Purpose (The Wanderer Trilogy Book 1)

by B. Buechter

  “I said shush,” Eva repeated and looked through the crack in their tent. She had heard a familiar voice. The two Tigers from before were returning with two new victims. One was taller but not gaunt like the other servants. The other looked like a young boy. Jake and Tommy. It has to be them, she thought.

  “Where are you taking us?” Jake demanded. She could hear him clear as day. The sound of his voice brought tears to her eyes.

  The relief was soon smothered by the Tiger’s response.

  “The Chief asked for you, specifically.”

  Not a good sign. He knows his sons are here. And if he has my blades, he knows I’m here too. Shit.

  There was now even less time to waste. Her original plan was to find Jake and Tommy and come up with a way that they could infiltrate The Castle. McAvoy now possessed her blades, so he knew The Wanderer was in The Den. There was no telling how the Tigers would be directed to search for Eva. It was only a matter of time before they discovered her. Jake and Tommy would be offered an opportunity to join their father and Eva would be executed in front of everyone.

  Three days. That was all she allowed herself. McAvoy was an impatient man. She would maintain a low profile. As long as the slaves who shared her tent stayed quiet, she could manage three days. It would give her time to come up with a way to invade The Castle. Once she was in, she would find The Chief and kill him. Was this what her whole life led up to? An odd, jittery feeling sparked in the pit of her stomach when she imagined sinking a knife into his heart. Her demon faded from view.

  “I am going to end him.” Eva did not mean to say her last thought out loud. The rest of the people in her tent squirmed. “In three days.”

  “You’re going to kill the Chief?” They whispered simultaneously.

  She looked back at them. The expression on their faces had changed from fear to joy. The reality that the Chief’s tyranny could end gave them hope.

  “I’m definitely going to try.” Eva nodded and smiled. She was half talking to herself. “Not only for my own sake, but for the sake of those two boys that were just dragged up to him. The Chief won’t kill his own sons unless he knows I am with them. I just need to come up with a plan to get inside that building.”

  “You could always pose as a Doxie.” The disheveled woman pointed to her silk clothes underneath a heavy blanket. “That would grant you access without killing anyone. But you’ll have to find someone to get you a nightgown.”

  That could work, she pondered. But I cannot let those men use me like many had done before. If they try… Well… I’ll kill them.

  Eva slid over to the Doxie who recoiled. She looked the woman dead in the eye with both hands on her bony shoulders. “Can you get me in there?”

  Chapter 16

  The Doxie stared blankly at Eva. The Bondsmen watched their friend and waited with bated breath. Would the young girl help The Wanderer? It would be risking her life, just as the other woman had done before. The girl dropped her head in exhaustion. She was unresponsive. Eva shook her.

  The Wanderer lowered her head to meet the girl’s. “Did you hear me? Can you help me or not? I won’t need you to do much… just smuggle my armor in The Castle. That way I can get to it when I get inside.”

  “No,” interrupted one of the Bondsmen. He tried reasoning with the fatigued Doxie. “It’s too dangerous. See what happened to the last person who helped her?”

  “But what if she did kill the Chief?” another offered. “We could escape in the chaos.”

  “There wouldn’t be any chaos,” the first one snapped. “One of his guards would take the position. Or, they would fight to the death. But they would maintain order. They would slit our throats before letting any of us leave.”

  The Doxie was still silent. Everyone was weary from the day, but Eva needed an answer. If this woman refused to help her, she would have to search elsewhere. The woman’s eyes drooped closed again. Eva gave up on trying to convince anyone in the tent to help. The limp body slumped to the bedroll and the young woman was fast asleep. With her hands still in the air as if holding invisible shoulders, Eva tilted her head.

  “I guess that’s a no,” she sighed. Lucky for her, someone the tent next to them had been eavesdropping on their conversation. A woman in her mid-fifties crawled into the tent and sat down. Her curly, dark brown hair was cut very short and her long, thin limbs flowed into an equally slender body. There was no doubt she had been a Doxie for many years. She wore heavy bags underneath her soft, dark eyes and the scars of torture were scattered all over her body. Before she uttered a word, she shot a look at the Bondsmen who were still huddled in the corner.

  “You oughta be ashamed of yourselves,” she scolded. “This woman is trying to save her friends from the jaws of the most heartless Chief we’ve ever had. In the process, maybe your asses will be saved as well. Maybe if you’d have fought back before, you wouldn’t’ve been brought here.”

  Eva smiled. She really liked this woman. Oddly enough, she bore a similar appearance to Elaine from the Western Rover Colony. “Will you help me, then?”

  “You’re damned right I will.” This woman was fiery. “What do you need me to do? I heard you mention something about having three days.”

  “Well I know he will hunt me down regardless,” Eva added. “But if I can pose as a Doxie and have my armor and weapons easily available, I can take the first day to scope out of The Castle, find out how to get to the Chief, and the third day will be it.”

  “And what do you need me to do?”

  “Tomorrow, I will work out in the Pits again.” Eva explained her plan with great care. She was making half of it up as she was speaking. “I need you to bring in my armor and weapons and hide them somewhere. Anywhere that the Tigers won’t be able to find it. When you get back tomorrow night, let me know exactly where it’s stored. Oh, and I’ll also need an… um… uniform… For day two.”

  “And that is when you scope out The Castle,” the woman repeated. “Got it. I am willing to take the risk.”

  “Wanda.” At this point, only one of the Bondsmen had forced himself to stay awake. “You cannot trust this woman. Two people have already been executed because of her actions. One was trying to help her.”

  Wanda jabbed her finger towards the man. “And you should not blame their deaths on her. They got caught and the Tigers are going to kill us anyway… one way or another. I understand the risks. Don’t patronize me. I was once a Warrior in the West.”

  “Thank you for helping me Wanda.” Eva shook the woman’s hand. Fear, anxiety, and relief swirled in her stomach. “I must ask you, though. Are you related to Elaine? She lives in the Western Ro-”

  The woman’s weathered face contorted into a huge smile. “My Elaine? My baby is still alive?”

  “Yes.” Eva wiped away a tear. She was thinking about Jake again. Her family. “She lives with the Warriors in the West. Across the forest.”

  “If I ever get to see the light of freedom again,” she hummed and cried silently. “I will go straight into that place and wrap my arms around my baby girl. Long ago, you see, when she was about five… The Serpents came and destroyed our village. Burned it to the ground. I was quick enough to hide my little girl in a hollow tree stump. They took those of us who survived the ‘cleansing’ and brought us to be sold into slavery. I prayed someone would find her and raise her safe.”

  Eva’s smile faded. Even though she had not been the Serpent’s Mistress at the time, there was a good chance that she had known Wanda as a slave. Depending how long she had been a servant for the Serpents, there was an equal chance that Eva had tortured this poor woman. At that moment, the Hooded Demon appeared next to them. Just as before, it was laughing through each breath.

  The Wanderer cleared her throat and looked at the demon out of the corner of her eye. “Well she is safe. And I hope you can see her again. Soon.”

  “I will help you Wanderer,” Wanda stood up, having to bend at the back to stay in the tent. “You remove
your armor and I will come back in a few minutes. I have a safe place to keep it in my tent. Most of my tent-mates have been lost over the years. So, it is only myself and two other Doxies. And I swear to you that I will bring back a nightgown for you to wear when I return tomorrow.”

  Eva nodded. The Tigers were passing by as Wanda slipped back into her own tent. Under their murmurs, she could make out a few words like “Wanderer” and “kill”. When she was sure they had gone back to their quarters, she began to remove her armor from underneath the ragged clothing. Her knives, she shoved inside her boots, keeping a few strapped to her leg. Wanda came back into her tent and took the pile of armor, as promised. One Bondsman was still awake, just shaking his head.

  “I gotta hand it to ya,” he said before turning his back to Eva. “You do have a way to make people do what you want. Follow you to the death. Yet, you wear no remorse or guilt on your soul. Truly an ability.”

  “You have no idea,” Eva replied back to him, but her gaze remained fixed on the imaginary figure in the corner of the tent. By now, it had revealed its skeletal hand and placed it on her shoulder. A sudden chill spread up her back and across her extremities. She was not sure whether the shiver came from the invisible demon or her lack of clothing. The blankets that once belonged to a Bondsman were now wrapped around Eva’s body. It did not take long for her body heat to warm them. While Eva’s Demon stood over her prone body, tormenting her, she was carried off into a dream land.

  ***

  DAY 1 - Eva

  Same as the day before, the Tigers woke their servants by banging on metal pans. One of them shot their gun in the air for good measure. Eva jumped to her feet, forgetting why she felt so naked. After a few moments, she saw Wanda exiting her tent with a satchel. She wasted no time moving straight to The Castle while everyone else filed for the Morning Meal. They exchanged passing glances and nods but said nothing. Directed to the nearest line, The Wanderer spotted the young Doxie who shared her tent. The young girl looked just as tired as before, swaying as she waited for food. Her face was significantly more gaunt and sickly than before.

  The moment Eva turned back to be served in line, the ground under her bare feet shook slightly. In an instant, the Tigers crowded around the source. Exhaustion and weakness had become too much for the Doxie and she collapsed into the thick mud. Guards dragged her out of the mud and tried a few kicks in the stomach to wake her up. She didn’t flinch. A few of the servants were watching the event, and the Tigers posted at the nearby towers took notice. Two of them climbed down the ladder and started whipping those who halted the lines. Eva only looked out of the corner of her eye at one of the guards dragging away a ghost-white body.

  After the morning meal, she made her way to the Pits to crack open molds. She kept her back to the other men. They had not forgiven her from the day prior. When she waited for a new tray, her eyes turned up to The Castle. Towering over her like a lingering nightmare, it remained silent for the day. Each time a guard would pass her line of vision, she would search them for any sign of Wanda, Jake, or Tommy. There was nothing. Not one indication.

  The remainder of the day was uneventful. A few of the Bondsmen received lashings because they were not working as efficiently as Eva. She had been setting the pace, but was also given a few swipes from a stick for moving ‘too fast’.

  “Slow down,” said a Tigress between floggings. Eva was jolted back to her time in the Serpent’s Nest as a slave. Relentless torture at the hands of merciless Gang members. Her limp body, bleeding and numb on the floor of a cold, wet, stone cell of their torture chambers. Each crack of the whip pushed her deeper into the Hooded Demon’s embrace. Memories that she thought had faded, now right in front of her eyes, as plain as day. The pain was amplified by the heat of the fires and the frozen ground, but she did not scream or let the dread consume her. No one could ever see her struggle.

  Although it seemed like an eon, the ten lashes only lasted a few minutes. Eva’s legs shook as she returned to her feet, half-covered in mud and fresh blood. The Tigress had left. The rest of the Pit returned to work. Until the Evening Meal, her back stung and her hooded doppelganger followed like an ominous cloud. She ate alone and returned to her tent at sundown. The Doxie who had shared the tent did not return. The Bondsman also mysteriously disappeared during the day. Now, it was just Eva and two others who ignored her.

  They cannot blame this on me. She glared at them while they whispered under their breath. What are they talking about? Perhaps plots of killing me this evening? Maybe I should just confront them.

  “I’m being paranoid,” she said to herself. Wanda had finally returned for the evening and sat down at the mouth of the tent. The rest of the tent shifted their backs further away from the women.

  Wanda was panting for a moment. She must have run from The Castle back to the tents. “I did as you asked. One thing I am grateful for is my sharp tongue. Almost got caught sneaking your clothes in. I hid it on the top floor, where the Chief’s quarters are. There is a room on the right side, just a small closet. No one ever uses it. But in a wooden box near the door… that’s where I put it.”

  Eva thanked the woman over and over. “You don’t know how much this helps. It will give me a fighting chance.”

  The middle-aged woman handed a silk gown to her. It was black and much less revealing than the other Doxies’ uniforms. When she caressed it against her fingers, she was shocked at how these women were able to withstand the cold in such light material. No wonder these Doxies were always covered in layers of blankets outside the building. After thanking Wanda once more, she stood up to leave. Before she disappeared back into her tent, she mentioned one more thing.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” she crouched right outside. “The Tigers are going to be looking for you tomorrow. Be very aware of your surroundings. I bet they will be interrogating everyone.”

  “Great,” Eva said sarcastically. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Eva wrapped a blanket around her and laid on a bedroll. Nervousness and anxiety began to seep in as she stared at The Castle. Jake and Tommy were in there. She did not see them come out that day. Maybe they decided to join their father and the Tigers. But would they rat her out? They knew she was here. Did they say anything about traveling with The Wanderer? She was McAvoy’s worst enemy, but she doubted that they knew that. Just before she fell asleep, her thoughts about the Bondsmen who shared her tent were confirmed. She heard their heavy breathing as they crawled over to where she lay.

  Rolling over just as they pounced, she pulled out a knife strapped to her leg. The closest slave was cut down when he tripped over his own knees. “Death comes to everyone you touch. You must be stopped.” When the first body dropped to the ground, the other Bondsmen tried to pin Eva down. He had his hands around her neck and her legs pinned underneath his. She gasped for air and clawed at his grasp. Immediately, Eva realized she had dropped her knife inches away from her hand. Her muscles flexed and her veins popped as she tried pushing his body off of her neck, but he was too big. The scene began to dissolve and her limbs started getting cold. Death started to take her. It sucked at her soul deep underneath the soil. Six feet under in complete darkness, she imagined the squirming of parasites eating away at her flesh. The story of The Wanderer would simply dissolve into myth. And this was the final minutes of her waking life.

  All of a sudden, the weight lifted off of her. Eva was sure she was dead until she felt a heavy body fall onto her arm. Luckily, the weight of the Bondsman’s corpse did not break it. Her soul was ripped from the ground and shoved back into her body as the fresh air filled her lungs with one gasp. The one who had saved her was the woman with dark skin. Wanda had plunged Eva’s knife in the back of the Bondsman’s head as hard as she could. The hilt still jutted out from his skull. Eva coughed until she regained her breath and the Doxie crouched by her side.

  “We need to get these bodies out of here now,” she warned. “I know you’re still fighting for air, but we mu
st hurry.”

  The Wanderer nodded and rubbed her neck softly. Although the man was dead, she could still feel his palms collapsing onto her throat. She sat up and wavered to her feet. Wanda took one man by the arms and Eva grabbed the other by the legs and they made their way across the yard. Tigers were still making their rounds, but their lanterns bobbed from the other side of the compound. A large rut formed in the ground behind the corpses. The Bondsman that Eva was dragging still had her knife stuck in his skull. She would have to remove it before they deserted the bodies.

  Wanda guided them to a place behind the Pits where the Tigers brought bodies to be tossed. The pungent, indescribable smell punched Eva in the face as the cold breeze wafted towards them. She gagged and wondered why she had never seen this place before. The smell of the fires and molten metal must have masked this graveyard.

  In the front of the pile of rotting flesh were newer remains. Slumped over a pile of other Doxies was the girl from her tent. Her skin was just as pale as the prior evening. Her frail soul left her body hours ago, white eyes forever stared at the night sky. Only dark, handprint-shaped bruises, remained on her limbs. It was the cost of a lifetime of servitude. Wanda noticed Eva and walked towards the body, placing her fingers over the girl’s eyes, and spoke a quick prayer.

  “It’s a shame that Doxies expire in masses because of our uniform,” she sighed. Eva released the Bondsman’s legs and jerked the embedded knife out of his skull. “This poor girl looks like she got sick from the cold.”

  Sadly, the sight of death never made Eva think twice. True, she would shed a tear every now and then, but the bodies piled against the compound wall no longer fazed her. And now, the tent she returned to would be empty.

  Eva hugged the woman tight around the shoulders. “Thank you for saving my life. I promise I will get you to your daughter.”

  “Do not make a promise you cannot keep,” Wanda smiled as they strolled back to their tents. “I will not be upset if I do not see her again. Simply knowing that she is happy and safe gives me peace.”