by Ben Wolf
The pouch zipped out of his grasp and into the darkness.
“Now!” Calum yelled.
Magnus jumped to his feet and yanked a cord he held in his hands. Axel had attached it to the string that tied the bag shut through a small hole he’d cut into the bottom of the pouch. It functioned like a fishing line without a proper hook—they were counting on the Wolf refusing to let go of the bag once he got his jaws on it.
It worked.
The cord tightened, and a mass of brown-gray fur soared toward them from the darkness. It landed hard and skidded along the grass until it stopped about three feet away from Magnus. Gold coins flickered in the night sky and pinged along on the rocky ground, but they were of secondary concern compared to the thief now among them.
The Wolf released the bag, hopped up to its feet, and tried to dart away, but Magnus already had it by its tail. It pulled against his grip at first, then whipped its head around and chomped on Magnus’s fingers.
Magnus hissed and winced, but he didn’t let go. He pulled the Wolf closer and drew his sword. As Magnus raised the blade, fright flickered in the Wolf’s eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“No!” Calum stepped between Magnus and the Wolf, and Magnus stayed his hand.
The Wolf twisted free and darted into the woods.
“What are you doing?” Axel yelled. “We had him!”
“I—I don’t know. I just couldn’t let Magnus do it. He’s a thief. He didn’t try to kill us. It just didn’t seem right to kill him for it.” Calum shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Well, now he’s gonna come back, and he’s gonna find a way to steal from us again.” Axel glared at him. “Sometimes I just want to punch you, Calum. Hard.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” He glanced at Magnus. “Maybe I should’ve let you do it. I’m sorry.”
“You should be.” Axel threw his sword on the ground and dropped back into his spot. “I’m going back to sleep. You can pick up the coins without me.”
Calum sighed. He deserved that. He’d botched the whole plan, and it had been working. He looked at Magnus again. “I’m sorry.”
Magnus nodded. “Everything happens for a reason, Calum. Your compassion is something you should not lose if you can help it. It is the reason we are friends.”
“If you say so.”
“Indeed I do.” Magnus patted him on his shoulder. “Come. Grab a stick from the fire. I will help you gather the coins.”
A few more hours passed. Lilly assumed that night had fallen, but she didn’t know for sure because the cellblock had no windows.
The new guy stepped into the cellblock and unlocked Lilly’s cell. “It’s time.”
Lilly sat on the floor, wearing the burgundy dress. She stared at the patch of Colm’s dried blood on the stone in front of her and shifted her foot in her boot. The knife blade pressed against her ankle as it had the last dozen times she’d checked for it. Good.
“Well, come here.” The new guy extended his hand.
She could shift her leg under the hem of the dress and remove the knife, conceal it along the back of her wrist, and then jam it into his throat when he didn’t expect it. From there, she could unlock the other cells and free the other slaves, and together maybe they could find a way to escape.
“Come here.” The new guy’s dark eyebrows arched down. It was the first time he’d been stern with her so far.
Lilly lingered on the floor and moved her hand closer to her boot.
“What’s the holdup?” Roderick’s voice sent tremors into Lilly’s stomach. He stepped into view behind the new guy and grinned at Lilly. “The show’s about to begin.”
Lilly froze, but she managed to scowl at him. The meager dinner of soup and stale bread they’d given her churned in her stomach at the sound of Roderick’s voice.
She ignored the knife and instead pushed up to her feet. No chance of escaping now, not with Roderick around. She’d have to find another moment.
“Come on.” Roderick motioned with his head. “We don’t want to keep your buyer waiting.”
Roderick shackled her wrists—but not her ankles this time. Then he shut the cell door behind her, and escorted her and the new guy to the auction house.
A row of thick black curtains prevented her from seeing the bustle on the other side. Through the occasional crack in the curtains she caught glimpses of a smattering of people in fine clothes. They held drinks and mingled like old friends at a wedding.
Didn’t they realize what was about to happen? That people’s lives were about to be changed forever? They had made the slaves’ suffering into a social event, something to be celebrated. It sickened her.
Through the next opening in the curtains, she saw a fat, bearded man pat a thick pouch that hung from his belt, and the ugly woman talking with him laughed so hard that she almost spilled her drink.
Pigs. No—worse than that. Vermin. No better than the rats that had nipped at her ankles and squeaked around her as she traversed the city’s sewers.
“That’s not for you, Angel. Your buyer’s better than any of them.” Roderick stepped between her and the curtains. “At least he will be, until he resells you after tonight. If I were you, I’d try to make him really happy. Then he might just keep you around instead of tossing you to someone else when he’s done with you.”
Lilly’s stomach lurched, and she vomited bile on Roderick’s hip and down the side of his right leg. She hated the feeling, but at least she’d doused him in the process.
Roderick hopped back at first, then grabbed her by the back of her neck. His gray eyes burned and he raised his hand to strike her.
“Careful, Roderick.” She glowered at him, then smirked. “You wouldn’t want to forgo a higher price over a little vomit on your armor, would you?”
His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed, but he let her go. He eyed the new guy. “You two keep going. He’s waiting outside in a wagon. You’ll know it when you see it. I have to get cleaned up before the auction.”
The new guy nodded and yanked Lilly forward. “Come on.”
“And wash her mouth out before you get to him. Can’t have her smelling like—whatever it is she ate tonight.”
“What do I do about the coin?”
“Don’t worry about that. We already agreed on a price. He’ll hand you a sack of gold once he sees her. Bring it straight to me once you get it.” Roderick started toward them again and pointed his finger at the new guy. “And it’s a lot of money. If you run off with it, I’ll make you sorry you were ever born. And you know I can find you, too.”
“Got it.” The new guy nodded. He tugged on Lilly’s arm. “Let’s go.”
They rounded a corner and stopped at a table behind the curtains. The new guy poured her a goblet full of cool water from a bronze pitcher. Lilly swished it around her mouth then spat it all back into the pitcher instead of on the floor.
The new guy pulled her away from it. “You wench! Don’t you know there are people out there who were going to drink that?”
Lilly stared into his dark eyes and grinned. “Yes.”
The new guy glared at her and shook his head. “Enough. We’re going.”
He led her back the way they had come and then out of the building. Sure enough, a large wagon adorned with purple awnings and gold trim awaited them under the moonlight.
Lilly’s heart hammered in her chest. When do I go for my knife? Do I feign being sick again and hunch over for it? What do I do?
A thin man dismounted from the front of the carriage and started toward them. He wore black armor—the same armor the King’s men wore—but no helmet, and he held a bulging leather pouch in his hands. A sword, sheathed, hung from his belt. He stared at her with vacant brown eyes, as if he was more dead than alive.
“This is her?” he asked, his voice monotone.
“Yep.” The new guy urged Lilly forward.
She couldn’t reach for her knife now. Not while th
ere were two of them.
The soldier tossed the new guy the pouch. “That’s all of it. The captain will be pleased. Very pleased.”
“Oh,” the new guy said. “So you’re not—”
“Run along, boy.” The soldier grabbed the chain between Lilly’s shackles and pulled her away from the new guy. “The transaction’s done.”
The new guy eyed them both, nodded, then turned back toward the auction house.
The urge to call him back swelled in Lilly’s stomach, but he couldn’t help her now even if he wanted to. And he wouldn’t help her anyway.
What was she about to get herself into?
“Come on, wench.” The soldier shoved her toward the back of the wagon, pulled back a fold of purple fabric, and opened the wooden door. He ushered her inside.
The wagon compared in size to one of Roderick’s caged wagons, but the similarities ended there. Soft light glowed from the candelabras mounted on the interior walls of the carriage, illuminating the space. Plush purple fabric lined the walls and ceiling, and a layer of blankets and furs covered the floor.
In the center reclined a rotund, balding man clad in a fine white robe. What little hair adorned his head took on a reddish hue in the candlelight, but Lilly noted several gray hairs mixed in as well. A small gray mustache hung under his arched nose, and he clutched a golden goblet in his left hand.
He grinned at her with lust in his dark eyes.
She’d decided the people attending the auction were rats instead of pigs, but this man was truly the latter. Even the sight of him churned her stomach.
The soldier removed Lilly’s shackles and shoved her toward the hairless ogre lying on the furs.
“That will be all, Montrose. You know the routine. Take a walk. Be back in an hour.” The captain took a gulp of wine from the goblet, then licked his plump lips. “On second thought, make it a half-hour.”
“Yes, Captain Fulton.”
Fulton? Lilly remembered that name. The officer who betrayed Colm to Roderick?
Montrose shut and latched the carriage door, and his footsteps faded into the distance.
Captain Fulton pushed himself up to his feet and started toward Lilly. She tried to retreat, but the back of the carriage stopped her. There was no escape.
“My, my.” Captain Fulton reached for her. Lilly recoiled, her eyes shut, but she still felt his thick fingers stroking her cheek. “Roderick wasn’t lying. You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.”
Lilly almost reached for the knife then, but she stopped herself. Not yet.
Then again, she didn’t know how much time she had left.
“Did Roderick tell you about me?” He took another greedy slurp from his goblet, and Lilly noticed two thick golden rings, one on his little finger and one on his ring finger of that hand. “Hm? He must’ve said something. Roderick is a loquacious sort if I ever met one.”
Lilly had no desire to respond to anything he said. He reeked of wine and a pungent floral fragrance that overwhelmed Lilly’s nostrils.
“I’m sure you’re frightened, child, but I mean you no harm.” He tangled his fingers in her blonde hair. “By the moon, you are radiant.”
Disgust swirled in Lilly’s stomach. She thought she might vomit again, but she managed to hold her composure.
“I can assure you, I’m very experienced. You could enjoy this if you wanted to.” He tossed his empty wine goblet behind him and it clunked against the wall, empty, then cupped her shoulders in his hands. “I know I will.”
That’s it. Enough. Lilly drove her knee into Captain Fulton’s groin and shoved him back.
Red-faced, he dropped onto his hands and knees on the blankets with his teeth bared.
Lilly spun around and grabbed for the carriage door, but it didn’t have a handle, only a keyhole. How would she—
Something jerked her head back. Captain Fulton had her hair.
He yanked her away from the door and thrust her onto the carriage floor. The lust in his eyes had given way to rage.
“You had your chance, pretty one.” He towered over her, his fists clenched. Perspiration dotted his forehead and rolled down his cheeks. “I don’t mind a little fight in my girls, but that was too far.”
Captain Fulton untied the front of his white robe and exposed his hairless chest—and a silver skeleton key that hung from a thin chain around his neck. The carriage door key?
Now or never. Lilly skinned the knife from her boot and scooted away from him until her back rested against the carriage wall opposite of the door.
“My, what a twist. You think one small knife will keep you safe from me?” Captain Fulton scoffed. “You obviously don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Stay away.” Lilly held up the knife, which kept Captain Fulton well beyond arm’s length away.
“Ah, so she does speak.” Captain Fulton stalked closer, one cautious step at a time. “A lovely voice to match her lovely exterior. I wonder how she’ll sound when she screams?”
“I said to stay back!” Lilly drew the knife back slightly, but her elbow hit the wall. She turned her head—a mistake. General Balena would have chastised her for it.
Captain Fulton sprang forward faster than she expected, given his girth, and clamped his hand around her wrist. She couldn’t move her hand with the knife because of his grip, so she drove her fist into his round belly. It rippled, and he grunted, but he didn’t stop his advance.
He grabbed her other wrist, wrenched her around, and pulled her close to him.
The stench of sweaty flowers almost suffocated her, and he squeezed her tight. She screamed, but he didn’t release his grip.
“Roderick was right about you being wily, too.” He chuckled. “I may have gained a few pounds since my prime, but I’m still a trained soldier. I know how to disarm a child with a knife.”
He jerked her right hand downward at an awkward angle, and she dropped the knife with a yelp. He kicked it away and it plunked against the carriage wall, well out of reach.
A snort sounded over her shoulder, then another behind her neck. Was he—smelling her?
Lilly cringed and twisted in his grasp, but she stood no hope of breaking free. She shrieked.
“The less you fight, the easier this will be for both of us.” He spun her around and pushed her down onto her back.
Every curse and insult she’d ever learned teased her tongue, but they all dissipated in dread when he crouched down over her. He clasped his thick hand around her throat and leaned in so close that his gut pressed against her abdomen, pinning her down.
His dark eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “I could just snap your neck, you know.”
Lilly craned her neck in spite of his grasp until she got a view of the knife, and she stretched her arm toward it, but it lay a solid foot out of her reach.
“Still resisting? Very well. I don’t like to do this, but I suppose I’ll have to this time.” Captain Fulton pinned her under his full weight and pulled a small vial of violet liquid from his waistband. “Aliophos Nectar won’t kill you. It won’t put you to sleep either, unless I give you half the vial, but a drop should make you more cooperative.”
Aliophos Nectar—the same stuff Roderick had used to knock her out when he’d first caught her. Not again. Lilly strained for the knife, but no matter how she writhed against him, she couldn’t reach. “I don’t care what you do. I won’t cooperate with this.”
Captain Fulton grinned. “We’ll see about that.”
He released his grip on her throat to uncork the vial and she lashed her arm toward the knife, but his gut kept her pinned in place. She screamed and clawed at the floor for it, all to no avail. She couldn’t reach the knife.
“Easy, little one. Soon you’ll see things my way.” Captain Fulton grinned.
Lilly summoned all the rage in her body into her mouth, and she spat in Captain Fulton’s left eye. He recoiled with a snarl, and it freed Lilly to move.
She snatched the
knife handle with her right hand.
Captain Fulton wiped the saliva from his face and groped for her throat. As he leaned down, Lilly plunged the knife into the left side of his thick neck.
He screamed, and as he clutched at the wound, blood oozed from between his fingers.
Lilly shoved against his chest with all her might and he rolled off of her onto his back. She jumped to her feet, yanked the key from the chain around his neck, and dashed to the carriage door. She jammed the key into the lock and began to—
Captain Fulton’s hand clamped around her ankle, and he jerked her back. Her footing dropped out from under her, and she hit the floor chest-first. Lilly’s breath pushed out of her lungs, and she gasped as Captain Fulton reeled her back toward him.
She twisted so she lay on her back. Even though the knife was still lodged in his neck, he still tried to press the fingers of his other hand against his wound. With her free leg Lilly kicked at his arm and his stomach and his chest, but he didn’t relent. He kept pulling her, his wide eyes rabid with rage as red gurgles sputtered through his clenched teeth.
The sight gave Lilly a new target: his teeth.
She adjusted her footing and slammed the heel of her boot into Captain Fulton’s mouth, then again into his nose. He lost his grip for a moment, and she recoiled, but he lunged forward and grabbed her other ankle instead.
Would he never give up? Why wouldn’t he just die already?
Now that he had her other ankle, it meant her right leg was free. The knife still protruded from his neck, just where she’d left it.
It was her way out of this horror.
In one savage motion, Lilly shifted her body hard to the right and drove the heel of her boot into the end of the knife handle. Captain Fulton gasped, released her, and clutched his throat with both hands, his bloody mouth wide open.
Lilly drew her leg back again for another kick and let it fly, but Captain Fulton blocked her leg with his forearm and latched onto it. She wrenched her body to the side and hurled another kick with her left leg at his face, and it connected. He let her go again.