If any of us were actually magicians I'm sure this would be fascinating. Especially considering that their formal magic education is bound to be worse than what their oath-following kindred have.
"Mistress Butler." She turns her head to regard Mr. Tao, her neck just a little too long and too flexible when compared to human norms. "Do you know who or what it was that attacked us?"
Oh, that must be creepy. Like an owl.
"Something invisible, was it? You couldn't see it even when you knew it was there?"
"Saw one of them pretty well." I take the blood sample out of subspace and hold it out to her. "Tough, but not unbeatable."
And that one little vial of blood may be more valuable than anything else he could give them...
"You killed one of them?"
"Probably not. Even with a nasty hole in its chest, it managed to disengage. Starfire thinks he hit something, but we couldn't pierce their illusion."
If nothing else, they know they're in for a fight if they come back.
Disturbingly elongate fingers pluck the vial from my hand.
"We can use this. We may finally be able to undo their 'fluences."
So they have been having difficulties with Sheeda raiders too. Good to have that confirmed.
Abednego glances at her. "Have your people suffered from their depravations?"
"Aye, we have. At first 'twas little more than a light touch 'pon our wards. Then people began to vanish. The first few were taken when they were alone. Then they began acting more openly, stealing our folk away in the middle of crowds, of locked rooms! What are they!?"
Nothing good for any of you.
"We're not sure, but there's a chance that they're Sheeda. Actual Sheeda from the Land of Summer's End. The place from which Melmoth fled."
"If they seek him, they're seeking in the wrong place. Our village is nowhere near his grave."
Not that they'd bother asking, would they? They didn't seem too inquisitive with OL's group. Unless they planned to kill the 'glow-user' then capture the rest.
I suppose that the Sheeda wouldn't necessarily know… No, it's the first thing someone they were torturing would say, isn't it? A truth that would make the pain stop and get their attackers to leave their family alone. 'The place you want is nowhere near here. Go there instead of here.' Did they.. just not bother asking?
Indeed, how likely would they be to believe what they're told? It's why torture like that isn't the best method of interrogation...
"How long do they go between abductions?"
"They have no pattern."
Presumably, they're striking whenever they feel like it...
Mr. Tao frowns. "Do your people have no military? No government which could send aid?"
She turns and bears her teeth at Abednego. "Have you told them nothing?"
"I felt it best for the to see with their own eyes."
You can taste the 'are these people idiots?' she's feeling.
"We were forty eight. Now we are twenty seven. We have no grundymen so raise creatures of the Sheeda to aid us."
"Is your settlement one of the larger ones?"
"We do not have so many settlements that that question has meaning. Not that I have knowledge of. If we gather in numbers his kind come to destroy us."
Yeah, that would interfere with creating larger communities...
Abednego doesn't look around. "No pilgrim such as I stood amongst that host, Mistress Butler. You'd not tolerate me here if one did."
"Hm." I try scanning her, and the clumsily-stitched glyphs on her cloak's collar shimmer.
"What are you about!?"
Honestly, OL, scanning a
lady without asking first? How rude!
"I was thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to reconfigure your body. I doubt that Columbia has fully accurate censuses. If you looked like a Sheeda-altered human rather than a warlock, it should be easy enough for your people to slip back into society."
"Fool! Altering our form with magic causes this."
I doubt it's that simple.
Abednego shakes his head. "Nay, Mistress Butler. 'Tis the breaking of the oath and the spell bound to it that causes warlocks to change. None of your folk have sworn the oath-."
"Some have."
Because of course they have. Let me guess, they regret their choices and want to rejoin Columbian society?
I frown. "Why?"
"The fools feel the guilt of their ancestors. That this is a punishment sent by God. Perhaps some hope that they may be absolved, changed back and so return to 'righteous' society."
Figured. Because people are people no matter where you go.
"Can't help with God, but if all that's happening is that your Sheeda genetic characteristics are getting hyper stimulated, resetting it should be easy enough. You'll need to remove your ward, but-."
"Hah!" I think that's a genuine expression of amusement; her altered facial structures make it difficult to tell. "Is this the type of man your land breeds, who would snatch a woman's cloak from her body within minutes of meeting her!"
Now, now. The man has a significant other. Think of it like a doctor's appointment.
"Yes, because I derive most satisfaction from solving problems, and this is an eminently solvable one. Failing that, it shouldn't be too hard for us to relocate all 'warlock-breed' to another part of the planet. You'd be safe from the Columbians there, at least for a few centuries."
"And what do you want in return?"
Because she can't believe anyone would be charitable to 'her kind'... What a life she must have led.
"Technically, nothing. I'd do it without asking anything in return. We would like information on the Sheeda, examples of their physiology and technology and any leads you have on who it was that attacked us, but if you refused us I'd still try to help you anyway."
She regards me cautiously for a few moments.
Weighing up whether he's speaking the truth or not, eh?
"We are a hunters and farmers. We know little of the Sheeda. Any help I could give you, you could get better elsewhere. The witch-man's people could help you more."
"I said I'd help for nothing, and you think I might take that back because you're offering something?"
He
almost sounds offended.
"And the other villages could offer you more. One… They try to study magics that are forbidden. I have not tried to confront them because I lack the power, but if our attackers are warlock-breed who found some way to change themselves further, that is where I would look."
Mr. Tao nods.
"We shall enquire with them once we have seen to your people's needs. If-."
Hmm... I bet that other band of Warlock-breed invited the Sheeda here, and are using them to eliminate competition... Foolish, if it's true.
The cart appears on the bank of a small river, a crudely-built town just ahead of us. No paving here, and I suspect that if we were in the rainy part of the local year the streets would be a quagmire. Ghostly lights illuminate the buildings, which are mixture; wattle and daub walls are the most common, though some appear to be tents with leather in place of canvas. Some have roofs crudely made from bundles of branches and others use what looks like segments of the shell of giant beetles. As for the people, Mistress Butler appears to be an average representative. Some are closer to human norms, with a signature mutation or two. I see one man with standard puritan dress who could pass in Columbia if not for the strange tentacle-like structures which emerge from his head. The most extreme example has all of Mistress Butler's mutations, as well as compound eyes, fangs and a single dragonfly wing emerging from their back.
A motley assortment of people. And OL's probably seen stranger.
"Aye, not a pretty sight, are we?"
"I've seen worse."
Just amongst the NEMO forces, at least. Never mind stuff like the Green Lanterns' stranger members.
"I'faith, if my brother and sister witch-hunters saw these people as we do now, I believe there would be less animosity between us." Abednego pulls on the reins and the horses come to a halt. "If it please you, Mistress Butler, take us to the site of one of the disappearances. Even my more fanatical brethren would say that the presence of true Sheeda should be my priority."
It's a threat to everyone. because when they're done picking off the smaller groups, they'll come at the Columbians in force...
