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I took out the LawBook again.
Tally saw it and her face went pale, slowly she shook her head. “We can’t, Ms. Quinn. Dad complained about the taxes and that the medics hadn’t come by, and the next year they took everything because they said we’d been audited and they’d found us shorting the taxes. We almost starved that winter. And now, we don’t have anything and lots of mouths to feed. The city will take them all away if they know the kids are here. And we promised to take care of the littles.”
I paused. Anger twisted in my stomach as I considered. I could testify, but it would be hearsay, and any competent Administrator could forge tax receipts. Forcing anyone to break a promise went against my grain, as well.
A shriek of hunger from above the roof brought me to my feet, both knives out. Seconds ticked by, then another howl, further away. White knuckled, Tally had snatched up the rifle. I could see the light reflecting off of many sets of eyes from where the children were supposed to be sleeping, silent and fearful in their bedding.
Realizing the LawBook wasn’t what they needed right now, I put it away and replaced it with batteries and hard candies. Luxuries I knew they’d appreciate. “How about this instead?”
Shay’s eyes were massive as he looked at the things I’d placed on the table. “Are they for… for us?” He sounds shocked.
I smiled. “Yes, please, enjoy them!”
It broke my heart when he touched each item softly, then pulled his hand away. “We’ll save them and use them when we really need them.”
Part of me felt sad that this day wasn’t considered a hard one deserving of candy and new batteries, but I pushed the feeling aside. “Will you just talk to me about what you’ve been experiencing? How often does this spirit, or monster, come around?”
“In the early spring, the past three years. This is the last night it’ll haunt us.” Tally clasped her fingers together, white-knuckled. “People disappeared. Mom had some magic, and she put wards on the foundations of people’s houses after a family vanished out of theirs. People complained, but nobody could do anything and no one came. Can you get the battlemages to come and kill it?”
“I can try.” I’d have to research; this thing sounded like it was hunting, and spirits didn’t usually roam. While I’d be tempted to just go outside and fight the damn thing, starting at dawn and hurrying the rest of the way would work better to try to get these people the help they needed. I’d wait to speak with Silver until the mission was done. I had hopes the territory’s Administrator, Greene, would give me an opening to dispense justice on him.
I stayed up, considering what to do. The children needed help; I needed to find a way to deliver it. Unfortunately, if it was a spirit or a monster, fighting it would be very difficult. Far more difficult than fighting a Ridden. And because the creature wasn’t entering people’s homes and killing them, the children were safe as long as they stayed inside at night, which they were doing. Therefore, it was smarter for me to leave for now and come back to address the issue after my current mission was completed.
As much as it pained me to think of walking away from this situation.
But the whole damn thing pissed me off! Otero was supposed to be one of the safer territories. As a result, it got fewer patrols, fewer checks… and now a corridor of the dead and vulnerable stretched for miles along the lake shore. This wasn’t right. Someone should have been checking on this place sooner, realized there was an issue, and got these people help. If I hadn’t had a mission here, this issue would have remained unknown until the next sweep at tax time in the fall—the potential of Ridden attack discouraged travel, even in places closer to the heart of the Guild. Administrator Greene would have counted on that to conceal his negligence, hoping since no one knew exactly when people died that his theft in office would go unnoticed.
The next morning, I left Tally and the other children and set out on the road. As much as I wanted to help the kids now, my geas was pushing me to continue on my mission to figure out why the water kept flooding around here. And whether a spirit was responsible for the trouble. So, I walked all the next day and found an abandoned farmstead to sleep in for the night, although I didn’t sleep well.
Not with the thoughts of the howling monster or spirit, out there.
Yet, Tally proved correct; there was no haunting the next night. The abandoned farmsteads continued to dot the landscape as I traveled, bothering me on a level that was hard to figure out. Something wasn’t adding up. Something was off about Greene allowing this kind of death and destruction.
I tried to think of any reason why Greene might want this land abandoned, but all I could think about was thedisadvantagesof such a thing. He’d lose the revenue from the food they produced, which was one of the most important parts of having successful lands. Someone might find out about all the death and destruction, and Greene would face consequences. And yet, he’d allowed all of this to happen. Why?
I had to be missing something, but no reasons came to me as the day progressed.
The sun was low when I approached another farm, this one in better array, though no one answered my call as I approached. Perhaps no one was there. Perhaps it was recently abandoned. Either way, I wasn’t about to be caught outside at night with all the weird stuff I’d been seeing.
I quickened my pace when the pain and restlessness of fever rolled over me. No, this place wasn’t abandoned. There was someone inside, and they were sick, probably alone, and definitely in need of my help. When I reached the door, I knocked and called out, but when the sick person inside didn’t respond, I let myself in.
Across the room in a bed, I saw a woman. She wore rough clothing, her loose brown hair lank and sweat-soaked, her body limp on top of the thin blanket.
“Hello! I’m here to help!” I called to her, but she didn’t even twitch.
I pulled the medkit out as I walked toward the woman sprawled on the bed, then attached the medkit to her arm, hoping it would help. It healed wounds, yes, but she was gray, her breath rattling, and I could do nothing more than straighten the covers, offer her water she couldn’t even drink, and hold her hot hand. All while waiting to see if the medkit could pull a miracle out. Which was frustrating as hell. If I’d been here just a few days earlier, maybe, justmaybeI could have really helped her.
Feeling helpless pissed me off.
Even though she was too far gone to feel anything beyond physical discomfort, I didn’t want to leave her alone. But I also didn’t take off my gloves, because they helped to insulate me from any lingering sensations. The last thing I wanted was to experience a shot of her pain, or her fear, when I needed to keep a level head. When it would do neither of us any good.
Not that I thought she was capable of it at this point.
Red lights danced on the readout of the medkit, drawing my gaze, and my shoulders slumped. Nothing it could do… I’d hoped for a magic drug in its reservoir to save her, something, anything at all. But the machine confirmed what I already suspected, there was no saving her now.
I waited with her as she sank deeper, holding her hand and wiping her forehead. Sadness transmuted to anger, which changed to pain—the geas jabbed at me as I imagined all the violence I wanted to visit on the people responsible for this woman’s death and that of the other farmers. But the asshole leash, or geas, took every opportunity to remind me that I could only kill who Silver said to, not even people who deserved to feel my wrath.
At last, she took a thick breath, which was then followed by silence. I rose, readying myself to remove her head and prevent a Ridden from taking over her body. A flicker of anticipation brushed me, followed by sensual joy. I barely had time to draw back as her eyes flew open. Instead of normal human eyes, they were wide, wild, and hungry. They found my gaze as her face began shifting, lips drawing back from sharpening teeth.
