by H. D. Gordon
Surah took his hand now, pulling him to a stop. A small sweat had broken out over her brow, and her purple eyes stared right through him. When she spoke, her soft, sweet voice was low and gentle. “If you hadn’t killed them, they would have killed your brother, right?”
Charlie nodded slowly. “But that don’t change the fact that people lost their brothers and husbands and sons that day. Don’t make me no less a killer.”
“Better they lose a brother than you,” she said, raising her left arm and running her fingertips over the black marks there. “I would have done the same.”
Charlie smiled now, but there was only sadness behind it. “Yeah, I guess you would have.”
She gave him a small shove. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Charlie held his hands up. “Nothing, mighty Princess. I wasn’t implyin’ anything.”
Surah narrowed her eyes at him for a moment and then couldn’t help a small smile herself. “Okay. I get it. I cut off one little finger and one dirty tongue, and now you think I’m just some crazy person.”
Charlie was full on grinning now, the troubling memories of his past having been swept away with a single smile from her. “Nah, I don’t think you’re crazy,” he said, and paused, running his hand down his jaw. “But I’m not so sure I’d tell you if I did.”
She laughed at this. Charlie thought she had the most beautiful laugh.
When she was finished, she laced her arm through his and on they walked. After a moment, she turned to him with a speculative look on her face. “Charlie?” she asked.
“Yes, love?”
“When the Hunters came to get you, who was leading them? Do you remember which Hunter made the official arrest?”
Charlie stared at her for a moment. Then he gave a slow nod. “Yeah. I remember. It’d be kinda hard to forget, seein’ as how that was the second time I made acquaintance with Theodine Gray.”
CHAPTER 29
SURAH
“I knew it,” Surah said. “When you told me the story about Arron, I got the feeling you’d encountered Theo at some point after. I just didn’t guess it was when he arrested you for murder.”
Charlie gave her a slightly sheepish look, which she found only made him more adorable. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know how you’d react to it,” he said.
Surah shook her head slowly, understanding why he’d feel that way but also knowing why she couldn’t judge him for it. Like it always was with him, she found herself speaking her mind. “I’ve killed people for less,” she said. When he just looked at her, she added, “I mean, you didn’t want to kill those men, but you had to, to save your brother. You even tried to walk away from them, which I would not have done, not after seeing my sibling beaten. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it.”
Charlie arched a brow. “Don’t you?”
“What? Feel bad about the lives I’ve taken?”
Charlie nodded.
Surah thought about the question for a moment. “I suppose at one time I did… but after a while, feeling bad about it gets taxing, especially when you live life with a target attached to your back. I don’t enjoy hurting people, not if they don’t deserve it, but I also know if it’s a choice between them or me, I’d rather it be me.”
“And if they do deserve it?”
Surah shrugged. “I liked punching CJ in the face.”
Charlie laughed, and she bit her cheek to keep from smiling again. She didn’t want to seem like a grinning fool, but she enjoyed hearing him tell her about his life. His deep voice was like a soundtrack to the journey they were on together, making the constant climbing up and down small hills more bearable. She thought she could listen to him tell her about his past forever, and found herself surprised at the similarities in experience she and Charlie had. She too had taken her first lives in protection of her brother, and would do so again, if her brother were alive. As she thought about Syris, she wondered what she would do if she were in Charlie’s position. If she knew her brother was crazy and dangerous, would she be able to turn against him to protect others?
She looked over at Charlie. Would she have betrayed Syris to protect him? This was a question she had no answer for, and very much didn’t want to ponder, either.
“Can I ask you something?” she said, wanting to take her mind off that question, and also quite curious.
“Shoot.”
Surah tilted her head. “How did you survive that long in Contrain? I’ve heard that most people don’t survive a few decades in there, and much fewer still can make it through a single term. When that judge gave you three, it was practically a death sentence, or would’ve been for most men. So how’d you do it?”
Charlie was silent for so long, she didn’t think he was going to answer her. He just kept his eyes on the trek ahead, staring off into the distance as if the answers to all existence waited there. She could see the wheels turning in his head, his mind’s eye forcing him to relive some dreaded memories, and she felt sorry for having asked about it. It was just that she’d never personally met anyone who claimed to have made it through that kind of sentence. She could see Charlie was telling the truth about having been there in the liquid of his eyes, she was genuinely interested to know just how he’d done it.
They were cresting another hill now, and as they reached the top they saw a small town below. It was little more than a handful of one-story buildings and a spattering of modest homes. Surah was distracted from the conversation for a moment as she stared down at it, trying to put a finger on just what was out of place. Then it hit her, there weren’t any people. Not a single Sorcerer or Sorceress to be seen. While Surah knew the population of a town this size could not be too many, she still thought someone would be out and about.
She turned to Charlie, her brow creased. “Where do you think they all are?”
Charlie scanned the area, then shook his head. “The city, I guess. Wantin’ the answers Theodine’s flyer promised.”
A little worry started to bubble up Surah’s throat at this, but she did her best to swallow it away. “How many people do you think are headed that way?” she asked.
He shrugged. “We’ve stuck to the trees and hills and stayed off the roads, which is why we haven’t come across anyone, but I’d say quite a few. People are worried.”
Surah nodded, knowing Charlie was putting it mildly for her benefit. For some reason, the sight of this small, empty town had slammed into her the reality of how bad things were at the moment. The Magic disappearing had seemed like the cherry on top of the sundae with everything else that was going on, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe it was the ice cream.
Of course people were worried. They were probably more than worried. They were probably scared and on the edge of freaking out, and they were all headed to her father’s doorstep in an impressive mass…
She had to shake these thoughts away, because they were running thoughts, and they would get away with her if she let them. When a warm hand fell on her shoulder, she turned to Charlie and studied his face until a smile found hers. He was like her personal ray of sunshine on her emotions.
“You hungry?” he asked.
Surah nodded dramatically, her stomach growling at the question, making both her and Charlie laugh. “I’m pretty sure I could eat a cow,” she said.
Charlie gave her his half smile and started down the hill toward the town. “I don’t know about a cow, but I’m sure someone stayed behind who could sell us some food. You wait here. When I get back, I’ll tell you how I survived in that place. But you gotta listen this time and stay here. We don’t need no more people seein’ you. Deal?”
Surah nodded. When Charlie gave her a slightly dubious look, she sighed and sat down on the ground, folding her legs under her and her arms over her chest. “Okay?”
“Perfect,” he said, laughing a little as he took off down the hill.
Surah stared after him, thinking of her father and Samson and everything that was going on, whi
ch was better than thinking about what was going on between her and Charlie. Her mind told her they could never be together, calculated all the reasons they were wrong for each other, but her heart didn’t concern itself with logic, and it kept insisting anything was possible. She’d thought she was beyond this type of love, having given up hoping for it as the years ran on and those around her got married and had children. And now she’d found her love, but he came in a package wrapped in shards tipped in poison.
She snapped out of these thoughts to see Charlie exiting one of the small stores, holding two brown paper bags. As he approached her, it took her a minute to put a finger on what was missing. Her brow furrowed when he handed her one of the bags. “Where’s your guitar?” she asked, peering around his back to see it was no longer hanging there.
“Traded it for food,” he said. Then he pulled two black cloaks from the bigger bag in his hands and held them up. They were faded and patched and made of cheap material. “I got these too.”
Surah eyed the old cloak and took it when he offered it. “I guess that’s good thinking, as I can’t very well walk into the city in my cloak and expect to pass for a commoner, but you shouldn’t have traded your guitar for it. I’m not carrying any coin, but I could’ve traded one of my weapons instead.”
Charlie waved a hand. “That’s alright. I can always make another one. ‘Sides, I feel better with all your weapons right where they are.”
Surah’s eyebrows shot up. “You made that guitar? Really?”
Charlie nodded as if everyone fashioned their own instruments. “Been makin’ em since I was a boy. I always wanted to play but never had the money to just buy one, so I went to the shops and studied the curves of them, the way the strings were set and what kinda wood made the prettiest sound. Lotta wasted wood, but eventually I figured it out. Used to sell or trade em from time to time when my brother and I would find ourselves in tight spots.”
Charlie may as well have said he’d built a rocket ship for how amazing Surah thought this was. She’d been taught many things as a princess, everything from survival to horseback riding to multiple foreign languages, but she didn’t think she’d ever really built anything from scratch before. She’d taken a brief interest in the violin when she was younger, and her father had bought her the best money could get, but after a week or two, she’d gotten bored with it, and it had sat in the music room in the castle ever since. She wondered if she would’ve stuck with it had she had to spend hours building the instrument. Probably not. She likely wouldn’t have even had the patience to finish putting it together.
“You wanna find somewhere to sit down and eat, or you okay to keep going?” Charlie asked, breaking into her thoughts.
Surah looked up at the sun, seeing it was nearly at its zenith, which meant midday was approaching quickly. She wanted to reach the city by then. “Let’s eat and walk,” she said, tossing the new cloak Charlie had gotten her over her shoulders and clasping it over her old one. She would just have to wear both, because she wasn’t taking her other one off. Charlie wasn’t the only one who felt better with her weapons right where they were. “I bet once we reach the top of that hill over there we’ll be able to see the tops of the buildings in the city.”
Charlie’s eyes followed her finger, and he shielded them against the sun. The hill she was pointing to was about two hundred yards in the distance, and it was much taller than the ones they’d been climbing thus far. “I bet you’re right,” he said. “We’re not far off now.”
Surah took a sandwich out of the brown bag and handed Charlie his. She unwrapped hers and took a bite. “I guess you better get talking then. I held up my end of the deal and didn’t move from that spot. You ready to tell me how you made it out of Contrain?”
She watched as Charlie’s face went dark again, his jade-colored eyes going distant. “I guess I should tell you that Theodine knew one of the men I killed,” he said. “I never found out how he knew the guy, or even which guy it was, but when he was transporting me to Contrain he told me I’d ruined a good business venture for him, and he promised I would be regrettin’ that decision for the rest of my life.” He gave her a rueful look. “I guess he was kinda right about that.”
When he just looked at her, Surah nodded for him to continue.
He sighed. “So when he took me there he checked me in himself, stayed hanging around as they took my picture and made me strip outta my clothes into the prison jumpsuit. I ‘member he had this smirk on his face the whole time, because I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to punch anyone in the face so much as I did right then.
Then they took me to this room that was a dirty yellow color from top to bottom. I mean, the walls and ceiling and floor, all this sick yellow. And Theo told the guards to make sure the chains ‘round my wrists and ankles was good and tight. They did. Then he told them to leave, and they did. It was just me and him in that room, and he had this cold grin on his face that told me something bad was about to happen. And he was right.”
Surah had stopped eating her sandwich, her face scrunched up in worry. “He had you beaten?” she asked. “Right when you got there?”
Charlie nodded. “Yeah. He made sure of it. He brought in three other prisoners, and one of them remains the biggest man I ever seen in my life.” He shook his head, as if the images there were no good. “Yeah, they beat the shit outta me. Put me in the infirmary for two months. I had four broken ribs, a broken jaw and nose, internal bleeding in my stomach, and a punctured lung from where one of ‘em stuck me with a shank.”
“That’s not legal!” Surah said, suddenly outraged. She’d heard horror stories about Contrain, but mostly it had to do with the prisoners. She certainly didn’t like to think the guards and Hunters were mistreating people wherever they saw fit.
Charlie chuckled at her outburst. “I was a dead man far as the ‘legal’ system was concerned. Didn’t nobody care ‘bout a four-time murderer and his treatment behind bars, but don’t feel bad. I wasn’t the only one. Everyone in there is on their own.”
Surah finished off her sandwich, dusted her hands and crossed her arms. “It’s still not right,” she said.
“You wanna hear the story, love?”
She sighed and nodded, thinking that if things ever got back to normal in her life she would be looking into the practices at the prison. She hated the thought of even one other person like Charlie suffering the way he obviously had.
“So when they were done,” Charlie continued. “I was lyin’ on that sick-lookin’ yellow floor, blood leaking outta me in all kinds of places, my breathing real tight and labored, in more pain than I had ever felt in my life, and just before I blacked out, Theo leans over me and tells me this isn’t the end of my pain, that it’s only the beginning, that every day I was there would be just like this one, would end with me lying in my own blood just tryin’ to breathe. Until one day, I just wouldn’t get up again.”
Surah could feel herself practically boiling with anger. Especially at Theo. She guessed she wasn’t the only one who wore a mask. Theo wore one, too, and he had everyone fooled with his handsome face and false politeness. She’d known there was a reason she’d never really liked him. She saw now that it was because Theodine Gray had a cold heart and a messed up sense of justice. Now she didn’t just dislike him, she was sure she hated him.
“They put me back in general population once I was all healed,” Charlie said, his voice a deep monotone, his mind clearly far away, reliving another time. “And I knew it was only a matter of time before they’d come for me again. A guy I got to talkin’ to in there told me as much. Told me I was on some list—marked, that’s the way he put it, and I had better make good with my conscience before they came for me.”
“Were you scared?” she asked, and her voice came out very small.
Charlie let out a deep breath before answering. “Yeah, love. I was scared. I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life… but you gotta understand what goes on in that place. Shanks
weren’t the only things they woulda tried stickin’ me with if I didn’t do somethin’. I had nothin’ and everythin’ to lose. You get me?”
Surah said she did, and he continued. “I thought it’d be better just to go to them, rather than wait for them to come find me. So that’s what I did, and when I got there, I didn’t let the big man who’d punctured my lung that first day get a word out before I planted one right on his jaw.” Charlie shook his head. “He punched me back so hard if I think about it I can still feel the pain of it now,” he said, and laughed as if this were a good joke.
“Long story short, we fought until I wasn’t sure I could take it anymore. We was both covered in blood and I couldn’t tell which of it was his or which of it was mine. In the end, I really just got lucky.”
When he didn’t continue, Surah said, “That’s it? All that build up, and that’s how you end the story?”
Charlie smirked, but it disappeared slowly as he spoke. “Alright. He swung at me and I stumbled out of the way. We was both real tired by this point, and being as he was so big the force of this weight carried him forward and he happened to fall near one of the workout benches. The bench was made of all metal, and had legs that was about an inch wide in diameter. His head landed by one of those legs, and I lifted the bench and slammed it down. Went through his left eye and out the back of his head. Then I lifted the bench and slammed it down a couple more times… I remember his blood splashin’ up on my face, and when I looked up I seen the whole yard just looking at me… so I …tasted some of the big man’s blood.”
Surah’s jaw fell open and it took her a moment to pick it up. “You did what?”
Charlie shrugged. “You know, I just, like, licked it off my hands a little after.”
