“That idiot! And we are twice the idiots for listening to him!” Jeshan was not in a good place. Jeshan rarely was in a good place. Physically he looked like one of the Lightbearer statues in Prodeus had decided to climb down from its pedestal to smite evil-doers. His long and once charcoal black hair included many strands of silver, even a few golden ones, he had tied half of it back. His bright green eyes were the centrepiece of a face that was somehow both sharp, soft, and pleasingly symmetrical, although his patchy, failed attempt at a beard ruined that effect somewhat. He was tall and broad in a way that made his practical armour, and blue and gold tabard look heroic instead of dishevelled after the weeks long journey. Unfortunately in addition to looking like he had inherited the looks of a Herald of Sol, Jeshan had actually inherited the pride that was so prized among his order, without the emotional maturity OR wisdom needed to temper it. Wodin had known the young Moreníse Light-bearer for a good two years now, and the lad’s emotions seemed to only include anger and frustration with some periods of melancholy to break things up. This time Wodin couldn’t blame him of course, their situation was regrettable to say the least.

They had been ambushed by a spirit, likely a servant of the Dark Druids they were tracking, and in the panic they had been separated from their.. well not their friends, at least not Wodin’s, but their coworkers, their comrades. Wodin was not proud of how things had gone down, but everything had happened so fast. Lizz and Kelvir had gone down in seconds, Wodin had barely turned, axe in hand, when Shen had called for everyone to scatter. Ashe had then pushed Wodin away as she struck the monster with her staff, earning a nasty slash for her troubles. The next few seconds had been a blur. Wodin had found themself running through the dense foliage, climbing up and east towards the peaks of the mountain range. They had happened upon Jeshan soon after, he had been last in line so he had had the easiest time disengaging.

After some time of frantic running they had found a somewhat defensible position, a small clearing in front of a sheer cliff face. The Blight wouldn’t be able to sneak too close without them spotting it, not without trees to blend in to in its unnatural way, and with their backs to the cliff they wouldn’t have to worry about it approaching from at least half of all directions. Not unless it was willing to drop on them from a height of seven metres. Wodin immediately regretted picturing that possibility. They turned to face Jeshan, who was resting with his back to the cliff.

“I do not like this any more than you do, but we are not idiots. When the Leader gives a command in combat you obey, and you do so immediately.” It was not negotiable, they were not soldiers but it didn’t matter. In battle, indecision would kill as surely as any spear. The chain of command was their armour. A commander had to earn your respect and loyalty, of course. But once swords were drawn, the time to rebel, the time to choose whose orders to follow, was well past.

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“We just left him! And Ashe! They could both be dead, that demon feasting on them right now! And what about our mission? Is it not more important than some Mage’s orders?” The kid was young. He would learn, assuming of course Wodin kept him alive over the next few days.

“Son, we all took that contract with the understanding that Shen Elser would be leading this hunt. Besides, it was a good thought. Like I said; I don’t like it, but he has the best chance of driving that thing away, and if he doesn’t, someone has to tell your folk up at Thiros to update the bounty.” Wodin certainly would have some words with the priests at the temple of the Everlasting Dawn. Shen and Ashe were generally good folk to follow on jobs, Ashe especially since she was Verin like Wodin themself, but this was well beyond worth it. Assuming the temples knew about a Blight of that size, they should have included it in the briefing. Of course that would have meant paying for a much larger team and the generosity of Sol only extended so far, especially where foreign, godless, mercenaries were involved.

Wodin did not have any evidence of such deception of course, but it would not have been the first time that the temples offered a job under false pretences. The irony of the god encompassing purity, justice, and honesty lying to the people doing his dirty work, naturally never occurred to the priests. Wodin noticed that Jeshan had kept talking while they had been thinking of what priest would lose what limb, and he was now looking at them expectantly.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

Jeshan narrowed his eyes, he did not like repeating himself but then he didn’t like most things. “I said that maybe if we had all stayed, we could have kept the demon off of him long enough for him to finish the thing with our help. But now he is likely dead, and his magic was our best counter to that thing. Also Ashe is alone somewhere, wounded. So… HOW IS THIS..” The kid did not finish that sentence as Wodin’s gloved hand shot up and covered his mouth.

“Shut up. You idiot. If that thing is still alive you will bring it down on us.” Wodin whispered at him. “And you don’t know that we could have taken it. Even if we could, it likely would have killed at least one more of us. This way Shen is the only one in danger, and he might be able to survive it. This would not have been my first choice either but the leader made a decision, gave us an order, and we followed it. End. of. Story. Now, I know you are smart enough, and well trained enough, to at least on some level know all of this.” Wodin took a breath. “So when I take my hand off of your mouth you will keep it shut, until you have something productive to say about reconnecting with Ashe. Do we have an understanding?” Wodin had actually wanted to slap, or punch the youth when he had started shouting but that would have been counterproductive. Besides, Jeshan had known Lizz and Kelvir better than Wodin had, although still not all that well. Losing people was always hard. Wodin could be lenient.