You, Colubra, Champion of the Schnee Tribe and nominal Priestess of the Mother Goddess, had gotten sick of Bor's lies. The human had lied to you from the first moments he spoke to you. How, given his constant lies, could you trust his claims of sanctuary to be genuine?
While Bor was dedicated enough to withstand rocks even without his Aura, you were going to enjoy tearing off the cloak of lies he wove on himself.
You turned away from Bor, fixing your gaze onto the point Ikarus presented. Sure enough, you could see two figures, one much smaller than the other, hiding in the shadow of a burnt tree just beyond the clearing. "You two!" You shouted with all your might, barely noticing the look of horror dawning on Bor's face. "Come out from those trees now or I will hunt you down like wild game!"
The answer came forcefully and far closer than you expected. "No!" You glanced back and saw Bor turned towards the two figures, hand held high to halt any advance. "Stay there!" His words heralded an eruption of shouts and a renewed push by your tribesmen against the Warriors.
Where before your Warriors were held back by duty, you could see the conflict on your Warriors' faces. This was not a matter of trying to protect the tribesmen any longer. This was a war between their duty to keep their friends and family within the wall, and their duty to remove any threat to the tribe. No show of force would give you more time now. This was what you saw dancing along the faces on the wall.
More interesting, however, was the look on Bor's face as he turned back towards you. There was panic, yes, but tempered with a desperate determination. He did not have the face of a warrior whose trap was revealed. He glared at you with the eyes of a bear ready to protect something more precious than his own life. 'Are you going to tell the truth now, Human?' You thought, trying to divine the path forwards, wishing you had a spare moment to consult your coins. You would make do.
You leveled the crossbow directly towards him, hand gripping the firing bar, only a small push away from sending the killing bolt. "I do not enjoy liars, Human!" You roared in equal measure to be heard over the shouts and chants. "Tell the truth now, or I will kill you where you stand and hunt down your comrades like wild game!"
Bor the Bad Lair answered without hesitation, and now without lies. "Twenty two of my tribe were left after the Tiers took all those who were no longer loyal to our bonds. Two left us to wander north into the Burned Lands, while seven and ten joined the Baunerhofs including The Huntsman. I and two others-"
"Names!" You cut in, not noticing the expectant silence which fell over your fellow Faunus. Their attention was split between you and Bor, waiting for the moment the bolt would be loosed and this threat removed.
"Sif and Tan!" Bor roared, "My wife and son! We came here because we are sick of cowering behind walls!" Any pretense of humility was gone, replaced with a raw burn which you saw in the eyes of the zealots on the eve of the raid. "My people have crusaded against the Grimm since the days we were lead by Lady Winter as the killing light fell upon the Burned Lands! Since the day I was old enough to raise a sword, I was shown the ways to end the monsters haunting my son's nightmares!"
The first real gesture you saw from Bor was him shoving a thumb to his chest, his posture changed from a small sycophant to a warrior asserting his right to respect. "I am Bor The Grimm Breaker, Anointed of Winter, and I wish to fight!" With each statement he rapped the thumb against his chest. "I will not cower in comfortable imprisonment like the Baunerhofs! I will not fawn over vapid constructs like the Schloss! I will not revel in my superiority like the Kriegers! I will not devote myself to the past at the cost of the future like the Zuruck Fords! I am a Winter Warrior, and so I shall fight!"
The Winter Warrior pointed at you. "Your tribe loathes me! To you, I am no different than the slavers of the Kriegers or the slave drivers of the Schloss! You are the best chance for my family to survive untainted, standing tall and defiant against the darkness! You are my best chance to keep fighting against the Grimm!"
Bor threw his arms open. "Colubra, Champion of the Schnee Tribe! Accept my wife and child into your tribe! In return, I give you my life to do with as you please! Kill me where I stand! Brand me as a slave and degrade me for the rest of my days! Send me alone against the Grimm! Force the secrets of my faith from me! Treat me with the same cruelty I have seen from the Schloss and Kreig! I will accept all without complaint!"
His voice dropped from a shout as he delivered his final words. These words were not meant for the tribe's ears. Only your's. "All I ask is for my family to be safe and free. I beg for their sanctuary. Nothing more."
Silence reigned once Bor was finished with his speech, though it was soon deposed by a quiet din. Bor's plea had muddled the opinions of the Schnee. Where you before had heard chants of killing, the mutterings you heard were far less certain.
"There are three? Then we kill all three." You heard from a young voice to your right.
"The human sells itself into slavery." You heard from an older voice, a reply to the young voice. "We suffered under the brand and club of humanity. To do the same would be justice."
"It is a threat, just like all others of its kind. We can't allow it to taint our homes."
"Bring them in." An male voice spoke to your left, "Colubra told us there is a way to turn humans away from the Trickster."
"That was only the Tarenti," A female voice responded, "And they did nothing to stop the Schloss scouts from burning down our forest."
"They helped us against the Schloss, and it would have been a full raid without them. Bring them in."
You listened harder, searching for farther statements. "Blood for blood. The Grimm took one from us. We take one from the Grimm." "Idiot, that's only the Schloss." "Have him kill his son, then kill him." "No, have him kill his wife." "If he wants to fight that much, let him kill ten Grimm." "Kill the Schloss." "Kill the Krieger." "Take over the Barunerhofs." "Make it repent." "Make it convert."
Behind and to your right, Elder Natalius tapped his cane as he considered, the rare panic you had seen earlier banished. "No doubt this 'Bor' knows how to awaken Auras. If we could harness such a force for our Warriors..." He rapped the cane once more on the timbers. "Colubra. 'Bor' shall reside outside the walls, his family a hostage until all our Warriors' Auras have been awakened and we know his secrets. Then we shall dispose of them."
"You have no idea just how big of a gift was just thrown at our feet." Ikarus mocked, behind and to your left. "Look at the warrior. Any tribe would take him in and he'd distinguish himself immediately. Everyone values a good warrior, and we can use that. Slip him into a tribe, and we'll be able to kill leaders whenever we want. If the warrior's kine and kid are likewise as useful, then we could cripple the other tribes and take over in a matter of months! You would want to get rid of such an important tool?"
You mulled over the words you heard, sparing perhaps a moment too long trying to uncover the meaning of 'kine'. 'Well, something to ask once's he's had enough nights outside.' Shaking your head, you focused on the matter at hand. Bor's speech had silenced your people for the moment, but it would not be for long. No doubt your people would rediscover their fear before half a shorthour passed. Then they would charge in force, no longer held back by your Warriors, intent on tearing apart everything they could find outside the walls. If such happened, you knew your Rivals would eat away at your power base. You would be giving them the weapons they would need to bring you down.
There was no more room for questions. You needed to be decisive.
Bor's fate.
[] Shoot.
[] Write-In.
The Bor family's fate.
[] Hunt Them Down.
[] Write-In.