Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments by Tom Lloyd Page B

Payl replied. ‘The man who gives the orders took the shot? Not often how it works, that’s what being in charge means. You get some other fool to do stuff.’
    The older woman’s face twitched as Obe continued to claim his innocence, the others just stared at the ground, but it was enough for Lynx and clearly Payl agreed.
    ‘Look on the faces around you says different,’ she continued, ‘and given I’m second in command o’ my company, I’m inclined to agree. My boss is still drunk somewhere most likely. He prefers me to do any work he don’t have to do himself.’
    ‘We never meant anyone to get hurt,’ the woman blurted out, ‘I swear it. We never killed anyone before, never needed to. Was a warning shot, just something to scare ’em into surrendering.’
    ‘That makes you fucking stupid thieves,’ Payl replied. ‘Sooner or later you’ll get hunted down if you let people live to tell the tale.’
    She shook her head. ‘We were going to move on soon. Just needed food or money first. Obe ain’t the best shot; we weren’t finding much to eat in the forest. Vass reckoned if we didn’t kill anyone, we’d not be worth bothering with for a few weeks. Not before we moved on, not off the highway.’
    ‘So it was a lucky shot?’ Lynx demanded angrily. ‘The man was sitting right next to me! You got him plumb in the heart.’
    ‘We didn’t know,’ the woman insisted. ‘We just saw he’d hit someone then you starting firing mage-guns and we ran.’
    Lynx grunted, realising it was probably true, but before he could say anything more Payl gave him a look that told him to back off.
    ‘Turns out you were right,’ she announced. ‘No one in Janagrai cared enough to want to run you off, the town watchmen weren’t interested in heading into the forest and the Brothers of the Oak only care about their road. Shame you killed a merchant whose widow actually liked him.’
    The woman looked her straight in the face, over the initial shock of their capture. ‘What now?’ she asked in a quiet voice, clearly dreading the answer.
    Payl scowled and caught Varain’s eye. The veteran nodded, standing just out of sight of the prisoners. ‘Widow asked us for justice,’ Payl said. ‘By my reckoning that’s whoever was in charge and whoever shot her husband. I’ve no doubt the rest of you’ll be long gone by the time we get back round these parts.’
    The woman gasped and sagged in relief, while Obe whimpered and Lynx saw a darkening stain down the thigh of his britches. Varain didn’t give him long to accept his fate. In one practised movement he pulled a stiletto from his belt and slammed it into Obe’s ear. The young man spasmed, eyes widening with shock and pain for one long moment before the spark went from his eyes and his body fell limp.
    Varain jerked the dagger out again, blood spattering over the other youth’s shirt, and let the corpse fall. There was a moment of fearful silence as they all looked down at the body of Obe, then Payl gave a sniff.
    ‘Give them both a proper burial,’ she ordered, looking at the remaining prisoners. ‘We’ll leave you your bows – you’ll need them to hunt as you’re moving on. None of you look dumb enough to come after us, but rest assured we’ll kill the lot of you if we ever see you again.’ She paused and glanced off in the direction of the road. ‘Our scouts had the match of your lookout easy enough. If you think you’ll be able to sneak up on ’em, day or night, it’ll be your last mistake, I promise.’
    ‘No trophy?’ Varain asked as they started to retrace their steps.
    Payl shook her head. ‘Don’t want to waste the time cutting back to town to deliver it. We got paid half in advance, agreed we’d tap her for the rest when we headed back this way in a few weeks. It ain’t enough money to rush back for – nor for her to screw us over. Either there’ll be more reports of robberies and we’ll finish the job, or it’s done and she’ll pay