The Moonlit Curse

Ch 16: Whiteout

The way August talked gave Red the impression that the entire town was about to arrive on the doorstep of the inn looking to stock up on supplies. Nothing he or his team couldn't handle. They'd done disaster preparations and relief multiple times over the years. So he was ready for anything when he returned to the inn with the rest of the squad.

By then, a few more townspeople had arrived as well and were setting up their wares on the tables. Without a word from him, each of his soldiers split up to offer help to a different vendor, Red ending up working side by side with Elise and cutting lard and pouring lamp oil to be passed out.

On the other side of the room, Kiya was in the middle of a conversation with a woman wearing a smirk and a butcher's smock while holding the biggest damn cleaver he'd ever seen. Kiya stood like she was ready to leap out of the way of that cleaver at any second, but otherwise she was relaxed and even smiling.

Two things she'd rarely done since their arrival in Silverkeep.

"Well, if no one else is going to say it," Rick said suddenly, though quietly enough that only the rest of the team could hear. "Has anyone else notice how fucking weird the lieutenant's been lately?"

Julien grunted and nodded his agreement, and Red would never say out loud how relieved he was to hear someone else say it.

Kiya looked exhausted. The dark shadows under her eyes gave her the look of someone much older than twenty-six, and her smile was strained as if it took a great deal of effort to maintain. All of which could be explained by the return of her dreams and nightmares. But her lack of regular sleep didn't explain the rest of her behavior, and it wasn't enough to satisfy Red's growing worry.

Red expected her sarcasm, the snark, and the almost derisive way she spoke about people who believed that monsters existed. He could handle the roll of her eyes at their orders and the endless debates with the masters. All of her previous captains had because when orders were given, she was always the first to follow. It's what made her a great lieutenant. She pushed boundaries, making sure her captain was confident in their decisions and their team's ability to succeed, but at the end of the day, she took her orders and followed them to the spirit and the letter.

The switch to defying direct orders, the secrecy, and the sudden bouts of anger and violence were all extremely concerning, and it had been nagging at him for days.

But then Quintin laughed and said, "The last time she worked with someone as lecherous as you, Rick, she broke his kneecap after six weeks. Honestly, I'm surprised you lasted three years without her losing her shit at you."

"She did what?" Elise gaped at him.

"Our lieutenant at the time was a man with more blood in his cock than his head. He would flirt with anyone and anything that could be mistaken for having a pair of breasts. He had it coming. So did you, so just be thankful she only threatened you with violence and didn't follow through." Quintin sighed fondly. "I still remember the sound of his leg snapping back when she kicked him. Beautiful."

"I was just joking around," Rick spat. "She was the one who took it too far."

"What she told me," Red added, looking to Quintin to confirm. "Was that the lieutenant tried to force his way into her private quarters, and she reacted in self-defense. You've made a thousand jokes before, Rick, but you've never tried to follow through. Quintin's right. You can't blame her for getting defensive."

"What she told you?" Elise asked. "I thought you two have always worked together."

"There was a span of about six years when we didn't," Red shrugged. "I'm older, so I advanced out of training first, and after she advanced, we were kept apart for another three years."