Beast (A Prydain novel Book 1) by AJ Adams

Author:AJ Adams [Adams, AJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-04-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

We came to a rolling halt. I woke up with a start but quickly pretended to be asleep or unconscious. I didn’t want anyone watching me. When the cart stopped, the body underneath me shifted and pushed me to the floor.

Peeking out between half-shut eyes, I spotted some sacks of supplies in the back, and the rest of the cart was filled with wounded Beasts, all getting up and exiting. Some looked pretty bad, but when calls of “Conclave!” rang out, they disappeared.

I waited, eyes closed, counting to a hundred. Then I opened my eyes. Nobody in sight. I sneaked a peek through the slats. We were on a green stretch of grass, overlooking the forest. A river gushed nearby, huge, clear and from the look of it, super shallow where the white marker stone stood. The carts would make it across easily.

I slid out of the cart, tempted by the water. Thanks to the long march, every single muscle in my body was aching. My feet were bruised and bleeding, throbbing even when not in contact with the ground. I ignored it all; I’d go and clean up. The buzzing flies were driving me nuts.

The carts with the girls were on one side of the camp, still locked, and the Beasts were meeting on the other side.

“Look, we can’t keep them all!” Brant’s voice drifted over. “We can’t feed them!”

My heart stopped. Were they thinking of killing us after all?

“You’re thinking about last year,” Rune countered. “We have weapons now, so we can hunt more efficiently. We have cases of shot and powder, too. We can manage.”

“We should keep just a couple and share,” Siv growled, and at that, all the Beasts were nodding.

“We need to think ahead,” Rune countered. “I have calculated everything, and I say we do it now.”

There was some shouting, and I was missing bits, so I crept under a cart and used it as cover while I listened. I still couldn’t hear, so I scooted across and hid under another.

“Look, we need to plan for the future,” Rune was making his case. “We can turn east, go to Haven, get our wergelt, and go home. Or we can go forward.”

There was a dead silence. All the hair in my neck stood up. The tension was incredible.

“There is no certainty that we’ll get wergelt,” Rune urged them. “And we’ve our own needs.”

“We can get the best of both worlds by leaving some at Haven and keeping the rest,” Siv pointed out.

“They’re not strong enough to share,” a tall Beast pointed out. “We’ve lost half a dozen already.”

“So we sell them all,” another Beast growled. “Wergelt would be best, but we can always sell them as slaves.”

I felt a shiver go down my spine. I was a breath away from being collared, chained, branded. I’d be a slave again, and this time I’d die in chains.

“These girls are too weak to be of value as slaves,” Brant declared. “It’s not worth the trip.”

“We can maintain ourselves, but not a bunch of useless Citizens,” a lanky Beast said forcefully.

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