“Well, well m’lords what an interesting turn of events you both managed to come up with the same amount. What were you thinking Olaf, well never mind I thought that might be the outcome though I did think it would be more likely that Frederick would take a high-ball stance, it will be the second envelope then.”
Taking an envelope from the left-hand pocket of my jacket and setting it down on the table in front of me before continuing.
“Alright, your lordships thats the ransom amount I want you to agree to pay for your release. This is the final attempt I am willing to make to get you to agree to such and that being the case I will leave you for an hour to discuss it in private. Before I return one of three things must have occurred, either you agree to the amount stated within, come up with your own ransom figure or decide to negotiate with someone else as an intermediate. And while I’m away try not to kill each other or I’ll be forced to act and none of us want that to occur.”
With that, I left the tent for them to talk things out amongst themselves. I had prepared four different envelopes with amounts I thought the mean figure might be and if it hadn’t been any of them I would have been forced to just write it down on the piece of paper in front of me. Thankfully the one I had placed in the right-hand pocket of my jacket contained the right amount. It was a bit of theatrics I know but if it even slightly improved the chance of them agreeing to a ransom amount then it would be worth it.
I spent most of the time waiting for the hour to be up talking with Captain Walker, mainly about the chance they would reach an agreement. Neither of us was at all hopeful but stranger things have happened. When there were only five minutes to go I got ready to make my entrance and I nearly let my nerves get the better of me but thankfully I calmed down just in time.
When I made my entrance the four of them were still sat where they had been beforehand and were all rather quiet, unusually so I must say but I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
“Alright you lot you’ve had your hour to think over my proposal, have you reached a decision?”
“Yes you mangy cur we have”, replied Captain Frederick Endriga of The Insta-Slayers who seemed to be speaking for all of them if their nods were any indication.
“Well, what is it?”
“After much deliberation and quite a bit of shouting we have agreed to reject your last ransom offer but have come up with a compromise figure that under a certain condition we are all amenable to.”
“And what might this condition be?”
“Well in the past few days you have repeatedly insulted each of us and we cannot allow such insults to go unanswered so we have decided that I will challenge you to an informal duel, only to first blood of course. If I win then the ransoms will be set at five gold under your original offer and if you win well that five gold will be yours. Do you agree, I’m afraid we can’t offer you an hour to think it over or even a minute for that matter.”
Quest: Ransom Duel Generated
“To first blood it is then, as soon as possible ok with you.”
“The sooner the better, I get paid either way after all.”
It took some time to arrange the duel, first of all, I required Captain Walker's permission to proceed, not that it took long for him to agree, he even volunteered to be my second, Captain Olaf would serve as Frederick’s. Then the two seconds had to agree to the format of the duel, sure it had already been decided that it would be to first blood but there were other things to decide.
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In the end, it was decided that we would begin the duel on horseback and any melee weapon could be used. This should be to my advantage though I had no idea how good a horseman Frederick was.
Two hours after I had first been challenged to the duel and after one last attempt to resolve this without recourse to the duel on the part of our seconds it was time. As it turned out Frederick was a fair enough horseman but I was after a few minutes able to unhorse him before dismounting myself to continue the fight on foot. However, he proved to be slightly better than me once we were on solid ground and if he hadn’t been slightly dazed by his fall from his horse then I am sure he would have bleed me in short order. In the end, the final result of the duel came down to the fact that he was the more experienced, and he managed to land a hit to the left-hand side of my neck that drew first blood and ended the duel in his favour.
“The field is yours Frederick, are you satisfied?”
Quest: Ransom Duel Completed: Duel Lost
“I am, until the next time where hopefully we will meet in a bigger field and you will bleed no more.”
I was of course disappointed to lose the duel but the outcome was not unexpected, after all, he was a higher-ranked fighter with better, more developed skills and the experience to go with it.
With the duel over the agreement, the two cousins had reached on the amount of their mutual ransom was finalised and all that remained before they could be released was for them to pay it. What would happen once this occurred was unknown, a standard clause in such agreements that had to be included was that they couldn’t engage in active combat with each other, for a whole month. A month being the shortest period permitted by the rules of war.
This didn’t however prevent them from joining forces to seize control of Winter Rose Manor and later deciding which of them would have guardianship of Ashley. Nor did it matter if Albert was still alive or not, just as long as it was believed that he was unlike to survive and he hadn’t settled the guardianship upon anyone else. Even if he had once he died they could still challenge his decision with his appointee.
It wasn’t a given that this would occur, it was always possible that they would just wait the month out and then start again. Anyway if they didn’t make a move in the next few days it wouldn’t be up to the Ebony Hyenas to defend the manor from them.
Purely from a financial perspective, I was hoping that they did attack before the termination of our contract but personally, I’d rather put the whole thing behind me and move on to our next one as soon as possible.
“Alright Sergeant Ryder, I know it was a thankless task but you persevered and the duel aside good work. Now it’s time to return to your squad to see out the rest of our contract. It could go either way but I think they don’t have the stomach for anything further. Then again I have been wrong about such things in the past and you have had more contact with them than me, what’s your take.”
“Well sir my feeling is that I wouldn’t put anything past the pair of them and the mercenary captains will no doubt be pushing for conflict.”
“Alright now before you go you are not to speak to anyone about what went on in these negotiations or the extent of your involvement in it not even the duel other than the particulars of the agreement reached, not even to your immediate superior, I’ll fill him in personally. This restriction will hopefully not last past this contract, I’ll have to speak to our employer first about lifting it but I don’t imagine he’ll have any problem with me doing so.”
Once I finished speaking to the Captain I headed straight to fourth squad's encampment and took back command of it from Corporal Bennet and after ordering everyone to carry on with what they were doing I then went straight to bed. I had no problem whatsoever getting to sleep, it was waking up again that was the problem. In the end, to wake me up Bennet threw a small bucket of cold water over me.
“Sorry about that sarge but we couldn’t wake you any other way and we tried.”
“Was there anything in particular you wanted or is it just my turn to lead a patrol?”
“The latter sarge.”
“In that case let me have a quick wash and something to eat and then we can get started. By the way, did anything interesting happen while I was away.”
“No, not a thing, we haven’t seen a single soul in our patrols outside their dwellings that is. So what was so important they needed your services for?”
“I was the poor unlucky soul they volunteered to help with the ransom negotiations. Thank Telondian it's over now though things could be heating up for us before the contract ends.”
“How likely is that?”
“That’s the question isn’t it, alas the answer is too elusive for even the Captain to predict. We just have to do the best job we can with whatever comes our way. That said it’s best to be alert at all times, has the daily messenger arrived yet?”
“Yes, but the only news he bought was already known to us, thanks to you.”
“So how did Todd fare leading the half patrols in my absence?”
“Like he was born to it sarge, he’ll make a fine corporal one day.”