Grimes raised his hands, and the commotion slowly quieted down. "Now, you all know how many good men we lost today because of Ms. Blanco and her friends. "
The crowd sobered at that, and angry, accusing gazes slammed into me from all sides.
"Rest assured that we will track down the other people responsible for the attack on our camp, and we will deal with them accordingly. But in the meantime, there is the question of what to do with Ms. Blanco. "
Grimes looked at each man in turn. "Well, boys? What should we do with her?"
A chorus of shouts erupted from the crowd.
"kill her!"
"Shoot the bitch where she stands!"
"Throw her in the pit!"
Naturally, that last screamed request came from Hazel.
Grimes grinned and cupped a hand to his ear, as though he were listening to each and every hoarse, murderous scream and was considering them all quite carefully. From Fletcher's file and what I'd seen, I'd thought that Grimes was just another bad guy, just another underworld thug, just another elemental who used his magic to keep his minions in line. But I had to admit that he had a certain charisma to him, a certain way of playing to a crowd, a certain cruel strength that others might admire and flock to. I had no doubt that his men feared him, but they respected him too.
After a few minutes, he raised his hands, and the men quieted down once more. "Well, those are all fine, fine ideas, but I have one that I think you'll like even better,"
Grimes said. "As some of you know, Ms. Blanco here claims to be the Spider, the most feared assassin in all of Ashland. "
This time, derisive laughs and snorts rippled among the men.
"Now, I doubt that she's telling the truth," Grimes continued. "But let's say that she is. I know how much you boys like to go hunting, and I'd say that this is a prime opportunity to go up against the best of the best. Wouldn't you?"
More hoots and hollers. More stomping feet and lascivious grins. More fingers rubbing over the triggers of guns and the hilts of knives, itching to use the weapons on me.
"Now, we've all suffered a terrible loss here today,"
Grimes said, when the men had fallen silent once more.
"This woman has taken our brothers in arms from us.
Fine men and fine soldiers. She came up here, snuck up here in the shadows, and killed them, like a hunter shooting deer from a stand. Hardly sporting at all. So I say that we give her a taste of her own medicine and show her what it feels like to be hunted for a change. "
Grimes fixed his gaze on mine. His eyes glowed a bright, almost golden brown, not from any Fire magic that he was embracing but from the strength and surety of his own crazy convictions.
"I like to think of myself as a sporting man, Ms. Blanco," Grimes said. "And the rules of this game are quite simple. You get a five-minute head start. After that, it's open season - on you. "
When I didn't respond to his taunts or show so much as a flicker of fear, Grimes turned to his men once again.
"Bring her back dead, and you'll be richly rewarded," Grimes said. "Or, if you prefer, bring her back alive, and, well, the man who bags her can have her for an hour before we throw her in the pit and finish her off. "
This time, the hoots and hollers were so loud that you could probably hear them on the next mountain over.
Apparently, Grimes's boys were all about the thrill of the chase. Fools.
"Now, being the sporting man that I am, I will warn you that I'm not going to handicap Ms. Blanco in any way," Grimes said. "Some of you saw her fight up on the ridge, so you know exactly how dangerous she is already. "
No weapons, no supplies, and a body full of aches and pains. Nah. I wasn't handicapped at all.
"Oh, yeah, she might have been tough up on the ridge," Hazel chimed in, cocking her hip to the side and striking a pose. "But that was when she had a couple of
knives on her. I think the boys won't have nearly as much trouble with her this time around. Don't y'all agree?"
The men roared with laughter. They didn't notice Grimes arching a black eyebrow at Hazel and her cringing and quickly bowing her head in apology. Apparently, the big man didn't like anyone ad-libbing on his time.