The man, Roy, pulled a chair from an empty table and sat in it backward, his arms resting on the ears and rail.
"So," he began with Larissa, "Tell me about yourself. We heard a rumor that Elbert was receiving some valuable shipment. But … " he brushed a silver lock to reveal an eye. "All that came was you."
Larissa cringed at his touch. "Please," she said quietly, "I don't want any trouble."
Roy sniffed at this. "Trouble? I don't bring trouble. I only want to know one small thing. Is Ebernathy dealing in flesh?" He made an ugly smile and licked his lips. "You're the prettiest whore I've seen."
"She's not a whore," Vyncent found himself snarling at the lout, his anger burning within himself. "Now, would you kindly leave us be?" Vyncent did not dare to look the man in the eye, but even so, he could tell he was none too pleased.
"Kindly," Roy mimicked, then scoffed. "How about you kindly keep your mouth shut. I'm not talking to you, you see?" With that, he turned back to Larissa.
"Now, tell me, whore," said Roy with stress on the word whore to irritate Vyncent, "where is Ebernathy? Is he hiding with the Greenboys? I'd love to crush the scrawny little traitor myself if Ashferth would let me."
"I … I don't know," said Larissa, "he's gone. I don't know."
"I know that." Roy shrugged and sighed heavily, his ale breath filling Vyncent's nostrils. "Looks like he scurried out of the city. May the wolves rip his throat open." Roy stood up, tipped his chair over, and turned back to his gang. Thank the heavens, Vyncent thought with great relief, he's bloody leaving.
But Roy was not done with them, or rather, Larissa. He turned on his heels back to the pair, a new idea in mind.
"You must be lonely without a pander." He placed his palms on the table and leaned on them. "Why not come with us? We know a man. His name's Stag. Work with us, and we'll take care of you." Without waiting for a response, he grabbed her by the arm.
"No!" Larissa screamed, "I-I-I'm with my … friend."
"Ah, him?" Roy pointed at Vyncent and chuckled, "he is nobody. Stag will have you live like a princess. This boy will give you nothing."
Vyncent rose and slammed his fist on the table, his rage unleashed. "You let her go!" He had one hand on the dagger; the faintest hint of reason told him not to draw it just yet. Never draw steel, little Vynny, he remembered Garram telling him long ago, unless you mean to draw blood. "I don't want any trouble, Roy."
Roy showed a small amount of admiration for his bravery. "Boy, you have bigger stones than Barlett." He pointed at the dagger at Vyncent's hip and said: "But if you don't take your fingers off that little thing, my man, Stinson, will slice them off and feed them to you." Back at the gang's table, Stinson slid his tongue over the top row of his teeth, excitement plain on his face as he stared at Vyncent.
"Just do as he says," pleaded Larissa as she reluctantly got up, "I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Vyncent let go of the hilt, his hands closing into a fist so tight his knuckles whitened. He scowled at Barlett, who made no move to stop what was happening.
"Why don't you call for help?" Vyncent screamed at the innkeeper as his anger was stoked by his helplessness, "Why won't you do it?"
"You should know better, boy," chastised Barlett as he threw up his hands, "you don't get in the way of Ashferth's men."
What do I do? He knew what these men wanted from her. There are five of them, and the city guard isn't coming … No, no, no …
"We've got coin," he heard Roy utter to Larissa, "Five men in one night? Now, that's a lot of coin."
Vyncent's hand hovered over his dagger, despite the threat of castration. I can't let them get away with this. At the doorway of the kitchen, Reyen stood; he clutched a stone in one hand as he watched Roy, hate in his dark-brown eyes. Clara tried to pull him back in, but he only shook off her feeble hands, making curses at her. All the other patrons ignored the injustice happening before them.
Larissa started to whisper something.
Roy, who heard her murmur, said: "What? What are you saying?"
"Don't waste your call on filth like this, young one," said one of the patrons at a table. It was the woman in green. Larissa gave her a surprised look. "The Great Toad hates hopping around in cities."
"Stay out of this, freak," Roy spat at the woman, "suddenly you want to interfere with business? Why?"
"Simply," she said calmly, "because she's not yours to take." She faced him, her emerald eyes shining under the shade of her hat.
Roy's face grew red, "I take what and who I want." Irritated, Roy tugged at Larissa, even though she put up no fight. "Always have."
"That tradition breaks today if you don't know what's best for you." Though it was a threat, the green woman's voice was soft and serene enough to put a babe to sleep.
At this, Roy squeezed Larissa's arm out of ire, enough to make the girl squeal. He clenched his crooked teeth hard and gestured at his table. "Stinson," bellowed Roy to his blade-bearing minion, "show this woman how to respect Ashferth's soldiers."
"Gladly," said Stinson as he spat on his blade and approached the green woman. "Give us a kiss," he hissed at his target.
"Stop," begged Larissa as she fought Roy's grasp. "I'll go with you, do her no harm!"
Vyncent pulled his dagger free from its sheath; Reyen lifted the rock over his head and aimed at Stinson; Barlett hid behind his counter. From the steps that lead up to the rooms, a big muscular man made his descent. Like the woman, only his eyes were revealed; he covered himself from head to toe in deep-blue robes and wraps,
In one quick motion, the green woman swung underhand with an arm as if to toss something to Stinson.
From beneath her loose sleeve, a viny cord flew out towards the thug. Stinson screamed, and Vyncent noticed a wooden spike at the end of the line. Impaled below the sternum, Stinson fell to his knees. When his blade couldn't cut through the greenery that pierced him, he dropped it and tried to pull it out instead. The point of the stake poked back out of the flesh and locked itself in a rib, the living wood still growing outward.
"Let the girl go," the green woman demanded, the softness in her voice gone.
Roy's face showed fear for only a second, then he smirked. "You don't scare me. But now you've done it. When Ashferth hears about this, he'll—"
Stinson let loose another scream of terror. "It's moving … Oh gods! It's moving inside me!"
Shegg, unable to stomach the scene, ran out of the Well of Blood, leaving his friends to deal with the mysterious creature themselves.
"Unhand her!" The green woman wrenched at the vine, making Stinson fall to the dusty wooden floor.
Roy silently did as she bid. Larissa, released, ran back to Vyncent.
When Roy started to walk away, the impaler gestured for him to stop with her free hand. "No," she said to him, "face them and beg for their forgiveness."
"What?" Roy questioned quietly like a scolded child.
"Gods damn it all, Roy," howled Stinson, "just do as she bloody says." He squirmed and grunted, each breath harder than the last.
The gang leader turned to the young pair. "My apologies," he said curtly. Vyncent was taken aback by this, too stunned by what was happening to accept his penitence.
"Again," the green woman added, "and on your knees. And with respect."
Roy got on his knees and said: "I apologize for my rudeness. Please forgive me."
At the words, fury flickered on the woman's face.
"Rudeness?" she repeated with disgust, "that's all you have to call it?" In her wrath, she must have twitched her wood; Stinson started to make horrible noises Vyncent had never heard a man make before. "Monsters like you are the blight of realm. You don't even know the harm you do. You were going to force the girl to—"
"That is enough, Ferangis," The large man in blue chided, "their time will come."
Uprooting her wooden spike from Stinson's bleeding chest, the green woman, this Ferangis, as the blue man called her, jerked her head towards the door.
"Get out," she barked at Roy as she reeled in her weapon, "take your vile friend to a healer before he bleeds out."
Roy was the first to leave; the remaining two gang members carried Stinson out by his arms and legs.
"Thank you, kind strangers," said Vyncent solemnly, "I'm in your debt." Though they saved Larissa, the violent display still made him wary of the swaddled folk before him.
Ferangis heard him but said nothing to it. She walked over to Barlett as she wiped her stake with a stained white rag; the wood itself, once jagged with thorns and roots, smoothed out and returned to a spearhead-like shape.
"Break the girl's silver and give them the change," Ferangis ordered.
"Yes!" Barlett said with forced joy, giving no argument whatsoever, "Right away, quickly." He opened the chest and picked some coins out, and handed them to the woman in green. "Six dents. That's right, yes? Yes, six dents it is. Six dents make for sixty coppers."
Ferangis gestured for Larissa to claim her coin. Vyncent followed her.
"Oh," Larissa said, demurely, as she collected her change, "thank you, Barlett. But what about the food and ale? Surely the meal wasn't free."
"Ah, no no no, it was! It was! It was on the house, sweetling," Barlett said smiling and nodding, his friendliness bought by fear, "worry not and sleep well."
Ferangis shook her head at Barlett. "You're a craven, innkeeper," she told him. A sad look came in her enchanting eyes. "But not as great as one as me, for sure." Barlett did not know how to answer her statement; he only stood quietly and looked away from her. "I need to help Clara clean," he finally said, taking his leave into the safety of the kitchen.
"May I ask," Vyncent started to ask Ferangis, "why did you help us?"
She met his eyes, her mysterious emeralds looking into his grayish ice. "Please get some rest," she requested instead of answering his question, her gentle voice returning, "tomorrow we will still be here. We will explain everything, but know that the Lady in the Elms waits for you and your friend."
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