Journey Into the North

It was as the elf had said. Sedgeley was no more. All that remained was a hollow, blackened shell; charred corpses and structures remained after what appeared to have been a massive fire.

Blackened corpses littered the streets. From the placement, it looked as though they hadn't even had time to run before they were fried where they stood. The complete and utter shock on their twisted, melted faces reinforced my theory. I nudged one body with my foot, and it disintegrated into a pile of ash. Whatever had done this much damage, it was powerful. I recalled the spheres of fire that had taken down the dragon.

I walked straight to the center of town, expecting to find a fountain, and found a crater instead. It was roughly fifteen, maybe twenty feet in diameter, and almost five feet deep. There were no corpses within fifteen paces of it, and the ground around the crater was actually fused together, leading me to believe any bodies that might have been there were part of that fusion.

I grimaced. The sheer power the Priesthood, if they were indeed the cause, wielded was mind boggling. I began to wonder where they had gotten such power from. The ability to level a town was no small feat. I began to count the buildings it had decimated. The higher the count, the more I was impressed. When I got to fifteen, I started to feel like something was wrong. From behind me and to the West, a wail came form one of the burnt out shells of a building. It was Finn. At twenty, I realized that I was counting the wrong things.

I pulled my gauntlet off once more. The Banic Runes were swirling more frantically, like they were excited by something.

"What have you done to me?" I whispered.

I started walking to the building where I had heard Finn cry out. Then I began to jog. Before I knew it, I was in a full on sprint to get to her, even if just to see her face. I reached a door way (for the door was laying a few feet away, blown off its hinges), and grabbed the frame to stop myself.

The young woman was on her knees, cradling the head of a partially blackened corpse of a young man. The mere sight nearly buckled my knees. What...is happening to me? Senselessly murdering prisoners...ignoring those that need protection...Falthyr would not approve.

I staggered over to Finn and dropped to one knee.

"Finn..."

She didn't respond, seemed to not notice me. I sat at her side and crossed my legs--and waited for her to rejoin me.

Adrian placed his hands on the person "Heal, heal, please. His emaninated with a green glow then subsided. What was wrong this person was still breathing yet his healing wouldn't heal the gash in the guys chest. Not even the burns were healing. If he didn't heal this guy soon he would surely die. He would not let anyone die. Adrian felt a hand on his shoulder he looked up, and Seraph was standing over him. then Seraph said, in a soft voice, "He's dead, Adrian."

Reality hit him, he saw all around the body he had tried to heal were all long dead. He looked round no one was alive everyone was dead; most of these souls had been innocent.

All had been killed so horribly. Adrian kept looking round the eyes all showed fear. None of these people deserved to be killed like this. He felt memories of the battlefield coming back looking around. These people had had no chance. No way to defend themselves. Yet, they were so horribly murdered.

Seraph sat down next to Adrian to comfort Finn. Adrian stood up. The injustice of all this he thought. He drew out his blade slowly. Held it high up close to his face “I swear that the Town of Sedgeley shall get peace, knowing that scum that levelled your town and destroyed your lives shall be slain. He whispered.

Adrian eyes glassed over. His sword shot three bolts of blue lights out. The three bodies in the building started to emaminate with a blue glow. The light in the bodies shot out and joined the bolts of light from his sword. Three bolts slowly matelized into three ethernal long swords. The swords fell to his side

Adrian eyes returned to normal. He looked and saw the three ethereal swords hovering to his side. He heard a voice “Adrian you swore to kill the person responsible for this, the town of Sedgeley is helping you, our souls are in those swords.

Adrian heard nothing after that. He looked round at Seraph and the distraught Finn “I’m not leaving my whole life I’ve been a coward, well no more running now.”
He lifted his sword and drew the three-ethernal blades into his sword. His sword glowed blue then three more signs appeared on it. He slid his sword back into the scabbard.

He turned to ask Seraph what just happened.

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while. My mom's been really strict with computer time.

Carmenia shuddered. The sight was too horrific to see, and she lowered her eyes to the blackened ground.

Finn was crying over a young man's corpse. Her lover? Carmenia would have wondered, but her mind was too pained and jumbled to even process the thought.

She had no relations that had dwelled in Sedgely, and yet she mourned for the men and woman in this group who had lost loved ones. She cried for them, not the dead, for the dead were gone, and could felt no pain.

Carmenia wanted to wrap her arms around Finn's and cry with her, but she didn't, and Finn probably wanted to be alone anyway.

Sitting down, her eye's caught a glimpse of a baby's white body impaled on a spear. She bowed her head. Who could have done this?

It was fully dark out before I even realized that I wasn't alone. I rubbed my sore eyes with the heels of my hands and looked over to see Seraph, cross-legged, staring soberly at Liam's body. After a moment, he looked up at me. "'E's dead," I mumbled, looking away and fingering a patch of singed hair on Liam's head.

"He is," Seraph agreed.

"No goblins di' this," I added after a few moments; he didn't say anything, which I took as agreement. "I've kilt goblins. Men can' be much diff'rent." For a moment, I didn't even recognize my own voice; how could I speak so calmly about all this?

"It's very different," Seraph said, and I looked up to see him shake his head.

"Don' care."

"You will."

"I won'!" I shouted, turning to face him. "I won'!" Then, somehow, I had launched myself at Seraph and was beating my fists futilely against his armored chest, shouting over and over again that I didn't care if killing humans was different than killing goblins, I didn't care at all, I only wanted them dead--all dead. And Seraph just kept repeating my name, his tone ranging from remoreseful to frustrated. Finally, he grabbed my arms; his grip was strong enough that after a few minutes of struggling, I gave up, certain I'd have finger-shaped bruises. I let my head fall so he wouldn't see the tears in my eyes.

"Finn, listen to me," he said, his voice tight, and I winced as his gauntleted hand brushed the bruised side of my face. "You would regret it. You would care."

"You don' seem ta," I mumbled, moving my head away from his hand. He let it fall after a moment, and didn't speak again. I tried to think of something to say to end the silence--I never remembered Sedgeley being quiet before, ever--but my mind and body both seemed to be numb and exhausted. I looked up into Seraph's face; it was turned half away from me, frown lines etched deep in his forehead.

I lifted my hand to his face, then, brushed it carefully across the line of his jaw and up to the line of runes. They were cold and slick beneath my fingers, like ice, and I quickly moved my touch back to his warm, unmarked skin. He stared at me with his good eye.

"Teach me," I said, my voice shaking. "Teach me no' t' care."

"Teach me. Teach me no' t' care."

Her words hit me like an ogre's club.

"Finn..." I let her name slip out of my mouth, not really intending to finish the thought. She stared at me, her eyes begging me to say something. But I had no answer. She assumed that killing another man was as simple as...as not caring about his life. It just..did not work that way. After a moment of staring each other in silence, Finn looked away, tears forming in her eyes once more as she pulled her hand away from my face.

I stared at my hands laying on my thighs. These hands and wielded blades and lances and crossbows, and killed dozens, maybe hundreds, of sentient beings. This young woman, so unaccustomed to the blood and the slaughter, had seen them kill, with no mercy, no fewer than five breathing, thinking beings in the past week. She was right to believe that the ability to kill stemmed from a lack of caring.

I wanted to reach out to her, to touch her face...to tell her what I felt. But I didn't. Couldn't.

"Finn." This time, I had something to say.

She wouldn't look at me. Tentatively, I reached out with my bare hand and touched her cheek. She didn't flinch, even when the Runes brushed her skin.

She raised her head.

"The power to kill come not from the ability to stop caring." She blinked once, causing a tear to run down her cheek. "The power to kill comes from the knowledge that your cause is greater than the other man's."

She stared at me for a moment, then seemed to understand.

"If you believe that your cause is just, and that the man at the end of your blade deserves every bit of the pain you have dealt him, because his cause was the weaker, the power to destroy him will come to you."

She nodded; I hoped she understood.

"You may weep for the loss of life...but as long as you know that what you did was just, and right, do not weep for the loss of his soul."

I stopped and pulled my hand away from her. We sat in silence for another moment. I prayed to Falthyr that what I had said meant something to her, and that she would understand what it meant.

A blue light out of the corner of my eye pulled my attention. Adrian was standing at attention, his eyes closed and his blade raised in a silent salute. His lips moved, but the sounds of his whisper were lost to me.

His eyes seemed to glow a moment, but then it was gone. Then he looked down, and seemed to see something I couldn't. He gawked for a moment, then, apprently satisfied, sheathed his sword. He then looked to me. I merely stared back, then said "Go make sure the others are all right. Take Carmenia with you."

The elven woman, who was standing off to the side, turned aournd, surprised by my presence. Adrian hesitated, then nodded and took Carmenia by the arm and led her away from the ruined building.

I looked back to Finn.

Henry heard Alden whisper something to himself. The large Gryphon was transfixed by the smaller grpyhon that burst out of the shell.

The thief couldn't care less. The bodies were still on his mind. The anger was still in his blood. "Alden, I'm going," he said, and started to walk away.

The Gryhon barely heard him, but noticed out of the corner of the eye he was leaving. Alden still didn't turn his head, to obsessed with the little Gryphon in front of him. "Henry! Wait! You can't just leave now!"

"Why the hell not?" Henry shouted back, and knew Alden wouldn't chase after him.

He passed by the destroyed buildings all over again, the charred wood and burnt bodies. Whoever did this would pay, he kept telling himself.

Henry knew who he was going to go find now. Something had clicked -- why else would Valin and Seraph had been so angry at the last Elf? Why had Valin so cruelly ended his life? The elves had done something truly terrible, and Henry knew that Seraph would have the answers.

PLACEHOLDER!!

Cyrus stood, rooted in shock and anger. Despair wafted in the air, triumphant. Charred ruins, burnt bodies, death and horror everywhere. His company, shattered by this one fell blow and it was this that angered him. He gazed about him anew now, flinty eyes dispassionate.

This was just another sign of encroaching war. It was by no means a new thing he witnessed, or the worst. He'd seen things that would make these humans melt, judging by their reaction to this. His attention was snagged by a flicker of movement to his right. He turned, in time to see Henry stalking off, eyes red, an expression of anger on his face.

Cyrus stepped into his path. "Where do ya think yer goin'," he growled.

"After 'em!" Henry hissed. "It was the elves!" He jutted his jaw in Seraph's direction and continued. "An' he knows about it."

"And?" Cyrus said, tone flat. He had come to the same conclusion.

Henry's eyes bugged out. "And?... And? That's all you can say?" he said incredulously.

"Get a hold of yerself boy! Now is not the time for foolish heroics. Heroes get themselves killed, and having seen all this--"Cyrus indicated the devestation around them. "Do you honestly think you'll pose even the slightest threat?" A moment passed then and Cyrus had to steel himslef to face the pain in his friend's eyes.

Dwarf and thief squared off amid a field of death and life. Henry's eyes blazed with anger. "We need ta a' least try." Determination threaded in his voice.

"That we do laddie," Cyrus said softly. "But we gotta do it together, and only after we put these here folks to rest."
Henry nodded slowly. "So lets leave the questioning to after that, ya got somethin right laddie--those boys got some explaining to do."

Threading an arm about the distraught thief's waist (he couldn't reach the shoulders without standing on the tip of his toes) he walked with him toward the ruined smithy. Seraph stood there, Finn pressed against him, whispering to the grieving woman. Carmenia and Valin stood aways apart, the former holding a hand over her mouth, obviously in shock, the latter merely grim faced. Behind them, they left Alden staring bemused at the now clamouring baby griffin.

Cyrus surveyed them all distatefully. "Is this all it takes to bring you to your knees?" he roared. They all started, turning to face him. "This day teaches an improtant lesson and that is: we are not ready. We are faulty weapons, and these impurities must be cleansed."

"We're no' bleedin' weapons!" Finn cried, pulling away from Seraph. "We feel an' th'nk; we're only human!"

"Against our foe, that is not enough." Cyrus said just as fiercely. "And you!" Cyrus turned his scathing eyes to Seraph. "You, have the audacity to call yourself a commander of men!"

"What are you saying Dwarf?" Seraph said, features stiff with righteous anger.

"I'm saying that any commander--any human worth their salt, woulda had this company organised and puttin these poor folks to rest, rather then tendin to their lady friend."

Seraph opened his mouth to protest, then paused, aghast. Cyrus pushed on, "Every moment we delay, the further the scum that did this fly."

Cyrus paused, huffing in anger, spittle flecking his beard. He didnt want to do this, but it seemd it was necessary. He saw then, the Paladin, kneeling amid the dead, making some foolish pronouncement or other. Cyrus growled, pushing forward. "Get up you idiot!" he yelled. The Paladin stared, mouth open in shock. "What the bloody hell do yer think yer doin, sittin on yer knees and neglecting these folk? Is it not your prayers and such that are needed to lay these unsettled people to rest?"

The thorough dressing down left an awkward silence. Cyrus glanced over at Seraph and nodded once. The knight caught on immediately, and resumed control. "Right: Sirloaz, Tan'quin, and Cyrus get to digging." he said, "Valin, Finn, and I will see to the gathering of what bodies remain whole."

There was something strange about Seraph's touch. Between the icy texture of the runes and the warm skin, callused by hard use, it seemed calculated to simultaneously send shivers through my midsection and make me want to just fall back against Seraph and cry myself sick. I stared back at his ruined gaze for a few moments, then closed my eyes and pressed my hand against the one he held to my face.

When I opened my eyes again, it was because Cyrus's voice broke the relative silence, booming and bellicose. I jerked my head in his direction, and found my anger growing throughout the whole of his diatribe. When he'd finally finished, Seraph rose and gave orders, but I stood as well and stepped forward, fists clenched.

"No," I said, my voice still shaking but strong enough to be heard by everyone involved. "No diggin'. En't no one been burried 'round 'ere fer gen'rations. En't... en't feasible." I glanced back at my brother's body, then looked at Seraph. "We'll be needin' wood, fer a pyre. 'S faster an'--an'--wi' this many..."

My voice was cracking, so I just shook my head, gritted my teeth, and stormed past Seraph. It just wasn't right... I couldn't look in any direction without seeing a body, and wondering which of the people I'd grown up knowing had once worn the face now charred unrecognizably. I couldn't help but pause in front of Cyrus, though, and glare down at him before saying something that would have made Liam blush and tell me to keep my tongue in check.

With that, I headed straight for the blackened ruins of my lifelong home, barely hearing as Seraph redirected Sirloaz, Tan'Quin, and Cyrus to preparing the pyre.

I set the party to work, then turned my attention--and frustration--toward Cyrus.

"Don't...do that...again." I growled.

He looked at me, a smirk on his face.

"Well, someone had to...you humans, fall apart at the smallest sign of trouble."

I managed to put aside my contempt for his condescending tone and that boastful smirk of his.

"You lead, then. Don't wait for me."

I strode after Finn, tuning out any reply the boisterous dwarf might give.

I followed her heavy footed prints to what had been an average sized cottage near the outskirts of town.

I walked up what remained of the steps leading the the front door.

"Finn...?" I called out. I heard some rummaging about in the house, and walked inside, pushing open the half standing door that was in my way.

After a moment of searching, I found her seated on the ground next to a pair of corpses that were laying in each others' arms on the floor. I cringed at the sight. It was as if, in their last moment of life, before an inferno decimated their town, they clung to each other, determined to die in a loving embrace.

Without a word, I crouched beside Finn and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Mah parents."

"...I know. I'm so sorry, Finn."

She said nothing after that for a long time. She laid her hand on top of mine, and we merely sat for a moment. It could have been forever, and I would not have noticed.

Alden scooped up the gryphlet. It was fluffy, with no feathers. It was the size of a small dog, but weighed very little. It was riding on his back.

He found the others a little ways away.

"Seraph!" he yelled. Seraph turned and stood as Alden approached.

"What?"

"I've gotten some horses, we can ride them back to the fort."

"We're not going to the fort," Henry said.

"What?"

"We're going to bury these people and then we'll avenge their deaths."

"We're wasting too much time," Cyrus said.

"Alden!" This was Lt. Smith. He rode up to the group.

"What is it Lieutenent?"

"We've finished our search, no survivors. My men have begun burning the bodies," he said, pointing to a new pillar of smoke.

Alden heard a sound, and saw a falcon coming towards him. It landed on Alden's head, and dropped a few letters. Alden grabbed them and tore them open.

"By His Majesty's orders, all ranger units and mercenary units have been militarized and are ordered to report to their superiors immediately for deployment.

"*&%$ing great," Alden cursed. He read the next letter.

"Alden and all surviving members of the group of heroes are ordered to report to General Harris, for re-deployment and further instructions.

IMMEDIATE: Report status of Sedgeley.

Signed,
Harris."

The scrawl was barely legible, but it was an order.

The gryphlet and the falcon looked at each other.

"Lieutenent!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Bring the horses around." He turned back to face the group.

"In order to avenge these people, we will need more strength than we possess now. If we follow them, they will kill us, either individually or together, but we will die for nothing. If we have a large funeral, we'll be here for days. If we leave for the fort, we will be able to get more numbers and we'll also be closer to getting revenge." Alden stepped so he was in front of the burned village.

"If you ask me, this place gives me the willies," Alden said. He turned to go back into town.

"Where are you going?"

"I got a broken egg I need to pick up. Can you be ready by the time I return?"

It was the absence of Seraph's hand on my shoulder that alerted me to his sudden absence; I looked away from the entwined corpses of my parents and followed his bootprints out through the door; he stood not too far away from the house, along with Alden and some men I had never seen before. They were too far away for me to hear most of what was said, until Alden decided to address the group as a whole. My fingers tightened on the charred posts of the doorframe, and I hid my face against it, willing myself not to kill the lot of them. Well, maybe not Carmenia or Henry. Or Valin. And Seraph... definitely not Seraph. But the rest of them I could care less about.

"Alden," Seraph's voice rang out. "I am not leaving until I see these people get the services they deserve. I am, after all," and even from this distance, I could see (or rather sense) the cold glare he shot Cyrus, "human. As were they. Closure should always come before vengeance." He paused. "Things become... messy, otherwise; and in my experience, kings rarely like 'messy.'" This last comment was spiteful; was he throwing Alden's subservience back in his beaked face?

"I agree," came Valin's voice. "Go on ahead if you wish, Alden; we'll finish here what others have begun."

Henry sided with them, much to my surprise, and seemed even more vehement. In fact, he looked rather like he wanted to kill Alden more--and more painfully--than I did. Seraph nodded in the directions of his thief and friend before turning on his heel and heading back for the remains of my parent's cottage. For some reason I couldn't name, I withdrew from the doorway quickly, heart pounding, and ran to the second of the cottage's three rooms.

"Finn?"

I stood quietly in the shadows of the room I had shared with Liam, my breathing shallow, with my back to the door. Even beyond the sound of horses and men moving outside--and Henry still arguing vociferously with Alden--I could hear his footsteps. They barely paused in the doorway before coming to a stop at my side.

I looked up at him. "M' cot," I said, pointing to what was now little more than a half-burned frame of sticks, hung about with the rank smell of burnt feathers. "An'--an' Liam's." I pointed to one not far away; we'd kept them close, our heads near one another's so we could whisper at night without waking our parents.

"Finn..." his hands closed on my upper arms again, but this time gently. "I'll help you take them out when you're ready."

I nodded, and wondered suddenly how it was that we were so close I was pressed against his armor; had I backed against him? Had he stepped forward? I decided, as I looked at the ruined cots, that I didn't care, and I didn't protest when he gingerly, uncertainly put his armored arms around me. When I couldn't take the sight anymore, I turned around in his grasp and cried against the cold metal, not really caring any more.

When my tears had stopped, he stepped away, brushed my cheeks free of ash and tears with his rune-tattooed hands, and led me into the room where my parents' bodies lay.

Not wanting to touch the corpses, for fear of desecrating them further, I reached into my pack and rummaged about until I found my winter blanket. I spread it out on the blackened floor, nealry touching the bodies.

Moving back to the corpses of Finn's parents, I dropped to my knees and slid my hands under the warm, sooty bones, which were fused together in a kind of unnatural rigor mortis. I lifted the two bodies as one--the strain was minimal, for there was not much left of them to be particularly heavy.

I found myself wondering what Finn would do, after this was all said and done. Could she come back with me, to my home in--

No. Unacceptable.

I set the bodies upon my blanket and bid Finn to help me wrap them. She did so solemnly, and with great care. When we'd secured the blanket, I laid a hand on it.

May Falthyr guide you to the Heavens...know that your daughter will come to no harm, as long as I continue to breathe.

With that, I picked the entire bundle up tentatively and strode toward the door.

I heard Finn follow me.

Outside, in the center of the crater in the center of town, Valin and the others had made an improvised pye, using any unburned wood that could be found. I nodded in approval. Everyone was present, as well as the newcomers. Ignoring them all for the moment, I strode to the edge of the crater and knealt down. The heat was great, but respect for the dead, especially these dead, was vital.

The flames licked at my hands, and though the Runes of Bane protected much of my skin from them, what little of my flesh that was exposed burned like the Nine Hells.

I grimaced and quickly but gently placed the bundle close onto the pile. When I turned back, I met the eyes of the necomer, Lieutenant Smith.

"You have orders for us, then?" I did my best to keep sarcasm from entering my voice.

He looked to Alden for approval. Once again I hid a look of disdain. Apparently the griffin nodded, because the man handed me a slip of parchment. I narrowed my eyebrows and looked at the letter. Finn appeared at my side, one hand on my arm.

I scoffed at the orders, then read thewm aloud for the my companions to hear. "By His Majesty's orders, all ranger units and mercenary units have been militarized and are ordered to report to their superiors immediately for deployment.

"Alden and all surviving members of the group of heroes are ordered to report to General Harris, for re-deployment and further instructions.

IMMEDIATE: Report status of Sedgeley.

Signed,
Harris."

I looked at each member of the group individually. I held the "orders" over my head.

"Any of you who do not want to follow this order, I hearby overrule it. I will be traveling to meet this 'General Harris,' face to face, but if you have no desire to do this, you need not."

I glared out from under my narrowed eyebrow with my good eye, first to Lieutenant Smith, then to Alden.

"Any questions?"

"Any questions?" Seraph said, his stern gaze daring anyone to contradict him. "Good, Sirloaz, take point; Lieutenant Smith get your men moving"

The Lieutenant gave seraph a look of distaste, turned around and began barking orders, his men orderly forming a column as they began to move. The smoke snaking its way through the dreary march as the flames of the burning town crackled and roared.

Sirloaz quickly walked over towards Henry "Henry" he said stopping a few feet short as the thief spun around anger on his face his crossbow ready to fire. "I want you to keep these for the time being" Sirloaz said while drawing the three daggers and offering them to Henry.

"What fo'?"

"I don't trust myself with them right now, it'd be best if someone else kept them" Sirloaz said shamefully.

"How will you defend yourself?" Henry said taking the daggers and putting them on his person.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Sirloaz said smiling a little while he pulled on his gauntlets, the sun glinting off the spikes. "Don't lose that one" he added pointing to an older more worn looking dagger, Henry just looked at him strangely. "please?"

"Ok then" Henry replied. Then taking Sirloaz's bow and quiver he strapped them to the side of his horse. Nodding his thanks Sirloaz dashed to the front of the column.

The Lieutenant was a decent sort of man, if a bit blinded by his allegiance to his mortal, human king. He and Sirloaz led the group, followed closely by Smith's troops. My companions followed.

I let them pass me by until Cyrus began to ride past, on a horse slightly too large for him. I reached out and grabbed the reins of his horse, holding them striahgt down and causing the horse to stop in its tracks.

"What're yeh abou', then?" He asked; I noted his hand behind him, to the handle of his great hammer.

"I was serious. This was free advice. You lead, from this point on." He looked at me for a moment, his bushy eyebrows narrowing.

"You'd desert your post then, wouldja laddie?"

I merely smiled. "Don't presume to know anything about me, dwarf. You'd be wrong."

The haughty dwarf just shook his head. "Bleedin' fool. I'll take over, at least until you come to your damn senses."

I smiled again and released the reins of his horse. He kicked its sides with his heels, driving the beautiful animal to catch up with the others. Before I realized what had happened, the last horse strode up to me. Finn sat atop it.

"They've a hoahse fer yeh, yeh know."

I nodded.

"I've come to appreciate the feeling of riding with someone clinging to me."

She blushed a deep shade of red, but extended her hand anyway. Being sure to not place too much weight on her, I pulled myself onto the horse as she scooted herself backward. Within seconds, we were comfortable on the massive draft horse.

"Let us see what this...Harris, would have us do."

By the end of the day, we reached Harris' encampment.

We were immediately greeted by a literal knight in shining armor; a chipper man with a wide grin on his face stopped us as we started to follow Smith and his men into camp.

"'Alo there! Gen'ral 'Arris 'as requested that you blokes bathe n' get clean like before you dine wit her this foine evening!"

I grimace, and knew this Harris fellow was not one I'd enjoy speaking to.