33

Interrogation

"What?" Nenda stood up abruptly when the young man come into his home, not even knocking. It must be something urgent indeed. And it had been.

"The Western village is under attack.!"

"Attacked? By whom?" The elderly Bruter, whose people had once been called Brutemen, frowned.

Gret swallowed hard. "The demons, Nenda. They are looking for Saber."

The village chief raised his eyebrows. "Saber? Then he is alive!" He laughed aloud. "I knew that young scamp would make it. He has the heart of a wolf, that one." Then his expression became serious. "But we must help them out. Gather a group of warriors to come with me, but leave enough to defend our own people as well."

The young Bruter nodded and ran off to gather some of the fighters. As Nenda grabbed his own weapon, a slim but sturdy battle ax, he executed a few manuevers outside his home. His mate watched him, concern on her face. "You've not gone to battle for years, Nenda, are you sure you are able?"

The village chief whipped the ax to the left and sliced down a young tree that had been growing outside his home. He stood straight again and smiled at his wife. "Yes," he said, kiissing her brow. "And young Saber is a friend. I must help him."

She nodded. "I know... I know. But please, be careful."

Nenda nodded. "I will. I prosmise."

At that moment, Gret came back with a small group of fighters, and quickly they headed for the western end of their valley.

***

In Saber's village, his parents had reached the town square, where most of the epople were gathered. There were angry cries as they approached from some, sympathetic looks from others, and from yet others, cold glares. They were decent people but for so many years, they had accepted the tyranny, and thought the Lunattacks demons, creatures from Hell itself, and now they had come to exact their wrath on the village. they natually needed something that they *could* fight to lay their blame on. And Saber's parents were the unfortunate scapegoats.

Dannika was out of breath by the time her and her husband Fegreth reached the town square. As they ran, they saw scenes of destruction, burning buildings that the fire brigade fought, although they could not possibly get to them all in time. The Lunattacks had done a lot of damage looking for the two humans. People had been injured, some fatally. The healer was as busy as the fire brigade.

A frightening sight awaited the couple as they reached the town square: a dozen or so Lunattacks waited, looking very grim, some in the vehicles, some on the ground. Above loomed the frightening sight of Skytomb, something none of the villagers had ever seen up close, and that most had never seen at all. Many of the humans, even grown men, cowered from the massive fortress.

Now walking cautiously, Fegreth and Dannika slowly ascended the five steps that led up to the raised wooden platform, used for events, shows, elders' speeches and the like. It would now be an arena of sorts.

Both were clearly terrified, but both just as clearly exhibited the courage their elder son had discovered. "I am here," Fegreth said in a carefully controlled voice. "What is it you want of me?"

"We want your first born, mortal!" Psychren called down with a nasty grin. A few of the Lunattacks laughed at the joke; they did want his first born. Fegreth narrowed his eyes but said nothing. He kept his gaze on Fintii.

He had never seen her before, but as soon as she opened her mouth, he knew that he had heard her before. Hers was the voice like the banshee they all heard giving its orders to the other demons on Gathering Day. If such a tiny creature could rule over so many, there must be something terrible in her powers. "He's right, human," Fintii said, her own bulging eyes narrowed. "Where is he?"

Fegreth was getting angry, and took a hesitant step forward, keeping a safe distance between her and her mount. "I have told you," he growled. "My son is dead. Your...your demons said as much." His voice shook a moment as he recalled the awful vision he'd had that day, of these demonic being toying with his child until they killed him.

Fintii rolled her eyes and gave Chilldon a look. He gave her an innocent look back. However, she did not concede the fact that her "demon" had said the boy was dead. No, that would mean treating him as an equal. And that could not happen. He was to be handled as an inferior being, to keep them in line. "You dare to contrtadict your lords, you worthless human!" she shrieked, making more than one wince at the sound, some of them Lunattacks. Sounder shook his head and rubbed an ear. "Hand him over, human!" Havok stepped forward at a light tap of Fintii's riding crop and growled menacingly. "Or Havok will crush you quite literally in his hands," she added in a quiet voice.

Fegreth looked at what he had thought to be a mute demon, a demon beast with no intelligence, and his eyes widened when the beast spoke:

"Crush mortal, crush mortal!" Apparently, it possessed more intelligence than a mere dumb beast.

The warrior swallowed hard. "I swear, my son is not here! I've not seen him in almost a year. If he is not dead, then I do not know what's become of him!" Fegreth wanted so badly to hope Saber might still be alive. But he was so sure that he was not, that he could not allow himself that hope, only to have it dashed.

The villagers around the stage watched this scene with different emotions. Some felt hate, rage at the demons, some felt anger and resentment at Fegreth, as it had been his son to bring this on the village. "If you've got him, give him up!" one of the farmers called, raising a fist. His ten year old twin daughters hid behind him.

There were a few murmurs of agreement with the frightened, angry man's cry. Saber's people were not cruel, they were not evil. But they were frightened, confronted with something they had never seen before. And they would do anything, even give up a child to be killed by "demons" to make it stop.

"He's not HERE!" Fegreth roared in frustration.

Dannika turned on the farmer, noting he had his own children with him. "Had it been your children that strayed, would you so easily demand that?" she growled down at him from the platform.

The farmer huffed, but said no more. He wanted to blame Saber, but he looked to his own little ones; and no, he would not give them up for anything. Others, however, did not share the sentiment.

"He's a rogue! He's responsible for death, Dannika! People have died!" This was called by an old woman that looked after a fish stand in the market.

"That's not his fault!"

"Then whose fault is it?" a man called out.

Dannika clenched her fists, almost ready to cry. How could things have gone so wrong with their lives? Their quiet little village had never seen such an uproar in her lifetime. There had not even been war with the lowlanders for a few decades!

"ENOUGH!" Fintii shrieked, easily heard over all of the other voices. The town square was silent, except for an occasional cry of pain from someone wounded there or down one of the streets. "Havok, grab him!"

Moving faster than Fegreth could have imagined a beast of such girth to move, Havok lunged for him, grabbing him by both arms. The human growled in fear and tried to break free, but the beast easily held him, held him as if he were no more than a child himself.

Fintii grinned nastily down at the human. "I don't think that you are telling the truth, human," she said. Infra had landed and she and Psychren had stepped out onto the stage. Sounder took the larger Icerunner back up to keep a lookout, not to mention an ear out. Infra reached over and slid Fegreth's blade from its scabbard, while Havok made sure the human did nothing about it. She grinned and hurled it into the crowd, laughing as the all ducked or jumped back, many of them tripping and falling in their haste. The blade's hilt hit one of the nearby buildings and dropped to the ground.

A group of five or so older children, the youngest thirteen, the eldest fifteen, watched the escalating scene nervously. The four boys, including Iyen, and the one girl carried metal blades in their hands for this day for the first time, as their instructor had said they may have to fight today. "All the poet's fault," the red haired boy muttered. Their instructor had been injured in the initial attack; the cadets did not know that he had died from the injuries. They watched intently, eyes darting to Drett, Iyen's father. He had been the one to get them organized after the normal instructor had been downed.

"Now," Fintii continued. "We will see for sure whether you are lying or not. Havok, ask him where the brat is."

Havok grinned ferally, his clumsy looking features twisting in a ghoulish imitation of childish glee. He punched Fegreth in the face, sending him sprawling on the wooden platform. Hauling him up by the throat, he spun the human around and grabbed him in a bear hug around the waist, and started to squeeze. "Where brat?" he demanded. "Where brat?"

As his wife watched in horrified fascination, Fegreth tried to fight from the beast's increasingly uncomfortable grasp. It did as good as a mouse trying to fight the jaws of a wolf. The warrior began to feel fear as the pressure around his ribcage increased to the point of pain and kept tightening. "Better answer, human," Fintii said in a tone of cold authority. "Or you'll be half as thin as you used to be. And then he will start on your wife."

Dannika swallowed hard but clenched her fists. "Like hell!!"

Many gasped; it was unheard of to defy the demons, but she had done it. Psychren turned around and back-fisted her across the face, making her stagger with a sharp yelp. He reached for her, intent on making her pay for her defiance when Fintii stopped him. "No, Psychren. You can have her if this human does not cooperate." With a disgusted growl, Psychren shoved the shorter woman violently away from him putting his foot out so that she would fall off the edge of the stage.

Dannika landed hard on the ground with a grunt and stayed a moment to catch her breath. She gave a grateful smile to the two villagers that were courageous enough to come forward and help her up. Silently she climbed back up, giving the tall Lunattack a wide berth.

Fegreth gave a muffled groan of pain, clenching his teeth against outcry, as he felt something crack. Havok growled and flexed his muscles suddenly, injuring Fegreth further. "Where brat?!" he demanded once again, as Fintii looked down at her beast with a savage grin.

"I - don't - KNOW!" Fegreth gasped. "He's not HERE!!" He choked back his cry once more as Havoc threw him to the ground and punched down at him, hitting him low in the side. This time he did cry out as a deep pain sank into his side. He thought his pelvic bone might have been cracked. The breath knocked out of him, he gasped in air as he struggled to get control of himself. Havok was rearing his fist back for another strike that most likely would have paralyzed the human when he was stopped by his mistress's voice.

"Hold it, Havok." She was looking up at the Icerunner, where Sounder was trying to get her attention. He finally landed and whispered something to her, and she raised an eyebrow. "I have a much better idea, human," she said, instructing her beast to back off, With a disappointed growl, he did. "You miserable mortals are so sentimental about your children, I don't think that you would tell me if you were hiding the miserable human brat." She smiled as Fegreth struggled to stand up, and as his wife ran over to help him.

She nodded to Psychren, who looked behind him at a small figure running for the platform. He laughed and jumped down as the figure let a screech of terror and changed course, but he was easily faster than the child and grabbed him by an arm, lifting him into the air. He shook his head as he brought his catch back up.

"Drii!" Fegreth gasped, angry that his son had defied him and perhaps would get hurt for it, and fearful that he would be hurt.

Dannika also cried the child's name, and started forward.

"Uh, uh, uh!" Psychren warned gleefully. He narrowed his eyes and favored the woman with a smile that would have struck fear into the hearts of warriors as he whipped his dagger from its sheath. He drew the blade up to the boy's throat, and Drii immediately ceased his frightened struggles. He knew what a sharp blade could do to a person. "Freeze, woman."

There was a laugh from above, and Chilldon called, "Good idea! He swooped down in the Icerunner and blew a shaft of icy air at her. The woman had already stopped for fear of her son's safety, but now yelped in shock as her feet were iced to the wood.

"Now," Fintii said, pointing to the frightened child in Psychren's grasp. She glared at Fegreth as the injured human had to fight to keep his balance. "Either you tell me where that older brat of yours is, or Psychren here is going to deprive you of your younger."

Part 34: A Shocking Welcome

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