Outside the Walls of High Rock
Camp of the Red Gauntlet
Upon arriving back to camp after his meeting with the Lord of High Rock, Nimshat Rasul ordered a contingent of men to go sift grain from the dole and to put the bags onto their wagons. Each bag was to be topped off as much as possible. While they did that, the camp would pack up and then head closer to the walls of High Rock, where they were now allowed to settle. For how long their services would be needed, no one knew. They did know a siege would end up relatively comfortable for them. High Rock was a place that rarely fell at all. They had a new load of grain to use in their mush that would last them a long time. One of the first things you were expected to know, or at least learn how to do, was to break a camp as fast as possible with the littlest trace. It was one way to discipline someone, and it was one way to make sure your employer was not dissatisfied with you because you left a load of waste across his land. There were many people packing up different things. The barracks tents would be easy. It was a chest with several bedrolls and then the tent itself, ideally. The blacksmith and mages were troublesome to pack up. The anvil needed a small crane to load with, and the mages needed their tools loaded delicately. The mess tent required its cooks to pack at the latest possible time since the troops ate one last time before they began marching. This would all take half a day before they moved out to the next few miles back west to the walls of High Rock.
Herrius Endean had to pack up his own tent onto his own horse, and waited to follow the Red Gauntlet to their new campsite, whatever they would make it. He had thought all that day and had thought onto the night and slept. It was now the next day, and it was going to be today that Alyndel would receive his punishment. He sat just outside his tent on the perimeter of the Red Gauntlet's camp, smoking a pipe and thinking furiously of the Gauntlet's legalisms.
The platform the Mayaar would receive his punishment on was built. The men were done with breakfast. Most of the Red Gauntlet was now being assembled in front of the platform, some others were watching the perimeter. One piece was missing, and it could be called up at any time. It was now called up, Alyndel pushed to his knees and tied to a post. It was time to address the crowd. A mage amplified Nimshat's voice with a spell, and he said," This is Alyndel, a Mayaar, and a deserter. His grievance against us is a hundred years old. There are only a few of you that know him at all, but that is the nature of his desertion. A crime of a hundred years. A breach of contract so severe, so extraordinary, that the consequences, to be delivered now, will be extraordinary too. Walking away from a contract, any contract anywhere, is a foul thing. It is a complete breach in the very foundations that constitutes the concept of a contract. The punishment for this is: hot pepper juice, straight from the plantations of Pandora, is to be lathered upon his back, where he will be flayed until he is unconscious."
Alyndel's heart had been beating fast because of the injuries he knew were about to be inflicted on him. Upon hearing the punishment, however, he tried to tear away from the post with all his might. He felt something hit him so hard it went into his skin, tearing back out of him. When the pain came he yelped, but he still tried to break away from the post. The second strike was just as painful as the last, and he sat still. The next thing he knew was the smell of the pepper and its burning as it was spread across his back. It burned madly as it was spread over his open wounds. He expected such a thing from an orc, not an Anduran. It was a pain he had not felt in an age. The one spreading the juice whispered in his ear," I'm real sorry about this, mate."
"I'm sure you are."
Unfortunately, as the punishment wore on, he persevered. Undoubtedly his voice carried on for as long as a voice can carry in open air.
As Herrius heard the brutal shout of agony, he finally figured it out. It was far too simplistic for him to not have figured it out sooner. Red Gauntlet troops had five-year contracts that they had to renew. After a hundred years, there was no doubt that the contract had expired. Alyndel had broke the contract whilst he was bound by it, sure, but he could now very well get a third party to mediate the dispute since Alyndel was no longer under the tenets of punishment laid out in the contract since he was also no longer in the contract as a stipulation in that same contract...or something. Either way, Nimshat would have the same amount of time that Herrius had had to think about it. It would likely stop the punishment, so he just needed to get into the camp...which wouldn't be that hard with his skills.
But as it turned out, infiltrating the camp would need more than one skill. There were patrolling mages, no doubt to counter him. They would cast a spell to sense nearby people that Herrius' invisibility spell would not protect him from, so he had to hide and use another spell to make his signature seem like a rat, which was twice as difficult as invisibility. By the time he had reached the back of the stage he was dizzy and gulping another potion. Blocked by a couple of guards, he called up to Nimshat over the cries of Alyndel. His cries did not stop as Nimshat stepped down the stairs to just behind his guards and addressed Herrius. "You have come at a very inconvenient time for your friend, but considering the skill you must have to get past the mages, I will listen to you. I need not give you a time limit, your friend has already established it. Speak then."
"A contract with the Red Gauntlet expires after five years. That someone can be punished for rule-breaking is a stipulation in the contract, yes, but another stipulation that nullifies that fact is the expiration of the entire contract. Sure, he broke the contract whilst he was under it, but now you will both need a third party to help resolve this long-standing dispute since the contract is expired. As of now, I think he can press charges for assault and kidnapping," wondered Herrius. Nimshat called off the whipping, listening to Herrius' next words," Unless a deal can be worked out where the contract no longer matters...or even exists."
"I see your point. He will be cleaned up and healed to the best of my mage's abilities. You can see him afterward," said Nimshat, walking back onto the stage quietly giving various orders. He released his troops, and then walked off the stage.
"Hello Alyndel. How do you feel?" asked Herrius.
"Whipped."
"Of course you do. Anyway, I pulled a legalism on Nimshat. I have an idea on how to clear all this up. I ar-"
"Clear all this up? He covered my back in hot peppers and flayed me, and now you say that we'll all act like that never happened?"
"Was that what that smell was coming from that one cadet's case? I'm sorry I couldn't arrive sooner, Alyndel. However, I still maintain my idea. Nimshat burns your contract, gives you back your spear and other gear, and some healing potions, and we both walk away. All you must do, is agree with this deal. You said the night we escaped that you wanted to go west to visit Darath Jorn's grave. I can lead you to the very spot. We clear this up, and there is only the west."
Alyndel stared at the wall of the tent and finally said," Fine. I really wanted my spear back anyway."
Herrius had went back to Nimshat, and everything was cleared and Alyndel's items restored to him. Alyndel had decided to move to Herrius' tent. Still, he was unsatisfied with his quarters.
"Are you sure, Alyndel? We can move the tent tomorrow. You must rest now."
"I want the camp out of my sight, whether I am in the tent or outside of it. I don't want to see it anymore. It makes me furious."
"Fine. We can go into the cit-"
"No. I want that lord away from me, too. I want to move away from the resident assholes, not towards them."
Herrius sighed. "Very well. But only because you've been flayed. Otherwise I pick where we settle my tent."