Page 9 of Condemned

Chapter Five

“Decided, Kondio?” Takkdidn’t bother looking away from the girl. Her fear was obvious, yet reassuring her in any way might be more cruelty than kindness, because Kondio might say no.

The rasp of the mauleon scratching his chin with his claws carried and Takk did glance his way.

The weathered warrior shrugged. “It’s a human, this thief.”

Yet again, as he’d done so many times, Takk noted how the crags and furrows of his face had deepened since they’d left their farm district to go to war. They’d all aged beyond what time could do.

“You said that,” Timin added. “Huleon though. Not human. Killing more of anything except my next meal bothers me. Have you not had enough of killing?”

“I have. It’s the one thing that speaks to me.”

“I will not force this,” Takk repeated. “There’s too much risk we may be caught and reprimanded, charged with treason even. If you cannot decide—”

“I can. You want us to help this huleon or whatever you wish to call it. It’s too human in appearance for me.”

“So?” Timin turned to him. “Is that a yes?”

Kondio sighed and spat on the floor before the cell bars, making the girl flinch. “Blood looks the same whether from inside us or a human. The Claw of Truth is nothing to me except a royal trinket. I took risks in war. I’ve nothing to go home to ‘cept an empty farm, same as most of you.”

There was a long pause and they waited for Kondio to continue, though they knew he was deliberately stretching this out. Kondio was like that—an asshole sometimes, yet also staunch in battle and loyal.

“Yes, it’s a yes, with one or two necessary stipulations.”

The barked laugh came from Zo. “Stipulation is a long word for you, Kondio.”

“It means I will enjoy watching Timin make her take that monstrous hose of his. That’s number one. It also means I get to fuck her first. As in now. She’ll never take that dildo you carry, Captain, unless we stretch her.”

“You first?” Takk said, dubious as to Kondio’s intentions. “You can’t hurt her.”

“I won’t hurt the girl. Leastways not any more than we need to, to get that to fit in her. You know I’m right. Unless she’s been fucking one of us before, she’ll be too small.”

This was Kondio taking a bit of sordid revenge for what he’d suffered.

“Okay. But only if we need to. We check her first. She has to agree also. She may prefer death.”

The old mauleon grunted. “You think it so?”

It was enough.

“While you do this, I have someone to see.” Zo nodded and opened the door into the outer corridor.

Frowning, Takk flicked his fingers, acknowledging the words, then he waited for the door to close. An odd time to go, with Zo the most voyeuristic of them all.

He handed the spear to Timin, unlocked the cell door and walked in to stand over Avalon. Though there was no one else here except his men, he spoke quietly.

“Girl. We have a deal for you, if you wish to try to avoid dying. Do you wish to hear it?”

“What?” She blinked up at him and her eyes brimmed with liquid. Tears in a female, even a huleon female, plucked at him to fix them. The tracks through the dirt on her face told of where previous tears had run.

“Answer me. If you do, I need to give you instructions as no one must suspect we aid you.”

There was the crux of this and perhaps a flaw she would see. If she deliberately did the wrong thing, they would pay. She would die, but they too would suffer.

“What’s the catch? I assume there is one?” Her voice cracked and her trembling became visibly greater. Was it the cold or the anticipation of a way out?

He smiled. “There may be several. But you will live.”