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Post by talis on May 8, 2015 4:10:20 GMT
Garlog did not look well. Magical healing could perform wonders and had closed his wound without so much as a scar, but it could not reconstruct his punctured lung. For someone like Garlog, who had always identified himself by his strength and physicality, it was humiliating and immensely distressing. He insisted on dressing himself and moving about like he normally would, regardless of the objections his men made. No sooner had he been revived and informed than he pushed away his doctors, dressed himself and stumbled toward Haakon Titanhand's tent.
"Haaa..." He wheezed, his voice failing. Beads of sweat poured down his forehead with the effort of merely standing. "Haakon. Where's Casomir?" He could not manage his usual, booming voice, and resorted to a soft growl. "Don't argue... with me. Bastard's responsible for this. His head is mine." Somehow he had managed to carry his sword the entire way, although he had yet to pull it out of its sheathe.
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Post by zurajai on May 8, 2015 23:33:42 GMT
"Garlog?!" The surprise in Haakon's voice was palpable, eyes wide as he beheld the sorry figure of the once noble and powerful Orc Chief, "Casomir? Impossible. He was here, hold up in his keep. Through proper convincing he ordered his men home yet now stand inside the keep a number of Apostate Mages. How the devils found their way there is obvious but with Casomir's surrender I have no choice but to leave him till proper authorities give the order."
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Post by talis on May 10, 2015 0:27:15 GMT
There was a wheezing sound as Garlog attempted to gather enough saliva to spit at the mention of Casomir's name. "His officer... pretended to surrender, then stabbed me with the blade *wheeze* he claimed to be surrendering with. Now he's got apostate mages in his castle and the whole country in rebellion, and you say you have 'no choice'? I have twenty-five thousand orcs who have left there homes to fight for you, and Casomir is a liar and a traitor. Will you treat him better than your allies? His surrender is worth as much as a pig's snout. Now where is he?" There was no doubt Garlog would have been yelling if he had not been injured, perhaps even roaring. But without the breath to summon his usual volume and power he had instead settled for a cold, bitter tone.
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Post by zurajai on May 10, 2015 5:29:41 GMT
The displeasure that showed on Haakon's face turned from that born of sympathy to a different breed entirely, his brown furrowing and his lips pulling back into a snarl. Garlog had been known for his bouts of loud shouting known to deafen and cow a room into submission just as effectively but now more than ever was not the time to rely on old tricks. The tent whipped about as the dangerous energies of Haakon's divine gifts crackled along his near-legendary fists as his displeasure turned to seething discontentment directed solely at the Orc. If looks could cut Garlog would be suffering from far greater wounds than a punctured lung.
"Do not take me for some Conjurer-Whelp, Garlog Whiteshot," rumbled Haakon as he made sure to extend himself to his full height, "I treat him with the Dignity ALL are afforded under Aed's creation. Casomir and his ilk may sully their hands with cowardice and betrayal of oaths but it shall not be said about Haakon Titanhand that he is one such a man. He shall receive trial for all his grievances and the Apostates now nesting in Keir's Climb shall be dragged from their warren but I shall not stand here and be ridiculed by a wounded orc who's rage is directed at the wrong target. You will have your proper dues but by the hand of Law, Aed's will, not common vengeance."
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Post by talis on May 10, 2015 18:13:01 GMT
Garlog was terrified. Not of Haakon - for he had faced down far worse dangers in his life - but if his own inability. Whereas not three days ago he had been a strong and formidable orc, now he found himself pleading. The panic and fear were palpable, frustrating. It was a mass of emotions Garlog had never felt before. The prospect of all his strength and ambition slipping away, leaving him a hollowed out husk of the great orc he once was, that terrified him. He was not an orc who could put such sentiment into words, but somehow he felt a cold sweat pouring down his brow.
"The law then." He gasped, "By law Casomir has done both me and the Firetooth great injury through treachery. He cannot be excused, there was no honor in his actions. I have right to his blood or the blood of his kin in equal measure to his attempt, or else he must pay weregeld or face me in honorable challenge. It is my..." he took a pause to breath in and emphasize his next word, "Right to call for his blood, or take steps to have vengeance."
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Post by zurajai on May 10, 2015 18:22:31 GMT
Haakon frowned deep once more though all anger that once showed in his deeply profound features seemed to pour away in an instant, replaced with a level of pity he had not felt in all his life. It did not take a Tovenaar skilled in the arcane arts of the mind to see the palpable panic and fear showing on Garlog's face. This was an Orc who was to many a hero and bigger than life itself; to see him so humbled was in of itself humbling to the Giant-Mage.
"I understand your fear, Garlog Whiteshot," Haakon consoled as his shoulders lowered from his own empathy for the orc, "You must trust in Aed that judgement will be done. You and your people will receive all that you deserve, Aed will see it done. Justice will be wrought, be it through blood or repayment of another kind. But we must be better than him and his ilk, honorable Chief of the Firetooth, because that is what we are. We are honorable men faced with dishonorable foes but if we break than we only provide them with a victory. We will, together, see him and his apostate comrades to proper trial and then proper justice. I promise you that."
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