14. Friend or Foe?

They walked into town with a few people giving them quizzical looks. It was not unusual to see one or two of the Lord’s hunters in town, they were allowed time off now and again, it was unusual though for all of them to arrive at the same time.

"Um. We are not really being very inconspicuous are we?’ said Jenny.

"No." replied Harold. "But, if our target gets a little nervous with all of us being here, he may do something rash and show himself. It would make our job a lot easier."

"what should we do first?" asked Warren.

"Why, head to the pub for a drink of course." said Harold.

His sister gave him an odd look. "Pardon?" she said.

"Of course." said Maria. "That is usually the first place someone new, entering town, will go to. So if he did pass this way, then he may have been seen there."

"Oh." said Jenny. "I hadn’t thought of that."

"Besides." said Paul. "I could use a little something to calm my nerves."

The others nodded in agreement.

They walked over to the Fatted Cow. This had been the first place Maria had come to when she came here on her first time doing her job. She had kept it a secret from her aunt and mother back then to prove that she could do the job on her own. She had been very nervous and a little scared being away from home on her own, but she had been determined to help her mother. This was where she had met Annie that first night. Annie was working as a bar maid then and had talked to her most of the night, much to the annoyance of her employer. It was Annie that had sent word to Harold Treeborn that she was on her way to look for work. Really it had been to get into the manor, but she had not told Annie that. It turned out that the one she had come here in search of, had been the previous Lord of these lands, the new Lord’s father, who had fallen under the influence of a Time Eater. She had never thought that after taking their father and lord away from them, that she would be asked to stay with them as one of the huntsmen. But they had. They understood why she had come and thought no less of her for it. Annie ended up getting a job in the manor kitchens which only made the staying all the sweeter.

The Inn was filled with the noon day crowd. Helen, the wife of the owner of the place, came up to them as soon as they stepped through the door.

"Please to come in." she said. "I haven’t had all of you in my place at once but I am happy to see you. Especially you Harold Treeborn, I haven’t seen you in here in months. Are you avoiding little old me?"

"Of course not Helen." he said with his best smile. "I have just been busy and when I have had free time, it was better for me to stay and relax at the manor than to come all the way here. Not that your company would be a bad thing."

"Hhmmphh." was all she said, as she showed them a table near the back corner where they could see all of the common room and whoever walked through the door.

Maria wondered if she had missed something that had passed between Harold and Helen or whether this was the table that he liked to sit at when he was here, and she just naturally put him and his companions there.

They ordered some drinks, a little food and looked around the common room. There did not seem to be anyone from outside the village here. Maria recognised most of the people filling up the room at this time of day. For those she did not she looked to her companions for confirmation. They were able to make sure that their target was not here. Harold left the table and went over to the bar to talk to the owner. They conferred for a little while, and then the bartender pointed to a small group of workers who were sitting at a nearby table. Maria could see from their clothes that they were the men who worked on the roads in and around the village. Harold walked over to them and started a conversation. They seemed to recognise him and chatted amiably with him. After a little while he took leave of them and returned to their table with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"What’s the matter?" asked his sister as he sat down.

"Those men were working on the roads leading into the village." he answered. "I asked the bartender to point me to them because I figured they may have seen someone new entering."

"So what did they say." asked Paul.

"That’s what is puzzling me." he said. "They said that while they were working out on the south road, they saw someone who looked suspiciously like our man."

"That’s great then." said Warren. "where’s the problem? we go there, find him and return him. Trouble over and we can get back to our normal lives."

"The problem is this." said Harold. "They were able to describe him very well because they could easily see him, except that they said it looked like he was trying to hide from them and doing a piss poor job of it."

"So."

"So, either he is a completely amateurish wannabe or he wanted them to see him and tell others. Now I don’t think that It would really let anyone of that magnitude of incompetence around It. So I have to assume for now that he is at least competent at some of the basic things, and so he wanted to be seen. He wants someone to look for him."

"The most likely people being sent would be us, if he was hiding in the woods." said Maria, beginning to understand what Harold was getting at.

"Correct." said Harold. "So he might be setting a trap for us."

"The only problem is" said Warren, "that we don’t have a lot of choice. We either avoid the trap and face the wrath of an Unnameable scorned, or we go and try to not get caught. I vote for the more human opponent. I think we have a better chance against him."

"I agree." said Jenny. "It will be harder to spring his trap on us now that we are more prepared."

Harold nodded his head. "I just wanted to make sure everyone knew where we stood. Let’s go see if we can’t reverse the roles on our little friend."

They left after paying and went down the south road to where the men said they had seen the man. Their equipment was still where they left it. Harold decided that they should use the formation they used to push prey in a certain direction when found. They would communicate by the clicks and whistles they always used.

They spread out into the woods, and started to search. After a little They heard Warren's signal saying to meet him and that he had the prey. They all began to move to his position and came out into a small grove in the forest.

There was Warren.

And there was the one they were looking for.

Standing behind Warren.

With a knife at his throat.

Harold let out an exasperated sigh.

"Sorry boss." was all Warren could say.

"Thank you for coming." said Robert Isling.

"What do you want?" asked Harold.

"I want to talk."