qualms about ripping his head off. His muscles quivered and his blood rushed at the thought of finally unleashing the anger he’d tempered most of his life.
It was hard being born a warrior in a town where peace was paramount. Tressa understood that about him. Her hand found its way onto his bicep, calming him. She knew the effect she had and had exercised it many times throughout their lives. Not since they’d been uncoupled. Those were the three hardest years of his life.
The man sputtered, a tiny trail of spittle leaked from the side of his pursed lips. “I don’t know.”
Bastian squeezed his collar tighter.
“I don’t. The soldiers came back right after you left and took him. I have no say in the matter. I would have saved him if it were up to me. I don’t kill!” Tears slipped out of his eyes and down his cheeks.
Tressa nodded at Bastian. So she believed him. Bastian wasn’t sure he did, but he couldn’t kill the man for no reason. Slowly he let go of the man’s collar.
He scrambled backward, putting two arm’s lengths between him and Bastian’s unclenched fist.
“Can you tell us who took him?”
“Doesn’t matter.” The man shook his head from side to side, his grey hair falling in stringy strands over his eyes.
“Why not?” Bastian asked.
“He’ll never be the same. Not after they’ve taken him.”
Bastian’s heart thundered in his chest. “What will they do?”
The man shrank farther away from Bastian.
He could feel his cheeks taking on a red glow as his anger swept through him. “What will they do?” he repeated.
“I don’t know,” the man stuttered. His eyelids snapped shut, squeezing so tight his face turned into a melted of wrinkles. His fingers pawed at his eyelids, trying to force them open.
“What’s happening to him?” The panic in Tressa’s voice rose with each word.
The physic’s mouth wrenched to the side. Garbled words mixed with vomit spewing from his lips. Bastian put an arm in front of Tressa, holding her back. She ducked, slipping out from underneath it before he could stop her.
“You don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Bastian yelled at her.
She glared at him over his shoulder. “I don’t care. He’s the only one who knows where Connor might be. I’m risking it.”
Tressa slid into to a crouch, avoiding the growing pile of vomit on the floor.
“Help me.”
“I don’t know how.” Tressa placed a hand on his shoulder. Bastian shuddered, wanting desperately to yank her away from the man. “Tell us where they took Connor. Please.” The desperation in her voice got to the physic. Either that or he knew his time left was short.
“Seek absolution,” he said, his speech garbled.
A large crack startled both Bastian and Tressa, sending her backward into his waiting arms. The physic’s neck fell to his shoulder in at unnatural angle, broken. His chest no longer lifted with life-sustaining breath.
“Dead.” Bastian said. He rested his chin on Tressa’s head.
“Magic,” she whispered. She pushed out of his arms, the immediate shock dissipating.
“Does that surprise you, considering what we’ve seen so far?”
Tressa shook her head. “What do you think he meant about seeking absolution?”
“For his sins?” Bastian asked. “Or for Connor?”
“Or for us? You were about to kill him. I was threatening him. Maybe he thought we were in the wrong. It’s possible he didn’t know anything.”
Bastian nodded. “I think he did, though. He said no one ever came back the same. He was expecting Connor to be like them, whoever they are. This isn’t the first time.” Bastian licked his lips and cleared his throat. He’d stayed silent and stoic most of his life, protecting everyone from his temper. He couldn’t do it to Tressa, not now, not when Connor was missing.
“That’s right. He did say that.” Tressa tapped a finger against her chin, gazing at the dead man. She whirled around, her hands on her hips. “Then we have to seek absolution. Find the nearest holy place. Maybe they’ve got Connor there. Or someone there knows something.”
“Agreed.”
A knock at the door startled them. “Rangar, are you in there? I need some herbs for Mahina’s cough.”
Bastian nodded toward the back of the room and a door. He hoped it led outside. Tressa ran toward it and flung the door open. Bastian tried not to let out a sigh. He would have checked carefully first, before exposing them to whatever lay on the other side. Luckily it was a door to a back alley, just as he’d hoped, and no one jumped in