IX - The Charcoal Maker

Minos and Rei found themselves back on the road, still tugging on their horses instead of riding them. Though they were walking the other direction, facing away from the village, with the sun halfway through the sky behind them.

     After getting no result from the girl from the inn, Minos came up with another plan to get what he wanted. He met with Duke Owen's son, confident to get more information about Cassana and her family. The inn, and in fact the whole village, sat on land owned by the duke, and he seemed to know her very well. If earlier, he was on the fence whether the red-head was lying or not, he was then close to certain that she indeed was. I'll squeeze the truth out of her, he swore to himself, by any means necessary.

     "It's the perfect plan!" he kept saying to Rei, which the hoo