The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [10]
"How do we know you'll keep your word about killing the wolf, druid?" Forras demanded.
"Because I gave my word." The druid halted at the clearing's edge, almost out of sight in the shadows. "Just as I give my word that I will kill you if you're still in this forest in the morning."
"Your word isn't good enough." It wasn't until after she'd spoken the words that Druz realized how barefaced they sounded.
The forest seemed to grow still around her. The druid stared at her. Druz stayed ready to move, realizing that she was trapped between the elf and the bear. Her throat felt cottony and dry.
"You doubt me," the druid stated flatly.
"The shepherd who retained our services," Druz said quietly, "isn't a man who's going to be easily satisfied. His oldest son was horribly disfigured by the wolfs attack. Even with clerics and healers, it's going to be years before the boy is returned to his full health. The shepherd wants revenge for that."
"This is not about revenge," the druid said.
"That's what I was paid for."
Druz held her head up defiantly. She stepped toward the druid.
Arvis glanced around quickly then pushed himself along the ground as if afraid the druid would punish him first. He stayed down as he moved.
Druz kept walking, closing in on the druid. He flicked his eyes past her warily, looking to see if the others would come to her aid. Druz wasn't surprised when they didn't. The bear was easily the biggest she'd ever seen.
"Fm coming with you," Druz said.
Swift as a bird on a wing, the druid brought his scimitar up to Druz's throat. She steeled herself, stopping her immediate response to draw one of the knives hidden behind her back. She thought she might even have had a chance at blocking the scimitar, but she knew she couldn't allow the confrontation to come to that. If it had, one of them would have been killed.
The blade lay coolly against her neck but didn't bite into her flesh.
"You could kill me," Druz pointed out, knowing she was treading thin ice, "but if you did, perhaps you would rob my species of good traits for the next generation."
Even as she said that, she realized she might have thrown the druid's own beliefs back in his face too hard.
The druid cocked his head. "Perhaps… and perhaps there are traits in you that would be better weeded out to increase the longevity of your species."
"I'm coming with you," Druz repeated, though less forcefully than she had the first time.
"For the gold?" the druid asked.
"Because I want the wolf dead. I saw what it did to that child, and I know how I would feel if I was the boy's…" Druz swallowed hard. "You don't have a choice other than to let me go. The shepherd who hired us has deep pockets. His stock has done well, and the recent war in the Sea of Fallen Stars has insured that he gets the best prices for his livestock."
The druid waited, his eyes flicking to the other hunters.
"I can tell the shepherd that the wolf has been dealt with," Druz said. She swallowed hard and felt the scimitar's edge bite more deeply. "Otherwise, the shepherd may well fill these forests with hunters."
"It would be bad for the hunters," the druid promised.
Druz glared at him. "Could you kill them all?"
"Perhaps. Patience is its own reward, and I am very patient."
"You couldn't get them all," Druz pointed out. "Not before they did considerable damage to this area's wildlife. Besides hunting and killing wolves, they'd also be living off the land. If we didn't come back, the shepherd will put even more men into the hunt. Those men would wreak havoc in these forests. Is that what you want?"
The druid's eyes locked with hers for a time, and for just a moment, Druz thought her life was forfeit.
The scimitar flashed away from her neck, returning to the druid's side.
Then come," the elf said. "Keep up, because I'm not going to wait on you."
"I need my gear," Druz protested.
Without another word, the druid turned and vanished into the forest.
Druz cursed, calling on Tyr to guide her and Mystra to watch over her