"You figured it out then? Hmm, don't change nothing anyhow."

The man spat, a thick stream of sputum off into the dirt to his side.

The slavers had emerged from the trees as Tala and Rial approached, several appearing close by and a number of others emerging further away and coming warily over. They were encircled now, the men all armed with coilguns and plenty more watching from the trees where they had been patiently waiting since before she and Rial had arrived at the ship.

Tala was stood next to Rial, the both of them standing in front of this man in his bralla-skin jacket and seemingly obligatory wide-brimmed hat.[1] They stood tall and tried to give as strong an air of confidence as they could, but the man was unfazed. He was clearly far more confident.

The... bandit? slaver...? gave a cursory glance at Mead, hanging from Rial's hand, and smiled up at them.

"You know what this is?" asked Rial.

"Yeah, I do. We've got one of our own. Bit more of an attitude than yours, I reckon."

Tala had no doubt the man noticed Rial waver, just for a second. His smile grew.

"Boss wants to see you real bad," he said. "You want to see him, cast off?"

This time Rial's reaction was obvious to everyone. She couldn't help but give a jolt of surprise herself, so extreme was Rial's look of shock. The man chuckled.

"Where are the rest of you?" he asked.

The man appeared to be the ringleader, narrow eyes in a sun-worn, well-lined face. He was tall, toughened by years out in the hostile world, with cold, steely blue eyes.

"You think we'd bring children with us? They're back in the ship, with the others," said Tala.

Tala wondered how much these people really knew about their group.

"Two more adults, right? An old man and woman. Well, we'll get them later."

Enough, apparently. Still, this man clearly hadn't met Shaleigh, or he wouldn't be so offhand about her.

"I could kill you all, right here," said Rial.

Calm down, thought Tala.

Rial was sweating, clearly flustered.

Tala was bemused. What possible reason could they have for calling him a name like that? And why did it affect him so?

"Maybe you could, cast off, but if you do the boss is gonna kill a whole lot more, starting with everyone we took from your strange little burrow and everyone still inside. And then he'll burn the flesh off your bones."

A high-pitched whine made everyone look down at Mead.

"Mead... no, stop," said Rial, letting out a long breath to calm himself.

Now it was the surrounding slavers’ turn to be flustered, many of them shifting uncomfortably and gripping their guns. Tala made sure they saw her grin, a grin with fangs, at their moment of discomfort.

At least these men were afraid to die. It was good to know that their cockiness was at least partially bluster.

“So it’s true, then. It’s like a pet or something,” said the ringleader, as the whine descended in pitch and volume before disappearing entirely. “The boss’s one is different. Yours will be useful.”

"You think I'd give Mead to you?" said Rial.

"To the boss. And you will, if you want your friends to live. Oh, he's been looking for you for a looong time," the ringleader chuckled.

He turned to his men.

“Come on then, boys, let’s take them back.”

“What about the others?” asked one of the men.

“They don’t matter; we come back for them later. It’s this guy the boss wants,” replied the ringleader.

He turned back to Rial.

“Now, keep your pet on its leash, will ya?” he said. “Our one can wipe you out in a second, and you better believe it’s watching you. So come quietly, and we’ll go meet the boss.”

“How far are we going?” demanded Tala as they began walking west, parallel with the tree line.

“A coupla days, maybe three or four. Depends how fast you are and where the boss has gotten himself to. We're very busy, after all,” replied the man.

They walked in silence, not quite prisoners yet not quite free.

[1] Why, some part of Tala thought. It wasn't as if today was particularly sunny. These men just seem to have decided on the uniform.