Cid handed the woman a steaming cup of tea. She took it cautiously, placing the saucer on the table before slowly sipping on the contents. “All right, Cyneswith, is it?” he asked her.

She nodded silently.

“Can you go over how you became involved with the Kolville brothers?”

Jeanne leaned against the wall, her arms crossed and looking at the Cyneswith with a steady gaze. Leonidas sat next to her, after looking her over once Jeanne had let her go. Kveldulf and Benkin stood near the door to Cid’s room. With Silvius and Hypatia sitting on Cid’s bed and Gabriel and Maeryn both standing next to the windows and keeping an eye outside. Jeanne tapped her toes inside her foot, not wanting to disrupt the debriefing yet feeling a growing energy to break a wall in pieces after what happened earlier.

“I was living with my parents, back on our farm,” Cyneswith said, “and one day, while I was taking sure our geese were fed these two men showed up. My father walked up to them first and they were conversing. I couldn’t tell you what, but things seemed to be well enough when … they attacked him.”

“How so?” Cid asked.

“They … one of them, Ollen, his jaw seemed to grow in size and in one motion he bit off my father neck and nearly took his head off. My mother came out and they lunged at her. I … I tried to run away and get help, but they spotted me. They caught up to where I was and they,” Cyneswith stopped, her face turned down and tears trickling down from her chin.

Cid lightly tapped her shoulder. “It’s all right. You don’t need to continue.”

“I-I can still hear my parents screaming, when it’s quiet. It’s like it’s still happening,” Cyneswith said, trying to steady herself as she spoke.

“The child you brought with you, is he one of theirs?” Kveldulf asked.

Cyneswith looked at him, her eyes frozen as she considered the answer. Only nodding at first before saying. “Ollen. I think he’s Ollen’s child.”

“You think he’s the father?” Leonidas asked, confused.

“He and Guthrem had a habit of sharing,” she said replied, her shoulders jerking up as she let out a shudder.

“How were you able to escape?” Hypatia asked.

“Before the two would make it impossible for us to have a chance to get out,” Cyneswith said. “They’d beat us for the smallest amounts of insolence, and always told us they’d kill us if we tried to escape. And then when our children were born, it only made it harder to leave. On top of that, they kept us on the move constantly, and in areas where we’d have no knowledge of the land, or of anyone living in the area.”

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“What about with the Mason Gang?” Gabriel asked.

“The two held their anger in check then, and if we ran, on of the Mason bastards would come after us. And Mason was against killing if it wasn’t needed. But it didn’t mean he was a bloodless man.”

“How did you escape then?” Jeanne asked.

Cyneswith turned to Jeanne with fearful look at first before answering. “After you all fought the two back at that village, Guthrem was in terrible shape. I honestly thought he wasn’t going to survive for long. But he recovered enough for us to move and made our way back to Mason’s camp. Things were calm for the first few days. Then one of the gang tried to claim one of the brother’s wives as his own, thinking Gutherm’s situation was enough to lower them in the gang’s pecking order. Words came to shouts, shouts came to blows, and when the two started butchering the gang, I grabbed my baby and we escaped.”

“I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through,” Cid said. “And I can’t begin to imagine what it took to get out of that situation.”

“Thank you,” Cyneswith said, “And thank you for speaking with me. I know this isn’t … a proper method for seeking out freelancers.”

“Honestly, we’ve stopped trying ‘proper’ a long time ago,” said Kveldulf.

“But, I don’t suppose either of the brothers were in the cave when you were there?” Cyneswith asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

“It seemed they got the better of the gang in there,” Leonidas said.

“Were there any women or children in there?”

“No, there were none inside the cave,” Kveldulf replied.

“How many other wives and children are with them?” Jeanne asked.

“There Ceolfirth, she was the first one they kidnapped, and after me was Aethelind. And between us there are five children in all.”

Gabriel let out a long sigh. “This is becoming more complicated by the moment.”

“Well, we were aware of the two having hostages,” said Silvius, “now we know how many precisely.”

“But if they’re all in a cave that could make a rescue operation difficult,” said Maeryn.

“And I doubt they would consider leaving them away from harm if anything came to a head,” said Leonidas.

Cid turned his attention back to Cyneswith. “I know you said the two brothers would try to keep you from know where you were, but would there be any place they’d reside for any given period of time?”

“I know in the last few years they started using the same areas for camping when they weren’t at the cave,” Cyneswith said, “Usually in places where they wouldn’t be out in the open or where they could hide easily from sight if someone was coming.”

“Was there an order to how they went over from place to the other?” Benkin asked.

Cynewith nodded. “At first they tried to be random, to keep us from predicting some pattern. But soon that stopped being a thing for them and they went into a well worn circuit.”

“Could you point them out on a map?” Cid asked.

“I can show you personally,” Cyneswith said firmly.

“I have no doubt of that, and I’d take you up on it. However, I’d prefer we keep you here where it’s safe and populated.”

“Are we sure of that?” asked Gabriel. “Those two tore through two towns without hesitation.”

“That was because they were hungry,” Cyneswith said.

“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked.

“They said something about lusting for blood to sustain them. It’s something all vampires share after they transform, you know?”

Jeanne turned and saw Gabriel’s fists clench and shake. She turned her gaze away and after a moment, stood up and walked out of the room. Jeanne looked back to Cid who nudged his head towards Gabriel. Raising from her seat Jeanne heard Cyneswith say, “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Cid said in an assuring voice. “They’re just getting some air. You know how it is sometimes.”