Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 19, 2007 22:16:57 GMT -5
Killain Anvilsplitter and Richard Coldheart take this news with mixed response. Killain Anvilsplitter appears quite pleased, or at least as pleased as a dwarf can look, while Richard Coldheart looks more considering. They tell Maximilian that they will bring the news to Sir Highrider, and they expect, so long as the Pelorites are content, that Sir Highrider will order Dell's release.
Once they leave, Maximilian breathes a sigh of relief. Turning to Antonus, he tells him that he's obtained a release for Antonus from his impressment and directs him to go to the Wheat Field Inn. There, he will meet the Company of the Blue Sun. Maximilian explains that they are mercenaries of a sort, but that Dell, Winthrop, and Oaklock are all master mages. Between the three of them, one will certainly be willing to take Antonus on as an apprentice. To pave the way for Antonus, Maximilian orders him to tell the Company of Abernathy's improving health and Dell's imminent release.
A happy Antonus shucks his armor and arms, garbs himself in his best, and only, robe, and heads for the Wheat Field. He introduces himself to the rather large warriors there and relays his news. Rather than being thanked or appreciated for his efforts, they merely grunt at him and direct him to a chair in the corner of the room, where an elf, a human, and a large stuffed bear occupy a table. The elf introduces himself as Eig, the man as Herbert, and the stuffed bear growls a hello, snuffling the frightened Antonus in the chest. White as snow, Antonus sits and wonders what he's gotten himself into.
With the news that Dell will likely be freed, Raven and Otto finish their plans. Winthrop, though currently incapacitated, is quickly recovering. Otto is uncomfortable with the offer placed before them by Thomas Louvaine. It seems too likely to pose a challenge to the Company's subtlety, first in sneaking in, second in escaping without slaughtering all of the March Lord's men, and then third in not having an angry lord chasing them. Raven agrees, not wanting to get caught up in the politics of the situation. While the Yeomanry still is under pressure, and the Company has not reported back to General Greymouse, the opportunity to extract some revenge from the man who sent assassins into the Hall of the Blue Sun is too good to pass up. Raven directs the Company towards Flen, where they can find the Black Lotus and this Stalman Klim.
Otto and his men spend the next few days preparing to leave. Pfiffwin collects necessary components from Bastell Brittlevein. Herbert enchants a series of berries, so that Eats Salmon will be well satiated during the trip. Eig chooses to remain behind, to present Cedrus's scrolls to Dell, and travel up with the others. Otto explains that he's going to stop in at Cryllor, so that Pfiffwin can meet with the gnomes of that city, and then head up to Flen. The Company will reform there.
The others bid Otto and his men, and bear, farewell and await news of the high priest's recovery. The news is slow to arrive, leading to much fretting and to-ing and fro-ing about Antonus's accuracy and trustworthiness. Antonus is shocked, shocked, at the accusations the Company levels against him. Clearly, the Company are not men or woman for whom honest words are commonly given or met. Maximilian always spoke highly of the Company of the Blue Sun, and, since he and Maximilian saw eye to eye on so many things, Antonus foolishly assumed that the Company would share Maximilian's ethics and morals. Apparently, that is not the case.
Dell sits, shackled and clamped, in a relatively comfortable cell. If not for the rigid gloves chained around his hands, his magics could have him out of the cell in a matter of seconds. If not for the mute watchers who peer through the bars at irregular intervals, the small file embedded in his forearm could have him out of the gloves in mere minutes. As it is, success would be likely, but not absolute. Dell, ever since his experience with the Nerullite helm, has become a long range planner. Better opportunities will avail themselves. Perhaps Giuseppe will sing.
Day after day pass by, the never changing pattern of food and guard, guard and food, the only marker of time. The tedium of waiting draws down on Dell's spirit. Even the mental exercises taught long ago to him in the various trainings he has undertaken only serve him so well. It is only a matter of time before he is brought out of the cell and into the presence of others, where an opportunity to either convince them of his innocence or make good his escape will appear. The Keepers of the Peace have held mages and thieves before, and they are careful to limit Dell's abilities. Even so, idle conversation in the hallway is caught by Dell's keen ears. News of Otto's efforts to turn the opinions of the dwarves act like a soothing balm on his ego.
Finally, Dell is dragged forth from his cell and brought up into more habitable space, where Killain Anvilsplitter awaits him. Abernathy Wernack has recovered his facilities. While he is weakened nigh on to death, his word is that Dell did not attack him, an evil artifact did. Killain Anvilsplitter is quite displeased with the state of events. The Company has sworn that they do not have the artifact, and neither has Dell, since he has been in the custody of the Keepers of the Peace constantly since the attack. Killain seems to be waiting for Dell to say something incriminating or ill considered, but Dell refrains, his silence below now easy to maintain above. Faced with little choice, Killain Anvilsplitter frees Dell, warning him that the slightest infraction of any of the city laws will cause Dell to become reacquainted with his cell. Dell calmly stares at Killain, imagining the ways that he can kill him painfully, and nods his understanding.
Dell is pleased to discover that all of the goods that he was wearing when arrested are present and returned to him when he is freed. Several of the gaolers stare lovingly at Dell's bracers and fine gloves, not to mention his well crafted weapons, but none were brave enough to snatch something from the known mage. "The wisdom of the meek," antagonizes Dell, as he heads out into the light.
The Company is pleased to see Dell return to the Wheat Field. Raven and Winthrop fill him in on current events and the direction Raven is taking the Company. Dell chuckles at Raven's description of himself as leader, but agrees that Flen should be their destination. Dell agrees with Raven and Winthrop that the scene at Karmuk's tower is intriguing. He points out that Nosnra's Steading should be reviewed as well. Dell, reasonably, wants to leave Longspear as quickly as possible, so he offers to scry these sites along with Winthrop. Because of his incarceration, several things that Dell wanted to do are yet unmet. Raven offers Antonus, who has listened obtrusively to the conversation of the Company members, as his apprentice. Dell frowns, remembering his apprenticeship.
"Alright," says Dell to Antonus, "take these bags and bring them to the alchemist Indom Falmuth at dockside. Bring back from him fifteen of his pearls of the ritual size. He'll know them. Speak authoritatively, because Indom can be difficult to deal with." Raven frowns at this description of Indom Falmuth, who has never been anything but kind and polite to him. Antonus hops up and is nearly flattened by the weight of the sacks Dell lays out on the floor. Each must weigh fifty pounds!
Antonus struggles with the heavy sacks, and Jasper, who likes carrying such burdens, offers to come with him. They load the smiling Jasper with these heavy burdens and head down to the docks. His agile mind whirls and spins as he thinks about what must be inside the sacks. Gold! The ritual must be of identification, and each ritual requires a pearl larger than a pea. Antonus has with him more money than he could spend in years! "Is this a test?" he thinks. "This must be a test. He must be thinking I'll run with the coinage, rather than bringing him his pearls. Or, better, that I'll get the pearls and run with them!" Antonus is deeply affronted that he would be tested in such a manner by his new master, a suspected criminal himself!
Full of self-righteous anger, Antonus barters with Indom Falmuth. He demands a fair price for the pearls and claims that the Company of the Blue Sun should get a good value for their hard-earned coinage. Indom, always irascible, begins to argue, but Jasper quickly interjects. "Raven wants them," he says, smiling winningly. "He says Hi! Hi!" Once Indom hears that the pearls are for Raven, the transaction goes very smoothly. Antonus leaves with the pearls carefully wrapped in his purse, thinking he has driven a hard bargain. He triumphantly hands them to Dell, who barely notices Antonus's existence before heading up to his room.
Winthrop reports back later that night that Nosnra's Steading is awash in strange lights and red mists. The structure itself is charred and burnt, but the underground dungeons seem to have survived somewhat intact. Fell creatures seem to climb in and out of the underground, but the mists and the lights seemed strangely attracted to Winthrop's point of view. Given his experience with the Silent One's tower, he thought flight wise. Dell staggers down the stairs a while later, drool soaked into the front of his shirt. He searches for some unadulterated water and drinks heavily. Apparently Karmuk's tower is occupied as described before. The mage seen by Winthrop was also spotted by Dell, but the mage must also have significant powers. The mage not only noticed Dell's scrying, but summoned up a strange glowing, oscillating symbol that captivated Dell's mind, causing him to be unable to break free. Only the completion of his spell broke the ensorcelment.
With such ill omens, the Company opts to heads off to Flen as early as possible. Raven scribes a note to Richard Coldheart rejecting Thomas Louvaine's offer of employment, while assuring Coldheart of the Company's discretion. He sends it off as the Company mounts their horses, a riding horse having been purchased for both Eig and Antonus. Eig, perhaps unsurprisingly, rides easily, directing his mount with subtle gestures and nudges. Antonus, on the other hand, sits like a sack of potatoes. By the end of the day, Antonus is barely able to stand, never mind walk. Antonus's relative inexperience and weakness delays the Company's travel. While they are remarkably close-mouthed about it, at least by Company standards, Antonus is mortified and commits to improving his health by eating less and exercising more. "Dell won't be able to get rid of me simply by riding a horse!" he mutters to himself.
The Company rides leisurely towards Cryllor, stopping at small hamlets and dorfs along the way. The farmers and herders of Keoland are full of rumor about the movement of troops and priests. Priests by the dozens have been converging on Longspear, while troops have flowed northwards toward Flen and the Keoish border with Sterich. The rumor of a strong blockade to allow the militia time to recover and regroup following its reverses in Sterich is one that is often repeated to the Company. Many of those traveling the road must have been told this is their eventual job and goal. Messengers and other riders pass the Company regularly, carrying dispatches across the kingdom and coordinating the movement of vast numbers of troops.
Four days out from Longspear, Raven, who rides in the front, feels eyes upon him, as if the Company is being watched. He smoothly slides off of Giuseppe and readies his longbow, all while continuing to walk forward. From the brush to Raven's left, a man in chainmail with a shortbow rises from the bushes, an arrow drawn. Raven doesn't even give the man the opportunity to say a word. Instead, he sends a shaft straight through the man's right eye, his helmet flying off his head from the force of the blow. "Ambush, right and left," cries Raven as he slaps Giuseppe's side. More men clad in chainmail rise from the bushes, half with shortbows and half with broadswords and shields, but their opportunity for surprise has passed them by.
Dell pulls forth the staff taken during the battle outside of Longspear and spins it about his head, a great clap of thunder echoing through the air. Raven and Diego begin pincushioning the opposing archers, Raven from the ground while Diego fires from the back of his horse. Diego's horsemanship is excellent, and his original training as a mounted archer is made clear. As Eig causes the branches of the bushes to twine around the men, Al dismounts and rushes forward into melee on the right, while Jasper does so on the left. Al's surprise is complete when Winthrop launches a lightning bolt through the men on the right, including Al! Al stumbles as the electricity grounds through him. His magical boots, newly obtained from Otto, and his magical axe, taken from the warriors Karmuk and Marbreau who had tried to ambush the Company, are both destroyed. The haft of the axe shivers in two, sending long splinters flying, while the boots disintegrate into flaming pieces of leather. Al shouts with rage and chases after Winthrop, swearing that he will beat him to death with his very hands. Winthrop, still mounted, keeps his distance from the irate dwarf.
Horse hooves clop down the path from behind the Company. Antonus turns to see a heavily armored man with lance and shield bearing down on the rear of the Company, shouting orders to the men attacking his master. Antonus summons his mental energies and uses them to reach out into the mind of the charging warrior. "You've made a mistake. We should talk about this before it becomes a worse one," shouts Antonus. "Come join me over here and tell your men to surrender so we can work this all out." Antonus is quite pleased when the charging man checks his horse and does so, shouting to his men to surrender.
Once the command is issued, the fight goes out of the clearly outmatched men. Diego seems willing to shoot a couple of them, including Thomas Louvaine, as an object lesson, but a glare from Raven cows him, at least for now. The heavily armored man is revealed to be Thomas Louvaine, who has chased down the Company. He believes the Company to be heading to the Grand March to convince the March Lord that he is in danger. Raven is flabbergasted that Thomas Louvaine could have such a gross misapprehension of the Company. Thomas Louvaine asserts that the way the Company sent word to him, by messenger as the Company departed town, that the Company headed northwards, and that the Company snuck out before daybreak as soon as they could get ferried across the Javan all point to their complicity. Thomas Louvaine has written warrants for their arrest and claims that if Raven had not shot his man before he could demand their surrender, justice could have been done.
The Company thinks that Thomas Louvaine is mentally ill: paranoid, and delusional. When Antonus asks to see these warrants, Thomas Louvaine easily produces them, along with a stack of blank warrants, a seal, and the purple and gold flecked wax that denotes the mark of the King of Keoland. To Antonus's eyes, Thomas Louvaine is a King's Man, able to speak in the name of the King and command others in the King's name. The warrants, which Antonus quietly places in his satchel, fully describes the members of the Company of Blue Sun, all except Eig. Antonus returns the blank warrants and the other equipment to Thomas Louvaine while he argues with Raven.
"King's Man Louvaine," says Antonus, "clearly there has been a horrible misunderstanding. Mistakes were made. These men have done nothing wrong; they merely travel to Flen. The death of your men, who sprung from the brush so startlingly, is regretted. How might their loss be ameliorated? You must know a way of making things right." Dell looks somewhat approvingly at his apprentice, thinking that there may be some raw material here to work with. Antonus's words are deeply heard. Thomas Louvaine immediately starts talking about weregild and the loss of prestige. Unsurprisingly, Raven begins to argue that they need not pay anything, but Dell and Winthrop, both realizing what Antonus has done, speak over him. Thomas Louvaine sets a price for the loss of his men that the Company can pay, lectures the Company about respecting authority, and then is quickly distracted by dealing with his men. Antonus nods and the Company quietly mounts up and heads up the road.
The rest of the ride is unexciting, but the Company does not lag. They push their horses to make distance between them and the site of the fight, bypassing the small hamlets and dorfs where they might have found more comfortable lodgings. Instead, they ride for Flen, making the best time possible.
Once they leave, Maximilian breathes a sigh of relief. Turning to Antonus, he tells him that he's obtained a release for Antonus from his impressment and directs him to go to the Wheat Field Inn. There, he will meet the Company of the Blue Sun. Maximilian explains that they are mercenaries of a sort, but that Dell, Winthrop, and Oaklock are all master mages. Between the three of them, one will certainly be willing to take Antonus on as an apprentice. To pave the way for Antonus, Maximilian orders him to tell the Company of Abernathy's improving health and Dell's imminent release.
A happy Antonus shucks his armor and arms, garbs himself in his best, and only, robe, and heads for the Wheat Field. He introduces himself to the rather large warriors there and relays his news. Rather than being thanked or appreciated for his efforts, they merely grunt at him and direct him to a chair in the corner of the room, where an elf, a human, and a large stuffed bear occupy a table. The elf introduces himself as Eig, the man as Herbert, and the stuffed bear growls a hello, snuffling the frightened Antonus in the chest. White as snow, Antonus sits and wonders what he's gotten himself into.
With the news that Dell will likely be freed, Raven and Otto finish their plans. Winthrop, though currently incapacitated, is quickly recovering. Otto is uncomfortable with the offer placed before them by Thomas Louvaine. It seems too likely to pose a challenge to the Company's subtlety, first in sneaking in, second in escaping without slaughtering all of the March Lord's men, and then third in not having an angry lord chasing them. Raven agrees, not wanting to get caught up in the politics of the situation. While the Yeomanry still is under pressure, and the Company has not reported back to General Greymouse, the opportunity to extract some revenge from the man who sent assassins into the Hall of the Blue Sun is too good to pass up. Raven directs the Company towards Flen, where they can find the Black Lotus and this Stalman Klim.
Otto and his men spend the next few days preparing to leave. Pfiffwin collects necessary components from Bastell Brittlevein. Herbert enchants a series of berries, so that Eats Salmon will be well satiated during the trip. Eig chooses to remain behind, to present Cedrus's scrolls to Dell, and travel up with the others. Otto explains that he's going to stop in at Cryllor, so that Pfiffwin can meet with the gnomes of that city, and then head up to Flen. The Company will reform there.
The others bid Otto and his men, and bear, farewell and await news of the high priest's recovery. The news is slow to arrive, leading to much fretting and to-ing and fro-ing about Antonus's accuracy and trustworthiness. Antonus is shocked, shocked, at the accusations the Company levels against him. Clearly, the Company are not men or woman for whom honest words are commonly given or met. Maximilian always spoke highly of the Company of the Blue Sun, and, since he and Maximilian saw eye to eye on so many things, Antonus foolishly assumed that the Company would share Maximilian's ethics and morals. Apparently, that is not the case.
Dell sits, shackled and clamped, in a relatively comfortable cell. If not for the rigid gloves chained around his hands, his magics could have him out of the cell in a matter of seconds. If not for the mute watchers who peer through the bars at irregular intervals, the small file embedded in his forearm could have him out of the gloves in mere minutes. As it is, success would be likely, but not absolute. Dell, ever since his experience with the Nerullite helm, has become a long range planner. Better opportunities will avail themselves. Perhaps Giuseppe will sing.
Day after day pass by, the never changing pattern of food and guard, guard and food, the only marker of time. The tedium of waiting draws down on Dell's spirit. Even the mental exercises taught long ago to him in the various trainings he has undertaken only serve him so well. It is only a matter of time before he is brought out of the cell and into the presence of others, where an opportunity to either convince them of his innocence or make good his escape will appear. The Keepers of the Peace have held mages and thieves before, and they are careful to limit Dell's abilities. Even so, idle conversation in the hallway is caught by Dell's keen ears. News of Otto's efforts to turn the opinions of the dwarves act like a soothing balm on his ego.
Finally, Dell is dragged forth from his cell and brought up into more habitable space, where Killain Anvilsplitter awaits him. Abernathy Wernack has recovered his facilities. While he is weakened nigh on to death, his word is that Dell did not attack him, an evil artifact did. Killain Anvilsplitter is quite displeased with the state of events. The Company has sworn that they do not have the artifact, and neither has Dell, since he has been in the custody of the Keepers of the Peace constantly since the attack. Killain seems to be waiting for Dell to say something incriminating or ill considered, but Dell refrains, his silence below now easy to maintain above. Faced with little choice, Killain Anvilsplitter frees Dell, warning him that the slightest infraction of any of the city laws will cause Dell to become reacquainted with his cell. Dell calmly stares at Killain, imagining the ways that he can kill him painfully, and nods his understanding.
Dell is pleased to discover that all of the goods that he was wearing when arrested are present and returned to him when he is freed. Several of the gaolers stare lovingly at Dell's bracers and fine gloves, not to mention his well crafted weapons, but none were brave enough to snatch something from the known mage. "The wisdom of the meek," antagonizes Dell, as he heads out into the light.
The Company is pleased to see Dell return to the Wheat Field. Raven and Winthrop fill him in on current events and the direction Raven is taking the Company. Dell chuckles at Raven's description of himself as leader, but agrees that Flen should be their destination. Dell agrees with Raven and Winthrop that the scene at Karmuk's tower is intriguing. He points out that Nosnra's Steading should be reviewed as well. Dell, reasonably, wants to leave Longspear as quickly as possible, so he offers to scry these sites along with Winthrop. Because of his incarceration, several things that Dell wanted to do are yet unmet. Raven offers Antonus, who has listened obtrusively to the conversation of the Company members, as his apprentice. Dell frowns, remembering his apprenticeship.
"Alright," says Dell to Antonus, "take these bags and bring them to the alchemist Indom Falmuth at dockside. Bring back from him fifteen of his pearls of the ritual size. He'll know them. Speak authoritatively, because Indom can be difficult to deal with." Raven frowns at this description of Indom Falmuth, who has never been anything but kind and polite to him. Antonus hops up and is nearly flattened by the weight of the sacks Dell lays out on the floor. Each must weigh fifty pounds!
Antonus struggles with the heavy sacks, and Jasper, who likes carrying such burdens, offers to come with him. They load the smiling Jasper with these heavy burdens and head down to the docks. His agile mind whirls and spins as he thinks about what must be inside the sacks. Gold! The ritual must be of identification, and each ritual requires a pearl larger than a pea. Antonus has with him more money than he could spend in years! "Is this a test?" he thinks. "This must be a test. He must be thinking I'll run with the coinage, rather than bringing him his pearls. Or, better, that I'll get the pearls and run with them!" Antonus is deeply affronted that he would be tested in such a manner by his new master, a suspected criminal himself!
Full of self-righteous anger, Antonus barters with Indom Falmuth. He demands a fair price for the pearls and claims that the Company of the Blue Sun should get a good value for their hard-earned coinage. Indom, always irascible, begins to argue, but Jasper quickly interjects. "Raven wants them," he says, smiling winningly. "He says Hi! Hi!" Once Indom hears that the pearls are for Raven, the transaction goes very smoothly. Antonus leaves with the pearls carefully wrapped in his purse, thinking he has driven a hard bargain. He triumphantly hands them to Dell, who barely notices Antonus's existence before heading up to his room.
Winthrop reports back later that night that Nosnra's Steading is awash in strange lights and red mists. The structure itself is charred and burnt, but the underground dungeons seem to have survived somewhat intact. Fell creatures seem to climb in and out of the underground, but the mists and the lights seemed strangely attracted to Winthrop's point of view. Given his experience with the Silent One's tower, he thought flight wise. Dell staggers down the stairs a while later, drool soaked into the front of his shirt. He searches for some unadulterated water and drinks heavily. Apparently Karmuk's tower is occupied as described before. The mage seen by Winthrop was also spotted by Dell, but the mage must also have significant powers. The mage not only noticed Dell's scrying, but summoned up a strange glowing, oscillating symbol that captivated Dell's mind, causing him to be unable to break free. Only the completion of his spell broke the ensorcelment.
With such ill omens, the Company opts to heads off to Flen as early as possible. Raven scribes a note to Richard Coldheart rejecting Thomas Louvaine's offer of employment, while assuring Coldheart of the Company's discretion. He sends it off as the Company mounts their horses, a riding horse having been purchased for both Eig and Antonus. Eig, perhaps unsurprisingly, rides easily, directing his mount with subtle gestures and nudges. Antonus, on the other hand, sits like a sack of potatoes. By the end of the day, Antonus is barely able to stand, never mind walk. Antonus's relative inexperience and weakness delays the Company's travel. While they are remarkably close-mouthed about it, at least by Company standards, Antonus is mortified and commits to improving his health by eating less and exercising more. "Dell won't be able to get rid of me simply by riding a horse!" he mutters to himself.
The Company rides leisurely towards Cryllor, stopping at small hamlets and dorfs along the way. The farmers and herders of Keoland are full of rumor about the movement of troops and priests. Priests by the dozens have been converging on Longspear, while troops have flowed northwards toward Flen and the Keoish border with Sterich. The rumor of a strong blockade to allow the militia time to recover and regroup following its reverses in Sterich is one that is often repeated to the Company. Many of those traveling the road must have been told this is their eventual job and goal. Messengers and other riders pass the Company regularly, carrying dispatches across the kingdom and coordinating the movement of vast numbers of troops.
Four days out from Longspear, Raven, who rides in the front, feels eyes upon him, as if the Company is being watched. He smoothly slides off of Giuseppe and readies his longbow, all while continuing to walk forward. From the brush to Raven's left, a man in chainmail with a shortbow rises from the bushes, an arrow drawn. Raven doesn't even give the man the opportunity to say a word. Instead, he sends a shaft straight through the man's right eye, his helmet flying off his head from the force of the blow. "Ambush, right and left," cries Raven as he slaps Giuseppe's side. More men clad in chainmail rise from the bushes, half with shortbows and half with broadswords and shields, but their opportunity for surprise has passed them by.
Dell pulls forth the staff taken during the battle outside of Longspear and spins it about his head, a great clap of thunder echoing through the air. Raven and Diego begin pincushioning the opposing archers, Raven from the ground while Diego fires from the back of his horse. Diego's horsemanship is excellent, and his original training as a mounted archer is made clear. As Eig causes the branches of the bushes to twine around the men, Al dismounts and rushes forward into melee on the right, while Jasper does so on the left. Al's surprise is complete when Winthrop launches a lightning bolt through the men on the right, including Al! Al stumbles as the electricity grounds through him. His magical boots, newly obtained from Otto, and his magical axe, taken from the warriors Karmuk and Marbreau who had tried to ambush the Company, are both destroyed. The haft of the axe shivers in two, sending long splinters flying, while the boots disintegrate into flaming pieces of leather. Al shouts with rage and chases after Winthrop, swearing that he will beat him to death with his very hands. Winthrop, still mounted, keeps his distance from the irate dwarf.
Horse hooves clop down the path from behind the Company. Antonus turns to see a heavily armored man with lance and shield bearing down on the rear of the Company, shouting orders to the men attacking his master. Antonus summons his mental energies and uses them to reach out into the mind of the charging warrior. "You've made a mistake. We should talk about this before it becomes a worse one," shouts Antonus. "Come join me over here and tell your men to surrender so we can work this all out." Antonus is quite pleased when the charging man checks his horse and does so, shouting to his men to surrender.
Once the command is issued, the fight goes out of the clearly outmatched men. Diego seems willing to shoot a couple of them, including Thomas Louvaine, as an object lesson, but a glare from Raven cows him, at least for now. The heavily armored man is revealed to be Thomas Louvaine, who has chased down the Company. He believes the Company to be heading to the Grand March to convince the March Lord that he is in danger. Raven is flabbergasted that Thomas Louvaine could have such a gross misapprehension of the Company. Thomas Louvaine asserts that the way the Company sent word to him, by messenger as the Company departed town, that the Company headed northwards, and that the Company snuck out before daybreak as soon as they could get ferried across the Javan all point to their complicity. Thomas Louvaine has written warrants for their arrest and claims that if Raven had not shot his man before he could demand their surrender, justice could have been done.
The Company thinks that Thomas Louvaine is mentally ill: paranoid, and delusional. When Antonus asks to see these warrants, Thomas Louvaine easily produces them, along with a stack of blank warrants, a seal, and the purple and gold flecked wax that denotes the mark of the King of Keoland. To Antonus's eyes, Thomas Louvaine is a King's Man, able to speak in the name of the King and command others in the King's name. The warrants, which Antonus quietly places in his satchel, fully describes the members of the Company of Blue Sun, all except Eig. Antonus returns the blank warrants and the other equipment to Thomas Louvaine while he argues with Raven.
"King's Man Louvaine," says Antonus, "clearly there has been a horrible misunderstanding. Mistakes were made. These men have done nothing wrong; they merely travel to Flen. The death of your men, who sprung from the brush so startlingly, is regretted. How might their loss be ameliorated? You must know a way of making things right." Dell looks somewhat approvingly at his apprentice, thinking that there may be some raw material here to work with. Antonus's words are deeply heard. Thomas Louvaine immediately starts talking about weregild and the loss of prestige. Unsurprisingly, Raven begins to argue that they need not pay anything, but Dell and Winthrop, both realizing what Antonus has done, speak over him. Thomas Louvaine sets a price for the loss of his men that the Company can pay, lectures the Company about respecting authority, and then is quickly distracted by dealing with his men. Antonus nods and the Company quietly mounts up and heads up the road.
The rest of the ride is unexciting, but the Company does not lag. They push their horses to make distance between them and the site of the fight, bypassing the small hamlets and dorfs where they might have found more comfortable lodgings. Instead, they ride for Flen, making the best time possible.
