Pitt followed the trail through the woods. He made sure the mayor couldn't run, and that Roland was keeping close. He didn't want any more trouble than he already had. He could have been rolling out with the traveling show by now. Instead he was trying to find out who killed a girl found by a faun that would be hanged as soon as he was gone.

He supposed some of it was that this had been part of his job with the Brotherhood.

He supposed most of it was he hated someone getting away with murder when he was right there.

“That's the Ihorn Stream,” said the Mayor. He pointed at a narrow ribbon of water winding away from them in the distance.

“Which way is the girl's home?,” asked Pitt.

“That way,” said the Mayor. He pointed upstream. “There's five or six farms up that way. I think Isadora's family has the smallest holding.”

“We're going to have to tell them about the girl,” said Pitt. He took a few more steps forward. “This is where the girl was attacked.”

“How do you know?,” asked the Mayor. He looked around.

“The blood splattered around, some of it soaking into the ground,” said Pitt. He pointed a long splash against a bush. “Not all of it.”

“So she came here and was attacked?,” asked Roland. “Why?”

“Don't know,” said Pitt. “She might have thought she was meeting her beau, but met someone else instead. She probably reacted in a way her murderer didn't like.”

“That sounds complicated,” said Roland.

“The other explanation is that she was always meant to die and she escaped but died before she could reach help,” said Pitt. “The guy was standing between her and her home. She might have decided to try to reach town for help.”

“So who killed her?,” asked the Mayor.

“I don't know,” said Pitt. “Let's walk upstream and find her place. We should let her kin know what happened to her. Maybe they know about anybody she was courting.”

“They'll be devastated,” said the Mayor.

“Depending on how close they were, the family probably already thinks something is wrong,” said Pitt. “They won't like our confirming it, but someone has to tell them. It might as well be us.”

“They will kill you and the faun when they find out what happened,” said the Mayor.

“I doubt that since we only know the broad strokes so far,” said Pitt. “In any case, I am going to need to know if they know anything, and will have to check their hands.”

“Why their hands?,” asked the Mayor.

“I just want to make sure they don't have blood on them from the stabbing before I move on to their neighbors,” said Pitt.

The Mayor shook his head. He needed to get away from this madman. That was the only way he was going to get back to town unharmed. Then they could deal with the faun in the way it should be dealt with for what it had done.

“Why would you think Isadora's family killed her?,” asked the Mayor.

“I don't,” said Pitt. “I just want to get a feel for their place, and if they know anything. Then we can talk to their neighbors, and work our way back to where Roland found the girl.”

“That'll take hours,” said the Mayor.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“It takes however long it takes,” said Pitt. His tone said he knew how long it would take and he didn't like it either. And if he was going to be miserable, other people were going to be miserable too.

“We won't find anyone,” said the Mayor. “It's obvious that the faun did it.”

“Why?,” asked Pitt. He stopped in his walking to start rolling a cigarette.

“Isn't that obvious?,” asked the Mayor. “He was covered with her blood.”

“Where is the knife?,” asked Pitt. He examined his cigarette. It seemed reasonably straight. He snapped his fingers and puffed it to life.

“He threw it away,” said the Mayor.

“Why?,” asked Pitt. He shook his head. “You haven't dealt with other men much, have you?”

“I don't see what that has to do with anything,” said the Mayor.

“Fauns are incapable of hurting other living things other than plants,” said Pitt. He waved for the other two to follow him as he started walking. “They can't even cook small animals. They don't fight monsters. They don't have the ability to craft weapons beyond something like a hammer. They naturally have a grant to heal anything hurt they come across. They are one of the few designated for that grant.”

Pitt paused to check something he had seen in the grass. He nodded as he moved forward.

“Fauns are useless in a conflict because they are not naturally violent and resist any attempt at that kind of training,” said Pitt. “An army of fauns would desert before you ever saw the enemy.”

“How do you know this?,” asked the Mayor.

“I've done my share of dealing with fauns over the years,” said Pitt. “More than a few couldn't solve their problems and needed something to drive off their enemies.”

“And you did that?,” said the Mayor.

“The Brotherhood dealt with a lot of unfriendly things over the years, and I was in the thick of it for a while,” said Pitt. “It's odd that I have given up killing things, and still have to solve other people's problems. You would think someone else would be called to sort things out.”

“Bad luck?,” said Roland.

“Unbreakable oath is more like it,” said Pitt. He stopped and cast around, examining the ground in front of him. “There is another trail here. It goes off in this direction.”

“That's toward the family farm I told you about,” said the Mayor. “The Ihorns.”

“Let's see if they know anything,” said Pitt.

“What could they know?,” asked the Mayor.

“We won't know that until we ask,” said Pitt. He led the way toward the stream, looking through the trees as he went.

“Do you really think you will find someone else out here?,” asked the Mayor.

“I don't see why not,” said Pitt. “I think the murderer went home to hide what he had done. If we see him before he gets there, that will be a gift from the gods.”

“He has had all day to go anywhere from here if there was someone else other than the faun,” said the Mayor.

“There were other boots with the girl when she was stabbed,” said Pitt. He paused. “I would say a man's boot, but anyone can wear a boot.”

“Except fauns,” said Roland. He gestured with the hoof of his right foot.

“Except fauns,” agreed Pitt. “Who knew they couldn't wear boots?”

“The Ihorns won't like us walking on their land,” said the Mayor. “They've had plenty of scraps with their neighbors.”

“Just stay behind me, and let me do the talking,” said Pitt. “I'll handle things.”

“I would rather be back in town,” said the Mayor.

“So would I,” said Roland. “Something seems wrong out here.”

“We've come too far to turn around now,” said Pitt. He paused again. “We're here to find out what happened to the girl, and we're not going back until I have some kind of answer that I like.”

“What if there is no answer that you would like?,” asked the Mayor.

“Then I'll beat the second best answer into something that I can live with without too much trouble,” said Pitt. He nodded. “Your stream is over there. Let's go.”

The trio pushed through the bushes and trees until they saw a ribbon of dark light carrying leaves and branches downstream. Fish moved along, chasing insects that got too close to the surface of the water. A turtle rested on the bank with open mouth and round eyes.

“The farms should be upstream from here,” said the Mayor. He pointed in the direction they should go.

Pitt nodded. He frowned as he looked at the bank on their side of the stream. He turned and started uphill. He spotted fences right away.

It looked like the Mayor was right about the Ihorns and their unfriendly nature. He would have to be extra charming when he asked his questions. He wanted answers, not more trouble.

On the other hand, he was prepared for more trouble from people who wouldn't want to say what happened to some neighbor girl no one was supposed to be talking to since the farmers didn't get along. It wouldn't be the first time he had done things to get to the bottom of whatever was going on and putting a stop to it.

It wasn't what he was good at while fighting with the Brotherhood. It was something he had picked up over the years.

Now that he was virtually at peace, he didn't have to threaten to rip someone's limbs off as much as he had when he was chasing monsters from one place to the other across the land.

He liked that for the most part.

A road appeared on the other side of the stream. Packed dirt from the passage of wagons marked how wares were taken to market in the local towns.

“There should be a bridge somewhere ahead,” said the Mayor. “That was put in for the wagons the farmers needed to get across the stream.”

“That's fine,” said Pitt. “If we have to, we can cross the water to get to the other side.”

“I can't swim,” said the Mayor.

“Neither can I,” said Pitt.

“I can swim like a fish,” said Roland. “I don't think we should go closer than this. Things look bad to me.”

“We're going to have to if we want to find out what really happened,” said Pitt. “It's too late for you to be a coward. The time for that was when you found the girl and tried to heal her.”

“I can be a coward any time I want,” said Roland.

“If you run before I say you can, I will skin you alive with my bare hands,” said Pitt. “Just stay close and behind me. I will protect you until the end of this.”

“You seem to have a lot of anger inside of you,” said Roland. He dipped his horned head.

“I'm just irritated,” said Pitt. “You don't ever want to see me angry.”