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Enna laughed at her. “With courage such as that I doubt you’ll be chosen by him, and even if you were he’d be so disappointed he’d probably just eat you come breakfast time.”
My pulse quickened. “What do you mean by that?”
She shrugged. “I guess one of you is going to see. In the meantime, I suggest you eat the food we give you and don’t try to escape when your hands are untied. We know these woods far better than any of you, and if he finds you jaunting about he’s liable to eat you as soon as see you.”
Enna and the other two returned to the fire and prepared a ‘feast of bread and meat taken from a leather bag. We captives looked over the others, each of us sizing the others up and trying to decide who would make a better meal for this strange Lord Thorn.
Meanwhile, our captors had resumed their discussion about the fabled wealth of the Slaughter Hills.
“I bet those weapons are worth a fortune,” Saber commented.
“And not worth risking your life to get one of them,” Enna countered as she picked up a stick and stirred the coals around.
He scoffed. “More about that cursed stuff?”
Enna had a strange smile on her lips. “Theyarecursed, Saber. I’ve seen one of them. The poor fool who owns it keeps it locked in a case so it doesn’t wander around at night slicing open any neck it can find.”
“That sounds like a fool’s tale,” Blake spoke up.
“Then you go fooling around with one of them,” she challenged him as she tossed the stick into the fire and stood. “But after we feed these little hens their meal. Midnight is coming up and His Lordship wouldn’t like a broken toy.”
CHAPTER THREE
Our captors ploppedsome of the meat on a few strips of wood bark they scavenged from the woods and moved over to us. The men knelt in front of us and untied our hands, but not our feet. They offered food to each of us, and we tried to chew on the bits of tough meat. I didn’t have an appetite, but I knew I had to keep up my strength so I managed to take a few bites.
One of the girls turned her nose up at the meal before she held the meat out in front of her, pinched as it was between two well-manicured fingers. “I can’t eat this.”
Blake glared at her. “What’s wrong with it?”
She scowled at him. “It’smeat. I don’t eat meat.”
Blake snatched the piece from her hand and shoved it into her mouth. “You do today.”
The woman let out a squeal of fury and surprise before she spat the contents of her mouth into the man’s face. Blake yelled and fell back onto his butt with bits of meat stuck to his nose and cheeks. “You. . .you bitch!” he snapped.
He lunged at her, but Saber intercepted him. Enna marched over to the brawling pair and smacked their heads. “Will you two knock it off?”
While they were distracted, I looked for a way out of this mess. I reached behind me and pressed my palms against the log at our backs. My fingers brushed over a sharp bit of branch, hardly more than a stub. Fortunately for me, however, it was a sturdy stub.
I quickly ate my meat and when the men came back around Blake grabbed my hands. “Time to tie you back up,” he cooed as he drew my arms behind my back.
He tied a tight knot around my hands, but the moment he moved away I began to rub the ropes on the sharp branch. My heart leapt as I felt my bindings loosen with each rub against the tree.
The other women finished their meals and our captors moved back to the warmth of the fire. For our part, most of us huddled against each other. All except me. I worked away at my ropes, and the minutes ticked into an hour. The black night grew darker, though the stars blinked brightly in the sky.
After ninety minutes I felt the ropes completely snap. The bindings dropped onto my legs and I held my breath, fearful the trio would have heard anything. They were engrossed in themselves, however, so I leaned down and untied my feet. In a moment I was completely free, and I scooted over to my nearest companion.
She turned to me and her eyes widened as she felt my hands work away at her ropes. I gave her a look of warning and she clamped her mouth shut.
“Hey!” My blood ran cold, and I whipped my head up. Enna had risen to her feet and her eyes were zeroed in on me. “What are you doing?”
The woman I was trying to help pushed her head into my chest. “Run! Get out of here!”
Indecision suffocated my reflexes, but the woman pushed up against me again. “Go on! You can help us by staying out there!”
Hope. That got me going, and I shot to my feet as our captors rushed over. I leapt over the log and they tried to follow, but the other women threw themselves in their path. The vegan even managed to bowl herself into Blake’s legs, tripping him up so he fell over the log.
I raced into the woods with no sense of where I was going. I only knew I needed to get as far away from that campfire as I could manage. After that, I’d figure out a way to go back and free the others, especially the one doomed to be the plaything of that fiend.
