by Scott Moore
Mollie was at the wagon. Malik waited for her to pull back the tarp. He felt like a coward. He allowed Mollie to pull back the tarp for him to see if he had gone crazy or not. If he hadn’t gone crazy, then he allowed Mollie to put herself in danger. She had killed one of those things though. Malik had frozen when he saw the second creature. He had frozen the first time too, even if he had tried to overcome that fear.
Abrie wasn’t here to save them if he had not been seeing things. Mollie reached her hand up.
“Wait!”
Malik was ashamed that the voice wasn’t his own. It belonged to a woman. Malik and Mollie both twirled around to greet her.
“Do not open that tarp.” She sounded just as alarmed as Malik had been moments before.
“What is in there?” Mollie asked.
The woman looked from Mollie to Malik. “Did either of you look into the wagon?”
“What is in the wagon,” Mollie asked again, raising her voice.
“We don’t know what it is. We have not borrowed those secrets yet.”
The woman moved passed Malik toward Mollie. “I suggest we leave it covered.” She moved to the wagon, pulling the tarp cover back over the corner.
“What is it?” Mollie asked again, this time to Malik.
Malik had not been seeing things. Whoever this woman was, she confirmed he had seen what he thought he had seen.
“Why are you keeping it?” Malik asked, ignoring Mollie’s question for the moment.
“To figure out what it is,” the woman answered. She had secured the tarp down to the wagon’s corner. “Come join me.” She waved Malik and Mollie to come sit with her.
“What do you plan to do with it?” Malik asked, not moving from his spot.
The woman sighed. “I do not know. The decision was brash. We caught it in the woods some twenty miles away. We have seen four since our travels started near Opallum. The first three we killed by mere luck. The fourth caught by a trap orchestrated by Timbre and his brothers.”
“You are Simbre are you not?” Malik asked.
“That is my name. Timbre, the man who brought you here, is my eldest son.”
Malik took a few steps closer to her.
“Where are you taking it?”
“We have not decided. Timbre was on the road around Lake Bridge to scout for others like this. Instead, he found you and your friends. You have seen the creature before?”
Malik had let too much escape to Simbre. Now they were on an even footing. Both knew that the other had seen the creature before. Malik doubted that Simbre had been the creator of those monsters. His shoulders eased.
“This is all great. I am glad you two are becoming the greatest of friends. However, I still want to know what is going on,” Mollie said.
Malik took a seat across from Simbre. He motioned for Mollie to come join them.
“I will join you when you two think it necessary to clue me in.”
“Those creatures, we have seen twice.” Malik pointed toward the wagon. “There is one tied up in the wagon behind you.”
Mollie turned toward the wagon. “You were going to just let me peer in there?”
Malik felt embarrassment rise in him.
“I thought I had just imagined it. I didn’t think there was an actual beast in there.”
That changed nothing though. Even if he had thought it only a vision. He knew deep down that he would have let Mollie open that tarp just to confirm he wasn’t going crazy. He could try to convince himself he had thought it an illusion, but deep down he had known what he saw.
“I am sorry.”
Mollie looked to the cart again. “This is all too much for me.” Mollie turned to walk away. Malik stood up to go after her.
“Wait,” he called for her.
Mollie didn’t stop. Malik made to go after her, but Simbre stopped him with an outstretched arm.
“She is confused and hurting.”
Malik knew the same confusion and hurt. He knew several reasons for her to be both. That was why he needed to be with her.
“I need to talk to her.”
“She needs some time to be alone. I will have Timbre watch over her from a distance. There is no one better at keeping track of someone. She will calm down and come back around.”
Malik stopped trying to fight against Simbre. “When will you call for your son?”
Simbre smiled a warm smile. “He has already heard and will be on his way.”
“What is it you would like from us?”
“You hurt too. I can see this. Your friend will survive. I have word from our doctor to that fact. It is still hard to go through what you have seen. All we want from you in return for our service is simple.” Simbre patted Malik on the back. “We want what everyone wants to prosper and expand.”
“All we have to do is play you a few songs?”
“No songs, you will give us another type entertainment. We gifted you the life of your friend. We want something equal in return. We borrowed, now you repay.”
“A sacrifice?”
“You are so morbid. I want nothing quite so dramatic. I want you to get married.”
Chapter 15
Payment on the Go
Simbre took Malik by the hand, guiding him away from the wagon. Malik had never even kissed a woman before. Many girls had talked with him at inns and taverns. Abrie had always joked that he had a way with the ladies. He had always been afraid of them in secret.
Malik tried not to think too much. If he did, he would run and make a fool of himself. Didn’t everyone dream of marriage someday? Simbre wasn’t an ugly woman, shouldn’t he be happy?
Simbre moved Malik to a white-clothed tent.
“You will be prepared here.”
Malik swallowed a lump in his throat. This is how stories talked of becoming a man. There was nothing better in all the world, the books told him.
“Lay down,” Simbre said, pointing toward a bedroll in the center of the tent.
Malik didn’t question. He was too nervous to question anything.
“Get comfortable,” Simbre said, bending down toward Malik. “You will be fine.”
Malik chuckled a nervous laugh. “Oh yeah, sure.”
“I am glad you have come around.” Simbre’s hand grazed over Malik’s cheek like a mother patting her child.
Simbre stood. Malik watched every step she took as she made her way across the tent. He hoped she had changed her mind. Maybe he could play a few songs instead. That would make everyone happy and he could move on with his life.
What did moving on with life entail now? If Abrie died, then there was nothing for him anywhere in the world. If Mollie hated him too, then he had nothing. Maybe he could become a borrower and live happy with them.
Simbre left the tent. Malik leaned forward eyeing the tent flap. He could make a run for it and get to the medical tent. Maybe Abrie was better. The old man had a way about surprising people. At least he did in the last week.
“There he is,” Simbre said, coming back into the room.
Malik looked from the opening to the flap that Simbre had left out of. Simbre had come back with a young girl. The girl wore a white gown on her body and fresh tears on her cheeks.
“What is going on?”
Simbre put her hand on the back of the girl’s neck. “This is my daughter.”
“What is she doing here?”
Simbre didn’t look like the motherly type anymore. Her face had drawn back and Malik saw all the faults in her features.
“She is who you will give your life to.”
The girl looked no more excited than Malik to be here in the tent. The stories were a lie. It wasn’t what he wanted. At least not right now.
“She does not want to be here.” Malik thought it was obvious. Couldn’t Simbre see that?
“She will do what is needed of her.” Simbre didn’t look toward her daughter. She showed no emotion to the sobbing girl beside her.
“She does not wa
nt that.”
“Fear is something everyone has. Every woman fears the idea of giving their lives to a man. It will pass and you will both be happier after.”
“I do not think so.”
Malik stood. He had every intention on getting out of the tent.
“This is how you have agreed to repay us for saving your friend.” Simbre sounded offended that Malik had gotten up from the bedroll.
“I don’t even know what I promised. This isn’t something that someone promises away. This is wrong.”
Simbre looked confused. “What did you think would happen?”
Malik held his hands out in front of him. “I don’t know. This doesn’t happen every day to me. I didn’t know what to say, and now I do.”
“You are being a child.”
“I do not have time for this. I have to find Mollie and check on my friend.”
“You cannot go without paying up your part of this deal.”
Malik pointed toward the girl beside Simbre. “She is your daughter. How could you do that to your daughter?”
Malik had seen some cruel people across his travels with Abrie. He had thought he saw the worst of them, but Simbre showed him that surprises came in all packages.
“She will conform.” Simbre squeezed the girl’s neck. “Tell him you are ready for this. Tell him to sit back down on the bed.”
“I do not need to hear forced words of fear. I cannot force your daughter to leave your company, but I would suggest she stay in the next town.” Malik stepped forward to leave the tent.
His priorities weren’t in this tent. He should have followed Mollie. Simbre had used her presence to lure him away. As Abrie would have told him, he had been dumb. Abrie would have put it better than that, but Malik didn’t have the time for fancy words.
“Thank you for saving my friend.” Malik started toward the tent flap. “We all appreciate your efforts, but I think it is time we gathered our things and headed out.”
A hand pressed into the chest of Malik, pushing him back into the tent.
“Ahh, Zimbre, so nice of you to join us.”
Malik moved a few steps back, taking a better look at Zimbre. Malik assumed that this young man was also a son of Simbre. Unlike Timbre, this son was large, muscular, and he looked less than happy.
“I was just leaving,” Malik said, not daring to step forward.
Zimbre shook his head. “I don’t think I heard a dismissal.”
Malik looked over to Simbre. She still held her daughter by the base of the neck. Malik wondered if she let go, if the girl would bolt for the nearest exit. Then he thought again. Zimbre towered over the only exit Malik could see.
“I don’t want any problems. I just want to gather my friends and be on our way.”
“We all want you to get back to your friends. We would love nothing more than for you to all be on your way happy and healthy,” Simbre said. “However, first you must repay our efforts.”
Malik fished around in his pockets. He didn’t have much coin, but there was enough there for him to at least offer. He pulled out the handful of coins.
“You can have this and all the coin in Abrie’s supplies. I know it isn’t much, but it is what we have to pay you back.”
“That is not the agreed upon terms to our deal. You followed without a pause. This is what you wanted.”
Malik thought about running through Zimbre. Then he thought it would be the equivalence of running into a brick wall.
“I was confused. I had just seen that monster. Mollie had stormed off. My friend is dying, and I don’t know what I am doing.”
“I said a life for a life.”
“But I didn’t understand it. I was clouded. I want to leave.” Malik sounded like a panicked child.
“You understood.”
This is why Abrie never let him out of his sight. He always got himself into a mound of trouble. This time it was more of a mountain. Malik drew in a deep breath. There had to be a way out of this.
“I just want to go.”
“You will go, right after you pay.”
Simbre stepped forward putting her hand on his shoulder. “Do not make this hard on yourself.”
Malik would have believed she cared for his feelings. Her voice was soft, her eyes reassuring, and her touch gentle but he looked again to the girl behind her. She would sacrifice her daughter’s feelings for a deal. That meant she was not a good person.
Malik wanted to plead with Simbre again. Maybe he could play to her emotions. Timbre had seemed like such a good man, maybe Zimbre would listen to him. Malik turned, looking at Zimbre. He didn’t look like anything in this whole ordeal had moved him an inch. Malik wasn’t getting out of this.
He took a few steps back. He would have to fight Zimbre. There wasn’t any other solution. This would have been a good time to have grabbed his bow.
Simbre stepped in front of her son. “Do nothing foolish.”
Malik planned something very foolish. He would step forward, swing on Zimbre, and hope in the initial shock he could run right by him. After that, everything else was up in the air. He still had to make it through the camp, to the medical tent, gather Abrie, find Mollie, get the mules, and then run away without being caught. It was a horrible plan and doomed to fail but he had nothing else.
“Move.”
“I will not allow you to ruin this moment.”
Malik wasn’t sure what kind of moment Simbre thought they had, but no one in the tent smiled. Even Zimbre looked frustrated that he had to be here.
“One more chance,” Malik said.
He made empty threats. Zimbre would destroy him.
Simbre stepped forward but didn’t get to Malik before Zimbre let out a groan. Zimbre fell to his knees, holding his midsection in both hands. His sister was behind him. She had moved when no one paid attention to her. She had dropped Zimbre to his knees in a world of pain.
Malik realized he would never get a better opportunity. He grabbed the girl by her wrist and ran. He could hear Simbre yelling for him to stop. When he refused, she yelled at Zimbre to get them back into the tent.
Malik continued to run. There were so many things that would have to go right for this to work and he doubted he would ever get that far, but he just ran. He ran first to the wagon where they had been keeping the monster. There he found Mollie. She looked up at him alarmed.
“We have to go, now!” Malik grabbed her by the wrist with his free hand. Lugging both women behind him, Malik started off toward the medical tents. He had not expected to get this far. There was no panic in the camp. No rushing of the guards around the perimeters.
Simbre hadn’t been around to tell anyone what had happened. He may pull this off on pure luck. He stopped at the entrance to the medical tent. Callie and Sally were still where he had left them.
“You two stay here with the mules. If I don’t come back out, then you two run into the woods. We have to get out of here, fast.”
Mollie tried to ask something, but Malik stopped her.
“I know I have a lot to answer for, but right now, just please trust me.”
Mollie closed her mouth, watching him enter the tent.
Malik ran past the other patients. He ran past the waiting area, where they had been earlier. He ran to the tent flap where he had seen Timbre go to the nurse. Behind the curtain was another small section. Here there was a narrow hallway leading back into a bigger room. The doctor leaned against a small desk smoking a cigar. His nurse leaned over Abrie who stirred under his covers.
“Oh hello,” the doctor said, startled that Malik had barged into the room. “You must be the friend?”
Malik decided not to answer. He didn’t have time to have a pointless chat with the doctor. Malik ran to the bed, pulling the covers away from Abrie.
“Get up!”
Abrie’s eyes peeked open. Malik wondered he could hear him.
“Come on, Abrie.”
Abrie groaned but didn’t move to follow Mali
k. The nurse stepped beside Malik.
“Your friend will need to stay with us for some time,” she said. “His wounds were deep, and he will not walk until the lesion has healed.”
Malik looked from Abrie to the nurse and then down to Abrie’s stomach. The stitching looked angry and red. The nurse was right. Abrie wouldn’t be doing anything under his own duress for some time.
That meant that Malik had to carry him. Malik put his hands under Abrie’s neck and back. He was just about to lift him when the doctor stepped forward, pressing a needle into his arm.
Malik looked down, watching the doctor press the stopper. Whatever was in the needle hadn’t been for Malik’s benefit. He felt woozy. His legs shook, and the room spun. Malik felt like vomiting all over but fell to the floor.
“Get him into the strap-downs.”
Malik tried to stay focused. He needed to get up and get Abrie before Simbre got around to informing the rest of the camp what had occurred. He needed to get back to Mollie and the girl. Malik needed to do a lot of things at that moment, but he couldn’t do any of them. He leaned his head back onto the floor and closed his eyes.
Chapter 16
The Disappearing Act
When Malik woke up, his head swam. His vision blurred. He reached up to rub his throbbing temples, but his arm jerked to a halt at about his hip. He tried again and again, but it was of no use.
“Those will keep you no matter how hard you fight against them,” said a female voice.
Malik tried turning toward the sound, but his head wouldn’t move either. His head throbbed from pressure around his temples.
“What do you want?” Malik asked.
He knew that the woman in the room with him was Simbre. She had enough time to alert all the other borrowers to his escape attempt by now. Where were Mollie and Abrie?
“If you only would have complied with our deal, then this would have never had to happen. I did not want this. You forced me to make this a reality.”
Malik tried again to rip out of the restraints. It didn’t work.
“So, you tied me down to a bed?” Malik tried to hold back the fear.
