Duendewood: Children of Ruin, part twenty

Jacques slipped up to the doorway. "We're here to rescue you," he whispered. 

"You're what?" It was male voice, grumpy at being awakened, but still quiet so as not to awaken anybody else. 

"We're here to get you out and let you get back to your farms."

"We won't get paid if we do that." The man had risen, solid and stocky, light-haired in the darkness. "The gnolls promised us a reward if we helped them dig out the temple and the complex beneath it."

"They did?" Jacques let his surprise color his tone, audible even though they were whispering. "And you believe them?"

The man shrugged. "They didn't take our children, or our elderly. There's one of them can speak Common, and he says they're studying the ruins, hoping to find something under them."

"But they did kidnap you," Jacques pointed out. 

The man nodded. "They did, and there're some here as might resent that... but they've promised us payment once they get access to their temple, and so far they've been straight with us. No whips, no torments. Hard work, but no harder than running a farm. And if they find the gold they've promised us, well... we'll be well-repaid for our labor."

Jacques considered that. Beside him, Skyflower was frowning. Yvette asked, "You'd trust them?"

The man straightened, and his expression sobered. "I'd be lying if I said we weren't all a little concerned for our kids... but they know how to take care of themselves, and how to keep the farms in basic order.  Ellia had a newborn; they took her husband but left her behind with the kids. They aren't monsters, s'far as we can tell. They just took us because they needed help and had no other way t'get it."

Jacques made a decision, because there was no safe way to consult with the rest of his group. "Very well. Ask the one who speaks Common to come towards the treeline in the morning, and I'll meet him -- or her -- there, so we can talk."

"Just to talk?" asked the farmer, suspiciously. 

"Just to talk," Jacques reassured him. "I want assurances that the gnolls will pay you and release you when you're done digging for them, and I want more information about what they intend here. I don't intend bloodshed unless they do."

"Aye. All right, I'll tell 'im. You go your way now, before you bollix this whole thing up."

Jacques nodded, though he doubted the human could see him, and motioned for the others to back away. They slipped back out of the camp just as quietly as they'd entered, leaving one -- hopefully -- unconscious gnoll, and a pen with its door wide open.