“No matter what is said, don’t get riled. Don’t do anything until we get to Turrock or he’ll go into hiding,” I whispered before we reached them.
“We’re not idiots,” Zink said from behind me.
I didn’t look at Callon.
Ivan smiled, ignoring my entourage. It might’ve been bluster, or maybe he was confident in his superior numbers. He shouldn’t have been; I recognized most of the men behind him. He was going to die a miserable death, hopefully today. I saw it as I stood there.
“Didn’t believe it was you without the droopy eye. You’re walking all straight and normal now. Too bad Baryn is gone. He’d have an awful lot of fun, seeing as how you’re a clean slate and all.”
I heard a low rumble, but it didn’t come from Callon. It came from Zink. That I hadn’t expected. The guy didn’t even like me. I might’ve underestimated Ivan. He did have a way of rubbing people the wrong way.
Callon was frozen, possibly not breathing anymore.
Ivan popped his head up, finally looking beyond me.
Not good, not when I didn’t know whose eyes might be glowing red.
“Where’s Turrock? My business is with him.” And I had to see him before things went south and I lost my chance. Don’t look at the boys.
“Which is?” Ivan asked.
“Which isn’t any of yours.” Ivan’s attention was fully back on me, which was what I needed. He couldn’t die yet. I needed to get to Turrock first.
“You’re awfully haughty now, aren’t you? Too much time off the pole, if you ask me, but we’ll be fixing that real soon.”
Ivan reached out toward me, and I knew exactly what he was going to do. He’d done it many times in my past. He’d grab a hank of my hair and then wrap it around his fist. Then he was going to die, because I was going to kill him.
There was a blur of a movement. When it was done, Ivan’s hand was lying on the ground in front of me and I was getting sprayed by the blood shooting from his stump as he screamed. Dammit. I’d wanted to kill him, and now he was going to bleed to death.
For a few seconds, there were no other sounds other than Ivan’s screams. It didn’t last long. Suddenly, the entire village was screaming. I hadn’t realized how many people had been looking on, hiding behind buildings or bushes. Maybe even hanging in the trees. Now they were all running and yelling as they stampeded toward the gate.
I didn’t have to look far or rack my brain to know why. I was surrounded by fur and fangs. Three of them. All three had changed. Not one of them had listened to me, despite what I’d said or Zink’s words. What happened to “we’re not idiots”? Apparently they were, because it was chaos and there was no way I’d be able to get to Turrock. He’d probably been watching on and was hightailing it out of there right now, and who could tell with all the people running around?
I spun on them. “What did I tell you people? Don’t do anything no matter what is said. Did you not hear me?”
I got a growl in response. I wasn’t sure who growled, and I didn’t care. They could fuck off too. I had to act quickly. I didn’t have time for this. I ran in the direction of Turrock’s house, hoping I’d catch him. The beasts following me weren’t helping matters, but at least they kept the path clear so I could cover ground faster.
By the time I got there, the door was swinging on the hinges. Turrock was gone, and so fast he hadn’t bothered to shut the door.
He hadn’t made it past us, which meant he was either still in the village somewhere or, more likely, had left by another route. There’d always been rumors that there was another way in and out. I’d never been able to find it, but I’d believed it.
I walked over and punched the door.
“We’re too late.”
Thirty-One
We walked through the now-empty village. I was no worse for wear, except for my mood. I couldn’t say the same about Callon, Hess, or Zink. They’d shifted so fast that they’d torn their clothes. There wasn’t a large selection of fine clothes for them to choose from, especially when you were built like them. They looked a bit ragtag, but it served them right. What were they thinking?
“Just tell me one thing.” I stepped around Ivan’s dead body, lying in a pool of blood. No one had bothered to get the idiot a tourniquet, and there was a boot print on his cheek. “Who took off the arm?”
I didn’t care that he was dead. I was pissed off royally that he hadn’t died when I’d determined he should, which would’ve been after I’d talked to Turrock.
“I did.” Callon gave me a stare that dared me to say something about it.
Oh, I’d dare, all right. “Why? You couldn’t hold back for half an hour? You knew how important this was.”
He stopped walking and planted himself in front of me. “No. I couldn’t.”
“The guy was annoying. He had it coming,” Hess said.
It was idiotic, but no one was going to agree with me if that meant disagreeing with Callon. I took a deep breath, telling myself to drop it. The opportunity was lost for now, but not forever. Turrock would come back here and I’d get my answers, if I was still alive. I might have to sit and wait him out, but he’d be back.
We walked through the gate that was left wide open. I didn’t know where everyone had taken off to, but there wasn’t a body to be seen.
We hadn’t gotten too far when someone whistled. It could’ve been a bird, but I’d heard these signals before.
Callon gave an answering whistle.
“What’s that mean?” I asked, barely getting the words out as Callon picked up the pace.
“Koz caught someone. They’re not alone.”
I began jogging toward where we’d left Koz and Tuesday. When we got to them, Turrock was on the ground beside them, passed out, knocked out or plain dead. Wasn’t quite sure which. Then I saw his chest move. Tuesday was beaming like she’d given him the knockout punch. Koz was beaming at her as if she had.
“What happened? How’d you get him?” I asked.
Koz pointed his thumb in Tuesday’s direction. “I didn’t see him with all the people running. I was looking in the other direction. Next thing I know, she’s yelling for me as she’s launching herself onto his back. We think he hit a rock on the way down, but he’s alive, with a steady pulse.”
I closed the distance and hugged her. That part only lasted a couple of seconds before we began jumping up and down together.
“You did it!” I said.
“I know! I did it! I did it!”
The guys might’ve thought we were overreacting, but they couldn’t understand. She hadn’t just caught Turrock for me. She’d tackled him to the ground while avenging herself. She went from being so terrified of going back that she could barely eat, to slaying her dragon. What she’d done was broken free of the fear she’d lived under her entire life.
“Let’s take him a little farther away for more privacy,” Callon said, before hefting Turrock over his shoulder.
We didn’t get much farther than a mile or so before Callon dropped Turrock onto the ground, leaning him onto a boulder with shrubs all around. Dammit. I knew this place. It matched his death scene. He’d been leaning on that rock right there, and the rest? It was too gory to think about. Would we do that to him? We were either sick fucks or really desperate. I hoped we were sick fucks, because this couldn’t get screwed up again.
I had to take control of this situation before what I saw happened. “I have something to say. This is very important.”
They all actually turned to listen to me. I couldn’t let that get to my head, though, because there was a huge, gaping distance between listening and following. These people did not follow well, or follow me, anyhow.
I pointed at Turrock. “This man is going to die in this field.” Nobody blinked an eye over that statement. One thing about beasts: they weren’t faint of heart. Tuesday was smiling, looking like she wanted to do a little war dance around the clearing.
“He can’t die until I get my answ
ers. This does not end the way it did in the village, right? No one touches him without my say-so.”
I got a couple of noncommittal shrugs from the guys. Callon gave me nothing. Tuesday was frowning.
“This is important,” I said.
“We’ll try. Best we can do,” Hess said.
Unlike when I spoke, he got a round of nods.
I turned to Callon. He didn’t like me much right now, but he was a reasonable man. He had to see the logic in my request. “Callon?”
His arms were crossed as he stared at Turrock. His eyes were nearly flaming red. “Answers or not, he won’t live to dawn. That’s the best I can give you.”
I turned to Tuesday. With enough pressure applied, she’d back my play, and then Koz would follow suit. I wouldn’t have the majority, but I’d have a stalemate. “Tuesday, you know we need answers. It was your idea.”
She looked down at Turrock’s limp body, his gut overhanging his waist, a line of drool hanging from his bottom lip. He was as disgusting as his soul was dark.
“I can’t help. I agree with them. We wake him up and he’s either going to give you answers by dawn or he’s never going to tell you anything. Keeping him alive isn’t going to do anything but make the world a shittier place.” She took a few steps toward him while taking a swig from her canteen. She spat through her teeth into his face.
Turrock groaned in his sleep.
“That’s the most help I can offer, because the truth of it is that he deserves to die. I watched him torture you for years, and I won’t let him string you along for days on end. He shouldn’t be allowed to see dawn.”
What the hell had happened to Tuesday? She was more bloodthirsty than the guys. I watched her turn back to go stand with them. Callon patted her on the shoulder as she neared.
I had to get to work, and fast. I grabbed my canteen and splashed some more water on Turrock’s face, trying to bring him the rest of the way to consciousness. His eyes opened as if he had sandbags weighing down his lids. They passed over me as if he didn’t know who I was. They shifted to the guys and then paused on Tuesday. They shot back to me, as if Tuesday had confirmed my identity.
“So it’s true.” He leaned back his head and laughed.
“Shut the fuck up, you bastard.” Tuesday, who’d never hurt a fly, walked over and kicked Turrock in the ribs.
Turrock grunted and rolled on his side.
I grabbed Tuesday’s arm. “I know you’re upset, but can you please not kill him?”
She pursed her lips but nodded after a second. I’d thought the guys were going to be the problem, not my hundred-pound friend.
She took a step back.
I kneeled in front of Turrock. “I have some questions for you. After you answer, we’ll let you go.”
The dark eyes of the devil narrowed on me. “Bull. I’m not stupid, girl. You’re going to kill me. Why should I tell you anything?”
Most of the guys were looking on with I told you so expressions. Tuesday had bloodlust emanating off her. Callon’s eyes were still blazing red.
“I’m the only thing between you and them.” I pointed behind me. “I suggest you start talking. Who did you buy me from?”
He stared straight at me then opened his mouth before closing it again. Then he shrugged. The fucker was screwing with me.
Still, I kept trying. “Did my mother sell me? Did you meet her?”
His eyes flickered. I waited.
“You know, I miss the days when you were chained to the pole, silently weeping. Do you miss them?” he asked, sounding completely genuine.
Callon walked over, and a fist crashed into Turrock’s mouth. Turrock’s head lolled on his shoulders before it rolled back. He laughed, blood spraying from his mouth. He was happy. He knew he was going to die, and he wanted it quick. He wasn’t going to get what he wanted this time.
I turned and looked at Callon. “I need him alive.”
Callon reached to grab my arm but stopped short. He pointed instead. “Over there.”
I walked far enough away that Turrock shouldn’t be able to hear and turned to Callon.
Callon gave Turrock a glance before turning to me. “He’s not going to talk. He knows he’s dead either way. He knows you’re going to kill him because he knows what he did to you. He won’t give you anything. If we’d managed to talk to him in his village, we might’ve been able to trick him into speaking. But not now.”
He went to walk back, and I jumped in front of him. “Maybe we let him go free. We bring him back to the village. I’ll get my answers and kill him another day when we can convince him he’s safe and trade for the info.”
“No. People like him shouldn’t be allowed to live.”
“I’m the one he wronged.” I laid a hand on Callon’s arm before forgetting we didn’t touch anymore and jerked it back. I crossed my arms in front of me so I wouldn’t accidentally do it again.
He looked over my shoulder. “And I’ll be the one who kills him.” His tendons were strung tight and his hands were fisted.
Why had I believed I could keep him under control? It wasn’t like anyone could control me. Why would I be able to control Callon when he was just like me? His beast being so near the surface only enforced that.
The vision I’d seen of Turrock’s death was finally fitting together. I grabbed the knife I’d tucked into my boot, knowing what I had to do.
“I’ve got an idea.”
I turned, knife in hand, hoping I’d be able to pull it off. I knelt beside Turrock, knife in plain sight by his face.
“I’m never going to tell you anything. You might as well get it over with or let your animal do it,” Turrock said, then smiled as if he’d won.
“You are going to tell me everything. Do you want to know why?”
“Sure. Why?”
I waved Callon over, making a quick tweak to my plan because I wasn’t sure I could do what was needed, not the way it had to be done. I might have the anger, but not the know-how or the stomach.
Callon came and stood beside me. I held my knife out to him, and he took it. Everyone else watched closely, wondering where I was going to go with this.
“This man here is going to torture you, the way I was tortured, but worse. With that knife, he’s going to gut you; he’s going to open up your belly and then pull out your intestines until they’re sitting on the dirt beside you. You’re going to die a long and slow death. But that won’t be the end.
“See, you knew I had magic when you bought me, but you didn’t realize what I could do. The thing of it is, I don’t only see death, I can save you from it. All those years, you wasted me. You could’ve used me to conquer countries. With me, you could’ve been immortal. Now, I’m going to use my magic to give you the worst end anyone has ever had. Every time you die, I’m going to bring you back to life so he can kill you all over again. I’m going to keep you here in agony until I get my answers. I’ll keep you at the brink of existence, where you’ll writhe in pain, the way I did, for as long as it takes. And you know what?” I leaned closer and smiled. “I’m going to enjoy it.”
“You’re a liar. You can’t do anything of the kind.” His words were confident, but the shudder in his tone told me he was on the verge of pissing himself.
I stood to make room for Callon. “Gut him.”
I forced myself to watch on, trying not to throw up, as Callon did exactly that as if he’d been born a butcher. Tuesday backed away. Even Hess was watching a spot in the forest above the spectacle instead of looking on. Koz pretended he needed to comfort Tuesday, but I knew green when I saw it. Zink was fine.
I focused on Turrock’s face. The yelling I could handle, but the rest was rough. I couldn’t turn away, though. When Turrock looked my way, he had to see an immoveable stone. But watching him get disemboweled made my lunch repeat, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever eat another piece of sausage again. Callon reached into Turrock and dropped his intestines into the dirt.
I cleared my throat. T
urrock’s eyes shot to me, his nose running and tears streaming.
“Callon, cut his throat to speed things up. We can go slower on the next round. I want him to see what’s in store for him.” Please, don’t make me do this more than once. Even to him, I wasn’t sure I had it in me.
Callon dragged his knife across his throat. I gripped Turrock’s hand, afraid to let him get too far into death. I’d never actually brought someone back. I’d only kept them from crossing over. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that right now, as it hadn’t been thought out any of the times before.
I closed my eyes. Please come back. I need answers. Don’t die.
My hand warmed. The slit at his neck began knitting closed and Turrock’s eyes flickered open. I dropped his hand immediately, afraid to give any more of myself. Every other time I’d done this, I’d had a recent death, something to transfer. This time? Yeah, I only had my own, and I’d just given a little to Turrock.
“Now give me my answers,’ I said as firm and tough as I could. If he didn’t, there wouldn’t be another go around or I’d be dead. I already felt like I had a couple toes in the River Styx as it was.
His forehead was dripping sweat and he was looking at me as if I were the devil come to collect him. I’d won.
“I’ll die quick?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“It was a man that brought you, not your mother. He showed up at our gates and said that your mother died and you needed a home. That she’d been a Plaguer so you’d have magic. Baryn was the one there. He bought you for a sack of rice. That’s all I know.”
“That’s it? Everything? I don’t believe you.”
He began sobbing, trying to reach for me, but he was too weak to grab my hand. “That’s it. I swear it. Please…”
I stood. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I didn’t see a reason to. I believed him. He wreaked of desperation.
“I think we’re done,” I said, about to drop down beside him. Tuesday was quicker, though. She marched over with knife in hand. It was a quick swipe right across his throat, reopening the wound that had knitted closed.
Savage One: Born Wild Book Two Page 19