Chapter 189: Lives
“What's wrong with us?” Maline said with a glint in her eyes. “Oh darling, if you knew how much money was being thrown around you wouldn’t ask that question. Besides, the boy was living on borrowed time, he had a handful of weeks remaining as best before his body gave out and my toxins finished him off. If anything, it was a mercy to give his life value one last time.”
“You’re monologuing, love.” Kurt said, the grey skinned man glaring impassively down at the puddle that had once been a person. He worked his jaw, the two mounds jutting from his cheekbones shifting back and forth.
Dozens of people fanned out behind him, many had rough appearances, scars and old wounds lining their bodies. Leif’s amber gaze flicked quickly between each one, his analysis skill confirming their ages and relatively lacking fighting experience. They weren’t a real threat, thugs, gangsters and sell-swords they may be, combined they simply didn’t have the numerical strength to do the scion any real harm. But he wasn’t alone.
“Go.” He telepathically sent to Lucia, unshouldering the two packs he had been holding and tossing them down beside her. “Run for the forest. I’ll be right after you once I’ve dealt with this.”
The girl knelt in the dirt, wiping her mouth with a trembling hand. Leif could sense the shock, disgust and fear at what she had just seen, and while his own thoughts were relatively restrained, there were cracks slowly forming. It took an unspeakable amount of cruelty to murder somebody who had barely become an adult in such a vile way. Leif would show no mercy to either perpetrator, if they gave him the chance, he would end them.
Wordlessly Lucia gathered her belongings, then sprinted away as fast as she could. Without looking away from Kurt and Maline, Leif sensed as she reached the edge of his awareness, then vanished into the night. He felt the intent of a few of the weaker humans moving to surround him shift after Lucia, but they quickly returned to him as he flared his aura warningly. In the city another horn was blown, and the distant sound of ringing bells roused the settlement to wakefulness. Leif saw small points of fire moving along the walls towards them, and down in the low lying farmland to the west of Luriem torches were being lit among the imperial encampment.
“Hey!” One of the criminals barked. “We gotta bag the catch and get moving. I don’t want the guard or army to fall down on my head.”
“The ugly fellow who’s name I can’t recall makes a good point.” Maline said, earning a scowl from the speaker. “How do you feel about giving in and coming into our custody? You’ll be more than safe until those guilders show up and take you, I promise.”
“Forgive me, but I doubt the value of your word.” Leif said, nodding down at the puddle of viscera and melted bones. “In fact, you disgust me.”