Night had fallen, the streets were beginning to clear as people moved indoors, and the streetlights had just begun to come on when Kel stepped off campus. She sighed, resettling her backpack on her shoulders, and looked back at the brightly lit buildings behind her. Looking in the other direction, across the street, she saw dark trees and a narrow path snaking between the trunks, as well as an empty black car parked a little way down the road.
"Why did she have to pick this place?" Hunching her shoulders against the light wind that had just picked up, she crossed the deserted road and began her trek toward the house. She lived with her aunt, who taught at the college, in a small house set far back in the forest that marked the southern border of campus, so every Tuesday and Thursday found her walking alone through the dark trees after her classes ended. Kel hated the walk, and couldn't repress the shiver of fear that went through her every time she looked into the shadowy foliage to her right and left.
She always imagined she could hear animals rustling; growls and whines that she knew were in her head, so when she heard a twig snap somewhere in the trees behind her she told herself it was just her imagination. Then, when she heard a noise and turned to see the bushes rustling she was convinced it was the moon shining through the leaves above and playing tricks on her. But when she saw a large shape move out from behind a tree into the road she froze, her heart jumping into her throat as she recognized the shadowy figure of a man in the feeble moonlight.
For a moment her breath seemed to have left her, and all she could do was clench her trembling hands around her backpack straps as all of the slasher films she had ever watched flashed through her mind. Finally though, when the man didn't come any closer, she managed to squeak, "Who- who are you?"
The man chuckled, causing Kel to take a step back and tighten her grip, ready to run at a moment's notice, and stepped forward into a pool of light. Kel had a moment to take in his sharp features before he spoke, and when he did it was in a harsh, rasping voice like a cat's tongue.
"I work for someone who's very interested in your parents' deaths."
Kel sighed, relived at first that he wasn't some murderer cornering her in the woods, but also feeling the familiar surge of resentment that emerged every time her parents came up in conversation. "Look, I don't care if you're some monster hunter, or news station, or wildlife... person, but I'm not interested in answering your questions. My parents were killed having a picnic in the woods by a wild animal, probably a bear, and there's nothing else to say." Her words grew a little less rehearsed and more annoyed as she went on. "I don't know what your boss told you, or what stupid story he says he heard about them, but it was just a horrible accident. One I don't much like reliving, thanks!" She turned on her heel and was about to storm off the rest of the way to the house, when the man behind her said something that made her freeze in her tracks.
"They were reading a book on that picnic, weren't they?" There was a hint of a smile in his words, as though he knew something she didn't. "What was it?" Kel turned on the spot to stare at the man once more.
"What?" Her face had lost all of its color, and her mind raced as she wondered where the man could possibly have heard about... that. "I-I don't know, why would you ask that?" Could he know? Why would he be asking about that? No one had believed her, not even her aunt...
"Well the article said that your mother was reading a book when she and her husband were killed." The man was smiling now, and Kel didn't like the look in his eyes. "What was it?"
Kel was trembling now, her eyes never once leaving the face of the man who had just broken through her defenses so easily, and she licked her lips. "I- I don't know what-"
Before she could even finish the lie she stopped, her eyes going wide with terror at the sight of the shining blade that had appeared in the man's hand. She moved her foot towards the house, away from the madman in front of her, and screwed up her courage before slipping off her backpack and spinning around to sprint towards the faint light she could see through the trees.
I just have to make it to the house, she thought. He can't be that fast, and once I'm there I can find a knife, and I can lock the door, and- That was as far as she got. Before she had taken more than five steps away from the figure behind her two more men stepped out from behind the trees, and before she could slow down or dodge them the bigger of the two simply caught her in his arms and dragged her back to the first man, completely ignoring her frantic struggling.
It wasn't long before she was before the man again, her nose mere inches from his chest, and she flinched when he brought his knife up to her throat. Her arms were pinned behind her by the giant of a man who had caught her, but she leaned back as far as she could to get away from that shining blade until she could feel the giant's chest pressed against the back of her jacket. Still the knife stayed at her throat, and she started shaking.
"Who- who are you? Why do you care what they were reading? It was just a stupid book!" The man smirked.
"I thought you said you didn't know anything about it," he purred, noticing her guilty, terrified expression and savoring it for a moment.
The giant man behind her shifted impatiently. "How long is this going to take, Basta? Capricorn's waiting!" Capricorn... Basta... Kel heard the strange names and connected them to the men, but all of her attention was still focused directly on the blade at her throat.
Basta growled. "Shut it! I don't need you telling me what to do!" With this he turned back to Kel, and she flinched as he leaned in close to her face. "So... Would you like to try telling me the truth this time, girl? As you can tell, we're on a bit of a tight schedule."
Kel trembled, trapped between Basta and the giant with her arms pinned and a sharp knife at her throat, and tried to work through the daze that had started to settle over her. As much as she wanted to pretend this was a dream, she knew she was awake and had to say something before Basta got tired of waiting.
"It was the Hobbit..." Her voice was so quiet she could barely hear herself. "They were reading about the Wargs. The giant evil wolves the goblins rode." She shuddered, a little girl once more staring down at the mangled bodies of her parents, and saw again the image stained with blood in the book still open in her mother's hand. It showed little men, one much littler than the rest, up a tree that was surrounded by vicious wolves that seemed to be carrying armored creatures on their backs. The wolves were enormous, as big as horses, and before Kel had run screaming back to the house she had heard a deep and wild howl rise up from the forest somewhere nearby.
Of course she had told people when she was a child, she had run to her neighbor's house covered with blood and screaming about the evil wolves that had eaten her parents. She had told the same story to her aunt when she had arrived and to the newspapers that interviewed her in the following months. Of course no one had believed her, and in time she had convinced herself that they really had been mauled by a bear, and that the book had nothing to do with their deaths. Despite all that, those wolves had haunted her dreams for years, and even when she grew older the Hobbit remained the one book she could never read.
Basta grinned, removing the knife from her neck before flipping it closed and slipping it in his pocket. "Good girl. That's all we needed to hear."
Kel felt a moment's relief. "Does that mean I can go? Please? I promise I won't press charges, I'll pretend it never happened, just please let me go." She began to feel worried, however, when the giant man still hadn't released her, and that worry grew when Basta's grin widened.
He shook his head as though he were disappointed in her. "I'm afraid I can't do that." He stepped back further and nodded to the giant man. "Sorry girl, but our orders are to bring you back with us. Flatnose, take her."
"What?! But I told you what you wanted to know! Why do you need me, what do you want? I'll answer all your questions, I promise, let me go, let me go!" Kel dug her heels into the ground, twisting back and forth, kicking and biting any place on Flatnose she could reach, and screamed when he simply threw her over his shoulder and began following Basta down the driveway.
They reached the road with little trouble, Flatnose appearing to not even feel her fists on his broad back, and Kel moaned when Basta opened one of the rear doors of the car she had noticed earlier on the side of the road. If only she had thought for a second about why there would be an empty car parked at the end of her driveway, maybe she could have avoided this entire situation.
She had nearly exhausted herself at this point, and didn't even have the strength to struggle when she was lowered from Flatnose's shoulder and onto the street. She did, however, try to bolt down the road and head for the bright intersection not even a half-mile away, but Flatnose merely reached out and grasped a clump of her hair in one meaty fist. She was wrenched backwards with a yelp of pain, and Flatnose's free hand immediately covered her mouth as she was bundled into the backseat of the car between Flatnose and the other man who had stepped out of the woods with him.
Now that Kel could get a better look at him, she could see that the other man was really a boy, younger than she was by a few years, and she was stunned. Why was he with these men? He couldn't have been more than fifteen, and here he was assisting with a kidnapping.
It was at that moment that Basta settled himself behind the wheel in the front seat, glancing at Kel in the rearview mirror and flashing her a smirk.
"Comfortable, sweetheart?" Kel merely glared at him, but shrank into an even smaller ball as she became more aware of Flatnose pressed against one side and the young boy on her other. Flatnose's shoulders were so broad he took up one and a half of the three seats in the back, and Kel was left with half a seat in which to squeeze herself. It was the first time in her life she was glad to be five foot seven and skinny.
Basta started up the car, and Kel felt tears gather in her eyes as she watched her driveway begin moving away as they accelerated. "Why are you doing this?!" she sobbed, tearing her eyes away from the dark trees and instead focusing her pleading gaze on Basta. "What could I possibly have that you want?" Basta twitched, and Kel saw his eyes widen in surprise.
"You mean you don't know?" He glanced back at her in the mirror, saw her confused expression, and burst out laughing. "Oh, that is just too perfect! You don't even know what you are! Capricorn is going to love this! It isn't every day that you get to completely destroy someone's life."
Flatnose chuckled, and Kel could feel the laughter rumbling in his chest. "I just hope she is what he thinks she is. He'd be furious if it turned out this was all for nothing."
Kel noticed that Basta looked worried for a moment, but then he caught her eye and grinned. "Well it wouldn't be such a huge loss, would it? She's a pretty little thing, and we are one maid short since Resa escaped. I'm sure she would be a welcome... addition."
Kel felt her stomach clench in fear at his words, but also felt disbelief and anger rear up inside her. "What the hell are you talking about? A maid? What kind of place are you taking me to?!" She saw the houses moving past the car as they speed through the countryside, and realized exactly how serious her situation was. "You're acting like I'm just going to stay there, wherever you're taking me, and I won't! My aunt will be looking for me, and the police will find you and get me back and they'll throw you in prison for kidnapping!"
Flatnose glared down at her and she quailed slightly, but then forced herself to sit up straight. "And even if they can't find you, I'll find a way to get out." Her voice sounded much braver than Kel felt, and her heart sank when Basta's smile widened.
"You think we're going to give you that chance? No, girl, you're never going home. Best you understand that now." At that moment his eyes narrowed, and though his gaze remained on the road Kel can tell his attention was focused on her. "And you mentioned your aunt? Ah, yes, she teaches at your college. Such a nice woman, I happened to bump into her today before we came to get you."
Kel's blood ran cold. "W- what? What did you do to her?!" Her voice cracked, and her hands were gripping the seat so tightly she could feel the springs beneath her fingers.
Basta chuckled. "Oh, nothing, I just asked her the time and left. See, I wanted to be able to recognize her later, if I ever have to ... visit her again."
Kel's hands clenched, and she felt her throat tighten with the tears that were threatening to spill out. "No, please... Please don't hurt her. I- I'll go with you, just- don't do anything to her, please..." Basta waited a moment, savoring the terror on Kel's face before focusing again on the road.
"You see, Sean? Everyone has something they care about. A dog, an aunt, children... All of them are tools that can be used against them." Kel wondered for a moment who he was talking to, but then felt the boy beside her nodding eagerly.
"Yeah, I get it," she heard him say, and felt her stomach twist in disgust.
"So you're brainwashing children in this place, too? How can you do this? Does anybody know about your little... camp, or wherever it is you live? Why don't the police stop you?"
Basta chuckled. "You people have such faith in your justice system." He looked into Kel's eyes for a moment, and she trembled at the twisted humor that she saw there. "But think about this: don't police officers have families too?"
Kel's eyes widened, and she felt her stomach sink down to her toes. So there really wouldn't be anyone coming. How many men must this Capricorn have to pose such a threat against the police? And to sink so low as to threaten innocent children in order to keep their parents in line... She shuddered. She decided she was not looking forward to meeting Capricorn at all, and didn't speak again for the rest of the ride.
They continued on for close to an hour, and Kel began to wonder if they would ever reach their destination. She had been watching the black landscape flashing past the car this entire time, but still had no idea where they were. They had left the major roads behind them long ago, and were instead climbing into a hilly region set further back in the darkness and bumping along on rutted dirt roads without so much as a signpost. However, just when she was beginning to drift off into sleep, she noticed an old sign with the symbol of the freemasons on it as they turned down a narrow driveway.
She blinked blearily, surprised at herself. How could she have been about to fall asleep in this situation? She shook her head in an attempt to clear some of the cobwebs from her mind, and looked up in time to see a clearing with one large building set back on the far side.
They were pulling into a makeshift parking lot on the left hand side of the clearing that had about six cars in it, and she was happy to see that the entire compound was lit with flood lights stationed around the perimeter. As Basta shut off the engine and stepped out of the car, Kel scanned the rest of the compound.
The cleared area was about three hundred feet square, and most of it was empty space in the center of a ring of buildings. There were no fences around the buildings that she could see, but the woods formed a natural barrier with their tangles of briars and thorns. The largest building was built like a meeting hall, and Kel connected the freemason signpost with the abandoned road and realized that the building must have belonged to a charter of the freemasons which had disbanded, but never bothered to tear down the clubhouse that they had built far from any town to give them their privacy. There were a few shabby barracks right beside the parking lot that looked like they'd been built in a hurry, and on the opposite side were a few houses with fenced in gardens in front of them.
They must belong to the higher-ranked men, Kel thought, but at that moment Basta yanked open the rear door and Flatnose heaved himself out of the car. He took a moment to stretch and Kel grimaced when she heard a series of pops and cracks as he flexed his knees and arms. Suddenly Flatnose reached back into the car and grabbed her left arm with one huge hand, and Kel yelped in surprise when she was yanked out of the car to stand beside him. She swayed on her feet, feeling the blood rushing back to her brain after so long sitting down, and staggered when her vision went black for a moment. Flatnose kept his grip on her arm, ignoring her discomfort and instead beginning to drag her towards the massive hall that loomed over the courtyard. As she regained her senses she was able to walk on her own, but when tried to tug her arm out of Flatnose's grip he merely tightened it leveled a glare at her.
"Don't struggle, girl, or I'll have to carry you again." From this distance and under the lights Kel could now see where Flatnose got his name. It was as if a giant had taken his thumb and pressed in Flatnose's features, leaving him with a squashed appearance like a pug, and she shrank away in revulsion. She also saw the outfits of the men for the first time, and observed that they were all wearing black jackets over black shirts over black pants except for Basta. He was the only one wearing a white shirt underneath his jacket, and Kel supposed that made him the top man.
She tugged harder. "I can walk by myself, thanks. Just let me go! It's not like I can run anywhere when I don't know where I am." She also eyed the shotgun slung over Flatnose's shoulder, knowing that she would never be able to get out of range in time.
Basta chose that moment to step forward, walking on Kel's right side and leering down at her. "How can we be sure? People do all kinds of stupid things when they're scared." Kel's eyes narrowed, and she memorized Basta's pointed features so she could hopefully identify him later.
"Stupid things like this?" She snarled, and stomped on one of Flatnose's large feet. He howled in pain, and when Kel felt his grip loosen she yanked her arm free and turned to run back towards the road. Basta lunged in front of her, his features dark with anger, but she snapped her leg out in a wild kick and managed to land a solid blow on the outside of his knee. Now it was his turn to roar with pain as Kel sprinted on, but her joy was short-lived as Sean, the wiry fifteen-year-old, appeared and wrapped his arms around her middle. Though she kicked and flailed wildly, the boy was at least four inches taller than she was and pretty strong for his age, and it wasn't long before Basta had recovered and limped over to her.
He was breathing heavily, his teeth gritted in pain as he rested his weight on his uninjured leg, and he reached out to grab a handful of Kel's hair in his hand. She cried out when he dragged her towards him, freeing her from the boy's clutches, and felt tears of pain well up when he shook her back and forth like a naughty puppy.
"Yes," he snarled, fury dripping from every word. "Stupid things like THAT!" As he gritted out the last word he pushed her face into the dirt, putting his good knee to the ground and leaning down to look her in the eyes. "You ever hit me again, girl, and I'll beat you so bad you won't walk for a week." Kel whimpered, and he smiled wickedly. "I'm being generous. You pull that kind of stunt with Capricorn, and he'll cut off your leg to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Groaning in pain, Basta got to his feet and brushed off his pants with his free hand, gripping Kel's arm and dragging her up with the other. She was sniffling, both from pain and humiliation, and reached up to brush the dirt off her face as they began moving toward the hall again. By this time Flatnose had reached them, and Kel was satisfied to see that he winced every time he put weight on the foot she had stomped on. She flinched, however, when he leveled a glare in her direction before turning to Basta.
"You should have given me a chance at her," he growled, and Kel shrank away from him in fear. "I would have taught her some respect." Basta smirked, yanking on Kel's arm and making her stumble.
"Maybe next time. Even if she is a Silvertongue, you don't need your legs to read." Flatnose chuckled in agreement, and jammed the butt of his shotgun between Kel's shoulder blades with a smirk. She lurched forward, gasping for air, and suddenly found herself in the shadow of the hall.
Basta reached around her, his hand still closed on her arm, and pushed open the door, and Kel felt her heart leap into her throat as musty air washed over her face. She almost closed her eyes, wishing that she was back home in her living room with a cup of hot chocolate doing her homework, but forced herself to stand up straight and square her shoulders as she was led into the hall.
The first thing she noticed was the color of the walls. Only two of the walls were painted, but they were a deep blood red that gave Kel chills and reminded her of the mouth of some sort of beast. The other two were just whitewashed, but there were ladders and rollers that suggested that the painters were simply taking a break. There was also a fireplace in the left hand wall, and a crackling fire spit sparks into the air with small pops as it chewed through the logs in the braziers. Next she looked at the far end of the hall, set against the back wall, and saw a large chair raised on a dais which was being polished by three women in dark dresses. Maids! She thought, stunned. They weren't kidding! Oh god, what's going to happen to me?
She was really sweating now, recalling the glances from Basta and Flatnose and their knowing smirks, and felt a little bit of panic bubbling up in her stomach. But before she could get too worried, she heard Basta speak.
"Cockerell! Where's Capricorn?! We've got his little reader!" He shook Kel a bit as he said this, and she turned to look at the man Basta had spoken to.
She saw a man of medium height with bright orange hair on the other side of the room, and as he moved towards them she noticed that he walked with a pronounced limp. His face was grim, but he managed a small smirk as he looked Kel over and she blushed. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and knew that both Basta and Flatnose had probably thought the same, but refused to look away from his dark eyes for a second. He noticed, his expression changing to one of surprise, and took a second look at her.
"She's brave, for a girl," he said. He glanced down at Basta's leg, which was lifted off the ground slightly and clearly still causing him pain, and his smile widened. "I noticed you limping, Basta. Did this little girl get the better of you?" He saw Flatnose wince. "And you too, Flatnose?! Well, well, I'll be happy to tell Capricorn how much trouble a helpless girl gave you two."
Basta gritted his teeth, and only Kel saw the red flush that spread along the back of his neck. "Never you mind! I'd like to see you deal with this hellion, but speaking of limping..." He shot a meaningful glance at Cockerell's crippled leg and smirked. Cockerell growled, but Basta ignored him. "Enough of this! Where's Capricorn?"
Cockerell muttered mutinously for a moment. "I oughta report you... He's out at the sheds interrogating our 'guest'. He's been out there for hours, but I haven't heard any screaming for a little while now." Kel's face went white at his words, but Basta didn't seem to notice and merely snorted.
"Well what does he expect to get out of that scribbler? Telling those lies about us, helping the girl and her father escape, we should just kill him now and be done with it. I'd do it myself if I could." He fingered the outline of his knife in the pocket of his jacket lovingly. "Of course I'd carve a few more wrinkles into his face first, make a proper job of it."
Kel shuddered, inching as far away from Basta as she could get with her arm still in his grasp. This time he noticed her discomfort and dragged her close to his side, so close she could feel the heat of his body in sharp contrast to the crisp night air wafting through the open door of the hall, and leered down at her through hooded eyes. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Don't like dangerous men?" Kel flinched, hunching her shoulders and lowering her head, and tried to make herself as small as possible.
Cockerell snorted. "You scare all the girls, Basta. All except for Resa, but she didn't like you anyway, did she?" He laughed when Basta took a swing at him and limped out of the hall, presumably to fetch Capricorn. Basta, clearly stung by the comment about Resa, glared at the closed doors of the hall for a moment after Cockerell had left.
Eventually though, he shook his head and muttered something about people who don't know their place before dragging Kel to the center of the building. There they stood, waiting, and it was as though the world was holding its breath. A shadow had fallen over the hall, and Kel shivered. She could feel Basta's hand on her arm and his body against her side, and from the occasional smirks she saw on his face he was relishing the contact. She felt like a prize on display in the middle of the floor, but all she could do was squeeze her eyes tightly shut and wait for Capricorn, whoever he was, to arrive.