CHAPTER 5
Father did not stop to light a torch to find their way. Two glowing orbs hung high above them. As they set out onto the forest path, Ren’ai watched the glowing sisters. They slid across high branches like pearls from a strand. Though she took many steps it seemed an eternity for the pearl to make it from one side of the strand to the other.
As hoofs clopped across the packed soil, Mother looked as if she might lose her firm seat and fall off backwards from exhaustion. Father, stepped back to pat her knee on occasion to make sure she did not. She gave him a gentle squeeze with her free hand each time reassuring him, she was alright.
Ren’iv on the other hand seemed wide awake, eyes staring dreamily into the bushes, undoubtedly thinking about Bunny Head as Ren’ai had resolved to name him if Big Sister would not.
Ren’iv might never have noticed the five men that called them to halt had one not been Bunny Head, himself. One of the others Ren’ai recognized as well, Crooked Step. She could not imagine how he had kept pace with the rest of them, all decorated soldiers in the peak of health.
“Charles, Come to escort us home. How very thoughtful.” She slid from her saddle. “Mother, did I not tell you what a thoughtful man my Charles is?”
Seeing him again so soon brought brightness to her face. Mother had nearly had to tear her arms off to pull her away from him outside CenterHouse. Ren’iv’s smile beamed with her voice as she curled up around one firm arm as she had at Haerfest Ball.
He flung her to the ground as soiled clothing discarded.
Ren’iv, although surprised, did not remain on the ground long. Being the Ren that she was, she raised herself up, dusted herself off and walked back up to him with heated stride. “Charles, what is this?”
“I’m Sorry, Niv.” His voice held a tone of society’s required pleasantry. No feeling dwelt there. “REN’iv, I never would have asked you to dance, had I known who your father was.” He paused, looking over her to Father, meeting a knowing glare, then he spat on her. It missed her face and hit her neck rolling down her chest leaving a slug trail behind. “Whore.” He raised a hand, smacking her sharply with colorless knuckles, knocking her again to the ground.
“Leave them out of this. It is obviously me you want.” Father called across the night in a voice that Ren’ai had never known him to possess. He then softened his speech as he called to his eldest. “Niv’niv, come to me.”
She obeyed, scooting across the ground in safety’s direction. He had not called her that since maybe a dozen Haerfests she had seen. The endearment foreboded danger in Ren’ai’s mind, like Big Sister had so nearly stumbled into a beehive or any moment might disturb a bear. At firmly-planted feet, Ren’iv raced the backs of fingers across her cheek. Blood trickled down a narrow chin, onto a slender neck.
This enraged Ren’ai. “You, you, Bunny Head.” Ren’ai placed a fist on each hip.
Big Sister cracked a smile as she staggered to her feet to hold Ren’ai close, to protect her.
“Now, Gentlemen. What is the charge for which you interrupt our perfect night?” He stepped toward them slowly, arms out as if welcoming them into his home.
Two men stepped in front of Charles, releasing their weapons. The sound of iron rang across the hills. Charles pushed them aside. “Relax. He’s unarmed. There should be no rush to a job well done.”Charles stood closer as Father looked down upon him. “Wouldn’t you say so, Woodworker?”
“I live by it.” Father spoke with a low roar of a voice. “No job worth doing if you can’t take the time to do it right.” He glanced over at Crooked, who obviously thought quite well of himself and the coin they had added to his embroidered purse, but he stood as no more than a pawn in their game. Father should have broken that slimy neck when he had the chance, but young Ren’ai she should not have had to see that. A world much more wicked than those grey eyes could know she would soon see. He could not be the one to show her. Shatter her innocence. Bring her out of her vision of the perfect life he had strived to build for his family.
“Your Charge. Let me see. How can I put this is a way not to harm the tender ears of those listening? Where were you three nights past?”
Father knew lying gave no advantage; they would only take the lies as proof that any defense he might have for himself was a lie as well. “Caerwyn Ridge.”
Ren’ai gasped.
Crooked turned to look at her as if to say he had told her so.
“And what?” Charles pointed a finger into Father’s chest. “What business could you have had there?”
Father looked to his youngest. Their grey eyes met. Father held something just behind pressed lips. Who was he trying to protect? What?
Mother spoke up, a quiet observer thus far. “You told us you were going to Genu to discuss contracts for wares. The Ridge is clear on the other side of the River.”
Ren’ai thought she saw the master woodworker’s cheek glisten in the moonlight as he stood there looking back at his wife.
Then that sadness-stricken face hardened in an instant to a visage Ren’ai could only find unfamiliar, odd. He drew a short knife from a thin leather belt and twisted it around.
Charles stepped back, anticipating his advance, and the man just behind him not so quick became the one to take the blade across the throat.
He dropped. A puddle formed beneath him as he gasped for wet air.
Ren’iv lit the night air with a scream as Mother dismounted, running to her husband’s side. “What are you doing?” She grabbed his armed hand, pulling it back as Charles unsheathed his sword, burying it in her husband’s belly and stringing it out.
She stood there a moment as if she did not know what had happened. Father fell to the ground at her side.
Mother looked to the soldiers all around her. Their eyes upon her, taking her in in glances that Ren’ai did not understand. Mother took a hard step back. Crooked came up behind Charles and ran her through.
Charles just looked at him for a moment in disbelief. He knelt, touching Mother’s nose, feeling only weakened breath then turned. “You don’t throw fine meat to the wolves.” He raised a thick arm up and elbowed the man in the jaw. Crooked’s head flew back with a snap.
Ren’ai took Big Sister’s hand, pulling her away, backing away slowly at first and then into full run as she pulled Ren’iv behind her.
It did not take long for the pursuit to start. She could hear them stumbling through the brush like a wounded deer. But even with their awkward advance they quickly shortened the expanse between them with great haste. She knew she would be much faster if it were not for Ren’iv but she would not leave her behind.
Thorns ripped at the lace of her dress, pulling her back a few steps with every ten paces. Her heart beat faster and faster as she leapt across chasms and ducked under fallen trees. Ren’ai could hear their breath almost upon them and still she held her only sister’s hand as the grasp of death.
As the grip broke she knew it was over. Grey eyes stared forward, unmoving. She waited as Big Sister’s scream melted into the night. Then she felt the hands upon her, tackling her to the ground. Leaves, red and yellow moved in a blur up to meet her head as it crashed into the forest floor.
Then nothing.
She woke a moment later with a great pounding in her head and hands bound behind her, doubled over a man’s shoulder who had a squirming hand upon her back. Her head bobbed in and out against a solid belly as she watched his shoes moving across the uneven terrain. She would have laughed at the uncertainty of wobbling step--would have--could she have drawn a full breath. Her eyes felt as if they might burst from the pressure in her head. The swing to the left and then the right and left again dizzied her. She thought she might lose the fine dinner that Ren’iv had made them earlier that evening. As she watched each shifting step he took she hoped she would.
As they stepped back up onto the trail, she watched the feet moving forward. Her world danced in a blur. When he stepped over Crooked’s lifeless arm, it barely reg
istered. Who was that and why was he lying on the ground like a corpse? Then she saw Father’s face, cold, staring off at nothing; his high hat to the side, and she remembered.
Father and Mother were dead. Bunny Head had killed them. Little black slippers kicked wildly as her captor struggled to hold her tight. The squeal of Big Sister met her ear as a hammer upon her thumb. She lit the night with all of the scream she could muster.
Then a new set of boots met her line of sight, as Charles jerked her head up by what little hair she had. Her neck ached terribly, felt as if it might snap under the pressure. She had never known such pain in her life. Her skull felt as if it were growing and shrinking. A sharp ringing pounded in her ears. She could barely hear the words he spoke to her. “Little Nai. Knew you’d be trouble from the moment I saw you.”
Her eyes met his. Her tongue hung dry.
“But some children are. ‘Til after a few blows.”He threw a heavy fist into her jaw, sparing no strength for the girl before him. Her head arched to the side sending what felt to be an oak splinter straight up the side of her neck and into her ear. “They changed their tune.”
“How many, Little Sister.” Another hit her squarely. She fell to the side as the man holding her lost a previously sure grip. Charles pulled her back into place. “Let’s count them. You learn to count in school. That’s one, two. How many more do you want? ”
“None.” She whispered in a voice passing from her pure agony.
He lowered a blonde head while pulling hers higher.
She spoke again, warm breath shifting sprigs of blonde. “I’ve had enough.”
“Glad to hear it, My Darling.” Her head slammed against a leather-covered chest as if no strength could hold it.
Ren’ai remained still for the rest of the journey, watching boots and listening to Big Sister moan in discomfort.