The Iron Teeth

Queen of Swords 5

"Is he going to like this message?" he asked dryly.

"Probably not," Herad chuckled, as she threw Saeter a smug smirk.

The old scout's face muscles tightened and he clenched his fists, but he didn't say anything. Mahedium sighed in resignation, and Herad handed him an envelope. The mage then nodded and left the room.

"Blacknail and Saeter, I have a job for you two as well. Saeter, I want you to take some of the other scouts out and stop anyone who tries to approach the base. I don't want Zelena to know what she's getting into before it's too late," Herad told them.

"You're the boss, how could I refuse?" Saeter replied coldly.

"What do we do if too many enemies show up?" Blacknail asked quickly.

The hobgoblin didn't want to give Saeter the chance to annoy Herad. He also wanted to know exactly when it was alright to run away. That was an important thing to know if there were going to be lots and lots of angry humans around.

"Fall back to the first line of defense and help defend it. I want you to keep an eye out for assassins or scouts that try to sneak past, though. That's your main concern, Blacknail. I expect Zelena to send them in when she realizes how hard a nut we'll be to crack, and I want you ready. It'll be your job to deal with them," the bandit chieftain explained.

Blacknail scowled doubtfully. If Malthus showed up he didn't want to get in another fight with him. The annoying man was a much better sword fighter than him. Herad was giving him a very dangerous job. His expression didn't go unnoticed.

"If you manage to handle Zelena's Knifemen then I'll buy you all the food you can eat," Herad told him as she grinned sardonically.

The hobgoblin fidgeted as he considered the offer. It sounded interesting, but Blacknail wasn't an idiot. The job was going to be very risky, so he wanted something more than just a lot of food. He wanted quality food.

"You'll give-ss me all the expensive blue cheese and apple pies I want-ss?" the hobgoblin asked, as he licked his lips.

Herad rolled her eyes, and several bandits chuckled.

"Anything you want," she answered dryly.

"Then I'll do-ss it!" Blacknail replied eagerly.

The hobgoblin grinned smugly to himself. He was obviously a master negotiator! Blue cheese was worth a little danger. It smelled so good, but was very hard to find or buy.

The merchants wanted crazy amounts of coins for it, and never left it lying around, which was very rude of them. Even the thought of eating as much of it as he could swallow sent shivers of joy down his spine.

"Do you think you can handle it?" Saeter asked him with concern.

The hobgoblin looked down at the ground and began to think furiously. A few seconds later he looked up and met his master's gaze.

"Yes, I can do it. They might be sneaky and dangerous, but they're just humans. I also don't have to fight them fair," Blacknail replied with a vicious grin.

"Sounds like you have a plan," Saeter remarked.

"It's the best plan ever! This job will be easy," the hobgoblin bragged as he grinned smugly.

Saeter grunted dubiously and frowned at Blacknail, but he didn't say anything further. The hobgoblin knew his master was skeptical, but was sure his plan would work.

The meeting continued on for almost another hour, before Herad sent everyone away. Saeter immediately went off to gather men for their mission.

"Get ready to do some running and fighting. You'll want all your gear for this, including your bow. I have to wrangle up the other members of our little party, so I'll probably be a while. Some of them just got back, so I'll meet you out front at the eleventh hour," his master told him.