Rae's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

Rae left her daughter with a trusted neighbor and climbed toward the tower with Marcus at her side. Six hunters guarded the ruined spire on the fallen redwood. She had counted them twice. Rae was small. She could not fight them. But she had one weapon they would never expect. "They're bored," she whispered. "Bored men drop their guard." She loosened her hood and touched the choker at her throat. Marcus frowned, his huge shoulders tight against the trunk. He was gentle, slow to violence. He did not like this plan. "I don't want you near them," he said. "You'll be close." Rae pointed to a stand of wide branches near the tower door. A strange tree grew there, its limbs heavy with plump winged sausages that flapped and bobbed like fruit. "Wait behind that tree. When they're looking at me, you move." Marcus stared at her a long moment. Then he nodded once. He crept to the tree and folded his massive body behind the trunk. A winged sausage buzzed off a low branch and landed on his shoulder. He did not shoo it. Rae walked into the open. She swayed her hips and let her stockings show. The nearest hunter saw her first. He grinned and called the others. All six drifted toward her, weapons loose in their hands. "Lost, little thing?" one said. "Very lost." Rae smiled and stepped back, drawing them from the door. "And cold. Won't one of you warm me?" They laughed. They crowded close, elbowing each other, eyes on her legs and her throat. Not one watched the tree. Rae kept them talking. She let a hunter reach for her wrist. She backed him one more step. "Now," she said. Marcus came out of the dark like a falling wall. His first swing caught two hunters at once and threw them into the stones. The others spun too late. He grabbed a third by the collar and slammed him flat. Rae dropped and rolled clear as a blade whistled past her hair. One hunter lunged at her. She kicked his knee and he buckled. Marcus finished him with a fist. In moments all six lay groaning in the dirt. The winged sausage flapped down and settled on a fallen man's chest, chirping. Rae ran to the tower door and threw the bolt. Inside, in the dark, a small boy sat chained to the wall. His hands glowed faint gold. He flinched from her. "I've got you," she said. She broke the chain loose and pulled him into the light. But the leader was not among the six. Rae counted the bodies again and her stomach turned cold. On the wall hung a ledger, open to a page of names. Her daughter's name was written there, third from the top. The hunters were beaten. The man who paid them still knew exactly where to look.