Fear, Hunger and Cosmic Horrors

Chapter 9 - Trying Not to Die

After I finished my little speech, a tense silence took over the room. Everyone looked at each other with suspicious looks, weapons in hand; ready to spill blood, meanwhile, Rag's hands were less than one movement away from breaking Le'garde's neck.

The mercenary in question appeared to be on the verge of death, his face covered in sweat and hands struggling weakly to escape Rag's grip.

The first to break the silence was Rag.

"I hear that you knights of Rondor value your honor above all else. Then swear on your honor that you will not turn against me until we leave this cursed place." Rag spoke seriously, looking at D'arce.

"So that means..."

"Don't get it wrong, I will kill this man, but the boy is right about one thing. This is not the place to decide the fate of the man we came to seek, if I'm to die, I want it to have been trying to complete my objective, this way I will maintain my honor and the gods will decide my fate in the afterlife. And you? Do you also have this honor? If so, swear that you will not turn against me until we escape from here." Rag said to D'arce.

"Hey! I didn't agree with that!" Cahara shouted.

"SSSHHH!" I placed my index finger in front of my lips, silencing the mercenary.

The tense silence returned, D'arce and Rag looked at each other seriously, it was like a scene from a movie, and the two exchanged murderous looks. At any moment this could break out into a fight to the death, if that happens I'll grab the girl and run out of here.

Slowly, D'arce lowered her sword, and with one hand on her heart, she spoke.

"I swear on my honor, I swear on Alll-mer and I hope you do the same."

"Your gods mean nothing to me, but I swear it too. May the gods decide which of us will emerge victorious." Rag replied.

Slowly, Rag removed his hands from Le'garde's neck, making the nearly dead man sigh in relief as he coughed for air. After a few minutes of trying to recover, Le'garde got up, only to be knocked to the ground by a punch from Rag.

"But that doesn't mean I will treat you like a human, you don't deserve such courtesy, but I will offer you the mercy that has been denied to my people, for now." Rag spoke, taking a rope from his bag and tying Le'garde's wrists, with a pull; he forced the mercenary to his feet.

"Le'garde!" D'arce shouted, running towards his former leader.

"Holy crap! Calm down! I won't get my reward if his face is swollen beyond recognition!" Cahara shouted, also running towards Le'garde, more concerned about his money than the Mercenary Leader himself.

Rag stepped aside, allowing the two to talk, but he kept the end of the rope in his hands, not allowing Le'garde to escape.

Well, that's the best I can do; Rag will still try to kill Le'garde, at least I managed to convince him to do that when we leave. With that matter over, I went towards the Girl who was watching this entire scene near the cell entrance.

I got down on one knee and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, slowly the girl raised her head, looking at me with a sad look.

"Girl listen. I did my best, unfortunately I'm not a good negotiator, and everyone here is determined to kill or save your father, honestly we have no chance of defeating any of these people in a direct fight, I can only say that we will have help to get out of this dungeon, but I can't promise anything about what will happen to your father, whether he lives or dies will depend on who wins the duel after we escape."

The girl looked away, staring at the floor as she rubbed her hands together nervously.

"As much as a child shouldn't hear this, your father did some very bad things, and now he's suffering the consequences, but at least now you'll see the outside, we can explore the world, or if you prefer, find a peaceful place for us to live." I said gently, trying to comfort the girl.