I swallowed, trying to fight down the anger and fear welling inside me. “It’s not like it matters. You know he’ll kill me eventually. Better sooner rather than later.”
“Don’t say that.”
I glared at him. “Are you about to give me some motivational speech telling me that my life has value here? You know I’m a bargaining chip and nothing more.”
He let out a sigh but didn’t contradict me. As we walked through camp, the men parted before us. No longer did they try to trip me at every chance but backed away cautiously. A few even called out words of encouragement to Baron, as though they half believed he wouldn’t live through the night. I saw Sneeds poke his pimply face out of a tent, and I puckered my lips at him. His face went ghostly white and he quickly pulled the tent flap over his face to hide. I hoped he wet his pants.
Before Baron let me in his tent, he insisted on patting me down to make sure I wasn’t hiding any weapons on my person. “You keep finding knives,” he muttered as he did so. Once he found me unarmed, he ducked his head and entered the tent, dragging me in after him. To my surprise, I wasn’t whipped. He gruffly told me to act injured for a couple of days and said he was going to lay down for a bit. So I had to sit there, practically next to him with nothing to do but ruminate on my new, yet now familiar, situation.
I refused dinner that night. After antagonizing the sheriff so much, I didn’t trust a single morsel of food or drop of drink, regardless of whether Baron would sample it for me or not. All I wanted was to wake up from this living nightmare.
When Baron and I retired to the tent for the night and he lay again on his bedroll, I encountered a problem I hadn’t foreseen—and one I had failed to notice earlier amid my fresh worries and the threat of being lashed: I had buried the arrowhead under the rock that I could see on the far side of the tent, but with my chain now halved in length, I had no way of reaching it. To have a weapon so close at hand, but still impossible to get, was maddening.
I tried to turn my body, but the very tips of my toes were just centimeters shy of touching the rock. There was no way I would be able to dislodge the rock and dig out the arrowhead without alerting Baron to my actions. A thousand curses. Time for a new plan.
CHAPTER 17
Baron kept an unusually close watch on me after that. Before my most recent escape, he generally left me to my own devices with twelve feet between us. Now, I noticed him watching me constantly out of the corner of his eye, wary of what I was up to.
It used to be that I was able to go in and out of the tent at my own discretion, but now the shorter chain made it so we went everywhere together. We worked out a deal for visiting the privy and rigged up a partition in the woods and would take turns behind the screen. I was grateful that, as limited as my freedom was, Baron was still considerate enough to allow me to maintain some semblance of my dignity.
We also would take turns bathing in the tent every few days while the other stayed just outside the tent flap, which was the farthest distance the chain would stretch. A wash basin had been available before my most recent escape, but I had refused its use prior; I wouldn’t subject myself to being that vulnerable in the presence of my enemy. But I couldn’t stand going without washing for two weeks again, and Baron seemed just as eager as I was to not stink to high heaven.
Since I now had the dress given to me from the kind old woman in addition to my usual tunic and leggings, I was able to wash a change of clothing as well as my body, then hang my alternate clothing out to dry overnight. It was far from ideal, but adequate for the time being.
As for my quarter rations, I fully expected to become emaciated, but was pleasantly surprised. The first meal I got, breakfast the morning after we got back, Baron plunked down a platter with a very small portion of food on it in front of me. “Quarter ration,” he said gruffly, then heaped his own plate even higher than normal, saying while he did so, “Boy, am I hungry this morning!”
After he ate his usual amount, there was still a generous serving left. He placed his platter to the side, just a few inches from me. “What a nice sunrise!” he said meaningfully, and stared in the opposite direction, back turned to me. “I just love watching the sun rise.”
I understood his meaning and finished his portion as well. Perhaps Baron wasn’t as bad as I had first imagined.
I knew it wouldn’t be much longer before Father attempted another rescue. He would come for me, I just knew it. Our band never left anyone behind if they could help it. All I had to do was wait patiently. I racked my brains constantly but couldn’t think of a way to break this shorter chain without being spotted.
That afternoon, Dorian and a crowd of his cronies strolled into our campsite. I was glad to see that Dorian still limped heavily and that the ugly red marks stayed streaked across his throat. “Well, if it isn’t the witch! I see you are still enjoying our hospitality. Couldn’t stay away, could you?” Dorian called aloud. Several men also mumbled insults, but they seemed more hesitant to be in any vicinity that included me. I narrowed my eyes at them.
“If it isn’t Dorian. I see you are still as spry as ever. Oh, wait…” I took an exaggerated look at his mangled leg, which was perfectly in my line of sight due to my seated position on the log we used for a bench. “Well, at least you still have your dashing good looks. Although, it seems like you have something on your neck.” I pointed to his rope burns.
Dorian flushed, then retorted, “Seems you do too,” he nodded at my collar.
“Yes, I can see how brave and chivalrous you lot are, keeping a girl in chains. Are you really such cowards that you are afraid of a woman less than half your age?”
The group of men shifted uncomfortably, and I saw several exchange furtive glances. Dorian was far less embarrassed. “I’d love to teach you a few manners,” he sneered.
I pretended to think. “Wait, didn’t you have that opportunity? What was it—twice? Seems you didn’t do so well either time. Shame you can’t even handle a little girl. Makes you a pretty pathetic excuse for a man, if you ask me.”
Dorian stepped aggressively in my direction and I stood, ready for a fight.That’s right Dorian, just a little closer,I thought. I could vividly visualize each and every maneuver I would perform. I wanted to dosomethingabout the predicament I was in. Chained or not, I could still handle Dorian, I was sure. I even looked forward to it. But Baron’s large hand closed on my upper arm and held me back.
“Don’t,” he warned me softly.
Dorian seemed to interpret Baron’s gesture differently. “Yes, Baron! You hold her, and I will repay her for what she did to me. What she did to all of us!” The men began to cluster nearer and they all clamored agreement.
A spasm of fear constricted my chest. I knew that, if Baron wanted to, he could seriously hurt me. He hadn’t so far, but it could be that his mild manner would crumble under thethreat of peer pressure. His brute strength coupled with Dorian’s eagerness to cause me harm, and the other men now drawing in closer… Things were looking grim. I banked on my ability to best any one or even two of the men in front of me, but I still had yet to come out on top in a fight against Baron. Chained and heavily outnumbered, I vowed that, if I went down, I would take as many of them with me as I could.
“How about a kiss?” one of the other men piped up. “See if Sneeds was right!”
Dorian stepped toward me again, his black, pitiless eyes raking me up and down. “Now there is an idea.” He grinned maliciously.
“Try it and see what happens!” I snarled, pulling fruitlessly on the arm restrained by Baron. I wanted him to let go of me so I could fly at Dorian. I wouldnotbe a helpless victim. Baron grabbed my other arm as well and pulled me away from Dorian. My back was flat against Baron’s chest, and I couldn’t throw him off. I thrashed against his hold on my arms, but Baron’s grip was vicelike, and it didn’t feel like he was even exerting much energy to keep me in check. I couldn’t have budged even if my life depended on it. And perhaps right now, it did.
