Beinn 5.9

As Massoud strode back to his original vantage he felt the anger and tension slip from him and when he sat back down on his rock he started to feel faint.

“Olive-skin,” began the archer coming up behind him.

“You may call me Master,” interrupted Massoud.

At this the Archer laughed heartily and clapped the weakened man on the back, “I call one Master and it is not you.  But let me finish.  Be careful with the Beinn.  We admire your strength as a leader, but do not make threats you are not certain you can carry out.  I killed the woman because she was an outsider.  The men I sent are both of my clan but then you did not know that.”

Massoud opened his mouth to deny his ignorance, pride perhaps his second greatest fault, but the Archer cut him off with a wave of the hand. “You could have a hundred arrows pointed at a Beinn and he would split your skull in response to a threat if he was certain he could kill you before dying.”

“Thank you for your advice,” Massoud replied neutrally.

“But that was the Right Hand that fled and I tell you now that you won’t have to kill those men for he will do it for you.  So those were men of my blood and I sent them to their deaths, which means that you, who are about to pass out at my feet, must be pondering your fate.”

That was the last thing Massoud heard as his eyes rolled up into his head and he slid off the rock to the ground, overcome by his wounds.

~ by beinnsgriob on January 2, 2009.