"A small bite is exactly what it was. I saw the wound personally yesterday, and it was mostly on the hand itself, not the fingers. I'm not sure what these two got up to last night, but Steven's fingers were just fine when he left camp last night. The bruises on Mark's face are way too fresh to be from last night as well. This must be some kind of misunderstanding." Kalan said, doing an impressive job of reigning in his anger.

"Your people assaulted these generous servants of God, who were in your camp to help, and now you claim the injuries you see right in front of your face are fabrications? These are good, God-fearing men. They would not lie." George said, voice dripping with indignation.

"That is not what he said. Those injuries look very real to me. Steven was bit by a wolf yesterday. He did not lose his fingers in that incident, and Mark was never struck in the face. Those injuries are unrelated to yesterday's incident." Andrew said.

I will burn this whole goddamn camp to the ground if this stupid motherfucker tries to come after Leah or Carter. This fucking dickhead has no idea what he's dealing with, I doubt there's more than five people in this camp over level twenty. They wouldn't last a second in a real fight and, and I need to control my temper. This is some shit between the three of them, no need to drag both our camps into this shitstorm.

George's brow furrowed slightly, his disappointment shifting a hair into anger. "I see. I trust you are speaking what you believe to be the truth, but I trust my men as well. They would not lie to me. So we find ourselves at an impasse. We can agree that there was an incident at least, if not the details of said incident?"

"Yes." Kalan said.

"Mark, Steven, you may go." George said, nodding his head in their direction. They each gave a small nod of respect in turn and filed their way out the door. George waited for them to close the door behind them before he spoke again. "Let us speak practically here. One of my men was permanently crippled while visiting your camp, this has damaged his ability to live and contribute to the camp as a whole. The results of yesterday's incident have left us short handed. No pun intended." George said, with an entirely inappropriate smile. His demeanor changed entirely. He leaned back in his chair, resting one arm on it's plush backing, expression shifting from righteous indignation to amused conceit without missing a beat. "I don't give a shit about the girl, but there has to be some form of compensation. You crippled one of my best enforcers. You break it, you buy it. That's how the world works bud. "

Rage boiled up inside of Andrew. That was it then. Everything about this man was a lie. He was conning all these people, and they were eating it right up. Now he was trying to turn that bullshit on his people too. Kalan's voice inturrupted his thoughts. Saving him from a very undiplomatic response.

"Are you even religious?"

"I'm God's most trusted servant, charged with the arduous task of guiding his people to salvation in the new world." George said, chuckling. "Of course I'm religious! god would never choose a heathen like you to guide his flock."

Wow, fuck this guy.

"Sure. What do you want?" Andrew said, all pretense of civility gone. He was just using this as leverage to try and get some shit out of them. That was clear. This was an entirely different kind of negotiation now. His 'flock' believed him implicitly from what Andrew had seen so far. Even Jason bought his 'vision from god' narrative, despite disagreeing with him on a number of administrative priorities. He had apperently correctly predicted all sorts of things in the early months. Now that they knew his game, they could take action to prevent him from trying to pull this kind of shit in the future.

"Well, we need to compensate for lost productivity. I want that big one to work for me. The one that beat Mark ever so badly. You must teach one of my men this 'rune magic' as well, and hold nothing back. Withholding knowledges is the true evil you know, especially in difficult times like these. You seem like an educated man, you must understand."

"My people are not commodities to be traded, Hell, they're not even really 'my people', they're free to do as they please."

"Ah, but they will listen if you give them a command. You don't have to do much, just send him over here to help with our construction efforts. I'll take care of the rest. "

"That's not an option. You can have every third log we clear for the next two weeks. That's it."

George leaned forward again, flashing his most genuine smile so far as he spoke. "For the right hand of my most trusted enforcer? Please, you insult me. You'll spend one week here, teaching a group of men I select on the creation of those runes, under my supervision."

"You know I probably would've done that for free if you never tried to pull this shit? You won't enjoy any of the lessons I have to teach you now. Two inscribed axes and I'll set up a circle to dry your logs out. "

"Bah. I lost an enforcer, not a damn lumberjack. I want spears instead, and you'll make a 'circle' to set the foundation for my mansion- ah, my church, I mean, in addition to drying logs."

"One spear, one foundation, and one log drying circle. Final offer."

"Deal! Ah, wonderful. I'm so glad we were able to come to an arrangement. You are a worthy negotiator my friend." George said, standing up from his chair and offering up his hand to shake.

Andrew and Kalan stood as well, ignoring the hand as they turned as one and left the building.