“So… that thing… did you really…” Gery’s question sort of trailed off as he slowed his pace.

The man had barely spoken for all the time we had spent around the fire. Pretty much all I’d managed to get out of him was that he was a carpenter. Now that we were heading back he began asking questions. Yet his own line of questioning was making him uncomfortable. I could tell by the way he slowed his steps with every new question, the way he lagged behind, subconsciously increasing the distance between us.

“Do you really want to know?” I glanced over my shoulder and quirked an eyebrow. My whole face felt weird, too honest. I was so accustomed to mock-glaring and frowning at people that showing him a genuine facial expression unnerved me. He had given me the benefit of the doubt though, so I experienced a strange need to reciprocate.

He shook his head, glanced around for a second, before turning towards the trees and staring off in the distance. As I suspected, he didn’t really want an answer, and I was glad I did not need to provide one. There was still no talking my way out of drinking an ahuizotl to death.

“I’m not a vampire,” I whispered to his back. I wasn’t sure if he heard me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to hear. I didn’t even know where I was trying to go with that statement.

“So, when you came to fetch me, was that a joint decision or…” I followed up, trying to distract the both of us from that embarrassing statement. I already had a pretty good handle on what the answer would be, but I wanted to hear it from him anyway.

The carpenter looked at the ground, then at me, opened his mouth, closed it again. “It’s… I… We…” He glanced down. “Onar’s…” Then he once more stared off into the distance.

Doesn’t want to talk about it.

Figured as much.

“You should get on,” I gestured towards Fern when we eventually continued on towards town.

He glanced from me to Fern and back with a confused frown on his face.

“You will remain dry,” I clarified. “There is no need to worry, she is a gentle horse. You know how to ride, right?”

“Um… you’ll get wet?” he wondered.

“Yes. And you will not,” I reiterated.

He kept up his questioning look, as if he thought that he could change my mind by merely looking at me all confused and innocent.

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Aaaah… but he did succeed at that before.

“It is only water, I will manage.” I sighed. Then I motioned towards Fern once more, urging him to get on. “Do not worry so much, I am not some frail lady that needs protecting. I can handle water.”

I didn’t like misleading one of the few people that trusted me this way, but I was reluctant to share more unless he really started refusing. It was close to midnight and there was still light in the village. I needed him on Fern so that the first thing people saw when they spotted us was that Gery was safe.

I just hoped he wouldn’t come to that realization himself. I feared he might though. There was no way he could miss the glow coming from the village after I had pointed it out earlier. I probably shouldn’t have made him aware of that. And I definitely shouldn’t have made him aware of the potential implications.

When we approached it became apparent that the glow came from torches lined up all along the east bank. Up on Fern, Gery tensed. I was glad I’d gotten him up there when I did. Not giving him time to dwell on this sight I led Fern forward. I wanted to be halfway across the river before the carpenter even had a chance to spot the two bowmen hidden in the darkest corners.

Disappointingly, one of the bowmen was Hot-ember-blood. I had expected better of the man, though I really shouldn’t have. Monsters get no loyalty, not from anyone. The other bowman’s scent I did not recognize. A mixed group containing Moldy-leather, Not-quite-yeast Onar, a woman with blood that sung like tempered steel, and some unknowns hid nearby.

The torches meant they’d probably spot us the second we stepped away from the treeline and approached the river. Regardless It was one of the most amateur ambushes I had ever seen. They had foolishly assumed that I would return the same way I had left. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the panic it would have caused had we crossed upriver at the ahuizotl nest.

Aaaah… they really are such idiots.

Regardless of how incompetent they were, this was still absolutely suicidal of me. I was deliberately walking into a village out for my blood. There was no way they could kill me, not in the middle of the night right after I had fed, but that didn’t matter. This many idiots on edge meant terrible decisions all around.

I let Fern take the lead when we entered the water. By the time we reached the middle, I nudged her along and stayed where I was, hands held high in the air to demonstrate that I was unarmed. Gery was almost fully across by the time he realized that I had stayed behind. By then he was out of time to react. The two bowmen came rushing in from the cover of darkness and trained their weapons on me. Three others carrying improvised weapons, one of them Onar, surrounded Fern and began shouting at Gery.

A banquet of scents erupted from the din. Within seconds the whole thing turned into a wild spectacle full of angry shouts and posturing with weapons. At least there were a handful of saner individuals mixed in, trying to calm things down. I just stood there awkwardly, hoping that those calmer minds would win out, that no one was going to do something overly brash to Gery simply for associating with me.

Or to Fern…

I held back a ferocious string of curses. I had the perfect escape plan. I could dash back to the west bank, fleeing under the cover of night before even a single one of their arrows could get near me. Except… Fern and everything else I owned was right there with them on the east bank.

Should never have let Gery on my horse!