When a flicker of flame brightened my skin, one of the men shouted in surprise. “Captain, she’s got the mark of the Untouchable on her! We can’t touch her,” one of them said, backing up with his hands raised.
Captain Moss sneered, agitated that the gift he’d brought for his men came with fine print. “Anyone who doesn’t have a problem breaking the highest law is free to do as he pleases with the princess.”
The soldiers looked torn, some falling back and others hesitantly moving forward. A few of them calling out, “I’m not touching, I just want to watch.” As if watching the highest law be broken, but not technically breaking it themselves was good enough to service their shred of a conscience.
Fedrir fell back, now that my shirt’s collar wasn’t hiding my neck tattoo. “I can’t, Captain. Someone else have a go. That psychotic Madigan the Formidable must’ve marked her. I’ll not go up against him. If she was just her majesty most high’s daughter, that’d be one thing, but I can’t break the code of the Untouchable.”
Captain Moss harrumphed and barreled through the men to cut off my bra and give my breasts a rough squeeze, as if to show them how it was done. I refused to scream, though the panic welled up like bile in my throat. “See? Nothing’s happened to me. I broke the highest law, and I’m still standing. No one had a problem taking their turn with the duchess. A little ink, and now you’re all running scared from a sweet little piece like her?” He slapped my butt hard, knocking me against the pole.
I was too terrified to cry, instead vomiting all over the post when a few hesitant and curious men with a death wish grabbed at my exposed body. Lane was screaming as she scrambled to me, but was quickly kicked away by one of the soldiers. The hands multiplied, gaining courage with the Captain’s continued assault. I had to get to Lane, to somehow get her out of here.
The vile hands were everywhere, violating and bruising, as if I was the reason they were angry at the world. When my underwear was yanked down my thighs, I headbutted the nearest man, sending him staggering back a few paces. I didn’t have a plan, only that I wouldn’t go down without a fight. There was too much touching, too many hands. My screams and even my best fight were too ineffectual.
I said a fond farewell to my virginity and my sanity, and gritted my teeth to get though whatever the next phase of my life might be after this unthinkable day.
There was no hope left for any of us.
And then the ground started to shake.
19
My Brave Knight
I thought I’d finally lost my mind when brown vines slithered up the throats of the men surrounding me. There were so many of them now, that I lost count. They couldn’t all get close enough to grab at me, but they at least wanted to watch with all the fascination of Superbowl Sunday. One by one, they fell back with choked sounds of surprise, collapsing, and then being dragged away by some invisible force. The hands on me were ripped away, and the sight that greeted me made me finally burst into tears. Red streamed down my face and clouded the green vision of mercy and judgment.
Kerdik and Link ran through the men, who were all choking on the vines that had spontaneously grown from the dirt and grass, and attacked them with vengeance. My heroes charged toward me, faces fraught with distress and fury. Link reached me first, and cut through my bindings with his knife, his teeth gritted in disgust. He didn’t stop, but sawed through Lane’s bindings next.
Kerdik knelt down behind me and slid my underwear up my body with trembling fingers as the ground quaked with his rage. I brushed the ropes off my unsteady wrists and managed to flip my shirt over my head. My quaking fingers fumbled with the buttonholes that had no buttons anymore, while Kerdik quickly searched for my jeans.
The men choked and writhed on their knees around us, but Kerdik paid their pain no mind. He dressed me with all the respect of a cherished friend, holding me tight when I finally had enough clothes on to feel like a person again. He washed my face without a word, not shushing me or telling me it would all be alright. It was too late for lies like that. The water cleansed my face, but it was the rest of me that felt dirty. “I’m here now, and I’ll take care of it,” he promised, which turned out to be the only right thing a person could say in that situation.
I didn’t understand why Kerdik pulled away from me until I saw him unbuttoning his crisp white shirt and moving toward Lane, who Link was trying to revive with water from his canteen. Lane had been knocked unconscious by the soldier’s boot to her face. Kerdik was respectful and somber as he moved to Lane’s body. Link was equally careful, turning her this way and that when Kerdik’s palms poured out a stream of water to bathe her with.
Lane finally roused, but when her eyes fell on Kerdik, she gasped in fear that I knew wounded him. Still, he was kind. Kerdik removed his shirt and wrapped it around her, once Link helped her to sit up. They threaded her arms through the shirt, and Kerdik even buttoned her up, keeping his eyes on her scared face the whole time. I could tell he was talking to her, but I couldn’t hear anything above the choking and cries for mercy that plagued the air around us.
“Where are the others?” I asked Link.
Link shook his head with a grave expression. “Ambush in the woods. I’m the only one tha escaped.”
I held out my hand to Link. “Knife?” I requested when my voice finally found enough strength to be heard.
“Aye. Slit however many throats ye like, love.”
I didn’t want more violence. I wanted my best friend. I stumbled on rubbery legs over to Reyn and Judah, untying Reyn first, though he didn’t seem to see me, and he didn’t move once freed. I snapped my fingers in front of his face, but he didn’t even blink.
“He’s checked out,” Judah informed me. “Lost his mind after the first week of them doing all that to Lane. Hasn’t said a word in days. Just stares.”
I met Judah’s eyes, my gaze blazing into his with a promise that somehow I would make this up to him. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t want you caught up in this.” I was clumsy with the knife, trying not to let my fingers slip and accidentally cut him.
“Easy, Ro. It’s alright. I think we might be saved now. Those are the good guys?” he guessed, nodding his head toward Kerdik and Link.
I nodded, biting my lip to keep myself from bawling all over again. When I finally freed Judah, the familiar hug found me, making me ache all over with the love I’d been missing. I didn’t care that my torn shirt had fallen partially open, he cared about me. There’s something magical and indescribably peaceful about the love of your favorite friend. His grip on me was weakened, but the connection was there. He smelled like the dirt of the ground he’d been confined to, but beneath it was the scent that was inherently Judah. He smelled like the home I’d had to pretend it was fine to live without.
But it wasn’t.
“Wait here with Reyn,” he instructed after we finally pulled away to get a good look at the difference a year apart had made. He was missing his glasses, but the rest of him was the Judah I loved. “I need to go help Lane.”
“Wait. Where are Remy and Damond? There were two other guys who were traveling with Lane. Where are they?”
Judah pointed a dirty finger toward a short post on the far edge of the camp. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was a ball or something oblong-shaped atop it. “They killed Damond first and burned his body. Then they tore Remy apart a few days ago. Knocked him around for sport. He was a good guy. Didn’t deserve that.”
I gasped and let out a horrified scream when I realized it was Remy’s head atop the post. My brave knight, my healer, and my friend – gone without ceremony.
My cousin who’d finally come into his own and left his horrible father – was also utterly destroyed, but without even a trace of him to bring back to Draper. A sob burst out of me, but this was beyond tears.
Remy had sworn his allegiance to me. He’d wanted nothing more than to be my knight. He went with my mom to make sure she was safe on her trek to bring peace to the out
skirts of Avalon. Damond had given up his claim on Province 2’s throne to build a better world with us. Both their noble efforts came to a violent end that I knew no amount of therapy would ever be able to reconcile.
Judah picked up my hand and put it atop Reyn’s. “Wait with him. Lane needs me.” I nodded, scooting over to Reyn and wrapping my arms around his neck. Though he was basically a doll with no language or movement, I clung to him to communicate warmth, in case that might help him realize Lane was finally saved.
Remy was dead. Damond was dead. I clung to Reyn’s neck tighter to fend off the terror that was just plain too much.
20
Don’t Touch My Prize
Kerdik came over to me once Link retrieved my pack from the woods, and had given Lane a pair of my pants, underwear and one of my shirts to wear. The fifty men in the camp were still on their knees, drawing in miniscule gasps of breath as they struggled against nature’s attack. The vines didn’t relent, nor did they put the men out of their misery. They were stuck in their limbo between dead and wanting to die.
Kerdik ignored their strangled pleas and buttoned up his white shirt, along with his gray vest, his fingers no longer trembling. He handed me an untorn shirt from my pack, and then knelt down in front of Reyn, motioning me away from the immobile man. He held out his palm, and I watched a small flower bloom there.
I slid my arms into the welcome garment, startling when a small flame burned the flower to ash. I made a noise of confusion when Kerdik blew the ash into Reyn’s face. Reyn didn’t even blink, but inhaled the powdery residue as he stared vacantly ahead. His eyes began to grow heavy, and in the next few breaths, he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
“What did you just do?” I asked, unsure how nervous I should be.
“I was merciful. I’m letting Reyn sleep through his pain. He’ll wake up when we’re back at the palace, and he knows Lane is safe again. I can’t imagine if I had to sit through what he’s had to witness, if you were on the receiving end of the cruelty. I would beg someone for the kindness of knocking me out.” He brushed off his hands and then tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, taking my flinch in stride. “Come with me,” he ordered gently, helping me to my feet.
“They killed Remy and Damond. They tortured Remy.” I pointed to the post as my stomach roiled. “That’s his head.”
Kerdik snapped his fingers, and the ground beneath the post sank down into an impromptu hole. Fresh dirt covered Remy’s head, burying it so my knight didn’t have to look on the horrors of life any longer. He cast around for Remy’s body, and dragged it to the same spot, burying the mangled mess in a similar fashion to keep animals from picking at my friend’s flesh.
Kerdik returned to my side, his arm coiling around the middle of my back. “I’ll not have you plagued by that sight. He’ll not be on display another second.” Then Kerdik raised his hand like a conductor, sprouting an oak from nothing, and making it grow into a mature tree, its branches shading the grave of my brave knight who had given up everything for Avalon.
Kerdik walked with me to the trunk, and raised his finger to trace his tight scroll into the bark. “I’m writing your name and Remy’s, and then a poem I enjoyed years ago. Is that alright?”
I nodded, the shock still rolling through me. “What does the poem say?”
“It’s simple. ‘You fought for me, but I never had the chance to win it all for you. I would’ve fought, my friend, to the very end of ends. Yet there you are, and here I am.’”
I frowned as something pinged in my mind. “That’s a song in Common. It’s from ‘End of Ends’, off Lost and Forgotten’s second album.”
Kerdik shrugged, wondering if I was starting to lose my grip on reality, which I’ll admit, wasn’t too big a stretch. “Come, darling. Your knight will rest now. Where is Damond’s body? Help me find your cousin.”
“Burned,” I croaked with a grimace. “Thank you.” I clung to Kerdik as we walked toward the center of the camp, stepping around the red-faced men who were still writhing on their knees. Kerdik stroked my cheek and held me close. We walked in-step, as if we were one body.
Judah was kneeling with Lane, who was rocking herself in the dirt, clinging to the clothes on her bruised body as Judah held her together. I could tell it was the first loving touch she’d had in too long, because she gripped Judah tightly while she sobbed.
“It’s over, now. It’s all over,” Judah whispered, squeezing her tight with tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn’t have his glasses on, and the only mercy in all of it was that hopefully Judah hadn’t been able to see every detail of the horror his surrogate mother had been forced to endure.
Link’s voice boomed out across the camp. “Which of ye are guilty of breaking the highest law?” He was livid, his sneer in full swing as he paced with his sword drawn. “Rosie’s marked as ours. She belongs to the Brotherhood. She belongs to Madigan, to Bastien, to Nicholai, to Antonio, and to me. Which of ye touched my prize?” He sounded like a furious child, barking at a schoolmate who’d snatched at his toy.
When no one fessed up (I mean, I’m not totally sure what sort of honesty Link was expecting from a bunch of murdering rapists), Link turned his furious gaze in my direction. “Which of them, Rosie? Whose hands touched my prize?”
I was mute with stage fright, unsure what I should do. I didn’t want violence to be solved with more violence, but I couldn’t let the men go free after all they’d done; they’d just find another woman to terrorize. “I… I don’t know.”
Link moved to the nearest man, bunching his hand in tufts of the dude’s hair and yanking upward as far as the vine could stretch, exposing the guy’s Adam’s apple to me. “What of this bloke? Did he touch my prize?” Spittle flew out from Link’s mouth, and all of his muscles were tensed in preparation for the blow.
Lane’s voice cracked above the din. “Yes! He broke the highest law, Link. He touched Rosie.”
Link nodded, as if he’d been hoping for this answer. In a move so swift, I couldn’t look away in time, Link sliced clean across the man’s throat, spilling blood all over the front of his red and gold uniform. I yelped and hid my face in Kerdik’s shirt, not wanting to see such a gruesome scene.
I was surprised when Kerdik turned my chin to face Link. “No, darling. You’ll not close your eyes through this. You’ll see every one of your attackers put to death, so you don’t lose a single night’s sleep, thinking they might come for you.”
“I don’t want to see this!”
Kerdik held my face so that I didn’t miss a second of the violence. “This is a kindness Link is paying you. Watch him, so you know you’re safe with the Untouchables. Seeing them defend their territory?” He shook his head in admiration. “You don’t get warriors this pure anymore.”
Link moved to the next soldier, yanking his hair up in the same way. “How about this one, sweetheart? Did he touch my prize?”
I was still dumbstruck, too scared to speak out in my own defense. Judah saw me freezing up and shouted, “They all did! They all deserve to die.”
I couldn’t believe such vile words birthed from Judah’s mouth. I didn’t blame him, but still. It was a shocker. Avalon had that effect on people, I guess.
Link nodded, as if waiting to hear this exact answer. Still, as he moved through the camp, he incited more and more fear in the remaining soldiers when he shouted out with a booming brogue, “What of this lad? Did he touch my prize?” as he approached each one, putting him on display for me. Kerdik held me, and Judah held Lane as one by one, all the men fell at Link’s capable sword. His vengeance was controlled, which was the most terrifying thing about it. Anyone can go on a blind rage, but to stalk your prey, put them on display, read out their sentence and carefully select the next victim struck a spine-tingling fear in the remaining soldiers.
Bloody tears streaked down my face, mercifully clouding my vision by blinding me. It was a kindness my new genetics paid me, and for once, I didn’t resent the crimson that s
tained my cheeks. I was grateful that I didn’t have to see the rest of the men bleeding out on the dirt at Link’s feet.
21
Home Sweet Home
Kerdik’s hand didn’t leave me the entire way home, staying affixed to my spine as if to assure me that all men weren’t disgusting, and that all touch wasn’t bad. Judah did the same for Lane, since Reyn was still unconscious. When we reached the castle, everyone was careful with the rescued prisoners. Link helped Judah down from the horse as if Judah was a little boy, though I knew anything youthful in Judah had most likely been stamped out by now, courtesy of Avalon.
I let Kerdik carry me inside. We both knew I could walk just fine, but Kerdik needed to show me that men could be kind. I needed to let him teach me that lesson, lest I forget it forever.
Link was gentle with Lane’s form as he carried her into the castle. She looked so fragile and broken that we were all afraid she might not make it back alive. “I need a healer!” Link bellowed as he entered our home. The servants yelped at the state of their duchess and ran to fetch Jean-Luc and my father.
My dad reached us first, crying out in fear when his eyes fell on us. “Lane? No! What did they do to you?” Link surrendered Lane to my dad, whose eyes welled as he carried her up to her bedroom.
Jean-Luc was summoned to examine Reyn and Lane in her chambers, and a second healer I’d met in passing once was called to examine Judah and me. Judah was physically alright, with only a few bruises and bumps, but the haunted look in his eyes was the thing that worried me most. How many horrors had he been given a front row seat to? How many world-shattering crimes had he been forced to witness?
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