The Weight of Suspicion (2)

The room was full of people looking suspiciously at each other. Erik could see out of the corner of his eye that some of the men's tense posture was beginning to relax slightly due to the young man's words.

Despite this, the spears did not lower their points; they continued to point in his direction menacingly.

"Why would they do that?" Amos inquired, his tone indicating nothing about what he was thinking in response to Erik's statement.

The awakener was the subject of the older man's gaze, which, while not entirely cruel, was nevertheless suspicious.

The manner in which he spoke to Erik exhibited some degree of deference, and it was clear that he recognized the power that the younger man possessed.

"For someone your age and coming from the city, you have an impressive amount of power. You would not have been able to make it here if it weren't for the fact that the thaids would have eaten you."