The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [7]
Her announcement started a quick chorus of conversation between the other mercenaries. Arvis, eyes straining in their sockets, looked at the man holding him captive with new-and perhaps fear-filled-respect.
Everyone in Turmish knew of the Emerald Enclave and the druids who filled the organization's ranks. Despite the power that the various cities wielded along the Turmish coastline fronting the Sea of Fallen Stars as well as the Vilhon Reach, no one did anything involving the land without the consent of the Emerald Enclave. The druids' first order of business was to preserve nature, and if that meant no civilization could invade pristine, sylvan glens or wooded areas that could be harvested by loggers, that was what it meant.
Tethys spat and growled a curse that offended even Druz, as hardened as she was to the ways of mercenary men and battle.
"Is that right?" he asked the forest warrior. "Are you a druid?"
"I won't allow the killing of any more wolves," the man replied.
"You can't stop us," Forras said.
The forest warrior turned his deep green eyes on the man. The moonlight threw emerald sparks from them.
Druz acted immediately, seeing the druid's left hand twitch. She shoved Forras away. The man stumbled when he had to unexpectedly shift all his weight to his weak leg. He turned to Druz, lifting his sword threateningly.
"You damned fool!" Druz snapped.
"Are you siding with him, then…?" Forras's voice trailed off when he spotted the long, thin wooden dart quivering in the trunk of the tree he'd been standing in front of only a moment before.
"He would have killed you," Druz said, glancing over her shoulder at the forest warrior. "He still might." She studied the elf s hand, looking for a telltale sign that he had another dart ready.
Tethys took affront at the druid's action. "You'd kill a man over a wolf?" he demanded in disbelief.
"Yes," the druid replied. "The balance of nature must be kept. Your actions here unsettle that balance."
Forras regained his composure but stayed within reaching distance of Druz. "The wolves are feeding on the herd stock nearby."
"The cattle and sheep being raised here by the stockmen living in these lands have become-by rights-part of the wolves' prey," the elf druid said. "Those creatures, brought in by farmers, unsettle the balance of these lands by grazing. The wolves only make the sharing of the land more equal."
Druz didn't agree, but she didn't offer her opinion either. Since the recent war, many countries and nations around the Sea of Fallen Stars had suffered. With so many ships lost to the sahuagin and pirates, trade had been bad. When countries didn't have goods for sale, they seldom brought in goods either.
What the farmers and shepherds brought in had become increasingly important to the well-being of the area. Now that Myth Nantar had been opened from its hiding place, many things were being rethought considering the Sea of Fallen Stars. Even fishermen struggled to feed their families, and those territories they traded with were constantly redrawn by the nations above water as well as those below.
"The cattle and sheep are more important than the wolves," Forras insisted.
The druid's eyes partially closed in anger then opened again. "You're a fool. Without the wolves to cut down the numbers of deer in the forests and through these lands, there would be little grass for the sheep and cattle. The deer would overpopulate this area in a matter of years."
"There are men who would bring the deer down if they ever reached such plentiful numbers," Tethys said. "They would be glad for the opportunity to fill their larders."
"Are there?" The druid cocked his head and his tone bordered on sarcasm. "I've often noticed that when a city man has to make a choice between hunting, killing, cleaning, and cooking his own meal, he'd rather sit in a tavern and order it already prepared on a plate."
"You've been to many civilized places, then?" Tethys asked.
"More than I care to remember," the druid replied. His blade never wavered from Arvis's throat. "I will give you until