Page 78 of Ravaged From Fate

“You do have some bite to you, Elsa,” he remarks with a sly smile that disforms his face tattoo. “I give you that.”

He slowly reaches out to grab my wrists. I spit in his face. My saliva dribbles down the tip of his sword tattoo. Yeah, it’s unladylike, but it’s all I’ve got left.

In reply to my spit, Shade slaps me. Across the face. Hard.

I scream and fall to the ground.

Next Shade calmly pulls out his gun and presses the nozzle against my cheek, hurting me with its touch.

“Don’t mess with me, girl. You may be a little kitten with claws, but I’m not afraid to use this gun against a woman.” He pulls me by the arm into the chair. This time I don’t resist. I can’t. My face stings and the pistol is all too real to dare try anything.

One of the other members of the gang binds my hands behind the chair. I’m stuck and I feel so vulnerable. The barn is empty. No stalls except for a few mattresses on the ground and clothes scattered about. No hay. No livestock. This must be one of the gang’s lairs, if that’s the right word for it. Despite the daylight outside, the place is dimly lit, with long dark shadows hanging down in the far end.

Jared, the guy I just punched in the nose, leans back against the wall, bright red blood dripping down his face.

“I want to kill her,” he growls like a wounded animal.

“Shut up,” Shade replies. “Though, in fact, it might make a good sight for Caspian to see her bloodied corpse. That might really be sweet.”

My mouth goes numb. Whether it’s from the vicious slap I’ve just received or the terror pulsing through my veins, I don’t know.

Shade nods to himself. “Yeah, maybe we should just get rid of you now, Elsa. Cut you up into little pieces. That would be fun.”

On the other side of the barn, in the middle of my vision but behind Shade, one of the shadows seems to move. I squint to make it out, but it’s too quick. Maybe I’m hallucinating from the pain, but I swear I saw something there.

“Yeah, plans have changed,” Shade tells me without any inflection or emotion. “It will be better for you to go.”

This is it. He’s going to kill me. I’m tied up and with no means of escape. I can’t do a thing.

And then the shadows move again. Something darts out on the far side of the barn.

I can’t believe it.

It’s Caspian.

Somehow, he’s been in the barn all along. Somehow he’s followed us here.

He charges towards one of the goons, knocking the man stone cold. Before the others can even react, he’s onto two of them, dropping them both out with a strong right hook individually to their chins.

CRACK!

I can hear the noise so clearly when Caspian’s fists connect with their face. Well, there goes their bones. The two men are going to be in hospital for a long time, I reckon.

It happens so freaking fast. I don’t even blink and it’s over.

All that’s left are Jared and Shade.

The man with the broken nose is completely useless against the hulk of a man. He raises his hands towards Caspian, but the big guy swats his defenses aside like nothing and then delivers an awesome blow against his already-shattered nose.

Jared collapses with a sharp yell of pain.

Twice in the one delicate spot must really hurt.

And that leaves only Caspian and Shade left.

Shade is unfazed by what’s happened. Sure, there’s a flicker of surprise in his expression, but it’s quickly erased. He simply raises his gun away from me and points it at Caspian, still a few yards away.

“This time will be different to the bar,” he threatens. “This time I have a gun.”