Cato's grin was positively feral at the sight of Langford's exasperation. Agatha may have been the more reasonable of the two captains but she wasn't one to take undue shit. They'd gone through far too much to let some minor noble walk all over them. Baron Gauner's reputation, however, seemed well-earned. He was quick to get them back on task, chastising both 'Shield and noble. Though he bet least half these bastards would take up the baron's offer of a spanking under different circumstances. The things nobles got up to in their free time...
The briefing continued on, most was already known but word of the eastern border was new. It also didn't escape his notice how the baron mentioned 'savages and mercenaries' in the same breadth. Once again, reputation reflected truth. Took more than hard words to get under the mercenary's skin.
"Aye, there were a handful of mages among Brannigan's lot."
"Were?" Gauner asked with arched brow.
"Guess he wasn't too keen on our little rendezvous here. Tried to catch us out. We flipped the game on the greedy bastard. Anyways, they'll not be doing much casting, or living for that matter. Can't say that's all of em but we took a few down on our way outta Taernsby as well." Cato gave a half-hearted shrug before adding, "Got some spellslingers of my own, they'll handle the rest." Langford scoffed at the assertion but said nothing more. Petty bastard.
He looked to Agatha and waited to see if she had anything else to add before eventually turning back to the Baron. "So, what's the play?"
There was a brief pause as Cato asked his question. 'The... play?' Looking down at the map, Gauner took a moment to collect his thoughts. There was an odd gleam in his eyes that left Agatha feeling uneasy, as if she was about to be told some really, really bad news. Don't say it, she glanced at Cato, don't fucking say it!
'The play, gentlemen, is this!'
Leaning in, each bearded face a facsimile of the next, the men in the room took in a collective breath as they saw just where Baron Gauner's finger had fallen. 'Taernsby?!' Langford, as loud and obnoxious as ever, was the first to speak. Agatha sighed. 'Fuckin' Taernsby?!' There was a sudden clamour of voices as everyone tried to speak up all at once. Doubt and confusion and hot air, for the most part, it rid the room of any sense of order.
And no wonder. Agatha thought, closing her eyes. We barely made it out in one piece. To go back...
'Gentlemen! Gentlemen, please! Lower your damned voices and listen to me! The plan is not as foolhardy as it seems!' Waiting for the uproar to die down, Baron Gauner turned his cool gaze upon the two mercenaries. Out of everyone in the room, they, at least, had retained some manner of composure. It was almost enough to bring a smile to his face.
'Are we all good and done? Yes? Excellent!'
Clapping his hands together, the Baron began explaining the madness to his method. At first, Agatha was sceptical, seeing blood and death and little else in the future he had planned for them.
But then the pieces started fitting together, as they so often did when given a change of perspective.
'Your lord means to bring the mainforce to battle.' The other knights and military advisors stopped talking. They turned to her as one. 'Gotta admit... that's pretty fucking ballsy!' She could see it now. The big picture Gauner was hinting at. Blinking, Agatha looked up to find the man in question staring at her.
She stared back, emboldened.
'You intend for us to keep the raiders from re-joining the High King by giving them something else to worry about. In the meantime, the rest of our forces will be gathering to take the fight to him, on our terms.' It was mostly just wishful thinking on her part. The expression on Gauner's face made it real. Agatha whistled low. How am I going to spin this to the boys? She wondered, smiling at the absurd twist of fate.
The room was quelled once again by the Baron. Cato wasn't sure if it was through force of personality or simply because the man was louder than everyone else. Oddly enough, the noble's plan was vaguely similar to what the mercenary originally had in mind. 'Course, that was before their actual escape from Taernsby. Fact was it was far bloodier than Cato could've imagined. Pretty sure at least half the 'Shields still had a mind to string him up. Bad as it was, he still figured their corpses would be hanging from the walls had they stayed.
Cato was surprised Gauner was ready to commit so fully. This whole High-King business really must've pissed him off. The mercenary captain began to properly understand the Baron's plan and noticed Agatha was on the same page as well. This was the sort of gambit that brought victory, or got everyone killed. Honestly it was better than the odds he had rolling bones.
There was dissent, some back and forth arguments, but the Baron's plan won out. Cato thought Langford would tuck tail but the mercenary saw greed in the noble's eyes. He'd been promised something; land, spoils, didn't really matter.
"I see no point in tarrying. And I've already made preparations with this plan in mind. The longer we wait, the more time Brannigan has to dig his heels in. See to your preparations, we leave at first light a day from now."
Soon. Too damned soon. Or maybe not. Better not give the men time to think. Let them wash their wounds and sharpen steel, then move before they have time to realize how properly fucked they were.
Both mercenaries were dismissed and eventually found themselves back at the stables.
"What're the chances you and I make it to see the sun tomorrow?" he asked of Aggs casually. They still had to convince the rest of the Company after all.
The captain gave it some thought. 'For me? I'd say the odds are fifty-fifty. For you though, well,' she shrugged, 'figure you're fucked no matter which way you try to spin it.' Leading Cato into the stables, Agatha wandered on down to the stall at the end. It was usually where the hands put her hog; separate from the horses, secluded so as not to cause trouble. Not that it always worked, mind.
Daisy was nothing if not stubborn, and those tusks of hers could disembowel a man sure as any blade.
'You'll be alright,' she continued, glancing over her shoulder at her brother-captain. 'If any of your lads do decide to up and desert in the middle of the night, let 'em know my lot are hiring. Who knows, we might even be able to make proper soldiers out of them.'
With a nod to the youth they had met with earlier, Agatha prepared to depart. In truth, she was not looking forward to briefing her officers. Things could get rather... vocal when things didn't go their way.
Fortunately, Agatha commanded the Second, not the Third.
Big on discipline, big on getting the job done no matter what the world threw at them. They would gripe and cuss to their heart's content, but at the end of the day they would listen, and they would obey.
Leaving the castle behind, Agatha rode alongside Cato for a time. The guy could be a cold-blooded bastard sometimes, but despite his shortcomings, he held a place in her heart few others did. She would mourn him, when he eventually fell. Assuming, of course, she didn't go first.
'I'll see you in the morning, brother, bright and early!' Tugging on Daisy's bristly mane, she slew to a halt alongside where the Second were making camp for the night. She glanced over at Cato before extending her arm to him. 'And if not, well, rest easy knowing I got the fucker who got you.'
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