“Where are they?” Shea snapped as she strode to the priest.
A village woman stepped in front of Shea, holding her hands up in supplication. Thrusting the woman away from her, Shea continued, ignoring the building undercurrent of fear and hostility, both from the villagers and the Trateri behind her.
“Where. Are. They?”
The priest, to give him credit, did not retreat in the face of Shea’s onslaught. He held firm, looking at her from behind eyes such a dark brown they almost appeared black. Or perhaps that was how Shea saw them given what she knew of his practices.
Reaching him, she grabbed his robes and jerked him down towards her. His struggle was laughably weak, barely even phasing her. Extreme fasts and safe living had made him weak while she pushed her body to the limits on a daily basis.
Later she would be stunned by her actions. Knowing that she could have easily been injured or killed by the wary villagers surrounding her or the Trateri who had not a clue what was happening, besides the fact that their scout had suddenly turned crazy. Right now, none of that mattered. Anger filled her near to bursting and cleared sane thoughts from her mind. Right now, all that mattered was finding out how far these people had gone in the pursuit of safety.
The priest maintained his silence, giving her nothing but a blank stare. That stare said he wouldn’t answer to the likes of her. No matter how she pushed or prodded, he wasn’t giving the information up.
Fanatics. God, she absolutely loathed them.
“Not gonna answer, huh?” She bared her teeth at him, much like the revenants had days before. One by one her fingers loosened their grip, letting go and then smoothing the robes down on his chest. “That’s alright.”
She turned and walked away, only now noticing Fallon watching her from his upright position on his mount. All of the Trateri watched her, some with suspicion, others with curiosity.
“What’s going on here?” Fallon asked. His expression made it clear if she didn’t have a damn good reason for her little outburst she would be sharing the villager’s punishment.
“My lord, if I may?” Eamon waited for permission to continue. Fallon tilted his chin down. “The scout discovered the village is missing somewhere near a third to half of its population. I believe he was trying to determine where they went.”
“You believe?” Fallon’s face made it clear he didn’t care for this turn of phrase.
“He didn’t exactly share his plans.”
Fallon’s attention shifted to Shea. “Is this true, Scout? You were trying to determine where they’ve hidden the rest.”
“Sort of.”
Eamon cleared his throat loudly.
Shea tacked on a “my lord” to satisfy him.
“Perhaps next time you should go through the proper chain of command,” Caden said archly from beside Fallon.
“What is it you think you know?” Fallon asked, giving Shea the full intensity of his attention.
She grimaced, “It’d be easier to show you than try to explain. Not to mention more believable.”
“Of course,” one of the Trateri muttered.
Fallon held up his hand, signaling for silence. Then gestured for her to continue. “By all means.”
She gave him a short nod before walking to her horse. Speaking over her shoulder, she said, “I’ve learned a thing or two during my travels. The first and probably the most important is that all of these backwards, inbred, uneducated armpits of the Lowlands mainly fear one thing. Beasts.”
Shea riffled through the pack still attached to the back of her mount. Finding a small vial buried at the bottom, she smiled briefly. That should work quite nicely.
Turning back to the villagers, she composed herself, “Every aspect of your lives are spent trying to minimize any contact. You tell your children stories so they might inherit your fear and stay locked inside these mindless prisons you’ve created until their dying day.”
Could she do this? The repercussions of what came next could very well wipe this place from existence. Her mind turned to the empty baby’s bed. Yes. Yes, she could do this and so much more.
Her eyes found the priest watching her with deep suspicion.
“Do you know what this is?” she asked, showing him the vial contained in her hands. She didn’t wait for him to answer, “It’s Pyke’s blood, and do you know what Pyke’s blood does?”
By the dawning realization and hint of fear beginning to show on his face, she suspected he did. The villager’s looked confused, as usual.
“Interesting properties this blood has. In easiest terms, you could call it an attractant. All sorts of beasts think this stuff smells tasty. You spill a little bit here and there, and it’ll be the dinner bell announcing a banquet by night fall. Now me and my friends are going to ride out of here.” There was a slight protest behind her that was cut off almost as soon as it began. Fallon no doubt had motioned for silence. “But before we go we’re going to spread this stuff and several other vials worth all around the perimeters of your village. Maybe you’ll survive. Probably not. But maybe.”
She watched the villager’s faces as she let that settle. Fear does funny things to people. Some it turns brave, as it had Eamon and Buck when they rescued their men from a shadow beetle’s nest. Others, as was the case with these villagers, turn into cowards willing to sacrifice anything and everything for just one more minute, one more day, one more week of living. They didn’t care what they had to do or who they had to hurt as long as they could keep breathing.
These people fell into the latter category. Figure out what they fear, apply a little leverage and they would do whatever you asked.
It started slow. A little bit of talking, some people crying, another shouting, ‘you can’t do this’, but soon there was arguing, threatening and finally shoving.
Shea’s smile was cold as she said, “Well, you’ve had your chance. If you don’t want to tell me the location of the altar, you can take your chances with the beasts.”
She uncorked the bottle.
“Wait.” A woman stumbled from the crowd. “I’ll show you where it is.”
“Marnie, no,” a man shouted.
“Thanks, but I don’t trust one such as you. Just point me in the right direction.”
“It’s on top of that hill.” She pointed to her left. “We wanted them to always be able to see us, you know?”
Yeah, Shea was sure they appreciated that.
“I’m going to give this to my friend over there. If I don’t return or I find out you lied, he’s going to dump it and several others all over your village.”
“I’m telling the truth. I swear it.”
Fat lot of stock Shea put into her words.
Shea walked over to Buck and handed him the bottle.
“You had this on you the whole time?” he asked.
“Yup.”
“You could have used it to create a decoy with the revenants.”
She snorted. “I don’t think it would have worked very well. It’s what I use to polish my tack.”
His eyebrows rose. “You lied?”
She smirked at him. “Yup.”
“You little sneak. We’re going to have to start watching you closer. Wait, does that mean you lied about the pisser fish in that pond we bathed in?”