Beast (A Prydain novel Book 1)

by AJ Adams

  The breath was knocked out of me, and my tunic was ripping. There were hands all over me, grabbing and hurting. My skirt was being shredded, too. I knew this was it. They smelled of smoke and sweat. Their hard bodies were hot and their purpose obvious. I was beyond terror. I bit, snarled, spat, kicked, head-butted and punched.

  Rune had held me down. These four were getting in each other’s way, so I was able to punch one in the balls. Rolling out from underneath his moaning growls, and kicking at another, I thought I had a chance, but then one grabbed me. I had my teeth in his arm and was biting down to the bone when a hand settled in my hair.

  “Stop.” Rune, larger than life. “Stop now,” he said again. He had one hand on me, and one on the Beast’s wrist, pushing back a giant knife. The others had fallen back, growling furiously but obeying Rune.

  “Stop,” he said again calmly.

  I let go. I couldn’t win, not against five of them. Also, I was caught, but Rune didn’t look angry.

  “Beat the she-wolf,” snarled the Beast I’d bitten.

  “Pass over,” another said with an evil glare.

  “Don’t waste meat,” was Rune’s reply.

  I was frogmarched back, pushed down and shackled, hands behind my back. He removed the metal cuffs from my ankles and frowned. Then he looked at the river. I swear I saw him work out how I’d escaped. This was a clever Beast.

  Old fat-guts would’ve beaten me black and blue, but Rune produced a strip of leather, looped it around my ankles and paused.

  “Pass over?” Two Beasts were staring down at me.

  He was thinking about it, I could tell. “No!” I yelled. I was flipping on my side, trying to appeal to him. “No,” I said. “Don’t!”

  For the longest second he thought, and then turned to the others. “Not yet.”

  I didn’t care when he knotted the leather so my ankles were tied tight. Anything was better than being thrown to the wolves, and anyway, he wasn’t mean about it. He didn’t hogtie me, either, so I could wriggle around. He also put the blanket over me, and then he was off again.

  I saw him settle down with some other Beasts, talking quietly. He was still moving from group to group when I fell asleep.

  He was back at first light, without a word to show anything had happened. He untied my feet and let me pee, but he was making sure I couldn’t make another attempt to run. My hands stayed shackled behind my back, and the second I was done, he was marching me to the cart.

  As we walked through the camp, Mina looked up, spotted me and growled something at her friends. Then they all glared at me, like it was my fault we were here.

  “Good morning!” I get bolshie when I’m angry.

  “Whore,” Mina snapped.

  “Go lick Wotan’s hairy balls!” I ripped back.

  The Citizens screamed as one.

  “Wicked, wanton wretch!”

  “May Wotan hear and punish you!”

  “Ullr’s warty prick up your arse!” I yelled. Yup, the Caern tavern thrall was back.

  While the girls raged, the paw on my shoulder kept me moving, and Rune’s presence meant they didn’t dare do more than snarl. I thought there might be trouble when he was gone, but this time he put me in a cart filled only with cargo.

  I didn’t fight when he switched the shackles to my feet and used the leather strips to tie my wrists. There was no point. Rune wasn’t taking any chances with me. He didn’t hogtie me this time, either, but with my hands behind my back, I couldn’t keep my balance.

  Once again we set off with me banging uncomfortably over the floor and against the wooden crates when the road got rough. I didn’t have my skirt, either—it was lying in the field, in tatters. All I had to cover me was my ripped tunic, but frankly, it didn’t bother me. After the first hour, I was too numb and knackered to care.

  We moved all day long, at a fast walk, and by the time we stopped I was too bruised and sore to fight. I lay there, waiting for Rune to come and get me. I was in a daze when he fed me, rising to consciousness only briefly when he rolled me on my side and fucked me. It was weird, like a dream.

  I think I was in shock. The body shuts down when it’s pushed too far, the mind, too, and I think that’s what happened to me. It had been the same back in Caern, when fat-guts beat me for breaking his treasure, a Brighthelme wine glass. Or maybe I had a fever. Whatever it was, I slept, woke, slept again, and then I suddenly snapped back into the present.

  “We’ve got eight empty carts.” It sounded like Siv. “With those fully loaded, we can make it on one per every second day with reserves. Trade six of those filled with cargo and we’re good for one per.”

  “As long as they haven’t been pulled into a dispute, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Rune’s low rumble penetrated into the cart no problem.

  It didn’t make a lot of sense, but from the sound of it, they were talking about trading cargo for food, which argued we were nearing King’s Cross. That was good. Maybe I could get away.

  When we stopped at King’s Cross it was late in the afternoon. It’s famous for its market, and from the way the Beasts weren’t allowed to enter the town but were kept at the gates, they were known and welcomed at arm’s length.

  The Beasts opened the cart I was in and removed some crates. One was filled with dried tarragon, sharply delicious, and another with rose petal water. Neither will fill your belly, but oh, the scents!

  The Beasts were working hard, checking cases and sacks, stacking everything under Siv’s watchful eye. Despite his evil nature, he was a good quartermaster.

  “The negotiator is on his way,” a Beast announced.

  At first I thought they meant someone had come for us. Guild members have good horses, and for a moment I thought they’d come for us. Of course, that was crazy thinking, because we would’ve met on the road. They were probably still putting out the fires and getting funds together.

  The Beasts were talking, and from their chitchat I gathered they were optimistic.

  “There’s good land here.”

  “And plenty of smoked meat.”

  “We’ve got what they want. We should do well.”

  I finally got it together to struggle up. Leaning against the doors, I looked out between the gaps in the wood. Rune was right there and seemingly in charge, so I could see and hear the negotiations. At once, a lot of things became clear.

  They had opened a crate. It held six muskets, the pride of Brighthelme’s craftsmen. I was amazed to see that many in one place, because they’re bloody expensive. Exactly how they’re made is a secret, but everyone knows it takes a master smith a month to make one. Also, as this is the most powerful weapon ever made, the Guild limits how many they make and sell.

  The Beasts had never had muskets before, I was certain of it. It’s forbidden on pain of death to trade those without Guild permission, and there’s no way they’d sell to savages like the Beasts.

  I wondered if they knew how to use them and whether they had powder and shot. Maybe they took the weapons knowing their value but nothing else.

  “You’ve got muskets?” The negotiator, a fat little man with a red tunic and a gold chain, was popeyed with surprise. He certainly knew what he was looking at.

  “Yes.” Rune looked relaxed, offhand, actually. “This and another case. Want to trade?”

  Twelve muskets! Twelve! With that, King’s Cross could fight off a hundred mercenaries without leaving their walls. It was incredible, and the fat little man was gobsmacked.

  “These are from Brighthelme?”

  Rune shrugged. “Where else?”

  “There was a dispute?”

  So the news hadn’t travelled yet.

  The negotiator squared his shoulders. When he looked at the muskets, he was practically salivating. “We’ll trade all your muskets for our mutton, weight for weight.”

  A complete rip-off!

  “We trade only half the muskets, and for a hundred times the weight in mutton, our scales, plus a hundred sacks
of onions and a hundred more of vegetables,” Rune said.

  Also outrageous!

  The little man puffed up in fury. “No trade!”

  Rune shrugged. “Reload,” he said to the others.

  “You’ll be out of supplies in a day,” the negotiator cried. “You’ve got one meal per person for just one more day!”

  One per, with no reserves, I realised. The Beasts were running out of food.

  “Not your problem,” Rune said. He waved at the girls in a nearby cart. “We’ve got meat.”

  I felt sick. The negotiator gulped, too.

  Rune took out one musket. “Trade this for greens.” He paused and added, “For stewing with the meat.”

  So it was true. The Beasts were cannibals. I was feeling sick and scared as well, but too tired to cry. I was aching all over. Also kind of horrible, a small part of me was hoping I was too stringy for the pot. A fat Guild Member’s daughter would be better. I know—I’m bad, but it just popped into mind.

  The negotiator was seeing the muskets disappear. “All the muskets, for twenty times the weight in meat, chicken and mutton, onions and vegetable.”

  “Fifty times in chicken or thirty in mutton. With thirty for each of the rest.”

  “What? You’re a goddamn thief!”

  The Beasts had their knives out, bristling, but Rune was ice. “Counter?”

  The negotiator looked sideways at the knives, and gulped. “I’ve got honey and apples.”

  Rune blinked, and somehow I knew he wanted them, but he shook his head. “Not enough.”

  “We can talk about smoked beef. You know you love that!”

  He did. I knew he did, but he acted cool. “Meat’s meat. How much?”

  “How about we talk about the silk, too? And the spices?”

  They bargained for hours, and I could see why Rune was the boss. He was impervious to insults, threats and begging. He was also tireless. The negotiator tried every trick in the book, from pretending to forget what was said, to offering wine in a blatant attempt to get him drunk, but Rune didn’t fall for any of it. He just sat there, wearing the man down.

  I forget the details of the final deal, but the negotiator had lost a bit of his bounce, but he was chirpy about getting all the muskets. “You did right to hold out for beef,” he told Rune. “What happened at Brighthelme?”

  “We burnt it.”

  “The girls, they’re from the city?”

  “Yes, want to trade?”

  I half listened to the negotiator trying to pump Rune but most of me was focusing on the food. Even though I was aching from the bonds, I was aware I was hungry again.

  Siv pitched up. “They’re delivering.”

  “Check everything,” Rune ordered him. “Especially the food at the bottom of the sacks.”

  Five minutes later, there was a roar as the Beasts found stones mixed in with their onions. The negotiator was back, lying fluently. “A mistake! We’ll put it right.”

  “Cheat!” Siv was furious, his knife out.

  “Now wait a minute!” The negotiator was sweating. “An honest mistake! You have to believe me!”

  “Prove it.” Rune was calm but I was watching and I spotted the ghost of a twitch. “A gift, to make up for the mistake.”

  “Of course! Extra greens!”

  “A dozen sacks of apples. And two dozen jars of honey.”

  The cheat swallowed but nodded. I knew he was thinking those knives could cut him in half in a second, and rightfully so, the liar. “Agreed!”

  Rune had been planning that, I was convinced of it. He’d known the negotiator would try a scam, and he had had his eye on those apples and honey from the start.

  I was considering the implications when the Beasts transferred a couple of girls from one cart to another. It was Mina and Tawny. The Beasts were balancing their goods, and I wondered if the Citizens had known how close they’d been to being dinner.

  “Listen,” the negotiator had caught sight of the girls. “How about we trade some of them?”

  “You can arrange wergelt?”

  The negotiator hesitated. “Maybe. How badly damaged was Brighthelme?”

  “They’ll recover.”

  “They have just some silver in credit here. But we may be able to trade.”

  “Which ones?” Rune asked. “And what will you trade?”

  “Let me go look,” the negotiator said.

  The second he was off, Siv was putting his foot down. “He wants them cheap so he gets the wergelt.”

  “Yes.”

  “If they won’t pay at King’s Cross, they’re to be kept until we reach Haven! We agreed at Conclave!”

  Rune was placating him. “There’s no harm in seeing what he’ll offer.”

  “But we’ve agreed! All must obey the Conclave!”

  “If the price is good, we can vote again. Four have died, and some are badly damaged. It might be better to trade them.”

  “Yes, but we’re not taking the quick way, so they’ll live!”

  “They might not. They were badly used.”

  “They’ll recover!”

  “What if they don’t? Maintaining them will cost too much. We should cut our losses.”

  As a conversation it was horrific but a lot of things also became clear. We girls were investments. From the sound of it, the Beasts saw us first as sources of ransom. Like Mina had told me, the Beasts would keep us alive, even if it meant travelling slowly, because they had an eye on the wergelt. However, in a pinch we’d be food. It turned my stomach to hear people being talked of like livestock but it was clearly normal for the Beasts.

  Also, and it took me aback, the savages were democratic, voting on issues and going with the majority. That six for a quick return and forty nine for the safe had been a vote on what route to take home. The Beasts took group decisions.

  They also shared. They’d drawn straws for the girls, exchanging them with their “pass overs,” and they were planning general distribution of the wergelt. However, in their violent ways, four girls had died so far, so the Beasts, or at least Rune, were thinking of cashing in.

  The whole thing gave me the shivers. I was betting that they swapped as many of their captives for wergelt as they could, and then ate the rest. There was probably an investment timeframe, too, just like Vale farmers deciding on when to slaughter their livestock. The way Rune spoke of maintaining hinted as much.

  I never would’ve guessed at any of this, and I bet nobody else had, either, not back home or at King’s Cross. The Beasts were savages, wild and dangerous, just like we’d known, but they had a society and lived by rules just like we did. Horrific rules, but rules nevertheless.

  Also, Rune was totally unexpected. He wasn’t an impulsive, crazy, stupid, feral animal; he was cautious and clever. He calculated their investments closely and thought long-term. He was also ruthless and quite without feeling. He didn’t care about being insulted, hurt or tricked. He was totally focused on his goals. The man was pure ice.

  “If they want a girl, trade the flame-haired witch.” Siv was back on my case.

  “We don’t know her value.”

  Siv was taken aback. “We don’t?”

  “She’s not a Citizen.”

  How the hell had he figured that out?

  Rune was itemising. “Everything about her is different. Her clothes are cut strangely and sewn with unusual stitching. Also, the others keep away from her.”

  “Because she’s a vicious she-wolf,” Siv, the cheeky bugger, said.

  “She’s different that way, too,” Rune agreed.

  The negotiator came back. “I’ll give you a silver penny for the little one with the black eye.”

  Mina.

  “She’s worth ten,” Rune said.

  “Her? No way!”

  “She’s the daughter of a baker.” He’d done his homework. “They’ll pay well for her.”

  “What about this one?” Siv reached into the cart and was pulling me out.

>   “Why is she away from the others?” The negotiator was instantly suspicious. “She’s had her hair shorn, too. She’s not sick, is she?”

  “I’m Wynne from the Vale.” I could run from here just as easily, and at the worst, the King’s Cross people wouldn’t see me as meat, so I was making my pitch. “I’m not sick.” Also, as Mina was too valuable to trade, I tried to impress him with my usefulness. “I’m a good worker.”

  “The Vale? They’re poor!”

  “My people will be grateful to have me back! Very grateful!”

  But he was turning away. “Too risky.”

  Siv was laughing. “It was worth a try!”

  The negotiator was done. “There’s a good campsite just north from here. You can be there by sunset.” Meaning, we don’t want Beasts in our town.

  “Tell me about the road,” Rune replied.

  While he and the negotiator moved away, Siv was shoving me back, pulling on the leather strap so my arms were painfully tight over my shoulders. I squealed, I couldn’t help it, and thankfully Rune came back.

  “Leave her alone,” he said calmly.

  Siv let go immediately. “Just checking she’s secure.”

  “Come and listen. He’s telling us about the road to Haven.”

  They talked out of my hearing, which was annoying. I tried to read their lips, but it was hopeless. Eventually, they were done.

  “Let’s move out.” Rune was piling sacks of apples, flour and vegetables into the cart, cramming me in a tight corner and closing the door.

  “Wait!” I told him. “Don’t mess with the meat, right?”

  He was staring at me. “What?”

  I twisted so he could see the manacles and wriggled my fingers. “Undo this. Please?”

  “No.” He didn’t even think about it.

  “It hurts!” The door closed. “Bastard!”

  We bounced along for a few miles and then mercifully stopped. I ended up lying against a sack of apples, and the scent coming from inside was so tempting I was thinking of trying to gnaw into it.

  Like before, Rune left me till camp was set up. By the time he came to get me, it was dark and the fires were settling down. The Beasts were eating, and I saw the girls were being fed, too. Everyone was wolfing down supper. Me, I couldn’t stand up. When he unchained and untied me, all I could do was lie there, gasping. I thought I’d been okay but all the bouncing had pushed me too far; I was totally cramped up.