As I turned on my heel, Horace quickly rose and grabbed my hand to prevent me from leaving, "Please reconsider - you're likely to be in extreme danger while on campaign and surely you can understand our society much better since you grew up in the same type of environment. You've learned about a woman's wiles; why not use them to your advantage?"
I looked down in disgust at the old wrinkly hand that was holding on to me. Did I ever mention I hated to be involuntarily touched? I used my other hand to wrench his bony fingers free, twisting it almost to the point of fracture while leaning in to hiss, "I may have been taught some things, but I assure you the only lessons I held onto were the ones that make me an excellent killer. You'd do well to remember that." I forcefully tossed his hand to the side causing him to stumble forward. I looked around to gage the reaction of the room half-expecting to be attacked by the guards. Surprisingly every one was at a stand-still; Richie looked completely mortified, Kovin looked alarmed and the Zantarkans looked slightly bewildered.
With an air of decorum Baymun dabbed his lips with his napkin, rose gracefully and said, "I suppose that concludes our dinner. My compliments to the chef; the duck was exquisite." He looked up at Horace with a gleam in his eye, "It seems you have your answer. I should hope that this will not cause any complications with our current alliance."
The Grand-Elder straightened his robe and bowed deeply, "Most certainly not your highness. We will always remain loyal to the Bodach Empire. As a gesture of good faith, please allow us to thank you for coming by providing services to your army, as well as yourself if you'd like. We greatly appreciate your time and consideration."
----
"What in the world were you thinking, Ez? You really don't value your life do you?" Richie would not stop pestering me ever since we left the banquet hall. I mean seriously, he would not shut up! It was starting to grate on my nerves a little, but I was trying to remain as calm as possible since the demon and Kovin was not that far behind us. Perhaps they couldn't hear everything Richie was saying since Rich was right at my ear hissing the whole way.
"For that matter, you don't value mine at all. I swear, you just go about acting all high and mighty - one day a man's gonna take you down a peg. You won't even see it coming -"
I couldn't take it anymore and looked up at Rich as I grabbed the front of his tunic, "Would you just stop talking for like two seconds, PLEASE."
Richie looked down at me, surprise evident on his face. He glanced back at the demon and Kovin and finally registered that I didn't feel like having it out with him in their presence, so he leaned down and whispered, "Alright luv, I'll give you a breather. But you know that this isn't over."
I let go of his tunic and began walking forward as I quietly thanked him. We were walking through the camp back to our tent, soldiers bowing as Baymun passed by. Luckily Rich had grabbed a sleeveless cape for me to wear otherwise I might have received a few hoots and hollers with my dressy apparel. I normally tried not wearing anything too feminine in front of the men.
Confusingly, that's exactly what I did begin hearing. We kept walking until we were in front of a huge group. There appeared to be quite a ruckus going on, so I made my way through the throng of soldiers. It was pretty easy since the demon was making his way forward too.
"What's going on?" I asked once I appeared in a clearing. Standing in the middle was the Tyslantavian envoy along with about thirty beautiful women. It seemed there was an argument going on between the two parties.
The 'leader' of the Tyslantavian envoy was Gustof, a horrible disgusting man that bothered me immensely but since our capture of Tyslantavia we were trying to show a semblance of peace by allowing their (remaining) finest to join our forces. Gustof came forward holding on to a dazzling beauty as he spat, "These girls were given to the army for pleasure yet this little wench doesn't seem to want to play along."
The girl looked at me with flames in her deep brown eyes, "We weren't given for pleasure - we were to offer our services. That doesn't mean we will willingly sleep with any man here."
Gustof looked down at her with lust mixed with disgust, "Am I not good enough to sleep with?"
The black haired girl looked up at him with anger, "Certainly not."
Before I could stop it, Gustof back-handed her causing her ebony cheek to glow and blood dripped from her full lips. The other women looked on in fear as the whole Tyslantavian envoy sneered. I didn't care if I wasn't the main one in charge at the moment (I mean the demon was here; he could run his own army) but I stepped forward in anger, "Release her."
Gustof turned his vile gaze back to me, "And if I don't?"
"Then you will know the consequences of insubordination." I said with a steely cool voice.
I felt Richie tense behind me along with the other soldiers. They hadn't witnessed what their Champion would do with a direct insubordination, and quite frankly I didn't quite know what I would do myself.
After a brief pause Gustof unhanded the girl and tossed her back to her friends, "You honestly believe you have the authority or the ability to order me around? Don't make me laugh." He spit on the ground and seemed to turn around in defiant defeat; after all, his little group was only an envoy. They were standing on precarious grounds.
I let out a small breath thinking that the little spat was handled, but with lightning quick reflexes Gustof turned armed with a mace and lashed out at my waist. I turned slightly to dodge, however I could still feel a burning pain in my right side. Not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction, I reached in the folds of my dress (cause Richie is amazing and made sure I could have access to my weapons) pulling out one of my daggers and quickly brought it up to stab him through the chin into his mouth. I had initially hoped to jab through his throat but being as he was exceptionally taller than me, and my injury, I guess my aim was a little off.