolk stood in lines behind Rashida’s four commanders, among them both Tamika and Peregrin. Most of the fires had been put out and the animals rounded up, the meager resistance quelled, and the militia brought to submission. Rashida, attempting now to hold in her infuriation and frustration at the amateur job her band had done in securing the town, made a mental note to herself concerning her decision not to hold strong faith in her inferiors. The only reason there were many men alive in the town at the moment that weren’t elderly or sick was due to her coming to oversee the operation herself, unexpectedly to her thieves. When she arrived they were viciously slaying anyone who was forming resistance in a rookie-style takeover, lacking any insight and reasoning in the department of considering who would be the best slaves and laborers once they held in control the population of the village. All it took for Rashida to stop the slaughter was to get a hold of a few women and children and that was the end of the militia’s resistance.

Now she paced back and forth, gauging the fear of her four generals, one at a time and at her own incensed leisure. When she decided they had been sweating long enough she began what everyone hoped for his or her own sake would be a short and non-lethal scrutiny.

"So," Rashida questioned of her first troop commander, a young and under-experienced recruit name Feylin who only held his position because of his specialties with poisons and willingness to employ this talent to eliminate his competition. "Did I not leave you with the simple task of securing the perimeter and making sure no one escapes, a task easily manageable by the score of men left with you?"

"Eh, yeh m’lady bu-" the unfortunate commander began to answer before being cut off by his superior.

"But what?" Rashida fierily interrupted, growing even more disgruntled in demeanor. "So far two have escaped and another is attempted to do so right… now." As she finished the sentence she withdrew a knife from the straps across her chest, much to the obvious terror of Feylin, but instead of him, Rashida threw the dagger at a teenager attempting to break from the crowd of rounded up villagers and run for the cover of the forest. The townsfolk had been forced into a huddle with the men on the outside, each with a woman secured to him back to back with their hands bound together and a long, thick rope stringing from each couple to the next to form a large circle. This kept any of them from attempting to run or fight back and left just enough space inside the circle to cram in the remaining women and all the children of the village, which Rashida honestly hadn’t thought would try to escape with their parents bound and in broken in front of their eyes. The boy who had tried to run was scrawny for sixteen, just barely not threatening enough to have been tied into the circle, and though he didn’t even make it more than twenty feet it was as least lucky that Rashida had such practiced marksmanship, cleanly killing the poor boy instantly when her dagger pierced his neck from behind and embedded itself most of the way through his spine. The boy would have instead been forced to writhe in agony and suffer until he died had she had worse aim. Even if the boy hadn’t been slain it would have been nearly impossible to have gotten past the outer string of over sixty rogues who were guarding the few hundred villagers in the circle, but at least this way Rashida’s temper abated somewhat, to the slight relief of her men. When the boy fell to the ground, dead before he even reached it, a collective gasp of shock and horror released from the villagers and many began to break into tears if they hadn’t been crying already. One of the more courageous men called Rashida a monster, but she pretended to notice none of it and simply continued to the next commander, Tamika.

Rashida’s mood noticeably lightened more when she addressed the blonde commander, whom she had always favored not only because of Tamika’s record of seldom failing to get things done, but also due to the fact that she was one of the other few females among the thieves Rashida commanded. Still, a hint of distaste could be detected as Rashida spoke, setting Tamika on edge, who was used to preferential treatment from her leader.

"And then you were informed and entered the town," Rashida began.

"Earlier than scheduled," Tamika mumbled with a quick glare at Peregrin. If she heard this Rashida didn’t pause to show it, her back turned away and talking over her shoulder.

"So what happened when you arrived?"

"Well," Tamika explained, "when I entered the town there were already some citizens awake and resistance forming. I had to personally slay one of the villagers myself." About to move on to the third commander, Rashida instead turned on her heel to face Tamika with an even-level gaze as she questioned, "and then why did you not take control of the situation immediately!?" This sudden flare of temper again sent Tamika’s body into a rigid composure and added apprehension to her mix of emotions as one of Rashida’s hands that had been resting just below her chin and lightly clasping her throat moved down to rest upon one of the handles of the knives strapped across her chest.

"B-but m’lady there was a m-minotaur! A beast!" At this quick response from her commander Rashida stopped for a moment to consider this before putting both arms behind her and continuing to the next commander.

"Ahh, yes… the minotaur. So then whose job was it to have reinforcements prepared in case something went wrong, hmm?" With this Rashida moved to her third commander, a former soldier named Mainz. He had actually served in the king’s army during the campaigns on the Eastern front, but when the wars ended he became one of the many men shafted of his promised pay because of the unsuccessful ending of the campaigns. Left with no work and nowhere to go, Mainz began stealing to survive and over time found his way across the Eastern Kingdom to the Echo Passes before being recruited by Rashida. Now he stood staring straight ahead as he had been trained when reporting to a superior officer. Though now he had much less respect for the procedures he had been forced to follow while serving in the king’s army, this one at least gave him an excuse to avoid Rashida’s venomous stare.

"So why did you fail me Mainz?" Rashida asked again in a level tone that thinly disguised the dangerous nature of her current mood. The former soldier didn’t answer this time either, not wanting to admit to Rashida’s face that he had been drinking with his men the night before and failed to appoint a responsible nightly watch. This resulted in him waking over an hour later than he should have to have gotten his men up and to their designated point just outside the village on time, ready to be called in to quell resistance. It was planned this way so that not too many men would be in the town before its highest-standing officials were taken prisoner and the town wouldn’t be awake before this could be accomplished, but evidently many things hadn’t gone according to plan today.

After an awkwardly silent ten seconds of no response Rashida’s temper finally burst and she pulled a dagger from her chest straps in an incredibly quick and practiced motion before plunging it into Mainz’s throat. The stolid commander was not as lucky as the boy had been, the dagger failing to sever his spinal cord and leaving him to claw at his throat and chest as he fell to his knees and suffocated in front of everyone from the blood entering his lungs and the blade blocking his esophagus. Most of the bandits standing in lines behind their commander shifted uneasily, few able to hold in their surprise. The rogues under Mainz’s command were especially shocked, being the most loyal of any of the men to their commander due to his willingness to let them drink and enjoy themselves when not under orders by Rashida and Mainz’s professionalism and leadership when executing orders, which he had picked up in the army.

This only left one more person to interrogate: Peregrin. Of the four responsibilities of the commanders that Rashida had given for the takeover of the village, Peregrin arguably had the easiest. He was to scout the town with a few men and make sure nothing was amiss before anyone else moved in. This would have included dispatching of any early risers with stealth and practicality, which hadn’t happened due to the imbeciles placed under his command. Peregrin had sent his third man to warn Tamika’s band of the idiocy he was dealing with and hopefully delegate blame, and he even stopped an escaping girl that Feylin’s guards hadn’t noticed. Still, he knew Rashida would hear none of it after what he had just seen her do to Mainz. Peregrin had been under both Rashida and Tamika’s balefully disdainful observance for some time now and all she needed was the right degree of temper and a petty excuse to dispose of him at this point.

"Let’s see, I’ve covered the perimeter guards, the hostage takers, and the reinforcements, so who am I forgetting?" Rashida asked out loud as she finished watching Mainz squirm in front of her and die before she coldly turned away and walked to Peregrin without showing the slightest bit of regret or remorse. "It must’ve been very unimportant for me to forget so easily… or maybe he just failed so poorly that I pushed the matter out of my head entirely to ease my frustration this morning." Rashida stopped when she had slowly walked up to Peregrin and faced him with what seemed like an open-minded look, as if wondering what he would say to answer this. Peregrin knew as well as she did, however, that nothing he could say at this point would save him. It was now or never to proceed with what he had been plotting and surreptitiously setting up the more rebellious men for over the past few months. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but instead took a slow, deliberate step backwards, making as if to turn and run. When Rashida moved to pull a knife from across her chest, as he correctly assumed she would, he instead rushed toward her and barreled into her to get her to the ground. He had actually, in truth, been planning over the past few months to sway as many men as possible to support him if he were to make a stand against Rashida by feeding them promises of more leniency and prosperous pickings under his leadership, but even if it was too early now, the chances of dodging a knife thrown by Rashida were next to none and he would never have another chance after that. Mostly the reason his plans had been moving along so slowly was because he could not risk word leaking to Tamika or Rashida herself and thus had to very tentatively introduce the concept of a shift in leadership to each person he talked to and guide their thoughts to suggest the concept in casual conversation, gauging their opinions and reactions. Before each man he did this to he had to spend even more time observing that man’s character to determine if he would be likely to pass along his conversation with Peregrin.

It was only a few seconds of struggling with his superior before Tamika had reached Peregrin but he still managed to get a punch in here and there while keeping Rashida away from her knives. The assembled bandits were even more stunned than they had been when Mainz died, never seeing anyone challenge Rashida and live for more than a few seconds, let alone catch her so off-guard and physically assault her as Peregrin had just done. As soon as Tamika reached him she withdrew her sword from her belt, a long and thin saber, and immediately berated him with the flat of the blade until he rolled away, trying to shield his face as he did so. Before he even had a chance to get on all fours Tamika had closed the short distance again and swung a greave into his ribs, kicking him hard and painfully. The other commander, Feylin, had already signaled the troops to stay put and ran over to assist Rashida, but from the lethal look of anger she had adorned he decided it would be better to help Tamika get a hold of Peregrin. He almost had to scream at her to get her to stop beating on him, and when she finally stopped she refused any help holding him, wanting Rashida to credit her alone while savoring the painful hold she put Peregrin in with both his arms behind his back. The way she was holding him now had his elbows pointing for the most part toward the ground and his hands toward the sky, which normally wouldn’t hurt except when done behind the back where the shoulders do not allow the arms to reach. All Tamika needed to do to dislocate both of Peregrin’s arms now was execute a curt motion pushing them farther up towards his neck - and she was very tempted to do so.

Rashida got up with what grace she could muster through her mixture of shock and new fury, attempting to save a little face. After she wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth she addressed her attacker again in a calm tone that she could only manage because she knew she was about to get her revenge.

"So Peregrin, it looks like you’ve been forming machinations for some time now; Yes Tamika wasn’t the only one who noticed," Rashida said as she approached her mutinous commander while twirling a knife with an open ring at the end of its handle around each index finger. "And do you know what I hate the most about schemers, Peregrin?" Even though her question was rhetorical Peregrin felt compelled to answer her and show his defiance. He didn’t know exactly how he was supposed to do it, but somehow he had to urge the other bandits to start an insurrection, even if it meant chaos in the chain of command and he ultimately ended up as a grunt again. It was certainly better than being dead.

"I know why, Rashida, it’s because you’re afraid that one of their schemes will be your downfall. And to tell you the truth I wouldn’t blame you, I mean look at what I managed before your guard dog got me off you."

"No!" Rashida screamed as she stopped spinning both the knives and intensely gripped each with all fingers, the blades facing down so that her thumbs were near the circles and not the hilts, indicating that the knives were about to be used for stabbing rather than being thrown. "What I hate most about filthy, conniving, schemers such as you is that they always think that they will never be caught. Well today I’m going to give you the pleasure of answering for your schemes." At this Peregrin turned his head to Feylin, wincing as Tamika pushed his hands farther toward his neck in response to the motion.

"You know you’ll be next Feylin, whether it’s tomorrow or a year from now. She’ll always be looking for the next suspicion – she’s paranoid and afraid!"

"Shut up!" Tamika commanded as she moved his arms out from their position only so that she could thrust her knee into his back where they had been. When he arched his back in pain she proceeded to kick out one of his legs and force him to the ground, grabbing his hair and yanking his head backwards to present him to Rashida. But this still didn’t stop him from urging on anyone who would listen.

"All of you, where’s it going to stop!? Do you really want to keep looking over your shoulder, wondering if her next knife is coming for you? Stop her!"

"I said shut up-" Tamika began to say, raising her free hand to broadside the insubordinate in his temple. She stopped when Rashida held up one of her fists, still clenching the knife. She was standing right in front of Peregrin now, and she crossed both her knives to form a crude scissors at his neck. When he attempted to say something again she pressed the scissors hard into his throat, causing him to choke and cough instead of speaking and drawing some blood at the same time.

"Tell me then, Peregrin, how confident were you that even one fool would support you?" Rashida whispered to his face as she leaned forward. Then she stood up and yelled to the assembled men, "If there’s a single fool idiotic enough to agree with Peregrin, let him speak now and forever lie in pieces." After she said this she scanned the rogues, most of them shifting their eyes away from her and attempting to avoid her wrath. "Then let’s be done with this trash already," she continued as she bent over again and pressed her knives up to Peregrin’s throat.

Maybe it was the truth in Peregrin’s words, or possibly it was the fact that Rashida had just inadvertently exemplified it that convinced Feylin to act, but either way he was now Peregrin’s savior. Before Rashida could slit her mutinous commander’s throat Feylin drew a short sword from its scabbard and pointed it at Rashida.

"Maybe we should consider this first, Rashida." His superior slowly turned her head to stare at him wide-eyed and incredulous. After just a moment of this she uncrossed her fists, sliding each knife across Peregrin’s throat as she did this and leaving him to die in much the same manner as Mainz.

"Fine, you’re next," she said as she flipped both the now bloodstained knives up so that she could throw them without even pausing.