101 Negotiations (1/2)
The cold wind blew at his face as Hartley guided his horse to a full trot through the groves of trees flanking both sides of the winding narrow path, the majestic creature's black shiny mane flowed in the swirling wind that brought flecks of snow down to the earth on what was a grey overcast day.
The black horse that was almost one and a half meters tall, exposed visible smoke-like condensation of its breaths in the cold air as it trekked through the claustrophobic trees .
It effortlessly strode over the bumpy terrain that was lightly dusted white with a thin layer of snow.
Loud clopping noises could be heard in the relatively quiet forest as its hooves made contact with the random stones embedded in the ground.
This was the east forest of Hartley's fief, today he was personally patrollingthe area, hehad ventured into the forest in hopes of finding and recruiting the runaway commoners who had turned to banditry in order to form a security force for House Hartley.
Commander Genk had left his men posted at the manor and patrolling the area but they couldn't stay forever, Hartley had to find his own solution eventually.
The heavy winter snows would arrive soon and in desperation for resources bandit activities were bound to rise.
Instead of having them harassing the citizens of his fief, he might as well recruit them, if they were not willing to be recruited and still insisted on harassing the people, he had to eradicate them....
Stretching out his awareness to 3 kilometers Hartley made his way into the heart of the forest towards his targets .
After another fifteen minutes the trees gave way to a plateau carpeted by weeds and shrubbery, there was a settlement of a half dozen crude tents made from fierce beast pelts off in the clearing.
People on the plateau were suddenly spooked by the clopping hooves headed in there direction.
”Stop!” came an order as a man dressed in what can only be described as rags shivered from the cold as he aimed an unsteady old almost antique crossbow at Hartley.
Movements behind the man flashed into Hartley's vision as the people in the tents began scrambling out frantically to support the lone man stood before Hartley.
”How many people are there here?” Hartley asked the scraggy man, unconcerned with what was happening behind him..
The man scowled,
”None of your business, we're not going back. Go back and tell whoever sent you that you din't find us.”
Soon the man was joined by a rag tag bunch of under-dressed misfits armed with second-hand weapons from bent spears to rusty swords.
Ignoring them, Hartley's eyes focused on a big tent almost twice the size of the others in the center of the plateau, there had been no movement from within the tent, even with all the disturbance, no one alighted to check out the situation.
Hartley smoothly dismounted from the black horse.
The scraggy man took a step back looking seriously at theyouth before him, the quiver of his hands holding his crossbow betrayed the nervousness that his stern face tried to hide.
With a bright flash, a wave of ice-blue mist spread out blinding the scraggy man and those rushing to his aid, dust and snow swirled in the air sending a cold wind against the man's face.
When the man opened his eyes the young man dressed in black was nowhere to be seen.....
There was a slight ripping sound in the air,a hazy blue mist rotating vertically end over end appeared in the big tent.
The swirling lights disappeared with a flash leavinga handsome youth standing in the middle of the tent.
Two people gawked as they shuffled back,the sight almost paralyzed them with fear.
Amiddle age man dressed in a descent robe compared to the others,rushed tohis left and stood defensivelyin front a younger woman.
”Who are you?”the panicked man shouted with his arms outstretched to the sides shielding the brunette woman behind him.
Hartley smiled.
”I'm the new Lord of the western mountains,”.....
The man was Fu Qian and the woman was his daughter, they had fled from a noble house because the young lord wanted to have improper relations with his daughter.
He was somewhat of a good fighter so he had banded together with others who had also fled from the land of nobles and formed a small bandit gang, they made their base deep in the thick forest and used gorilla tactics to stave off the constant harassment of soldiers who came looking for them.
Since Fu Qian was the leader, Hartley offeredhim and the others the job of securing House Hartley for fair pay. Fu Qian was no fool, that demonstration by the young lord showed him what the alternative might be if he refused.
....
Days went by with Hartley working behind the scenes to develop his fief, the days soon grew colder with snow flutteringwildly through the air.
A black flag with a bear stood proudly on its hind legs , flapped vibrantly in the cold winds atop a castle-like three story manor whichstill had a few builders apllying the finishing touches to the building...