The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [6]
"Don't kill him," Druz repeated.
Kord started forward.
"If you value your brother's life, Kord," Druz said in a low, anxious voice as she glanced at the big man, "you'll stay back."
Kord hesitated.
"If you force him to deal with you," Druz went on, "hell kill Arvis without blinking an eye. He'll have one less enemy to face."
Kord plucked the heavy quarrel from the crossbow and tossed it to the ground. He dropped the bow next and showed his empty hands.
"That's my brother," he croaked in a voice that broke. "If you'll allow it, 111 have him back in one piece. If you harm him in any way, know that I won't rest until one of us is dead. I swear that by Helm the Vigilant, god of protectors and guardians."
Arvis trembled, evidently trying to figure out a way to rescue himself.
"Stay," the forest warrior commanded. He pressed the scimitar against the younger man's throat meaningfully.
"If he's meaning to kill us," Tethys grated, "then we're better off working together. He can't get us all."
The forest warrior turned his dark green eyes on the mercenary leader. "Count up after the dust has settled."
No one moved.
Tethys swore black oaths, but he stayed where he was.
For all his mercenary experience, Druz knew that Tethys wasn't an overly courageous man. He was smart on a battlefield, and that made him a successful sellsword.
Making a decision, knowing no one else in the party knew for sure what the forest warrior was or whom he represented, Druz sheathed her sword then unbuckled the belt. She dropped it on the ground, then stepped forward with her empty hands held up before her.
The forest warrior watched her approach but said nothing.
"Clear a path to him, girl," Forras said. "You're blocking whatever chance one of us might have to get to him should it come to that."
Druz ignored the command. Part of the reason the forest warrior allowed her to move in was because she would serve as a human shield.
"Who are you?" Druz asked.
The forest warrior regarded her silently.
"What do you want?" Druz tried again.
"No more wolf hunting," the forest warrior replied, "and I want the scalps you've collected so far. Those that died will not be desecrated further."
"No," Tethys disagreed, placing a hand on the bag at his waist where the wolf scalps were stored. "We're keeping the scalps."
Druz spoke to the mercenaries without turning around or taking her eyes from the forest warrior. "You're going to have to give him the scalps."
"Are you insane?" Forras demanded. "Without those scalps we won't be able to collect our bounty."
"If you don't give him the scalps," Druz said in a measured voice, "hell kill us, and you won't be able to collect your bounty."
"Why would he kill us?" Ennalt demanded, exasperated. "We don't even know this man." He paused. "Do you know him, Druz?"
"No," Druz answered. "I don't know him… but I know what he is."
She met the forest warrior's gaze boldly. Despite her fear of him, and the respect she had for what she guessed he was capable of, she wasn't going to flinch away from him. She wouldn't give him that; she gave no man that.
"He's one man," Tethys objected. "Even if he slays Arvis, there are eight of us."
"I don't want my brother killed," Kord said. "If you do something stupid to get him slain, I'll kill you, Tethys."
"Eight of us isn't enough," Druz said, "and he's not alone."
Warily, the men carrying lanterns moved them so the bull's-eye beams swept the trees around the glen. A wolf bayed in the distance, yipping at the moon that was high in the sky.
"I don't see anyone," Tethys replied.
"You won't see anyone until it's too late," Druz said.
She recalled the tales her blacksmith father had told her of men like the one standing so coolly in front of her with his scimitar at Arvis's throat;
"Who are you?" Tethys demanded of the forest warrior.
"This night," the man said quietly, "I'm a protector of the wolves you people would slay to line your palms with gold."
"He's a druid," Druz said. "One of the Emerald Enclave."