Neversfall - Ed Gentry [19]
Adeenya looked to Jhoqo who nodded for her to respond. The three officers moved closer to the human prisoners. Adeenya was relieved to leave the presence of the formians.
"I am Adeenya Jamaluddat, commander of the Durpari troops on this expedition. How do you find yourself fallen in with these creatures?" she asked, nodding toward Guk.
"He was a worker and will be again. Like you will become," Guk said from farther back in the line, his voice grating, like thrown ice shattering against a wall. Adeenya wondered if the blindfold inhibited the creature at all.
"Get that gag back on him," she shouted to the guards.
Corbrinn sighed. "What he said, I'm afraid. Well, at least that I was," the halfling said with a sneer toward the formian. "I'm from Thruldar in Luiren. I remember being with a caravan of folks from Var the Golden. I'm a woodsman and often act as a scout in these parts. I was guiding the caravan back from a successful trading trip to Mulhorand. After that, everything gets a little fuzzy, but I know I was working for these things."
The sun glinted off the halfling's reddish blond curls. Adeenya boggled at how the halfling was not sweating himself dry in his many layers of clothing and furs.
"Why did you work for them?" she asked.
The halfling's eyes went to the ground for a moment before turning to rest upon her again. "It wasn't really like that. The reason didn't seem to matter… just the work." The halfling shrugged. "I can't explain it. It was like my body just did what they needed to be done, and I couldn't really stop it or even ask why I was doing it. But, I think the strangest part was that it was… somehow satisfying."
"Sir," she said, turning to Jhoqo, "we should let the humans and the halfling go, at least. They shouldn't be bound so close to those things. They might try to reassert their control over them again."
Taennen stiffened. "Sir, we can't allow that. No one should…" he said, unable to finish his thought.
Jhoqo did not speak as he moved away, waving for the two to follow him. Adeenya followed, already knowing the man would say no. She did not know Jhoqo well, but he was not difficult to read at that moment. He wore his displeasure like a heavy cloak.
"Urir, these people did nothing wrong of their own will," she said. "Surely we must-"
Jhoqo stopped her with a raised hand. To her relief his scowl turned to a look of exhaustion, and he seemed to deflate with a long sigh. "Surely you see why I can't let them go yet? You worry about them falling back under the control of the formians? What if they are still under the control of those…"-his face curled in distaste-"things? How do we know how far that manipulation extends? We could set them loose only for them to come back and attack us to free their masters."
Adeenya sighed. Jhoqo was right.
"And even if they're not being controlled, even if they are the freest of spirits, look where we are," Jhoqo said, extending his arm in a wide arc. "This is the wilds, my children. Aerilpar. There's none worse."
Adeenya followed the man's gesture to the distant tree line. While small compared to the Lluirwood to the west, the Aerilpar Forest was home to dozens of clans of foul beasts that fought each other for power nearly as often as they fought the humans who tried to cleanse the woods of them.
Huge, ancient trees with twisted, gnarled limbs rose tall from the sparse grass all around them. Green and brown foliage dotted the edge of the woods, a sign of the heat. A branch of the Liontongue River far to the east fed the trees and allowed the forest to exist at all.
Taennen nodded. "Anyone we freed would be killed instantly."
"Or recruited," Jhoqo said.
"You're right," Adeenya said reluctantly. "We'll figure out how to deal with the humans once we arrive at Neversfall."
Jhoqo smiled. "Good. I'll leave it in your hands. Both of you," he said. "Now, I think it's time we got moving."
The Maquar commander offered a salute that Adeenya returned before he turned and walked away. The horns were blown to signal the soldiers' rest