Idalee was still smirking. Flick raised an eyebrow at her, though it warmed his heart to see Idalee’s spunk returning. The girl hadn’t really joked around with him since the beating.
Adele returned in her fur, and this time accompanied by a larger brown cat. They stopped a few paces away and changed back to their skin. The brown cat was a muscular young man, and this time it was Idalee’s turn to blush. The only thing keeping Flick from shooting her a wide grin was the presence of the two Demon Riders. He did keep his eyes averted as they dressed themselves, and this time Adele noticed.
“We change in front of you to show our trust, but you look away,” she said. “Does it frighten you?”
“I, uh…it’s not that. We just don’t customarily go without clothing.” Sometimes honesty was the best approach.
Adele cocked her head, then seemed to dismiss the idea as strange. “This is Stepan, my clan mate. He wanted to meet you.”
Stepan came forward and extended a hand, which was a relief because Flick didn’t really know how the Makvani greeted each other. He had seen a few variants of bows, but had a feeling that there was much more complexity to them than Flick could figure out. The Demon Rider’s handshake was firm.
“Idalee,” said Flick, catching her eye. “Mayhap you could bring out some food to share.”
Idalee tilted her head, trying to discern if Flick’s request was a real one or a signal to run for her life. Flick gave her a subtle nod. If the Demon Riders were being friendly, they would be friendly as well.
As Idalee gathered her skirts and hurried back to the house, Stepan looked around and inhaled deeply. “Livestock,” he said.
Flick froze. “You’re not going to…”
“What would you do if we were to raid these farms?” asked Adele.
Flick swallowed and took some time to consider his response. Was Adele testing him? She was certainly watching him with interest, and he didn’t think she was bluffing about raiding the farms. But neither did he think she was toying with him.
“I suppose there’s not much I could do,” he said. “I can’t outrun you, so I wouldn’t be able to warn them, and I can’t fight you without any weapons. I might follow, to see if I can help get the farmhands to safety.” He watched the Demon Riders’ expressions carefully, alert for any sign of offense. “I wouldn’t try to stop you, but it would sadden me. I’ve enjoyed your company, and I imagine it would drive a wedge between us, if you were to raid the nearby farms.”
Adele cast her gaze down as she thought this over. “Are most humans like you, using their words to fight instead of their claws?” she finally asked.
Despite the tension, or perhaps because of it, Flick had to laugh. Kyra would have appreciated that description of him. “Can you blame me, since I don’t have claws?” Flick curled his hands, with their stubby nails, into his best claw impression and showed her. He thought he saw the corners of her mouth creep up. “But no. There are many in Forge who prefer ‘claws’ over talk.”
“We won’t take anything from the farms,” Adele said. She seemed to be talking as much to Stepan as to Flick.
Idalee arrived just then with a platter of bread and cheese and a wool blanket to spread over the snow. Flick hoped that the girl didn’t pick up on his residual nerves from that last exchange. Adele and Stepan took their time with the food, savoring each bite and stopping to inhale the bread’s aroma. “We have not been able to cook in the past year, since we’ve been traveling,” said Stepan.
“Czern tells me that we used to have cheese often, back when we raided more villages,” said Adele.
Idalee choked on her bread, and Flick himself had a hard time keeping a calm demeanor at yet more talk of raids. Again, Adele noticed.
“It bothers you to speak of raids,” said Adele. Flick would have laughed at the magnitude of the understatement, but Adele looked genuinely concerned.