Luke visibly shuddered as he helped Eloise drag Bill’s body into the stable. It wasn’t that he was any stranger to death, he saw bodies all the time, but there was something very different about this body. Despite the wound on the man’s neck, there was no blood on his skin, his clothes, or on the ground. His eyes were still wide open, the look of shock still on his face. To Luke it looked as if at any moment Bill would simply resume screaming.
“You are aware that this… this is sick?” Luke muttered as Azee closed the stable door behind him and Eloise.
“Would you rather I simply dump him in the river?” Eloise replied, releasing Bill’s leg and letting him drop to the ground.
“Perhaps not, but for a dead man to be driving my family’s buggy…”
“You needn’t worry Windhill, he’ll behave himself.”
“That’s not my issue and you know it.”
“True.”
Paying no attention to any more of Luke’s protests, Eloise knelt down and began tracing a complex rune into the flesh of Bill’s chest with a finger.
Luke watched for a few moments before turning away in disgust. Stepping over to Azee, he had to resist the urge to stare at the white half of her left ear.
“Are you alright?” he asked, cocking his head slightly.
Azee nodded. “I’m fine.”
“And… your ear?”
“What about it?”
“Well… does it feel any different?”
“Not really.” Azee shook her head back and forth, like a hound after a long swim.
“Well, I’m glad of that at least. I’m sorry you got hurt.”
The gentle smile on Luke’s face immediately made the fur on Azee’s shoulders prickle. She couldn’t sense whether he was lying or not, but the friendly smile on his face still made her uncomfortable. Crossing her arms, she frowned at Luke and turned away, watching Eloise as she worked. She heard Luke sigh, but made no response.
As Eloise continued to trace the viciously complex rune into Bill’s chest, the door leading from the bar into the stable opened. Stepping inside, Charlie nodded at Eloise, “Miss.”
“Did you get them?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good, hand them over, then get the hounds fed and hooked up to Windhill’s buggy.”
With a half grumbled affirmative and a nod, Charlie walked over to Luke and held out a paper wrapped package to him.
Luke raised an eyebrow, but nodded his head. “Thank you.”
Pulling the paper wrapping off the package, Luke blinked in surprise at the contents. Inside was a pair of neatly folded common cotton trousers, and a loose cotton shirt. There was also a worn leather belt, a rugged looking corduroy vest, and an oilskin saddle slicker.
“What’s this for?” Luke asked as Charlie made his way over to Azee, handing a much smaller paper packet to her as well.
“Well you can't go walking around Halcyon looking like that.” Eloise replied without looking up. “Take fifteen steps off any of the main roads out of Lillyvale dressed as you are now and you’ll find yourself strung up, your clothes and money gone, along with your liver most likely.”
“That’s nonsense.” Luke scoffed, examining a small tear in the vest with distaste. “There are raiders around to be sure, but they aren’t cannibals.”
Eloise looked up at Luke with a raised eyebrow. “Tell me, have you ever had to eat frogs for weeks on end? Ever been so hungry that you’d eat grass just to stop your stomach from growling.”
“Well… no, of course not. That would be insane.”
“I’ve done that.” Azee said, taking the package Charlie offered her with a thankful nod. “It’s hard to work in the fields if you can barely stand from stomach cramps.”
Luke thought about saying something, but thought better of it.
“Point is, Master Windhill, once you get hungry enough, humans become just another animal.” Eloise turned back to Bill. “It happened more than you might expect during the war with the Drathain.”
“Wait, the Drathain?” Luke looked back up at Eloise. “That was two hundred years ago. How in damnation do you know if-”
“I read books, Master Windhill,” Eloise interrupted, rolling her eyes.
“Can’t imagine what kind of books you found that nonsense in.” Luke grumbled to himself.
“Either way, traipsing around the back roads wearing gaudy clothes like those is just begging for trouble.”
“And this is supposed to protect me?” Luke asked, holding up the coat.
“The punishment for highway robbery is death by drowning, whether you are robbing a rich man or a beggar. So, if you’re going to risk the Order coming after you, you’re going to want to be sure your target is worth it. The clothes you are wearing now are worth what, around two hundred Larics?”
“I should hope not.” Luke scoffed, brushing off his crushed velvet vest. “Four hundred, at least. The boots alone are worth one hundred.”
“Whereas the clothes Charlie just gave you are worth ten and change. Camouflage, Master Windhill, the animals do it, and now so do you. If you don’t want to be prey, sometimes you have to make the predators think you are not worth hunting.”
“I suppose I see your point.” Luke admitted, glancing at the frayed stitching of the belt.
As Luke examined his new outfit, Azee carefully pulled open the paper wrapping and withdrew a worn poncho woven from coarse fibres. A trio of jagged red stripes ran across the shoulders and down the back, and there was a worn hood sewn to the collar.
“This is for me?” She looked up at Charlie and then at Eloise. “Thank you. I’ve… never been given clothes before.”
Luke looked up sharply. “What are you talking about? I’ve given you a great many clothes!”
“No, you gave me the clothes that your sisters left behind when they left the ranch.” Azee replied, ears pressing against her head. “It’s not the same thing.”
“You said you liked them!”
“I lied.” Azee squared her shoulders and glared at Luke. “You liked playing dress up with me, I hated it! Pelts aren’t supposed to wear clothes! They’re too hot, and they get caught in our fur!” She looked back down at the poncho, “But this will be fine, thank you Eloise.”
“But… but that thing is a rag! And it has more than one colour, that’s against the laws!”
“Come off it Windhill.” Eloise scoffed. “Even the Order isn’t so far up its own arse that they will pay any attention to that.”
“Okay, fine! But it’s-”
“I like it!” Azee snapped, her tail puffing up as she scowled at Luke. “So you can just-”
“Enough.” Eloise called out, finishing the rune on Bill’s chest with a flourish. “Azee, stop taking every opportunity to fight with Windhill. Windhill, Azee is angry with you, deal with it. If the two of you are going to bicker like this on the whole trip, I’ll freeze your tongues and snap them off.”
Both Azee and Luke immediately fell silent.
Eloise sat back on her heels and reached into her dress, withdrawing a trio of red crystals.
“It occurs to me, witch, if you stole Bill’s life from him with one of those crystals, how is it that you have so many in your possession.” Luke’s eyes narrowed
“Well, let's see.” Eloise held up the first crystal. “This came from a man who broke into the bar.” She held up the second crystal. “This one was a highway robber who thought I would be easy prey. And finally…” She spun the third crystal over her thumb. “This was donated by old Bill himself.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed. “So you are using the man’s own life to turn him into some sort of ghoulish puppet? And you have the gall to suggest that my profession is depraved.”
Eloise sighed and rolled her eyes, placing one crystal on Bill’s chest, another on his throat, and the third on his forehead. “If it makes you feel better, I won’t be using his entire life force, that would be rather a waste.”
Before Luke could reply, Eloise reached out and gently tapped the rune on Bill’s chest. In an instant the intricate symbols carved in his flesh lit up with glowing red light. Tiny wisps of red smoke emerged from the crystals and burrowed deep into Bill’s body. The glow persisted for only a few moments, before it faded away.
Azee watched, a mixture of horror and curiosity, as Eloise bent down and retrieved the crystals, all three of which were glowing with far less intensity than before.
“Did it work?” She breathed, taking a hesitant step forwards.
At that moment, Bill’s eyes flew upon and he sat up. Azee shrieked in terror and backed up, instinctly hiding behind Luke, gripping the back of his coat tightly. Luke’s hand was a blur as he drew his pistol and powered the rune with a flick of his thumb. The spark rune glowing brightly as he aimed squarely between Bill’s eyes.
Utterly unperturbed, Bill climbed to his feet, glancing around at the stable with complete detachment.
“Welcome back Bill.” Eloise said with a smile. “Do you know where you are?”
“The stable be’ind the Old Crow from the looks of ‘er.” Bill muttered.
“Very good. And I am?”
“Mumph, the dusty bitch what runs the place.”
Eloise’s smile cracked into a grin. “Excellent. Would you mind doing a job for me?”
“Yeah yeah, no problem,” Bill grumbled, kicking the dirt at his feet.
“This is insane,” Azee whispered, peering out from behind Luke. Her tail curled between her legs as she tried to keep herself from shaking. “It’s like he’s… just not really there.”
“Like he’s been lobotomized.” Luke replied, keeping his gun aimed squarely at Bill’s head.
“W-what does lobotomized mean?”
“It’s something they do to crazies.” Luke hissed. “Supposed to calm them down, make them docile.”
“Like my collar?”
“Oh for heaven’s sake-” Luke looked over his shoulder. “No Azee, not like your collar at all! For heaven’s sake, what kind of monster do you think I-”
“Would you two shut it,” Bill grumbled, looking over at Luke and Azee with dull irritation. “I can’t ‘ear what this one is sayin’.”
“Thank you Bill.” Eloise chuckled to herself. “Now, as I was saying, I would like you to take Windhill’s buggy and make your way west, towards Angelica.”
“Yeah sure, I can do that.”
“Wait a moment!” Luke protested. “The border with Angelica is hundreds of miles away! How will I get the buggy back? It’s worth more than this entire place!”
“Have it posted back.” Eloise replied dryly. “The way I see it, Master Windhill, is you can either graciously volunteer your buggy, or Azee can order you to do it.”
“Oh come on!” Luke looked over his shoulder. “Azee… come on, please…”
===
If it weren’t for the fact that he was quite certain he was awake, Luke would have sworn that the events of the last two days were some sort of horrific nightmare. First, Azee had brained him with a frying pan, locked him in the pantry, and shot him. Just when he thought he had died, Luke had been brought back, cursed, made to bark like a dog, and forced to submit to the whims of his slave, now turned a twisted sort of master. And now, after watching a man die, then get brought back to life, Azee, Luke and Eloise were making their way northwards along the hot and dusty road, while his prized buggy drove off in the opposite direction.
Luke sighed heavily as he shifted the pack on his back, wincing a little as the fabric of his shirt clung to his sweat-drenched back. A series of small runes sewn into the lining of his regular clothes had always kept him cool, even on the hottest of days. But those were now wrapped up in a sack with a heavy rock, sitting at the bottom of the Lilly River.
Eloise and Azee walked just behind him. Their voices were low, and Luke could only pick out the odd word.
‘This is insane,’ Luke thought to himself, shifting his grip on the coarse rope he held in his left hand. The rope was tied to Azee’s collar, though the fact that it was Azee who was in control made Luke feel ridiculous, as if it were he who was being walked like a hound.
Reaching up, Luke took off the ragged hat on his head and stared up into the sky. It was well past noon now, and yet the sun showed no hint of becoming any less aggressive in its relentless assault.
‘There has to be some way out of this curse… Some loophole, or weakness.’ Luke risked a quick glance over his shoulder. ‘I know she’s angry… but surely Azee wouldn’t actually want to kill me.’
Luke sighed internally. ‘Yeah, probably best not to test that theory…’
A swift flash of anger boiled up inside of Luke as he turned back to the road, kicking a rock in frustration so it tumbled into the trees. ‘Dammit all Chara… you started all of this… You couldn’t leave well enough alone…’ Luke’s hands tightened, the stiff fibres of the rope digging into his palm. ‘I should have just had her suffer an ‘accident’ while I had the chance!’
“What’s wrong?” Azee called out from behind, their connection alerting her to Luke’s anger.
“Nothing,” Luke grumbled, looking over his shoulder again. “Just enjoying this wonderful trek you’re taking us on.”
“If we keep moving we should hit the edge of the Flinton Valley by nightfall.” Eloise said, casually glancing around at the surrounding swampy forest. “From there we can head to Red Stone Station and hopefully catch a wagon up to New Burleigh.”
“Yes, so you have said.”
As Luke turned back to the road ahead, he took a calming breath. ‘No… I promised I would never hurt Azee or her sister, and the word of a Windhill is canon. Besides, there will be an opportunity to fix this. Everything has a breaking point or a loophole, and this curse will be no different.’
As Luke fell silent again, Azee peered at her surroundings. Unlike the road leading from the ranch into Lillyvale, the landscape along the north road was more swamp than forest. The air was thick and heavy with the scent of foetid water and pungent flowers. A chorus of insect calls rang out all around them, sounding both oddly distant, and intensely close at the same time.
In her head, Azee felt like she should be frightened. Her instincts were screaming at her, fighting to alert her to the danger she was in. And yet… it felt right. She is in control, she knew where she was going and what to do. No decisions were being made for her. Despite the collar and the rope around her neck, she had never felt so free.
‘Kashin was right.’ She thought to herself, her heart soaring as she looked up into the sky, tracing the insane flight path of a big blue dragonfly. ‘This… this is worth it…’
But despite her excitement, it was still a strange feeling, to know that each step marked the furthest she could ever remember being from the ranch.
She’d been a mere four years old when she’d been sold to the Windhill’s, along with Chara. She didn’t have any memories of her mother, nor did she have any idea where she had been born. Her birthplace could have been ten miles up the road, or a thousand, and no matter how many times she asked Chara, her sister had refused to tell her.
Lillyvale and the Windhill Ranch had been her home, such as they were, her entire life. The only time she had ever been anywhere else had been after Luke’s father had passed away, and Azee had been sold to a plantation to the south of Lillyvale. While the Windhill Ranch had been far from pleasant, the Gallaway Plantation had been far worse, though thankfully she’d only been there a short time before Luke bought her back.
The scars on Azee’s back prickled beneath her poncho. She shivered at the memory, hurriedly pushing it aside.
A bush beside the road rustled a little as an anurake broke cover, startled by the approaching travellers. With a powerful kick from its back legs, the brightly coloured amphibian sprang towards the nearest pool of water.
For a moment Azee had to fight her instincts to prevent herself from giving chase.
As it flew through the air, the anurake spread its long webbed fingers like wings, gliding over the tangle of tree roots and scrub. The moment the anurake reached the swamp, it folded its makeshift wings, dropped out of the air, and disappeared into the dark water with a quiet ‘plunk’. In a flash of bright green, the anurake vanished into the depths.
Slightly disappointed that she hadn't gotten a clearer look at the strange creature, Azee returned her attention to the road ahead.
It wasn’t long before her mind began to drift again.
Azee suspected that Chara’s refusal to discuss their mother was an attempt to keep her safe, but it had been frustrating. It wasn’t as if Azee had any particular desire to go anywhere, nor did she feel any attachment to the place of her birth, she didn’t even know if she’d been born in Halcyon.
But the lack of any idea of where she came from made her feel unsupported, like she was treading water with her feet unable to touch the bottom.
“It’s so we feel alone.” Chara had explained one night as she held Azee close. “It’s why we need to hold onto each other.”
And yet Chara had been completely unwilling to tell Azee about her mother. It had never made any sense to her. But at least Azee had had Chara, she had her sister to hold on to.
And now Chara was gone.
“I’m coming Chara.” Azee mumbled to herself. “Just hold on…. I’m coming.”
It already felt as if they had walked dozens of miles. Azee’s feet were used to the carpets of the mansion, the straw covered floors of the barns, or the soft grass, not the hardened, sunbaked dirt of the north road, dubbed ‘Hope’s Pike’. Each step sent a throbbing pulse of discomfort up her legs.
The road itself was raised out of the swamp, resting atop great wooden pilings driven so deep that they reached the bedrock below the mud and clay. It had taken decades, and the lives of thousands of slaves to build the road, and in the end it had all come to naught.
While on a trip to deliver a large consignment of indigo for transport up the river, Azee had asked Luke why the Windhills had chosen to settle in a place as run down and relatively insignificant as Lillyvale.
“It doesn’t make any sense.” She’d pondered aloud, glancing around at the filthy old buildings that lined the Lily River as she sat in the back of Luke’s buggy.
“Well it wasn’t intended to be quite like this” Luke had admitted. “When my great-great-great-great-great-great-” Luke’s brow furrowed as he struggled to keep track of his extensive family lineage, “-great grandfather, Burleigh Windhill, first settled this place, no one had ever been this far south before.”
“So… he’s why it’s called Burleigh County?”
“Yes. He founded Lillyvale to be a base of trade, commerce, and the launching point for Halcyon’s southward expansion.”
“But it didn’t turn out that way.” Azee remarked, raising an eyebrow as the buggy passed one of the old mills, built more than a century ago and never once used. The massive building was little more than a gutted hulk, the rotted roof having fallen in decades before, and the enormous waterwheel a twisted ruin, more rust than iron.
“No… no it didn’t. When the treaty between the Northern Alliance and the Southern Territories broke down, folks from the north stopped moving south. That, and once you get a bit further south, there’s not really much except hundreds upon hundreds of leagues of useless mangroves and bogs.”
Back in the present, Azee found herself feeling rather fortunate that she hadn’t been born a century or two earlier and forced to build the road upon which she now walked. She couldn’t help but wonder if the slaves who had built Hope’s Pike had ever taken some meagre solace in the thought that their labour would be meaningful and important. The deeply unpleasant lump in her stomach and the rising flame of anger in her chest suggested that that was very unlikely.
As she walked, Azee noted Eloise looking over at her.
“Y-yes?” She asked, Eloise’s gaze felt as if it was cutting into her like a razor.
“Just wondering where you were.”
Azee tilted her head. “Where I was?”
“You’ve been quiet for thirty minutes, just staring into space.”
“I was just… thinking.”
“Careful with that, it can be dangerous.” As Azee turned her head in surprise, Eloise chuckled. “A joke little one, thinking is a luxury I can’t imagine you’ve had much time to indulge in.”
“I…” Azee paused for a moment. “That’s not really true. Sometimes I’d stay awake for hours, just staring up at the ceiling. It was… it was an odd feeling, being able to think. When I lived out in the barn with Chara, we didn’t get much time to sleep, so I learned how to fall asleep quickly.”
“Indeed. And once you moved into the house and became Windhill’s… personal pet, you had more time?”
“It wasn’t just that… Luke encouraged me to think, he read to me, talked with me.” Azee looked down at one of her hands. “I think he was lonely.”
Eloise raised an eyebrow. “Lonely?”
A few paces ahead, Luke strained to hear what Azee and Eloise were saying. As he caught Azee’s words, he stiffened slightly.
As the two women continued, Luke found his hands clenched into fists, his teeth grinding together. It was true, Luke had never seen Azee as some kind of dumb animal, not like the others. She was always different, smart, quick witted and not nearly as afraid of him. Whenever Luke walked by, the other slaves would lower their heads, some of them even trembling in fear. But Azee… ever since the day he first met her, she had met his gaze with steady curiosity. They’d been mere children at that point, but even then he had gotten the sense that she was different.
As a child, every spare moment Luke could get he would pull Azee from her work in the fields. They would run and play in the gardens or in the stream at the back of the ranch. Sometimes they would even fence with sticks, or wrestle in the long grass, though Luke didn’t enjoy that as much as Azee was always stronger than him.
Of course his father and the other overseers had warned him that such familiarity was dangerous, that Azee would try and manipulate him. His parents had tolerated his friendship with her only because they were far more interested in his older brother, the true heir. Luke had dismissed their concerns, even taken offence to them, but now it would seem that their warnings had been right all along.
But the idea that he had encouraged Azee to grow merely so that she could be some sort of replacement for human companionship sent a dagger into Luke’s heart.
Behind him, Azee also felt Luke’s hurt as she spoke. She paused mid sentence, her voice catching in her throat.
“Azee?”
“Huh? Oh… right.” Azee shook her head. “Sorry… what were we talking about?”
“You were saying that he encouraged you to read history.” Eloise prompted gently.
“Oh… yes… Yes he did. He… he liked to read the paper to me and… he wanted me to know what was happening and why.”
“Surely he had other companions?” Eloise asked, tipping her hat as a small cart rumbled past on the other side of the road.
Azee sneezed as the cloud of dust kicked up by the cart got into her nose. “I suppose, but he never seemed all that interested in any of them.” She looked down at her feet. “I suppose most of the people he talked to were other ranchers, so it was about crops and breeding and prices.”
“Indeed…. But I thought I had heard that he had a fiance.”
This time it was Azee who stiffened. “Yes but-”
“Stop discussing my personal life.” Luke snapped, looking over his shoulder. “It’s none of your business, either of you.”
“Do you not enjoy being talked about as if you aren’t here, Windhill?” Eloise replied dryly. “Or perhaps you simply don’t enjoy being treated like an object?”
“You had better pray to the lord herself that your magic is as strong as you seem to think it is.” Luke’s hand drifted down to his pistol. “Because if you keep pushing me-”
“Stop.” Azee called out, shivering a little as she spoke. “Just… stop. I don’t want to fight.”
Eloise considered pressing, but instead simply straightened her hat and turned her attention to the swamp on either side of the road.
Azee started to speak to Luke, but before she could, her courage failed her. Luke glared at her for a moment more, before he turned his back and marched on in sullen silence.
With a heavy sigh she looked back at the seemingly endless stretch of road behind them, and the even longer path ahead.
Unconsciously she reached up and touched the rope tied around her collar.
‘Chara… I just… wish you didn’t feel so far away.’
===
Azee stared in awe at the landscape spread out before her. She stood atop one of the vast cliffs that surrounded Flinton valley, a huge carpet of thick green laid out in front of her, dotted with a maze of dark streams and lakes. The forest was bathed in swathes of orange and red as the sun began to set in the west, the clouds in the sky glowing as if they were on fire. An occasional wisp of fog rose from the endless stretch of bogs, and the everpresent symphony of insect calls rose high into the air like waves of heat.
In stark contrast to the nearly unbearable humidity and heat that had assaulted them on the road, the evening air was crisp and clear, allowing Azee to see for leagues and leagues. In the far, far distance she could just barely make out a small trail of smoke, rising up from one of the chimneys on the outskirts of Lillyvale. She tried to catch any hint of the Ranch, hidden amongst the trees, but she couldn’t make it out. In truth, she didn’t know how that made her feel.
Behind her, Luke and Eloise were busy setting up camp for the night. Their campsite lay several minutes walk west of the main road. Luke and Azee were exhausted and tired, having spent the last three hours walking up the trail that led out of Flinton Valley. Even Eloise seemed slightly winded, though she was determined to show no sign of it.
Behind them, yet more cliffs of sheer rock thrust up into the sky. Even after hours and hours of climbing upwards on the road, they were only halfway up, pitching camp on a narrow wooded plateau.
“Azee, have you found water yet?” Luke called out as he finished tying a knot around one of the nearby trees, before tossing a blanket over the rope to serve as a makeshift tent.
“Not yet.” She called back, tearing her gaze away from the glorious beauty laid out before her.
Eloise looked up from starting a fire, pulling her waterskin from her hip and handing it to Azee as she walked by. “There was a waterfall just a little ways back towards the road.”
“Okay.” Azee nodded.
“And be careful.” Luke added. “Who knows what’s out there. And be sure not to slip on the rocks. Just go get water and come straight back.”
“I will.” Azee replied, swallowing a harsh rebuke, striding past, and vanishing into the brush.
“Never would have figured you for the motherly type Windhill.” Eloise smiled as the small bundle of twigs in front of her burst into bright green flames.
“I care about Azee.” Luke replied sharply, dropping his pack on the ground and glaring at Eloise. “Doubt whatever you wish about me, witch, but not that.”
“It isn’t a matter of caring for her.” Eloise replied, watching as the green flames faded, leaving behind a gently crackling fire. “Azee isn’t a child, and you shouldn’t treat her like one.”
“We’re miles from home, on the edge of a cliff, and it's getting dark. Forgive me for being concerned”
Eloise leaned back against a stump and peered at Luke. “Even with your protection, your ranch was far more dangerous to her every day than this place could ever be.”
“What are you saying, witch.” Luke spat. “Come on, out with it.”
“That you need to stop treating Azee as if she were a valuable piece of property that could be broken at any time.” Luke started to speak, but Eloise raised her hand. “I know, I know, she isn’t just property to you. But the point isn’t how you feel about how you treat her, it’s about how she feels.”
“How she feels?”
“Does she know, for certain, that she isn’t just property to you?”
“She should know.” Luke grumbled, dropping to the ground and glaring into the fire. “She should know that I care about her, that I would never hurt her.”
Eloise let out a long sigh. “It is entirely possible to do something kind, but have it cause the opposite feeling.”
“That’s insane.”
“Windhill… you run your business as well as could be expected for someone in your position.” Eloise shrugged as Luke threw her a filthy glare. “What? I gave you a compliment. Why do you seem offended?”
“Because I know it was in jest.”
“You do? But the words were kind.”
Luke paused. “I…. I suppose…”
“You are kind to Azee, that is true. But that is irrelevant when put against what she believes she means to you. Imagine how you would feel if another’s kindness towards you was purely transactional. Imagine how you would feel if Azee treated you as if you needed constant guidance and mothering.”
“That… is actually a pretty good point.” Luke’s anger faded as he stared into the flames. “Maybe… just maybe, I have taken Azee for granted. Maybe… maybe I haven’t given her enough freedom.”
“Given?” Eloise shook her head. “No, you can’t just hand her things, especially not something like freedom.”
“And what, in all seven layers of damnation, is the difference?”
“Giving someone something suggests it can be taken at any time for any reason. Azee cannot be both a slave and free at the same time.”
“Again… I see your point, and-” Luke paused, and looked sharply over at Eloise, crossing his arms. “Is it possible that you… that you are actually trying to help me?”
“Perhaps…. or perhaps I simply find it intolerable to watch someone make the same mistake over and over and over again.”
===
The water of the stream was crisp and cool against Azee’s face as she took a long, deep drink. The water was so clean, so cold, it was simply delicious. She felt as if she could never drink enough.
She gasped for breath as she threw her head back, sighing in contentment, enjoying the feeling of the droplets rolling down her fur and falling from her whiskers.
Sitting back on her haunches she watched as the water rolled over the rocks, dancing playfully along the narrow stream, before plunging over the edge of the cliff. She had never seen water so clear, so perfectly untainted, it was so completely different and so much better than the water at the Ranch. Luke had said something about the water coming from inside the cliff, from giant blocks of ice up in the mountains. Azee, who had only seen the tiny fragments generated by runes, could barely imagine that much ice.
Enjoying the feeling of the dust from the road washed from her ears, Azee considered trying to have a bath. After a few moments searching she found a large enough pool, but a single toe dipped into the water convinced her otherwise. It was the coldest water she had ever felt in her entire life. Suddenly Luke’s explanation of the stream’s origin made a great deal more sense.
Azee flopped onto her back and took a long, deep breath. The air smelled so clean, the trees weren’t covered in moss and lichen like they were lower in the valley, and there was no ever-present scent of wet wood and decay. Despite being far from the Ranch, Azee had never felt closer to home.
If Chara were still with her, Azee would have seriously considered trying to live in this place.
Azee’s ears pricked up at the sound of rustling in the brush nearby. Immediately she sat back up and looked around, but she couldn’t see anything.
“Luke? Eloise?” She called out, but there was no response.
All of a sudden, the forest no longer felt peaceful. The relative quiet seemed to close around her, squeezing her from all directions. Even the bubbling of the stream, and the echoing of the waterfall seemed dark in her ears. The fur on Azee’s shoulders and back prickled as she leapt to her feet and scanned the forest.
“H-hello?” she called out, taking a cautious step backwards. As she stepped back she nearly tripped over the full water skins. As her ears detected another rustle nearby, Azee picked the skins up and backed away slowly. Her heart pounded, her breathing shallow, as her ears and eyes searched for the source of the movement.
She turned her head sharply as the underbrush rustled just upstream. From out of the brush stepped a man. Azee’s heart froze in terror.
The man wore a long reddish brown leather duster coat, a pair of fine black trousers, and a brilliantly polished pair of tall black boots. He was a man of thirty some years, with skin already wrinkled from many hours in the sun. His hair was black as pitch, with the odd grey streak running through it. Most striking was a trio of deep and dark scars running from the top of his scalp, across his nose, and down to his chin. But what made Azee freeze was the blood red vest he wore, and the golden pin on his breast. The pin was in the shape of a sword and an open book emblazoned upon a shield, the heraldry of the Lord’s Holy Order.
For a moment the man didn’t seem to notice Azee, instead bending down and dipping a cup into the stream. But Azee began to back away slowly, her movement drew his attention and he looked up.
As the man’s pale grey eyes locked with hers, Azee saw a sudden flash deep within, like the eyes of a hunting cat locking onto its prey.
With a terrified yelp, Azee dropped the waterskins and turned to flee.
“Luke!”
Before she had taken more than four steps, she heard an odd sound, like the hiss of a water droplet vanishing upon a hot pan. An instant later Azee felt as if she had been struck in the back by a falling tree. Her legs and arms froze, and she toppled forwards, tiny flickers of green energy running across her fur. For a moment she felt as if the collar around her neck was a band of red hot iron.
“Jace, you good?” A voice rang out from behind her.
“Yeah, I’m good.” a lower, gruffer voice replied. Azee shivered in terror, unable to move as she heard someone wading through the stream, and then approaching her. A shadow fell across Azee as the scarred man came up to her side.
A ragged gasp escaped Azee’s lips as the man dug the toe of his boot under her ribs and flipped her over onto her back. She was frozen in place, her limbs completely numb and unresponsive.
“What is it?” the owner of the first voice inquired as he too stepped up beside Azee. Unlike his partner, the second man was strikingly handsome, tall and well built, with beautiful red hair curling around a strong face. His eyes were azure blue, and he walked and spoke with practised, almost casual, grace. He wore the same outfit as his partner, though his pin was Silver rather than gold. In his gloved hands he held a long rifle, marked with a great many glowing runes.
“Dunno, maybe a runaway?”
“Could be.” The red haired man replied, bending down and examining Azee as if she were a stain on the floor.
Azee whimpered, shivering like a leaf as the scarred man drew his pistol and lifted her poncho, glancing at the collar around her neck.
“It's got some pricey jewellery on, that’s for sure.” The scarred man said. “Not too many scars either, probably a house slave.”
“Out this far? Definitely a runaway then. Odd ear too.” The younger man observed, poking the white end of Azee’s ear with the barrel of his rifle
“So what do you want to do with it?”
“Nearest town is Perresburg, You wanna drag it that far?” The man shook his head. “Besides, thing’s wearing clothes, coloured ones at that. Hang it.”
Azee’s heart felt as if it were about to burst at those words.
‘No! No no no no! Please! Luke! Eloise! Please!’
“Yeah, probably best.” The scarred man looked back down at Azee. “Take the collar though, imagine its owner will be happy to have that back at least. Who knows, maybe he’ll be thankful enough to donate to the order.”
“Right, I’ll go grab some rope, you find a good branch. No need for anything fancy, the stun’ll keep her still for a while yet.”
As the red haired man strode back into the forest, the scarred man knelt down beside Azee.
“Shouldn’t have run off.” He muttered, staring down into Azee’s terrified eyes. “Normally I’d just give ya a bullet, better way to go. But with captain eager looking over my shoulder, gotta do things by the book.”
“P-p-please…” Azee managed to gasp, her tongue feeling as if it was taking up her entire mouth.
“Hush now, it’ll be over soon.” The scarred man got back to his feet. “Do yerself a favour and don’t fight it, it’ll hurt less.”
As the scarred man walked off, Azee was left staring up at the sky. Through a gap in the trees, Azee could see the first few stars beginning to appear in the inky blackness above.
Tears streamed down Azee cheeks as she silently pleaded, ‘Luke! Eloise! Someone! Anyone! Chara! Please… help me!’
