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Conversation ceased, replaced by an expectant hush. She forced her muscles not to tense, and kept her eyelids lowered as she waited to see what her observer might do. He didn't carry a weapon unless one considered the stench wafting off him deadly enough to kill a person with a single whiff.
He unlaced the front of his trousers, and Anhuset nearly gave herself away by the disbelieving snort she swallowed behind her gag. Did he think to rape her? With the way she was bound, he'd have to exercise considerable effort to get her clothes out of the way without cutting them off her. He'd fail and die for trying. She was bound, not helpless.
Her disgusted snarl held an equal amount of shock when instead of a rape attempt, he pissed on her. She rolled away, barely avoiding a face full of the reeking yellow stream.
Howls of laughter rang out from her guards, and saliva filled her mouth as her stomach heaved. The stench of urine flooded her nostrils as she fought to hold down the bile creeping up her throat. Whistles and catcalls joined the laughter. Her tormentor grinned and swiveled his hips in a lewd motion, waving his dripping prick at her. He finally tucked his bits into his trousers and replaced the placket, then strutted back and forth in front of the growing audience, raising his arms to coax more cheers from their ranks, as triumphant as any conquering hero claiming victory over the vanquished.
He'd signed his own death warrant with that act of humiliation. Anhuset swore to herself no matter what it took or how long, she'd kill this man, carve him up into small pieces, and toss his remains into a midden for the rats to feast on.
Unsatisfied with his shallow victory and the attendant cheers from the crowd, the idiot chose not to walk away from the scene. Instead, he moved closer to her, leaning down to say something or maybe spit on her. She didn't wait to find out and used all her strength to lunge forward and slam her forehead into his face.
Bone crunched and screams replaced the gloating snickers as the raider fell backwards, hands clutched to his face. Blood seeped through his fingers, cascading in rivulets over his knuckles as he rolled on the ground, bellowing in agony.
Still seeing stars from the hit, Anhuset wasted not a moment in protecting herself as best she could, tucking her head between her arms and curling even tighter into the fetal position as punches and kicks rained down on her head, shoulders and back from those who sought to punish her.
An angry voice rose above the snarls and curses accompanying the blows. “Back off before I geld every last one of you.”
They obeyed instantly, and Anhuset, never a religious sort, thanked any gods listening for the respite from the battering and for the return of the one the guards called Karulin.
“Explain,” he demanded. “Lie, and you'll regret it.”
Both men spoke at once with a few from the crowd interjecting their accounts before going silent under Karulin's glare. A chorus of gasps went up when he tugged Anhuset's gag down to her neck without hesitation or concern he might lose his hand. His nose wrinkled when he caught the smell on her. “Are you bleeding anywhere or having trouble breathing?”
She was tempted to say yes and beg him to untie her so she could check, but instinct told her he'd know she was lying, and his warning to her guards echoed in her mind. “Just a few bruises,” she said.
He nodded and left her to see to the man whose screams had weakened to pitiful moans. Anhuset couldn't make out what Karulin said, but when he returned to her, he eyed her with renewed caution and a faint approval she was certain she didn't imagine. “It seems there's no part of a Kai that isn't dangerous,” he said. “You shattered Lewelis's nose and knocked out three of his teeth. You'll have a knot on your brow for the doing, and you stink worse than a dead weasel, but you didn't come out the loser.”
Soaked in piss, tied like a hog, and held captive by a mad bastard eager to make her the focus of some future and no doubt violent game didn't feel much like winning, but at least now Chamtivos's men would think twice before trying to make sport of her a second time.
Chamtivos returned from the tent to join their little gathering. After listening to Karulin's summary of events, he tutted, gave Anhuset a once-over glance filled with revulsion, and left her to help Lewelis to his feet. He listened to the man's complaints of her ill-treatment of him with an attentive expression and a few sympathetic nods. Even she gasped along with the others when he suddenly pulled a knife and slashed Lewelis's throat in one swift arc.
Chamtivos turned away before the body hit the ground, and once more she caught a glimpse into the cruelty-laced madness lurking behind the boyish façade. She stiffened when he walked toward her. The crowd backed away, except for Karulin, who eyed his master as warily as he did Anhuset.
The warlord wiped his blade clean on a bystander's sleeve. That person dared not utter a word of protest. “The Kai woman is my captive,” Chamtivos said in a strangely cheerful voice. “Not yours. Mine. And while she lives, I think of her as one of my possessions.” He offered them all a sunny smile that made everyone take at least two steps back. “I don't like people touching my things without my permission. Do it again, and you'll join Lewelis there, feeding the vultures and the worms.”
His gaze settled on Anhuset. “You're a vicious cunt,” he told her. “Ogran was right when he said you were worth three humans in a fight. Day after tomorrow promises to be an exciting day indeed.” The maniacal glee in his voice sent splinters of ice through her veins. She didn't ask him to clarify or expound. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. He'd only drop more obtuse hints as a way to torture her, hoping to seed her fear and drink it like a poisoned nectar. Instead she focused on his last statement. Ogran.
Her suspicions had borne out. He might not have the funds to bribe a warlord to murder a margrave, but he was just as involved in its planning.
Chamtivos gestured to the group in general. “Get her rinsed off. It's bad enough having to look at her. I don't want to have to smell her too.”
He strolled away but not before Anhuset spotted blood on his clothes and his hands. Dried blood that didn't belong to the dead Lewelis. Her heart thudded heavy. Serovek.
She clenched her jaw under the dousing of ice water, nearly breaking her back teeth in the effort not to screech from the shock of cold pouring over her. The shivers she couldn't control. They worsened every second until she almost convulsed from muscle spasms. At least she no longer smelled like a dead human's piss.
Karulin came to her rescue yet again, this time carrying a blanket. “My gods,” he muttered as he dragged her to a dry patch of ground. “You're a lot heavier than you look.”
You're just a sad, weak human,she thought, unable to stop her teeth from chattering long enough to speak.
Rescuer he might be, but Karulin was also cautious. He draped the dry blanket over her wet form, then pulled another strip of cloth from a pocket of his tunic. This time he didn't have to say anything for the attending guards to knock arrows and take aim.
“Chamtivos says no food. He doesn't want to waste provisions on you.” Karulin looped the gag cloth through his fingers as he spoke. “But you're allowed more to drink if you want it.”
Something in the way he dropped his chin and stared at her made her hesitate in accepting the offer. It wasn't what he said but what he didn't say that decided her. The water wouldn't just be water. “I'm not thirsty.” She reared back when he leaned forward to tie the gag cloth over her mouth. “Why?”
As she guessed, he understood the rest of her unspoken question. His features hardened though his voice remained mild, vaguely bored. “I believe in a fair fight. What's to come won't be fair.”
He knotted the cloth just above her nape, muzzling her before she could interrogate him more and pulled the blanket firmly around her shoulders. He stood with the same lithe grace that hinted at speed and agility. “No one will bother you tonight. You have my word.”
