Mazzy sprung forward into the torchlit clearing, her bow lowered. "I hope you have a decent explanation for what just happened," she said.
Eina lowered the hammer she was carrying. "You're that halfling lass from Trademeet, aren't you? I was so worried about you."
Moreno wiped his knife on the budding grass, then folded his well-muscled arms, staring warily at Mazzy, Valygar, and Yoshimo. "This bastard was giving Pardo's daughter grief. He had it coming."
"I am aware that the Baron has done you great harm, but this has gone far enough," Mazzy said. "The Shade Lord is no more, so if there is any way to resolve the matter with the Baron peacefully, we will do so."
At the mention of the Shade Lord's name, a murmur passed through the group. Moreno himself seemed as though he could barely believe his ears.
"You've…you've defeated the Shade Lord?" he said uncertainly. "Is such a thing possible?"
Yoshimo spoke up. "I saw his death myself. He had taken Merella's body, and he left her shortly before she passed away."
Likely without even realizing it, Moreno took a step away from them, eyeing Valygar in particular with new suspicion. "Didn't think flesh and blood could stand up to such a thing. Not when some of you seem like half-ghosts yourself."
He soon recovered, though, drawing himself up to his full height. "I never had a mind to favor adventurers. Naught but a bunch of looting mercenaries whose feet were too hot for honest work, I always said. So it's hard to think of us turning over our fates to you — even to one as stout-hearted as you, ma'am."
"Our only wish is to find a better way," Mazzy said, "and from there, your fate is your business."
Moreno considered this. "I have little hope that there is a way like what you describe. But we'll stay our hands for a day, and then we must get back to work."
He turned to the crowd, nodded, and faded into the forest, taking some path known only to them. Everyone else left, slipping into the darkness themselves until only Mazzy, Valygar, and Yoshimo remained.
"Let's not linger," Valygar said, and he started back towards the path the members of the Company had taken.
"Lass, indeed," Mazzy muttered as she followed him. "I did not pass through shadow and darkness to be patronized by one of the Big Folk."
When the Baron's forces found the dead guard early the following day, it caused no small amount of commotion. The fingers immediately pointed in one direction. By mid-morning, word had spread through the village that the Baron sought Moreno's head.
Lidia heard plenty about it. Not just because Mazzy had awakened her and informed her of the situation before sunrise or because Vincenzo was the first to find out anything — he usually wasn't — but because Minister Lloyd sought her out in the lodge not ten minutes after she'd awakened, dressed, and finished breakfast.
This morning was bright and cool, with a thin layer of frost glinting briefly in the sunlight before melting and gently watering the earth. But as Minister Lloyd slumped into a chair on the lodge porch, he dabbed sweat away from his shiny forehead with a strong hand.
"I…I can't believe this," Minister Lloyd said. "Imnesvale has minded its own business since my grandfather built his house here, and we were content to have it stay that way."
"Does the Baron have any claim here?" Lidia said. "Is there anything that can prove that this place isn't his?"
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "In the past, there was talk of a lord, but the most anyone knew was that this lord was mostly concerned with affairs in Crimmor. They'd been content to leave well enough alone here."
Lidia stared off into the forest surrounding the lodge, her mind turning towards the burned fields near the manor.
"You said Pardo's been having trouble?" she asked Minister Lloyd.
"Aye, he has. I wouldn't go near his place, though," he said. "The guards have him barricaded there, and they're not letting anyone near."
"It's as Mazzy said. We'll find a way."
Anomen and Aerie were the two lightest sleepers currently in the Company and had already awakened. So they were drafted into accompanying Lidia out to Pardo's house.
They took a thin footpath south that wound a mile or two through thinning forest and foothills, then turned down a narrow lane that Minister Lloyd had mentioned.
As soon as she'd heard what happened, Lidia had wanted to go as quickly as she could, hoping that the guards would be thin on the ground before everyone else awakened. Those hopes were quickly dashed. The farmhouse, built from found stone and mortar, was surrounded by soldiers in the Baron's livery, at least seven or so.
The three of them quickly withdrew to the main road. Aerie whispered nervously, "We're…we're not going to fight them, are we?"
She was likely concerned for both the guards and themselves, as Anomen and Lidia were lightly armed.
"These scoundrels have pledged their swords to a corrupt lord," Anomen said. "Why would we hesitate?"
"Any violence could make things worse," Lidia said. "Aerie, do you have your components along?"
The elf wordlessly pulled out her small bag, shaking it a little to show it was full.
"They're expecting angry farmers," Lidia continued, "so I doubt they have anything to counter spells. What have you got?"
Aerie removed a small piece of acacia gum from the bag, held it up, and began casting, chanting, "Veritas, credo, oculos."
Within moments, Lidia saw her two companions vanish. She resisted the temptation to shout an alarm and then heard shuffling on either side.
"Careful that you don't wander too far or act too aggressively," Aerie's voice issued from thin air. "It only works if you stay close and move carefully."
"So we can't do — what?" Lidia asked, wildly turning her head to find any hint of where she'd gone.
Aerie rattled off: "No opening doors, casting a spell, striking anyone —"
"We're hidden from the guards' sight, true." Anomen's voice floated in; he was talking far too loudly, almost as though he were compensating for the others being hidden from sight. "I fail to see much other benefit."
Lidia said, "That's all we need." She reached out and, after some fumbling, found what she thought was one arm from each of them. "Let's go, slow and careful. As long as we don't draw attention, we're good."
Moving forward was fine. Staying together was more complicated than they thought it would be. Without seeing each other, it was easy to get disoriented. More than once, she nearly stumbled over someone's foot.
Somehow, they made it to the small farmhouse without alerting the guards nearby and found the front door swinging wide open, as though the house were airing itself out.
Lidia sprang up the steps towards the open door, forgetting that her companions couldn't see her. She chose the wrong moment to stop in the doorway and wait for the others to catch up. The three of them crashed forward, falling together through the open door and onto the roughly slatted farmhouse floor. Their tripping over each other disturbed the invisibility field around them, and they winked back into sight.
Pardo was a short, lean man of about fifty with fading brown hair, whose face was burnt a hard red from the sun. He had been in some reverie, enjoying the breeze from the door for a moment, when he was suddenly disturbed. "What the — who in the hells — ?"
He reached for a walking staff, presumably to strike at the intruders, but stopped when he saw that they were in no position to attack anyone.
Lidia pulled herself forward from under the pile, reached for the door, and tried to shut it, saying, "We just wanted to talk, but, um…"
Pardo bolted the door closed, then slumped into a chair, clutching a hand to his chest. "I swear on Speartop, I've had one too many frights already this tenday, and another like it might just do me in."
Lidia disentangled herself from her companions and stood up. "I don't know if you remember us, but we may have met."
Pardo gave them a closer look. "Hey, wait. You're that holysword from the Greengrass festival, aren't you? It's an honor to have you come to my little place." He leaped to his feet, generously shook her hand, and then Anomen and Aerie.
He glanced towards the door, then lowered his voice. "I don't know what I can do for you or why such heroes would seek me out, but name it, and it's yours. Let me make you some breakfast first. I apologize if it's poor fare; it's been a lean year."
Immediately he set to work. He had some water already boiling in a kettle over the fire, and he poured it out into some cups. Immediately the room filled with the smell of chamomile and anise. He had some bread with a bit of soft cheese to go with it.
His home was modest, one room and somewhat plain, but here and there were little touches that hinted at a long-established home: a dining set that someone nearby had likely made, dried herbs hanging in the corner of the kitchen, a lovingly made scrap quilt in faded colors thrown over a chair in a quiet corner of the house. Off in another corner, a threadbare curtain ringed one of the straw ticks on the floor.
The tea was soothing, and the three members of the Company took just enough food to be polite; they'd already had a large breakfast at the lodge. Considering that Pardo's nerves had to have been running raw from the soldiers on his property, the man's surprising warmth towards strangers blundering into his home was touching, and his graciousness set the three of them at ease.
Lidia said almost as much, apologizing for interrupting him, but Pardo brushed it off. "I got word from Minister Lloyd that you might pay a visit, though I wasn't expecting it so soon," he said. "This mess with the Baron has been rough, and I'll not be sorry to see these guards' backs."
"We wanted to ask you about that," she replied. "We heard something happened with your daughter yesterday. I wish we could have helped in some way —"
Pardo laughed, to her surprise. "Annaliese did well for herself. Drove him off, she did — my girl's been working alongside me since she could walk. She's not hurt, though she tells me the guard's a bit worse for wear."
"Moreno killed him last night," Lidia said.
"He's…he's dead?" He sighed, took another sip of tea, and leaned back. "Gods help us, I've no love lost for any of them, but I never…"
"Why was he harassing Annaliese?"
Pardo gestured to some unspecified spot beyond his house, possibly where his fields were. "We've always had enough rye and spelt for ourselves and the next season, and she gets a good price for what's left. So when the Baron took his share, we were able to keep our heads above water and save our seed for this season. Other folks weren't as lucky. If you couldn't pay the Baron's taxes, his guards would burn your fields.
"More than a few families lost everything last year — there was a bad harvest, and the Baron raised taxes again. Some were driven off their land; Moreno's one of them. He's been trying to get folks together to defend ourselves."
He stared down at his tea for a moment. "I've been helping Moreno train folks — getting supplies, holding meetings in my barn — and I think that's why the guards wanted to scare me, keep me from selling my seed to other farmers. I know we haven't been behaving well. That guard Moreno killed wasn't the first."
He looked up with a somewhat uncertain expression, a near-perfect reflection of the doubt in his heart. "The word was that the Baron would hire mercenaries. But if you're from the Order, we're not forgotten, right? That we'll get a fair shake?"
Lidia said, "I wish I could promise you something — anything. But what you describe is what my group and I intend to do."
"With the ogres and the shadows, you've done more than most," he said. "Me, I just wish this were over and done with."