David weber, p.9
Beast, page 9
“I’m going to bed.” She stomps out of the room, leaving me alone.
Chapter 15
A Wager
Spring thaw. A good time to get out, to escape the confining walls of the castle for a while. A visit to the lords will do us all good. At least that’s what Majesty says. To me, it still feels cold—outside and in.
I hunker by the inn’s fire. Its heat burns my face, but I am still cold. The outside air seeps through the cracks in the walls and sweeps across my back, making me shiver.
Tabby feels it too. First she stands with her face toward the fire. Then she turns so she faces away, only to turn again after a moment. But however she stands, her back is always to me with no word or look tossed my way. Many days have passed since Majesty said he wanted to make me part of his inner pack, but Tabby’s anger still burns hot.
My head droops and I swing away from the fire. Maybe I should leave when warm days come again. Tabby no longer wants me here, and while Majesty treats me as he always has, a sadness is in his eyes when he looks at me—I cannot give him what he wants. Pulling the cloak tight around me, I curl up on the floor, away from Tabby and Majesty and the three swordsmen traveling with us.
Majesty finishes talking with the master of the inn and walks over to where I lie. Settling on the nearest bench, he stretches out his legs and leans back against a table, his eyes on Tabby. “Give her time, Sarah. She’s hurting, confused, and scared—and she doesn’t know what to do with any of it.”
I stare at Majesty. Does he want me to leave too?
“She’s vulnerable. Very vulnerable. And so many dark days are ahead.” He finally tips his head toward me. “Keep her safe, Sarah. Don’t do anything rash that might add to that hurt.”
His words fall heavy on me. Majesty wants me to protect Tabby? But how am I to do that when she will not even turn her face toward me?
Tabby turns so that the fire warms her other side, her fingers jangling the pouch at her waist. No, that isn’t right. That jangle does not come from the pouch. It is not loud enough, nor does it match Tabby’s movements. My head tilts to one side. But the jangle is gone. Or maybe it was never there.
Scuffling feet and low voices skulk outside.
My fur rises on my neck. But it is nothing. Other travelers stopping for a midday meal. That is all. Nothing but—
Two-Eyes.
How do I know? I cannot say. But I know it’s him. He’s here. For me. I back up under the table, back into the shadows. If only he won’t see me. If only he won’t know I am here.
“Sarah?” Majesty leans forward to peer under the table at me. Then he raises his head to look at the door again. His hand closes around his sword, so tight that white spots show on his fingers. “So it begins.” He stands.
The door bangs open. Several men with drawn swords burst in on a gust of cold air. I shrink back. Two-Eyes is not among them, but he is here. I feel it.
Majesty strides forward, drawing his own sword, and his three swordsmen follow his lead. Metal clashes against metal. Boots pound against the floor. I cannot see who is winning.
“Father!”
Tabby. A man I do not know drags her away. She thrashes against his arm, but her movements are all wrong. She does not know how to fight this man.
“Hold on, Tabby.” Majesty fights against two men.
He will not get there soon enough. I swallow the stone in my throat and bound forward. The man sees only Majesty and his men.
“Look! The beast!”
“What—”
I throw all of me against Tabby’s captor and bite his leg. The man howls. Tabby twists free. She grabs the closest thing—a metal pot by the fire—and smashes it against his head. Gray ash flies. The man slumps to the floor.
Tabby smiles—at me! “Thanks.”
“Good job, you two.” Majesty locks blades with another man. “Now get out of here.”
“Come on, Sarah.” Tabby ducks into the kitchen.
I swing after her and hesitate. This is not right. The room is empty of mate and master. Where are the kitchen people? The master of the inn?
Tabby yanks the door open. “What are you waiting—look out!”
A shadow falls across me. Fang looms in the other doorway, and I dart under the table. But though Tabby’s warning is for me, Fang marches toward her. “Isn’t this a treat? I’ve found myself a lovely young princess.”
Though I can see only his legs from under the table, his words curl upward with a grin.
“Sorry.” Tabby snatches something from a barrel by the door. “I’m not edible.” She throws a potato at him. It falls harmlessly at Fang’s feet.
“Resistance only makes victory sweeter.” He moves steadily forward. Almost there . . . three more steps . . . two . . . I rear up and push over the table. Food flies and pots crash into him; the table slams onto his feet. He howls. I shove Tabby out the door into the cold air.
“We’d better split up. You go that way.” She gathers up her skirts and sprints away.
I bound the way she pointed. Steps squish in the soft mud. I spin around. A hand catches my throat and slams me against the inn’s wall. Darkness slides across my sight. I blink, trying to see again.
One blue eye and one green eye stare into my face. Two-Eyes.
He throws me into the mud, face down, and rams a knee into my back between my shoulders. “I hope you had a good run, Beast. It was your last.”
He yanks my forepaws behind my back and ties a rope around them. No! He cannot take me. Not now. I kick and twist and thrash and arch my back. Mud splatters everywhere and lands in my mouth. I cough and choke. Two-Eyes only chuckles. My head slumps forward. I cannot throw him. I need help. I need Majesty.
Creak-moan. A bowstring pulls taut behind us. Two-Eyes drops flat against me. An arrow thuds into the ground a few paces beyond us. He flips over, his powerful arm crushing me to his chest.
Majesty! He tosses a bow aside and strides forward, drawing his sword. I twist and kick, trying to free myself, to get to him.
Two-Eyes pushes up to his feet, holding me tight. My feet strain to find ground, but Two-Eyes dangles me high above it. I cannot reach it.
“Good move, Elroy, but I wouldn’t try anything more.” Two-Eyes flicks his free hand to his side. “Further surprises might cause my knife to slip in a most unfortunate way.” A cold, sharp edge is thrust against my throat, under my chin.
A chill stiffens me.
Majesty lowers his sword until the tip touches the ground, his eyes never leaving Two-Eyes, his stance never easing. “What do you want, Avery?”
“I have what I want.” Two-Eyes slides along the wall, his clothing scuffing against the stones.
Majesty steps toward Two-Eyes. “She’s worthless to you.”
Worthless? A stone crushes my insides. Majesty thinks I’m good for nothing—even for making laughter? I blink hard to keep water from slipping down my face.
Two-Eyes snorts. “You underestimate the value of conquering every challenge. Even the smallest crack can crumble the entire castle if left unattended.”
Before Majesty can reply, Tabby skids around the corner. “Sarah!” She starts toward me.
Two-Eyes jabs his knife upward. I gasp.
“Go inside, Tabitha.” Majesty’s gaze does not stray from Two-Eyes. “Now.”
Tabby looks from me to Majesty and then disappears from my sight. But no door slams. She hovers nearby. Still the knife slackens against my throat.
“I’ll buy her.” Majesty’s voice remains rock solid. If he fears Two-Eyes any, it doesn’t show. “Double what you paid.”
Double? The ground and sky wobbles. Didn’t Majesty just say I was worthless? Why is he offering so much to buy me?
“And lose my best source of entertainment in years? No, I have too many plans for this one.” Two-Eyes starts creeping along the wall again.
The tip of Majesty’s sword lifts off the ground. “Plans?” His voice is low and tight. “Like starving her until she can no longer run from you? Whipping her until she’s half dead? Torturing her until she goes unconscious? Just so you can listen to her screams, fill your lust for blood? Over my dead body.”
Two-Eyes digs his knife into my throat, forcing my head up. Wet warmness creeps along my skin. A whimper forms in my throat, but it can’t squeeze beyond the knife blade. I’m caught between two powerful masters with no way out.
“A generous offer, Elroy. One I’d love to take. But unfortunately, I’m forced to decline at this time.”
We are almost to the corner of the building. Where Two-Eyes plans to go from there, I do not know. But he has something planned, something that will include the hiss-crack of a whip—and its sting on my back. I lift my eyes to Majesty. Please. I’ll do anything. Find a way to be useful. Just don’t let him take me!
“A wager.”
Two-Eyes halts. “What?”
“You’re a betting man, aren’t you, Avery? So if you won’t let me buy her, wager her in a game with me. Sarah for my kingdom.”
Silence. Even the wind has dropped, as if holding its breath.
Two-Eyes leans toward Majesty; the predator has picked up the scent of prey. “Tell me more.”
“One game of Catteran. If I win, you relinquish Sarah and any claim on her. If you win fairly, I hand over my crown, my throne, my kingdom.”
My eyes widen. He cannot mean those words.
“The ultimate game of strategy. Interesting pick.” Two-Eyes tightens his grip on me. “If your word is good.”
No, no, no! Don’t do it! Don’t risk your whole pack for me.
“You know it is, Avery. Of course, if you wish I attest to all this in writing . . .”
“I wish—with the additional provision that if I should lose by some obscure chance, I will return to my lands upright and under my own power.”
“I do not find the same pleasure as you in turning the ground red.”
“My gain. But the wager—shall we retire inside?”
“After you.”
Tap, tap, tap, tap. The sound of the wood peg against the table fills the entire room. Tap, tap, tap. Two-Eyes clenches his fist around the peg and scowls at the board. He smashes the peg into a hole—only his control as a hunter keeps him from doing more.
And he hasn’t even lost yet.
I pull my hind legs up to my chest and shudder. I sit across the room from him, waiting with everyone else for the game’s end, but if he chose to heave the board at me, it would find me.
Tabby, sitting on the floor beside me, adjusts her cloak around my shoulders as it starts to slide off; Two-Eyes insisted my forepaws stay bound behind my back. She squeezes my shoulder and bends over to whisper in my ear. “Everything will work out, Sarah. You’ll see.”
I manage a nod, for her sake. At least her anger no longer burns against me.
Two-Eyes scowls. “Just move.”
Majesty picks up a peg and plops it into a hole without hesitation. Another peg joins Majesty’s pile beside the board.
Two-Eyes mutters harsh, growling words under his breath. Men belonging to both Majesty and Two-Eyes edge nearer the table. No one pulls out swords, but all rest hands on the handles, ready to do so.
My forepaws clench underneath the cloak. A clash of swords and fists would have been easier to watch. It would have been over sooner too. My insides growl, reminding me that the time for the evening meal is long past.
Two-Eyes, hunched over the board, suddenly smiles and moves a peg toward me. He didn’t do that, did he? He just stepped into Majesty’s trap, opening his master peg to attack.
He leans back. “Ah, the dust of defeat—what a bitter taste.”
“Especially to the arrogant.” Majesty drops a peg into place, sealing the trap. He cannot lose now. Not unless he intentionally moves his master peg one hole to the right.
Tabby bounces up and down at my side. “Father’s won. He has won the wager!” Her words barely keep to a whisper.
I want to be glad too. But something is not right. Two-Eyes does not scowl or clench his fist in anger. Rather his face is blank, calm. Does he not see he has lost? Majesty is not blind. He will not move his master peg to the right.
Two-Eyes pushes a peg into a hole. His eyes glint, like a predator who has trapped his prey but the prey does not yet know it. “But there are worse things than defeat, aren’t there, Elroy?” He shifts to the side, and my ears pick up a soft creak-moan—like a bowstring being pulled? But how, where?
A shadow shifts in the kitchen doorway. A bowman aims an arrow toward Tabby. One word, one flick of a finger from Two-Eyes and she’ll be . . . Majesty can’t let that happen. Not to Tabby. But if he protects her, he’ll lose his whole pack to Two-Eyes. No, Majesty must win. But if he wins, the arrow will fly straight into Tabby.
Unless it can’t reach her.
I scoot forward and around Tabby, forcing her behind me. She grabs my shoulder. “Sarah, what are you doing?”
She does not see the bowman. But it does not matter. I do. My chin lifts and I glare at Two-Eyes. I am Beast. My life is not worth much. But better to fall forever still at the point of an arrow than at the end of his whip.
Majesty shakes his head, his shoulders drooping as if a great weight has been placed on them. “Avery, you would kill your own family to avoid defeat.”
“I could.” He leans back and stretches; he has won his prey. “But killing someone else’s is far more effective.”
“Yet you still don’t understand, do you? In the end, you will never win.”
“Never?” Two-Eyes clicks his tongue. “Such a strong word, Elroy, especially since I already have.”
“Have you?” Majesty picks up his master peg and rolls it between his fingers. Two-Eyes narrows his eyes. The whole room leans forward. I try to brace myself. The arrow will fly in the next breath or two.
Majesty twists around and locks eyes with me. My chest tightens. He can’t be thinking that. I shake my head. No. Don’t. You said it yourself. I’m only Beast. I’m not worth the whole pack.
A single drop of water rolls down his cheek. “Oh Sarah, if only this would be enough to convince you of the truth.”
He drops his master peg in the hole on the right.
Chapter 16
In Enemy Hands
As my first act as King Avery of Ahavel, I hereby sentence the traitor, Elroy Aven, to death.”
In the sound-muffled darkness of the kitchen cellar, I live the moments after Majesty’s loss again and again.
“And claim his daughter as my slave.”
I shiver. From the coldness of the dirt floor I lie on? Or from the sights and sounds I cannot shake?
The leers on the faces of Two-Eyes and his men. Majesty’s men leaping to his defense. The clash of swords. The thud of a falling man. Tabby’s scream as she’s grabbed.
A table overturns. Game pegs scatter. Blood smears the floor. I try to follow, but Tabby is gone before I make a few paces.
Doors bang. Majesty retreats, Two-Eyes chases. Then Two-Eyes comes back, throwing dagger words. I huddle under a table, hoping he will not see me. But he does. I’m thrown down here, tied to a post, and left to wait. Wait and wonder what happened to Tabby and Majesty, what pain they face—because of me.
Darkness gnaws at me, on the outside, on the inside, until a thin shell is all that’s left of me. Majesty’s gone or maybe already dead. His pack belongs to Two-Eyes. I am trapped, unable to do the one thing Majesty asked of me, protect Tabby. I do not even know where she might be or where I would look for her if I could get loose. Maybe she is dead too.
Why did Majesty lose the wager? Could he not see what would happen? And now it is too late.
Footsteps march across the floor above me. A door creaks, and gray light tumbles down the stairs before rolling to a stop at my feet. There’s too much darkness around me—in me—for the light to come any closer.
“Get down there.”
Hurried feet patter against wood, trying to keep their master from falling. The last step is missed. Tabby! She falls to hands and knees with a soft grunt.
I twist and yank against the rope tying my forepaws to the post.
At my whimpers, she looks up—a dark red bruise covers her cheek. “Sarah!” She lunges for me, arms wrapping around my neck.
I lean into her. She is alive. Breathing. Here! Maybe I will be able to do what Majesty asked.
Hard, steady steps pound against the stairs. Two-Eyes. “Friends in direst circumstances, once again united. Touching scene, isn’t it?”
Men yank Tabby from me, and Two-Eyes plants himself between her and me. I jerk forward, trying to get to her. Did the rope slip a little? My forepaws work back and forth. Come on! A little more!
“Too bad your father couldn’t be here for this little reunion, right, Princess?”
“I told you. I don’t know anything. If Father had some secret hiding place, I haven’t a clue where it is. Not that I’d tell you even if I did.”
Majesty escaped? And Two-Eyes the master hunter can’t find him? A spark of light pierces the darkness inside me.
“I’m beginning to get bored with hearing the same answer again and again.” Two-Eyes steps toward Tabby, fist clenching. Her body quivers, a mouse in the shadow of a predator bird, but she doesn’t back away.
I twist my paws and pull. Almost there.
“I hate it when I get bored.” He strikes her.
She cries out. I jump forward. My paws pull free.
With one spring, I am on him. My forepaws claw his face. My teeth sink into his shoulder. My good hind leg kicks him in the middle. Two-Eyes roars and flings me away. My head whacks the post; I crumple to the floor.
“Sarah!”
His boots find my unprotected underside. I curl into a ball, clutching at my belly.
“You want to play rough, Beast? Then let’s play rough.” Two-Eyes spins away, coiling his whip around his hand. “Hang it up.”
Men grab me. Chills prick my body; pain slices through my middle. I twist and kick and snarl.
Tabby lunges against Fang, who holds her back. “Let her be, you monster!”
“I might—if you’ll provide that one little location.”
Chapter 15
A Wager
Spring thaw. A good time to get out, to escape the confining walls of the castle for a while. A visit to the lords will do us all good. At least that’s what Majesty says. To me, it still feels cold—outside and in.
I hunker by the inn’s fire. Its heat burns my face, but I am still cold. The outside air seeps through the cracks in the walls and sweeps across my back, making me shiver.
Tabby feels it too. First she stands with her face toward the fire. Then she turns so she faces away, only to turn again after a moment. But however she stands, her back is always to me with no word or look tossed my way. Many days have passed since Majesty said he wanted to make me part of his inner pack, but Tabby’s anger still burns hot.
My head droops and I swing away from the fire. Maybe I should leave when warm days come again. Tabby no longer wants me here, and while Majesty treats me as he always has, a sadness is in his eyes when he looks at me—I cannot give him what he wants. Pulling the cloak tight around me, I curl up on the floor, away from Tabby and Majesty and the three swordsmen traveling with us.
Majesty finishes talking with the master of the inn and walks over to where I lie. Settling on the nearest bench, he stretches out his legs and leans back against a table, his eyes on Tabby. “Give her time, Sarah. She’s hurting, confused, and scared—and she doesn’t know what to do with any of it.”
I stare at Majesty. Does he want me to leave too?
“She’s vulnerable. Very vulnerable. And so many dark days are ahead.” He finally tips his head toward me. “Keep her safe, Sarah. Don’t do anything rash that might add to that hurt.”
His words fall heavy on me. Majesty wants me to protect Tabby? But how am I to do that when she will not even turn her face toward me?
Tabby turns so that the fire warms her other side, her fingers jangling the pouch at her waist. No, that isn’t right. That jangle does not come from the pouch. It is not loud enough, nor does it match Tabby’s movements. My head tilts to one side. But the jangle is gone. Or maybe it was never there.
Scuffling feet and low voices skulk outside.
My fur rises on my neck. But it is nothing. Other travelers stopping for a midday meal. That is all. Nothing but—
Two-Eyes.
How do I know? I cannot say. But I know it’s him. He’s here. For me. I back up under the table, back into the shadows. If only he won’t see me. If only he won’t know I am here.
“Sarah?” Majesty leans forward to peer under the table at me. Then he raises his head to look at the door again. His hand closes around his sword, so tight that white spots show on his fingers. “So it begins.” He stands.
The door bangs open. Several men with drawn swords burst in on a gust of cold air. I shrink back. Two-Eyes is not among them, but he is here. I feel it.
Majesty strides forward, drawing his own sword, and his three swordsmen follow his lead. Metal clashes against metal. Boots pound against the floor. I cannot see who is winning.
“Father!”
Tabby. A man I do not know drags her away. She thrashes against his arm, but her movements are all wrong. She does not know how to fight this man.
“Hold on, Tabby.” Majesty fights against two men.
He will not get there soon enough. I swallow the stone in my throat and bound forward. The man sees only Majesty and his men.
“Look! The beast!”
“What—”
I throw all of me against Tabby’s captor and bite his leg. The man howls. Tabby twists free. She grabs the closest thing—a metal pot by the fire—and smashes it against his head. Gray ash flies. The man slumps to the floor.
Tabby smiles—at me! “Thanks.”
“Good job, you two.” Majesty locks blades with another man. “Now get out of here.”
“Come on, Sarah.” Tabby ducks into the kitchen.
I swing after her and hesitate. This is not right. The room is empty of mate and master. Where are the kitchen people? The master of the inn?
Tabby yanks the door open. “What are you waiting—look out!”
A shadow falls across me. Fang looms in the other doorway, and I dart under the table. But though Tabby’s warning is for me, Fang marches toward her. “Isn’t this a treat? I’ve found myself a lovely young princess.”
Though I can see only his legs from under the table, his words curl upward with a grin.
“Sorry.” Tabby snatches something from a barrel by the door. “I’m not edible.” She throws a potato at him. It falls harmlessly at Fang’s feet.
“Resistance only makes victory sweeter.” He moves steadily forward. Almost there . . . three more steps . . . two . . . I rear up and push over the table. Food flies and pots crash into him; the table slams onto his feet. He howls. I shove Tabby out the door into the cold air.
“We’d better split up. You go that way.” She gathers up her skirts and sprints away.
I bound the way she pointed. Steps squish in the soft mud. I spin around. A hand catches my throat and slams me against the inn’s wall. Darkness slides across my sight. I blink, trying to see again.
One blue eye and one green eye stare into my face. Two-Eyes.
He throws me into the mud, face down, and rams a knee into my back between my shoulders. “I hope you had a good run, Beast. It was your last.”
He yanks my forepaws behind my back and ties a rope around them. No! He cannot take me. Not now. I kick and twist and thrash and arch my back. Mud splatters everywhere and lands in my mouth. I cough and choke. Two-Eyes only chuckles. My head slumps forward. I cannot throw him. I need help. I need Majesty.
Creak-moan. A bowstring pulls taut behind us. Two-Eyes drops flat against me. An arrow thuds into the ground a few paces beyond us. He flips over, his powerful arm crushing me to his chest.
Majesty! He tosses a bow aside and strides forward, drawing his sword. I twist and kick, trying to free myself, to get to him.
Two-Eyes pushes up to his feet, holding me tight. My feet strain to find ground, but Two-Eyes dangles me high above it. I cannot reach it.
“Good move, Elroy, but I wouldn’t try anything more.” Two-Eyes flicks his free hand to his side. “Further surprises might cause my knife to slip in a most unfortunate way.” A cold, sharp edge is thrust against my throat, under my chin.
A chill stiffens me.
Majesty lowers his sword until the tip touches the ground, his eyes never leaving Two-Eyes, his stance never easing. “What do you want, Avery?”
“I have what I want.” Two-Eyes slides along the wall, his clothing scuffing against the stones.
Majesty steps toward Two-Eyes. “She’s worthless to you.”
Worthless? A stone crushes my insides. Majesty thinks I’m good for nothing—even for making laughter? I blink hard to keep water from slipping down my face.
Two-Eyes snorts. “You underestimate the value of conquering every challenge. Even the smallest crack can crumble the entire castle if left unattended.”
Before Majesty can reply, Tabby skids around the corner. “Sarah!” She starts toward me.
Two-Eyes jabs his knife upward. I gasp.
“Go inside, Tabitha.” Majesty’s gaze does not stray from Two-Eyes. “Now.”
Tabby looks from me to Majesty and then disappears from my sight. But no door slams. She hovers nearby. Still the knife slackens against my throat.
“I’ll buy her.” Majesty’s voice remains rock solid. If he fears Two-Eyes any, it doesn’t show. “Double what you paid.”
Double? The ground and sky wobbles. Didn’t Majesty just say I was worthless? Why is he offering so much to buy me?
“And lose my best source of entertainment in years? No, I have too many plans for this one.” Two-Eyes starts creeping along the wall again.
The tip of Majesty’s sword lifts off the ground. “Plans?” His voice is low and tight. “Like starving her until she can no longer run from you? Whipping her until she’s half dead? Torturing her until she goes unconscious? Just so you can listen to her screams, fill your lust for blood? Over my dead body.”
Two-Eyes digs his knife into my throat, forcing my head up. Wet warmness creeps along my skin. A whimper forms in my throat, but it can’t squeeze beyond the knife blade. I’m caught between two powerful masters with no way out.
“A generous offer, Elroy. One I’d love to take. But unfortunately, I’m forced to decline at this time.”
We are almost to the corner of the building. Where Two-Eyes plans to go from there, I do not know. But he has something planned, something that will include the hiss-crack of a whip—and its sting on my back. I lift my eyes to Majesty. Please. I’ll do anything. Find a way to be useful. Just don’t let him take me!
“A wager.”
Two-Eyes halts. “What?”
“You’re a betting man, aren’t you, Avery? So if you won’t let me buy her, wager her in a game with me. Sarah for my kingdom.”
Silence. Even the wind has dropped, as if holding its breath.
Two-Eyes leans toward Majesty; the predator has picked up the scent of prey. “Tell me more.”
“One game of Catteran. If I win, you relinquish Sarah and any claim on her. If you win fairly, I hand over my crown, my throne, my kingdom.”
My eyes widen. He cannot mean those words.
“The ultimate game of strategy. Interesting pick.” Two-Eyes tightens his grip on me. “If your word is good.”
No, no, no! Don’t do it! Don’t risk your whole pack for me.
“You know it is, Avery. Of course, if you wish I attest to all this in writing . . .”
“I wish—with the additional provision that if I should lose by some obscure chance, I will return to my lands upright and under my own power.”
“I do not find the same pleasure as you in turning the ground red.”
“My gain. But the wager—shall we retire inside?”
“After you.”
Tap, tap, tap, tap. The sound of the wood peg against the table fills the entire room. Tap, tap, tap. Two-Eyes clenches his fist around the peg and scowls at the board. He smashes the peg into a hole—only his control as a hunter keeps him from doing more.
And he hasn’t even lost yet.
I pull my hind legs up to my chest and shudder. I sit across the room from him, waiting with everyone else for the game’s end, but if he chose to heave the board at me, it would find me.
Tabby, sitting on the floor beside me, adjusts her cloak around my shoulders as it starts to slide off; Two-Eyes insisted my forepaws stay bound behind my back. She squeezes my shoulder and bends over to whisper in my ear. “Everything will work out, Sarah. You’ll see.”
I manage a nod, for her sake. At least her anger no longer burns against me.
Two-Eyes scowls. “Just move.”
Majesty picks up a peg and plops it into a hole without hesitation. Another peg joins Majesty’s pile beside the board.
Two-Eyes mutters harsh, growling words under his breath. Men belonging to both Majesty and Two-Eyes edge nearer the table. No one pulls out swords, but all rest hands on the handles, ready to do so.
My forepaws clench underneath the cloak. A clash of swords and fists would have been easier to watch. It would have been over sooner too. My insides growl, reminding me that the time for the evening meal is long past.
Two-Eyes, hunched over the board, suddenly smiles and moves a peg toward me. He didn’t do that, did he? He just stepped into Majesty’s trap, opening his master peg to attack.
He leans back. “Ah, the dust of defeat—what a bitter taste.”
“Especially to the arrogant.” Majesty drops a peg into place, sealing the trap. He cannot lose now. Not unless he intentionally moves his master peg one hole to the right.
Tabby bounces up and down at my side. “Father’s won. He has won the wager!” Her words barely keep to a whisper.
I want to be glad too. But something is not right. Two-Eyes does not scowl or clench his fist in anger. Rather his face is blank, calm. Does he not see he has lost? Majesty is not blind. He will not move his master peg to the right.
Two-Eyes pushes a peg into a hole. His eyes glint, like a predator who has trapped his prey but the prey does not yet know it. “But there are worse things than defeat, aren’t there, Elroy?” He shifts to the side, and my ears pick up a soft creak-moan—like a bowstring being pulled? But how, where?
A shadow shifts in the kitchen doorway. A bowman aims an arrow toward Tabby. One word, one flick of a finger from Two-Eyes and she’ll be . . . Majesty can’t let that happen. Not to Tabby. But if he protects her, he’ll lose his whole pack to Two-Eyes. No, Majesty must win. But if he wins, the arrow will fly straight into Tabby.
Unless it can’t reach her.
I scoot forward and around Tabby, forcing her behind me. She grabs my shoulder. “Sarah, what are you doing?”
She does not see the bowman. But it does not matter. I do. My chin lifts and I glare at Two-Eyes. I am Beast. My life is not worth much. But better to fall forever still at the point of an arrow than at the end of his whip.
Majesty shakes his head, his shoulders drooping as if a great weight has been placed on them. “Avery, you would kill your own family to avoid defeat.”
“I could.” He leans back and stretches; he has won his prey. “But killing someone else’s is far more effective.”
“Yet you still don’t understand, do you? In the end, you will never win.”
“Never?” Two-Eyes clicks his tongue. “Such a strong word, Elroy, especially since I already have.”
“Have you?” Majesty picks up his master peg and rolls it between his fingers. Two-Eyes narrows his eyes. The whole room leans forward. I try to brace myself. The arrow will fly in the next breath or two.
Majesty twists around and locks eyes with me. My chest tightens. He can’t be thinking that. I shake my head. No. Don’t. You said it yourself. I’m only Beast. I’m not worth the whole pack.
A single drop of water rolls down his cheek. “Oh Sarah, if only this would be enough to convince you of the truth.”
He drops his master peg in the hole on the right.
Chapter 16
In Enemy Hands
As my first act as King Avery of Ahavel, I hereby sentence the traitor, Elroy Aven, to death.”
In the sound-muffled darkness of the kitchen cellar, I live the moments after Majesty’s loss again and again.
“And claim his daughter as my slave.”
I shiver. From the coldness of the dirt floor I lie on? Or from the sights and sounds I cannot shake?
The leers on the faces of Two-Eyes and his men. Majesty’s men leaping to his defense. The clash of swords. The thud of a falling man. Tabby’s scream as she’s grabbed.
A table overturns. Game pegs scatter. Blood smears the floor. I try to follow, but Tabby is gone before I make a few paces.
Doors bang. Majesty retreats, Two-Eyes chases. Then Two-Eyes comes back, throwing dagger words. I huddle under a table, hoping he will not see me. But he does. I’m thrown down here, tied to a post, and left to wait. Wait and wonder what happened to Tabby and Majesty, what pain they face—because of me.
Darkness gnaws at me, on the outside, on the inside, until a thin shell is all that’s left of me. Majesty’s gone or maybe already dead. His pack belongs to Two-Eyes. I am trapped, unable to do the one thing Majesty asked of me, protect Tabby. I do not even know where she might be or where I would look for her if I could get loose. Maybe she is dead too.
Why did Majesty lose the wager? Could he not see what would happen? And now it is too late.
Footsteps march across the floor above me. A door creaks, and gray light tumbles down the stairs before rolling to a stop at my feet. There’s too much darkness around me—in me—for the light to come any closer.
“Get down there.”
Hurried feet patter against wood, trying to keep their master from falling. The last step is missed. Tabby! She falls to hands and knees with a soft grunt.
I twist and yank against the rope tying my forepaws to the post.
At my whimpers, she looks up—a dark red bruise covers her cheek. “Sarah!” She lunges for me, arms wrapping around my neck.
I lean into her. She is alive. Breathing. Here! Maybe I will be able to do what Majesty asked.
Hard, steady steps pound against the stairs. Two-Eyes. “Friends in direst circumstances, once again united. Touching scene, isn’t it?”
Men yank Tabby from me, and Two-Eyes plants himself between her and me. I jerk forward, trying to get to her. Did the rope slip a little? My forepaws work back and forth. Come on! A little more!
“Too bad your father couldn’t be here for this little reunion, right, Princess?”
“I told you. I don’t know anything. If Father had some secret hiding place, I haven’t a clue where it is. Not that I’d tell you even if I did.”
Majesty escaped? And Two-Eyes the master hunter can’t find him? A spark of light pierces the darkness inside me.
“I’m beginning to get bored with hearing the same answer again and again.” Two-Eyes steps toward Tabby, fist clenching. Her body quivers, a mouse in the shadow of a predator bird, but she doesn’t back away.
I twist my paws and pull. Almost there.
“I hate it when I get bored.” He strikes her.
She cries out. I jump forward. My paws pull free.
With one spring, I am on him. My forepaws claw his face. My teeth sink into his shoulder. My good hind leg kicks him in the middle. Two-Eyes roars and flings me away. My head whacks the post; I crumple to the floor.
“Sarah!”
His boots find my unprotected underside. I curl into a ball, clutching at my belly.
“You want to play rough, Beast? Then let’s play rough.” Two-Eyes spins away, coiling his whip around his hand. “Hang it up.”
Men grab me. Chills prick my body; pain slices through my middle. I twist and kick and snarl.
Tabby lunges against Fang, who holds her back. “Let her be, you monster!”
“I might—if you’ll provide that one little location.”
