Continuing North after helping the old man clean his daughters remains from the barn, Raam's head was heavy with concern for his people. Trapped in this thought, he did not see the rider coming south to meet him until he was very near, nor did he hear his guards' warnings as the armed rider slowed as if to meet the group. Looking up, Raam recognized Fizzle, standing by with his horse to greet the party.
"As you were men..." Raam ordered his guards back to position and the bard began his lute song once again.
"Lord Baron, I am glad to have come across you before you left. I would like to speak to you in private while you ride, if it convenient to you."
Fizzle, of course your company would be welcome." he noticed as he drew closer that Fizzle Looked like he had fallen out of a very tall tree and greeted many branches on the way down. He was also burned in several places so the tree must have been on fire. The burns did not surprise Raam, but his injuries looked fairly grevious.
"You look as if you have been injured, do you need aid?"
Fizzle came to ride alongside Raam, their horses greeting each other in kind.
"thank you but no, it is but a scratch and should heal quickly" Fizzle noticed his friend's sleeves and the knees of his robes were stained with blood. His hands, normally immaculately clean, were slightly stained with the same. He noticed his friend's face had a weary and weathered look upon it, as if he had aged years in only days.
"It would seem we have both been hard at work this morning." He sighed "The tasks we have set for ourselves seem to blossom into all directions. A simple decision quickly becomes complex and unmanageable, a strand of rope tangled into a Gordian knot, wouldn't you agree?"
Raam looked to the distance then and saw a huge pillar of smoke rising to meet the morning. He looked at his soot-covered ally and nodded solemly.
"I know what you have come to ask of me, my friend. The sentence for the barbarian has already been announced, the decision was made after a great consternation." It was Raam's turn to sigh "But you are a friend and of course I will hear you out on the subject."
Fizzle nodded "Thank you. You are right of course, I have come to beg for the life on a man who has been afflicted by a horrible disease. While in the throes of that sickness he committed atrocities..." Fizzle paused "well you are all too familiar with their consequences. But I believe the monster was the guilty party, and not the man."
"To a certain extent I share that sentiment. The decision to put the barbarian to death was not an easy one. I looked for alternatives, but given the public natures of the crimes and arrest, there were no such opportunities." Raam said with resignation.
"Humans do not benefit from the long term perspectives and upbringing in the mystical that your elf kin shares, I'm afraid" said Raam looking Fizzle in the eye. Humans are reactionary, emotional and moreso the commoners are simple people. They would not understand that the curse and the man are separate entities. To them he is a murderer in any form."
"Our ability to control and secure the people of this kingdom balances on a knife's edge, my friend. They need to respect our ability to provide security and justice. This is not a black or white issue, but it needs to be. If I were to let the barbarian go, we would lose the public trust. We would lose their respect. All that they would know was that the Sorcerer king and his odd group of lords let a savage murderer go free. We cannot have that in this kingdom. We must maintain the social contract that keeps us in power."
"Were this man a friend or a long term member of this community there MAY be a different path available, but as a drunken itinerant wanderer, he is given no exception. He still remains erratic in behavior. Akiros still believes him to be an evil man even after Jhod's cure. There are signs he may never truly be cured and that he was never a 'good' man before the curse."
"Like so many decisions made as Baron, this one was not made with the heart, but with the mind."
Having spoken those words Raam looks up at Fizzle. He can see the lines of stress around the Baron's eyes. Much of the youthful exuberance in Raam's face from the time of their first meeting has been lost.
Fizzle nodded thoughtfully at the words from his friend. The man had spoken carefully and wisely, it deserved time to allow the concepts sink in. As they continued on to the north Fizzle took a pipe from his saddlebag and prepared and lit it. The music from the lute spoke a sad and slow song of heroes gone by.
"At times I think one problem with my people is that they do live too long." Fizzle finally replied "They sit in their strongholds and watch the other races go by at alarming speed. They scheme and plan and always look to the long term. The minute happenings skip their eyes completely, I believe this is why they sometimes refer to humans as lesser races. In viewing the larger picture, the subtle beauties of your race go unnoticed to us."
Fizzle took another pull from his pipe and watched the rings of smoke drift lazily upward.
"Perhaps I have been guilty of the same loss of perspective, but one thing I do know is that the men and women you see today are not the men and women they were last year, or even last week. Many of the townspeople were roaming bandits or worse before coming to Stagfell, and yet they now work the land or in their shops earning an honest living and providing vital needs for the community. Akiros himself was such a man, and now he is a trusted advisor to yourself and me. Indeed it would be hard to imagine the spiritual success of our city without his strong guidance. The subtle beauty of your race is that they are dynamic, always changing and adapting. In the long run I believe they will come to rule all of the world while my race sits and idly watches."
The melody had changed, and was now a battle hymn of a forgotten nation. The notes were played beautifully and Fizzle watched the half-elf bard's performance.
"The people trust and respect you, of that there is no doubt. What I do not understand is why you insist on thinking of people as residing into two classes. If this barbarian was a trusted friend who had turned and killed innocents due to lycanthropy, I know you would do all within your power to cure him and ensure his recovery. The people would understand, they are wiser than you give them credit for. They do not need to be controlled and secured, they need to be led. All we have really done here is shown them that evil can be fought, evil from without and from within. They have provided the rest."
They were passing to the east of where the Galton farm sat, still burning in the distance. Some of the guards looked uneasy, and the music had stopped.
"The only question I have is whether you think this man is a continuing threat to the kingdom and its people. Tell me you think he is and that is why he must die and I will say no more, this morning's work has left a stain on me and I am a bit weary. But I ask you also to think of the precedence this will set. Like the rope knot, decisions that are easy to make have a way of becoming tangled over time, nearly impossible to untie."
They had passed the farm now and the bard picked up a lighter tune, bouncing and jovial. The guards eased a bit and the horses were visibly more at ease. Fizzle packed another pipe and offered this one to Raam.
Raam took the pipe from Fizzle. As he placed it to his lips the tip of his index finger burst into intense, red, crackling flame. He held the burning digit over the pipe and inhaled deeply. Raam sat back in the saddle of Miras for a few moments and then exhaled. As he did this Raam held his hand in the air and twisted his fingers in incantation. The smoke coalesced into the figured of a dragon which circled the two riders. Within a few seconds it landed on Fizzle slender elven shoulders and then disappeared in a tiny poof of smoke.
After taking another draw from the pipe Raam turned to his friend.
"Did I tell you I flew Fizzle? For the first time. I flew high above our city. I saw the walls, the tiny dots of the townspeople. I saw our castle."
"It all looked so small. Everything we've built, all the work, the sweat and the toil. It all looked so small and fragile like a collection of children's toys."
Raam shifted again in his saddle and sighed.
"To answer your question, yes I do believe he is a threat. He is a symbol. A powerful symbol that may tear down the fragile castle I saw from the skies. A symbol that may scatter the tiny dots of the people like ants across the wilderness."
"Merely ask Balian or Zuhair to get the perspective of the humans who make up the majority of our kingdom. They want justice. They want symbolic justice. They are the mouthpiece of the people."
"Balian made sure to tell me that if the demon Meritus drove him to a similar fate, he wished me to pass the same sentence upon him as the barbarian."
"You also asked why my judgment would be different if the curse had fallen upon yourself or Balian or Chase or Zuhair...."
Raam looked up at the sun and blinked.
"It is because even though I feel it slowly slipping from my grasp, part of me remains Raam Corso and not Baron Corso."
With that Raam pulled the last draw from the pipe, tapped it out on the back of his boot and handed it to his friend.
Fizzle took the pipe back and began packing it while he listened to the Bard play. The tune had changed again and Fizzle recognized it as an act Smirtoli's fifth concerto, the one he had written in prison before he had been beheaded. This bard was good.
"I believe you will always be Raam Corso, though you wear the mantle of Baron well. In time you will become King Corso but you will still be Raam Corso to those who knew you before the world placed you in that keep. And you will always have my respect and friendship, even when I question your judgement, which I will do to the point of annoyance at times."
Fizzle lit the pipe and took a few puffs, blowing a smoke ring that began to glow as it drifted up to the sky. "In Restov you will find a bathhouse called Arielle's House Of Earthly Delights. They have a Gnomish masseuse there who is... quite skilled. You should stay there a few days longer than is strictly necessary for your business, the rest will do you good."
"I must leave you now, affairs of state and what have you. Safe travels, Raam." He extended his hand and Raam took it. Fizzle dropped back and watched the party as it passed. As the Bard passed, a paper fell from his cloak and the half-elf caught Fizzle's eye for a brief second, never missing a beat on his lute.
