Sunset on Traitors

As they drew close to Dyssa, the pace of the group slowed. The sun was beginning to set, and they were all run ragged with exhaustion and grief. Their small talk consisted most of what they would feast on for dinner, with no comment at all about how they had gotten to this place. The place where Stan should be a captive, on trial for some perceived wrong, for a bloodthirsty village.

But Stan knew that the massacre at Yummerskard had changed the party he had returned with. No way would they allow the villagers to extract some sort of weird, misguided justice on their shaman. Not after what they had seen in Yummerskard. They needed every man on deck to try and fight whatever it was that had caused that destruction.

"Stan, Mira, why don't you come home with me?" Yim asked as they neared the village gates. "We can have a nice quiet meal before dealing with Brenda and her ilk.

"Sounds great." Stan agreed. The party split their paths at the main gate, with Grein and Struf headed to the left, Marty headed straight down the main road, and Yim, Stan, and Mira headed to the right.

"We'll take the back way." Yim explained apologetically. "Just so we can get some damn food before the vultures descend on us."

"No complaints here." Mira spoke for the first time in the afternoon. "I could use a good, hot meal."

"I'm sure Asur will be able to whip something up -- other than rice and beans -- when we get there."

"He is an excellent cook." Stan felt his stomach grumble in excitement. A real, hot meal -- with a chair to sit in? Life could not get any better than that.

The village was pretty dead as they walked through. No one gave Stan and Mira a second glance. Perhaps the dusk made it hard to see, or perhaps the village had given up its zeal in the hunting party's absence. Whatever the reason, Stan savored the peace and quiet.

"You're home!" Asur shouted as Yim stepped across the threshold of their quant little cottage. Asur closed the distance and placed a quick little peck on Yim's cheek. "Oooh, and we have visitors?" He looked Stan and Mira over, frowning. "Wait a second, isn't the whole damn town looking for you two?"

"Yes, keep your voice down, love." Yim said. "We're tired, we're hungry, and we're not in the mood for Brenda's bullshit right now."

Asur laughed gleefully and gave his husband a hug. "Oh, how I missed you. Come. I just finished eating myself, but I'll prepare something for you three," He glanced up and down each of them, appraising, then wrinkled his nose, "Only if you go bathe. God, you smell like death."

"You're very close to the truth." Yim said with a sigh. "Come on, you two, the well is out back."

The water was a little too cold to be pleasant, with the night time air nipping at their noses. But they got the worst of the grime off, and happily accepted clean shirts and leggings from Yim. Somehow, despite scrubbing for forever, Stan still felt dirty. Like you had to clean up an entire village worth of bodies… his mind said. He ignored it.

Asur was hard at work boiling potatoes and roasting a a handful of rabbits over the cooking fire. They smelled wonderful to Stan's hungry, tired soul.

"So, spill the beans." Asur said as he stabbed a potato with a fork to check for doneness. "What happened out there? Why are you all a day late? Why aren't these two miscreants," He shot Mira and Stan a friendly look, "in chains?"

"Oh, I don't even know where to begin." Yim's gruff voice responded. The couch that Stan was lounging on felt heavenly to his aching bones. "There's a killer dragon on the loose, Stan and Mira were out searching for Rufus and Freyja, and the entire town of Yummerskard's been massacred. Yeah, that about sums it up. Oh, yeah. Brenda is a crazy bitch who drugged Mira the night she fled town."

"Wow. You, uh, really… didn't belabor any of those points." Stan said laughing. Yim shrugged.

"It's been a long damn day."

Asur looked between the two of them. "I can't tell if you're serious or joking. But given the way you smelled when you walked in here, I'm going to go ahead and assume that you were serious."

"Every bit is true." Mira said. "We were out looking for the children when they found us. We talked some reason into the party, and we headed down to Yummerskard because we thought that that's where the children would be. Come the next morning, we found out that Yummerskard was leveled by something and the entire damn village was reduced to half burned, rotting corpses. We spent most of the day tending to their funeral pyre."

"Wow." Asur was at a loss for words. "That's uh… quite a day you've had." He pulled the potatoes out of the coals and set them on a serving plate. "Yim, can you go get the butter for our guests? The potatoes are done, and the rabbits will be shortly."

Yim groaned out of his chair and walked out the back door. Stan, Mira, and Asur passed the minute in an uncomfortable silence. As Yim walked back in, Asur finally figured out what to say about the matter.

"So you think it was the dragon? I thought Kutak killed it."

Stan let out an angry groan, and was about to respond when Mira cut him off.

"Stan and Kutak did not encounter a dragon. That boy's ego is larger than this village. Stan got hurt trying to rescue the boy from Grokum before he did something foolish. Kutak helped him off the edge of a cliff. That is why Kutak became a man. Not because of the dragon. The dragon was nowhere to be found that day."

"Well, Yummerskard certainly found the dragon." Yim said, laying the butter on the table. "Asur, I've never seen this before. It was like a pack of ravaging wolves going through sheep tied to poles."

"Sounds terrible." Asur said. "I'm glad I stayed home."

"I'm glad you did, too." Yim said. "You're a bit soft to be seeing such things."

Asur said nothing in his own defense. Stan wondered if he would have considered Mira "too soft" for such things just a few weeks ago. Probably.

"Well, here you are, then." Asur slid a skewer of rabbit onto each of three plates, and added the potatoes from the table as well. "Be careful, though. The potatoes are still hot."

"Thank you so much." Mira said gratefully. She immediately grabbed her plate and began opening up the potato to let it cool. "I am famished."

They ate in silence, broken only by a knock at the door as they finished. Yim glanced at Stan and Mira with suspicion on his face.

"God damn it all to hell." Yim said, getting out of his chair. "If this is about you two, I'm going to put them all in their damn places."

Asur looked at his husband, worry etched on his face. "Should we… hide them?" He asked Yim, who shook his head.

"Nah, let them try." Mira smiled a toothy smile. Stan wondered if Tulith was aching for some bloodshed. Not that Tulith would murder her own villagers -- would she?"

Yim nodded. "Aye, I'll just tell them off."

When Yim opened the door, however, he simply didn't have a chance. He was struck by a thick wooden baton across his temple. He crumpled to the floor. Stan jumped out of his chair and rushed to Yim's aid, throwing fists at the men who attempted to restrain him. Mira also got up and rushed over. But it was Asur, screaming obscenities at the three men who stood there, who took the cake for resistance efforts.

Stan did not even recognize the villagers that were trying so desperately to restrain him. He felt for his dagger, but loathed to use it against his own people.

"Oy, Mav!" Asur squealed at them. "Get the fuck out of my house. You will answer for this violence done against my Yim. Why in god's name would you strike him in his own damn house?!" Asur brandished a frying pan with all the fury of a mother wronged. It didn't seem to matter to the men in the doorway, who shoved Stan to the floor like he was a bug ready to smash.

"Be quiet, Asur. This doesn't concern you." Mav rebuked Asur gruffly as he grasped Stan by his hair. "We're under strict orders to place these criminals in confinement, and that's what we're going to do."

"Under whose orders, exactly?" Mira asked drily. They hadn't tried to touch her yet. Though she still appeared human, Stan was afraid that dragon would burst forth at any time now. He worried for the safety of Mav and the other two -- whom he recognized, barely, but could not recall their names.

"The village shaman." Mav answered as he hauled Stan to his feet. "Brenda."

"Excuse me?" Stan sounded indignant. "This town has gotten out of control. Are you all under some sort of spell?"

"Come along, Stan."  Mav pulled him out the door. He gave Mira a once over, frowning, then shrugged. "You don't need to come. But stay in town. Just in case."

Stan and Mira locked eyes as he was pulled backwards away from the doorstep. Yim lay groaning in a pile on the floor.

"Has this town gone mad?" He asked outloud, cradling his forehead in his hands. "Did the world fall apart when Aurelius died?"

Asur bent down to his husband, tenderly brushing hair matted with blood from his temple. "I don't know." He said sadly.

"Here, let me go get some water for his wound." Mira stepped around them and out the back door, sounding overly calm for what had just happened.

"Mira, I'm so sorry." Yim called after her. "I didn't think they'd do that."

Mira returned in a minute from the well. Asur had sat cross legged on the floor next to Yim, pressing a small cloth to the wound on his temple. Mira handed him the small cup of water.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Yim." She said. "We will get this all sorted out. Preferably tonight." She stood up. "Asur, thank you so much for the dinner. It was a wonderful surprise after a week on the road. Now, you take care of him and don't let him sleep." She cast a glance at Yim, "To make sure there isn't any serious damage."

Asur nodded, and Mira continued. "Did you recognize the other two that were with Mav when they took Stan? Are they local?"

Asur shrugged. "Yes, they're Dyssan, but I don't know their names."

"Great, thanks so much, Asur." Mira smiled at him. "I'll take it from here. We'll swing by soon to let you know that this madness is all sorted."

"We?" Yim asked.

"Oh, I fully intend to sleep, in my bed, with my husband, tonight." Mira said firmly. "I'm going to go get a change of clothes -- so I can clean these and give them back to you, and then I will attend to Brenda and her ilk this evening."

"Do you want us to come?" Asur asked, although Mira could tell his heart was not in the question. She smiled an icy smile.

"No, I do not think that that will be necessary. Thank you for your offer though. I'll see you soon."

Mira walked through the open front door and closed it gently behind her. The men exchanged looks.

Mira had a feeling that they wouldn't listen to reason, but she had to give it a try. She returned home for a change of clothes, and then headed directly to Brenda's house. It was a fair distance from their own, but it was a good starting place. She knocked firmly, three times, hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to her natural form. The less humans knew about dragons, the better. On the other hand, her blood was near boiling. Never in the fifteen odd years that she had been a part of dyssa had she seen such blatant insanity. Perhaps a little taste of dragon was what was needed.

The door opened a crack, and when Brenda saw who it was, she shut the door firmly with a huff of disgust. "Get your disease ridden, troublesome self out of my town." She called from the other side of the wooden door. Mira heard a piece of wood latch firmly into a holder on the other side of the door. "And we can pretend this whole thing never happened."

Mira listened for footsteps, but heard none. Brenda was waiting for a response from her.  Mira decided that pitiful wife was a good strategy for the moment, so she wailed, "They took my husband!!!" and she beat her hands upon the door. Her flimsy body was no match for the good, strong, oaken door, but she certainly made a show of it. Brenda lay silent in wait for her antics to cease. Annoyed, Mira dropped the charade.

"Listen, Brenda." She said calmly. She heard Brenda's weight shift behind the door. "I don't know what sort of game you're playing, but you have about twenty minutes to let Stan go, so we can pretend the whole thing never happened," Mira mocked her words from earlier, "before you'll begin to regret your life choices. No one else needs to get hurt tonight. Your goons already injured Yim, and I'm sure they've roughed up my Stan, too."

"Oh, go away, you old hag." Mira stifled a giggle at this insult, for Brenda was both older and haggier than Mira would ever be.

"Excuse me?" Mira couldn't help but feel indignant as she played the part of doting wife. "Open this door, or I'll open it for you. Where the hell did your goons drag Stan off to, anyway?"

Mira placed her hand gently on the door, feeling the vibrations from the house -- potentially other people inside? She couldn't afford the time to scry right now,

"You'll see." Brenda said ominously, and that's when Mira decided that she had had enough. She felt the rage growing deep in ehr belly, and for once, she let it fly, out of her core and down her arms to the very tips of her fingers. She felt the heat grow and spread through her until the door began to glow a deep red. From just outside her bubble of concentration, she heard confused noises from inside the door. She closed her eyes hard and pushed with her will. The door exploded inwards with a crash, and Brenda's scream satisfied the anger bursting forth from Mira's heart and soul. She strode over the splinters with ease, glowering down at Brenda, who had fallen away from the door and was more or less quivering at her feet.

"Now then." Mira said calmly. She picked a shard of wood from the linen of her shirt. "Where is my husband?"

A clatter of footsteps came from the back room, and Mira looked up to see Mav and his two friends pile in from the doorway. They looked from Brenda to Mira and back again, mouths agape, clearly confused.

"Oh, good. You three." Mira turned to them with a menacing smile. "Where is my husband?" She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and brought her foot down on Brenda's ribcage. Not enough to break them, of course. Just enough to tell Brenda that she meant business.

"Stay still." She ordered Brenda, who complied somewhat unwillingly. "This foolishness has gone on long enough. Mav, where did you take my husband?"

She fixed her eyes on him and let the rage boil over just a little bit. She wasn't sure if it made her eyes glow, but the move usually had a chilling effect on the subject of her distaste. Not that she used it often.

"Town center." He squeaked at her and she let his gaze go. She nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay, then." She pressed harder on Brenda's ribs. The woman groaned. "Here's the deal. Unless you want what happened to that door," She pointed to the gaping chasm behind her, "To happen to you, personally, as in, your flesh and bones," She gestured at the man, waving her hands from head to toe, "You need to do one thing for me. Can you do that?"

Mav paled and nodded, slowly. "Good." Mira continued. "Here's what you need to do. Take this lying sack of trash," Mira poked Brenda with her foot, "To the town square as well. Ring the bell. Gather the people. We are going to have a town discussion about ethics and behavior while the shaman is out of town."

Mav kept nodding at Mira, and Mira snapped her fingers. He met her gaze and then looked away quickly. "And, Mav?" She asked. He squirreled around her stare. "If you try to fuck me over. For example, let's say you try to do to me what you did to my husband. Or let's say you let this little weasel go," She planted a light kick into Brenda's stomach and felt the air go from the lady's lungs. Oops. "I will end you." She looked at his cronies with a chill smile. "You two, too."

Mira took a step backwards. Brenda took this as her chance to begin screaming bloody murder from her crumpled mass on the floor. Mira locked eyes with Mav and pointed at the squirming snake on the floor. "Go." She said. "I'll meet you in twenty minutes. And don't. Try. To. Fuck. With. Me." She accentuated each word, then turned around and walked through the splintered doorway.

Her hands shook as she strode towards the town's center. She wasn't sure if it was the cold, her rage, adrenaline, or a mixture of all three. Had they left him in the stocks like some fool or debtor? The street was empty and void of life. What madness had overtaken this town?

She made for the town center at breakneck speed. The shops were shuttered, and the square was lit only by the moon. She knew Stan was there, though. She could hear him breathing, his breaths ragged and even.

"Stan?" She called out, and a groan answered her. "I'm coming, sweetheart." She said as she followed the sound of his pain.

They had not put him in the stocks. No, they had stuck him in a weird little iron cage, much too small for him, raised up on a pole next to the stocks. This torture device had most certainly not been in town when she had left. How had they made it in so few days? Had Yim played a part in its construction?

Yim, who lay bleeding on his own floor this chilly autumn night. What a strange little nightmare Dyssa had fallen into as of late. If it was magic, she had certainly never seen its like in her many years alive.

"I'll get you." She muttered as she felt around the cage for some sort of opening.

"The door is on the top." He wheezed at her. "They brought a ladder."

"Those little assholes." She growled. "Hang on, I'm going to climb up." She jumped for the bars of the cage and made contact on the first jump, wrapping her lithe fingers around a horizontal bar. She swung momentarily, getting enough momentum to pull her torso and legs up from the ground.

"There's a padlock." He said. "I don't have any picks with me."

"There's no need." She said as she crawled over the top of the cage. She felt the lock dig into her ribs. "I'll just magic it off. I've had enough of this town. When this is all over, let's just… move somewhere. These are not the villagers that I've grown to love in the last few years. This is pure, utter madness."

"No complaints here." Stan said to her. She gripped the padlock and focused her draconian rage out into her fingers. She felt it grow warm like putty in her palms. She twisted it off.

"Okay, it's off." She announced. She saw his face peering through the bars up at her. He was rolled into a ball like a fawn hiding from predators. "Is there anything else?"

"No, I'm good beyond that. Get off the damn thing and I'll follow you down." Stan said. Mira pulled the cage door up as she slid down the edge and swung back down to safety.

"At least dinner was good?" She asked as he clambered out of the thing. He laughed then groaned.

"I think those bastards broke my collarbone." He said as he gingerly sat on the cage. "There's no way down without a lot of pain."

Mira eyed him in the soft moonlight, gauging the distance. "If you jump, I'll catch you. It'll still hurt, but maybe less than hitting the ground."

"Are you sure?" He asked, worry evident in his voice. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Yes, I'm sure. Come on. They'll be bringing Brenda soon."

"Say what?" Stan looked at her incredulously.

"I may have broken down her door and demanded to know where they'd taken you. Then I set Mav on her and told him to bring her to the town square soon." Mira said nonchalantly. Before he could respond, she reached out to his chest, "Here, let me take a look."

"It burns like a hot iron." He muttered, standing perfectly still as she gently prodded his upper chest. "Ow!" He cried as she felt in along his collarbone. "Stop, please, ow, fuck." He winced as she ignored him, pushing gently. She felt the bone move, grinding along its broken edge.

"Yup. Broken. Those assholes." She stopped touching him. "I'm not very skilled in setting bones, but I'm sure someone besides you in this place is."

"Yim can probably help me. Oh god, is he okay?" Stan suddenly remembered the fiasco at Yim's house. Mira nodded.

"He's got a bit of a head wound, but didn't seem too badly hurt. Come, let's get you into the shadows along the edge of the town square. I only half expected Mav to listen to me, so we may have a mob soon if we're not careful. And you are more of a delicate creature than I."

"That's probably true." Stan agreed. "What about over there?" He pointed to the ally between two buildings.

"No, I also told them to ring the town bells…" Mira trailed off as the sound of a distant bell rang. She laughed. "Well, at least they got that part right. Let's see if they get the rest. Anyway, let's get you to a place without foot traffic…" She glanced around. "What about up there?" She pointed to the grassy hill just outside of the square. "It's dark, there's not that many folks coming from that part of town, it should be safe. Also, I can keep an eye on you."

"Sure." He agreed.

"Do you want help?" She asked as she watched him walk gingerly towards the hill.

"No, thanks. Let me have some of my dignity." He limped out of earshot. Looking for a place of her own to make an entrance, she decided that the cage was as good a place as any. It was near the podium, and people entering wouldn't immediately look up. Plus, she needed a hot minute to figure out what was going on in this disaster of a town.

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