And the wolves are at my door
Three dollars and change at the pump
The cost of living's high and goin' up
Cost of Living-Ronnie Dunn
The headlights come closer and closer no matter how much Elinor speeds up. "It could be any car," Meggie says hopefully, though they all know it can only be Capricorn's men. They've been on the same abandoned road for an hour and there's only one place behind them. This is all wrong. I should be sleeping in my bed at home, not on the run from some villains from a book!
"It's alright, little bird," Dustfinger promises. "I'll get us all out of this, I swear to God." Julianne clutches her sister close to her, Meggie shaking in her arms. Julianne will do all she can to keep her safe, to keep her from getting hurt on Capricorn's order. Julianne will die before she lets anyone hurt her sister.
"Now what," Elinor asks in a panicked tone. The car swerves all over the road and Elinor doesn't even notice, she's so scared. "I'll not let them lock me back in that hole! No, no, no, no, no!" With each no, she slams her hand against the steering wheel. "I thought you said you slashed their tires!"
"I did! Ever heard of spare tires, Elinor? I've heard it's a fairly well-known thing to have!" He takes a deep breath to calm down, realizing he'll get nowhere with Elinor while he's upset. "There should be a village just up ahead, if we can make it that far—"
"If, that's the real question. If we can make it there! It had better be within six miles because that's all I have the gas for!" Unfortunately for them, they don't even make it that far. As they follow the next curve in the road a horrendous bang is heard, and Elinor barely manages to keep the station wagon on the asphalt after the blowout. Meggie screams, the sisters holding each other as the car swerves into the low stone wall to the right and comes to a halt beneath an old tree. "Oh, hell!"
"And that's why I never trusted cars." Dustfinger's face has a green tinge to it as he gets out, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows. Mo opens the other door and helps the kids out, Julianne shuffling across the seat.
"Are you both alright," he asks, studying his girls anxiously. Julianne nods, frowning at the sound of an engine in the distance. They'll be here soon, breaking every speed limit in Italy to get here. I could die tonight. Julianne can already feel Basta's slim fingers around her neck, squeezing until no air can get past and she's turning purple. He's going to do more than whip her with his belt when he finds her again.
"We have to get the car off the road," Dustfinger says, nodding his head at the vehicle. Farid stands beside him, wide-eyed and glancing around. Do you think it's still a dream, Farid?
"What," Elinor shrieks.
"We can push it down the slope and out of view."
"Not my car!" Mo steps up beside Elinor with a defeated look. He knows Dustfinger has the right idea.
"He's right, we'll push the car down the slope and then hide behind trees on the other side," Mo instructs. "The men won't be able to see it in the dark and if they do, they'll think we flipped the car and died." If we actually had flipped the car and died, we would be safer than hiding behind trees and hoping they don't find us.
Julianne looks down the slope, feeling dizzy and sick at the drop-off. The lack of any real light makes it impossible to see the bottom, like the little chasm Bilbo had fallen down with only Sting to light his way. But Julianne doesn't have the knife in this situation and Basta is far worse than Sméagol. Elinor joins her in looking down into the darkness, doubtful and unsure.
"But it's so steep… A-and what about the snakes you warned us about earlier?"
Dustfinger sends Julianne an apologetic look before responding to Elinor," I'm sure Basta has a new knife by now, sharp and ready to be tried out." Elinor gives him a dark look, wrapping an arm around Julianne's shoulders at her shiver. Julianne shakes her head with a sigh. This is going to be a long night. "Go and sit down, Juli."
"You're not the boss here, Dustfinger," she snaps, bracing her hands on the car with Elinor. Mo lays a hand on her shoulder, nodding towards the side of the road.
"I am your boss," he says with a wry smile. "Now, scoot over there and supervise." She scowls and moves off to the side.
It seems God agrees with Elinor tonight because, no matter how hard they all tried, the old car refuses to slide far enough down the slope to make the black jackets think the group has died. With one last kick from Dustfinger, the group moves to hide in what used to be an orchard. Dustfinger helps Farid, Mo helps Meggie, and Elinor and Julianne help each other. Low walls crisscross in the worst possible places, tripping her up from time to time and nearly bringing Elinor down on top of her more than once. The engine is louder now, coming closer and closer to them.
"Keep your heads down," Dustfinger hisses. "They're coming!" Elinor and Julianne share an annoyed look before doing as they were bid, hiding behind one of the walls on their bellies. Thorns from the nearby bush dig into Julianne's side and arms, drawing blood.
A white delivery van passes by them, the one they'd passed on the way to Elinor's car. It's a quiet night, the silence broken only by the van's engine. Julianne holds her breath as it continues onwards but even as Meggie tries to stand, she knows that they won't get away that easy. Mo pulls Meggie down again, whispering that it might not be over yet. Of course it's not, none of us have that much luck. Nothing is easy in real life, that's only something you see in books where the heroes get away to live happily ever after. In real life you're more likely to get a knife in your back than a kiss from your true love.
"Oh God," Elinor breathes. "It's turning!" The van is turning and speeding back to where they are. Elinor tries to stand, but Mo holds her down too.
"Are you mad," he hisses at her. "We don't have time to hide any better and they'll see us if we try!" The van stops near where the car has been pushed off the road. Two men get out of the van, Flatnose and Basta. The latter glares around suspiciously in the glow of the headlights, one of his hands twitching. That's his knife hand.
"There's the car," Flatnose says gruffly. Basta looks over at him and Julianne can picture the fury and irritation on his face. It doesn't take much imagination; he'd worn the same expression after Julianne had struck him. It's one she hopes to never see again.
"Check and see if they're inside," he grumbles. His voice is raspy, like he's swallowed gravel. Flatnose curses as he makes his way down the slope to the car while Basta stays on the road, lighting a cigarette. He takes a long drag before blowing the smoke out of his nose. That must be the smell that clings to him under all the mint, cigarette smoke.
"They're not here!" He climbs back up the slope carefully, trying not to trip and fall. "Must have gotten away on foot. We don't have to follow 'em, do we?" Basta moves to look down the slope and then in the direction they're hiding with narrowed eyes, blowing more smoke into the clean night air.
"They can't have gotten far, but there's no way we can track them this late at night." He whispers something to Flatnose, who shakes his head.
"Nah, the dogs will help us better. Even if they're not around here we'll know which way they went." Basta stamps out his cigarette and goes over to the van, pulling out two shotguns. Flatnose lets out a groan, shaking his head and taking one from him.
"We'll try downhill first, that fat old woman would be able to handle that way better." He lets out a dark chuckle. "I doubt Juli will be able to move very quickly in any direction." Flatnose snorts as they start downhill.
"Obviously she can move well enough. She knocked you on your ass." Their conversation fades away the farther they walk.
Dustfinger stands up when he's sure they're really gone, pointing up the hill. The rest of them follow after him, hiding as best as they can in the undergrowth and behind trees, the fear never leaving them. Even when the road is hidden from them, the fear that they could be found stays ingrained in their bones.
"They'll realize they went the wrong way soon," Dustfinger whispers. "They'll go back to get the dogs. Basta doesn't like bringing bad news to Capricorn. No one in their right mind does."
"Then we need to hurry," Mo says breathlessly.
"Where," Elinor asks, lagging behind. "Are we close to that village yet, Matchstick-eater?"
"South," Dustfinger answers," just keep moving south." And south they go, following in a close group with Gwin running along beside them on a chain. He enjoys running between Elinor's feet, tripping her up and making her curse him. If the marten tries to trip Julianne, she'll step on the damn thing's tail. Elinor seems to share that opinion, kicking at it and missing it by mere inches.
"Little beast," Elinor complains. "Oh, my poor feet. The second we reach civilization I'm going to get the best hotel room money can buy!" She must have a lot of hope because Basta had taken any and all valuables in their possession before they were forced to kneel in front of Capricorn. Julianne seriously doubts Elinor's been the exception to the rule.
"With what," Julianne asks," your good looks?" At her sour look, Julianne holds up her hands in a gesture of peace. "No offense to your good looks, Aunt Elinor, it's just that most people value money a whole lot more than anything else."
"Basta took my wallet, but I put my credit card somewhere safe." Dustfinger looks impressed and not a little curious. She's probably got it hidden in her bra. That's one place Basta wouldn't check. Ha, it's booby trapped.
"Is anywhere safe from Basta," Dustfinger asks, pulling on Gwin's chain to get the marten away from a tree.
"What man do you know of that's excited about searching fat old ladies? That's how I got most of my expensive books." Her eyes widen when she realizes what she's just admitted, looking down at Meggie who obviously heard everything but pretends not to.
"You're not fat," Meggie protests," and old is a bit of an exaggeration."
"Why, thank you, sweetheart. I think I'll have to buy you from your father so you can keep saying those nice things to me. How much do you want, Mo?" Mo takes on a pondering look, as though he's actually considering it.
"I'll have to think on it," he says. "How about I loan her to you for a few days?" The talk continues, their voices hushed but helping to keep the fear at bay while they walk. Elinor and Mo speak of books for the most part, Meggie smiling and giving input from time to time while Julianne provides sarcastic one-liners when they're called for. The only quiet ones in the group are Dustfinger and Farid. After a while Julianne grows bored with the book talk and moves to walk next to Dustfinger.
"How are you doing," he asks, slipping his hand in hers. She looks down at where their hands swing between them, not questioning how nice it feels. His hands are always warm, like fire dances just under his skin despite the fact that he hasn't tasted fire honey in nine years.
"I'm well enough to knock Basta on his ass," she says, smiling. He chuckles and shakes his head while she laughs for what seems like the first time in ages, squeezing his hand.
"I'm sure Basta made Flatnose wish he hadn't spoke after that." He's still smiling, that strange little thing that's not quite amusement. "I have to admit, I'm curious about something."
"I'm pretty sure I could have knocked him out with that bowl if I was given a chance." He laughs again, a soft whispering sound like rain.
"No, not about that. I heard Elinor and Silvertongue talking the other day. They said something about you having trouble reading." She frowns and turns her gaze towards her family. Elinor had tried so hard to get the words to straighten out when Julianne had been little, but nothing had worked. "You don't have to be embarrassed, little bird. I'm a slow reader myself." When did Dustfinger learn to read and who the hell had the patience to teach him?
"I have dyslexia. The letters get mixed up in my head, so it takes me a while to get through a book."
"Do you think that's why you can't read things off paper? That Silvertongue's little gift enhances your singing?" She shrugs, watching as he helps Farid to avoid a gnarled root laying over the path.
"Meggie can't read things out either."
"Something tells me that it's only because she hasn't tried." They walk in silence for a while, eventually finding a footpath that has empty bullet cartridges scattered around. A hunter must've had some fun here, doing target practice or just having terrible aim. After Julianne stumbles and nearly falls for the fifth time, Dustfinger scoops her up over his shoulders. Fire scorches up her back for an instant, but then pleasant numbness washes over it.
"I can walk, you know," she says. "But I will admit to having a nice view." She gives his butt a playful smack, giggling when he jumps.
"You can admire my ass all you like in the morning. For now, get some rest."
"Promises, promises."