7
The woods were quiet. For now.
Kel leant against the tree trunk and tried to bring her breathing under some sort of control. She had run as fast as she could, as far as she could. Her legs trembled dangerously and her head was pounding once more.
She raised her hands to the spot where she had been hit, wincing as her fingers found a large bump and dried blood. The wound hurt sharply as she touched it, making her vision go grey round the edges. She bit the inside of her cheek until the faintness went away.
Turning her attention to her hands, Kel frowned at the rope that still bound them. The long coil that dangled kept tangling in the bushes and her fingers were almost totally numb.
She tried to get her teeth around the tight knot, with no success. It was awkwardly placed. She once more tried to simply pull her hands free, but had less luck than ever. Her wrists were already ringed with blood from previous attempts.
Trying to get her breeches down proved awkward, as did pulling them back up again, but once Kel had emptied her bladder she felt she could concentrate a bit more.
The sunlight was almost totally gone now – darkness would work to her advantage later.
Once Kel had decided which way south was, she set out at a careful jog, ears alert to any sounds of pursuit. Her brisk pace kept her warm in the chilly night – the Scanrans had stripped her of everything except her shirt, breeches and boots. She did not know how long she could keep it up, however. Now the adrenaline of her previous flight was fading, she was starting to feel a little fragile again; her capture and the serious lack of food or drink was starting to take its toll.
A welcome sound finally reached her ears. Water! She followed the trickling until she almost stepped in the small stream.
Kel grinned for the first time that day. She was so thirsty she felt she could drink the whole stream in one and, even better, it seemed to flow roughly south. Possibly even into the Vassa River. She could follow it home.
Laying flat on her front, Kel had barely touched her lips to the river when her sharp ears picked up a new sound. Dogs baying.
She scrambled to her feet, trying to find the direction of the sound. Maybe it was the dogs of New Hope, with her friends, coming to rescue her. She couldn't recall the Scanrans having dogs with them.
Or did they?
Another round of barking. There were two of them. The sound seemed to be coming from the direction she had just come from.
On second thoughts, maybe the Scanrans did have dogs with them. Kel racked her brains, trying to remember.
The barking got closer. And more vicious.
"Oh, give me a break!" Kel turned and started to run downstream. Despite the fact the water flowed coldly over the tops of her boots, soaking her feet, she stayed in the water, hoping it would throw the dogs off her scent.
Going for speed over quiet, Kel splashed her way forward, slipping dangerously on stones as she did so. She slowed a little as the stream deepened to knee height.
For once the Gods seemed to be on her side. The moon came out brightly and illuminated the cliff edge just before she ran straight off it. Coming to a squelching stop, Kel stared dumbstruck at the way the ground just stopped in front of her. She backed up a few paces and climbed out of the stream.
So much for that idea, she thought. There must be a way down.
Snarling behind her brought her back to her present danger. Kel turned just in time to see a large grey wolfhound hurl itself at her.
No time to think, Kel pivoted on one leg and kicked the dog in the jaw, hard. She heard something snap and it fell to the ground whimpering and pawing at its mouth.
But she had thrown herself off balance and, unable to use her hands for stability, she toppled over to land on her behind, just as the second dog made its leap.
Screaming, Kel managed to raise her bound hands and grasp its collar, as the force of the dog landing on her chest knocked her on her back.
Large white teeth, dripping with saliva, snapped ferociously mere inches from her face, as she desperately clung onto its collar. The dog was heavy and horribly strong; its sour breath blew hotly into her eyes as she struggled to force it off her.
"Dagger! Leave!" a sharp male voice cried in Scanran.
The dog snarled in her face once last time, before wrenching itself backwards out of Kel's grasp and trotting back to its master.
She lay there on the ground, trembling from head to toe, her breath coming in whimpering gasps, sounding a bit like the dog she had kicked.
A hand grasped her hair painfully and yanked her onto her knees.
Kel found herself looking into two burning blue eyes, lit by moonlight.
Gone was Kerlan's genial demeanour of before. "That was really, really stupid," he said softly. His free hand grasped her by the chin and squeezed hard. "If it were up to me, I'd break your jaw just as you broke my dog's." Kel choked back a cry of pain as he increased the pressure before releasing her. "Luckily for you, King Maggur wants you able to speak clearly when he squashes every last piece of information from your pathetic mind. But mark my words, wench, I will find a way to make you regret this."
Kerlan paused, considering, before gesturing to the men who stood behind him. "Hold her still." As they complied, he unwound the leather belt from around his waist. He grasped the back of her shirt and wrenched it over her head, baring her back.
Through her foggy mind, Kel guessed what was coming next. She grit her teeth and willed herself to become stone. The Yamani warriors dealt with pain without complaint. She would be no different to them.
Kel tried to hold on to that thought as the leather began to smack into her flesh.
