The white-haired elder had approached whilethe three men had been preoccupied with Shea. There was hope in hiseyes as he clasped his hands in front of him.
“You’ve outdone yourself.” The elder’s facerelaxed and he started to smile, when Darius added, “We’ll expectdouble the wheat.”
The man’s eyes widened as he physically drewback in horror. “But we’ve given you what you asked. Both in wheatand people. More than that if you include her.”
The amusement drained from Darius’ face ashis eyes chilled and his expression turned hard. Menace rolled offhis body as he leaned down slightly. “Yes, and you tricked othersinto taking your men’s place.”
“We’ll starve if we give you double theamount. What does it matter how we fill the quota as long as wefill it?” the elder interrupted.
Darius pulled sharply on the reins, spinningthe horse and kicking it in the sides. The elder backed away asDarius and the horse bore down on him.
“The quota ismeantto affect you. Wewantto keep you hungry and take your men from you. We wantyour boys in our army because you’ll be so worried about them thatyou won’t have time to resist. If they’re in the army, they’re notsowing the seeds of a rebellion they can’t hope to win. Which meanswe don’t have to come back here and wipe your village from themap.” The elder tripped and scrambled back in a tangle of limbs asDarius continued his advance. “You can either sacrifice your peopleor starve. This time you’ve chosen to starve. Now, I’ve beengenerous in not punishing you further. If this deal is no longer toyour taste, say the word and my men and I will ride through yourvillage. I warn you, though, that once we ride, we will not stop,no matter how you beg and plead, until everything you know and loveis ash upon the ground.”
Darius drew his horse to a sharp stop as helifted his gaze from the terror stricken form in front of him. Theother two flinched from his wrath.
“We’ll up the amount of wheat to betransported,” the hawk-nosed one agreed.
Darius’s gaze didn’t waver for a long minute.Tension built as he held them trapped. There was no laughter, nohint of the handsome man. He looked like death, come to collect hisdue.
After a drawn out moment where Shea thoughthe’d call his men to ride on the town anyway, Darius jerked hishead down once. The menace filling the air drained away as he madehis way back to the two gathered by Shea.
“Bring her,” he ordered. “Have the othersfollow behind on foot and put their horses on a leader.”
Before Shea could protest, she found herselfgrabbed under the arms and hoisted into the air. For balance, shegrabbed the horse’s neck as she was placed in front of the rider.She blinked back at the brown haired man regarding her impassivelybefore turning forward.
She felt impossibly high off the ground sincethe horse was much taller than her former one. It was not apleasant feeling.
Dane looked angry, like he wanted dosomething impulsive and stupid. Shea breathed a sigh of relief whenWitt stepped in front of him and shoved him back.
The others just looked angry, but not likethey were going to go crazy and challenge the men with swords,voicing objections when Darius’ men forced them away from theirmounts. Paul glared at her as if this was somehow her fault. Thoughhow she would have orchestrated it, or why, escaped her.
When her eyes strayed back to him, Witt shother a questioning look and indicated their horses. She figured hewas asking if they should make an attempt to overpower thewarriors, most of whom had yet to dismount and still watched thesurrounding buildings with suspicion. Every warrior had one hand ona weapon.
Shea shook her head.
Seeing her response, Dane finally got aholdof himself and pushed Witt’s arm away. Witt let him do this, thoughhe gave Dane a final warning look before stepping back and foldinghis arms across his chest.
“You’re an odd one,” the man behind her saidas he clicked his tongue at his horse. Suddenly they were movingtoward the gate, their bodies swaying to the horse’s rhythm.
Shea figured a reply wasn’t really necessaryand kept facing forward while she logged potential escape routes.The men holding them didn’t have many weaknesses that she couldsee.
The silent treatment didn’t deter the man ashe added thoughtfully, “Usually when I have to grab someone,especially a woman, they plead or beg or struggle. It’s all veryannoying. You act like it’s no big deal. Either you’re scarypragmatic and exactly how Fallon described you, or you lack anounce of courage.”
Shea wiggled her jaw and clenched her fistsinto the horse’s mane to keep her composure. Since he couldn’t seeher, she allowed some of the anger she felt to leak past hershields.
It wasn’t like she wanted to sit here like acoward. Her inner strategist simply recognized the futility ofstruggling. Why waste energy and risk an injury that might preventa future escape?
From the looks on a few of her men’s faces,she knew they agreed with the man behind her.
Fools.
Counting herself, her team numbered seven.She estimated that twenty Trateri warriors had ridden into thesquare. From the way Darius talked, she suspected he had more menwaiting right outside the town, ready to rain the Hawkvale’s wrathdown on the townspeople if needed.
Better to present a weak front and lower theenemy’s guard before attempting an escape. It would make them lesswary and increase her chance of success.
The sounds of a scuffle reached her. Sheapeered over her captor’s shoulder.
Paul dodged under a horse and around anotheras Witt and Dane shouted for him to stop. He didn’t make it twosteps before a man on a pale cream horse rode up and kicked him inthe head. Paul stumbled. Before he could recover, he was surroundedby warriors. Shea caught a glimpse of a rage-filled face. Then hewas gone.
