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crime. They would be tried by a tribunal of Blade judges and, if found guilty, they could face years of hard labor on a work crew, or execution. Because they attacked a Blade, there could be no doubt of them being found guilty. What he didn’t know was that I had been sent out on a mission to find and capture them. This meant they had become enough of a nuisance to draw the attention of the Blades, and reduced the likelihood of a light sentence. I almost felt sorry for them. Almost.
    “Rance.” His voice shook. “My name is Rance. Please, we didn’t hurt anyone. Don’t kill us!”
    I bit back a smile. A scared kid. “Well, it’s not my call. You guys stole a lot of merchandise. That can’t go unpunished.”
    “We only stole from merchants. They are rich enough to replace their stuff!” His tone was defiant.
    “Really? Did you know that many of the merchants that use this road come from deep in the mountains? That they work for months to dry the meat and create the handcrafts they bring in to market? Did you know that the money and food they get in return will have to feed their clans for months until they can make the next trip to the market?”
    “Umm. No. But..um. We only stole enough to sell to feed ourselves.”
    He was near tears, now. Though I was feeling sorry for him, I didn’t let it show in my voice or demeanor. There was more to this story, and I wouldn’t be able to help them if he didn’t tell me. The only way to keep his tongue loose was to keep him scared.
    “Is that so? According to reports you’ve stolen enough to feed you three scrawny boys for several months.”
    His face went white and the reality of the situation dawned on me.
    “How many of you are there?”
    The defiance was back in his face, if not in his voice as he visibly struggled to be believable, “There is just the three of us. Do with us what you will, Blade.”
    I couldn’t help the pang of sympathy that slammed through me. I knew what it was like to be young and have people who depended on you for food and comfort. I could see it in his eyes.
    “Look, Rance, I can’t make you many promises, but I can make this one. If you tell me the truth, I will make sure that whoever it is you are protecting is safe. I give you my word as a Blade. Think about it this way…who is going to take care of them if the three of you just disappear?”
    His expression was stony.
    “Okay, don’t tell me right now. I’ll let you talk it over with your buddies once I get you back to Nash City.”
    Leaving him to ponder on the deep shit he was in, I moved on to Thug Two, and groaned. He had changed back into human form and was now lying naked in the mud. I grabbed the mage’s cloak and wrapped the naked boy in it before binding his arms and legs. He had shaggy beard and looked to be a couple of years older than the other two, but was still a kid.
    Once they were all tied, I used my magic to float them to the middle of the road, side by side. I didn’t dare remove the strands of energy that encased them. The mage was pretty well neutralized, but the ropes were not close to strong enough to hold a fully shifted Werebeast of any kind. The thin strands of energy were the only thing keeping them from shifting. Now I had to figure out how to get them back to the city.
    “Mal, watch them. Stomp on them if they move.” The eyes of the conscious boy went wide as the horse snorted as if in agreement.
    “He won’t really stomp us, will he?” He stammered.
    “We’ll never know unless you try to escape. If I were you, I wouldn’t test him. He’s in a bad mood over having to be out in the rain tonight.” We had that in common.
    Leaving Mal to watch over the three boys, I headed into the woods. There had been a time when this area had been a highly populated suburb of the metropolis of Nashville. But that had been over two hundred years ago, when the city had spanned over 500 square miles and boasted almost a million inhabitants just within the