The young man stepped into view, followed
immediately by Ratel the Honey Badger and a swarm of bees. It wasn’t just the
three … brothers, but an entire swarm.
Loopel and Akadis looked at one another. Loopel nodded
and Akadis proceeded in untying not only the legs but the hands of the
prisoners too.
“Good,” said David. “Susan, tie them up.” David didn’t
make eye contact as he spoke to her, and Susan obeyed mutely and with a frown,
refusing to look in his direction. She tied up their hands and legs and also
bound them to a nearby tree. Hedegar had retrieved the box with the latest clue
from Loopel and stashed it with the rest of the luggage.
“Is everyone all right?” asked David, gesturing the
others to take a seat.
“We are well, answered Hedegar on behalf of them all.
We are indebted to you for coming when you did, and for that we thank you. But
if it isn’t too much trouble, I’d prefer that we move away from this place
soon. It seemed fair enough when we first arrived, but now it fills me with
foreboding.”
David nodded. “Fair enough. But what are we to do with
the prisoners?”
Everyone was thoughtful. Then Scaltard spoke up. “It
seems to me we have two options. Either, we take them with us (which has the
disadvantage of us needing to keep them under guard) or we let them go, hoping
they’ve learnt their lesson. The second option comes with the risk that they
plot against us again, but they are now greatly outnumbered and we will not be
caught unawares a second time.” As he said the last, Susan detected a hint of shame
in his voice as though he felt some guilt for having been the first captive.
The prisoners had been placed off to one side and were
being fiercely guarded by Ratel and her bees. They were out of earshot if the
others spoke quietly enough. The loud buzzing of the hovering swarm also helped
to block the sound.
Susan, aware of this replied quietly, “They know what
the next clue is, if they work out the location before us, they could still
cause trouble. Especially if it leads to the seed itself.”
Hedegar answered, “I already know where we are to go
next, but I suspect those villains have figured it out themselves. I think they
had worked it out just before David arrived, since they were getting ready to
leave. It’s rather obvious anyway.”
“Maybe to you,” frowned Vixel. “Oh, I agree with the
hedgehog, answered Scaltard. Why isn’t it obvious? The…”
“Hush,” interrupted Hedegar. They may be able to hear
us and in the unlikely case they haven’t figured it out, we needn’t blurt it
out to them.
“So are we to keep them with us?” asked Vixel.
“That seems best,” replied Hedegar. “For now anyway.
Come, let’s get out of this place.”
They began to gather up their things and made their
way out of the enclave back through the pass to the Phairdayle Gate. They found
a shady spot sheltered by the cliff face but not far from the river. The
prisoners were made to sit off to one side, still guarded by Ratel and her
swarm. The others sat and held council.
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