and kicked her. He just kicked her right in the face!â Tulipâs voice squeaked. âShe fell and yelled at me to run, so I ranââ
The scarred blond man pulled Daisy forward.
âHush now,â Ãléonore whispered.
âDo it,â he barked.
Daisy reached for the nearest stone with a shaking hand. Her cheek was bleeding. She touched the stone and tried to lift it. Magic pulsed. Daisy yelped, jerking her hand back. The slaver sank a kick into her stomach. Daisy screamed and curled into a ball. Tulip cried out, and Ãléonore clamped her hand over the girlâs mouth.
The leaderâs voice carried over, harsh and grating. âWe donât want you. We donât care about you. We want the man youâre hiding inside. Daisy here says she canât open the ward, and given as she tried, Iâm inclined to believe her. Itâs up to you, then. Give me what I want, and Iâll go away. Itâs that simple.â
Sixteen men. Far too many. One or two, even four, she could deal with. Sheâd let them in and curse them, but sixteen was just too many. Thoughts skittered around in Ãléonoreâs head. She had to get help.
âDo you have a phone?â she whispered.
Tulip pulled a cell phone out of her pocket.
âCall Charlotte,â Ãléonore whispered. âTwo-two-seven twenty-one thirty.â
Tulips dialed the number with shaking fingers and thrust the phone at her.
âThis is Charlotte,â Charlotte said, her voice calm.
âWhere are you?â Ãléonore whispered.
âAt the end of the road. Luke was running late, and I just got the blood.â
âDonât come back to the house!â
âWhy? Ãléonore, whatâs wrong?â
âI need you to go down to the Rooneysâ. Take the second fork left, then go to the end of the road. Tell Malcolm Rooney there are slavers at our house. There are sixteen of them, and they want Richard. Tell him he owes me, and that heâs got a pretty daughter and he doesnât want them showing up at his house next. If he knows whatâs good for him, heâll get the militia together and run them out of the Edge. Go, Charlotte. Go now.â
The phone beeped, and she thrust it back at Tulip.
âAll you have to do is walk down and move one of these ward stones.â The slaver called out. Ãléonore looked through the gap. He had pulled a knife out. The large curved blade caught the sunlight. âYou know how this goes,â he called out. âIâm a peaceful man. Donât make me do this.â
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
CHARLOTTE took a turn at breakneck speed. Slavers? It made no sense. Slavery had been outlawed in both Adrianglia and the Broken for centuries. But the fear in Ãléonoreâs voice was vivid and real.
She had to get to the Rooneysâ. East Laporte had no police force, but when something threatened the entire town, the Edgers sometimes came together into a militia to meet it.
Trees flashed by her. Come on, she willed. Go faster, truck. Go faster.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
âLISTEN to me.â Ãléonore grasped Tulipâs bony shoulders. âThey will hurt Daisy now. Thereâs nothing we can do about it. The ward keeps me from using magic on them, and if we try to shoot them, theyâll kill her.â
âSheâs my sister!â Tulip whispered back. âIf we give the guy to themââ
âTheyâll murder us all. Theyâre lying, dear heart. Theyâre lying, bad, awful bastards. We have to wait until help comes.â Ãléonore hugged her, wrapping her arms around the girlâs bony shoulders. âNo matter what you hear, no matter what you see, you canât go out there. We have to wait it out.â
âHold her,â the slaver said.
Daisy whimpered.
Ãléonore clamped Tulip to her. âDonât listen. Cover your ears.â
âLast
Sherwood Smith, Dave Trowbridge