"Gideon!"
Gideon stared past the clustered colonists on the main pathway, searching for the source of the shout. Beside him, Wyatt tensed as he reached for his knife. All around them, men and women filled the streets and the areas around the mud brick houses. A few mothers hurried their children along as they saw two of the leaders coming, trying to keep occupied.
"Gideon!" the cry came again.
More commotion rose above the noise.
Seeing something, mothers pulled their children from harm's way.
Gideon tensed as more people recognized something was happening and scattered. A hundred feet away, Thorne and two of his Watchers pulled a gaunt, flailing man up the path. Relaxing slightly, Gideon waited for the men to get close, appraising a man he didn't recognize.
Spotting Gideon and Wyatt, Thorne gave the man a tug.
"Let's go."
More people emerged from their homes, stopping to gawk, or waiting for whatever came next. The air was silent, save the man's desperate cries. Sensing the riveted eyes of a growing crowd, Gideon arched his back.
Projecting his voice so that everyone in the crowd swiveled to listen, he asked, "What's going on?"
The man in the Watcher's grasp stopped yelling. He opened his mouth to answer, but fear caught his tongue.
Cutting in, Thorne held up a bulging sack. "We caught him stealing from one of the pushcarts in the storehouses. He waited for a moment we weren't looking, and made off with some vegetables before we could distribute them."
"Is that true?" Gideon demanded, meeting the man's fearful eyes.
No answer.
"Open the bag," Gideon said.
Thorne undid the bag and opened it, revealing a sack full of vegetables and roots. Some were green, while others were wilted, their stems snapped.
Damaged crops.
The man opened and closed his mouth, reaching for an argument, too late.
There was no disputing the damning evidence.
"What should we do with him?" Thorne asked, snapping the bag shut with triumphant finality.
Gideon looked at the man, noticing a few long, bloody scrapes on his cheeks. The Watchers had undoubtedly tackled him. He looked sideways, as if he might find more conspirators in the crowd, but the rest were silent. "Take him to the annex. Throw him in a cell. Keep him there as long as I see fit."