“So where are we going?” Jerico asked. “I hope not anywhere fancy. I must look a mess, what with the beatings and all.”
“For someone an inch away from death, you seem in rather good spirits,” Bellok said.
“Anything to stave off that final inch.”
For once, Bellok smiled.
“You’ll definitely be one of our more amusing captures, of that I’m certain.”
Jerico fell silent. Well, this Kaide person had had captives before. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
“What happened to the other captives?” he asked.
The lug behind him leaned down, and his foul breath washed over Jerico.
“We ate them.”
Jerico shifted his weight again, this time waking up his other arm and reigniting similar pain throughout the sleeping limb.
“Fantastic,” he muttered.
He kept quiet as the minutes passed, spending the time in prayer with Ashhur. He didn’t feel in any immediate danger, and his god gave little warning in his mind. Strange… the two captors carrying him were on the slow side, but they didn’t seem particularly vile, beyond their smell. Bellok was intelligent, and appeared to take no joy in the situation. What had happened to the rest who had beaten him, though? They probably deserved a good walloping of Ashhur’s mercy, and by god, he’d be glad to give it…
“We’re here,” Bellok said.
Jerico found himself unceremoniously dropped to the ground, landing hard on the twisted root of a tree. Biting down his cry, he pulled aside the net to stand. Both big lugs had drawn swords, and they pointed them at him. Jerico frowned. The men might be stupid, but they certainly took care of their weapons.
“Nothing funny,” said one. “You run, we gut you.”
“He won’t run,” Bellok said, gesturing for Jerico to follow.
Jerico didn’t have the heart to tell him he was a bad judge of character. Instead he took in his surroundings, which were meager. Deep in the forest, it appeared Kaide’s men had built a small cluster of homes in cleared areas of pine. They were small, a single floor with one or two windows and a door. They looked like a strong storm could blow them away.