Days earlier, I had spotted a human on the outskirts of our city. I observed him for a while to see if he was a threat. He didn't seem particularly dangerous. He wore simple clothes and was surveying the land looking for veins of iron to mine. It seemed he'd been at this for quite a while..and that's when the thought entered my head.
Recently I'd become fixated on gathering massive amounts of iron. My vault was full of hundreds of rock shards, ready to be smelted down and turned into armor for the clan. Whenever Team Stormfront ventured out, I'd bring a mining pick with me, spending more time mining than actually fighting.
I was steadily becoming a skilled craftsman. I'd mastered art of making chain mail and scale mail. With some more iron, I might have been able to improve my skills enough to make plate armor. But metal was hard to find, and often times while I was out on gathering trips I'd get hunted down and robbed by raiding parties. But now...
I wondered just how much iron ore he had in that pack already. If I were to take it from him... In truth I'd been thinking it since I first realized what he was doing. I knew right away this stranger wasn't a real threat, but still I tracked him, letting the thought wrestle its way to the top of my thoughts. When I finally did give voice to the quiet idea of murder, my mind flew into a tumult.
He's defenseless!
Yes exactly, this is a dangerous world, I should teach him to be more careful.
But what if I drive him to become a murderer like so many of the others.
A murderer, like I may be?
Well, what if he's stronger than he seems, and I get myself killed?
Then I should call the others in, make sure he doesn't get away.
There's no honor in that...
There's no honor in Agon.
I waited until the man started digging into a new rock pile, and then quietly rushed back to town to consult Publius. Everything he said just reinforced the conclusions I'd reached on my own. Then he closed the door for discussion. "I'm going to go out there myself and try to confront him with or without you. But.. you're right, he might be dangerous. Come with me just to be sure. You wouldn't want me dying out there." I'm sure Publius would have had no problems hunting the man down on his own. He was just playing against my pride to convince me to go through with killing this man. Sighing, I pulled a longsword off the rack and followed him.
Together we crept back to the glade I'd found him in. He was working on a different pile of rocks now, oblivious to his impending danger. Pub ducked in the trees to the north while I approached from the south. I crouched down and inched forward, slowly...quietly...
The man stopped mining and cocked his ear in my direction. He hadn't seen me yet, but the tension was too much for my shaky nerves. I jumped up and charged, scoring a deep cut across his back. With a cry Publius ran in from the opposite side, slashing as he came. Our victim dropped his pick and fled into the trees to lose us.
I stayed behind him, harrying him forward while Publius ran around to cut him off. The man kept sprinting, now and then turning to look at me with bulging terrified eyes. He never noticed that I'd herded him into a clearing, where Publius waited, staff at the ready.
Publius lit up the forest. The the echoing thunder of the spells and the fire was too much. The man panicked, unsure of where to run next. I raised my hand to finish him, but I hesitated. Pub saw me pause and with a solid swing I caught the man on the back of the head. The human went down in the dirt, bleeding out. Publius stood over him for a moment and then drove the point of his sword straight into his heart. With a final cry, the nameless man perished.
"It's just the way the world works Sig." He clapped me on the shoulder and together we started rifling through the man's pack. His pack had a decent amount of ore, but not as much as we were hoping for. Not enough to make me feel good about my part in the day's events.
And so that was my state, numbly forging armor out of my ill gotten gains, mind not on the task, when Blarggy returned to the city with news.
"Well everyone, I know we've talked it before, but it's finally happening. Team Stormfront has found an alliance willing to take us in. They're called Dominion, and they have a well defended city on the coast with plenty of resources within and without. We'll be able to follow them out on missions and get some real experience in large scale combat!" We were all fairly interested in this, but I had some reservations... until he said "Oh yes, andthey have one of the most powerful navies on Agon. So, what do you all say?" A smile split my face, guilt over the recent murder got pushed down for now. I exchanged glances with Piratejim, whose eyes had gone wide as plates.
"Absolutely. When do we leave?"
None of us knew that day that this new forged alliance was the death knell for Team Stormfront.
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