Broken Aro (The Broken Ones)

by Wylie, Jen

  More and more blows hit. She wasn't fast enough. She pulled inward, her hands protecting her face, her arms pulling tight to her ribs to protect the vital areas. Ragged gasps were pounded from her as she twisted and turned, still trying to avoid as many blows as possible. Her hands and arms took the worst of the hits and quickly the pain turned to numbness.

  They didn't stop until she fell again to the ground, bleeding and bruised. She couldn't say for certain if she had any broken bones or not, but despite her blocks her ribs hurt so much she could hardly breathe.

  Gasping for breath and struggling to hold back tears she fought to stand again. The ground was the last place she wanted to be. She didn't want them to be able to start kicking her as well.

  "Talk, boy."

  She shook her head defiantly, unable to speak beyond the pain that flared through her. She'd never hurt so much in her entire life.

  One of them caught her arm, pulling her backward before grabbing her other arm and pinning them both behind her. She struggled against him as the others laughed.

  "Well, well," the first man said, walking up to her. He tilted his head to the side, "Not a boy after all are you?"

  Startled, she followed his gaze down to her chest. The way the man behind her had pinned her arms, her shirt pulled tight against her, clearly showing breasts. They weren't very large, but they were definitely there. Rot it, when had they grown more?

  "Makes things easier. Where are they?"

  She sucked in a shuddering breath. Her heart beat so fast she could hardly hear anything else. "No," she managed to say.

  The man smiled slightly. It wasn't a nice smile.

  She saw his fist coming for her face and turned her head. She wasn't quite prepared for how much it hurt. She closed her eyes after the second, and by the fourth couldn't help but scream Kei's name.

  The man paused as she hung limply against the one behind her. She hurt so much she could barely stand. Her ears wouldn't stop ringing. The punches to her stomach made her feel like she had to throw up.

  When the man behind her suddenly let go she fell limply to the ground, quickly and instinctively curling into a ball. She couldn't keep the tears away any longer, or the whimpering sobs. The slavers didn't seem to care.

  Someone kicked her in the side. They might have been demanding she talk again, but she couldn't hear them and didn't want to. She tried to curl into a tighter ball, but someone grabbed her by a fist full of hair and dragged her backward across the ground. She screamed, loud and shrill. It felt like he was ripping the top of her head off.

  He stopped suddenly, having accomplished what he wanted; getting her out of her ball. One of them immediately dropped over her and she fought in a panic as his hand pinned her down by the throat.

  Even as they tore her clothing she fought back. She could feel the cold night air raising gooseflesh on parts of her that had no business being exposed. She forced her already swelling eyes closed and steeled herself for what she knew was coming next.

  They weren't gentle. More than one set of hands settled across her. Grabbing gave way to pinching, touching became handling. The tears of pain became horrid sobs of utter hopelessness.

  Growing up around her brothers, she'd heard stories. She had tried to imagine the horror of such a situation. Her imagination didn't even come close. The screams of the women on the slave ship made so much more sense now.

  Her horrid sobs finally stopped as a great wail started somewhere in her soul, echoed through her body, and erupted from her throat to beg the sky for death. She couldn't survive this. She didn't want to.

  She wasn't certain when it started, or what exactly happened. One moment everything revolved around pain and darkness, the next she found herself gently wrapped in familiar arms and listening to a familiar voice whispering words of comfort.

  She looked up in a daze at Prince, simply amazed to find him suddenly there. She turned her head as a scream cut through his calming words.

  She gaped in horror. Bodies lay broken everywhere. Pieces of bodies. Blood and gore covered them, the ground, and the trees. Kei stood a short distance from her, tearing a man to pieces.

  But it wasn't really him, just a monster who reminded her of him. He didn't have teeth like a beast, or feral glowing red eyes, or such impossibly long claws. Her sweet Kei wouldn't cause such destruction, wouldn't be covered in so much blood.

  "Aro. We have to go. And quietly. Do not call out to him. It isn't safe."

  She looked up at Prince, her eyes wide.

  "He's gone into the fury. He might hurt us. So quiet. Understand?"

  She nodded even as more tears came to her eyes and she looked back at Kei. It was Kei? Her Kei?

  The monster turned. His glowing red eyes met hers and a growl rumbled from him as he took a step toward them.

  Prince rose swiftly and set her down, pushing her behind him. "Do not come closer."

  Kei paused, cocking his head to the side slightly as if struggling to understand.

  She peeked around Prince, her hands on the small of his back, afraid to move. Kei looked at her and she saw his sharp canines and the blood on his face. Trembling she whimpered, hiding more behind Prince.

  "Go," Prince demanded. "She is safe now."

  Kei continued to hesitate, swaying slightly as he watched her.

  "You are frightening her. You need to go."

  With a mournful howl Kei spun and disappeared into the trees.

  Prince sighed and relaxed under her hands before he turned, putting his hands on her shoulders.

  She stared after Kei, at the destruction he had caused. She couldn't stop shaking. Prince caught her and lifted her up into his arms as her legs collapsed. "You are safe now, Aro. Everything is fine."

  She turned her face into his shirt as she wrapped her arms around his neck and wept. "No, it's not."

  Chapter 15

  Not Fine

  Prince silently carried her through the brightening woods. The sun had finally risen, but it still rested below the tree line, creating a muted light beneath the trees. She kept her arms tight around his neck, her face hidden against him, and eyes squeezed closed against the light.

  The tears continued to leak out of her eyes, her body still trembled, but she didn't care. Everything hurt too much. She just held on to Prince and tried not to think. She didn't want to remember what had happened. She wanted to forget everything those men had done.

  She couldn't do it. Pain wracked her body as a constant reminder and Kei wasn't there. Prince had sent him away. She wanted to be angry at Prince for doing that but she couldn't be. Kei had truly frightened her.

  Prince continued to make his way quickly but steadily through the trees. Each step jarred her, even though she could tell he was trying to walk carefully. She clenched her teeth, wishing the pain would go away.

  Prince rested his cheek against her head. "Not too much further," he whispered.

  She began to nod but stopped abruptly and raised her head, pushing back from him as her stomach suddenly twisted. "Stop! Down! Put me down!"

  He hesitated only a moment before doing so. Even so, she only made it a few steps away from him before falling to the ground and throwing up. The action hurt so bad it caused her to do so again and again. The pain wasn't going to kill her, but right then she wished it would. She wanted it over. She wanted the pain to go away.

  Prince knelt beside her, his fingers gently pulling her hair back from her face until she finished and collapsed over onto her side.

  "I think we should detour to the river," he said, as she curled into a ball with her hands around her pain-wracked stomach and ribs. "You're quite a sight, child."

  She couldn't even answer him with a sarcastic remark. All she could do was take small gasping breaths. She didn't want to think about what she looked like. She could see her blood covered hands had started to swell. Her face felt hot and burning, one eye had swollen completely shut. Her lips on the left side of her face were tender and swelling a
nd she could still taste blood even after throwing up.

  She glanced over at him, afraid to see if he was angry with her for getting into such a situation. It surprised her to see his face only clouded with worry.

  She grimaced and closed her eyes as she slowly sat up. "We need to go."

  "We are safe. You can rest," he answered, his voice tired and quiet.

  She shook her head, just a little. "No. They were slavers. They said they had Allen and Garic. They told them where we were and who we are. There will be more of them coming for us."

  She didn't catch what Prince muttered. She guessed it was a curse. She rose as he did and tried to walk. Her legs didn't want to work. Prince scooped her up quickly without even asking. She didn't complain. The pain of being held in his arms was far less than if she walked on her own.

  "Try to rest. We will need to leave camp and you will have to walk then."

  She nodded against his shoulder. She knew he wasn't being mean. They would all have to carry everything they could, that wasn't much, but would still weigh them down, and now they didn't have Kei to help either.

  The others met them before she and Prince reached the camp. Their loud exclamations hurt her head and she gritted her teeth again. Prince did the talking, explaining what he could about what had happened.

  He didn't stop once they entered the camp, but headed directly for the stream, telling the others about the slavers and instructing them to start packing up as he walked. She barely heard most of the conversation, her mind didn't want to work. Too many emotions bounced around in her head. Too many memories. Much of what had happened was a blur. Too much of it wasn't.

  He set her down by the edge of the water and she shook her head. "We don't have time."

  He frowned at her. "We do. You need to clean your wounds and wash off the blood."

  She did as she was told, silently and carefully but as quickly as she could. Prince washed her blood off of his hands and left for a moment, returning with one of his spare pieces of cloth. He used it to wash his face and neck where her bloody hands had left red smears. He wet it again and turned it on her.

  He paused after gently dabbing at her face for a while. "Aro. Did..."

  She looked up at him through the eye that wasn't swollen shut. "What?"

  He looked down and took a deep breath. "Did they rape you?"

  She stared at him for a long time before looking away. Yes, he'd fixed her clothes hadn't he, when he'd first taken her into his arms. Her cheeks flushed. She lowered her head. "No," she whispered. "Not...they didn't get that far." They had been close though…so close. Her breath shuddered out of her and she tried to focus on anything else.

  His face softened as he let out a relieved breath. He ran the back of his fingers gently down the side of her face that wasn't beaten bloody. "Good. I apologize for not getting there sooner."

  She looked away and bowed her head again. She suddenly felt the need to explain. "I went to pee, and got turned around." She let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry you had to come and save me." Her felt her eyes tear up "And Kei...I lost Kei again." The tears started falling again.

  He silently wiped them away with the blood.

  * * *

  It didn't take the men long to pack up the camp. They didn't give her anything to carry. For that, she was extremely thankful. She trudged along at the back of the line they made as they picked their way along a narrow animal trail that at least for now ran parallel to the stream. They headed west, the only way they could go really. North would bring them to the slavers cities, east back to the beach where more slavers searched for them. She didn't know if south should be the direction they traveled. Perhaps, but none of them knew what lay in that direction.

  She knew they were in serious trouble. Not only were they running from slavers, they had no provisions or weapons, and had no idea even where on the coast they had come ashore. She sighed and winced suddenly as she stumbled and pain shot through her. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself and continued putting one foot carefully in front of the other.

  As the pain grew worse despite her careful steps, tears again began to trickle down her cheeks. She kept her face lowered, hiding behind her hair and trying not to think about how much she hurt and what the slavers had done. She concentrated on how hungry she was. They had eaten the night before but it hadn't been much. It was never enough. She always wanted more, always felt so hungry. Her brothers would certainly make a joke about her growing right about now.

  She wanted to close her eyes against the pain and the hunger. She knew she couldn't. If she even blinked, or let her mind wander in the slightest, the memories came crashing down on her.

  "How are you doing, Aro?" Bo's voice came from somewhere ahead of her.

  "Fine," she managed through gritted teeth. The sound of his loud voice pierced her throbbing skull like daggers.

  "Aro?" He hadn't heard her.

  "Fine!" She didn't mean to snap at him, but she really wished he'd just be quiet.

  Prince stopped in front of her, forcing her to stop as well. She cursed under her breath. Stopping wasn't good. She didn't know if she could get herself going again.

  He turned and bridged the few steps between them to rest a trembling hand on her shoulder. No wait, she was the one trembling. Shaking actually. Yes, stopping had definitely been a bad idea. She squeezed closed the eye that wasn't swollen shut already as the trees started spinning around her. "Wither me."

  "You need to rest," Prince said quietly. His soft, quiet voice didn't hurt her head at least.

  Shaking it in response to him did, and she knew she was about to throw up again. She managed to turn off the trail and drop painfully to her hands and knees rather than hit his expensive boots.

  As before, he knelt beside her, holding back her ragged hair and not making a sound. Wasn't he supposed to make soothing noises or something? She wanted to hit him.

  She had very little to throw up other than water and bile and finished more quickly this time. She stayed on her hands and knees, not wanting to lie down even though her body shook so hard she thought she might break apart into a million pieces. She had to get up. She had to keep moving.

  She sat back on her heels and covered her face with her hands, trying to regain any kind of control. She heard the shifting of the others close by. Perfect. Now they'd all seen her.

  Not that it really mattered. Who were they to her? Allen and Garic had betrayed them. Because of them the slavers had come looking and had found her. She had trusted Kei and he had turned into a monster. She had trusted Prince, but now she knew such an idea to be her dumbest yet. He was a prince. Of course he would always save himself first. And the others? She raised her head to look at them as she lowered her hands. Would they betray her as well? Most likely, if given the chance. Luckily they still did not know her only secret; that she wasn't a boy at all. Because of the slavers, she understood how important keeping up the ruse was.

  She pushed herself to her feet, turning away from Prince when he tried to help her stand. "I'm fine. Keep going." They started to argue and she glared at them, "I'm fine!" She stumbled a few steps but they parted silently and followed as she headed down the trail again.

  The anger kept her going for a while before her steps slowed noticeably and tears started falling again. Not so much because of the pain, but because exhaustion from everything that had happened was wearing her down. She could hardly keep her eye open.

  "Aro, we're stopping for a while," Bo called up to her.

  She turned quickly, the anger rising again. "Do not pity me!"

  Avery walked up and smiled slightly, nodding his head to indicate something behind her. "The trail is starting to veer away from the stream. We're stopping to decide what we want to do."

  She felt like an idiot for getting the wrong idea. It didn't help her sudden anger. Just to make things complicated she was also angry no one seemed to be worried about her. Memories of the Were came to her then. With everything that h
ad happened, the encounter with one of the creatures she'd only heard stories about had completely slipped her mind. He had called her stupid. Right then, she agreed.

  She crossed her arms and followed him back a few steps. She didn't sit with the others, but found a tree to lean against and crossed her arms, trying to hold the pain and the anger in.

  Too many emotions pounded through her, screaming and wrenching, fighting for dominance. She couldn't control them or even make sense of them all. She shuddered, pain lancing through every part of her. Images and snips of voices flashed through her head. Terrifying images, horrible words. Fear held her frozen. Couldn't escape them.

  Her thoughts shifted, twisted, balanced on the edge, ready to break. Something snapped inside of her...all of her feelings tumbled and broke and...warped into one solid thing.

  Anger.

  It filled her, every part of her. Her shallow breathing sped up. She hated the Gelanians for attacking her country. She hated the Frans for taking her as a slave. They'd destroyed her life. They'd helped destroy her home. They'd taken or killed her family. They made her a slave. Then they'd attacked her, they'd beaten her, and tried to do even more. Filthy, horrible men.

  Her thoughts shifted again. It was their fault. The men, always fighting, always wanting more. Always taking.

  Everyone but Prince talked for a while, trying to decide whether to stay on the easier trail, or go through the brush and keep to the stream. She watched Prince for a while. He didn't add to the discussion, he didn't do anything. So like the nobility.

  Something tickled at her brain, for a moment pushing away the anger. Little things she'd hardly noticed edged forward, how he'd known so much about the slavers and what would happen when they reached port. She stood up a little straighter. He'd known how to survive here, what to eat. She'd trusted him blindly on what was safe from the sea, even though much of what he'd fed her hadn't been familiar. He'd made that strange healing paste from plants in the forest. They were on a different continent, how could he know these things? The answer was obvious and brought forth her anger once more. He'd been using them, for what she didn't know.