“Can we not flee?” I heard one whisper. “If we scattered into the forest, some of us might escape!”
“Do nothing,” Dwalia hissed. “Do nothing.”
But Shun paid her words no heed. She had me on my feet and we were moving, stepping quietly back from the circle of firelight. In their terror, the luriks did not seem to notice our departure. Dwalia did. She glanced at us but did nothing, almost as if she wanted us to flee.
I had lost track of the conversation from the other campfire, but the rough burst of laughter I heard was more frightening than merry. Ellik lifted his voice and sounded almost jolly in his tolerance.
“Oh, very well, Hogen. All here know that your brain cannot work when your dick is lonely for a dip. I will give you one. Just one. Chosen especially for you. Come, subjects! Follow your duke.”
I dug in my heels and, with an angry hiss, Shun halted. I stared back. I was terrified but I had to see what was happening. Shun’s grip vised down on my shoulder but she stopped trying to drag me. I think she felt the same paralyzing curiosity. The same dread and horror.
Ellik came toward our fire, a wide, drunken grin on his seamed old face. His hand was on Hogen’s shoulder as if he steered the man, but I think he more leaned on him as he staggered through the snow. The rapist was as handsome as ever; his golden hair gleamed in the firelight, and he smiled with his even white teeth. So handsome and so cruel. Some of the luriks had been perched on their bundles around the fire. They stood as Ellik came on and retreated, but not far. They clustered closer to Dwalia as if she would protect them. I knew she would not.
“Do nothing,” she warned them in a stern voice as Ellik came closer. His men clustered behind him and the handsome rapist, leering like panting dogs. Hogen’s mouth was wide and wet, his left hand gripping his crotch loosely as if to contain himself. His pale eyes wandered over the luriks like a beggar child staring at a display of sweets. The Whites froze like rabbits. Shun made a low sound in her throat. She crouched down and I allowed her to move me some paces sideways to the flimsy shelter of some willow saplings. We both stared.
“Here she is! Here’s the lovely for you, Hogen!”
Ellik stretched forth his hand and let it hover near a slender girl with a face as pale as the moon. She gave a low cry and cowered closer to Dwalia. Dwalia did nothing at all. She stared at Hogen and Ellik with a stony face and made no sound. At the last moment, Ellik’s hand darted sideways and he seized Odessa by the front of her coat, pulling her from the shelter of the others as if he had just selected a piglet for the spit. Her mouth sagged into a cave of woe, her homely, unfinished face contorting as Ellik dragged her forth to the mocking cries of his men and Hogen’s cry of disappointment. “She’s ugly as a dog’s butt. I don’t want her!”
All the men behind him roared with laughter at his protest. Ellik laughed until his face was bright red and then wheezed out, “Your cock has no eyes! She’ll do for you. She wouldn’t bring anything at the market anyway!”
Odessa had half-fainted, sagging to her knees, held up by only by the wiry old man’s grip on the neck of her shirt. Ellik was stronger than he looked. He gave a sudden heave, pulling her to her feet and swinging her into Hogen so that he had to catch her in his arms or fall himself. “Take her, you hound!” All humor suddenly fell from the commander’s face. His expression was savage as he said, “And remember this night well when I deduct her value from your share of our take. Don’t think you can whine and bargain with me, boy. I set the bargains. And this ugly rag of skirts is what you get from me tonight.”
Hogen stared at his commander over Odessa’s bowed head. She had come to her senses enough to struggle feebly, her hands paddling at Hogen’s shirtfront. Hogen’s face had gone dark with fury but as he met Ellik’s gaze, his eyes dropped. “Stupid bitch,” he said disdainfully, and I thought he would cast Odessa back into the other luriks. But instead he shifted his grip on her, catching her one-handed under the throat and dragging her off with him. The other soldiers, gone silent for a short time at their commander’s rebuke, followed him with sudden shouts and offers of wagers and demands to be next upon her.
Dwalia did nothing. Her followers huddled behind her like sheep. I wondered if each was secretly glad the wolves had dragged off Odessa and not herself.
Not wolves. Wolves feed when they are hungry. They do not rape.
I’m sorry. I could tell I had offended Wolf-Father.
“Come.” Shun dragged me behind a snow-laden bush. “They won’t stop with her. We have to escape now.”
“But we’ve nothing with us …”