Chapter 9 #2
'But how?’ I ask, thinking of the small children I’ve tended to, the others who run around the village. Most of them are quite young, too young to be out here alone. ‘The wards are always up, aren’t they?’
The fae female I fought the first day snorts. ‘But they’re always down for a few moments for a certain slave who doesn’t understand her place. A child could easily slip through.’
Gods, this could be because of me?
‘Where?’ I ask, worriedly.
'Out in the trees,’ the fae male says, pointing.
‘We can’t leave him out there,’ I say. ‘Where exactly?’
‘He was close to the ridge.'
I start off toward the forest’s edge, not willing to leave a child where there could be danger. After all, protection exists around Halsford for a reason.
As I walk into the tree line and begin making my way through the underbrush, I realize that two of the fae have followed me.
'Which way?' I ask, trying to stay calm.
But I can hear rushing water.
'Down there. Toward the river.'
I pick up my pace, my mind awash with visions of the boy falling into churning waters with no one there to help, fear gripping me.
I tear through the bushes, brambles scratching at me and vaguely aware that I’m going much further than I’ve ever been before. But I keep going because only the Gods know what dangers may lurk. If a child died because of me...
The fae are at my heels.
I see the bluff in front of me too late and, as I skid to a stop just at the edge, one of the fae behind me plows into me. I yelp as I’m thrown forward, off the top of the steep hill. My legs flail in the air and, just for a moment, I’m flying…
My feet hit the ground hard and I overturn, sliding down toward the riverbank, my body going over itself again and again until I stop just before the water’s edge.
I lay there in the gravel for a moment, stunned, while my mind catches up to what just happened.
I groan as I turn onto my back and gasp for breath.
My body hurts everywhere. It takes me a minute to take stock of myself, but I don’t think anything’s broken.
I try to get up, but fall back. I can’t see the child anywhere.
‘Help,’ I call weakly up toward the top of the hill.
That’s when I hear it. Laughter from above me, sickeningly callous, and I realize with a certainty that makes my already pounding heart lurch and my blood boil, that there never was a boy outside the wards. They tricked me to get me out here.
A prank, perhaps?
Something worse?
I manage to dig the knife out of its sheath and I hold it under my hand and along my arm so that it can’t be seen just in case.
My head feels light and fuzzy, and I wonder if I hit it on the way down.
I'm not sure how much time passes in my haze, but there’s a noise and I’m suddenly alert. I can feel trembles in the earth where someone or something is pounding toward me.
Has some creature come to make me it’s dinner? Are the fae here to finish me?
I ready the knife that’s in my hand, though I can’t recall getting it out, and I steel myself to the pain as I jump to my feet.
My body revolts at the movement, and I fear I’ll faint. But then I see them coming and I know that fainting isn’t an option.
They’re not fae after all. These are men. Human, I think from their builds. There are four of them, but I can’t tell who they are. Their faces are covered with cloths, slits cut out for the eyes.
They walk closer, almost ambling, seemingly not in a hurry. I keep the knife hidden.
They line up in front of me, the river at my back, hemming me in.
'Do you have them?' one of them asks the one next to him, in a gruff voice that isn’t his own.
One of the others lines up vials of potion on a nearby rock.
They know what I am.
My stomach twists.
Yes. They know. These men didn’t just happen upon me. They planned this. None seem to have any weapons, but I hear one crack his knuckles and I fight to show no fear.
They want my terror.
They approach, herding me against the river’s edge. I glance back as my foot slips on the wet stone. I can’t swim. I likely can’t run either, even if I did make it past them.
I widen my stance, adopting one that Locke has taught me, bending my knees a little so that they can’t easy unbalance me.
They’re watching me in silence.
‘Come on!’ I snarl. ‘Get on with it, you cowardly fucks!'
One of them laughs and lunges, fists ready, but I feign to the right and strike up in a diagonal arc toward him, the blade of the knife along my forearm. It slices his hand, and before he can do anything, I bring the dagger back down, cutting into his chest.
His expression is incredulous as he staggers back a couple of steps.
‘Fuck!’ he exclaims. ‘The Dark Realm bitch has a blade!’
He forgets to change his voice. I’ve heard it before in Halsford, I’m sure. But where?
I wield the wicked-looking dagger in front of me, grinning like I used to when I fought in the pits because I know how disconcerting it is.
Two of the men glance at each other. ‘She’s deranged. Fucking Dark Realmers.’
‘All the more reason to make sure she knows her place,’ another spits.
‘Aye!’ a third murmurs, showing me his meaty hands. ‘Dane, that fae cunt, won’t do anything. It’s up to us to ensure the safety of the village from her kind! She probably killed Mayson!’
Two of them come at me at once. The one on the left tries to push me into the river, but I slip around him so that I’m not so close to it anymore.
But as I move my foot slides and I almost fall.
By the time I right myself, it’s to see a fist flying toward my face.
I move just in time, but his knuckles still graze my cheek painfully.
A stone falls down the mountain and hits the man in the middle of his back. He yells, and the others guffaw.
'My turn,’ I hear another grind out.
I strike out with the knife as he gets closer, but my element of surprise is gone. He grabs it by the blade and rips it from my fingers without a flinch, his countenance as terrifying as any master in the Dark.
I’m ashamed that my eyes flick down for a moment in submission as, his eyes on me, he chucks the knife to the side.
He must see the deference in my face, because he laughs and my teeth clench.
I’m a free woman. They can’t do this!
I won’t let them do this!
He grabs for me, and I let him. He draws me close with a look of triumph, just before I pull my head back and butt him right in the face.
He lets out a yowl and pushes me hard. I slide in the dirt, losing my balance. Before I can get up, another one is there.
He pulls me up by my tunic and slams me back into the hard ground.
'Take that, you Dark Realmer bitch,' one of them snarls.
Two of them aren’t even pretending to change their voices now. I’ll know who they are if I ever hear them again, if I get out of this.
Tavish’s men. Maybe even Tavish himself.
My head lolls as I try to pry my attacker’s fingers from my clothes, and he lets go, but then takes me by the throat.
I gasp, clawing at him and he slaps me, making my eye feel as if it’s going to be struck from its socket.
I don't see what Fate does to him, but I hear him utter a grunt of pain.
My mind is sluggish. I must have hit my head again.
The one who’s holding me laughs and leaves me on the ground. ‘You see? These Dark Realmers aren’t so tough once you put them in their place, not even the powerful ones. Who’s next?’
I try to summon something to help me, but nothing happens at all. Surely, if it was really something that I could do, now would be the time.
The next one stamps on my hand, breaking some of my fingers. I grit my teeth, but a small groan still makes its way through my lips. I open my eyes and stare at him, committing his eyes to memory.
I will get revenge for what they're doing.
'Come on. You next. See if you can crack her jaw! I want a Dark Realmer tooth!'
One of them leans over me, smiling. 'I have a better idea.'
He drags me toward the river. I claw at him, but I can do little as he dunks my head beneath the water. He leaves me under the surface for so long that I know I'm going to die here.
But, just as I’m fading, I'm fished out. They're all laughing as I cough up water while the one who’s holding me swears as Fate retaliates somehow. They spend the next few minutes, I think, hitting me, and kicking me. I’m in and out of consciousness. I can’t move anymore.
‘Fuck,’ one of them groans after a while, letting my limp body fall back to the ground. ‘These potions work too fucking slowly. I’m not healing quick enough to do much more.’
'I have an idea,' one of them laughs, and a new wave of dread fills me as my tunic is undone and pulled from my body. I groan weakly as they jostle and yank my injured limbs carelessly.
My undershirt comes next, and then my breeches and my boots. I hear a splash as everything is thrown into the river.
They’re staring. I know they are.
'Gods, look at her flesh. So marred. Disgusting.'
One of them touches me and I flinch away.
‘Don’t,’ one of them warns. ‘The Dark Realm women are riddled.’
‘Mount Morgan and those two other fae pricks haven’t come down with anything from fucking her.’
‘Aye, but she’s theirs. It’s one thing to beat the bitch. It’s another to take what belongs to them.’
‘How the fuck will they know?’ He laughs. ‘She’ll be too ashamed to tell them.’
‘They’ll smell you on her. They’ll come for you. There won’t have been any point to these itchy fucking cloths over our faces if you have her stink all over your cock.’
He scoffs. ‘Let them come.’
He pokes at me, and I lash out weakly, but ultimately I collapse to the ground, closing my eyes and succumbing to the black.
I vaguely hear them leaving, and am grateful. They haven’t touched me again, thank the Gods.
The next thing I know, I hear a short laugh. I force one of my eyes open, just a crack.
It’s Voss.
He doesn’t speak, just looms over me. I don't understand. How can I do what the Underhill want if I'm dead?
I feel something, like a shroud of magick that covers me. I know the sensation. He’s hiding my injuries again.