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“The girl not the deer! You don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. You’re not in charge here.”
Devon nodded. “You’re right, Vorst, I’m not. So, I guess you don’t have to do what I say.” He took a step forward, closer to me. “But do you really want to find out what happens if you don’t?”
Vorst had automatically taken a step back when Devon took one forward, and from the look on his face, he hated himself for it. He wanted the fight, wanted it badly, but was clearly nervous of the other man.
Devon smiled. “How about we have some dinner? Everyone acts a little crazy when they’re hungry, eh Buck?”
The man in charge, who had watched as fascinated and as tense as everyone else during this little stand-off, suddenly seemed to remember his position.
“Quite right. And no one touch the girl! I told them not to.”
Devon nodded. “That’s what I thought. I was just following your orders.”
“Yes,” agreed Buck, almost convincing himself.
I wondered if they all knew something about Devon that I didn’t, if they’d seen him fight for example. Or if it was just the way he had about him, the confident aura of near invincibility. There was something about Devon. He seemed to be able to win a fight before a blow was struck.
The camp busied itself preparing the deer for dinner.
“How’d you bring this down, Devon?” asked one of the men. “There’s not a mark on it. Reckon its neck’s broken.”
Devon nodded and smiled. “Got lucky. It took a tumble while I was chasing it. Damn thing probably would have gotten away. Some men are born lucky.”
He knelt beside me as the men continued to work.
“You alright?”
I nodded, then added, “You mean other than being tied up and kidnapped?”
“Yes,” nodded Devon with a smile. “Other than that. Sorry about that, but that’s just business. He didn’t hurt you? Vorst, I mean.”
I shook my head. “No. And I’ll hurt him if he tries anything.”
To my surprise, Devon didn’t smile or make a joke. “I reckon you would. I saw you fight. That’s why I tripped you. Anyway, if Vorst (or any of them, but it’ll be Vorst) tries anything, then you yell for me. Wouldn’t be a fair fight with you tied up.”
“Thank you,” I said. And then felt utterly stupid for saying it. The man was one of my kidnappers and certainly no friend or ally.
But there was something in his words and in the way he spoke that made me wonder how much he wanted to be here. ‘Justbusiness’he’d said, so how wedded to this affair was he? Perhaps he could be talked around. Maybe I had found a way out.
Or maybe I just wanted to believe good things of the man with the roguish smile.
Chapter Four
Captivity
“Here’s another!” Kimmel, one of the mercenaries, pointed to the ground up ahead, and the others rode up.
The ground around the hillocks over which we were now passing was mostly too hard to hold footprints, but a low spot had retained enough water for this one to be visible. It was little more than an outline, but there was still no mistaking what it was.
“Dragon,” breathed Buck, and cast a nervous glance around the grey skies, as if the beast might be coming for him now.
“How old?” wondered Devon.
“Recent,” judged Kimmel. “Last night I’d guess.” He grinned at Devon. “Youwerelucky. Out here hunting that deer, you might have ended up dinner for something else.”
“And then you’d all have had to go hungry,” replied Devon.
The mercenaries laughed, but there was tension to the sound. Dragons didn’t often come down to the lowlands and if they did, then it meant they were struggling for food in their natural home, high in the mountains. So, if they were coming down here, then it was to hunt.
