Leton saw the man and the scared woman. He pulled her hand inside the house with a nod and crossed his arms to look more imposing, he still had no idea about the context, but the guy in front of him was uglier than a dried toad for sure.
'A mercenary? Maybe.' Leton thought.
"Who are you?"
"I am Neg... Negh. Whateva."
The man had difficulties talking. His lips were very dry and only his rear teeth could be seen when he blabbered.
"And what do you seek? Shelter?"
Leton could imagine a mercenary, fierce in battle but low on hygiene. But what if he wasn't? Only beggars and hermit could live in dirt.
A far memory came back to the village chief. Someone that did great harm to his vanished villagers, Raima and Keith. It opened an old wound.
"I am looking for the wisst and her devil runt."
Bingo. Even though he was wrong on his first hypothesis, he knew who he had in front of him. Leton frowned and spoke loudly.
"Her again? Enough is enough! Guards! Gather the guards here at once!"
Bad-mouthed Negh was surprised. He didn't expect an action so soon. He planned to get rid of them. He began counting the people who arrived. One... Two.. And a third one. They were five in total, what could go wrong?
Leton put his hand on Ned's shoulder and said.
"You are under arrest for the rape of a child and a woman. You'll also be interrogated for their disappearance."
The three man had a strong grip on their bent bow, aiming at the guy who raised both of his hands.
"Heh! Can'k I have a tak wiv you virst?" ( Can't I have a talk with you first? )
"Request denied. You'll have some time to discuss with your room-mate soon enough."
They brought the man behind of Leton's house. Two small doors were on the ground, Once opened, there was nothing but a hole, a meter and a half wide, but four meters deep. The smell from the first prisoner escaped the hole and made one of the guard puke.
The two others and Leton pushed Ned inside before he could realise what kind of cage it was. The man landed on a soft place, that wasn't happy to receive such guest.
"What the hell? Who are you?"
But the first that answered was above them.
"Here's Ned, he's a criminal we've been looking for nearly a season. You two have things in common. You should discuss."
The sound of the door shutting was loud. The lack of things in the hole made it echo for a few seconds.
"Argh! Not dirty again! Oh, I'm Randi. Nice to meet you. Mind to step out of my leg?"
"Wak can you tell abou' the kid and the wisst? They are monskers. They have to die."
Randi was taken aback. Ned was rude.
Long ago he had been threw in the hole because of the kid. His recluse condition allowed bacteria in his wound to spread all over his arm. He had long lost his whole hand and had to go back to the surface time to time to have his decaying arm treated with the only healer of the village, Alma.
She wouldn't hesitate pressing hard or sewing tight. She believed he was the culprit, she wanted him to suffer. The fact the wound was infected and only worsened arranged her. She made a patchwork out of it, accusing Randi's health to be unwilling to heal.
Randi sat in the hole the whole day, with a few light to see where to defecate. Rain would only worsen his condition. Leaving a puddle of smelly mud under his feet. And waking up some insect he could not resolve himself to eat. Well only for the first week.
People from the village had their opinions. If they believed he was a criminal, they would urinate on the door, above. Else they would drop some fruits.
"I'd kill them too. Look at this!"
Ned squinted his eyes to distinguish an arm with the bone out, stitches starting from the elbow to the tip of the bone, roughly maintaining things together.
"He poisoned my arm when he bit off my finger! This family is cursed! But two moons ago, they both vanished. There was this little girl.. They found her as if she had exploded in her room. I was wrongfully accused and kept locked here since then. What about you?"
That was a surprising story for a small village.
Ned put his hands in his mouth, opening it widely. There was only the one in the back left. But his gums were black, full of holes and coagulated blood. Because the tooth at the back of his jaw remained, he couldn't close it correctly. Any muscle near his mouth had stiffened resulting of Ned talking like a toothless elderly.
"Gross!"
Both men talked for hours. Ned spoke about his ambitions, his wish to redo what had been done before. Randi wasn't a rapist, he was just angry. Thankfully he couldn't understand the worst parts. They both wanted to get out, find only the boy and kill him. Raima was just a plus.
They were afraid, yes, but they were angry. Anger is the emotion that can drive any man to the top of the world.
Three days later, a rope descended in the hole. It had a hangman's knot at its end.
"Time for your treatment, Randi."
The guards pulled him out. Picco followed him. He planned to make Randi talk about Ned. Bargaining his exit from the cage. But Randi had sided with the mercenary and covered his story.
"He was bewitched! The kid used black magic and made his tooth fall, then he ate them just in front of the poor man. He could hear a voice whispering in his hear, one that couldn't belong to the kid! He sided with the devil."
Picco reminded himself of this kind of things. Keith talked to himself once, as if there was a second person next room.
He believed Randi and Ned. Moreover, he introduced Raima and Lorbe to make them able to get pregnant. He knew black magic worked. If there was a way for the woman to bring this magic with her from another country, they could've told the truth from the beginning.
Then where did Raima go? If Keith went to look for his father by himself, why would she find him too? Surely Yotoh said everything he knew because of his despair. Alma had no idea, the only one left is...
"I have to talk with someone. Thanks for your informations. You can have a proper meal at my house before going back in the hole. Guards will accompany you."
Picco went to see Domi. Th kid had climbed a tree and played with its branch.
"Good day. I have something to ask you, may you come down for a bit?"
Domi's attitude had changed. He was not the only kid in the village, but he lost a lot of people close from him. He played with his sister and his neighbour every day and suddenly, no one around. Plain loneliness tormented him.
"I've waited long enough to ask you about the disappearance of Keith and Raima. I want every single detail you remember."
"I miss them so much... I can't believe I am still sitting on my ass all day around. The day he was gone, he came to me, just to say goodbye. He did not specify a thing about his mother. He said he wanted to go on a journey by himself, as if wings had sprouted out of his back. Back then he looked free."
The boy had more muscle than last year. He had more work to do in the crops because of his father. Yotoh claimed his neighbours' rice field to not waste the harvest, in exchange he had to share half of it with the village chief.
Picco spoke.
"If I go find him, which is a ridiculous thing to do because, the world is vast.... You know, it's bigger than the few mountains you've seen in your life. It'll be a very hard task. Would you be able to come with me and deprive your mother of her first child? Isn't it about the time she gives birth?"
"I thought about this already. Father is determined to find Raima, you could ask him to come with you. Or you could take Randi, you'll have the two confront and your investigation would be over."
Picco's eye twitched. Domi was a smart boy, he knew how much of a nosy he was.
"Fair enough. I'll take Yotoh with me, I'll leave the rotting one in Leton's hands."
Inside of the well, the next day, both man had well built plan.
They had to escape. Set the village ablaze, maybe. And go back to Seoni, finding the fish merchant to get the kid. Randi hadn't much time before his injury kills him.
The next day Picco and Yotoh departed.
And the third day, the two caged escaped their prison.