Mercenary

Mercenary: Chapter 9 - Breakdowns and Confrontations

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back! Officially. Life just kinda came crashing down on me recently, and it's just starting to return to normality, which is FANTASTIC in so many ways. This chapter is a bit short (sorry about that) but I am working on the next chapter as we speak.

Thank you so much for the encouraging messages, and for reading my story to begin with. It means more to me than I can possibly say, and has really helped me. You guys are completely and truly amazing. Thanks!

                                                                                                        ~Nicole

“We’re leaving.”

Wilhelm sighed as Adella broke into his chambers. He was not shocked by Adella’s outburst. If anything he expected it. He knew that things were not going to go smoothly here. It was not anything he heard, or saw. In all actuality nothing to point to this event had happened. Rather, Wilhelm had sensed it; he had sensed Adella’s uneasiness from the beginning, and this was just it coming to a boiling point.

“Adella…”

“No, stop,” Adella said with finality. “We are leaving. I can’t stand to be in this horrible place for one more minute! They don’t want us here, fine, we won’t be here.”

“Calm down, Adella,” Wilhelm began, only to be shot down.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down!” Adella nearly shouted. “You have no idea what it’s like to be me! You have no idea how horrible it is to live, day in and day out for your entire life, knowing that no one save those few closest to you will ever respect you.”

“Adella—”

“Don’t start with me Wilhelm,” Adella snarled. “Don’t give me that crap about all of us being in this together, and how we face nothing alone. You don’t have to put up with this anymore! The constant mockery, the snide looks, the rude comments…you don’t know what I have to survive in order to help these people! People stopped looking down at you the second we left the circus and you sprouted muscles.”

“Adella, would you let me get a word in?” Wilhelm chuckled lightly.

“No! Because the second you do, you’ll be trying to convince me to stay here and help and remind me how much I wanted to help and how evil that barbarian Cynric is and and…” Adella crumpled down into a ball on the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut, but a tear managed to escape, successfully managing to erase Wilhelm’s small smile. There was only one other time he’d ever seen Adella cry, and if this situation were worthy of the same tears as the one before, there was something gravely wrong.

“I just want to leave, Wilhelm,” Adella whispered, sounding so broken. “I just want to leave. Is that so bad?”

Wilhelm crouched down beside Adella and patted her back awkwardly, unsure of what to do. He’d never been in this position before.

Wilhelm cleared his throat. “Um, are you, uhh…”

Adella sniffled.

“I’ll go get Longshot.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“You did what?!”

Alexander shirked away from the sound of his best friend’s voice. Never before had Ryder spoken to him this way.

“R-Ryder,” Alexander’s voice shook slightly, “it’s not my fault. She was accusing my men of treason, and as the lord of this township, it is my duty to—”

“Oh don’t lie to me like that, Alex!” Ryder exclaimed. “If it were anyone else, any other person in these troops, you would have heeded his warning. But because Adella is a woman, because you do not view her as equal, because you view her as weak, we are losing the only extra troops the king was able to send us!”

Alexander opened his mouth to retaliate, but Ryder kept talking, cutting Alexander off.

“There’s this amazing person you refuse to accept because of some external factor she has no control over. You care for the injured, because they are unable to help themselves. You help the poor, because they have been put into an unfortunate situation that they cannot get out of, no matter how hard they try. Despite the arguments of every single person in the government, including the king, you lend your hand to all those you see fit, and treat these men you help as equals. And yet you cannot extend the same favor to a woman who is offering to help you, rather than the other way around. You are prideful, and boastful, and arrogant.” Ryder crinkled his nose at Alexander. “You are my best friend, but right now, you disgust me.”

Alexander flinched at Ryder’s harsh words. Ever since they were children, Ryder was the one person he could count on to tell him the truth, so if this was the truth….

Alexander felt shame course through his body. He felt like he was a boy again, being told off by his father.

“You are going to apologize to Adella,” Ryder said. “You are going to ask her to stay. Beg, if you have to.”

Ryder’s words inspired a fury in Alexander, and he growled in distaste. “I do have some dignity, Ryder, and I refuse to beg this woman.”

“No, you have made it clear that you have no dignity,” Ryder retorted. “If you had even a shred of dignity, you would have kept your big mouth shut and thought of the good of the village before you acted on your own foolish prejudices.”

As Ryder turned and left the room, Alexander could do nothing but hang his head in shame.