“Well,” Kre said, glancing back at a very irritated Kersath and a grim-faced Gnore, “this is your chance to figure that out. You can either stay here, tied up, and hope that they find you and believe that you were captured by us escapees. If they do, you’ll go right back to doing this job. Maybe with a promotion now that the sergeant and some of the other veterans are dead.
“Or,” Kre continued, “you can come with us. Start listening for that little voice and seeing where it might take you.”
“Oh for…” Kersath muttered before Gnore shushed him loudly. The dark Ylveryan refrained from making another comment, but he loudly slammed his knife home in its sheath as an act of immature protest. Either no one noticed or no one reacted, which only irked him further.
“We could use your help. You know these tunnels. You know the other guards. Even if you don’t fight them with us, we could use your knowledge. We’ll take you with us when we get out. Get you away from here. Maybe back to your wife?”
Henric inhaled a sharp, heavy breath followed by a slow, shaky exhale. He did this a few more times as if trying to keep control of his emotions while he pondered Kre’s offer. When he finally looked up, he shook his head slowly from side to side. “I’ve done so much wrong in my life that my Donna could never…” he faltered a moment as the words caught in his throat. He narrowed his eyes at Kre as he examined the young man as if seeing him clearly for the first time. “You are the strangest angel I think I could ever have met.”
Kre looked down at his blood-stained hands and arms, “I assure you Henric, I am no angel.”
“Whatever you are, you are convincing.” Henric chuckled and looked down at his bonds. “I feel I would be rather useless like this.”
Kersath cleared his throat loudly to get Kre’s attention and, when the boy looked over, he shook his head slowly. “He stays bound. For his sake and for ours.”
Kre nodded. “If things go badly for us, you can always say you were taken prisoner. You wouldn’t have that same argument if you looked as if you were with us of your own free will.”
“That’s fair,” Henric agreed. “Though I have no desire to continue in this service, I suppose I still must earn your trust.” He tried pushing to his feet but had little luck with his arms tied as tightly behind him as they were. Kre reached down, grabbed an elbow, and helped to lift. Eventually, Henric got to his feet and bowed his head low in thanks.
“Now may we go?” Kersath pleaded. The knife was back in his hands and it looked to Kre as if his colleague desperately needed to kill something or he might burst.
Garth patted his companion on the back and chuckled, “Aye, time to bust heads.”
Henric leaned in close to Kre and whispered, “Your friends are… how to delicately say…”
“Odd?” Kre replied, finishing the thought. “Don’t worry, you haven’t met the really crazy ones yet.” He gave their new recruit a wide smile and gestured that he should follow the others.
Unsure if Kre was joking or not, Henric could only shake his head and continue on, certainly not wanting to be left behind.