The Devil's Badge by Terrell L. Bowers
Author:Terrell L. Bowers [Bowers, Terrell L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-08-14T20:57:00+00:00
Mandy fought to turn her head, but Hal held her with his huge hands. Runt pinched the air from her nose and forced her to breathe through her mouth. Each time she had to take in air, he forced whisky down her throat. She gagged and choked, but her resistance was futile. After fifteen minutes, she had been forced to drink about half of the pint that had been poured into her mouth. She was soaked, reeking of whisky about her neck and shoulders, but finding it difficult to fight.
"She's a thirsty wench," Runt laughed, opening a second pint. "Before long, she'd likely marry my horse!"
"Please..." Mandy said, but it only got the bottle shoved into her mouth. She coughed, strangled by the harsh, burning liquor, but unable to do anything but swallow. If she spat it out, she received a brutal slap for her defiance. And they forced her to swallow more anyway.
By the time the second bottle was empty, Mandy was feeling the effects of the hard drink. She couldn't think clearly. Her mind was all fuzzy and disoriented.
"Too bad she hasn't got a decent thing to wear," Hal complained, noting her plain work dress. "A bride ought to look special for her wedding."
"Wedding?" she repeated groggily. "Who's getting married?"
"Why you are, honey," Runt laughed. "We've gone to a great deal of trouble to find Parson Childs. He has a paper for you to sign."
"I...I can't," she sputtered, wondering why her words were so difficult to get out. "I'm not old enough, not eighteen."
"We'll lie for you. Don't you fret about it."
"I don't want to get married. I don't want-"
"Come on, you drunken witch!" Runt snapped. "We can't keep everyone waiting."
Mandy could hardly feel her legs under her. She was filled with a numbness from the drink. She staggered against Hal, and his arm went around her, holding her up.
They were in some kind of storeroom behind a small abandoned shack. Mandy found that they were inside a place she vaguely recalled as being about fifteen miles from her own home. There was only one lamp, and a man stood with a prayer book in his hands. He didn't look much like a parson, with redrimmed eyes, several days' growth of beard on his face, and clothes that were dirty and torn.
"This must be the young bride," he said without warmth.
"Get on with it, Childs," Emmert Seward told the man, stepping up next to Mandy.
"I'll not marry him!" she shouted. "This is not a legal marriage!"
"It's legal if I say it is!" Seward countered. "Once the words are said, you can't testify against me in court. You won't have been kidnapped, for you were eloping. You'll be my legal wife, regardless of anything else that happens."
"No! I won't do it!" Mandy cried.
"We'll need her signature," the parson said evenly. "How do you intend to get her to sign?"
"Runt!" Emmert said to the small deputy. "Speak to her. Talk to her in a way that she'll understand."
Runt pulled out a long skinny knife and admired the blade.
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