“You did what?!” Andyr asked incredulously.

“Wait, so… we’re here to look for them. That’s fine, we can do that.” Renae stammered.

“Yeah, but one of the pigs ate them,” Sera explained, “and I don’t know which one it was.”

Andyr pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a heavy sigh, “Unbelievable.”

“I say we kill them,” Renae announced casually.

Andyr shrugged with pursed lips.  

“Are you serious?!” Sera asked with her eyes widened, “But, can’t we wait—”

“No buts, Sera,” Andyr interjected, “Renae’s right. We need to gut them.”

“We can’t wait for them to shit them out,” Renae reminded her.

“We need to get the jewels and get out,” Andyr rubbed over his stubble, “This place will be on high alert for a while. We can’t afford to make more trips.”

“You’re right,” Sera sighed, “Okay, let’s do it.”

Renae smiled as she put an arm around Sera, “That’s our girl!”

“But, let me put them to sleep first. I should have enough thornapple extract to knock them out.”

“Sounds like a good idea. Their squealing would probably wake up the entirety of Melchior,” Renae added.

“Hurry up and drug the pigs, I’ll gut them. Renae, you’ll be our lookout and take care of passersby,” Andyr pulled his sword out of its scabbard, “Let’s hurry before the commotion dies down.”

Renae and Sera nodded.

“Just whistle if you need me,” Renae said before she left.

The pigpen was quiet, filled with sounds of soft snoring. Andyr and Sera entered the pigpen, carefully making sure not to wake the four large pigs.

“Alright, you little bastards,” he whispered to the pigs, “Which one of you ate my beer money?”

Sera doused her handkerchief in thornapple extract. One of the hogs stirred and approached her curiously. She let the creature sniff the tissue and gently pressed it towards its snout. Within moments, it fell over, sleeping soundly. As Sera moved towards the next animal, Andyr approached the sleeping hog. He deftly pushed the animal to its side before angling his sword horizontally, gutting it, and scooping out its entrails. He swallowed hard as he searched, digging into the creature until his elbows were covered in blood.

“Do it for a better life,” he reminded himself repeatedly, “and the beer.”

Moments later, he let out a dejected sigh as he withdrew from the creature. He glanced around, noticing Sera drugging her third pig, and Renae in the distance, dragging a lifeless body into the shrubbery. Hearing his sigh, Sera perked up expectantly. He shook his head and moved to the next pig to repeat the gruesome process. He was gutting his second pig when he spotted Sera rushing towards him. He withdrew his bloodied arms from the dead pig as he looked up at her.

“Andyr!” Sera said as she caught her breath. Despite the darkness, he could see that there was an oddly colored wetness on her dress.

“What is it now?” he inquired, wiping blood off his arms, “What’d you do?”