Page 27 of Lucie
Yulengave her a little shake. A quick check of the personRenkenstill held in a headlock showed that attacker was also quaking in his boots. Lucien bowed his head to hide his smile.
“How many of you are there?” the battle lord demanded.
Lucien noted that hisfather didn’t ask if they were alone or if there was anyone else with them. He’d gotten straight to point.
“F-fourteen. Altogether.”
“AllMutah?”
Again, the woman looked at Lucien. “I’m not full-blooded. I’m halfMutah. Like he is.”
Stunned silence came over everyone, and Lucien felt everyone’s eyes on him.
“What makes you believehe’s halfMutah?”Yulenquestioned.
“I see it in him,” the woman replied.
“What do you mean?” Lucien leaned in close to her. “How do you see it? I bear no mark.”
Those double pupils met his, and he got his answer. Jerking back slightly, he continued to stare at her. “Your eyes. Your vision. You see differently than anyone else.”
He silentlyrebuked himself. His own brother, Mattox, hadMutaheyes that could see infinitely better than aNormal’sand mostMutah’s.
Yulenlowered the woman to her feet but he didn’t release his grip on her jacket. “What can you see thatNormalscannot?” His question was less threatening, and she visibly relaxed.
“I see heat signatures. I see auras. I see in light spectrumsthatNormalscan’t but some animals can.”
“Heat signatures?”Renkengrunted. “That explains how you’re able to track us.”
“I can also tell that several of you were exposed to the madness disease,” the woman informed them. She pointed atYulen,Renken,Paas, andTurenski, one of the captains. “You four have had it. The rest of you haven’t.”
Iain steppedforward. “You can tell who’s had the virus just by looking at them?”
Before the woman could respond,Yulencut in. “Can you tell by looking at someone if they’ve caught the disease and came out…differently?”
“You’re talking about those whose minds are warped, aren’t you?”
“Yes. We call them Damaged.”
“No. I can’t tell if they’ve ended upwith the madness,” she confessed. “I can only tell if they’ve contracted the disease.”
“Damn. Back to square one.” Iain’s soft expletive echoed what they all were thinking.
Yulenfinally let go of the woman and retreated a step. Lucien checked to see if there was any chance the woman could reach her weapon, butPaashad already confiscated it, a crudely crafted spearmade from a tree limb and a piece of metal filed to a point. The knife the other person held was nothing more than a sliver of sharp rock tied to a stick.
These two people weren’t seasoned warriors. Nor were they suitably armed. But that didn’t mean they weren’t potentially dangerous.
“You said there are fourteen of you. I take it they’re waiting for you to return?Or are you supposed to be on a hunting expedition, and you just happened to come across us?” Lucien inquired.
The woman and her partner exchanged glances. They were wary, and he couldn’t blame them. On a hunch, he snagged the spear fromPaas’ grasp and held it out to the strange half-Mutah. She didn’t hide her surprise as she accepted it.
“My name is LucienD’Jacques.” He pointed to himself, then pointed toYulen. “This is my father,YulenD’Jacques, the Battle Lord of—”
“AltaNovis,” the woman said with him, her voice soft with awe. Her eyes widened as she swept her gaze over the group. “If you truly are from there, where is she…”
“You’re looking for my mother,Atrilan?” This time he didn’t hide his smile. “She’s gone ahead tocheck out the compound calledWhiterock.”
The woman’s face grew pale. “Call her back. Call her back right now!”
