‘No, no,’ he chokes. ‘Mistake.’
‘A mistake?’ Morgan spits. ‘It sounded like you were aiming to defile a woman out here in the street.’
The man who seemed so dangerous and large shakes his head again in the face of Morgan’s anger.
‘No, no,’ he whispers. ‘Mis-misunderstand.’
I see a bloom of wet appearing on the front of the man’s trousers.
‘Perhaps I’ll turn you around and mount you instead,’ Morgan says quietly, making the man shake his head vigorously, mumbling out a garbled no and please.
Morgan leans in closer to the man. ‘If my human wasn’t watching, the things I would do to you would ensure you’d never sleep properly again for fear.’
With that, the half org lets him go, and the man scrambles away.
‘You orc cunt,’ he rasps, clutching his throat. ‘I’ll tell the Council of this! Pack your bags, Dark Realmer! I’ll see you and your whore cast into the Breach before midday!’
I watch in horror as he turns and staggers away.
‘Stop him,’ I whisper.
Morgan just stares after the man as if in a daze.
And then I see Locke running up from the other end of the alley toward us.
‘What happened?’ He takes me by the shoulders and turns me to face him gently. ‘Are you all right, Bryn?’
‘Stop him, Locke!’ I say, pointing after the man. ‘He’s going to say that Morgan attacked him. But he did it to save me! You have to stop him!’
Locke stares after the fleeing man who’s slipped in the mud just steps from the main thoroughfare where I know people are going about their daily business.
‘Quickly! He’ll tell them all!’
The man gets to his feet and keeps going.
‘Take his memory!’ I say desperately. ‘Work that conjure on him like you did on us! Make him forget!’
Why is no one doing anything?
Locke surveys me and then Morgan who’s just watching the man escape, waiting for his life here to be over. Locke’s mouth sets into a thin line, and he finally nods, fingers moving subtly. I see the man freeze at the mouth of the ally. His body straightens and he looks around as if he isn’t sure where he is before he ambles slowly away.
‘It’s done,’ Locke says. ‘He has no recollection of what happened.’
He turns to me. ‘Whatdidhappen?’
‘He came upon me, said Tavish had told him of me. He,’ I look down at the ground. ‘He said he was going to punish me as a master would, to teach a lesson for coming here, and,’ my jaw clenches, ‘he said that I shouldn’t worry because he’d release me before he mounted me.’
My fingernails dig into my palms as I’m overcome with my own fury, and my disappointment in the people here…my disappointment in myself that I couldn’t fight him off.
‘Who is he?’ Locke snarls.
‘Don’t know his name. He isn’t from Halsford,’ Morgan says very low, seeming to come back to himself. ‘He’s one of Tavish’s drivers.’
He stares at the place where we last saw the man in silence, his expression dark.
He saved me. He called me his.
Without thinking, I rush to him and pull him into a tight hug. He stiffens for a moment in surprise before his great arms encircle me.
