“All right now,” Kre said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, “I’ve eaten the stew, drunk the tea, and now I don’t suppose you could go ahead and please tell me what’s going on here?”
Kitalia shook her head, “I do not suppose I shall ever get used to the lazy way that your people speak. Regardless, I did imply that I would explain things if you would be so polite as to share a meal with me. I will be as blunt and as simple as possible.
“Those men,” she said, gesturing to the two Rangers, “intended to steal the body of the knight, take you into their custody, and possibly kill your companions whilst doing so.”
Seeing the look of complete and utter confusion on Kre’s face, she sighed and shook her head again. “It is an odd statement, to be certain. As to the why of it all, there is apparently a grey warrant out for the capture or killing of one Ser Terync Sandiscoot. The man whose body you cart around and whose name you so casually mention to anybody that will listen without a care in the world. They figured that you would not give up the body so easily, so they were prepared to kill your companions and take you as their prisoner to ensure no one knew of the incident here while they went back to collect on what is certainly a large bounty for the knight.”
“What’s a gray warrant?”
Now it was Kitalia’s turn to look puzzled. “How do you not know this thing?”
Kre shrugged. “I suppose they might have covered it in class, but history was never my strongest subject.”
“It is not history, it is the law and government of your own people.” She looked at him incredulously as she continued berating him, “I have only wandered among your people for a not even a dozen cycles and I seem to know more about these men and their organization than you do.”
“Cal was always the one who wanted to be a Ranger,” Kre said meekly in his own defense.
Kitalia rested her face in her hands with her elbows on the table. She sat that way for several long, drawn-out seconds. Finally, she looked up and gave Kre a thoughtful look before nodding to herself.
“All right. Here is the situation.” She pointed to the Ranger slumped over the table, “These men want to do bad things to you and your friends for their own selfish reasons. They are very bad people.” She brought her hand back and jabbed her thumb into her chest, “I, on the other hand, want to help you. Why?” she asked before Kre could, “I could not say. I suppose that I see a kindred spirit in you. A distant, naïve kindred spirit certainly. Still, I know that I do not want to leave you in the care of these two men.
“As for them,” she said, placing a hand on Lowil’s back and nodding over at Braun’s slumped body, “they will be fine once they wake up. Without you or the knight here, the Rangers will have no need to bother with them and they will go back to your little village and live out their lives as if you never existed.”
Kre took a deep breath, trying to take it all in. He took two more deep, cleansing breaths before he trusted himself enough to speak. “So, we’re making a run for it?”
This time, the Ylveryan girl smiled as she nodded. “Exactly so.” She stood up and started to rummage through Ranger Marce’s bags. “Dump the contents of your pack here. We will need to travel light and fast. Put as much distance between us and here as we can before they wake.”