Purpose (The Wanderer Trilogy Book 1)

by B. Buechter

  The servant rubbed one bare foot on the other. “It doesn’t involve me sacrificing myself, does it?”

  “I can get you out of here.” Honestly, Eva made a promise she knew she couldn’t keep, but could see the woman’s face light up. “But you must swear to return my weapons to me.”

  “What do you need me to do?”

  Eva sat on the floor in front of the Doxie and explained her plan. With each moment, it unfolded in her mind. She would lend the servant her blades in exchange for a disguise to cover her armor. Short swords would be too bulky to hide underneath the rags, but she would have her gun and numerous other small blades. The Doxie would escape through the same space she and the McAvoy brothers had entered the compound. Then, she would return to the city.

  “Upon finding our hideout in the storefront,” Eva continued. “You will leave my blades there and take whatever else you wish. Find the Rover colony to the south of the city. You will pass it on the way there. They will take you in and you will be free.”

  “Why are you doing this?” The woman looked hopeful yet wary. “And why help only me?”

  Eva considered the questions carefully. “Because I have to save my friends. Can’t go into too much detail, but I have to pose as a servant for a few days. I’ll scope out the compound and figure out where they’re being kept. And then… I make my move.”

  “Your move?”

  “Are you going to help me or not?”

  The Doxie agreed with reluctance in her voice. “But you will have to cut your hair. The Tigers will think you are a Doxie if you do not. There are female workers in the Fire Pits, but not many. If you cut your hair, you can trick them.”

  After Eva ran her fingers through her hair, she was stunned at how long it had grown. When she lived in the Rover colony, she maintained her hair at the shoulders. But with months of hiding in the city, her dark auburn hair had dropped to the middle of her back. Without another thought, she yanked a knife out of her pocket, reached behind her head, and sliced through her hair. The woman sitting in the corner smiled and left for a few moments. Eva let the handful of hair drop to the floor.

  The Wanderer is back. As she watched her hair fall from her fingertips, she realized how much she had changed. And now, she became her old self, before she ever met Jake or Tommy. Stealth and survival. Merciless and calculated. But unlike her early life, she now cared for someone. Before she could dwell on it, the Doxie returned with a ragged outfit. It covered her armor entirely.

  It feels good to be back.

  Eva felt naked without her blades as the woman disappeared into the hall carrying them. Those two short swords were part of her image… part of her. They had been with her for most of her life. Its metal craved for Chief McAvoy’s blood. But the blades would not be satiated. No. Eva would have to resort to other methods. First, she had to rescue Tommy and Jake. Once she was positive they were safe, she would end McAvoy’s life however she could. He would be dead before she left that compound. She promised herself that much.

  With one deep breath, she was out the door and descending the stairs at the end of the hallway. It was late in the night, so she could make it to the yard before anyone would wake. Sure, there would be sentinels posted at the towers, but she could hide in the shadows and take refuge in the closest tent. She was not sure how long she would have to pose as a slave, but she was willing to be there as long as necessary. If discovered, a horrific death awaited her. But if she was successful, more than one life would be spared.

  Without incident, Eva made it out of the building and into the brisk winter air. The snow covering the yard had been beaten to a muddy slush. Guards marched above her in the towering posts. They chatted about the day's events, a Doxie they had grown fond of, and other nonsense. The darkness cast by the moon created a pitch black walkway along the entire side of the compound to the first row of tents. After the scouts disappeared and no movement was detected close by, she took her chance. The ground sucked her boots deep into a thick mud. She could run, but they would hear her. But if she was too slow, her feet would sink further.

  The first tent’s occupants were still awake. Three Bondsmen and a Doxie inhabited all but one bedroll. Whispers of their friend who once slept on the vacant bed were still on their tongues. They jumped to the back of the frozen metal wall when Eva entered the tent. She had her hands up and explained that she was a new servant, neglecting to use her title as The Wanderer. In the depths of her mind, a voice reminded her that you cannot save everyone.

  “Eva.” They responded as she wiped her shoes with the side of the tent. “You are here to rescue two people? Why not rescue all of us?”

  “One person rescue hundreds?” She laughed and shook her head. “No. That would be impossible. I mean, how many Tigers guard this damned place?”

  “I dunno.” The youngest Bondsmen realized what they had asked of her. “Two hundred or more.”

  “If you don’t bother me,” she cleared her throat. “I won’t bother you.”

  Before any of them could ask what she meant, she was already lying down and pretended to be fast asleep. Little did she realize that Jake and Tommy were sleeping on the other side of the compound. They had just been processed and were awaiting their first day in the Fire Pits. When Eva finally closed her eyes, she was suffocated by her nightmares. The rest of her tent woke up when she started to gasp for air.

  “I wonder what’s wrong with her?” a Doxie asked.

  “I don’t even want to ask.” One of the Bondsmen said.

  Eventually, everyone in the tents fell asleep. They had to rest to keep their strength up for the next day. Tigers roamed the yard and walls above through the night, completely oblivious to The Wanderer who slipped into their midst. Even Chief McAvoy, who had spent the night with one of his many wives, knew nothing about his enemy and two sons inside his own walls.

  ***

  The sound of clanging metal jolted everyone awake. Darkness still filled the yard as the Tigers began lighting the bonfires with their torches. Eva tucked her ragged shirt into her pants and made sure that her weapons and armor were hidden. Her boots, though, stuck out underneath. Some of the Bondsmen who had been slaves for a while wore battered shoes or boots.

  Eva filed to the nearest queue for the morning meal. The servants in her tent were right behind her. They said nothing. She kept her head down as the Tigers passed through the lines, whipping at random. As they approached her line, she turned away from them, peering out of the corner of her eye. One of the larger men stopped right behind her, turned to the Doxie who shared the same tent, and slapped her across the face.

  “Watch who you are glaring at,” he screamed. “The Chief is doing his daily inspection soon. I’ll be sure to let him know that you are insubordinate. You can be sure of that.”

  Eva’s fists clenched, but she did not dare draw attention to herself. If she challenged the Tiger, her identity would be given away. After taking a deep breath, she noticed that she had made it to the front of the line. A bowl of mostly mashed potatoes and small chunks of unidentifiable meat awaited her. You have to keep your strength up. No telling how long you are going to be here. The taste of rotting, moldy potatoes caused her to gag. Those around her slurped up every last drop. Eva paid little attention. She had to focus on finding Jake and Tommy.

  As the Doxies rushed to The Castle for their day, the Bondsmen along with Eva and a few other women crowded to the Fire Pits. One of the older Bondsmen, wrinkled but very strong, pushed her over to the back of one of the molds. The rest of the Fire Pits were obscured, so she was not able to scour the rest of the compound to find the McAvoy brothers.

  Maybe I can spot them during the evening meal.

  “New blood, eh?” A Bondsmen taunted her. “They letta lady ‘n this side’f the Pit. Hope you’c’n keep up without a lashin’ from ‘em guards.”

  Her job was to pull the bullets out of the cooled molds and put them into boxes. What the Bondsman did not count on was the fact
that she had assisted in the tray design when she was the Serpent’s Mistress. They released all the bullets when cracked right down the middle. She would be able to process twice the material of the other workers who simply picked out each bullet by hand.

  “You may want to try keeping up with me,” she said. “If you can.”

  The workers looked at each other and laughed. Three cool molds slid down the metal slide to her. She kept her eyes glued to the Bondsmen as she smacked the mold on her knee twice and dumped two dozen bullets into the box. They looked at the tray, which seemed broken. Eva smiled, flipped the tray, and popped it back into place.

  “Try and keep up without breaking the molds boys,” she smiled slyly. “Takes a special woman’s touch to do it right.”

  When the first Bondsman tried following Eva’s lead, the mold shattered in his hand. His knee made contact just enough off center to destroy the entire tray. Bullets rolled across the ground. One of the Tigers heard it and sprinted over to him. The slave was whipped and beaten countless times. As he clenched with each lashing, the sharp edges of the tray embedded into his hands. That was when the Chief had passed by.

  Eva did not notice him at first. His hair was slicked back, each strand in perfect position. His facial hair was trimmed. Not a single whisker was out of place. She had been watching the Bondsmen work until McAvoy walked up to them. For a moment, she watched his cold stare, then turned her back. She shut her eyes as he flicked his wrist. The poor soul that was already being beaten within an inch of his life was yanked to his knees in front of Chief McAvoy.

  “Now why are they beating you?” He had already spotted the broken tray long before he posed the question. “What have you done to hurt my production?”

  Eva continued working despite the urge to attack him in front of everyone. She would have to challenge him alone, but before that, she had to find Jake and Tommy. The sound of his voice sent a chill up her spine. On the surface, it was calm, almost kind. Yet malice dripped through each word, as cold as the winter chill. He continued when the Bondsman did not reply.

  “Now… why would you destroy one of my molds?” he asked.

  The battered man gulped a mouthful of his own blood. “I-I dunno. I’m sorry m’Chief.”

  Dan McAvoy raised a hand softly. “I could send you to the torture chambers… However… I am feeling rather forgiving today.”

  “Thank’yew sir. It won’t happen-”

  “I never said I would let you live, foolish man. I’m going to end it swiftly rather than waste one of my torture rooms in The Castle.”

  The man pleaded for his life as Chief McAvoy turned on his heels to walk the other direction. He glanced back and watched one of his men grab the blubbering man by the hair and wrap his arm around his head. Another Tiger pulled out her knife and slashed the man’s neck, dropping his twitching body to the ground. The guards and slave-drivers strolled away in silence leaving the remaining Bondsmen to witness their friend die in agony. No one stopped to help him. They just resumed their work with sunken eyes. Eva kept her gaze glued on the compound wall. She could hear the plans to murder her from the other Bondsmen.

  Let them try, she thought. I will strike them down. That man may not have deserved what he got, but I couldn’t have stopped the Tigers. I would have been their next victim.

  But the guilt she felt was real. The dead man’s corpse lay on the ground in a pool of mud, snow, and blood. Not too far from where they stood, in another Pit, another person screamed and was silenced. Eva could see the top of McAvoy’s head from behind the barrel next to her. It bobbed across the yard and out of sight. And his sons, Jake and Tommy, were a mere twenty feet from where Eva was working.

  Evening arrived and soon, the immense heat from the bonfires was replaced by freezing air and a light flurry. The Wanderer chose a different line for the evening meal. She tried searching for the brothers before she reached the front to be served. Nothing. Not a single sign of Tommy or Jake. Maybe they had been taken to The Castle. Or perhaps they were being tortured.

  McAvoy may try and coerce Jake and Tommy to join him. If he knows they are here, they may no longer be out in the yard.

  She found a seat in the middle of the compound and ate whatever ‘soup’ the Tigers had given everyone else. Most of the slaves were tucked away in their tents. A hum of voices carried an echo through the yard. She scoured the living quarters as Doxies filed out of The Castle into their tents. Still, nothing. When she returned to her tent after washing her dish, she started asking around.

  “No idea who you are talking about lady.”

  “Nope. Never seen ‘em.”

  “Sorry, I don’t recall anyone like that.”

  “What were their names again? Nope. Can’t say I’ve seen them.”

  She had made it halfway across the tents when the Tigers started calling for night watch. Everyone must remain in their tents. “We don’t give a shit if you stay up. If you slack off, then we’ll just kill ya.” That was the message. Eva groaned and punched the metal wall of a tower. She rushed back to her tent as a group of Gang members began kicking and whipping anyone who was not moving fast enough. One additional bedroll was empty. The Bondsman that had been executed earlier that day had shared the same tent. The rest of her tent-mates were huddled in the corner as she entered, whispering. She turned her eyes to each one of them for a moment, slowed her breath from running, and sat down next to them.

  “I hope you’re happy with yourself,” one of the Bondsmen spat.

  “What do you want me to say?” She threw her hands up. “That I got one of your friends killed?”

  “You did.” Another Bondsmen jabbed his finger in her direction. “And I see no remorse on your face. You are no different than the Tigers themselves. Or the Chief.”

  Rage seethed in her chest. No better than the Chief? “What the shit do you want me to say?”

  The man’s hand relaxed, but his face did not. It just contorted to anger and then sorrow. Truthfully, Eva felt somewhat responsible for the Bondsman’s actions and would never admit to any wrongdoing, but that was what they waited for. An apology. An apology that they would never receive.

  The Shadow appeared and sat next to her. Their legs were touching and she could hear it humming eerily underneath its hood. Eva attempted to ignore it. The feeling of dread started seeping in from the point where their knees touched. It spread like a cancer. No one else could see it and they already believed her to be crazy and selfish.

  “Not going to apologize for his death,” she said crossing her arms. “I have known death closer than any of you realize. And I have been on both ends of a gun. The one thing that I learned is that only you are responsible for your own death. If your friend did not try and boast, he would not have been killed.”

  “You are evil.” The Doxie slid further back against the wall.

  “We all have our opinions,” she replied calmly. “But I don’t know if you want to continue poking the lion. Eventually, it will bite.”

  “We should just kill you.”

  “Go for it. Good luck to you.”

  Just then, a scream from The Castle caught everyone’s attention. Eva whirled around and crouched behind the hanging leathers in front of her tent. Sloshing through the mud were two large figures carrying a small, feeble one. At first, she could not make out anything in particular because the fires had been extinguished and the sky above them was shrouded in clouds. But when her eyes adjusted, her heart sank. It was the Doxie who she had promised to save. The one who she loaned her blades. But she no longer carried Eva’s most prized possessions. Her short blades were now missing. Both Tigers had beaten her badly, but she was still alive and moving.

  The Tigers marched by the tent with their victim. The Doxie lifted her head weakly and turned to look right at Eva. Her eyes were filled with tears mixed with blood. I’m sorry. I tried, she mouthed as they disappeared from sight. Before they were out of earshot, one of the Tigers mentioned something to another guard.


  “The Chief said he would recognize those blades anywhere,” he stated. “I doubt this woman is The Wanderer. She would’ve put up more of a fight. But we need to be rid of her just in case.”

  Eva rested her head on a wooden pole in defeat. Everyone else in the tent immediately knew what happened. She took responsibility for this woman’s execution. The moonlight cast a beam as the clouds broke away. It moved across the compound and lingered on Eva for a moment. When the light passed through the Shadow that had stolen her face, it became invisible but returned just as fast as it disappeared. It could hear Eva’s thoughts and began to ridicule her.

  “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You know I will never go away. Silly girl… That poor poor Doxie. All your fault… all your fault...” The hair on Eva’s arms stood straight up. Each time it spoke, it was both her voice, and yet, not her voice. This voice was much more demonic than she had ever uttered before. Do I really sound like that? I hope not.

  A Bondsman jerked her out of her mind. “You caused that woman to be put to death.”

  Eva had enough. She leapt over to the cornered slaves and brandished her weapons. They gasped when they saw how many blades she had hidden in the armor under her rags. Knives belted up her leg on one side and a handgun holstered on the other. She removed one of the larger blades and pointed it towards them.

  “You’re her aren’t you?” The Bondsman wheezed. “The Wanderer…”

  She pressed the blade at the one who spoke. “If you tell anyone that I am here, I will not hesitate to kill you. All of you. Understand?”

  The group nodded. Although they were afraid, they knew that if they killed her, it could secure their freedom.

  Eva continued. “I am only here in search of two boys. That’s it. And now, I have to find my blades.”

  “Do you plan on taking them from the Chief?” The Doxie started her question but was hushed by Eva. “You’ll have to kill him to get it.”