Page 70 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

My throat plummeted into my stomach, a cold cement weight.

“You’re insane,” Maerryl breathed.

I burst to the left suddenly, running as fast as I could while trying to stay balanced with both arms tied tightly behind my back and my vision still tilting slightly.

Which, as it turned out, is not so fast. Even with my natural speed, I was too slow and Felsith caught up and grabbed me by the hair, unbalancing me further so I had to scrabble to keep my legs under me. Laughing manically, he let go and shoved me hard into the road. Rocks dug into my side, ribs and hip on fire from colliding with the hard, packed dirt. I fought to catch my breath.

“Good try, elf. But not quite quick enough!”

“I am going to kill you, you filthy, disgusting toad,” I said, injecting my voice with icy venom as I struggled to rise. “Untie me now or I will slice you up with a thousand shards of rusty metal.”

Felsith just laughed again, pinning my bound wrists to the ground with his boot. He loomed over me, satisfaction gleaming in his beady eyes. I thrashed violently like an animal, kicking for him, trying to knock his legs or knees out. Straining my neck to bite him, to get at him in any way I could.

He leaned more weight on my wrists, making me cry out in agony. I stilled.

“Maerryl, STOP HIM! This is madness!” I yelled. She stood frozen, face a stony blank.

“Not madness. This is fitting, no?” Felsith said, delighted with how perfectly his plans had fallen into place. I could hear his smarmy smile, feel his need to crush me like I’d crushed him.

“An eye for an eye. So to speak. Too bad for you, however, there are no healers for miles. Tsk-tsk. A few good stomps should do it…”

No, no, no no no no NO. This wasn’t happening. Without my hands…

“Stop.”

I squinted my eyes open. Maerryl had stepped closer. She held a long dagger in each hand and said, “Get away from her. Now.”

“Or what? You’ll attack me?” Felsith laughed incredulously. “You have no money. You need me. And the huge amount of coin I’ll be giving you when this is done.”

“This isn’t right,” Maerryl said, her mouth in a tight, firm line. “Last warning. Back away. Let her go.”

“Shut UP, you useless DWARF!” Felsith shrieked, patience lost. The unrelenting heel of his boot ground harder into my wrists, making me cry out.

Maerryl flung one of her daggers, hard and fast. It whistled past me, and Felsith screamed, so loud the birds in the trees above flew from their perches.

The heavy weight on top of my wrists lightened. I tore free, throwing my body weight forward and rolling away from him. Frantically scrambling to my feet, I hurled myself near Maerryl. She caught and steadied me, sturdy arms gripping tight. Her glance held none of the flippant irritation I’d seen since we met. Now she was all business, with poorly disguised guilt pinching her forehead as she checked me over quickly.

“You bitch! How DARE YOU?!” He would have stormed toward us, certainly, if it wasn’t for the dagger firmly embedded in his left foot.

Maerryl’s eyes met mine, holding an apology that I knew she wouldn’t say. She swiftly cut the bindings off my wrists and faced Felsith again, pointing her second dagger toward his chest. Tears sprang to my eyes at the relief in my shoulders, my arms. I shook the numbness out of my fingers and massaged them gently. The bones of my wrists, thank the goddesses, didn’t seem to be broken, but they ached terribly.

“Get your pack,” she told me. To him, she said, “You and I are done. You’re clearly unhinged. No amount of money is worth being an accomplice to torture and maiming of another person. No matter how annoying that person might be.” She cut her wry gaze to me, and I rolled my eyes. Surprised as I was that Maerryl was helping me, I was more surprised to find this wiseass bounty hunter apparently had such moral fiber.

Clambering into the carriage, I willed my arms back into movement and grabbed my rucksack, tucking in the items Felsith had strewn across his seat when he was rooting through it. Last, I picked up the thin blade where it still lay on my seat, the edge coated with my drying blood.

I jumped down from the carriage. Filled with cold rage, I stalked toward Felsith. My blood pounded in my ears.

No—that was real pounding. Horse hooves riding toward us along the road. Witnesses. I’d better make this quick.

Felsith saw my murderous eyes and turned to flee. I lifted my empty hand—weak, but power flowed through my veins again—and clenched. Felsith screamed as the knife in his foot dug deeper.

“Okay. Okay, that’s enough,” Maerryl said at my side. “Let’s get him up on the carriage and leave.”

“We can’t just let him go! After what he did to me?” I stared at her in disbelief. Sweat dripped through my brow, into my eye. I was wrecked, but I would have my revenge.

“Elikki, think. He’s a noble. The lord’s brother. His cousin is a constable of the queendom. A dozen people saw what you did to him, but only you and I can attest to what happened here. And now he’s injured.” Maerryl sighed. “Who do you think will be believed, us or him?”

“Us! Obviously us! Look at him, he’s gone off the deep end!” I pointed to where Felsith was trying to crawl-hop behind a tree, practically foaming at the mouth in fury.