The Mercenary's Plan

*After getting acquainted with Heath a meeting was quickly called, Leon and his inner circle sat in the meeting hall to speak of recent events* "So, Vivian brought me mostly up to speed on what happened while I was out but I'm still a bit unclear on some things. What has been done about our food situation? We are down 50 days worth of food and winter is right around the corner." *Derrick stands and addresses Leon* "My king, we have sent a raven to King Thron and supplies should be here soon." *Leon hangs his head and sighs* "It seems that we may never be out of debt of that man…What of Bron? If what he says is true then this will mean nothing if he simply robs us again, and I won't be under the illusion that I can stop him this time."

*The room is silent for a brief second until a voice from above speaks* "Aren't ya forgetten someone?" *Suddenly Heath falls from the ceiling and onto the table landing on his hands and feet* "Ya hired me to keep your people safe from baddies and that's what I'm gonna do." *Heath gives Leon a toothy smile* "And by the way, I don't appreciate being left out of the secret council meetings." *Heath takes a seat in an empty chair nearby and his ears twitch* "My lord, you know how I feel about mercenaries, but I believe Heath is someone we can trust, perhaps just this once we should let a mercenary do their job." *Leon nods slowly* "Then that settles it, Thron will feed our people and Heath will protect them, while I, their king, sit here and let other people do everything for me." *Leon slams his fist on the table and walks back to his office leaving the others in silence*

*Leon sits down in his office and holds his head in his hands breathing deeply when he hears a soft knock at the door* "My lord, forgive me if I'm intruding." *Leon looks up to see his mother Reina standing in the doorway* "Mom, you should be in bed." *Reina smiles and walks towards Leon still looking a bit pale* "Don't worry, I'm recovering, and besides when a mother hears that her child needs her you'll be surprised at how quickly her pain fades." *Reina smiles again and pulls up a chair beside Leon* "Sweetie, what is troubling you?" *Leon sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose* "I am called king but I have done nothing to earn that title. I have hired mercenaries to fight my battles and I have called another king to feed my people, my town is built upon that king's land and the tools I use to better my people's future are borrowed from him as well. I am may be a king but none of what got me here was my doing. I thought after 6 months of training I could do something by myself but apparently I can't."

*Reina sighs and grabs Leon's hand gently* "My son, being a king has nothing to do with being able to do things by yourself, in fact it's quite the opposite. Being a king is about making the right choices, and the reason why you are king is because the people that follow you believe that you can make those choices. When our home was destroyed the people were lost, they were scared and they didn't have the first clue what to do, but you my son, you led them to Yarden, you gave them the chance at a new life, that is why you lead them now, that is why those men died in service to you, because the life they live now is only possible because you made it possible." *Reina kissed her son's hand and smiled warmly at him*

*Leon turned and hugged his mother tight* "Thank you mom, you always know exactly what to say." *He stroked her cheek and smiled* "I made a promise to you when you were born, I promised to always be by your side, and when you fell down I would always help you back up, I'm your mother, it's what I do." *Reina kissed Leon's cheek and got up walking out of the meeting hall. Leon took a deep breath and walked back outside taking a look around. The town was functioning but the people were worried, just a few days ago Leon walked down this very road and was greeted by smiling faces, now those faces are looking at him with unease. Just then Leon hears someone approaching from behind so he turns and is greeted by a kneeling Derrick* "My lord, it seems our mercenary has been working hard already, he said he has something you need to see." *Leon nods* "Alright where is he?" *Derrick stands* "He is in the forest my lord." *Leon raises an eyebrow* "The forest? What could he possibly have to show us there?" *Nevertheless Leon follows Derrick to the forest where they meet up with Heath* "Ah, there ya are, I have a present for ya."

*Heath leads Derrick and Leon deeper into the forest when they all begin to hear a quiet but coarse voice* "What on earth is that?" *Heath turns and smiles* "That my lord is the sound of a rat, our rat." *Heath gives his familiar toothy grin and moves a branch out of the way to reveal a green humanoid creature caught in a hanging net. The creature in question was a goblin, and currently he was cursing at Leon and the others, fortunately for Leon the goblin was using an unknown language to him* "So you brought us out here to show us that you caught a goblin?" *Heath nods happily* "Yep yep." *Heath smiles and responds to the goblin in the same coarse language to which Leon's eyes widen in surprise* "Heath, you speak goblin??" *Heath shakes his head* "Unfortunately no, but lucky for us this goblin speaks beastial."

*The party of three stare at the goblin as it continues to spit out curses* "So Heath, I don't mean to insult you, but what use is he to us?" *Heath chuckles* "I thought it was obvious lord, we can use this little guy to get information, after all he is bound to know all sorts of useful things." *Heath flashed a devilish grin at the goblin and as if sensing some sort of primal fear the goblin finally went quiet and simply stared at the skin-changer* "So you mean for us to use this creature to get knowledge on our enemy?" *Derrick asked skeptically* "Heath I don't mean to keep questioning your methods but how can we trust anything this thing says?"

*Heath sighs and turns back to Leon* "Lord have mercy… Leon, you must have studied goblins with those fancy books you city lovers are always going on about right?" *Leon silently nods* "Well then you must know that one goblins can't keep secrets, they are horrible liars, and two goblins are not like me and you, loyalty and honor does not exist in their world, the only thing that gets a goblin to follow orders is undoubted and uncontested strength. In order for a goblin to listen to you, you have to be what I like to call the top dog."

*Leon looks at Derrick and then back at Heath* "Ok…How does that help us?" *Heath sighs and slaps his own face* "To put it simply I'm going to give this little guy a new top dog to worship." *Heath regains his happy devilish grin and turns to the captured goblin again, in response the goblin whimpers quietly and stares into Heaths eyes as the skin-changer bares his fangs*