The Mists of Sorrow_ Book Seven of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [73]
“Good,” he says. “Find out anything about the necklace? Jiron’s been climbing the walls ever since you left.”
“She never saw it before,” he says.
“Too bad for those three we have tied up inside,” Shorty says as he walks with them back to the farmhouse. “Jiron’s not going to be satisfied if they can’t tell him something.”
Sighing, James says, “I know.” Moving to the farmhouse he sees Jiron framed in the doorway.
“Well?” he asks.
James holds out the necklace to him and says, “She didn’t know anything.”
Taking it, Jiron nods. Looking past James’ shoulder he hollers, “Reilin! I need you.”
“Be right there,” he replies.
Jiron then turns and goes back in the farmhouse. James follows him in.
The three men still sit in the same place where they were when he had left to return the children. Even though the dead bodies have been removed, the blood that was spilled during the fight remains.
“What do you need?” asks Reilin when he enters the room.
Jiron waves him over to where he stands before the three prisoners and shows Reilin the necklace. “I want you to ask them where they got this,” he explains.
“Why?” he asks.
“The last time I saw it was when Tinok left,” he replies.
“The same Tinok we are trying to find?” he questions.
Nodding, Jiron says, “That’s right.”
Taking the necklace from Jiron, he turns to the prisoners. Holding up in front of them, he asks, “Where did you get this?” Three sets of eyes stare back at him silently. “Tell me!” he insists. When they still refuse to answer, he turns back to Jiron. “They’re being stubborn.”
Jiron removes one of the knives that the Renlon’s gave him back in Illion. He grabs the hair of the closest man and puts the knife’s point an inch away from the man’s left eye. Then he says to Reilin, “Ask them again.” The man whose eye is being threatened begins to sweat. His eyes flick from the point of the knife, to Jiron, and then to Reilin.
“Now, my friend is real anxious to find out about how you came to be in possession of this necklace,” he explains to the man with the knife before his eye. “It once belonged to a friend of his, and the fact that you had it causes him great concern. Things will go much smoother if you would cooperate.”
“It isn’t ours,” the man being threatened states. When he speaks, Jiron backs the knife a few inches away from in front of his eye.
“That’s right,” another of the prisoners adds. “If we tell you what we know will you let us go?”
Reilin translates for the others who have gathered to watch the proceedings. James says, “If they convince us they are telling the truth and have told everything they know, we won’t kill them.”
When Reilin explains that to them, the man says, “Very well.” Eyes moving from James then to the others, he says “It was Gryll’s.”
Another of the men adds, “He claimed he bought if from some prostitute in Inziala before we came north. Said he paid her four gold pieces for it.”
“What prostitute?” asks Jiron after Reilin translated for them.
A few moments’ discussion with the captives and Reilin says, “They don’t know her name. Supposedly she works down by the river at a place called The Split Navel.”
“Can we trust them?” asks Shorty.
“I can’t believe they would lie about something as trivial as where a necklace came from,” suggests Scar. “I mean, what’s the point?”
James glances to Brother Willim and asks, “What do you think?”
“I don’t sense any attempt at deception,” he replies. “I would tend to believe they are telling the truth.” Beside him Miko nods in agreement.
“So then, what to do with them?” Stig asks.
“I gave them my word not to kill them,” he says, “but I said nothing about releasing them.” He glances to Jiron and says, “We leave them bound and gagged when we go.”
“And then notify someone at the next town where they are?” asks Shorty.
Shaking his head, James says, “No. The people at the inn know that something happened here. More than likely someone will come out here to investigate.”
“They will execute them when