Nikolas rolled the thug leader’s unconscious form over on his stomach and reached beside him for rope to bind the man’s hands. As he did, he noticed a small patch sewn into the thug’s right sleeve. A few crossed lines and dots were embroidered into the patch, a pattern Nikolas didn’t recognize. He finished tying the bindings and moved on to the next man, rolling him and binding his arms together as well. A flash of color on this one’s right sleeve made him stop- he twisted the arm to get a better look, and frowned.
It had the same patch- same size, same colors, same pattern on it. Almost the same pattern, Nikolas thought- this one only had two dots on it; the leader’s patch had three. Without finishing the binding knot, Nikolas quickly stood and examined the bodies of the dead thieves. Each had the same patch in the same place, though these also had only two dots. On the last man, Nikolas stared at the patch more closely- the longer he looked at it the more it resembled a bird, but he still didn’t recognize it at all.
“Alira!” he called, looking to where she and Bria sat under a tree. Bria was still crying, though silently now, but stayed by the tree as Alira walked over. She did so slowly, her revulsion from the corpse obvious. When Alira was close enough, Nikolas twisted the thug’s arm to show her the patch. “Have you ever seen this before?”
Alira bent down for a better look, careful not to touch the body, but after a few moments shook her head. “I don’t remember seeing it. What is it?”
Nikolas looked back at the thug. “I don’t know. They all have one, all in the same place and almost exactly the same...” He trailed off, a dozen questions hitting him all at once: who were these thugs? Were they a group by themselves or part of a larger gang? The patches on their sleeves supported that idea, Nikolas thought. Certainly they had been after Alira or something she had, but why? How did they know she would be here? Had they been following since Southshore? Nikolas hoped this last thought wasn’t true- he had tried to be careful after the outfitter’s warning, and if these thieves had been trailing them all along, their skill at staying hidden had to be considerable.
There are no answers here, Nikolas thought, not while these thieves are out cold, and waiting longer was potentially dangerous. Better to keep moving, he decided.
Nikolas stood up and looked to Alira, who had returned to her daughter’s side. “How is she?” he asked.
“Calm enough,” Alira answered, holding Bria close.
“Alright, let’s keep moving,” Nikolas said. “The longer we’re out here, the longer we’re exposed. We should get to the outer sentry watch by nightfall if we move fast.”
Acting on a sudden thought, Nikolas went to the dead or unconscious thieves and cut the small patches from their sleeves. He stowed them in a small pouch on his belt, then went to pick up the handcart. Another thought came to him as he did so.
“Put your daughter in the cart,” Nikolas told Alira. “We’ve stopped too much for her tired feet, and we’ll go faster this way.” He realized his words came out gruffer than he intended, and for a moment prepared to apologize. But Alira was already settling her daughter onto the rucksacks in the cart, and the impulse to say something went away. When Alira had finished and retrieved her own bags, Nikolas picked up the cart handles and the small party moved quickly off.
