Shadow Phantoms - H.P. Mallory Page 0,39
all the way from the Gower.”
Matherson grimaced. “Duine killed his own man?”
“And sent his body back as a message for us,” nodded Eirin. “They’re not interested in a trade. They’ve got what they want.”
The three of us were silent for moment, contemplating the ruthlessness of Duine and the King’s Alliance.
“Did you make sure they didn’t follow you back?” Matherson asked.
Eirin shot a sharp look at him.
He lifted his hands and shrugged. “Sorry. Had to ask.”
“No, you damn well didn’t, Matherson,” she blared at him. “You’ve known me long enough to trust me not to do anything as all fire dumb as that.”
Eirin was small to start with and standing beside Matherson, she looked like a doll, but the red-headed woman was all fire on the inside. No one messed with Eirin. At least not more than once. She now turned to me.
“We need to send a message back to them, Pagan.”
“Let me guess,” I said, reluctantly.
“We’ve still got people of theirs…”
“No.”
“If we don’t answer in kind, we look weak.”
I rounded on her. “If we kill helpless prisoners then we are weak. Clearly their men don’t matter to them so what would the point of this message even be?”
“To prove that we’re as willing to shed blood as they are,” Eirin snapped back.
“To prove we’re as bad as they are?”
“We’d be killing their people! Not our own!”
“We don’t kill unless we have to,” I spoke with the authority of law. “That is not who we are and I will not let Duine change us. Killing defenseless men is the very essence of the corruption of magic.”
Eirin remained unconvinced. “They killed our people. Those men we’ve got tied up over there, eating our food each day? They killed our friends.”
“I am aware of that.”
“But you’re unwilling to do anything about it.”
“I’m unwilling to do what you’re suggesting.”
“Okay.” Eirin gave a little shrug. “You’re the boss, I would never question that. So what are we going to do with them? We can’t keep them indefinitely. There’s no legal body we can turn them over to, and even if there was, we’re the outlaws. In fact, the way I see it, there are only two options, Pagan; we kill them or we let them go, and watch them run back to their master. So you tell me which, and I’ll go tell the rest of the camp. I’m sure they’ll all be fascinated to hear what you plan to do with the men who murdered their comrades.”
Eirin was one of those people of whom you said ‘I’m glad she’s on our side’. But she didn’t seem to be on mine right now.
“I haven’t decided what to do yet,” I replied and breathed in deeply. I had a headache and I was sure it had everything to do with this fucked up situation.
“You let me know when you figure it out. Okay?”
She headed off, back to the tents. Like Matherson, I sometimes wondered why Eirin followed me. We were on the same side, but often differed in our philosophies. This incident a case in point. And yet she did follow me, and I knew that whatever order I gave, she would do it, whether she agreed or not.
“How long do you think we’ve got until she leaves us to join Nyx?” asked Matherson, watching her go.
“I’m more wondering how long I’ve got till she kills me as I sleep.”
Matherson shook his head and chuckled deeply. It was no secret he lusted after Eirin and had since he’d met her. Yet, she wanted nothing to do with him. I had a feeling she might be more interested in women.
“Eirin would wake you up first.” He gazed after her. “Little spitfire isn’t she?”
“Still got a crush on her, huh?”
Matherson blushed behind his beard. “Maybe. Is it weird that the angrier she gets, the more I fancy her?”
“Frankly? Yeah.”
Matherson sighed and shook his shaggy head. “I bet she’s a hellcat in the sack.”
“Ask her if she’s interested.” I reached up to pat my enormous friend on the shoulder. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“I could die.” It was funny how a man like Matherson, who showed no fear in battle and had looked death in the face without blinking could be too nervous to ask a woman on a date. Well, Eirin wasn’t just any woman.
“We could all die tomorrow, my friend,” I pointed out. “The life we live; it doesn’t pay to put stuff off.”
“What are you going to do with those prisoners?”
I looked across to the