The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [20]
Moving with accustomed precision, Druz pulled on the thing she'd taken from her backpack. The device elongated in sections, forming a hollow tube. The mercenary placed the tube to her eye and stared through it. She was quiet only for a moment, then she lowered the device and looked back at him.
They're slavers," she said. "Yes," Haarn replied.
He didn't tell her that he could smell them from the valley's ridge. The slaves exuded a spicy sweat from the foods they'd eaten and the fragrances they wore. Those unfortunate enough to be caught and held in chains carried a days' old sour, sickly stench. The chain links had been padded so they didn't make much noise.
Slavers occasionally came deep into Turmish from Nimpeth and other lands on the southern coastline of the Vilhon Reach. Nimpeth had long been known as a slave city. The manpower shortages and the damage wrought by the recent war had increased both the demand for and the availability of slaves.
"You knew that?" Druz accused.
"I know it now," Haarn stated.
He returned his gaze to the stumbling progression making its way southeast to the Turmish coastline. They were days away from the Vilhon Reach and whatever vessel might be awaiting them.
"You let slavers raid these lands?" Druz asked, obviously angry. She put her device away.
Haarn didn't even deign to answer the offensive question.
"What are you going to do?" Druz demanded. "Hunt the wolf," the druid replied, "as we agreed." "You can't just let those slavers pass. Maybe we can do something."
Haarn looked at her. "Do you know any of those people?"
"I couldn't see them." "They could be strangers."
"If we don't do something, they're going to be slaves."
Haarn noted the urgency in the woman's voice and knew that her attitude was going to be troublesome.
He said, Those people could be slaves again in the next tenday."
"You're going to stand by and let that happen?"
"It's none of my affair," the druid said. He nodded toward the line of slaves and slavers. "What you see there is the work of man, of civilization. Animals don't take slaves."
"Some of those people could be druids."
"No," Haarn said quietly. "No one of my order would allow himself or herself to be taken as a slave." They would die first. He was certain of that.
"If one of your order was down there," Druz persisted, "would you do something then?"
"No one from my order is down there."
A little irritated by Druz's constant talk of things that weren't happening and might never happen, Haarn turned and stepped back toward the sheltering forest.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"The sooner I kill the wolf we seek, the sooner I can take my leave of you."
"Those people are being taken into slavery."
"It's not my concern."
Haarn kept walking, his thoughts already turning from the slaves and the slavers.
Broadfoot snuffled in the distance, the sound lost amid the night's other myriad noises. Haarn knew no one else would have heard it unless they were standing close to the brown bear. The druid cocked his head slightly, listening for what Broadfoot had sensed.
Furtive footsteps neared their position.
Quietly, Haarn considered the choices before him. The footsteps belonged to men. He'd gotten so caught up in the disagreement with Druz that he hadn't been as attentive as he usually was.
"What?" she challenged. "Don't tell me you suddenly decided that you care about those people down there."
"No," Haarn replied.
The footsteps paused. The druid smelled the spicy meat on the breaths of the men around them and even heard a few garbled and raspy whispers. He marveled at the fact, with the men so near, that the woman didn't know they were there.
"Then why are you-"
Druz reached for her sword as Haarn heard footsteps rush from the forest around them. The sword cleared its leather scabbard and she stepped into a defensive posture.
Knowing the men formed a loose semicircle around them, Haarn lifted his hands slowly from his sides and held them straight out.
"Put down your weapon," Haarn advised.
"No," Druz replied. "I won't