Chapter 40: The Proposal

I thought back to the first day I was here, about how Capricorn ordered one of the men to stand outside a man's house because he wanted the man's dog. I felt for the guy. I knew that I would not be sleeping well with a devil staring at my house. I partly wish that the man would simply give up the dog for his own safety, and I partly wish that he would refuse to stand up to Capricorn.

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning up the chapel after every meal, scaring away the crows in the garden, cooking, and feeding Capricorn's numerous dogs. There were bloodhounds, greyhounds, short haired chocolate retrievers, Saint Bernards, and Great Danes. The dogs barked at me at first, but then they saw that I carried meat and grew very excited, much like how a puppy gets excited when you wave its favorite toy. There was a slot to drop the meat through on the side of the dog cage which they were all crowding around. Once the meat was on their side of the fence, the dogs went ballistic. They jumped on another to get to it, bit each other, and fought over the smallest scrap of meat. The black clad solider, that is what I called them then, who was guarding the dogs smacked the whip against the side of the cage and the dogs immediately stopped. I hustled away so Mortola wouldn't chide me for 'being an idle hand'.

The men were very cautious of me. When I went to clean a table the men moved away out of fear. The other maids give me a wide birth when doing chores except for Resa who stayed by my side the whole time. And none of that would change when night came. I was replacing an empty bowl of bread with a full one when Basta pulled me to the side.

"He want to speak with you." He whispered in my ear. At that moment Capricorn hobbled in with a black cane and sat in his throne. Basta shoved a glass and a bottle of wine in my hand and waved me away. When I walked up, Capricorn lazily held out his hand for me to place his wine glass.

"I am willing to forgive you for this." He said tapping his cane on his foot. I began to pour his wine, knowing what he would say next.

"I am no prostitute Capricorn" I assumed.

"I never said you were. I would never expect a woman like you to fall to such indecency." He said as he sipped his wine.

"I'm glad that we are on the same page." I said as I capped the wine and began to walk away.

"I do not believe we are." He said as he placed his glass on a small wooden table to his right.

"Say what you mean to say." I said, turning back to him.

"There are few things that could elevate my position, better guns, more men, more money, and a powerful wife." He explained. I almost threw up at his proposal.

"No." was all I said in reply. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away.

"I always get what I want Elizabeth, it's only a matter of time." He threatened. Not if I have any say. I thought to myself. Once Capricorn had finished sipping his wine he nodded to Basta, who had kept close to me the entire time. He grabbed my arm and dragged me out into the center of the room. Flatnose tossed him a small revolver and he held it to my temple.

"Anybody wanna have some fun?!" He yelled out to the crowd of men. They all responded with a loud cheer.

"Where should I shoot first?" He asked the blood hungry crowd that answered with an unintelligible roar filled with the names of various body parts.

"The head?" He asked. The crowd replied with loud boos.

"The chest?" He asked as he moved the revolver so that it was pointed to my chest. Once again he was met with boos. I looked over to Capricorn, who had a cruel smile painted on his face, because it was only a matter of time.

"How bout the foot?" He suggested and was met with a roar of approval. There was a large crack that filled the air and a sharp pain in my left foot. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying out. I placed all of my weight on my right foot and lifted the other off the ground in hopes that some of the pain would go away.

"Sorry about that sweetheart, I missed. I was aiming for the other one!" He announced as another crack of the gun filled the air and bullet logged its self in my right foot. I fell over onto my back, but I still did not cry out. I would not let these bastards have their fun.

I attempted to sit up, but Basta shoved my back on the ground and placed one of his boots on my chest to keep me down.

"Where next?" He asked the rowdy crowd.

"What about the shoulder?" He asked as a bullet found a home in my shoulder. I willed myself not to scream not to show any sign of pain. He then dug his heel into my shot shoulder and gasped for air because the pain was so great.

"Sorry Sweety. Does that hurt? Here I'll HAND you something for that" He laughed as he shot me in the hand.

"Shut up." I groaned. Basta was the only one to hear me though. The smile fell from his face.

"I'll shut you up." He said as he aimed the gun at my head. There was another crack and I was relieved of my pain. While I was still reforming Basta was loading more bullets into his gun. Once I had finished reforming he aimed it straight at me, but Capricorn interceded.

"Basta, don't waste any more bullets." Capricorn said as he cruelly smiled at me.

"Use your knife instead." He finished. Basta tossed the revolver back over to Flatnose and pulled out his knife.

"I'm gonna enjoy this." He told me as he kissed the blade of his knife. I simply stood there, waiting for him to attack. I would be ready for him this time. He charged and I turned to the side and tripped him. He stood up and waved of a few men who had pulled out their knives.

"She's mine. I like a fighter." He smiled. This time he was more wary of me he circled me waiting for an opening. He slowly started to get closer and closer and when he was a few feet from me. He came at me with thrusts, upper cuts, and down slashes. I let my instincts take over and I dogged every slash. I started to get tired of being on defense so I decided to go on the offence. When he came in for a thrust, I slid past his arm and elbowed him in the face as I tore the knife out of his hand. While he was still reeling from the blow I pulled one of his legs out from under him so that he was lying on his back. He turned over to get up, but I kicked him back down. I sat on top of him and put the knife to his neck.

"Here's the difference between you and me Basta." I whispered in his ear.

"I never would." I whispered as I threw the knife to the floor. The room was silent now. Every man had his hand on a hilt of a knife or on the barrel of a gun. I walked over to a table and picked up an empty bread bowl and began to walk out. When I got to the door Basta's knife whizzed by my head and buried its self in in wood of the door. I simply looked back at him to see the anger pouring out of every feature in his face and left.

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