Fantasy Magazine, Issue 95 (September 2023) by Adamant Press

Author:Adamant Press [Adamant Press]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Adamant Press
Published: 2023-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

There are few instances in most people’s day-to-day lives that call for either running or screaming. Perhaps, Toba thought, if she’d married and had children, she might have had a need to shout at them or chase after them, and in that case, maybe she would have had to address this problem earlier. But Toba had no husband to harangue or children to scold, so the first time her handicap became a situation of life or death occurred as she found herself forced away from her neighbors at the point of a knife.

She hoped, for a brief moment, that someone would notice, but no one did, likely because it was dark, or because everyone was focused on their own families, or the song they were singing or because Toba could only make her complaints heard in a normal tone of voice or risk another breathing crisis, which she knew she could not do.

“Let me go,” she said, making her voice as firm as she dared. “I have nothing you want.”

The thief made no answer, but continued dragging her farther from the road and into the hills. Dried-out branches of chaparral caught on the hem of her dress, and she struggled to plant her feet in the dirt, only to slide in the dust. Ahead of them, a line of pines blocked the moon and scented the air. The man carried her through the tree line and flung her to the ground.

This, Toba knew, was not good at all.

“Give me everything you have,” he ordered. “Or I’ll slit your throat.”

Her hand went automatically to her neck. The ground underneath her was damp, which Toba vaguely thought was odd, because it had not rained for ages. “I don’t have anything,” she said.

“I know you have a jewel worth more than your life,” he said.

“I have no jewel,” she said smoothly, because while Toba couldn’t shout she could definitely lie. “If I did, it’d be taken from me at the border. You must know the law.”

“I saw you,” he said, “in the city, the day of the edict. I know who you are, with your giant sapphire, I won’t believe you’ve left it.” His hands were suddenly on her, searching. “Where is it? Hand it over.”

Toba decided to see whether she could kick. It turned out that she could, and the man fell back, clutching his jaw. Her foot smarted in her boot.

“You will be sorry,” he said, “that you did that.”

Toba searched the ground for the knife; the man had been pawing her with both hands, so he must have set it down somewhere. Unable to find it, she took hold of a rock instead, scrambling to her feet and clutching it in her right hand and wondering if her best bet were to throw it or wait until he came closer and try to bash his brains in. If she threw, she risked missing. But if she waited, she risked being stabbed.

“It’s a bad idea,” she told the man, “to attack someone who cannot run away.

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