Chapter 63

“Sit down.” I pushed him gently into one of the guest chairs opposite my desk. “Are you well enough for this conversation just now?”

“Of course. Don’t try to change the subject. Drew, what happened? Arianne was going on about bad men and a yellow snake and—”

“We got to her before that particular bad man could hurt her, but between her and our guest, those bastards didn’t stand a chance. The one who grabbed her had his hand mangled pretty badly before the snake wrapped her coils around him. The other one…Pere, Da’ killed him. I don’t know how. I didn’t see any knives lying around, but then again, I wasn’t really looking for any.”

My grandfather looked concerned. “Who is this young man, Drew? What was he doing in such a place?”