Lesh's gaze was unwavering, as it seemed to pierce through the young woman in front of him, an unseen pressure beginning to fall onto her and making her grip her forearms as if bracing against the unseen force. "And you believe I hold him captive because...?" His voice was a low, even murmur, the question hanging in the air, weighted with an unnerving calm that even had Alice take a step back.
Her response was sharp, laced with venom. "One of his 'bitches' – the one in armor – was brought here by your big guys, along with two of his other 'women'. He never went anywhere without those two and wouldn't willingly cut off his bait girl unless he had no choice. So I know you dragged that bastard here with them." The last word was spat out, as if the very mention soiled her.
Lesh's brow furrowed slightly, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. "You mean Rebecca and the two who also tried to help that sack of shit? Well unfortunately I won't be handing that waste of air over to you. He still has much more pain to experience and information to divulge—specifically, how he managed to corrupt those girls to such an extent and how to break that conditioning." He paused, his expression hardening. "Rebecca in particular would have been a valuable asset to this group given her inherently good nature. If his influence stems from some kind of ability I want it nullified and broken from her, or as distasteful as it is, to have that control transferred from him to me." His words were delivered with a detached, almost clinical precision that elicited a frustrated growl from Saya, her fists clenching at her sides.
The tension in the room seemed to build as Saya seemed to visibly struggle as if fighting with herself and unseen whispers before speaking again, her voice dropping down to a raw whisper. "I'll tell you straight: no matter what you may think or what they want you to believe it wasn't an ability or even a skill from his class, at least not entirely. He's a drug dealer with a classs being some kind of Alchemist off shoot and he'd supply a type of powder to the marauders. That powder caused a range of negative effects ranging from dizziness and loss of balance to a euphoric high and disorienting confusion, even managing to cause people to lose consciousness quickly, the acting speed of the last one dependant on the person but never taking longer than a few minutes to start working." She took a ragged breath, rubbing her arms as a shiver ran through her even with Alice swearing in the background and exclaiming that was what happened to her. "The euphoric and earlier mixes would feed on whatever form of energy or magic a person's class uses as fuel until they either collapsed with their strength depleted, passed out as it overwhelmed them or for some caused them to die after draining them entirely. As for those girls, he manipulated them and ingrained his words into their minds until his words and actions became equal to words from a god to their followers for them. I should know," she finished, her voice barely audible, "he tried to do it to me and wouldn't give up." Her body trembled subtly, her eyes distant as she seemed to visibly be reliving the horror before she visibly fought to regain control, pushing the traumatic memories back into the dark recesses of her mind, her shadow flickering slightly.
Lesh observed her, a flicker of understanding passing through his gaze. "I see. That is the case then as long as you do not kill him you are free to do as you like to him. I would suggest talking to Elena; she will no doubt have some creative ideas you can use or incorporate. Perhaps bamboo shoots under his nails? Or having a rapid-growing plant placed into an open wound, allowing its roots to feed off his blood and fully embed within the body part similar to the vines I bound to his soul?" A cold, almost detached contemplation settled over his features. " I've paralyzed him from the neck down but made sure he would still be capable of feeling everything, so don't expect him to be able to fight back with anything but words and head movements." With a dismissive wave of his hand, Lesh turned and walked away, his mission to find Elena and inform her of Saya's full permission to unleash her vengeance before heading to talk to Ray. He didn't notice Saya's barely contained excitement or the dark spark in her eyes.
"I will fulfil my promise," Saya called after him, her voice regaining some of its earlier resolve, "hunting and helping to protect this place. But just a warning: my friends tell me something isn't right here and it isn't because of you, the problem is none will tell me what it is that's wrong, but I will keep a lookout for you and report anything I find." The cryptic message hung in the air, making him pause for a moment as a new layer of unease settled over him.
It was fifteen minutes later after a heated talk and traded barbs between him and Elena that Lesh finally confronted Ray. She seemed calm at first glance but visibly nervous, more so upon seeing both Alice and Ash with him.
"So, do you mind informing me of where the two women you took responsibility for are? Perhaps what has happened to them? Or maybe why I had to ask Alice about it and then be informed she hadn't even seen them?" Each question seemed to hit her almost like physical blow. She knew this was coming but still felt unprepared. "I don't know… We went to sleep after settling in, taking shifts to keep watch. I don't know how it happened but this morning for my turn to keep watch I noticed they were gone, when I questioned the others, they said they hadn't seen them and a few people, not just the other women but even some of the men where confused, as if they didn't even know who I was talking about. A few supplies where also taken so I'll accept any punishment for this!" She said with her head down. Lesh only sighed and shook his head. "I can not punish you as they where forced onto us, they had not chosen to come with us by their own choice and so leaving in the night is not something I will punish you for. They made the choice for themselves to leave and I will see the taken supplies as being the same as the same kind of thing we had done for the leavers back at the marauders building. Now off you go, you have patrols to do and we will not speak of this further. Next time though I expect you to be the one to tell me about these things, they were your responsibility and thus you should have told me as soon as I was awake about what had happened. No delays next time, understood?" he phrased it as a question but all those present knew it was more of an order. "Yes! Next time I will be coming right to you about anything and everything!" She said quickly before running away.
Three weeks seemed to pass in a blur since then, marked by the steady rhythm of construction and the underlying hum of newfound purpose for everyone there. That isn't to say conflicts didn't happen as they slowly spread out from John's house, from time to time the fights ranged from territorial squabbles over scavenged resources with other lone survivors or minor skirmishes with stray, mutated creatures and yet there was nothing overly harmful or impactful. Most were swiftly resolved, especially as the group was still too new and too fragile to tolerate serious dissent yet even so Lesh couldn't help the unease he felt, something in the air had him on edge coupled with the lack of marauders bothering them. In that time with the city builder's guidance and Elena's actions in helping to use her roots to hollow out the underground along with using those same roots to help keep it from caving in a small, bustling underground village had taken root, it's entrance next to her once more sprawling greenhouse and now spanning across a large area under what had slowly been claimed as their territory. The small dwellings, crafted from soil compressed with resilient roots presented a rather unique, earthy aesthetic and showed their resourcefulness and adaptability. Makeshift tables and beds were scavenged from the desolate landscape or meticulously crafted from salvaged materials by their resident crafter who was overjoyed to do so, ensuring everyone had a place to rest and call their own. However, a significant number of woman chose to remain together, their shared trauma no doubt forging an unbreakable bond where they felt more protected when together, finding solace and safety in numbers.
The hunting parties had also yielded peculiar, yet promising results. A few Shelbies were successfully brought back, along with some truly bizarre wolf-dog creatures, each the size of a cow. Their feet were bird-like, ending in sharp talons and some possessed backsides like chickens, complete with a pair of what looked like udders hanging from their necks. Others lacked the avian rear and neck-udders, instead being far bulkier with thinner fur and triple-chinned necks. According to May, the females with udders were able to lay ostrich-sized eggs providing a valuable food source and their milk was similar to a cow's but didn't need to be processed. The bulkier males on the other hand, could offer a substantial source of meat though the group would need to keep at least one for breeding, as they were said to be able to both fertilize eggs and give live birth with really short growth time well having adapted to being able to eat anything and in small amounts but seemingly preferring water. Lesh, after hearing of their rapid growth rate and not being picky on what they ate meant they could keep rubbish low well using water to sustain them when needed, but even so he decided to suspend his desire to explore such an interesting creature for the time being, knowing the mysteries of such biological curiosities were perhaps best left unexplored for now the time being to avoid messing with the benefits they needed.
All things considered, everything was proceeding smoothly, but that only fed into his unease. This eerie lack of major upheaval only amplified the annoying unease that gnawed on his mind, it was something different from the constant, petty bickering and sarcastic potshots traded between Ash and Alice at every opportunity, seemingly trying to one up each other but thankfully having lost most of there earlier heat. Rather it was more of a premonition about something larger lurking just beyond their current perception waiting to strike, the other foot waiting to drop as it were.
Another significant development was the establishment of a small work area for John. Admittedly, it was far from anything fancy, consisting only of a rough-hewn table crafted from a tree trunk split in half, a smooth-topped stone that served as an anvil and a round, makeshift furnace constructed from packed earth and scavenged metal all kept next to a entrance into a carefully and secretly made office and store area that held there loot taken from the Jesters office and a range of potions they had taken along with the free captives. The work area was infinitely better than the nothing that had existed before no matter how rough it may have been, a tangible symbol of recovery and future productivity for his master. Speaking of John, Lesh could feel the subtle vibrations of his soul, the last of the damage he left for the others to deal with healing at an accelerated pace, far faster than he had initially anticipated much to his delight. This rapid recovery indicated that John would likely be returning to their group soon. Unfortunately, his left arm would probably remain unusable for the foreseeable future, a constant reminder of his ordeal and price he paid for winning against the Keeper. But John was nothing if not resourceful and unyielding; Lesh knew he would find a way around such a disability one way or another.