Everyone stared at the body, then upstairs and around them, nervously holding their improvised weapons forward in search of an unknown enemy.
Lidia stepped forward into the torchlight, at the top of the stairs to the porch. She knelt down next to Myrick's body, shutting the man's eyes and removing the arrows.
She looked up. Two dozen silent eyes looked back.
She got to her feet, pulled Myrick's body aside on the porch as gently as she could, and descended the steps, keeping her arms relaxed and her empty hands clearly visible.
"Good evening," she said to the two leaders of the crowd. "What's going on?"
Moreno strode forward to meet her, a large club in his hand. He was easily a head taller than she was.
"This isn't any of your business," he said. He kept his stance relaxed, but she could see in his dark eyes that he was expecting a fight.
She met those eyes. "When you came here with weapons in hand, you made it my business. Tell me what brought you here."
"It's not enough that we have to fear for our lives in the darkness," he half-said, half-shouted. "Myrick, here — he died in the plain daylight, when it was not dusk yet."
"I am sorry for that," she said quietly. "There's been too much death here already."
He folded his massive arms. "Save it. I know your kind. Rich folk turn up their noses at you, but use you to keep us in place" — here he gestured out to the crowd and raised his voice — "by preaching that our suffering is a good thing, that we should be so lucky to be crushed."
The crowd gave an angry roar, brandishing the torches and weapons.
He turned to them. "And when the Baron taxed, burned, and raided, when wolves and shadows drag our people to the Abyss, what does Athkatla do? Send a token force to protect their interests from the Sythillisians, and then leave behind a child."
The crowd roared again. Minister Lloyd backed up from the railing, his quivering wife holding him close.
The ruckus died down for a moment, like the space in between thunderclaps, a more dangerous second than when the mob was shouting. In that moment, they were capable of anything.
Moreno drew a breath, but Lidia spoke first.
"When you came to visit, my friends and I were thinking of ways to draw out those shadow-creatures," she said, raising her voice and turning to the crowd. "Where did you find Myrick?"
A woman's voice raised from the back. "At the wainwright's, behind the shed."
"It's near Lloyd's house, can't miss it," called another man.
"Thank you. We'll pay extra attention to that spot. If the shadows fed there, they'll likely be back," Lidia said. "Did he have any family?"
She gathered from various shouts that his closest relatives were in the city of Trailstone.
"All right. I'm sure Minister Lloyd could send a message to them."
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Moreno was drawing closer, reaching out a hand towards her arm. She stepped back, paying some extra attention to how he carried himself.
He didn't seem ready for a fight, but she took no chances. The rest of the Company was still upstairs and presumably ready to fire. Two yards apart and illuminated by torchlight, there would be no confusion, no hint that she had a weapon or needed anyone to strike a blow. This last point was to her the most important.
But now, Moreno mostly seemed confused. "What do you think you're doing?"
"If we're going to save Imnesvale, we'll need everyone to help," Lidia said. "You, me, all of us. But it's cold tonight, and there are shadows about. What did you think bringing these people here would do?"
"We'd make an end. Not a storybook end, mind, but we'd choose our own fate and die on our feet, holysword," he spat out.
"If death is what you want, you'll find it easily," Lidia said, raising her voice. "You could die on your feet against the Baron's guards, certainly. Or you could suffer the end I nearly suffered, lying on the ground, swarmed by shadows whose touch stole the warmth from my blood."
She paused. All remained completely silent.
"Or you and your families could live," she continued. "Just a few days ago, we helped you fight for your homes. We will help you fight against this darkness now."
From behind, Minister Lloyd called out, one more time, "Everyone, go home…please."
In groups of three or four, the villagers left. Most of them looked dejected. Moreno and his companion, who was named Pardo, were the last ones to leave, bundling Myrick's body in a burlap tarp, heaving it over their shoulders, and heading back the road into Imnesvale.
Minister Lloyd descended the stairways, watching them go. Vicenzo waved them off with his hand, shaking his head, and went indoors.
Once everyone else had gone, Minister Lloyd must have felt he was finally free to speak, for he broke his long silence. "They're frightened. Most of them would leave the village, but they're afraid of getting caught in the wilderness by whoever has been doing the killings."
"Or they'll start harming anyone they can blame," Lidia said, half to herself.
"Well, that's something else altogether, but, for now…it is not like Merella to be absent for so long. I...I fear the worst." He started wringing his hands. "And I suppose I should warn you; I've already hired the famous knight Mazzy Fentan and her troupe, but they haven't been back."
"Good to know," she said, though she felt it was a rather bad sign, all things considered. "We'll get to the bottom of it."
"Lathander's blessing on you, lady," he said, with a half-bow at his thick waist. "Erm, not that I believe all the rumors about you and such, but you come at our last hopes. My dearest wish is that those hopes prove true."
He and Eina took their leave. Lidia offered to escort them home, but they declined, taking a torch from Vicenzo before they left.
She leaned against the porch railing, and her thoughts turned to Gorion.
He'd died over a year ago, but every time she tried to unknot a problem like this, she felt as though she'd give everything to come to him for advice, to seek his counsel and reassurance one last time.
She shut her eyes and pictured him: his heavily lined face pale from hours of study, the mottled gray-brown of his hair and beard, his long, nimble fingers.
Her thought spoke directly to that face: I couldn't save you. I couldn't save Dynaheir, or Khalid, or Imoen, or Ajantis. And Jaheira…gods alone know where she is, or if she's all right.
But still I told them that we can fix this.
She straightened up. She wouldn't be much use if the shadows caught her out here unawares, she thought, and decided to head back indoors.
She turned towards the door and stopped in place.
Directly in front of her, springing from where it lingered around a corner on the porch, was a specter in the shape of a tall man, swathed in a night-blue cloak.
"Nice speech," the shadow said. "Too bad words are cheap."
"Not to me," she replied, still recovering from the sight. Still, she had enough wits to lower her eyes, clear her mind, and cast a thought out towards the shadow. Nothing happened, and she relaxed a bit.
She looked up. From beneath his hood, she caught a glint of the man's dark face and eyes, locked for a moment in an incredulous stare. "You truly believe that," he said slowly. "Just how old are you, anyway?"
Lidia folded her arms, choosing to skate past that remark. "You've haunted this village for a while. Everyone knows it. The least you can do is tell me why."
"A hunted man knows the value of sharing his movements only with those he trusts. And of trusting few." The man's eyes glinted again. "Bhaalspawn, you of all people should understand that."
"You have me at a disadvantage," she said. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"You ask a great deal," he said. "I will not share my name here. And as for what my purpose is, I am still trying to determine yours, so that I can judge my course aright."
"Why do you need to know what I'm doing?"
"Forgive me if I answer your question with a question," he said. "What will you do about these shadows attacking Imnesvale? Do you only wish to stem the dark tide, or strike its roots?"
"If there's a way to stop the attacks for good," Lidia said, "then I want to know it."
The man sighed. "I thought you might say as much. In that case, you will definitely need my help."