“Do you speak the human language?” He tried to sound intimidating, but he wasn’t sure it had the intended effect

The beastman’s eyes left Wersa, and focused on Dem instead.

It spoke, haltingly, “Yess.. I sspeakk...” It burst into a coughing fit, blood splattering from its mouth, unable to finish its sentence. Its voice was deep and its words were a bit slurred, but, after translating Dice’s speech, it wasn’t hard to understand it.

“You fought all of these Beastmen? Why?”

It moved slightly, not trying to stand, but repositioning itself against the tree trunk it was slouched against. This set Wersa off, she began to ready her blade again, but Dem stopped her with a wave of his hand in her periphery vision. He wanted to hear the beastman’s story.

After sitting up the boar beastman was able to speak a little better, “A sshadow came.. cycless ago.. during a clann-meet... like night but not night.. the confffusion caused turmoil in the claaans.. brother fought sister.. forrr control.. treachery.. the unclasssed attacked the Classedd.”

Another coughing fit struck the beastman. While the coughing continued, Dem tried to make sense of what he had heard. A shadow? A meeting? Internal strife? The most interesting part was that the unclassed had apparently risen up against the Classed. Out of jealousy? Or to seize their grimoires? Judging by the beastman’s better armour and weapon, it was likely to be on the side of the Classed, which like meant it was Classed itself. Like a spark cantrip, a light went off in Dem’s head.There was value here. A Classed beastman was useful for selling or bonding. It was true beastmen could have human Classes, but it wasn’t always easy to train them in one. The training process required the adaptation of the Class to the Path the beastman followed, and even then there were issues with compatibility between Class and Path. An already trained Classed beastman was worth gold.

The beastman continued its monologue, “I killedd these bbetrayers.. It is ggood you ffinished them offf.. I can ddie wwith no regretts..”

Once again, Dem had no idea what to expect here. He had never met any beastfolk before Ina, and even before that, he had only ever seen them at a distance. This beastman clearly had a sense of honor, and the clan he came from played political games. Political games the beastman had clearly lost. The beastman would be worth gold to the right buyer, if he could heal it. He would have to bond it, to keep it under control in the meantime, though the type of bond he would use would have to be weaker than the mutual bond he and Ina shared. It would be easier to break the bond later if and when he choose to sell it. He had never put any thought into buying and selling beastfolk. Beastfolk, if they were lucky, were sold to Tamers or anyone else wanting to bond such a creature, if they were unlucky, they forced to fight for entertainment, or used as training dummies, or expendable shock troops, and if they were very unlucky, they were used as ingredients. He wasn’t sure he had the heart to sell a beastman into such a potential fate. He could make the decision later though, first he needed ensure the beast would live and would not resist the bond. After a moment more of thought, he decided to experiment.

He moved closer to the beastman, so that he stood to Wersa’s left shoulder, just behind her.

He spoke, in his most commanding voice, “Beastman, do you wish to live? I can heal you.”

His words brought a quick look from Wersa, but he ignored her.

He continued with his pitch to the beastman, “You must yield to us, to my spells, if you want to live. I am a Beast Tamer. I can heal you, but you must accept the bond.”

The boar beastman trembled angrily at his words, though it did not try to stand.

The beastman barked at Dem, “..I.. am a Classed Warrrior, of a great clann.. I.. do not..become the play thingg of a human.. I die.. killing my ennemies... you are weakk!”

This was not a surprising response, all things considered. Beast Tamers always looked weak, or weaker than they should have relative to their beasts, and yet untamed beasts only respected strength. It was a fundamental problem all Tamers faced. It was a problem with a lot of potential solutions different Tamers had used in the past, but he had something new to try. Now would be the time to try his experiment.

With no more words, he draw on this Path and focused his influence into his eyes. At least he would get to see what his Gaze did to a beastman. He unleashed the concentrated influence as quickly as he could, while he still had the attention of the beastman, impatient to see the result.

As the Gaze connected with beastman’s eyes, its pupils dilated wide and it seemed to sag against the tree. The reaction was not quite the mental blow he had seen when he used it against Dice, Karmis, and Wersa, but it had an effect. The beastman would be more suggestable for a while, if he understood the spell correctly, but he still needed a display of power to push the beastman over the edge. His influence was just influence, it was not the same thing as control or intimidation.

As the beastman tried to recover, he sent over the bond, “Ina show yourself to the beastman, look as frightening as you can, and come to stand next to me.”

Dem spoke, loudly, barking an order to Wersa, “Wersa, kneel!”

There was no lag time, no hesitation between his order and Wersa’s follow through. Her knees banged so powerfully against the ground, they left small craters. She stuck the tip her sword into the ground to steady herself. Dem looked at her side profile, looking for any hint of rebellion, but her eyes were still glued to the beastman.

The beastman’s eyebrows rose at Wersa’s actions, but he made no comment. As the beastman’s attention was on Wersa, Ina’s materialized behind the beastman, her clawed tails found critical points on the beastman to threaten as she walked past it. The beastman startled at the revelation of a many-tailed beastwoman appearing next to him, its hand reaching for his axe, but stopping short due to the prick of a claw at its neck and two more claws appearing near its eyes. The beastman froze with as frightened a look as Dem could imagine on on boar beastman. Its eyes were wide and it trembled slightly with the effort it took to stay still. It seemed to have some instinctual fear of the many-tailed. Perhaps, they had a natural predator-prey relationship?

“Beastman, Wersa here is a Class Warrior, like you, yet she kneels. The many-tailed, Ina is my companion. I treat my bonded beastfolk well, as you can see. I have no need for a play thing. I need another mighty warrior. Give your word to allow the bond, and I will heal you. You can fight again, as a Warrior” His voice held as much feeling as he could muster, and he burnt the power of his Path into his passive Influence.

The beastman seemed to stop to think, which didn’t bode well for Dem’s efforts, but nothing was perfect. Immediate agreement would have been the best scenario. Dem had done what he could to convince the beastman. He didn’t want to use his other spells as his control of them was imperfect. Dice had been functionally useful, but a far cry from he needed from a party member. Karmis was even worse, the multiple Domination spells he had used had damaged her permanently. It was likely, had she been any weaker, she would have simply died on the spot as a result. He did not need another brain damaged follower in need of his care.

“..heal me.. let me fight the Warriorr.. If she winss.. I will doo as you ask.. If I wwin.. I return to mmy clan..”

The beastman wanted to negotiate? While it was dying no less. He had to admire it, on some level. It took guts to barter while you were dying. This deal could be bad for Dem, if Wersa lost, it might be hard to contend with the beastman. Then again, even with healing, the beastman would be much weaker than it would normally be. Wersa wasn’t just a Warrior, she was a Warrior in the prime of her life with many sequences of experience. He was very confident she could take on this beastman Warrior. Even if Wersa did lose, the beastman would be in no condition to fight him and Ina.

It was odd the beastman wanted to return to its clan. If it was chased away from its clan, going back would likely only result in its death. They had sent five or six unclassed after it, which was a sizable force. Beastmen were strong fighters, even unclassed. The beastman was asking to die on his own terms, it seemed to Dem.

Dem turned toward Wersa, seeking her input, but she only nodded her head while keeping her eyes on the beastman.

“Alright, beastman, you have a deal. You will fight Wersa here, but not to the death. Do you understand? When you lose you will accept the bond. Swear on your clan. In return, I will give you a cycle’s worth of healing and recuperation, and let you go should you win the fight. Know that my many-tailed will kill you should you fail to live up our bargain.” He tried to make his voice sound as grim as he could with his last statement, banking on the boar beastman’s fear of Ina.

He knew he sounded like a villain, spouting off about the consequences of betrayal to the beastman, but he had to make his position seem strong. Taming a beast could be as much theater as anything else, depending on the method you used.

“..I agreee.. You maay heal.. mme..”

Wersa moved forward, sword out, until she reached the beastman’s axe, which she kicked away a good dozen spans. Then she stood over it, sword at the ready, waiting for Dem to begin his healing spells. Ina moved in from the other side, her clawed tails at the ready. Dem moved in, only close enough to touch the beastman to apply the spells. The beastman merely looked at him and sat still, letting the spells take effect. It wasn’t entirely clear the beastman would live even with the spells, but it was worth trying.

***

Over the next cycle, Dem applied every healing spell had twice to the beastman. He had even given the beastman a healing solution from Karmis’ supply, though only the Wersa said was the cheapest one. He started something of a dialogue with the beastman, as it healed. They had exchanged names and a little more information. The boar beastman was called Graf-pulackt.. the name continued for another dozen syllables. The beastman’s name was nearly unpronounceable and too long, so they had settled on Graf, as a nickname. The beastman was of the Quill-Boar Clan of a place Graf had called Bonepick Mountain. Dem had never heard of a Bonepick Mountain, but he supposed it was a name the local beastfolk clans used for one of the nearby mountains. He had asked about the ‘shadow’ and the clan turmoil, but Graf had gone quiet on him. Graf wasn’t likely to betray the location of his clan or its current strength, and while the information might sell in the settlement, Dem wasn’t particularly interested in being the cause of the destruction of an entire clan, or whatever was left of it. It was possible the settlements already knew about the clan, but the potential profits were projected to be too low. Beastfolk rarely allowed themselves to be captured alive.

The beastman took to the healing well, and had been hiding some strength. Graf’s wounds had looked worse than they actually were, Wersa had been right to be cautious. Dem would have to rely on her instincts more for situations like this one. Despite the healing, Graf still looked exhausted, in so far as a boar beastman could look exhausted, from the perspective of a human. They searched through the bodies of the fallen beastmen, but had found little. It wouldn’t have made sense for them to bring treasure with them while hunting a political rival or whatever Graf was. They did, however, find a beastcore, in the first beastman Wersa had killed. Beastcores from beastmen were rare, most beastmen would destroy their core before it could be harvested. Even the act of killing a beastman, unaware, would often damage their beastcore. The beastcore they harvested was in pristine shape, it would be worth a gold or more, though he would need Greer to get it evaluated.

By the latter half of the cycle Graf was able to stand without aide, and by the end of the cycle deadline, Graf was giving his axe a few practice swings, while staring steadily at Wersa. Graf’s stare was intense, and probably directed at finding a weakness in Wersa, Dem surmised. Graf’s axe swings were slow, but powerful. Too slow, in fact. He wasn’t sure if it Graf was putting on an act, or just warming up slowly.

They had emptied the clearing of bodies and trampled down the dirt down to provide a place to fight. If there were other beasts or humans who had heard or smelled the earlier battle, they hadn’t showed up. Dem’s earlier worry, over interlopers, had been for nothing. He was thankful that this battle between Classed Warriors would go on without interruption. Few beasts or Adventurers would get between two Classed Warriors fighting.

Dem brought Karmis down from up high, she had hardly moved, but he did noticed her health was deteriorating fast. She looked green in the face and she still hadn’t been able to apply her illusion properly. Her body’s injuries had been healed, for the most part, but he couldn’t heal a failing body. After they finished this battle they would have to leave immediately for the settlement.

He called the two Warriors over, having each one stand at one side of the clearing.

“This is a battle to submission, not to the death. I healed you so you could live Graf. Swear on your Clan you will honor our agreement.” Dem's voice was loud in the empty clearing.

Graf spoke quickly, clearly eager for the fight, “I sswear.. on my clann..”

Dem turned to the Warrior woman, “Wersa, don’t kill him.”