Unhappy Returns

Taumus Kartur shifted and fidgeted in his creaky, oaken chair - though he knew it wouldn't be his for much longer. After five years off to war, the big boss who was like a father to Kartur was back in the village of Eirunton. And when he arrived to see Taumus talking with a schizo-tribe's delegation...

clank. clunk. clank. clunk.

...he called the man he put in charge of the village in his absence to his own office.

clank. clank. clank. clank.

It wasn't gonna be a joyous reunion after all. "Nianurs damn it," Taumus thought, "of all days, he just had to come back today-"

BOOM.

With a swift, resounding crash, the door to the room was slammed to the stone wall adjoining it. As small pebbles fell to the floor, Taumus got his first look in five years at Ke Beerdzun, the Maud of Eirunton, a soldier-become-officer in the Royal Vilian Army, and someone who Taumus would consider his greatest mentor.

Even ignoring the chainmail armor adorning his torso, his iron helmet with a pink-blue gradient feather and his ornate carved dagger, the man was intimidating. A six foot four Pipanian giant, Ke Beerdzun carried with him an authority which he backed up with his coldness and ruthlessness. At least, he was cold. Taumus didn't think he ever saw the man this angry before. That doesn't bode well for him.

Although Ke's body language shook with rage, the maud's first words to his deputy were spoken in a quiet, even disappointing tone.

"Kartur."

The creaking in Taumus' chair immediately halted.

"Do you care to explain what I witnessed as I returned to the place I trusted you to run?"

Taumus took a deep breath. He could not show total cowardice in front of the man that entrusted him to manage Eirunton with a strong hand, but he could not lie or play down the situation. To be direct was the best option.

"Ke-"

"Sir."

"Sir, for the purposes of obtaining much needed resources, I had made contact with a tribe in the north. They would grant us access to supplies and be enlightened by Vil's wisdom, and in exchange we would..."

As soon as Ke pointed a scarred finger at him, Taumus stopped talking. It was Beerdzun's turn to speak.

"And you did not notice, from first contact until now, that they were of the schizo race?"

"They posed no harm to us, and in fact were friendly, sir. They were even willing to convert to Vilism."

"They will spit on Lady Silvur's image the moment your back is turned."

Ke's tone of voice was still subdued, but Taumus could tell that it wasn't going to last. He really had made a big mistake.

"Do you not know who I fought against for five years, Kartur?"

Silence.

"I had fought against the very people you had decided you would make peace with. The same people that made many men besides and then under me meet Lady Silvur years before they should have."

"With all due respect, sir, I do not think one tribe would pose much of a threat to Eirunton."

Ke's eye twitched.

"Oh? Just one tribe? Is that what you think you're dealing with, Kartur?"

Taumus tried to hold his eye contact with the man towering over him. Then, the giant's fist slammed onto the wooden table.

"When you deal with one of them, you deal with all of them! Did you seriously think that they don't talk with one another?! Have you not read up on your history, Kartur?!?"

The deputy maud decided that not speaking was the best reply to that question.

"Your actions would be considered by the royalty as treason! If a royal official were to hear of it, they would demand me to have your head presented to them within the day!"

White-hot fury pent up for who knows how long began to pour out of Ke's mouth, his posture more and more threatening by the second as his heavy words rained down upon Taumas.

"How could you have become so lowly as to decide the best course of action to obtain resources was to start chit-chat with our enemy?! Any self-respecting man would have killed you and that group of jungle savages on the spot!"

"But you didn't kill me, sir."

Taumus Kartur stood up and turned his head upward to make contact with the man who at that moment hated his guts. There was no backing down from defending himself now, if only because there was a decent chance Ke would make good on his threat if he did not.

"You had raised me, sir, from a young age. You yourself said that as long as the ends justify the means, things could be overlooked. Right, sir?"

Ke's face contorted into an unreadable emotion for a few seconds before settling down.

"I did say that, yes."

A deep sigh came out from the Pipanian's mouth as he put his hand upon Taumus' shoulder.

"I should have realized that you have not truly seen what I have seen from them. But I have one question, Taumus."

"Yes, sir?"

"Did you honestly believe you would be friends with schizos?"

The junior could not answer. He could find no more mental gymnastics to rely upon to do so for him. It was true that he had been optimistic about relations with the schizos, but he had also kept in mind the many lessons which the elder had imparted onto him. In the end, he decided to continue speaking as he always had to him before: with honesty.

"The ends justify the means, sir."

Ke blinked once, twice, three times.

"I had raised you well. Very, very well. But I made one mistake."

"What would that be, sir?"

"I should have told you to come fight with me."

Finally raising his clenched fist off the table, Ke took a step back and relaxed his body posture. He then began to pace, back and forth as he spoke, Taumus watching him do so all the while.

"I am very much regretting that I did not do so. Not only would you have learned how to fight and who you were fighting, you would not be the man who had to meet with the schizos in an attempt to replenish supplies here."

The veteran stopped and turned his head to Taumus, making sure that his next message was getting across.

"But you were that man, Taumus. And there are consequences to being that man. If you were hoping to be anything more than the maud of this backwater village, then that dream is dead."

His head hung down in shame, Taumus understood every point that Ke was going to make before he even said them.

"It will only take one well-crafted accusation of negotiating with the enemy to get you into hot water. And if I were to try to cover for you and speak in your defense, it would only hurt me greatly. You should remember, Kartur: the traitor is hanged upon the gallows, but the accomplices to his acts are drawn and quartered."

"...I remember, sir."

"Good."

Ke motioned for Taumus to come to him - and as he did so, the veteran gave him a crushing bear hug.

"It is good to see you again, my boy. But for now, I am once again the Maud of Eirunton, and you, my deputy."

With that, the new maud sat down on the creaky, oaken chair. From it, a loud squeal rang out; it was as if it were an announcement on its own. Now, it was Taumus who stood over his mentor, though both knew it was never indicative of what was actually the case.

"You know me well, Kartur. It was I who took you in from your widowed mother and raised you, after all. At the time, I was in your position now: the mere deputy maud."

Taumus nodded.

"You know I wanted more than to be a deputy maud. I wished to climb the staircases of power, to become a part of the royal court, to be right beside the Queen's side."

Taumus nodded again.

"And I still wish to do all these things. Raising you has never humbled me in these goals. And your recent acts still haven't."

Ke chuckled.

"I will take a page from you about honesty, however: you may be barred from such things, but I am well on my way there. I am still part of the army as an officer, and my service has already granted me a home in the capital. From these heights, the climb up to true influence is much less steep."

The officer smiled and closed his eyes as he thought about the places he could go for a second, but quickly returned his face to seriousness.

"As for you, Kartur..."

He closed his eyes again for a moment, this time in thought.

"...it is my mistake which led to yours in the first place. For that, I must make it up to you. Listen to my plan, my boy."

Taumus nodded, his ears at full attention.

"In six months, I will be called again to service, and after, I will move to the capital myself. You will rarely see me after, perhaps once a year or so. But before my absence, I will resign and declare you the official maud of the village, and leave you to your own devices. You should have gained much experience from five years of leading the village. As long as you do not even think of talking to the schizos ever again, you will do fine."

"The next time I see them, sir, it will be when I will impale them with a sword."

"Don't be silly, Kartur. I am not asking you to atone by needless slaughter. You must atone by guiding your people, by expanding this village, fixing its issues and making it grow to become a better place than the one you grew up in. In exchange, I will do my best to pull strings and get resources from other parts of the kingdom to Eirunton. With those things in hand, your job should then be easier. Is everything understood, Taumus?"

The deputy maud, having understood everything, resigned himself to his permanent smaller influence and bowed his head in respect.

"Yes, sir."

Another squeak emanated from the chair as Ke Beerdzun arose from it. After a handshake with his junior solidified the arrangements in stone, he gave the deputy maud his first task.

"Gather the people of Eirunton, Kartur. It is time to announce my return, and then my future resignation. Then, it will truly be you who will speak in my place."

And with an affirming "yes, sir," Taumus dashed into the village, preparing the settlement to hear the future that was soon to come.