by Aimee Moore
The man turned me around, and I shoved at him. The table met the backs of my legs, and he grabbed my wrists with one hand. Heavens, he was ugly, and every cell of my being was crying out for him to get away from me.
“I'm gonna remember the look on your face,” he said with an evil snarl.
With a rough shove, I was on my back on the table, my dress being shoved out of the way. Panic threatened to overwhelm me as one manacle hand squeezed my wrists too tight. Dal wasn't coming. I was about to be violated in the worst way. I wanted to kick and struggle and scream, but this man was stronger than me and I would end up like Kenni shortly, with no memory of what happened to me if he continued to hit me.
That was more horrifying.
Rain pelted my face as I went limp.
“That's right, bitch.”
The man's hand left mine so that he could push all of my skirts out of the way and grope at my most private places. I knew what was coming next. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I reached my hands down through the mass of fabric and found the velvety hard length of his erection. I sent as much fire as I could muster to my hands.
Within moments, a howl of anguish split the air, and the man's genitals were ripped out of my hands. I sat up immediately, my hands sizzling on the wet table, and watched the man double over, falling to his knees. He raised his face to me from there in the mud, the veins in his neck and temple bulging in his red skin, and he cursed at me as spittle flew from his mouth. The curses kept coming amid the howls of anguish, and I didn't stop to listen.
I jumped down from the table and bent to help Kenni. She raised her head from the mud and looked at me, then looked at our attacker, hunched over in the mud.
“Come on!” I said into the roar of rain and curses. I helped haul her up out of the mud and we skirted the tormented man, climbing the stairs as fast as our slipping feet and skirts would allow. At the very top, there was only one room, and I burst into it with Kenni and slammed the door shut, bolting it.
Kenni slumped to the floor in the darkness with a muddy squelch, and both of us sat for a time, listening to our heartbeats and the rain pounding outside. I expected to hear the rumble of steps being climbed. Angry yelling. A crowd to march upon us with axes and torches and rage.
But the seconds spanned into minutes with only our breathing and the patter of rain knocking at our ears.
I took a deep breath and raised one shaking hand, letting a tall flame dance in my palm to light the room as I approached Kenni.
Kenni gasped in my firelight. “You're one of them.”
I knelt next to her, turning her face. It was swollen and purple on one side. “I only just found out a few weeks ago. I'm not good at it yet.” I frowned as I examined her. “You should get a poultice on that, Kenni.”
“You burnt that son of a bitch right in the pecker, didn't you.”
I nodded.
Kenni gave a bitter laugh. “Good.”
I dropped my hand from her face. “Mindrik said you left with a man putting his hand up your skirt. He made it sound like you were...”
“Willing?”
“Yes.”
Kenni touched delicate fingers to her swollen cheek. “No. Doesn’t matter though, does it.”
“I don't understand,” I whispered. “You weren't fighting him off when I found you.”
Kenni rose slowly, composing herself. She took a deep breath and walked over to the lanterns. “I don't fight them anymore. None of us do. It doesn't help.”
“They do this to everyone?”
“When the Kraw came, they brought a lawlessness that put an end to our food. Starvation brought on a panic, panic bred wild things of the men we thought were decent, even in their lawlessness. They stole, they killed, they raped, they drank.” She lit the lanterns with a steady hand.
“No one tried to defend anyone?” I sat on the only bed in the room.
“There were few. Aye, there still are, and we have a system established. But... this is just how it is now.” Kenni turned to me. “Let's have a look at your arms, shall we?”
I frowned up at her. “I'm fine, but clearly you're not.”
Kenni glanced around the sparse room, sitting on the bed next to me, smearing mud all over the moth-eaten blanket. “Your Mindrik has only ordered one bed.”
“He said it was all that they had.”
“He fancies you.”
“He fancies himself.”
Kenni sighed. “What I wouldn't give to have a man look at me the way Mindrik looks at you.”
I tilted my head at Kenni, thoughts chasing the skirts of logic through my mind. “Come away with us. Don’t stay here to be treated in such a vile manner.”
Kenni looked away and shook her head. “S'not that simple though, is it Sera.”
“It is.”
Kenni met my gaze. “I have a son.”
My mouth fell open. “Impossible.” I whispered. “You're younger than me.”
“He’s still a babe. You’re not younger than nineteen yourself.”
“His father...?”
Kenni waved a dismissive hand. “Could be any one of the degenerates downstairs, though the lot of them like to take just enough ownership to brag about being functional.”
“Please, Kenni, come away with us. Bring your son.”
Kenni shook her head. “I'll not hear of it. There's soon to be food here. Food and stability for my son. And it's my job to raise a decent man so that this town has a future. Jaffer would waste away without my help, he's all this place has, and I'm all he has.” She rubbed at my arm, which was now bearing the angry purple blossoms of finger shaped bruises.
I rubbed at the prints, reliving the horror in my mind of how they got there.
“Please. Don't tell your Kraw what has happened,” Kenni whispered, looking at me with worry creasing her brow.
“Why ever not?”
“Because this is my home,” Kenni whispered.
“Kenni, Dal will end your abuse. You understand that, don't you? People like that are monsters.”
“Please. I cannot bear the thought of my son being caught amid the panic an angry Kraw would cause. Those men down there wouldn't be decent for a long time after, it would be the dark times all over again. We have a farm to look forward to now.”
I searched her haunted gaze. “Alright, Kenni.”
Kenni gave me a smile that didn't meet her eyes. She rose. “Well then, best be getting back to Jaffer before my son drives him to drink again. He is a rascal, that one.” She didn't look at me again.
A wall settled between us. I didn't understand why, but to push the matter would be fruitless, I knew that from her retreating manner. “Thank you, Kenni, for trying to save me.”
Kenni paused at the door, chin raised, watching the floor instead of me. “My demons need not be yours, Sera.” And with that, she stepped out into the rain, leaving me with a single lantern and some mud.
I bolted the door when she had gone, then lay on the single bed, staring at the ceiling. I didn't know how I wouldn't tell Dal what had happened, he would see the bruises on my arm and know. He would be the fearsome Kraw warrior that the town had come to hate.
I should have ignored his advice and stayed in that barn with him. But then Kenni would go on being treated like so, out in the cold dark rain, her attacker not answering for his crimes. At least I had ensured that he would not assault another person for a long while.
After a time, the door rattled, and adrenaline sent my heartbeat into a frenzy. My mind concocted the image of my red faced, rain spattered attacker, armed with an executioner’s ax, pushing at my door.
There was a knock, and a muffled man's voice came through the rickety door. “Seraphine? It's me.”
I rose and rushed to the door, removing the bolt to see Mindrik mildly wet, standing in the door. He stepped in with a smile, weaving his fingers and leaving the extra water from the rain outside.
“You, my dear, missed the gra
ndest show I have ever seen. Coming from one that lived at the university, let me tell you what a statement that is.”
“I fail to see what sort of entertainment this hovel could offer,” I said in a flat tone as I bolted the door behind him and walked back to the bed.
“A man came rushing in from the back, howling about his dick being burnt off.”
I turned and gaped at Mindrik.
He flushed. “Pardon my language, Seraphine, but I assure you it was most amusing.”
“What else did he say?”
Mindrik laughed. “The poor fool said that a demon woman had come to his village and lured men into her skirts so that she could burn their cocks off.” Mindrik chortled. “Then the bastard went mad, raving about a red headed demon with tentacles of fire between her legs, yelling and spitting at anyone who disagreed. He tried to drop his trousers and show us.”
My face barely moved.
Mindrik stopped chuckling and looked at me. “Well, you'd have to be there, I suppose.”
“I'm glad I wasn't,” I said under my breath as I turned away.
Mindrik sat on the bed next to me, and I tensed.
“Why are you dirty, Seraphine?”
“Dirty?” I frowned.
He ran a hand down my arm and I shivered away. “Yes, dirty.” He rubbed his fingers together to show me the mud.
I looked down at my once lovely dress, now smeared with mud in some places. I hadn't even noticed.
“Oh,” I whispered.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“There's mud on your cheek, Seraphine. Why won't you tell me what happened?” Mindrik's voice was soft, and for a moment, I almost believed that I could tell him.
“It's not a big deal. I just slipped outside.” I looked up at Mindrik to see him frowning. I gave him a smile that didn't meet my eyes. “Embarrassing, really, being so clumsy. I was hoping to clean up before you got back, but there's nothing here to clean with, so it looks like I'll be the mud princess for some time.” I finished on a fake laugh.
Mindrik sighed. He began to turn his wrists and twist his fingers in that weaving motion I'd come to know as Mindrik calling his water gift, and soon a large glob of water had coalesced before me.
I glanced at him, unsure of what he planned.
“Shh. Just stay still,” he said.
I did so, and the glob of water spread over me. Through my hair, over my neck, caressing my face and scalp. I sighed and closed my eyes, tilting my head back. The sensation was euphoric; like being massaged all over. The water ran down my chest, between my breasts, and over my belly. It saturated out through my dress, and back in again, down my legs, between my toes. It rushed up my back, over my shoulders, around my ears, and through my hair some more.
I let off a pleasurable sigh, wishing Dal was here to share this wonder with me. The water caressed down my neck, slowing, stopping at my breasts. I wanted it to continue, I wanted it to rush over my most sensitive places in warm, pleasurable waves.
My eyes flew open, and I tensed, looking at Mindrik.
He gave me half a smile before pulling the water off of my body and sending it outside, under the large crack in the door. He turned to me, letting off a heavy sigh. “There now, clean.”
I looked down at my dress. It looked as if it had been freshly washed. I touched my cheek, warm and dewy, notably without any mud. I met Mindrik's eyes.
“I know that something happened, Seraphine,” he whispered as his gaze touched on my bruises. “I hope in time you'll trust me enough to open up.”
I looked down in my lap, searching for a way to steer the subject away from my antics tonight. “I can see why you keep so clean, if every bath is that wonderful,” I said, raising my eyes to Mindrik.
He smiled at me. “I made it so, for you.”
“Oh. Well then, we seem to have a different problem on our hands now.”
“Oh?”
“There is only one bed, Mindrik.”
Mindrik frowned at the bed. “So there is.”
His lack of outrage or puzzlement irritated me. “I'll sleep over here,” I said, rising and walking to the corner of the room.
“There's no need for that. A lady should not be on the floor,” Mindrik said.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh, I'm a lady now? Not a mud troll?”
“Well, if I may say so, mud seems to find you easier than anyone else I've ever met,” Mindrik said with a smile.
I only returned half of it.
Mindrik looked at his feet in a gesture of guilt before meeting my gaze. “I was vile to you, Seraphine. Arrogant, cruel, dishonest. You were right, the Kraw had treated you better than I did. And for that, I don't blame you for being wary of me. I hope that in time I can earn your trust.”
I nodded slowly, unsure of what to say. Dal's advice not to trust him hung heavy in my mind, and yet Mindrik was offering a sincere kindness that I badly needed right now.
Mindrik gave me a tentative smile. “Well then, my lady, I believe this is yours for the night, and I shall find comfort on the floor.” Mindrik gestured toward the bed with a flourish, his robes flowing with each gesture.
I reigned in my guilt. “Are you absolutely sure you'll be alright on the floor? I fail to see how university life could have prepared you for hard wood. Even dirt is more forgiving.”
Mindrik waved away my concern as we swapped places in the room, me standing next to the bed and him in my corner. “You have not tried to sleep on a university issue bed. I wonder if, perhaps, horseshoes were used to fill the mattresses.”
I laughed.
“No, my dear woman, this shall suit me just fine.” And with that, he sat.
I pulled back the moth-eaten blanket, looking for signs of bugs or mold. There were none, just plain white sheets. I would be uncomfortable tucked between sheets in this dress, but getting undressed in front of Mindrik seemed inappropriate, especially after that very personal bath.
I went to my bag and dug out the lavender blanket that my town had woven. Homesickness washed over me in crippling waves as I fingered the weave, and tears blurred my vision. I took a deep breath, rubbed my face in the blanket to clear my eyes without looking as if I were crying, and stood to walk over to the bed.
I gave Mindrik the threadbare blanket from the bed and spread the lavender one over the bed sheets before crawling in, getting comfortable as best I could on the lumpy mattress. The last time I'd enjoyed the luxury of a bed was in Dal's arms, and now I wished so badly for him to be here that it was an ache.
Was he warm in the barn? Comfortable? Undiscovered? I sighed, wanting to feel those strong arms around me. To know that his heart was beating that slow, steady rhythm against my skin. To smell his familiar scent around me, be surrounded by his heat and the deep murmur of his voice. To be safe and comforted.
“Are you alright over there, Seraphine?”
“Yes, why?”
“You have sighed twice in the last minute.”
I bit my lip, reaching my power toward the flame in the lantern on the rickety desk. It snuffed as if I'd blown it out, and we were plunged into darkness. I wrapped myself in the darkness like a warm blanket, safe from the monsters downstairs, safe from the speculative eyes of the man in the corner, and safe from whatever horrors my actions tonight might bring in the daylight. There was one thing I was not safe from, however, and that was my own mind.
It was a long night.
Chapter 16
Torn Buttons
I woke when I heard Mindrik shifting on the floor nearby. With a jolt of adrenaline, I sat up, looking for Dal.
“I see why you country bumpkins are so productive,” Mindrik said with a stretch. “You pop out of bed like your cabin is on fire.”
I pulled the blanket back, grabbing my bag and stuffing the blanket in it before heading for the door. I wanted out of this town as soon as possible. I wanted Dal and I wanted to disappear from this place.
“My dear wo
man, what's got your skirts twisted this morning?”
“We need to go.”
“Why so suddenly? Can we not enjoy a drink and a stretch, first? There is no hurry.”
“I'll stretch on the road.” I yanked the door open to blinding sunlight. Everything that the rain had touched was now steaming in the morning light, looking as if the whole world was fresh baked from the oven. I stepped out onto the first step and looked down into the work space that surrounded the rickety stairs. The table where Kenni and I had been accosted was glistening innocently in the morning sun.
I swallowed hard and began to walk down the stairs, worried that my attacker would be back for vengeance. Mindrik came out behind me, closing the door behind him, humming some tune I'd never heard before.
I skirted the stairs and mud, listening for any sounds of an ambush. As I rounded the wrecked pile of pails, my heart nearly burst out of my throat when a sudden movement to the right of the door caught my attention.
I gasped and stumbled back into Mindrik, who caught me. “Easy there, Seraphine, it’s only a cow.”
Heart pounding to dizziness, I righted myself as I watched the cow. It chewed its cud while drooping there in the morning sun, eyes dull with lifeless boredom. Its lank tail would swish now and again at flies that were infinitely happier to be alive than it was.
“Come, we'll find your beast and his weapon and be off,” Mindrik said, leading the way.
I watched the cow as I followed Mindrik into the empty tavern, where I didn't find any more solace than outside.
Mindrik stopped with the limping Gilp, had a few words, and received Dal's sword from behind the counter. He tried to carry on more conversation and got waved away by the bedraggled old man. With a scowl, Mindrik hiked his bag higher over his shoulder and steered me toward the front door with a gesture of the sword's hilt.
“What was that all about?” I whispered.
“Even the lousiest of taverns have breakfast. He said the cow was on vacation.”
“Vacation?” I turned an incredulous look to the old man who paid me no notice. “That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. We should go milk the thing ourselves for all the fight that old goat will give us.”
