“I’m nae gettin’in there.”
“I swear, there’s nothin’in there but yer refuge. Now hide yerself.”
“There’s a snake.”
“Nay such thing,”he huffed as he turned his back to her. Her eyes widened as her mouth parted. Crawling from the hole was the largest centipede she had ever laid eyes on. A scream formed in the depths of her begin. A scream that was coarse as salt and just as cleansing. It escaped the moment her foe was run through by the head of an arrow.
“Get in the hole,”he growled as he took his stance before her. There was no protest left in her, not after the arrow had cut so close to her. Had she moved a fraction, it would have made another target.
“Ohh. Please daenae crawl on me,”she whimpered as she settled into the hollowed stump. She closed her eyes refusing to think of what was trying to nest in her hair. Everything about the situation was causing her to tremble. She didn’t know what was worse, surviving or facing what came after the grave. From where she sat, it was starting to look the same.
Holding her breath,she tried to think of better times. Even if her mind did happen to pull her back into Lewis’s cells. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to step back even further to a time and place where she knew she was secure and safe. Her breath hitched as her mother’s tender face came into view. Madison was no longer in the hollowed stump. She was in the yard outside of a small town with her parents and sister. A hint of blueberries swirled about her and danced with her memory as if it went hand in hand.
“So,”a husky voice said, snapping Madison from her happy place. She’d heard the voice before in the dead of night. It was a sound that tormented her dreams and haunted her mornings. She cupped her hand over her mouth, refusing to let a single whimper slip. “Mad Dog, suppose ye think I’ll step aside for ye to claim her, do ye?”
Madison strainedher ears to hear every word spoken for it was her fate they spoke of after all. She pressed her hand to the dried, crumbly tree. It toppled around her hand like sawdust. The scream she had in reserve pierced the dusk as a horde of termites took to the sky swarming around her.
She swatted at them,desperately trying to escape from their terror. The clash of metal on metal did nothing to stop her panic. She had far more pressing matters to attend to.
“Get off,”she screamed and clawed a path out of the tree stump. It didn’t matter where she turned, the winged fiends had her surrounded. Madison dragged her leg behind her, praying she was heading for some stream. In the back of her mind she couldn’t help but be a tad grateful. At least they weren’t stinging her. They could have been wasps or hornets that she had disturbed.
“Yield, or die,”her captor’s voice boomed triumphantly through the grove. Madison’s head popped up as she searched the terrain. She didn’t know where she should be relieved or terrified. It wasn’t like her circumstances had improved any. She was still a prize to be won and a trophy to mount.
“Yield?What sort of Mad Dog shows mercy?” the husky voice growled defiantly. Even without seeing where they were, Madison could feel the tension rolling through the grove like waves on a shore.
“Call me that one more time,”her captor said, his voice was smooth as the tip of his blade. Madison’s chest tightened as the last bit of the winged fiends buzzed off to torment another.
She pulledin a long deep breath and turned her attention to her leg. It throbbed and pulsed with each and every beat of her heart. She would never walk the same again, that much was certain. If of course she ever made it out of the nightmare she was living in.The night had fallen, they still had the night to contend with and Lewis was out there somewhere, just waiting, she was sure of it.
“Mad D— ”the husky voice was silenced. Madison paused to take note that not even the animals in the grove cared that blood had been spilled. She dropped her head as the tears finally came. What hope did she have if a man was so easily disposed of? She dropped her shoulders as the pain of her life finally crashed down on her.
“Get up, we need to go,”the Mad Dog said as he barreled through the woods, crushing everything under his foot.
“I cannae walk, remember?”she huffed, refusing to mask her defeat any longer.
“Ye still have the leg,do ye nae? Then use it, or we can cut it off right now,” he said as he pulled his blade. The moon light cut cross the blood splattered steel causing it to shimmer menacingly.
“What are ye doin’?Leave me be,” she grumbled as he charged at her and pulled her up to her feet.
“I told ye nae to move,”he growled through gritted teeth.
“And I toldye I dinnae want to be put in that hole. I ken there was somethin’ in it,” she countered as he rolled his eyes before scooping her up into his arms. She tried to give him as much space as she could, but there was no point. No matter where sheturned, there he was. Mad Dog, the name suited him. He was tall with dark shaggy hair.
“Ye can put me down.”
“And have ye crawlin’back to the keep, I’d rather carry ye,” he answered as his gaze remained locked on the path ahead of them. “Besides, the night has come. I daenae need ye trippin’ over her feet and breakin’ yer other leg. I promise, ye’ll nae be harmed under me care. Even if that means I have to protect ye from yerself.”
“Well, arenae ye all noble,”she hissed as she folded her arms over her chest in defiance. It wasn’t like she was about to throw her arms around his neck and snuggle into him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Thank ye,that might be the nicest thing ye said since I’ve saved ye and everythin’,” he said, his tone dripping with pride. Madison rolled her eyes as she tried not to say a word. But his heavy, labored breathing was beginning to irk her.
“So,the mad dog wants me to say thank ye?”
“Daenae call me that,”he hissed. “I’ve killed others for such things.”
“Tellme again how ye expect me to trust that ye’ll nae hurt me? If ye’re takin’ me to my grave, just lay me here. I’m sure the beasts of the field will have a day with me bones.”
“I’ll letthat slide because ye’ve been through a hell that nay one should have fought through. Ye’re a strong lass who needs to rest so ye can fight another day. Take yer reprieve while ye can. We’ve got a ways to go still and I’m sure yer tongue could use a rest. Lord kens me ears can.”
