Chapter 15 Hanne #2
I was still in the haze of sleep and hope, but my mind sharpened when I heard the voice that didn’t belong to Morco. When I heard the nickname, knowing Morco didn’t have a nickname for me.
He started to move over me, folding and forcing me into position, not gentle the way Morco had been. He slid his hand into my hair, not in a tender embrace, but in a tight hold so I couldn’t move.
My mind finally broke through the ceiling of fog, and I knew I was in danger. “Help—” My words barely made it out of my mouth before a hand covered my lips and sealed the words behind its palm.
He dropped the front of his pants so he could enter me.
I didn’t look and tried to scream again.
He gripped me harder, and he moved his other hand to my nose and cut off my air altogether. “Would you rather I kill you?”
My heartbeat was hard and pounding on the inside of my chest. My body was in the same survival mode as when Vulgaris had pushed me into the chasm. The last time I had been close to this scared was when I’d snuck up on that Knife, but this was worse.
He let me breathe through my nose again.
I tried to fight him off me, but he was heavy like a horse. All muscle and bone, a hundred pounds heavier than I was.
But I fought anyway. Tried to scream and buck him off.
He slapped me then cupped my mouth again. “Don’t make me hurt you.” He rolled me onto my stomach and put his entire weight on me, his length right against my ass, his hand still over my mouth.
I tried to throw my elbow back, but he gathered my hands behind my back. His strength was far superior to mine, and I didn’t have a weapon or a single resource.
But I couldn’t let this happen.
I pushed my tongue against his hand and licked it, giving him all of my spit as I continued to wiggle and writhe under him, trying to buck him off.
His palm eventually became so slick, it slipped from my mouth.
“Help!”
He slammed my head into the wall at the head of the bed and crushed his hand over my mouth again, but his finger slipped.
I bit it as hard as I could, digging deep into the bone.
“Fuck.” He yanked his hand away, and blood dripped into my hair and onto my bare ass.
My hands came free, and I got up in a panic, hitting him in the dark and knocking him over. I quickly crawled for the door, but he grabbed me by the ankle.
“Help! Help me!” The island was quiet and small, and there was no way no one would hear me. I turned over to force his grip to release my ankle, and I kicked him with my other foot, unsure what to aim for in the dark. But I hit something good because he grunted and released me.
I headed for where I assumed the door was, my hand slipping over the knob, but eventually, I pulled it open and ran so fast onto the path that I tripped and fell. Naked from the waist down but indifferent to my indecency, I continued to crawl away and call for help. “I need help!”
The doors to the cabins started to fly open, and people poured onto the path.
Allegra was the first one to see me. Her eyes snapped open in shock before she darted back inside. She returned with her blanket and threw it on top of me. “I’ve got you.”
Some of the guys must have gone after Krull because I heard a fight break out behind me. A body fell, and there was a grunt like someone had been punched in the face.
I turned around to see Krull swipe at one of the guys with his dagger, which was already stained from someone else’s blood.
One of the guys who tried to help me was on the ground, a nasty cut in his arm.
I wanted to help him, but he was too close to Krull—who looked like he was on a mission to kill everyone.
Then Morco appeared, running down the path, dressed for battle with his sword across his back, expecting an attack from an enemy—not an enemy from within his own people.
His eyes absorbed the situation and found me on the ground with Allegra, the blanket covering my naked bottom.
His eyes widened like he understood what had happened within a single glance.
“Krull!” His shout was so powerful, it echoed off every cabin.
It made the fire dim forty feet away. He unsheathed his blade and dropped it at my side before he rushed forward.
Krull gripped his knife and pointed it at Morco, shirtless in just his trousers, the same maniacal gleam in his eye that he’d shown me during our last encounter. He lunged forward and sliced the dagger across Morco’s throat.
But Morco was like the wind in a hurricane. He ducked then dodged, and then he slammed his fist so hard into Krull’s face there was a snap when his nose broke.
Krull gave a cry and came at Morco again, swiping his knife left and right, moving quickly and randomly, trying to land a hit.
But Morco was quicker, stepping back, ducking, blocking, avoiding the edge of the blade like he predicted exactly where it would be next. Then he got in another hit, striking Krull’s nose once more and making another crack ring out.
Krull screamed, his nose horribly crooked now, blood pouring down his face in waves.
It was almost too disgusting to watch.
“What did I tell you?” Morco dodged another attack, sidestepping the blade before he redirected it with his hand then punched him hard in the stomach, making Krull kneel over. “What did I say?”
Krull quickly recovered then lunged forward on his knees, trying to stab Morco in the calf.
“Morco!” I screamed.
He already knew it was coming and avoided it—then kicked Krull right in the face.
Krull flew back, and the knife left his hand.
One of the guys grabbed it and got out of the way of the fight.
Morco grabbed Krull by the ankle and started to drag him to the fire.
Krull was momentarily unconscious, but after a few seconds of being dragged over the dirt, he became aware again. He started to fight Morco’s hold and tried to squirm away.
Morco yanked him every time he tried to escape, forcing him to turn onto his stomach and then onto his back again. Flopping back and forth like a fish out of water.
We all stayed back, horrified by the scene.
When Krull realized he was headed to the fire, he fought like his life depended on it. He yanked himself up, grabbed on to Morco’s arm, and tried to tug him down.
But Morco twisted out of his grasp, dropped to his knees on Krull’s chest, and then bashed his face with both fists, slammed them down at the same time, making blood burst into the sky like a geyser. “I fucking warned you.”
Krull heaved then cried out.
Morco stood and grabbed him again, lifting his limp body and carrying it toward the fire.
Allegra covered her mouth and gasped.
Morco lifted a grown man his size entirely on his own—and threw him into the fire. “And now you burn.”
When Krull felt the heat, he screamed then rolled his body out of the flames.
But he was already on fire, set ablaze like a bonfire himself.
He sprinted in a random direction then tripped to the ground, screaming in agony.
He rolled over quickly several times, putting out the flames with the earth.
He finally snuffed them out and went still—but his body was red and charred like meat on a skewer, and smoke rose from his flesh and clothes.
Morco slowly walked over, his eyes more maniacal than Krull’s had been a moment before. He looked down at him and stared for a long time, watching the other man struggle to breathe because every breath was raw pain. “I’m not done with you.”
He turned away from Krull and headed back to me, his eyes a storm of rage that burned even when the logs had already turned to ash.
Allegra left my side when she saw Morco approach.
My bare ass was in the dirt because I couldn’t get up. I was still in shock, my mind struggling to accept what had happened in the last ten minutes. It was a rush, a dream, a nightmare.
He took a knee then cupped both of my cheeks in his hands. “Tell me you’re alright.”
I nodded, both of my hands gripping one of his forearms.
“Tell me,” he said gently.
It was the first time I’d spoken without having to scream. My voice felt hoarse. “I’m okay.”
After a long hold, he released my cheeks and scooped me into his arms, the blanket dangling down on either side of me to protect my bare body underneath.
He took a few steps toward his cabin before he turned back to the crowd that was gathered.
“Restrain him.” Then he turned back up the path and carried me to his cabin, a place I’d been only once, when he’d been on death’s doorstep.
He carried me inside and set me on his bed, a bed that was double the size of mine.
He sat beside me, his eyes still angry but not as intensely.
He looked at the fireplace then the floor, at anywhere but me.
“Before he’s sentenced, I need to know what happened.
” Cast in the shadow of shame, he continued to avoid my stare.
“He snuck into my cabin while I slept. At first, I thought he was you, but I quickly realized that was the wrong assumption. He took off my bottoms then pinned me down.” I relayed the events like they were elements of a story, not details of my life.
“I bit his hand and made him bleed and was able to get away before anything happened.” I was lucky that was the worst that had transpired.
If he’d been smart, he would have tied a rag over my mouth to muffle my screams and stop the bites.
Perhaps I was fortunate that the Obsidians had so few resources.
Morco had no visible reaction, just focused on a spot on the wall. He didn’t seem relieved that the harm done was minor, far more minor than it could have been. “I knew he was vile, but I didn’t think he was capable of such depravity. The tribe has never experienced a crime such as this.”
My hand moved to his, and I gripped it.
But his touch was lifeless, his fingers open like he didn’t want to touch me. “I’m sorry this happened.”
“It’s not your fault, Morco.”
His hard stare remained locked in place. “I’m the chief—everything is my fault.”