Day 359
"I say you're a fool Theodric! What is the point of having my men poised to deal a surprise blow if you want to warn them first?" Growls a longhaired, bearded, beast of a man.
Another equally impressive but elder man shoots to his feet, skidding his chair backward into the shadows behind him whilst banging his fist on the white marble table that is sat at by seven other Warlords. He sneers at the man and snarls, "A fool you call me Harald?" However, looking quickly to a figure partly concealed by shadows at the head of the table he nods and holds a hand up towards the seated figure. Turning to face the man opposite he smiles through gritted teeth but his eyes betray a hatred of the man. "Is it foolish to live with honour?"
Harald, too, gets to his feet and leans forward over the table towards the man, "You know that is not what I meant, but must honour come at the price of victory?"
"Strength will carry you through to victory, not honour." Theodric folds his arms and arches an eyebrow.
Harald rolls his eyes, "Aye, strength would if we had 60 Wolf class titans at our disposal but you know the limitations of the Prowler Class. We cannot send my men into battle against a forewarned entrenched enemy twice their size and better teched. They would be too quick in joining the Great She Wolf," he gestures towards the gold embossed wolf's head at the centre of the large rectangle conference table. "Nay, we strike quickly and unannounced, it will be the only chance they have."
Theodric strokes his ginger grey streaked beard whilst shaking his head, "No, that is not the way our people do things. That is the way of the ORZ."
"Have you seen how successful the ORZ have become? You would deny our clan that?"
A few of the other warlords murmur in agreement but Theodric simply points to the centre of the table and the muttering stutters out. "Success at the price of our souls? That is too high a price."
Harald smiles slyly, "Is it not said in the ancient texts, 'There is no better honour than victory itself'?"
But Theodric quickly replies "Ah, but it is also written, 'Do unto others as you would have done to yourself'."
Harald looks at the man incredulously. "You expect others to live by our creed? You are naïve indeed! You spend too much time buried in the ancient texts and not enough in the real world!"
"If you insult me one more time Harald, I will-"
"You will do what Bookworm?"
"I wasn't always the High Priest, grunt!"
A few muffled guffaws come from some of the other council members and both men's faces flush an angry red.
"Take your seats," a quiet, level voice commands. Both men oblige immediately and the table falls into an uneasy silence as a middle aged man leans forward into the light to reveal a half melted face with the other half a tangled mess of scars. "You both make good points and both, in your way, are correct. My ruling is we warn them first as we have always done." He spots Harald's head droop, "Harald, my spies and scouts reveal that he is also under attack from another clan so your men will not be the sole targets."
Harald looks indignant.
"Yes, I know this was to be our battle alone but the politics of the sphere moved swifter than our logistics. Others have come and gone whilst you toiled but make no mistake, Harald, even with the cover of another clan's attack you will be hard pressed to breach the enemy's defences." Harald's face softens a little as Randwulf continues, "The fighting will be fierce," Harald brightens even more, "and some might say it a suicide mission with little chance of success." Randwulf looks with feigned concern at the excited warlord, "Maybe we should call this off?"
Harald is aghast, "No! My liege! I assure you my men are up to the task!"
"Good, then it's settled. I'll send out the declaration immediately. Council adjourned."
