Page 14 of Given to the Fae
I straighten and look around the tent. Perhaps some humans would try to escape now.
They’d be fools.
It’s pitch black outside and we’re in a Dark Realm forest. If I set one foot out of the camp, I’d be inviting death. Even if whatever killed me would die as well, the comfort would be a cold one. Instead, I look around the tent. I pour myself a goblet of wine and take a sip only to spit it out. Why would anyone voluntarily choose to imbibe such an awful drink?
I find some water in a jug and drink that instead before stuffing myself with dried meat and nuts that I find in bowls on the small table. Confident that the cunt will be out until the morn, I roll him over to his furs and take down his trousers. His cock lies innocuously against his leg like a maggot and I make a face as I remove his boots and cover him.
While searching the tent, I also find a collection of healer’s vials. I smell them until I find the one I want and I tie it to the ends of the laces of my dress before I tuck it between my breasts where it won’t be noticed.
I then curl up close to the cunt and go to sleep, thankful for some respite and what will hopefully be a good night’s rest.
Jak
We don’t returnto the camp until long after it’s gone quiet. My stomach still turns at the cries I could hear, the revelries thatBere was presiding over. I see the smallest of the human females tied up beside the fire. She’s battered and bruised. Her dress lies next to her, ejected from the furs just as she was when they were finished using her. Whether she’s asleep, or in a faint, I don’t know. By the state of her, it could be either.
I look behind me to ensure that Locke hasn’t yet returned. He wouldn’t like what I’m about to do. But I am...or at least I was, a healer once.
I pick up the tiny human along with her dress and take her to the wagon. I throw a blanket inside that I hope she’ll have the intelligence to hide in the straw before morning comes. The other one with the short hair lies in the circle. She’s still dressed, but her skirts are bunched up by her thighs, and there are bruises over her legs and she’s covered in dried seed. Her lip is split and her jaw swollen. With a sigh, I pick her up as well and take her to the cart. I cover them both with the blanket and shut the door, locking it and pocketing the key. At least, I can ensure that they’ll be left alone for the rest of the night.
‘What are you doing?’ one of Bere’s men hisses from behind me.
I turn on him, pleased when the smaller fae male takes two steps back.
‘None of you cunts thought to post a guard,’ I snarl low, hoping he doesn’t notice the blanket in the low light. ‘If they fuck off in the night and get themselves killed, we don’t get paid. What am I doing, you ask? Protecting our investments for fuck’s sake, which is more than I can say for any of the rest of you.’
‘Where’s the third?’ he growls. ‘There were three of them.’
‘No doubt Bere has the last one in his tent now,’ I reply.
And is probably making her fulfill all sorts of his depraved desires tonight.
I resist the urge to hit the nearest tree, or the male in front of me. Locke wouldn’t like that either. The mission is paramount,after all, and, if we’re successful, we’ll save more lives than these five pathetic human slaves.
‘Aye, that’s where she’ll be,’ he mutters. ‘I’m going to bed.’
He wanders off and I grab my pack from mine and Morgan’s tent. It’s too small for us both, anyway. Morgan is massive. Besides, it’s warm enough for me to sleep outside under the clear sky, so I do, but I don’t shut my eyes until I hear Locke and Morgan return from their hunt. Only then do I let a dreamless sleep claim me.
The morning brings with it a light drizzle and I’m woken to a kick to my foot from one of the others.
‘We break camp in a few,’ Derth, one of Bere’s most loyal, mutters to me. ‘Get up and pull your fucking weight, Jak.’
I grunt at him and rise, my body protesting and I wish I could go back to sleep again. I splash some water on my face from the cool river and drink my fill, noticing that the two females are still in the wagon and their blanket isn’t in sight. Both of them look tired and their faces are blank as they stare out at nothing. They sit close to each other, and I notice the slightly older one is holding the smaller one’s hand. I look away. There’s nothing I could have done to help them. It would have meant months of work wasted. Years perhaps.
I fill two cups from the river and give them to the females through the bars. The water is accepted with averted eyes and a part of me fears that they think I was among the males who abused them last night.
My thoughts are halted when I see the third one emerge from Bere’s tent. She’s walking slowly but not limping, and in fact looks much less injured than the other two. I move away to give them a moment with each other as she nears the cart.
‘Come to gloat?’ the younger one snarls, but the one sitting next to her nudges her and shakes her head.
‘There was naught she could have done, and you know it,’ she says quietly, shifting position and wincing.
I watch from my vantage point as she glances around to make sure no one’s watching and then delves into the collar of her slave dress. She pulls out a vial and my eyes narrow. That’s one of Bere’s from his private stock of supplies. When he notices it’s gone, she’ll be punished severely. He’s no fool. He’ll know it was her.
‘If you share it, your wounds will heal enough to feel better but not enough for them to notice.’
The slightly older one snatches the vial with a snort. ‘I owe you nothing,Bryn.’
The third one’s lip curls just a tad. ‘I don’t need you to owe me,Bell.’
