The Chief Confronts the Jarl

"The Chief Confronts the Jarl" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Grey sort of wished that she had Shadow come with her, but at the same time, perhaps it was better. If anything happened with Brandt up there, he would need a way to come get her, and Shadow was the only option to do that. Plus, it would allow her time to make sure Vidar couldn’t go or do anything. She wanted to look him right in the eye as he would be put in a cell…somewhere where they could keep an eye on him…much like his fellow High Central buddies had done to the half-breeds in the past. Besides, she wanted to see just how badly Lila beat him in the fight. 
She didn’t say a word as she followed the guards to the guardhouse.
Dec 22, 2020
Vidar curled his lip and turned to look over his shoulder, his single fist clenched behind his back as his arms were bound and held by two of the stronger rebels under Lila’s command. As he was gagged, he also said nothing, but he was still quite a ghastly sight, left eye destroyed, pale underneath the blood that was dried and cracking down half his head and through the slice down his front. He moved in a way that suggested something fractured in his abdomen.
While they traveled the streets of the Jaw, they passed Conclave soldiers being rounded up by more rebels, and they craned their necks and cried out in both fear and rage as they saw the battered Jarl being marched to the next largest guardhouse. Handfuls of them started to riot under the rebels’ arrest, and they struggled to keep them back, nervously watching Chief Grey and the guard quickly pass by.
Grey heard the Jarl sniff through his nose at the sight, and he had a pleased gleam in his eye.
Dec 22, 2020
The Chief perked hearing the Jarl sniff through his nose and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She saw what he was looking at and scoffed. 
“Don’t expect them to come rescue you, Bloodletter,” Grey said with a glare. “They’ll be joining you soon enough.”
Dec 22, 2020
He growled lowly through his gag, and the rebels holding him flinched as he tossed a shoulder, but he did not much more than that. Lila’s guards looked uneasy, but continued to walk with Grey.
Dec 22, 2020
Grey raised her eyebrow even more hearing the Jarl growl under his gag. A part of her was curious of what could happen if she were remove the gag from his mouth. He was a young man in High Central…raised under this hate and prejudice. Was he really this far gone? Not that she was looking to save him, but these were the group of people who were responsible for her friend, Greg, and the imprisonment of the rebels before they broke out of the Dungeon. 
“I wish I could say I was impressed with you,” Grey said as they continued forward, “but then I would be lying if I did.”
Dec 23, 2020
The ground splashed as Vidar ground to a halt and locked his legs, not allowing the guards to pull him any further. He looked down his nose at Grey, who only came up to his sliced sternum. There was a prominent vein pulsing in his temple. He tipped his chin and looked her straight in the face. It was a challenge.
Dec 23, 2020
If this had been back when she was a 16-year-old girl or…even as the 21-year-old Lady, she probably would’ve been intimidated by how much taller he was and how she reached his sternum. He was challenging her, and she glared in return completely unmoved. Her hand twitched at her side. Should she do it? Should she remove the gag? 
She looked at the guards as they watched the tension rise between the Chief and the Jarl. They seemed nervous, but at the same time trusting of her judgment. 
“You got something to say, you might as well say it,” she said as she removed the gag. 
Dec 24, 2020
Vidar rolled his tongue out between his teeth to rid his mouth of the sour, stale taste of the socks, and then he pulled his dry lips into a sardonic grin.
“Oh, the mighty Chief Grey is deigning that I am allowed to speak with her?” His voice was like grating stone, hoarse but sharp.
Dec 24, 2020
The Chief simply shrugged with a smirk on her face. “What can I say?” Grey asked. “I got tired of talking to myself, and we’ve been going at this for months. I might as well have a chance to speak with the man who’s been a thorn in mine and my niece’s sides for months. Besides…she got 15 minutes with you already. It’s my turn.”
Dec 24, 2020
Sniffing, the Jarl looked her up and down. “Should I be flattered? I don’t deal with chiefs who let animals overrun the Wilderwest unchecked.” A few of the rebel soldiers standing around chattered with discontent, an angry rumble that quelled in anticipation of the Chief’s words.
Dec 24, 2020
The Chief didn’t change her expression. No one could tell if she was angry, and she managed to school her expression refusing to give Vidar that satisfaction. Perhaps, this was on her for taking the gag off in the first place, but they were past that at this point. 
“No, see, I think you have it all wrong, Bloodletter,” Grey said as her fist shook at her side. “I treat half-breeds with the respect and dignity that they deserve since…you know…they are our equals. Last time I checked, you treat them horribly and enslave them. Doesn’t sound so appealing now, does it?”
Dec 25, 2020
Vidar laughed with the fervor of someone finding a joke highly amusing. “If the subhuman beast-spawn don’t wish to be caught,” he said, stepping forward amidst a sudden rising tide of angry cries from all sides, “then they should leave us well alone.”
The rebels had formed a loose, noisy ring around the confrontation now. They roared with disapproval.
“Are you kidding me!?”
“He just gets to say that??”
“YOU’RE SUBHUMAN!!”
“Someone teach him a lesson!!”
A particularly cut-up half-breed wildcat tried to break ranks and run for Vidar, but Lila’s guards roughly stepped in and repelled her, causing another outcry. Vidar stood still among it all.
“Save your breath,” he said loudly, and though he was beaten to Hel and back, they could still see the famous charisma through the cracks in his façade, commanding everyone’s attention. “I’m afraid the great Chief and Commander are above mob justice.” His single eye bored into Grey as he spoke.
Dec 25, 2020
Grey glared at Vidar as her fist shook even more so and as the Jarl threw that slur around like it was nothing. She had only encountered a few High Central soldiers in her time…the soldiers who attacked her home…the weapons smugglers…even the soldier who killed Lief in front of her…when she was 16… She encountered Darien after he changed, but she never had the chance to look a current High Central lackey in the face…until now…and there was nothing but pure hate and evil inside of him.
“For you…Bloodletter,” she said coolly, “I’ll make an exception…” She brought her knee back and forced it into his crotch.
Dec 25, 2020
It was a bit like kicking a tree trunk, but Vidar was still unable to stifle a hefty grunt of pain, bending over slightly and clenching his teeth as the half-breeds around Grey jeered. “Brave of you,” he spat. “If you thought you had an ounce of the same power we have, you’d stop hiding between the legs of your precious pet demon and DO SOMETHING–!”
He violently twisted in his restraints, his bloodstained neck straining towards Grey, and one of the guardswomen cracked her spear across the back of his legs, making him crumple and stopping him from getting any further. A different sword dug into the back of his gambeson.
“One more stunt like that and you’re through,” she growled. “Thank your lucky stars the Chief is still talking with you.”
Dec 25, 2020
“Yes, and I’m not...done,” Grey said as she grabbed the warlord’s hair yanking him so that he was looking at the half-breeds crowding around them. She was going to make him face the very people he and all of High Central harmed. “Look at them...all of them...you may not care about them, but they are all praying that my niece and I kill you...but we won’t. That’s far too easy. A half-breed once died saving my life at the hands of those barbarians you call soldiers. He didn’t have a chance, but you get to walk around. That ends today. High Central is going to fall, and half-breeds will get the justice that they deserve. Everyone will be treated equally and fairly...so long as I’m still breathing.”
Vidar was panting heavily. He wrenched his neck to look up at her and bared his teeth like a wolf, still pale from blood loss. In the rebels’ grasp, they felt his arms tense up, as though he was considering another thrash, but then it was gone.
“You don’t have the strength,” he growled softly, and in the fervor burning in his good eye, she could see that he believed it with every fiber of his being. “You let dirty blood into your ranks. You keep turncoats like the Magistrate in your homes. You give mercy to those who don’t deserve it. You’re weak.” The Jarl leaned forward in the mud, knees and feet squashing below him. His voice grew a little bit louder, letting the others nearby hear. “And you’ll never prove to me that you deserve to overthrow us.” The crowd rumbled, and the air was thick with tension.
The Chief shook her head in complete disbelief. This Jarl was only 20-something years old, and he grew up in High Central. This hate…this racism was bred into him from birth, and it could never be changed. She hated to admit that to herself, but it showed her just how corrupt High Central was. What happened to Lief was something that was taught to them from birth or at least at a young age, and it was awful to see up close and personal. 
“I would hold your tongue if I were you,” Grey said with a glare. “You see…we’re not weak. You’re the ones who are weak. You choose to hate those who look different from you while I choose to accept everyone no matter what. One thing you must learn now…to love and to show mercy isn’t weakness…it’s a strength. It’s easier to hate than to show love and mercy. Your people chose the easy way out, and I don’t have to prove anything to you. I just have to show you that we deserve to overthrow you…that halfbreeds deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.” 
Vidar stared Grey in the eye, and after a long minute, the only word that left his bloodstained, bruised mouth, was “Pathetic.”
The Chief shook her head in disgust. She refused to be called “pathetic” by the Jarl of the Conclave. “No, Vidar,” she began, “you’re the one who’s pathetic.”
“Then do with me what you do to those you consider so,” he growled, “Mighty Chief.”
Grey smirked. “With pleasure,” she said as she held up the cloth that was used to gag him. “I was getting tired of talking to you anyway.” She put the gag back into his mouth silencing him before looking to the guards nodding…signaling that she was ready for them to continue. 
The half-breeds and rebels around them heckled and mocked the former slaver as the group made to move out. The rain lightly pattered around them as they yanked the Jarl up out of the mud, and though he tried to stifle it, in his single-eyed stare, the grim entourage saw the bitter sting of disappointment in his expression.