"You heard me." Madeleine said, her gaze unwavering from Farien"s face.The mercenary stood speechless for a moment, and then turned from her to Rose, then to Jack, as if looking for some kind of explanation, but Rose just stared him down, and Jack shrugged and raised his eyebrows.
"Well, I... ahem. If I do that, how will I know you aren"t just gonna rob me blind or kill me in MY sleep like you"re afraid of happening to you?" Farien said.
"You don"t." Madeleine said. "Seems like a fair trade to me."
Farien seemed to think on this for a moment, his confusion and discomfort with the idea plainly obvious on his face. Before he could say anything in response, a low male voice spoke from one of the forms standing behind Farien.
"We accept your term." He said.
Farien"s eyes went wide, and he turned to look at the man who spoke with barely-concealed irritation. The man stepped forward, pulling back the hood that hid his face in the dim light of the moonlit forest. Jack was struck by how much he looked like Farien, albeit a bit older, and good deal harder in the face. The man sidled up next to Farien, and clapped a hand on Farien"s shoulder, causing the young man to visibly struggle to maintain his balance from the impact.
"You"ll have to forgive my brother"s hesitance. He"s unaccustomed to having to have skin in the game to make friends." The man said, his face sharing the same amused look his younger brother had worn a few minutes earlier.
"Urien. I have GOT this." Farien said, glowering up at the much bigger man.
"I can see that. So why don"t you lead the way to our hideout so these nice ladies can get some well-deserved rest with you beside them?" Urien said, gesturing broadly with his hand to the forest behind the two of them.
"Because I don"t WANT to spend my night trapped in a magical box just so some little girl can feel secure!" Farien protested, his voice getting higher and whinier than Jack would have expected.
"Well, that"s a d.a.m.n shame, really, considering I just agreed to that requirement." Urien said, his amus.e.m.e.nt at his little brother"s frustration becoming more and more apparent.
"But I DON"T WANT-" Farien started, but Urien cut him off by talking directly to Madeleine.
"We gladly accept your requirement. And since my child brother here-" Urien said, his grip on Farien"s shoulder tightening "can"t seem to find the will to do it alone, I"ll be joining him in your little magic box. Is that acceptable?"
Madeleine raised an eyebrow, clearly taken off-guard by this sudden change in circ.u.mstances. "I suppose that is fair. Are you in charge or something?" She asked.
Farien opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, Urien spoke over top of him.
"My brother and I inherited the Green Company from our father. I suppose you could say we"re both equally in charge, but sometimes one of us has to make the right decision if the other one is lacking the will to make it." Urien said, casting his brother a side-long glance.
"Makes sense to me. Well, if you want to join, I won"t stop you." Madeleine said. She turned to Rose.
"Well, I"m satisfied." She said. "Anything else?"
Rose thought, then added "And I dont want to carry all of our stuff miles through the woods in the middle of the night. Someone else needs to carry it."
Madeleine nodded. "Yes, that too."
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"That"s fine. Farien and I will carry your packs." Urien said non-chalantly.
While Jack couldn"t see terribly well in the dim moonlight, he was certain he saw Farien get a couple shades whiter.