Page 47 of Remmen

“He took me off the street in the middle of town. One of your guys was with him, but I don’t know who. He was behind me the whole time and they put a sack over my head.” The words came out fast, frantic, and I was worried we’d be caught.

“No one stopped him?” Rauf was incredulous.

“It was the middle of the night. No one was out.”

“What were you doing out in the middle of the night?” he challenged.

“Getting kidnapped, apparently. Are you going to help me, or blame the victim?” All the anger and vitriol I couldn’t spit at Mestyn was getting misdirected at Rauf. It wasn’t right, but I was in pain and exhausted and all my filters were gone.

The ropes went slack and my arms dropped. It was relief for half a moment followed by a wave of agony.

“Rub them,” Rauf instructed, working on my legs with the knife. “You need to get blood flowing back fast.”

I didn’t ask if he knew from experience. It was too clear that he did.

Once my legs were free, Rauf helped me to my feet and nearly dragged me out of the barn. “Come on, we need to get you back into town before this blows up in anyone’s face.”

The same truck that Mestyn had used to take me was sitting in the middle of the yard and Rauf climbed in.

I didn’t want to. I wanted to set the farm on fire in retribution for what Mestyn was trying to do to me. And I really didn’t want to get in the same vehicle that had been used to kidnap me only a few hours ago.

“We need to tell someone about this,” I insisted. “You can’t just kidnap someone off the street and get away with it!”

“Oh, do you want me to go inside and kill him?” I couldn’t tell if Rauf was joking or not. He didn’t get out of the truck.

Fuck it.

I climbed onto the passenger side of the bench and watched him start the engine. “I’m not saying murder, that seems a bit hasty. But if he did this to me, he might do it to someone else.”

“It’s not really Mestyn’s style,” Rauf countered.

“I beg to differ.” I held up my bruised wrists as proof.

Rauf sighed. “Listen, Mestyn got drunk last night and he’s sleeping it off. Let’s just get you out of here before things get worse.”

“He probably shouldn’t be drinking with the antibiotics he’s on.” The concern was a reflex.

And Rauf looked at me like I was crazy. “Do you really care about that?”

“Let’s go.”

Rauf threw the truck in gear and we lurched across the yard for the open gate. We almost made it. We were maybe two truck-lengths short when a roar went up off to the side, loud enough I felt it through the glass, and the house door banged open. Mestyn stumbled out first, listing hard, one hand clamped over his belly, drunk or hurting or both and no use to anybody. Hesk came out behind him, and Hesk wasn’t hurt at all. He saw us rolling for the gate, put his head down, and ran to cut us off before we could reach it.

Rauf cursed. “Can you drive this thing?” he asked me.

Uh…

“Probably?” I wasn’t confident.

“Then drive.” He jumped out of the seat and launched himself at Hesk.

I didn’t give myself time to doubt, scrambling over to take the controls and straining for the pedal that would take me to freedom.

CHAPTER 20

REMMEN

The first sign of trouble was commotion from the end of town. Then Lorkin came sprinting from the forge, a dire look on his face. “Kazan just spotted Anne driving the Butchers’ truck. And not five minutes later he saw Mestyn chasing after in one of their buggies.”