Six figures emerged from behind trees, each one having a long bow and an arrow nocked at the ready. One for each of them. They had walked straight into a trap, and all because of her. She should have known, but Violetta already seemed to have suspected such a thing and was prepared. Putting her hands up, followed by Sig and Locke, but not Cookie or Cake, the three Mahn of the group moved forward peacefully without any gesture towards their weapons.
Violetta called out,
A tall soldier in gilded iron scale armor and sporting an iron helm with a plume of command emerged from the tree line and announced himself,
She stared at the man, he had a thin wispy mustache and a goatee that made him look weak to her, it lacked the hearty mass of hair she had seen of many of the officers throughout the settlement.
Major Wekts seemed to laugh and returned her greeting with a half-bow,
Violetta gasped,
She stepped past Violetta and marched towards Wekts, the archers snapped their sights on her, but the man was quick to hold them back with a gesture.
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The two kithe simply laughed and said in rhyme,
Wekts shrugged,
She recognized the woman in an instant, the mother of the child. Wekts moved to block her path, but she ran around and down the hill, standing beside her and Violetta,
The woman looked down at her and smiled before replying to Wekts,
Locke and Violetta soon followed in turn, but she did not want to give up her sword. She did not want to be returned, but more and more soldiers appeared from the tree line, and it was clear they could not win. She drew her blade and set it carefully upon the ground. The two Kithe did not make any such gestures, but Wekts seem to realize they would not surrender in a conventional sense.
She demanded on her behalf,
She said to everyone,
Chief Mudohoon had sold them out, he was an agent of them all along? The weight of those words crushed her, but she knew that the smell of the smoke coming from the depths was not any normal fire. It was a funeral pyre. Rock’s funeral. She knew that now. Had the smoke led them right to the warren? Perhaps, but she did not know what Chief Mudohoon was doing. Was he not planning to trade her back for goods? Then it dawned on her, he was an agent all along, he was selling them out and completing his mission. Of course, he would be rewarded. Why was she important though? Perhaps she could find out now.
Cake howled with almost insane laughter,
Demon? The word brought to mind terrible beasts, blackened forms, some with wings. All of them were beings of terrible evil that wreaked havoc in their wake. She was no demon, but it was hard to argue when your life and those of others were on the line. There must have been some misunderstanding. Talking about it would fix it. She hoped.