The Touched had Masters.

In a way it made sense. If the Bokor had Masters and the Touched were the opposite of the Bokor, then the Touched might have a similar structure. I was hesitant to release him, but I could beat him again. I could tell he was tired and this little exercise was enough to get me warmed up.

“Why would you take me to your Master?”

“She wants to speak to you.” The Touched looked confused as it looked at me. “She doesn’t understand why you work with the Corrupted.”

“The Corrupted?” I’d never heard that term before,

The Touched just nodded, but didn’t elaborate.

I stared at it for a long moment. “Recall the Zombies and I’ll let you go.”

The Touched tried to nod, but the motion cut its throat just a little. It ceased the motion, but I saw the Zombies start moving away from the remaining Wranglers.

They kept their guard up and Berthre collapsed once they were a little ways away. Eveth tried to help her mother stand, but the lead Wrangler was spent.

I let the Touched go. “Don’t move.” I pointed my sword at him before I hurried over to the dying woman.

“Mom…” Eveth had her mom’s head in her lap. There were over ten Zombies dead on the ground around them and they were all smoldering. The Wranglers had done an amazing job against the numbers. It was tragic that over half of them died, but at least they took out most of the Zombies.

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I looked over at the Touched to make sure he hadn’t moved and realized that there were still over ten Zombies behind him. All that work and no progress, but that wasn't the only thing that bothered me. If the Touched still had that many Zombies, then he probably had even more. I really hoped that the Master was the Touched in the city, because if it wasn’t, then there were three Touched in this area with an army of Zombies. There was no way that the three of us would be able to stand against that kind of attack.

I wanted to say something that would help her pain, but I had no Idea what to say, instead I let the other man do the talking while I marched back over to the Touched.

“Where is your Master?’

The Touched tilted his head towards the mountain to our west.

“You let them go and I’ll come with you.” I put my sword away, “I’ll listen to the offer if your Master is going to let me leave to think about it.”

The Touched thought for a moment. “I can not speak for the Master, but the Master wishes to understand you. You and your…” It looked over at the two mourning Wranglers, “... Pets. should be fine.”

I didn’t want to take them into a Zombie stronghold. That was too much to have to protect them from if something went wrong.

“I’m not taking them with us.” I glared at him, but the emotion didn’t convey well with my eyes wrapped.

“They will come so you will behave.” The Touched unfolded his arms, “It is not easy to trust one who works with the Corrupts.”

“What is tha..!”

The Touched reached up and ripped off my bandages. I tried to shut my eyes in time, but I heard Eveth scream.

“Now they know your secret.” The Touched taunted me as I slowly opened my eyes. “Do you want me to kill them? Or should we send them back to tell the other who you are?”

I looked over at Eveth and Jaz.

“Don’t kill them.” I shook my head. “Bring them with us.”