AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My uncle toppled to the ground.
I yelped in horror, ready to cry out. Then the man who I’d thrown the dagger at stared menacingly over his shoulder. His face was enough to horrify me into silence.
He was alarmingly handsome. Boyish, even? Much younger than I’d expected.
The man who had cracked my uncle’s skull faced me and passed by his friend. I backpedaled again, toward the carriage.
All was lost. Uncle Gregory was either dead or unconscious. Father was nowhere to be seen.
The giant of a man stepped into the edge of the campfire. For a second, I saw fire flicker across his face.
And my heart stopped.
“What do we have here?” he asked, tilting his head, rubbing his bearded chin.
I craned my neck to look up at him as he drew closer. My back slammed against the carriage wall. I had nowhere to go.
He repeated what he’d said the first time we’d crossed paths, this time with a dangerous smile: “It isn’t safe for someone like you out here all alone.”
His voice rumbled through my bones. I tried to look past him, to the younger man I had stabbed, but this man took up my whole vision, my whole imagination, my whole world.
The hunter, I thought fearfully. The same man who rescued me from a wild hog now loomed over me like a ruthless dragon.
The sash-wearer I’d nailed with my dagger sidestepped around the tall one and tried to rush me. The hunter’s arm shot out, barring his lunge.
“He stabbed me!” he growled.
“You’ll live,” the tall man said. Obviously the ringleader. “This one is too peculiar to kill.”
The door to the other carriage swung open.
All eyes veered in that direction. For a second I had a chance to escape from the distraction, yet I was too scared to move.
My heart soared as I imagined my father bursting out of the carriage with sword drawn, ready to face the enemy like a champion in shining armor. Like a gallant soldier of glory, ready to protect his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law to the bitter end.
My face sank when I saw his face. This was my father. A decidedly ungallant man. A man more concerned with his own status and wealth than anything else.
To his credit, he had warned Gregory about the dangers of such a trek. And now look at us.
When my father’s thick brow jumped to his forehead, my heart plummeted. He was gazing right at me, mouth agape, and saw the two men pinning me to the wall of the carriage.
His head vanished into the carriage. The door slammed shut as other bandits hesitantly approached.
A yip sounded, then a whip snap, and the carriage lurched to move.
“No . . .” I croaked to myself, curling my hands into fists so hard my palms bled.
All I’d ever known was abuse and torture at the hands of my father. He could have redeemed himself in one fell swoop. Instead, he ran, knowing his daughter was in danger. It hurt worse than any physical pain.
He truly didn’t care for me.
He’s doing it for Mama, I thought, trying to find a silver lining.
I was telling myself a lie, though, and I knew it. He was escaping this hellhole of a clearing for himself. No one else. Nothing was going to stop him.
A few bandits took chase. The cart and its horses moved too quickly, and before long it had rattled into the trees, onto the road, and was gone from my sight.
The lumbering giant in front of me scoffed. “Coward.”
