Pitt worked his way through the local places until he found a familiar bootprint. He went inside and looked around until he found the owner of the boot rolling dice. He grabbed the back of the man's head and slammed his face into the table.

“This man and his friends robbed a rancher down the road from here,” said Pitt. “I'm taking him over to the Smith's to try to get the stolen property back. If his friends come by to look for him, tell them that William Pitt wants the money they stole.”

He scooped the man's chips into his pocket. He walked the man out of the casino with his hand around the man's neck. One squeeze and that would be one more visiting Pantalus and getting his eternal reward for deeds done in the living world.

“You can't just take someone out of here like that,” said one of the patrons as Pitt marched his captive down the front steps of the building and along the dirt road.

“If I don't get the rest of the money he stole back, marching him along to pay for the wagon and mules he stole will be the least of his problems,” said Pitt.

The demigod walked his captive down to the smithy. The Smith nodded when he saw the man. The scrap pile waited for the ball to come down to one side as he waited for the thief to be settled at his feet.

“It appears that you and your friends stole the wagon and mules you sold to me,” said the Smith. “Where are the rest?”

“I didn't do anything wrong,” said the thief. “I don't know what this man's saying, but it's a lie.”

“Word from the temple reached us while you were gone,” said the Smith. “The cleric took the wagon and mules back to the owner.”

“His friends split up and are all over town,” said Pitt. “I got lucky and found him gambling. Empty your pockets.”

“I don't have to do anything you say,” said the thief. He glared at Pitt.

Pitt grabbed the bandit and turned him upside down. He shook the man for a minute and watched coins and chips fall out of the man's pockets. He dropped the thief as soon as things stop falling from the man's clothes.

“I can turn the chips in for money,” said the Smith. “The rest of it can go back to you.”

“It's not enough to cover the cows, but it's a start,” said Pitt. “Where did your friends go?”

“I'm not telling you anything,” said the thief. “I can only be hanged once.”

“That's some loyalty,” said the Smith.

“I don't have time for this,” said Pitt. He punched the thief in the face and let the man fall into the dirt. “I guess I am going to have to keep looking for his friends.”

“Would they have separated in town?,” said the Smith. He hunkered down and picked up the different monies. He placed the chips from the casino in his bag, and handed over the real money to Pitt.

“Maybe you're right,” said Pitt. “They might be close to where I found this guy. They'll have seen me dragging him along. Will they rescue him, or leave him to fend for himself?”

“If they are as loyal as he has shown, they might come down to the smithy to try to free him, or watch for where you take him next and try to get him out of that,” said the Smith.

“I would love for either of those two things to happen,” said Pitt. “That would cut the job into something manageable instead of having me search the town for the others.”

“I don't think it would be good for him to stay here,” said the Smith. “His friends might think it's a trap.”

“I guess I'll have to take him up to the temple to be held until a knight can come through,” said Pitt. “That should give me something I can use.”

“I'll spread the word so everyone knows that's what you're doing,” said the Smith. “Not many will mess with the clerics.”

“And the clerics will go along with the scheme as long as no one is really hurt,” said Pitt.

“It's better to advertise and show that you're moving than letting them come at you when you have no defense,” said the Smith.

Pitt took a piece of metal from the scrap pile. He fashioned manacles around the wrists of his captive. He picked the bandit up by his neck and dragged him along. It would be a long walk back to the temple, but that was the least of his problems.

How did he find the rest? Once he had the whole group and the value of what they had stolen, the rest could be handed over to a proper authority to sort out. He wished he could dump the whole thing in Pantalus's lap, but the god had made it clear he shouldn't do that over common bandits.

And he admitted to himself that it was lazy to try to force someone else to do the work for him.

He knocked on the gate to the temple when he arrived. He waited patiently for someone to open up for him. Once he had put his prisoner in their care, he would have a try at finding the rest. He doubted they would stick around once they knew he was looking for them.

If they made a rush at him, he was fine with that. It would make his job easier.

His next destination would be his home. He was so close. Hopefully there would not be another emergency that needed him for a good while. He would be able to sit in front of his fireplace and enjoy sitting alone in the light.

“It's you,” said one of the clerics, cracking the gate. “What is this?”

Pitt pushed the door so he could enter. He dragged his prisoner behind him.

“This is one of the bandits that robbed the people I brought in earlier,” said Pitt. “I need some place to stow him while I track down the rest of the bunch.”

“We have a cell I suppose could be used,” said the cleric. “What happened to his face?”

“He lied about not having the money he stole,” said Pitt. “I got some of it back and refunded what they swindled out of the smithy where they sold the wagon.”

“Follow me,” said the cleric. “I'll show you where he can be held until someone from the Circle can pick him up.”

“Thank you,” said Pitt. “As soon as he's somewhere safe, I'll see about finding the rest. Maybe they will want to ask me where I put their friend. That will make the rest of this easier.”

“Are you sure you want to stay involved?,” asked the cleric. “You can move on and let the Circle handle things now that you have one.”

“I promised the little boy I will do what I can,” said Pitt. “Finding one out of five doesn't seem that much to me. If I can grab two more, that would be the most I can expect. Eventually word is going to get out I am looking for them and they will flee.”

“Are you sure of that?,” asked the cleric.

“Either they flee, or they try to free their caught friend,” said Pitt. “Snatching two out of that equation is the best I can do without a horse. Now if I had a better idea of whom I am looking for that would change the odds to three out of five. I just don't want to take the boy with me to look for the rest of the bandits.”

“That seems reasonable,” said the cleric.

Their conversation had taken them across the central square of the temple, to a side door in the barracks the clerics used, to a set of stairs leading down to a giant pantry. Rooms for food stores sat to the right of the main room. The cleric gestured and Pitt put his captive in one of the rooms. The cleric shut and locked the door.

“Keep an eye on him while I see if I can find the others,” said Pitt.

“I would like to come along if you don't mind,” said the cleric.

“I don't see why not,” said Pitt. He waited for the cleric to lead the way out of the makeshift prison.

“It's been a while since we have had a serious crime here,” said the cleric. “Drunken brawls are the norm.”

“So this is the first bandit problem?,” asked Pitt. They walked to the gate. The cleric waved to his juniors as he led the way. He pushed through the gate, waiting for the traveler before he closed it.

“It's the first in a long time,” said the cleric. “The last really bad problem was years ago when I first arrived to help at the temple. That led to Avrii Noll sending one of their clerics here to deal with it.”

Pitt nodded. One of the masked men/women showing up meant someone got fed to a butcher until the problem was gone. That probably only took a few hours for the cleric to find the culprits and dealing with them with the edge of a sword.

He doubted it took hours.

“The cattle came through here?,” said the cleric.

“They drove the cows up to the market,” said Pitt. He nodded in the direction of his original search. “Once they were done there, they took the wagon and draft animals to the smithy to sell off.”

“Then they split up to spend their gains,” said cleric. “So we would have to search every establishment in town to find them, but we wouldn't know what they looked like to arrest them.”

“We can talk to the cattle buyer,” said Pitt. “Maybe he can help us.”

“He can at least try to give us a good description of the men,” said the cleric. “That may lead to a resolution.”

“We still might have to search the entire town for the men,” said Pitt.

“That's a consideration for when we know for whom we are looking,” said the cleric. “My first concern is what will they do when they find out we have already taken one of them to be held for a court, and will they try to stop us before we can arrest the rest of them singly.”

“If we can find them, the rest will sort itself out,” said Pitt.

“Have you done this sort of thing before?,” asked the cleric.

“I have tracked people down,” said Pitt. “They tended to want to fight when they saw I was trailing them.”

“So they never ran,” said the cleric.

“A lot of them ran,” said Pitt. “Once they learned I was following them, eventually they would get tired of it and try to ambush me so I couldn't follow them any more.”

“I doubt that will be effective here, but maybe they will confront you if we get lucky,” said the cleric.

The pair found the cattle auctioneer after a few minutes of searching. Pitt let the cleric do all the talking. That netted them a good set of descriptions of the bandits. Now they just had to find men fitting the details.

Pitt pointed out the bootprint he had followed to the gambling den. He concentrated on the other tracks close by. He indicated three more sets of prints.

“Let's see which trail we can reach the end of first,” said the cleric. He knelt and waved his hand over the prints. He nodded as his grant took form for him. He started off after one of the trails.

“This should take us to the closest one,” said the cleric. “We can double back and grab the others you picked out when we catch this one.”

Pitt nodded. He wondered how long the grant would last. If they were lucky, it would carry them through the rest of this. He wasn't worried about a physical confrontation. He doubted a normal bandit could do anything to stop him if he didn't want it.

“I think we should try the saloon over there,” said the cleric. “I don't see any prints leaving.”

Pitt pushed into the place first. He looked the room over. Some of the people looked at him. Strangers were probably common in a cattle town. And he looked like a man who had been on the trail for a long time.

“Hello, Jerome,” said the cleric. “We're here to take in a bandit who robbed a rancher on the road into town.”

One of the men jumped to his feet. He reached for the sword at his hip. Pitt punched him in the face first. He fell to the floor.

“Looks like this is our man,” said the cleric.

“Robbing people, Stanley?,” asked the bartender. He looked over his polished counter at the sleeping man on the floor.

“You know how it is, Jerome,” said Cleric Stanley. “Do you mind if I have a sip? Then we have to track down the rest.”

Jerome poured him a small cup of beer.

“Thanks,” said Stanley.