Separate Ways
Ashan 12, arc 718
Eddrick sat in his rough chamber awaiting the inevitable. It was not something he feared, but there was apprehension.
When he'd returned from the battle in the east, he'd returned with the blessing of Raskalarn, a new devotion to her cause, and the determination to see the Rhakrii Raiders brought into her fold. He knew there would be resistance. But he'd expected it to be immediate. His lieutenant, Coren, had been the one he knew would oppose him to bring dissention to the ranks.
One of the abilities Raskalarn's blessing had granted him made it clear that this was to be. He'd been granted the ability to recognize one foe as his most key obstruction to his goal, and to be able to trust fate to bring them into a face-off. He'd been genuinely surprised when Coren had not stood forth on his return to challenge him for leadership.
This was not to say he had not voiced his opposition to joining the ranks of the Imperials. Eddrick had, of course, immediately countered with the Immortal's promise to allow them to maintain their autonomy, and to even receive payment as a free mercenary group. They needed only to NOT attack Imperial caravans, outposts, or material dumps.
This had gone a long way to quiet the initial protests that echoed those of Coren. Eddrick had braced himself for what he assumed would be an escalating contest of wills, culminating in a combat challenge for leadership. But Coren had been smarter than that. He'd maintained his opinion that this was not in the Rhakrii's best interests, but had requested that the debate be delayed until he could return from an operation he'd already slotted for himself.
Eddrick knew he'd come off as argumentative if he insisted on pursuing it now. The rank and file would feel he was pressing an advantage of having probably prepared his argument, where Coren had had no like opportunity. So he agreed to wait. Coren left the following morning with four men.
His operation should have taken no more than ten or twelve trials to complete and return from. It had now been twenty trials, and a hawk had arrived the trial before, with news from one of their outposts that Coren had arrived there, injured and alone, with grave new information about their new, alleged allies in the empire.
Eddrick saw the truth with bitter clarity, but knew it would not fit so easily into the minds of those that had not seen and spoken with the Immortal herself. This was exactly the point of his insistence to the Immortal that he would hold no obligation to those that decided, of their own accord, to depart from the company. But that those who used manipulation and deceit to trick others into following them would receive no such mercy.
And now, every instinct, intuition and aura of his blessing told him Coren had fallen to this strategy. It was also a concern that, in this interim, Eddrick's points of debate had grown less precise in his memory. He knew Coren would be bursting in, full of passion and charisma, while Eddrick had been growing stale in his counter arguments. It was the very fact that Eddrick now thought of it that way; that HE was the one countering the argument, and not Coren, that was the problem.
There had to be a reason that it had taken so much longer for Coren to complete his mission. Because he now had to wait for Coren to present news of what had caused this delay, he was essentially ceding initiative to his challenger-to-be. He would likewise be unable to approach the coming debate with anything resembling an accusing tone, or he'd come off as paranoid. He had to wait for Coren to level whatever lies he was going to use, and then respond.
And all too often, an insistence that an accusation was false came off sounding false as well. He sighed heavily. It was going to be ugly.
When he'd returned from the battle in the east, he'd returned with the blessing of Raskalarn, a new devotion to her cause, and the determination to see the Rhakrii Raiders brought into her fold. He knew there would be resistance. But he'd expected it to be immediate. His lieutenant, Coren, had been the one he knew would oppose him to bring dissention to the ranks.
One of the abilities Raskalarn's blessing had granted him made it clear that this was to be. He'd been granted the ability to recognize one foe as his most key obstruction to his goal, and to be able to trust fate to bring them into a face-off. He'd been genuinely surprised when Coren had not stood forth on his return to challenge him for leadership.
This was not to say he had not voiced his opposition to joining the ranks of the Imperials. Eddrick had, of course, immediately countered with the Immortal's promise to allow them to maintain their autonomy, and to even receive payment as a free mercenary group. They needed only to NOT attack Imperial caravans, outposts, or material dumps.
This had gone a long way to quiet the initial protests that echoed those of Coren. Eddrick had braced himself for what he assumed would be an escalating contest of wills, culminating in a combat challenge for leadership. But Coren had been smarter than that. He'd maintained his opinion that this was not in the Rhakrii's best interests, but had requested that the debate be delayed until he could return from an operation he'd already slotted for himself.
Eddrick knew he'd come off as argumentative if he insisted on pursuing it now. The rank and file would feel he was pressing an advantage of having probably prepared his argument, where Coren had had no like opportunity. So he agreed to wait. Coren left the following morning with four men.
His operation should have taken no more than ten or twelve trials to complete and return from. It had now been twenty trials, and a hawk had arrived the trial before, with news from one of their outposts that Coren had arrived there, injured and alone, with grave new information about their new, alleged allies in the empire.
Eddrick saw the truth with bitter clarity, but knew it would not fit so easily into the minds of those that had not seen and spoken with the Immortal herself. This was exactly the point of his insistence to the Immortal that he would hold no obligation to those that decided, of their own accord, to depart from the company. But that those who used manipulation and deceit to trick others into following them would receive no such mercy.
And now, every instinct, intuition and aura of his blessing told him Coren had fallen to this strategy. It was also a concern that, in this interim, Eddrick's points of debate had grown less precise in his memory. He knew Coren would be bursting in, full of passion and charisma, while Eddrick had been growing stale in his counter arguments. It was the very fact that Eddrick now thought of it that way; that HE was the one countering the argument, and not Coren, that was the problem.
There had to be a reason that it had taken so much longer for Coren to complete his mission. Because he now had to wait for Coren to present news of what had caused this delay, he was essentially ceding initiative to his challenger-to-be. He would likewise be unable to approach the coming debate with anything resembling an accusing tone, or he'd come off as paranoid. He had to wait for Coren to level whatever lies he was going to use, and then respond.
And all too often, an insistence that an accusation was false came off sounding false as well. He sighed heavily. It was going to be ugly.
