One Moo'r Plow - Book 2: Chapter 38: Domain III.

Cold and heavy was the realization that struck me as I gazed down at the alien form that had been Tash. The thought chilled me, but I was not foolish enough to deny it. Enemies were within my home. Inside my walls, among those I trusted. Their faces hidden from the light, they watched and plotted against me, even though I called them friend. This was only the first. Were I in the shoes of those who wished me harm, I would send more than a lone spy.

Bellows to heave the gates closed and seal them tight were obeyed far too slowly. Quick, but not fast enough to satisfy me. Shock had given way to anger as I faced the reality that people I trusted, friends even, existed here to do me harm.

And I did not know who.

Despite my best efforts, in spite of being warned not to trust, I had done so. And now the lash had come back around to strike me.

One person saw through the facade, and gazed past the lie that had been Tash’s form; Valencia.

Pieces fell back together now that the illusion was shattered. He, or it, had hidden from the dwarves. Told me it was because he was a drow. That was another lie. I remembered the pain afterward when I had confronted him about it. Always absent when Velton had been around.

It made sense now.

“Are there more?” I asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

The dreadknight looked at me from where she squatted over the slim, grey form.

“Yes. Elith’s Eyes are never alone.”

Part of me had suspected something was wrong with Tash, but never that he was an agent of the monarch. It made so much sense. She worked to undermine Ironmoor, and I was a tool she could grasp to do so.

“Tie him.” I gestured to a worker who hurried over.

“Gag the mouth.” Valencia stood and ignored the dust on her clothes. “He’ll try to speak, of course. All lies.”

With that she cracked her knuckles and began to walk away. Off towards the fields where the most workers milled about, confused.

“To find the others.” Was her reply when asked where was headed. I glanced between the unconscious grey form being bound and the dreadknight, and decided to follow her malicious path.

Ishila intercepted us, and I felt my heart skip a beat. Was she one as well? Did it go that deep?

By the mercy of the Gods Above, my paranoia proved unwarranted as Valencia did not react. Tensions, thick as they were, did not stop the half-orc from sprinting off to make sure the prisoner stayed bound.

“How can you see them?” I demanded. There were Skills and Classes that specialized in deception, I was sure. Yet her’s did not seem one of them. The opposite, even. My question answered itself.

“A devil’s sight pierces all mortal lies.” Came the reply, preceded by the sharpest smile I had yet witnessed. “They deal in truth’s an only those. It is not only the Gods Above whose words are absolutes.”

More things about this woman to unnerve me. But for now, in this short time, her talents were aimed at my enemies.

“This is far from the first time I have done this.” She smiled with glee. There entered a note of emancipation into her voice now. “I still savor it. Let the rats scurry. Their thrashings amuse me.”

There was little room for pity in my heart as I stalked towards someone who I suspected. Sean stood with his arms crossed, worry mixed with emancipation in his scent. The human had joined at the same time as Tash, and quickly took an important position ensuring my security.

A sound choice to compromise if the goal was to undermine me. Him, I was not so attached to. It made this all easier that I did not know many of their names. Insofar the man had kept his distance and collected his pay, little else.

“Yes, boss?” He asked, tense. I could feel the need to ask what was going on itching beneath his skin, see it writ on his face. Yet how was I to know if that was true, or a lie?

Some small semblance of relief blossomed within as Valencia looked right at the man and revealed nothing.

“Only a human.” She snorted. Little did Sean know that this dismissal was what saved his life, even as he bubbled with anger.

“Keep the gates sealed,” I instructed him. “Trust no one, for now. If you see anything suspicious or anyone slipping off to hide somewhere, note it and find me immediately. Do not approach on your own.”

Those were all the orders and explanations I granted him. All that I was willing to share, for now. With a nod, he turned and began to jog towards the wall. A vantage point to surveil the farm and to ensure no one tried to slip away.

“On to the next.”

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Zheli was who I sought now. She was the only one that had had access to my lodge, if only to take ingredients from where they were stored before all that had been moved to its own space. Yet in that short time, she had seen more of what I possessed than most of the farmhands. Information that could be used against me. She too looked worried as we approached. Worry that did not fade as Valencia waved her off.

“Line up!” I bellowed at the field workers. Confusion was present, of course. People milled about, but eventually, they came forward and did just that. The largest portion of people proved to be here.

Who else was missing?

The pasture workers, the men out in other fields, the woodcutter crew and the guards on the wall were all separate.

Tension so thick one could run a knife through it lay in the air now.

“Go.” Was all I spoke to Valencia. This time, I stayed behind, off to the line’s side as the dreadknight stalked down the row of people, face uncomfortably close to theirs as her eyes darted from face to face. People shivered as she passed, their sweat growing cold and fear seeping into their scents. Dread made their knees weak and caused limbs to spasm.

To be in her presence was pain. The aura of malice invaded thoughts, shook bodies, and jarred minds. But she was the evil I needed. The monster to sniff out the rats in my midst.

And she found them.

An arm shot out and grabbed a plain, forgettable beastman by the neck. Darkness burned on her fingertips as the man shouted, pain in his voice. Yet his skin did not flicker like Tash’s had One heartbeat passed, then the next until I stepped forward, concern in me.

It was then that the illusion shattered. A surge of agony raced through my thoughts as I watched a man’s form break apart over and over as he desperately tried to keep the lie intact. One hand held him by the throat, and the other smashed into his face.

The struggle ended, and pain subsided as the body fell limp. Someone screamed, then fell quiet once more. People milled about in panic as the illusion broke, only to be ordered back into line. I needed order enforced. Confusion was an opportunity for a spy to slip away, and rearrange the line to hide from Valencia’s gaze. The body presented this opportunity.

It was left to lie as she stalked on. The smallest mercy of them all was that the air was cool today, the sun hidden by thick clouds above. Save for the wind’s whistle and occasional shuffle, there remained silence.

She found none more among the field workers. Both a disappointment and a relief.

“Return to work.” I spoke without any bark or bite to my words now. The unconscious form I picked up as the mass of people dissolved. It was cold to the touch, eerily so. Still, it remained alive. It joined Tash’s now-awake form, tied and gagged.

I ignored the sounds he tried to make as I drew near. Whatever he had to plead did not interest me.

There were more rats to be flushed out.

One tried to jump over the wall as Valencia went from post to post. Super-humanly quick as once again, its blinking form caused me to stagger in pain and anger.

Valencia was quicker. The dreadknight crashed into the fleeing form like a meteor, a dark feline come to snatch its prey. She dragged the limp body back over the wall with her, a predator satisfied with its catch.

The pasture crew held none. That we found, anyhow.

And now, we waited. The choice had been made not to go and pursue any potential ones among the outside crews. Instead, we waited for them to return for the day.

Nothing to give away that I was on to them.

“You’ve done this before.” A statement, not a question.

“Indeed.” Valencia nodded, a malicious smile upon her lips. “One of the reasons the baron finds my employment so lucrative.”

“And a reason he has kept your absence quiet, no doubt.”

“Elith won’t be sending any more to Castle Ironmoor.” Valencia dismissed my musings. “Lost too many of them already. Was a hard lesson to teach her, but the girl learned.”

This brought me to the question I wished to pose.

“What are they? Really?”

“Spies, first and foremost. In the employ of Queen Elith. Shapeshifters and mental manipulators. Beings she sends to implant themselves into the ranks of her enemies. The knife that would slide between your ribs if you stepped out of line. Sabotuers that work to undermine regions and alliances the queen if unfond of. Assassins. Brokers of information. Menial spies that monitor people of interest. Anythign she wants them to be, really.”

“And their name?”

“They do not possess one. Their race is an artificial creation. A small technicality, to not be born of the Gods Above, to never have been named by them. They call themselves the Grey Men, but that name means little. It holds no power. And this absence is why they fear devils and demons.”

“You trade in Names.”

“They, not me, minotaur. Remember that.” Her tone took an unusual sharpness here. “But yes. It is the absence of a Name that gives them away. Lets my eyes pierce the lie. Irnomoor still lives today because of this.”

“The queen tried to kill him?”

“Many, many times. She learned, eventually. He wrote her a letter, after the tenth or so attempted assassination. Explained that she could send as many men as she liked, but none that she wanted back.”

All this dealing in death and games of power that happened outside my home, just off my doorstep, and I had remained willfully ignorant to it all. Thought that if I kept my nose out of politics, it would leave me alone. That had been disproven, again and again. Danger did not wait for me to be ready, it simply came.

Time ticked by ever so slowly as I sat, uncomfortable in Valencia’s presence. Evening came, and slowly, the workers trickled in. They too were blindsided by the dreadknight, but her gaze found no more amongst those I employed. And soon, the gates shut behind the last batch and evening fell.

“What do you intend to do with them?” Ishila asked as she too drew near. Them being the three Grey Men we had tied together.

I did not know, truth be told. They were enemies of mine, now. Spies sent to observe and undermine me. They had looked like friends, if only for a little while. Yet that did not grant them mercy.

I pondered their fates then, and decided that I was not enough a barbarian to have them hanged from the trees. Let their lives be of some use, at least.

“Get the cart.” I ordered her. “We’re taking them to Castle Ironmoor.”