Crippling his whole hand by stomping on all the other bones was pretty hardcore. You could hear all the bones snapping. His hand was a bloody pulp by the time I was done. I then turned to my children. I kissed each of them on the forehead. Holding a finger to my lips, I did a back flip and then bowed. I was told to be silent. My children followed me out of the hall. Not a single person dared get in my way. The next day, I was told the lord was the third son of a local noble courtier. His father was an old, unlanded baron. There was little chance of reprisal. I still got a letter of challenge from him the next day. I had to fight his champion. Since I was challenged, I got to name the rules. I chose a cook off to the death. My second was Ottie. His was another knight of the court. The third judge was the palace's head chef. The meal that lost would earn the cook a death warrant. I could cook. He could not. It was a skill a gentlemen needed to have. Unsurprisingly, I won. I forced a vial of poison down his throat. My reputation was maintained. The Swifthunts were not pleased at all. Theirs went down.
Under the circumstances, I could see why they were upset. I was in their employ. My conduct reflected badly on them. They certainly were to be feared if they had all of the Blood Knights at their beck and call. That was not the look they were going for. If they wanted to be seen as powerful and deadly warriors, it would be perfect. They were going for the shrewd land developer angle. Having us under them did not negate our accomplishments, but it did give people pause. It would make any sane individual quesion whether or not they wanted to get involved with insane monsters. The myths were real. We were unhinged and ultra violent. You did not want to be on our bad side. People also did not want to be on our good side either. We were avoided like the plague. One family was willing to speak to us after the duel. A high ranked general was not one to mess with either. General Geronim Hue liked what he heard and saw of us. He was willing to give up a daughter to the Swifthunts. Fabien would marry her in a year. They did not want the marriage to go missed compared to this one.
Getting this alliance was great even though it was unexpected. Having some muscle behind us would keep our lands secure. We had gotten all the funds we needed for the second settlement from the royal coffers. Something I was not expecting was the announcement that the Church would be building a cathedral in the county as well. I heard that it was to be the southwest of Huntston. The Swifthunts had no real say. What could they say? It was free development of the county. They could also extract taxes from the people that would live there. It would also be very impious to say no. I had a feeling that they would not like the new bishop of Greene. That was the name the king gave to the land given to the Swifthunt Family. Huntston was simply one holding within it. The new barony would be called Mansfield. The bishopric would be the third holding. The county was slowly but surely shaping up to be something big. My children were safe and sound. At the end of the day, that was all that mattered. They were going to need to learn to defend themselves. I could show the boys some things.
