A Sharpened Axe by Jill M Beene

Author:Jill M Beene [Beene, Jill M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780692152959
Published: 2018-12-15T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“Hey!” a coarse voice called out from an open doorway to their immediate left. “Who ordered company for the night?”

Loud jangling music and a purple-colored, sickly sweet smoke billowed out from the doorway.

Aster’s head jerked up, and she looked around as if coming to from a thick dream.

“Oh no,” she murmured, grabbing Samiris’ sleeve and tugging her to get her to turn around.

They turned and quickly walked back the way they’d come. But the voice followed them, now joined by two others.

“Slow down there, lovelies,” a man crooned, far too close for comfort.

“Run,” Aster said.

Samiris grabbed Aster’s arm and sprinted forward into the gloom. Heavy footfalls of pursuit drummed behind them. Without looking, Samiris swung her heavy basket up and back toward the men. She was rewarded with the sound of a dull impact and a muffled curse.

Samiris was far faster than Aster, even in her skirts. Samiris pulled the girl along roughly by the arm. She yanked a stack of crates over behind them as she ran, then they turned two more corners. Samiris chanced a glance behind her and saw no one. She couldn’t hear sounds of pursuit over the rushing in her ears and her heavy breathing.

They ducked into the nearest open doorway, closed the door behind them, and found themselves in a nearly lightless stable. The crunch of hay underfoot, their gasping breathing, and the shifting of warm animals were the only sounds as Samiris led Aster over to the far end, into an empty stall, where the darkness was as thick as tar. They crouched together, somehow finding their fingers entwined in a fierce clasp. Whether it was Aster or herself clinging so tightly, Samiris didn’t know.

For long, tense, timeless moments, they waited, taking silent gulps of dank air that smelled of hay and horse dung, and trying to calm their breathing. Samiris felt that time was tricky in this dark place where they squatted. She didn’t know if it had been a minute or ten since they had ducked into this dank stall for shelter. Just when she was beginning to feel hope, fanning that small ember of hope with her thoughts until it nearly took fire inside of her....footsteps.

Samiris went rigid, as if her body had been submerged in an icy pool for several days. Her breathing hitched, then stopped, her heart rate pounded within her head, and she squeezed Aster’s fingers so hard she was sure that one of them wouldn’t have use of their hand for a week...if they survived this.

“Was this meeting place really necessary?” A cultured male voice, closer than Samiris liked, said. “It smells of animal piss.”

Samiris relaxed her bone-crushing grip on Aster’s hand. This was not the voice of the man that had yelled at them from the darkness. That man’s voice had been rough and slurred. This voice was collected and calm. Samiris sighed a little, and began to push herself off her numb haunches.

“You really want to plan a murder somewhere else?” another voice sneered.

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