Stuck in the Middle With You

[Rezantis]

Nathan pulls the knife out of his belt and passes it over.

"So how much sleep have you had in the last few days, anyway?"

[Bjorn]

"As much as I can," Bjorn replies, working the knife behind the hinges and starting to saw at them.  "Not enough, probably, but what can you do?"

[Rezantis]

"Get more.  When's Lammermore expected to be fit?"

[Bjorn]

"He's up and about already," Bjorn says, leaning back on his heels for a second.  "Probably means I'm not the acting Warden anymore.  Should check on that."

Getting back to work, he adds, "I can't imagine that you've been getting much more sleep than me."

[Rezantis]

"I've been getting enough. at least since we got back to the keep."

Rez hums, comparing Dorian's arrowheads to his own.

"I spoke to Kevin and hopefully smoothed over Phil's mess in the last planning session, by the way.  So what ended up happening with Mattias?"

[Bjorn]

Bjorn stills, the knife coming to a pause.  "Mattias isn't human," he replies, quietly.  "He was, once, but whoever he used to be, Solariat carved wards on every inch of his bones.  He doesn't feel pain, and his bones can't be broken, which means we can't remove the wards."

He sighs.  "Philip could read his mind, though.  He didn't know all that much, really, beyond what we already knew.  Solariat wants to kill Radagast.  Mattias didn't know who else was working for Solariat in the Keep.  And he knew nothing about Dorian, or about Elric and the Dreadmarch, beyond what he'd already told us."

[Rezantis]

Rez nods, rifling through the stack of papers to check if there's anything non-Elvish in there.

"So," he questions, "Did you actually try to torture him?"

[Bjorn]

There's no movement on Bjorn's part at all, now, and he simply stares at the chest.  "No," he says, quietly.  "It was... obvious fairly early on that there was no way to remove the wards."  His fist clenches spasmodically about the dagger, before relaxing.  "No," he repeats, bitterness entering his voice, "I didn't torture him.  I just tried to break his fucking legs, and then left him strapped to a chair, where he'll stay until we can figure out how to break his wards and kill him, at which point he says he'll talk."

[Rezantis]

"At least it seems to be bugging you," Rez comments, "Trite as that sounds - while it probably doesn't help at all to hear me say it, from your lack of reaction I was starting to wonder.  At least I'm this stuff is bugging someone else.  Drac it's hard to tell, and I'm sort of afraid to ask, and Ginrai . . . is, well, Ginrai."

"I mean, I understand that it has to be done, and out on the battlefield I've been running around making a bloody example of every champion I can find - even if they're running .  It's sort of getting that way, but . . ."

[Bjorn]

"It bothers me," Bjorn agrees. "I think, sometimes, that it bothers me more that I'm not bothered more... if that makes sense.  But," he shrugs, angrily, "I don't know what else to do.  If Mattias wouldn't talk, how many people would die, here and at home?"

He stares fiercely at the lock, as if it was the only thing standing between him and some sort of enlightenment.  "Killing people is... hard, but I was trained to do that, in a way.  A big part of what I was taught was the correct mindset.  But torture, and sentencing people to be executed...."  He trails off.  "I think I'm going to remember Neil and Ashton for a very long time," he says, expresssionlessly.  "I did what I had to do."

[Rezantis]

"I supported that, if you remember, although that was less me wanting them killed and more trying to intimidate them - and forgetting that we're important people, and we can't just say 'Oops, sorry, I didn't mean it' . . . but yeah, I understand."

Nathan trails off awkwardly.

"I don't really think of it as trying to save half the world, I guess.  When it comes down to it, I'm here for a few reasons, but 'two or three billion people might die' is . . . well, it's so . . . distant.  Aside from the fact that I think our way is better, though, a lot of it's because I don't think the Seventh Cabal or Pax Arcana are fit to decide the future of our world - and I think this is a damn good example of why."

[Brian]

The last strip of leather hinge gives way, and Bjorn's leverage pops the lock out of its clasp, opening the footlocker.

There's a number of cloth-wrapped bundles inside, most of which are shaped like small stacks of arrow shafts.

[Bjorn]

"If Cabal or Pax get their way," Bjorn points out, "then two or three or more billion people die.  Thinking they don't have the right or ability to make decisions is about the same thing."

He frowns, a little sadly.  "You supported it, maybe.  But I gave the orders.  And I did it meaning for them to die, and I'd do it again.  They were traitors to the Keep, and I have responsibilities.   That doesn't mean I have to like what I do.

"Now," he says, his voice becoming brisk and business-like as the trunk pops open, "what have we got here?"  Using the tip of the dagger, he teases open one of the cloth-wrapped bundles.

[Rezantis]

"And," Rez asks very quietly, "What if our given task had been to make sure the dreadmarch won?"

[Brian]

The packages appear to contain silver-colored shafts for arrows ... at least, some of them do.  Some of the others contain arrowheads (bladed and barbed), fletchings (solver-colored), small strips of paper marked heavily with various runes, and so forth.  One of the bundles contains a wheel of bone identical to the periapts on Ashton and Neil.