Only a Glow

by Nichelle Rae

  Rabryn looked down at his stomach. “I already am.”

  We all started to laugh, but it was quickly cut short as that dark damned shadow of dread grew in my mind again! My brother and I nearly choked on the gasps that we tried to suck in. Somehow, he could feel it whenever I did, and we stared at each other in horror—this one was strong!

  Deep cackles suddenly rose up all around us. We were surrounded! Rabryn’s face drained of color, turning ash-gray in the firelight. We all jumped to our feet prepared to draw weapons, but we didn’t have a breath of a chance. From every possible angle, bodies plowed into us. They were everywhere! Some stood back, not even bothering to attack us because there was so many of them!

  A burly body slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. I heard my shoulder crack, and I screamed! Searing sharp pains, like knives raking my bones, shot down my arm then back up through my neck. I had barely caught my breath before a pair of huge hands forced me onto my back. Two more pairs of hands held my shoulders down to the ground. I screamed again as their fingers dug into my broken shoulder.

  The world was racket of noise and confusion, and my shoulder hurt so badly I could barely think of anything else. It throbbed with a burning, almost blinding pain. It was as if the broken bone was still inside me and scraping against another bone! I barely even realized that a slimy, heavy body was on top of me, straddling my thighs.

  “Ortheldo!” I screamed. I couldn’t move! I couldn’t fight! “Rabryn! Norka!” Where were they? Were they okay? Oh, Gods, please, please don’t let them be hurt! Please!

  I strained my ears through the loud voices and provocative cheers to listen for them. I ignored the huge hand wriggling down my pants as I called their names again. I only wanted to hear my boys. I wanted to make sure they were okay.

  My heart pounded when I heard a struggle nearby. The unmistakable sound of a fist slamming into bone was coming from two directions. I hoped it was Rabryn and Ortheldo throwing the punches, but I doubted it. At least I could hear them.

  When a meaty finger was inches away from touching the virgin flesh between my thighs, a loud commanding voice rose over the commotion. “Break it up!”

  The man immediately yanked his hand from my pants and everything fell silent. A friend! Someone was here to help! Relief washed through me, but it just as quickly faded. “Let them up,” the same voice said only softer.

  Frustrated grumbles broke out around me and the world stirred a bit. The huge man straddling my hips got off me while the other two holding my broken shoulder ruthlessly pulled me to my feet. I cried out in pain again. They spun me around, and the fat one grabbed my wrists, twisting them around my back and making me again scream in pain. He then took up a fist full of my now messy braid and forced my head still.

  I could hardly breathe from the pain! I’d never broken a bone before—pulled muscles, yes—but this was more agonizing than I would have thought. I panted through clenched teeth, trying to block out the feeling. Then I saw the source of the voice that had halted the commotion. I glanced around at the crowd and realized there weren’t as many men as I had first thought—only maybe a couple dozen surrounded us. All of them looked dirty and oily, wearing stained clothes and rotted smiles.

  I turned my eyes back to the person who obviously led these creatures. He was now looking at me with bright interest. “Well, well, well,” he said as he washed his eyes up and down my body. “What do we have here?”

  His voice was cool and confident as he lazily strolled over to me. He had potential to be ruggedly handsome if he cleaned up. His dark brown hair was plastered firmly to his head, falling in little ringlets of greasy curls that just grazed his shoulders. He was tall and lanky, with no real air of power except for the multiple scars on his face, neck, and what I could see of his arms. But his filthy appearance, thick, unkempt mustache, and stubby facial hair made him ugly.

  I shot my eyes to each side of him to see two men who seemed to play the part of bodyguards. They were the only two who looked relatively clean. They had Ortheldo's thick, muscular build and sported a head of spiky blonde hair. They wore black, sleeveless leather tunics and pants. Weapons were strapped to every part of their bodies, including straps around their forearms and upper arms.

  I weakly fought against the hand that held my wrists together behind my back, but it was useless. I darted my eyes around the clearing, hoping to get a glimpse of my friends and brother. Finally, to my left, I saw Rabryn. He was on his knees surrounded by three men, and his hands were tied behind his back. I felt my chin start to quiver when I saw the trickles of blood dripping from his nose and lip.

  Ortheldo. Where was Ortheldo?

  The sudden cold touch of fingertips on my cheek made me jump. I turned my eyes forward only to see the scummy leader standing in front of me. His gray eyes were stone cold, yet filled with a strange light as he stared at me. After sweeping down my face, they flicked up to the man standing behind me.

  “Bumbli, you weren’t thinking of claiming this luscious prize before me, now, were you?” His voice was smooth and rather gentle, but now that the surprise and shock had worn off from the ambush, I was getting angry.

  “N-no, Master Jaravel,” Bumbli stuttered.

  The man before me, Jaravel, gave him a meaningful look. “Don’t lie to me, Bumbli.” He sounded like a mother chastising a child.

  I felt the man’s big hands start to tremble. “I—I’m not, Master. I—I just wanted to scare her, that’s all.”

  Jaravel peered at the man a moment before nodding. “That’s a good boy, Bumbli.” Then he addressed the crowd. “You all know that when we find a woman, she is mine! None of you may have her until I do!” He looked back at me with a cold smirk and grabbed my face under my chin. “I want to spoil you first.” he whispered, then he mercilessly crushed his hot, sticky mouth against mine.

  I whined and tried to pull back, but Bumbli was behind me. I tried to turn my face away, but Jaravel held my chin firmly. I couldn’t breathe with his face pressed so hard against mine. I nearly vomited when I felt his tongue pry open my mouth. I desperately tried to back away from it, but I couldn’t move. The rancid smell of him filled my nostrils and made me feel faint as his tongue swirled around the inside of my mouth. I never expected my first kiss to be so unpleasant.

  I suddenly heard Ortheldo scream in rage, and the sound of a renewed struggle came to my ears from behind me. Ortheldo was alive! God of Light, the sound of him filled my heart with such hope. He was okay! Or, he had been okay a moment ago. The sounds of hard grunts came from him as punches were thrown into his body. At one point, I heard him cough up liquid; it had to have been blood! They were killing him!

  Jaravel finally pulled away from me and ran his tongue elaborately over his mouth. “You taste delicious,” he hissed. “I'm going to thoroughly enjoy you, my dear.”

  I glared hard at him. Then I gathered all the phlegm and goo into my throat that I could manage and hocked it into his face. He froze, then absently wiped it away before giving me a look to freeze boiling water. I ignored it and glared right back at him. Suddenly he belted me across the face; it was like getting a two-by-four whacked across my head. The shock of the pain prevented me from even crying out. I went completely deaf for a moment, then the silence was filled with a ringing in my ear. My cheek pulsated with stinging heat, adding to the pain in my shoulder.

  Before I could even recover from that blow, he grabbed the side of my hair, dug his fingers deep underneath the braid to get a good grip, and forced me to look at his face. I thought he might strike me again, but the heat and rage in his eyes took on that cool look of confidence again. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, dear. Don’t do that again.”

  I was determined to stay defiant. “I’m not an object you can claim like a spoiled child would.”

  He smiled evilly. “Oh, but you are,” he said softly. “Now you are.” His wolfish expression melted into one of mock sympathy. “Oh, listen to me rambling on, and we st
ill have to introduce ourselves.” He walked away and gestured widely with his arms to the surrounding men. “We,” he faced me again, “are the Dirty 30. Like the name? I thought of it myself.”

  He hooked his thumb into his brown leather belt and took a few long, lazy strides back toward me. “Perhaps you’ve heard of us.” He grinned that slimy grin that made me want to break his jaw. “We are the most successful band of criminals ever known. We are a mix of murderers, kidnappers, robbers,” his greasy lips twisted up in an ugly smirk, “and rapists.” He placed a hand on his chest and bowed slightly. “My personal specialty.” I wanted to break his skinny neck! “We are the grandest blend ever constructed. I,” he said taking a deep bow, with a big sweeping motion of his arm, “am their leader, Master Jaravel.”

  He stood up straight and pressed his lips together, clasping his hands and holding them to his chest. Another look of fake sympathy washed over his sharp features. “With all that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that you kids have landed yourself in a great deal of trouble.”

  He spoke in such an arrogant tone, as if we were children who’d misbehaved. I wanted so badly to beat the confidence out of him. With my teeth clenched, I stretched out my neck, straining against the Bumbli’s grip. “Forgive me if I don’t tremble in fear, but I don’t see you as any kind of a threat to me.” My voice was a mix of a hiss and a growl. I refused to be afraid of them, I refused!

  His smile widened and his brows went up. “Spirit. I like spirited women. They’re much more interesting in bed.”

  I shot my foot out to kick him between the legs, but he thwarted my simple attack. I thrashed against the man holding me, desperately wanting to crack Jaravel in his mouth. The broken bone in my shoulder stabbed my skin and muscle from the inside repeatedly, but I didn’t care! I wanted to hit him so badly!

  Jaravel laughed at my feeble attempt to get free.

  I hated being laughed at.

  “Master,” a voice said from behind, “this one is more trouble than he’s worth. Can we dispose of him?”

  Jaravel waved his hand to the side, and Bumbli immediately stepped out of his path, pulling me with him. I winced from the pain in my shoulder, then turned my head to the right where Jaravel headed. My stomach lurched at the sight; bile even managed to rise into my throat. “Ortheldo!” I screamed and frantically tried to get out of Bumbli’s death hold. He pulled my arms tighter behind my back, and I screamed when I felt the sharp end of my broken bone almost pierce through my outer skin. I had to hold still! I couldn’t move to help him! He was hurt so badly, and I couldn’t do anything about it! I was panting and on the verge of tears.

  Ortheldo was on his knees, his hands tied behind his back and eight men surrounding him. All of them were glaring down at my friend, sporting some bad wounds of their own that Ortheldo had inflicted; Ortheldo, my warrior. Blood gushed from his nose and mouth and dripped off his chin to the ground. His eyes were red, one swollen twice its normal size already. Sweat beaded on his forehead and cheeks as he breathed heavily through his mouth, his nose clearly broken.

  The man who had spoken gripped the top of Ortheldo’s hair and forced his head back at a nearly impossible angle. Ortheldo’s own sword was in the man’s hand, and he pressed it hard against Ortheldo’s throat.

  “Let him go! Please!” I cried without thinking.

  Jaravel looked over his shoulder at me. He studied me for a moment. Then that loathing smirk spread across his face. “Ah, she has a weakness for this man, does she?” He looked back at the creep holding Ortheldo. “We’d better keep him around, just to ensure she does what we want.”

  “Very well, Master.” he replied, and then threw his knee into Ortheldo’s chest once, twice, three times!

  “Stop it! Stop! What do you want!?” I screamed and started trembling with fear and anger.

  Jaravel turned toward me and started walking. “Well, my dear,” he began, looking down at his fingers interlaced against his chest. “We were just planning on robbing you, then killing you,” he looked up at the sky a moment and shrugged, “or vice versa.” He grinned wolfishly at me. “Now, however, I realize another alternative.” He stopped in front of me and traced my collarbone with his fingertip, then dragged it down in between my breasts.

  “You see, we’re a group of 30 lonely men who are always on the go, so we don’t get many chances for…pleasantries.” He brought his fingers to rest on my lower lip and brought his face in front of mine, our noses practically touching. “Unless we stumble across a young woman who can indulge us.” He leaned in closer to me. “That's where you come in,” he whispered.

  I tightened my jaw. “I will not be your whore.”

  His lips brushed over mine as he lightly dragged his knuckles down my throat. “You’ll do exactly what you’re told,” he whispered, then lightly dragged his tongue across my bottom lip, “or we’ll kill your boyfriend.”

  He pulled away suddenly and held a finger up. “You’re partly right, though. Not all of us want you.” He held up his hands in mock innocence. “Oh, it’s not that you aren’t deliciously tempting, because you are.” He put one hand behind his back and held the other up as he took a step toward me. “Some of us just have different tastes.” He looked away to the right. “Isn’t that correct, Relrand?”

  One of the men holding Rabryn grinned, revealing a mouth of mostly missing teeth. “That’s correct, Master.”

  Jaravel turned back to me. “You see, we know that your Salynn friend over there, for some reason, can’t use his magic.” He gave me a sickening grin that made my blood run cold. They must have seen that Rabryn couldn’t light the campfire. “And Relrand here has a weakness for Salynns, men and women alike. But because they are so powerful, poor Relrand doesn’t get to enjoy Salynns very often. Sometimes we manage to catch a Salynn wondering alone and can overwhelm them, but not often enough to slack Relrand’s lust.” Jaravel and Relrand chuckled hideously. “So, this one here will be the source of Relrand’s pleasantries.”

  I slowly turned to look at Relrand. The seams of my sanity were stretching. My eyes bulged with madness, my teeth clenched so tightly my jaw burned. “If you touch my brother, it will be the last mistake you ever make,” I warned in a throaty voice that I hardly recognized as my own.

  “Brother?” Relrand asked, his eyes brightening at the possibility that I might be a Salynn, too.

  Before I could react, Jaravel punched me hard across the face. My head snapped to the side and blood and broken teeth exploded in my mouth. But I felt no pain this time. I felt only the boiling heat of rage spilling over. I balled up the blood and broken teeth with my tongue and spat into Jaravel’s face, sending him staggering backward.

  “You bitch!” he wailed, frantically wiping it away. He suddenly grabbed my throat in one hand, the cool confidence in his composure gone, which gave me minute satisfaction. “Just for that, I’m going to let you watch what Relrand does to your brother!” he said, jerking his head in their direction.

  I shifted my eyes to see Relrand shove my brother forward, putting his chin level with the ground. He then gripped Rabryn’s hair and forced my brother’s head up, putting one foot on each side of his body. He first rocked his hips back and forth, rubbing his crotch over my brother’s clenched fists.

  Relrand let out a shaky sigh then leaned down close to Rabryn’s ear. “I like Salynns cause they’re tighter than humans,” he said in a breathy whisper. “Are you nice and tight?” His hand slid down the back of my brother’s pants. Both of our eyes went wide.

  I felt my face start to tremble now with how hard my teeth were clenched, how tense every muscle in my body was. Rage pounded in my veins and throbbed painfully in my temples. I could barely see straight. All that I could see were my baby brother’s big blue eyes begging me to help him.

  “Oh, yeah,” Relrand sighed, probing my brother. “I'm gonna use you in every creative way I know how.”

  Rabryn screamed in such sudden rage that even I jumped. Then he but
ted his head backward, nailing Relrand in the nose. Satisfaction overwhelmed me when I heard the bone pop and saw blood explode from his face. Relrand dropped to his knees in agony.

  Before he could recover from the blow, Rabryn dropped down onto one shoulder and, with another animal scream, slammed his foot as hard as he could up into Relrand’s nose again.

  I stared, mouth gaping and eyes wide. How do you know how to do that? I wanted to scream. I knew that move would kill someone instantly, but how did my brother know? It was part of the weaponless combat style that only my father and I knew. Kicking or hitting someone in the nose from that angle sends the bone fragments shooting up into the brain, killing the person immediately. “A recipe for instant death,” my father had called it. Rabryn shouldn’t know that! My brother, my brother, just killed someone!

  Within seconds, the men nearby had their hands on him and tried to restrain him from doing any more damage. Rabryn’s expression was nothing I could have ever imagined on my brother’s handsome, delicate, Salynn face. His teeth were bared widely, his brows drawn together so tightly that he resembled a vicious animal more than anything human or Salynn. I barely recognized him with his face was so twisted, but I felt oddly proud of him.

  Jaravel stormed toward my brother as the men pulled him to his feet. He gripped Rabryn’s long hair behind his head. “Just for that, I’m going to handle you myself! Just so your sister can watch!” He brought his face to within an inch of Rabryn’s. “And I’m going to rip you in half.”

  Rabryn didn’t even blink and brought his face closer to Jaravel. “You should listen to my sister. If you touch me, it will be the last mistake you ever make. She’s not someone you want to piss off.”

  I couldn’t believe he said that! He believed in me! He trusted me to get us out of this mess, and he made it known to our enemy. He trusted me!

  Jaravel punched my brother in the stomach, and Rabryn doubled over. “NO!” I screamed.

  Then Jaravel grabbed my brother’s hair again, forcing him to look up at his face. “Bend over, Salynn.”