I was in a forest.
Before aught else, I looked down to survey my clothing. A sound much akin to a piglet’s squeal jumped from my mouth, and after that a most despairing groan. It was The Troll’s Eye uniform, only rather tighter-fitting and, if possible, shorter-skirted. The colors weren’t half so faded – nor as dark – as they had been on Hannah Slate; as opposed to purple-and-black, there beneath my nose lay bright blue, pale pink, and pastel green, all arranged in just the right shapes and places.
I wished to scream. At the very moment when I had imagined my fate could no longer grow worse, I had been left to die in a…a wood. Who would find me, out here in the wildest of places? Who would discover my emaciated cor—
“Oi, Narryck! Why the ‘ell d’you suppose they sent us out here?” My thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice, just too deep for a woman and yet slightly too high for a man.
“If I told yer once, Gance, I told yer a thousan’ times! ’Cause the cap’n gotta letter from ‘Is Excellency. Duke Warrin’ton, don’cha know. ‘E said somefink about findin’ an imporrant person ou’ ‘ere,” called back another voice, much deeper and quite certainly a man’s. He didn’t sound at all convinced that aught of any interest existed out here, least of all someone of significance.
Important person? I thought, and for a moment, I was at a loss as to whom they could possibly mean. It never once occurred to me that their voices, so close, might mean they also were quite nearby; neither did I think to hide. Perhaps, as before, the god of lies and luck had caused my idiocy – or perhaps it was merely the pain muttering in my back, obstructing sensible thought. The first voice spoke again as my thoughts trailed away.
“Did ‘e say ‘oo, Narry ol’ boy?”
“Erm, I thought ‘e said a gel, an imporrant gel.”
Just as a man came through the trees, I realized whom they might mean, and at a later time, as I reflected upon that day, it seemed to me very poor timing to realize aught at all.
“Well, talkin’ o’ gels,” sneered he, his eyes running my length with a sort of careless assessment. Even with several yards between us, I could see something altogether unfriendly in those eyes.
“’Ey, Narry, where’d y’go?”
The man jumped at this, turning to bellow back into the woods, “Nothin’! Jus’…there’s a sorta bog ‘ere. Go ‘roundabouts, t’yer right, an’ I’ll meet up wi’ ye when I can, Candlewald!”
There was a silence, as though the other were processing such an idea. Then, “A’right, s’long as ye get there fast! I don’ like the look of these woods, an’ I’m not startin’ now.” There was a sound like heavy boots tramping away, then slowly, silence.
“Oh, I dunno,” Narryck murmured, taking a step towards me, “it’s beginnin’ ter grow on me.”
Before I could gather my wits, I stumbled back. To show fear when cornered, Mari, is the instinct of a fool, Father had always told me. I flushed with shame, at the very same moment as he laughed.
“No’ much of a figh’er, are ye?” Narryck chuckled, pausing scarce a footstep away to look me up and down. His smirk but grew, and he walked a slow circle ‘round my still and trembling form. “Ah, but jus’ th’thing, eh?”
I didn’t at all like the way he said it.
He ran a hand through his dark hair, as though hoping it would force me to detest him less. I scowled, turning my eyes to the dirt beneath me. “I wunner, tho’, if she speaks,” he said, and a coarse thumb and forefinger trapped my chin and forced my face up so he could study it more closely. “Do ye, li’l one?”
“I speak,” I spat at him, yanking away from his coarse hand. “And this I say to you: do aught to me and you’ll not but find you shall regret it.”
He seemed taken aback at the vehemence in my words, and for the first time, there was uncertainty in his voice when he said, “I’ll certainly not forget it, marm. If ‘tis not t’much trouble, tho’, I’d like t’know yer name.”
“I…Hannah. Hannah Slate.” I was praying without much hope that if I acted natural enough, he would grow bored and move off. There would be very little chance of that if he knew I was the Grand Count of Ape’erafer’s eldest daughter, and so I again went under the guise of Hannah Slate.
“Private Narryck Hermans, atcher service, marm.” He bowed rather jerkily.
“Yes, well, it was very pleasant meeting you, but I’d best be going now.” With a quick smile, I turned and walked towards the nearest fringe of trees. My heart thudded in my bosom, and I had only begun thanking Aimthaer when a voice called to me from behind.
“S’when did I say y’could leave?” It was with something suspiciously like long practice that he strode up behind me and laced his fingers through mine. I was brought up short, all but turned around as he tugged at my arm. “I don’ remember it.”
“Please, I—”
I don’t pretend to understand how it happened. One moment I had nearly forgotten the wounds slashed across my back, and the next, it exploded with pain. My knees buckled beneath me, and I fell into the dirt with a cry, fingernails digging into my palms as I forced a sob down my throat.
“Oi, what is it? Oh, gods, t’last thing I need now is a ded pritty gel!” he muttered, not seeming to have noticed the low back of my dress, nor the wounds slashed across that pale length of skin. “Damn it all, c’mere.”
It was not a thing short of imbecilic, allowing Narryck to carry me – and yet, do not judge me too harshly, for the pain coursing through my back from the duke’s belting had addled my brain quite effectively, and I couldn’t imagine walking upon my own feet. He stood, not seeming a bit bothered over the extra weight, and I shuddered as his arm rubbed against the belt-wounds.
“What ‘appened, li’l un?” Narryck murmured, and I felt him brush the hair from my face, almost gently.
Perhaps I ought to have replied, then. Perhaps I oughtn’t to have feigned a faint, but answered him, truthfully or otherwise. However, I kept my eyelids well shut, and moved not a muscle as he lumbered off through the underbrush.
“Jus’ like me,” he muttered darkly, “t’kill a gel righ’ after bein’ introduced t’her.”
It took every last grain of my self-control not to giggle – however weakly – at the sulky manner in which he said it.
!
