《Caught - Balancing Magic》


 Chapter One - Anika - I feel doom feet first.

    I felt them coming in the soles of my feet. A tickling sensation. A vibration. Hard to quantify, but there it is. I felt my doom coming feet first.


    I thought the prickle was the result of my before work barefoot walk. That¡¯s how things always go for me, one good thing leading a long line of bad. I like to walk through the old, drained woods behind the apartments where I live to clear my head. It calms me.


    There are thorns and poisonous things in the process of taking over the giant stone-skinned trees, but I was careful. I knew that forest. A lot of my childhood I worked those trees with the rest of the village brats. It was the only place that felt safe to me anymore, even though there was nothing safe about it.


    But my little free time in nature led right into some kind of weird reaction. Of course. That¡¯s how my life is.Not health issues, no, those were rare for me. But weird. Weird stuff happened so much I should get used to the whole process of it.


    I¡¯m just a null. A plain nothing of a human being, trying to survive a world politics has torn from sky to shadows. I am regular Jane Nobody, and still stuff like this happens to me all the time.Everyone who knows me says I¡¯m a First Order Shit Magnet.


    I didn¡¯t like the connection to the First Order and the rest of those dedicated fanatics, but it couldn¡¯t be denied if shit was gonna happen, I would be in its pathway and it would hit me first.


    The tingle didn¡¯t hurt, but the feeling demanded attention. It was an annoying bug crawling across my skin biting all the way. I had to sit down and see what was going on.


    Out of my shoes, my feet stank, days from a good wash. My eyes watered from the stench, but feet weren¡¯t red or swollen from anything. The lack disappointed me. A thorn stuck in my heel provided an explanation for this new case of mysterious weird.


    The second after I sat down on a freight box in Jak¡¯s kitchen, the wood still creaking under my butt as I looked one foot then the other, was the second the giant slab of a bald man came back around the corner to see me doing it.


    ¡°Boy, for fuck¡¯s sake, I pay you to sit?¡±


    His hand shot out to pull me up and I dodged it, jumping as my feet hit the floor like I landed on a hot plate. My brain sizzled with the renewed contact.The floor was on fire.


    ¡°Even the rats get a break once in a while.¡± I told him as he reached for me with the other giant block he used for a hand.


    ¡°I don¡¯t pay rats.¡±


    ¡°You pay me?¡± I hopped away, making faces at him.


    ¡°Boy!¡±


    ¡°Dumpling Man! Sack o¡¯Stink! Blood Bar Toad!¡± I shouted as he grabbed my shoulder and twisted until I faced him.


    Jak knew I was a girl. He called me a boy as insult. As irritating as it was, this worked in my favor. Half his customers thought I was a lumpy, dirty, drudge of a boy who never bathed and hid his long hair under his cap. The village had boys a plenty like me to boss around and I for some reason Jak decided I could be another one of them.


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    Still high-stepping imaginary hot coals, my bare feet pricked and burned. Jak shouted in my face, his spit dotting my cheeks. ¡°Promised your sister I wouldn¡¯t kill you today.¡±


    She¡¯s not my sister, I said in my head, on reflex. Aloud, I spat back, ¡°You also promised her a silver coin the next time she let you touch her tits and made you feel like a man. Cause you¡¯re really not a man, are you Jak? You¡¯re some-kind of magicer in disguise.¡±


    Jak thought he was this, that and all the hairy balls in between. He brewed a sour ale that had all the village addicted, as tasty and as cheap as piss but stronger and cheaper than the dreaming drug blue. In short, the males of Little Indio loved him. Jak could do no wrong. But being called a magicer could get a person hauled off to the city by a desperate, quota deprived patrol. And we both knew that was the last thing he wanted.


    I¡¯d never get close enough to a patrol to report the muscle-bound-sack of puss and sweat. I didn¡¯t want their notice any more than Jak did.


    Good thing his stupidity rivaled his size. He may be natural-born, a native creature made of magic, but he wasn¡¯t smart. And the patrols were the only thing that scared him.


    ¡°Shut your fuckin¡¯ hole there, boy.¡± He snarled the words, digging his fingers deep.


    It hurt. Bad. Jak was powerful strong. I turned my yelp of pain into a manic laugh. Very un-boy like and nothing like a normal null, who¡¯d be begging and crying if they could manage sound at all. But I knew how to play Jak to my advantage without showing my bare chest to every dick and blick in town like Bredonna.


    ¡°Then let me get back to work. I thought I stepped on something in this nasty sty of your kitchen. But it was only another cockroach.¡± I said it, but the kitchen floor was spotless. I kept it so after that first time Jak made me lick the floor for mouthing off to him. Now it had a nice citrus taste.


    He walked away, but the back of my knees, the tops of my thighs, the meaty part of my palms were all buzzing crazy and hot. It was uncomfortable as anything I¡¯d felt before.


    Jak¡¯s rough handling turned to a memory the moment he left me alone. I didn¡¯t have time to dislike him when he wasn¡¯t in the room. Felt and gone. But the weirdness spread into my chest and started to turn cold. Death was a¡¯coming.


    I¡¯m a skinny little null. In this world of have and have nots, I was so low on the not list that anything can kill me. That¡¯s what I told myself every day, and damnit to all the powers high and low, that is what I believed.I am a null.


    So, I downed two fat spoons of mineral oil and baking soda and hoped that would cure me before going back to my kitchen work. My stomach would hate me. And everyone would smell me. But it was a remedy null mama¡¯s swore by, so I did it.


    Thirty minutes later I ended up trapped in the toilet box with an eye watering brown stink worse than my feet. This disgusting smell was sticky.


    I could hear Jak shouting at me from inside his pub, the dirty dishes and pig slop piling up in his kitchen. He bellowed like an angry bull. I suspected that was his other shape, a bovine-duka from the plains. About ten years ago, those pains had been tilled up and turned into crop lands to feed the bulging bellies of the Consortium¡¯s Cities. Jak must have immigrated to the out-of-the-way-little-bit with a few other survivors of the Patrol¡¯s sweeps.


    I had an illegal book from my mom with all of the known creatures of E¡¯rrin in it. Creatures made of of magic that had survived the Consortium¡¯s Balancing, like Jak, disguised themselves or they found high-up protectors.Or they disappeared.


    My remedy for the attack of the weird did me not a lick of good. The cold became ice, pushing on me, knocking on my bones in ham-fisted dread. Like I should know something. Do something.


    I¡¯m a null. What would I do? Nulls are not fit for more than farm work or washing dishes by hand. I wouldn¡¯t do nothing. I wouldn¡¯t feel anything. I wouldn¡¯t answer no bone throbbing knocks like an idiot either. This girl was not having anything to do with trouble like that.


    I shat my guts out in the poop house and wiped myself as best I could. Then, stinking to the stars and back again I went to work, minding my business and my mouth.

 Chapter 2.

    Feet braced evenly apart, Bredonna moved her knees, swaying her hips lazily to the sound of the music. She kept the movement simple. Jak paid her just enough money to eat with. There was no one in the pub room tonight with more than copper bits to find their way into Jak¡¯s hands and not her purse.


    They all wanted her, but she¡¯d learned early to not settle for local blicks. The men rolling square bones and shoveling utto bowls of meat and grain into their mouths knew that.


    One of them was single, would get some property someday. The other two were his uncle and father, reputed to share a wife and one household. Single women were rare. The boy was older than Bredonna but she knew he had no life experience. He could be trained well enough if she got him away from the other two.


    This town had three times as many null males and females. The men were all low-grade farmers, former illium miners or some other breed of dirty-handed village blick. Any male of potential, void of magic or not, ended up in the city somewhere. Any city. Little Indio was on the edge of nowhere where only the dregs of humanity lived. If Bredonna wanted to be more than a farm wife or a pleasure dancer, she¡¯d have to get out of this village.


    The boy looked up from his food and Bredonna gave him a teasing hip roll that made her skirt swish and her blousy top sway softly. The white skin of her belly winked at him.


    He looked back at his food, blushing.


    Next to him, his older uncle saw the move, glanced at Bredonna and gave her a thick-lipped grin, before punching the younger man hard on the shoulder. She could hear the surprised ¡°Oof,¡± over the music.


    This was one of her favorite skirts. It was nice to be seen in it, even if no one cared how hard she¡¯d worked for it. She¡¯d traded for the bright crimson thread to sew into the panels of the underskirt and dyed the lighter outer-skirt her favorite purple. She out-sewed every other woman in the village, but without husband, protector, or parents, they¡¯d never admit she could do anything better. And they¡¯d die before offering to pay for her skill.


    In their jealousy, some of them even accused her of using mage magic instead of skill to do the work. Stupid nulls. A witch could do nothing with her inner-light if there wasn¡¯t a mage around capable of pulling it and shaping it. And a femaile void was nothing but a mage-compatible fuck toy.


    Her mother taught her to sew, encouraged Bredonna¡¯s nimble fingers for something pretty and practical. The lesson didn¡¯t save the girl from her womanhood as mother hoped.


    With no magic other than a dried-up bloodline and gift for needlework, Bredonna¡¯s mother still had enough shine to pull a mage¡¯s attention. The High Proctor¡¯s trained squibbles were relentless. No one was safe from the patrols of the Unifier¡¯s Consortium. They¡¯d taken Bredonna¡¯s mother and marked her child to be tested.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    When they came for her, Bredonna failed their tests. She was listed in their books as a void. Her father, a snake of a man, paid them off and they left her behind.


    She¡¯d never miss that little yellow haired troll of a man. At least her mother tried, but in the end, both her parents failed her, leaving Bredonna stranded in the intangible space of being neither witch or null. No one wanted people like her in the Balance. Nulls didn¡¯t trust them and the High Proctor didn¡¯t want them in his mucking mission to unify the balance.


    Bredonna knew she could be more. If she could just get to the city with some silver in her pocket to smooth the way. If she could find a proper protector. She knew she had it in her to be more. They should have taken her. Put her in one of those city families where there was so much gold to go around that women wore ornaments of it draped in their hair and rubbed the dust on their skin. The only dust in New Indio was the bug dust farm wives rubbed on their cheeks and chests to cover the dirt and mud.


    She glanced at Jak as he left the kitchen carrying a big fat pot of new grain to boil in the central hearth. Put together in pre-war times, probably before nulls outnumbered mages, when farmers knew how to live without illium to power their plows, Jak¡¯s old place was one of the most practical buildings in town. His fireplace where he cooked the utto was a huge old thing in the center of the room. It didn¡¯t require a witch, or any kind of outside energy source, to power it.


    This kind of place was better than the apartment she had to share with her stepsister. Constructed for illium miners, that temporary structure had neither locks or lights unless there was something to power them. The lack of magic for power resulted in a badly constructed two level crap house that hadn¡¯t worked for years.


    Jak passed her on the way back to his bar, giving her big cow eyes. He was not an attractive man, but he did have long eyelashes. The sweeping fans were just silly on a male his size. He didn¡¯t think it was funny when she told him so.


    He was getting a too possessive for his own good, but as a man, he had more power in Little Indio than Bredonna ever would. As her employer, he was the closest thing to a protector that she could get without a uniting ceremony. She gave him a false smile, restraining the certainty behind her teeth that he was going to mess up everything for her with his stupidity.


    Sky save her from sex obsessed idiots. She was surrounded by them day and night. They were easy to manage until the point she asked them to help her and Anika to the city. Jak especially wanted them both to stay. Bredonna would get to play his hearth bride and her stepsister would take Bredonna¡¯s place servicing customers from her back instead of in the kitchen.


    They could sell her virginity when she came of age, Jak said. ¡°She¡¯s a lumpy mess but wash her up and a cunt is a cunt. You¡¯d be mine, and we¡¯d have silver to spend.¡±


    Jak didn¡¯t know his place in the world at all. How dare he come up with this idea on his own, as if he had a right, daring to think she¡¯d allow it? ¡°You can¡¯t. She¡¯s my sister. Wouldn¡¯t be right. I need to find her a proper husband so she can have a better life. How could you be my husband if you would use my own sister like that? For your own greed? How dare you? You should help us!¡±


    Jak gave up on the idea. For now.


    But she had to find a way to get out of this place and back to the city where she was born. Jak had no clue what value Anika really had.


    The door to the pub opened from the other end of the room, the cool outside air rushing in. Everyone looked up to see, including Jak. The mayor, head covered with his official hat-of-office, paused, taking in the room, before he rushed over to Jak.

 Chapter 3

    Jak greeted the smaller man, his voice booming too loud. The three in the corner raised their mugs. The band let their music swell. One thick arm around the smaller man¡¯s shoulders, Jak led him away. Bredonna thought he looked as sneaky as a lumbering bear.


    But nobody cared, anyway. This town knew its place. Everyone kept their heads down.


    Something was up between the two men. She knew it. Leaving her spot, she dance-shimmied across the room to intercept the mayor.


    When Jak asked Bredonna about Anika¡¯s age, she¡¯d reduced the number to give her time. She thought she¡¯d have time. But this place ate the months away before she noticed. Even though she¡¯d lied about the brats age time was catching up with them. Jak might be getting impatient, give away the truth, any number of stupid things could happen every time he got to boasting to another man.


    Pulling the Mayor up to the bar, Jak rounded the edge by the kitchen to get the man a drink. One of the hired women already had a brew poured, handing it to him. He said, ¡°Go and take a mop to the toilet box now, get it cleaned up. I¡¯m tired of you leaving before it¡¯s done.¡±


    ¡°I said I¡¯d do it later,¡± the woman answered, she tried to lean forward, showing off her exposed cleavage. The mayor loved to tuck copper when he got the chance, wasn¡¯t a woman in town who didn¡¯t know it.


    ¡°And I said you do it now, Janice.¡± His voice lowered a notch in warning.


    She didn¡¯t flinch, indifferent. Bredonna knew Jak couldn¡¯t afford to hit the other woman. He had no tolerance for working with men, and there were few women left around to do the serving and cleaning. ¡°I¡¯ll do it now, but not again tomorrow. Men around here are all blind after drinking your stuff, Jak. They couldn¡¯t shoot in a piss pot if someone held it over their peckers, and you know it,¡± she said.


    ¡°I know it,¡± Jak laughed, proud. He passed the drink to the mayor, who took it into his hands as if it were precious.


    Bredonna draped herself over the old mayor¡¯s shoulders. He gave her a wobbly smile and leaned in to sniff her hair. ¡°Hello, girl.¡±


    ¡°Hello, sir,¡± she said with a bright smile. He¡¯d paid for her time more than once and would assume she was happy to see him, greedy for more of his attention.


    Jak nodded. ¡°So, tell me then.¡±


    Bredonna kissed the mayor''s bearded cheek, hiding her smug grin. Jak was a fool, and that worked in her favor.


    ¡°Well, then, you said you wanted to know when the bounty hunter was back. That spit is back. Again. He¡¯s been coming in a different way, don¡¯t you know? Coming to my town, bold as you please. One of them old roads, using the wood. What a freak. Can you imagine? I wouldn¡¯t go into the wood to save my life, you bet I wouldn¡¯t. But people saw him and his crew ride right down the main road last night. Did you hear them machines of his?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s working for the Consortium, then. No one goes around like that if they don¡¯t have a pass. And we got nothing left here. Nothing to fear.¡± Jak¡¯s forehead bunched up in a worried frown, despite his words.


    ¡°He¡¯s working for whoever he pleases. The miller said he had a woman with him. A witch. A pretty, shiny piece of sweet sugar sitting right there in the open, riding in front of him. How is he getting away with that?¡±


    ¡°Told you. Must be a hired man. You sure he is a spit? He doesn¡¯t look like a spit. Looks like a landed man. Same as you and me. Muscle and wood. Last time he was in my place, I saw no woman.¡±


    ¡°He is not a null. No, he is not. Not a void. How would he power them bikes? He don¡¯t look that rich. And that witch. I know how he looks. Them looks a¡¯lie. He¡¯s some kind of magicer using witches. Why would he bring something so pretty in here with all these hungry bastards? And no patrol at his back? No one taking him down off that high and mighty? Has to be a spit, mage shit. Who can do that but a mage?¡± The mayor didn¡¯t hold back his feelings about magicers. Every word came out laced with so much disgust that he spat them.


    Bredonna listened closely. What¡¯s this? A mage with the ability to keep a witch out of the city was not normal. There were some that said it was against the law, for the woman¡¯s own safety, but as far as Bredonna knew, no actual laws had passed.


    Her own father had married the last witch she¡¯d seen outside the city, the only witch in Little Indio, Anika¡¯s mother. Snatched her up like candy in the street. He¡¯d forced the crazy, light-brain into a full life-pac.


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    They must be talking about Calix, the bounty hunter. Was he a real mage? Would he be willing to help Bredonna? He could be her ticket out of here.


    She¡¯d seen him too, when he¡¯d come into the pub after she first started working here. Jak was right. He looked like a null. Acted like a null.


    His two men coaxed her upstairs to her closet, smiles first, one after the other. They knew what they were doing and wore her out. But the hunter didn¡¯t leave his table. He was big and dangerous in a way that simultaneously made Bredonna¡¯s small parts take notice and the hair raise on the back of her neck. Too intelligent, attractive, and very unpredictable.


    She¡¯d been better at managing the two without him.


    The mayor took a little sip of his drink and kept on complaining. ¡°How can it be legal for that man to have sugar out of city walls? How? Any city walls. D¡¯orroto, Yassidio, Perdane? How does he get to break the law like that? What kind of friends does he have that he can ride those hummers through my town-my town-with sugar in his lap and not a care in the world? And why is he coming here?¡±


    Jak grunted.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, my friend. That¡¯s right. We have nothing here.¡± The Mayor nodded vigorously as if Jak had said something of intelligence. ¡°Our illium is all gone, fiends like him horded it or poisoned it so the landed couldn¡¯t use it. Everyone knows that. Now, half our lands are cursed or haunted. They forced that war on us and now we can barely scrape two coppers together. Why come here?¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯d he go?¡± Bedonna asked, since Jak said nothing.


    The mayor took a long drink of his ale. Pressed up against his side, she could feel the stuff sinking into his system, tension along his side loosening. It didn¡¯t take much.


    ¡°Did you hear, girl? The wood. He drives to the edge of town, past the refinery, right on past the caelifera harvesters, and into that evil old wood. Wish the proctor would send the correctors and cut the damn thing down.¡±


    ¡°They tried.¡± Jak frowned.


    Bredonna hadn¡¯t been here then. But she¡¯d heard stories. The Proctor¡¯s armies, the correctors, had a terrible reputation. They also had all the power. She could soften at least one of them, if they ever came back. But Little Indio had been abandoned by the Proctor. No one of any importance came here. It was why her father had chosen this place to live. He said life would be better out of the city. It wasn¡¯t the only lie he ever told her, but it was the one she hated him most for.


    ¡°I think he¡¯s got more than one, don¡¯t you know? Didn¡¯t someone say he takes whatever he wants when he¡¯s on a hunt? How can he get away with that shit?¡± The Mayor drank more ale. He was a pro-drinker. Bredonna gave him space to take a couple of deep breaths after, perspiration dotting his brow, but he didn¡¯t have more trouble than that. She knew in about ten minutes he¡¯d be too drunk to give her any actual information.


    ¡°One what?¡± Jak asked.


    ¡°Witch! I heard he will take them when he goes to collect his bounties. Why does he get to keep witches? He¡¯s not a mayor. He¡¯s not a good¡¯ole boy like you either. He¡¯s pure magicer trash.¡±


    ¡°Ya. You said. Trash. He bring any trouble with him? You sure he''s free of the patrols? No notices of an inspection? No one after his sweet?¡±


    ¡°Sure as can be. There are road checks on every road. Didn¡¯t I tell you? Thought I told you. I know you never leave your bar, you¡¯re a good man like that, ole Jak. But I had to pass through them last time I went to see my brother.¡±


    Bredonna remembered. Even after the war, there hadn¡¯t been road blocks or trackers. She¡¯d come to Little Indio with her father down an open road. But the news from the cities said rebels were hiding illium and witches. The blocks were for everyone¡¯s benefit.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t have his letter, I¡¯d have to turn around. Can you imagine? Magicer trouble again. And I know for sure that a person can¡¯t get past ¡®em unless he can fly. You think that is what he did? Use that witch to give him sky power? Wouldn¡¯t that be a sight?¡±


    ¡°No witches like that anymore. Maybe in the cities? Not here. Sure of that. Didn¡¯t you say he has men with him? Did they have witches too? I¡¯ve never seen a proper witch. Was she pretty?¡± Jak gave Bredonna a side eye. He¡¯d told her he thought she was beautiful. Was he trying to make her jealous?


    Bredonna had seen witches. The native-born stood out like sunshine in a jar.


    ¡°The last time the patrol came through here, you know they took more than sugar.¡± The mayor was in full whine now. ¡°They won¡¯t let me do any proper policing, won¡¯t let me hold a judgment circle, won¡¯t let me do nothing but collect taxes and debts. And they take what they want, even after I done the collecting. And from who they want.¡±


    The mayor took what he wanted after becoming mayor. Until the patrols took it from him.


    Jak nodded. He had a storage area he kept secret from the patrol. Every few months he set aside half his brew for them, just in case they came through, and put it where they¡¯d see it. The rest he hid, including anything he thought was valuable. He¡¯d let Bredonna hide there.


    ¡°You don¡¯t owe no debts, Mayor. So, nothing to fear. And neither do you, Jak. We are all safe.¡± Bredonna said.


    ¡°Girl. How can we be safe from someone who isn¡¯t afraid of the patrol, who has that woo-woo and a real witch to power him? Who has the kind of machines this man has? I don¡¯t like what the Proctor has done, lost family to his conscription, I have, like everyone else, but you know he¡¯s right about energy. Them filthy spits hoarded it all and kilt the world.¡±


    Bredonna had to hide her face in her hair and bite her tongue. This man complained about the government that made him afraid in his own house, stripped him of his authority, and drained the town of natural resources down to the women and daughters who brought forth the next generation. And on the other hand, he praised them for the reason they did it all.


    She knew who her enemies were. Everyone. Everyone else. And she¡¯d do anything to find a place where she could finally be safe.

 Chapter 4 - Anika

    Sick Again


    The moon was a half coin in the sky, all pretty and silver. My feet started doing that thing as I stood at the sink in Jak¡¯s kitchen. Plates, mugs, cups, forks, my apron wet, my head itching form my sweat, I hopped from foot to foot but the three-man band in the main room playing music for my half-sister to dance to was not the reason why.


    ¡°Boy. You break a dish, you pay for it with an extra work day.¡± Jak said from behind me. He had a big cask of his fine ale on his shoulder. The yeasty smell of it, fresh from his brewing cellar, crawled up my nose and into my throat, making me want to gag.


    He didn¡¯t stay to chat. I heard the door swing as he left this part of the kitchen. Jak¡¯s place offered beverages and a few food choices prepared behind a long bar and served by a couple of farm widows. The big sink was in the farthest back, half the space taken up with storage and food goods. Here, I avoided the nightly crowd. I couldn¡¯t be more thankful.


    It was happening again. I could count each instance on one hand, but I needed this to stop. Have to do something. This was bad news. The last purge had been a nasty I didn¡¯t want to repeat. No more mineral oil purges. Instead, I found a stomach purge in a bottle next to the pepper mill that would make everything come up quick and fast, mouth first.


    It went in fine. Barely tasted it.


    A few minutes later, my stomach twisted in my belly like a dirty wet wash rag and things started to move. Hand covering my mouth, I rushed to the slop bucket. The spew of my churning stomach was leaking through my fingers before I bent over the thing.


    Well, this was another fail. My efforts to cure myself got me ten minutes of spitting bile and hacking phlegm. I¡¯d never been so cleaned out in my life.


    When I raised my head and wiped my mouth, all I could smell was sulfur and ash. My feet were hot when they shouldn¡¯t be. I looked down at my leather shoes to see if they were on fire.


    Nothing. I was imagining things.


    But my limbs from my toes to my ankles tingled, and above that was a growing pain. A weird feeling in my bones, like they were being used as drumsticks. The feeling crawled up my body to my belly and towards my chest. I¡¯m going crazy. But nulls don¡¯t go crazy.Our race birthed only rational, earth bound forever-void and sturdy as rock. Nulls had not a lick of anything special about them. We¡¯re a plain bunch without a magical bone in our bodies. Not even intuition. Everyone knows that. I know that. And I know how to behave like a proper null citizen.


    This wasn¡¯t proper. This very improper thing attacked me from the outside in, from the floor up. Was anyone else feeling it? Were others being similarly attacked? I needed this thing to go away.


    As far as I knew, there were no magic users or magic detectors in Little Indio. The patrols hadn¡¯t been by for month and months. Not since they dragged off a farmer¡¯s pretty daughter. Since patrols kept track, and already had the wife, and that girl was the last actual witch for miles and miles, they had no reason to come here. Bredonna¡¯s little trickle of shine wasn¡¯t enough to register as anything but an attractive void, and they turned away from her horse face whenever they saw her. They had prettier tits aplenty in the city, I guessed.


    It couldn¡¯t be magic messing with me. Little Indio was played out, mined so deep of every resource that the forest died. Some of the better off folk had machines. The mayor''s house even had lights powered by illium batteries. Any creature holding hid themselves from the patrols and the Consortium¡¯s experiments. There was no magic, no witch or mage, that would expose themselves to an inconspicuous null like me.


    So, what was happening to me?


    It scared the puke out of me in more ways than with just a purge. Was I finally losing it?


    I was born crazy. I knew how to deal with crazy.


    There was always water on the hearth in the other room in a giant kettle that was refilled via pipes outside the pub.


    I grabbed the pail I used for dishwater. Purging didn¡¯t work. So maybe I could match the sensation with heat? Hot water cleaned things. Maybe. Had to do something. I didn¡¯t want to feel this thing, whatever it was.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Boy.¡± Jak eyed me with suspicion when I walked through the doorway.


    ¡°I need hot water.¡±


    ¡°Hurry it up.¡± His forehead bunched, and he pursed his fat lips at me in a Jak frown.


    The pub was busy. The waitresses were at their back and forth, and there were at least fifteen male heads around the tables and in three booths.


    ¡°Oh, look. It¡¯s Jak¡¯s pretty boy!¡±


    I ignored the drunk. It was a man I knew. We¡¯d worked the farms together as kids. We shared bad memories of a childhood yet somewhere along the way the blick had forgotten that I was female.


    ¡°C¡¯mere, pretty boy,¡± a guy at the same table slurred.


    ¡°And there¡¯s the dick,¡± I said out loud. They like to travel in pairs. I ignored them both and went to get water.


    ¡°How come that boy is so pretty? You sure it¡¯s a boy?¡± Man two asked his partner.


    ¡°Nobody¡¯s sure. We should find out.¡± My nemesis from childhood answered. I didn¡¯t know his name anymore and I didn¡¯t want him to know mine or remember anything about me. Even above the music from the corner and the conversation at the other tables, I could hear the benches scrape the floor when they scooted out of their booth.


    They stumbled over, shouting at me. ¡°Hey, boy-girl. You got a cock or a cunt? Show us.¡±


    I poured the hot water, protecting my bare skin against the pipe spigot with my sleeve and kept my back to them, listening. Deciding what to do. Bredonna was upstairs, she wouldn¡¯t be here to stop me. Jak was behind his bar. He didn¡¯t do two things at once very well. Serving customers and actively talking to them at the same time was about all the doings at a time he could manage. I was on my own, left to my own devices.


    The tingle I¡¯d been feeling went to heat, and then had moved up right into my chest to become a ball of cold, knotted pressure. With the idiots baring down on me, that pressure felt like a rage that needed to someplace to go. This was gonna get ugly, and I had a hard time caring or finding good reason to stop myself from doing something stupid.


    ¡°I gotta be reasonable.¡± I said out loud, reminding myself. ¡°Dick and blick are just here drown away the day. They are blowing off steam.¡±


    My words sounded like important advice. Even to me. I knew what I should do. But I didn¡¯t think it was going to happen.


    ¡°Say something there? You talking to us? Do I know you, pretty boy?¡± Asked the blick who should know me.


    ¡°How do I know what you know? But, but the looks of you, I can say it I doubt it is very much, is it?¡± I gave him a thorough examination from over my sholder, searching for intelligence. Yep, not a bit of it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what you got.¡± He reached out, getting close enough to take in my smell. ¡°What in the shadow-damned-days is that reek?¡±


    Keeping my filled bucket between us, I turned to face him fully. He needed to get the full effect of my scent. My handmade perfume worked perfectly with Jak¡¯s special brew. I could see the man¡¯s eyes start to tear up. ¡°You want to know what I am, then, do ya? Well, it will cost you copper. I don¡¯t give peeps away for free. You got chips?¡±


    He looked at me with confusion.


    ¡°I got copper chips.¡± Said the dick.


    I got between them. The blick turned green and the dick went for his pockets. At the same time, my fresh hot water sloshed all over their legs. They shouted as the scalding hot liquid soaked through the cloth of their pants.


    Dick swung for me. My smell was getting to him too, finally, but he was holding his breath. I emptied the pail on them both before hitting Dick in the head with it as he curled into the pain.


    The ruckus was enough to get Jak bellowing. I could feel the emotional surge of his thick energy at my back, the barely contained inhuman element of him he worked so hard to hide. He hated anyone mucking up his place, but his natural impulse would make him attack the two drunk troublemakers first.


    Jak could move fast when he was angry, legs eating up the space. The two landed yodles were behind me, one hand reaching out and catching the back of my shirt. Jak stepped right over me to get to them without missing a beat. Their drink fuzzy heads didn¡¯t even see him coming until he was there.


    Whoever had by the back of my shirt let go. Time for me to leave the scene. A woman called my name. From the corner on my left I saw Bredonna by the stairs with the shadow form of a customer at her side. Her purple and gold skirts were the only colors in the room. No time to answer. Jak wasn¡¯t the forgiving sort. He¡¯d come for me next and enjoy every moment of it. I had enough of his bruises.


    I ran for the kitchen without thinking, as if that known place was safety. The unwashed dishes laughed at me and I knew better than to waste time laughing back at my poor choices. I don¡¯t like to use Jak¡¯s front door anyway, so this had to be my escape.


    The back door was wood pannled and knot holed, with a rickety appearance, but it had an old-fashioned puzzle locking mechanism from pre-landing days. Ancient safety measures were the worst. I was trapped if Jak had it locked. Two damn years working for the pub master and I still couldn¡¯t figure it out. Puzzles and I didn¡¯t agree.


    I could hear the Jak stomping and yelling. Dick and Blick had put him in a smashing mood. Everyone could be angry at me all they wanted, I wasn¡¯t taking the blame for what drunk idiots started. The farmwives would let them paw and pester, glad to be here, I think, rather than at home with their children and dissatisfied men.


    My stepsister invited attention like that with her witch-style clothing and encouraging smile. But not me. It was the last thing I wanted. Who did dick and blick think they were? Why did their dangling bits and their wide shoulders give them the right to be ugly and think they could touch me? Insulting me like I don¡¯t matter. Nobody got to treat me like that.


    Get to the alley. Get outside. Outside.


    My inner voice and I rarely agreed. But this time it pushed me hard. I grabbed onto the door, ready to break the damn thing if I had to, heaving and pushing with my urgency. The latch clicked I fell through


    Right into doom.

 Chapter 5

    The Arrival of Doom


    Sulfur and coal, smoke and ash. Natural, powerful old magic.


    ¡°Shit.¡±


    A long, wet dog tongue licked my face. And I could feel her. Hear her, the dark furred shadowy animal. There were five of them. I knew it without looking. Five.


    We should be six. They all said it as one. Words but not words. A pack that was missing a piece of themselves. The one licking me was the lead, the alpha of her pack. One. She poured out sensations on me as she greeted me doggy fashion with a pink tongue in the face. Over my eyes. Up my nose.


    Gross.


    Oh, this was a heap of trouble and shit. They caused the tingle in my feet. And that cold, hard ice-shard in my chest transformed into pleased satisfaction at the sight of doom dogs. A quiet, hissing yes of agreement with the hound, One, took place inside my head. Against my will. Was this really happening?


    My body relaxed as the dogs circled around me, their feet padding soft on the wet stone cobbles of the alley between town buildings. I should be running. Screaming. Stopping this.


    This was the worst possible thing. Magic. Fucking magic dogs.


    In my heart of hearts, my most undeniable center, I recognized them. They pressed in around me, big hunters with fur darker than the night, as friendly and happy to see me as a litter of little fluffy puppies.


    I¡¯d never had pets. The only dogs I knew barked at me as I walked by and belonged to someone else. Who can afford pets especially ones made of pure magic? But these were not typical pets. I knew exactly what they were from my mother¡¯s book. Hounds. Shadow hounds. Doom hounds. Hel hounds. They were said to be the guardians of the shadow ancient and considered deadly. People didn¡¯t get licked in the face by doom hounds. Their very presence was supposed to make a human rethink his reason for living.


    I¡¯m human. I¡¯m a null. I have to be a null and afraid of these horrifying nightmare shadows, but instead my arms went around the neck of the dog licking me and I pressed my face into her fur, taking in her warm brimstone and fir tree scent and wiping off her canine spittle from my cheeks.


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    We¡¯d never met. Yet they knew me. And I knew them. All of them. Instantly. They were mine and I was theirs-a dangerously insane connection happening before I could stop it.


    The door was still open from the kitchen. I felt Jaks¡¯s shadow. He made a noise behind me. If a bull ever came to the edge of a cliff and accidently jumped off it during a rampage, that sound might match the horrified baritone squawk that came out of Jak¡¯s chest. ¡°What have you done, Anika?¡±


    That was the first time he¡¯d ever used my name. I didn¡¯t know he knew it. The man didn¡¯t stick around to answer the question. The door slammed shut and the puzzle lock snicked shut behind me.


    The alley between Jak¡¯s place and the butcher shop was not an area I considered safe. On busy nights, drunks who passed out in the pub or ran out of money congregated here. Outside of the pub, they had no reason to pretend to be decent people, and with the ale stripping away all their common sense, they forgot how. I never ventured out here except to toss the scraps in the heap at the end of the alley.


    Along with the hounds there were three elegant duo¡¯s ¨C two-wheeled machines made of metal, leather and wood. Powered by magic. I didn¡¯t see any people outside with us, but someone parked those machines here. Gossip about the bounty hunter had been floating through the markets and pub of Little Indio since his first sighting. He was the only one around with duo¡¯s like that. No one had ever mentioned hunting dogs with him. I could guess why, but my head didn¡¯t want to do any of these conclusions.


    ¡°I got to go.¡± My hands pushed One away. She was wearing a collar of made of metal and magic enticingly warm against my fingers. A witch powered mage-crafted thing that I wanted nothing to do with.


    A long-legged pony sized animal, One was not a lightweight. I pushed, she pushed back, as if to crawl inside my chest. The others did the same. Doggy licks on every bit of exposed skin they could find, crowding me so that I couldn¡¯t get my balance to stand up. Their actions matched the feeling words that shaped in my head.


    Stay. Pack.


    They spoke to me, and I understood them.


    I wanted to panic. Needed to panic. Where in the depths was my panic? All my feelings were the opposite of what they should be. How could I panic when the doom hounds felt like home-familiar to me the way my favorite blanket was familiar. Every natural impulse told me to lay down and let them crawl all over me, roll around in a pile of happy puppy laughter and welcome them.


    ¡°Can¡¯t. I can¡¯t do this. Don¡¯t you see? I can¡¯t be this.¡± I moaned the words to remind myself how stupid this was.


    It didn¡¯t work. They were beautiful. Incredible. And inexplicably mine. I felt fur and wet tongue as they shifted through shadows, going from corporeal to misty darkness and back again.. One had red, burning eyes, with inner blue flames. They other four were just as unique yet, matching. Pack. They told me their names but it was unnecessary. I knew all of them all ready.


    And I had to go.

 Chapter 6

    Voices and the door of the pub in front opening and closing. Rowdy customers. Male voices that could be just one of Jak¡¯s regulars or the owners of the duo¡¯s. Didn¡¯t matter. The risk of attention I didn¡¯t wanted was obvious.


    Using the backs of two dogs, Noxpaw and Scout, to pull myself upright, Drake¡¯s tail smacked me in the face, and One tried to knock me down again. Stay.


    ¡°You¡¯re not my protector.¡± I crisply informed her with as much dignity as I could as I stumbled under her weight and she showed me differently.


    She made a noise in a muffled growling grumble, a doggy complaint. The beasty was no more intimidated by me than I was of her or her pack. But the men around the corner in front of Jaks place were another matter.


    ¡°I need to go. This won¡¯t work. You know you have that magic collar, right?¡± Somehow a mage had collared the guardians of one of the most feared and mysterious ancients. The very one rumored to be in the Proctor¡¯s control and trapped under one of his cities.


    Magic was a strictly controlled and monitored resource by the government in power, this was a truth that every person in the world now understood. On penalties of seizure of property, family members and death- otherwise a mage that could openly use magic was a man controlled by the government.


    The hounds sent me waves of comfort. The smallest male, Shade lay down on my feet as if to trap me. More of those warm blanket feelings and fur surged.


    Male voices came closer. Bold and brave in the night because they never had to sneak around or worry about getting carted off to who knows where to do who knows what. There was no other exit to the alley then forward, unless climbed neighbor¡¯s rotting boon-fruit trellis.


    ¡°Stahl said he would be here, he will be here.¡± One man said


    ¡°He¡¯s void slime.¡± Another replied.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t, did I? He¡¯s also a greedy, sneaking coward who¡¯d sell his mother¡¯s bed for profit.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s why I liked him. Now I remember.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not here now. Which mean¡¯s he¡¯s wasting my time.¡± Said a third voice with a toxic, infectious rumble that went right through my entire body.


    Oh my, that third voice. Time for me to go, now


    They were just at the corner of the building. I did not want to meet these men. The alley was a dead end but a rotting trellis up the side of a building to the roof looked suddenly very useful.


    The pack surrounded me. Stay. Pack. Ours. Mine. Pack. Stay. Obey. Obey. Obey. Smooth glossy fur, cold noses, nipping teeth that bit at my clothing but was so careful of my skin-the pack had me trapped. Heart in my throat, I stopped being careful. Must escape. I threw myself against one, using Noxpaw¡¯s haunches as a foot hold to launch myself over the lead hound, away from their trap of loving welcome.


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    I pushed up, over. The pack shifted as one, shifting with me. I landed on top of two of them, fur in my face, sturdy back bone in my chest. They made no noise, but a clumsy exclamation escaped me when I hit. The word loud in the alley.


    ¡°What the fuck are you doing?¡±


    The male voice went right through me, right through my middle setting off sparklers. The lead bitch watched me with big innocent eys. I glared back at her ¡°Look what you¡¯ve done!¡±


    One¡¯s ears didn¡¯t even have the shame to droop, but I felt surge of, ¡°I did bad,¡± through all the others. At least they had some empathy for the waves of upset I was sending.


    One¡¯s eyes flicked to the male coming up on us. With the way my night was going, I knew it could only be the mage bold enough to collar a demon canine. The other hounds ducked their heads, tails tucked guiltily and turned to shadow. Glowing eyes blinked at me.


    That dark voice spoke again. ¡°I asked you a question, girl.¡±


    He was right there, breathing down my neck. Waiting.


    I was dressed as a boy. Plain and dirty, another poor motherless child struggling through life in Little Indio. My clothes were baggy patched men¡¯s things, stollen from laundry lines, and hanging off of me in layers. Apparently, my attempt at androgyny failed yet again.


    I was frozen. No escape.


    With no answer from me the Hunter came closer step by menacing step. He was not pleased. And the hounds answered that, surging around me as I trembled in my shoes from the threat, protecting me like a pup of their own kind that they¡¯d discovered in the wild. Their forms went to cold shadow and back to heated living flesh and back again, conflicted in their response. Up against my left side, I could feel Shade stiffen and thicken. And grow.


    Doom hounds had three shapes. One for hunting, one for living, and one for killing. It would not be good for anyone if Longtail took his killing shape. The book said they couldn¡¯t shift back from that without eating something.


    With no idea what their master would do to them, I couldn¡¯t let them defend me. The lead alpha was collared. Who knows what that kind of magic could do. Mages were devious, selfish, greedy dick-driven block heads. I¡¯d never seen one of them worth the dirt they walked on.


    I loved that Shade tried to protect me. It messed up my head, twisted the confusion of my reactions of panic and familiarity.


    My heart swelled, feeling a little possessive. He may have collared them, but they loved me enough to stand against him.


    ¡°No,¡± I said to Shade. I couldn¡¯t let him shift. That wouldn¡¯t end well for anyone. ¡°It¡¯s okay. He¡¯s not gonna hurt me. It¡¯s okay. You¡¯re not gonna hurt me, are you?. Shush now, babies, it¡¯s all right.¡±


    Heart pounding abnormally fast from the threat this man posed, I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself. ¡°Don¡¯t punish Shade, okay? I¡¯m not doing anything.¡±


    The light out here wasn¡¯t good. I couldn¡¯t see his expression, but he and his men, produced pure grump vibes in waves. I continued to talk, my back to them, my hands in the fur of the necks of the animals closest to me. ¡°Don¡¯t punish them. I like animals-saw them out here. I should have brought a treat. But I don¡¯t think I could sneak enough from Jak for all of them.¡±


    One of the other men laughed, ¡°Ha. A treat, eh? No treats for these ¡®uns. Cept maybe you. What do you think you are to them?¡±


    The Hunter said something in a rolling language I didn¡¯t recognize. It brought the itch back to my feet. A command to the hounds, I thought, as they moved away from me.


    I hated that. I hated that he told them what to do, forced it with that collar on One. A greedy, stinking mage didn¡¯t deserve to control these incredible beasts. It defied logic. They were pure magic, sentinels of a lost ancient, not toys for a male¡¯s personal use.


    He didn¡¯t deserve them. Why hadn¡¯t they eaten him?


    The hunter¡¯s hand curled around my upper arm. He shoved me toward his two pals. ¡°Inside,¡± he said.


    They forced me away. I tried to look behind me to figure out what he was doing to the hounds, but his men moved around the corner too fast, dragging me in through the front door.


    Within Jak¡¯s direct line of sight.


    Oh, Damn. There went the job.

 Chapter 7 - Bredonna

    Nobody Says Thank You anymore


    Anika ran out of the room like a whirlwind of worthlessness. Bedonna watched Jak smash the heads together of the two customers and chase after her, his face bulging with fury. He¡¯d kill her if he got a hold of her. At the very least, he looked done, ready to make Anika pay for all the disrespect and mouthing off she¡¯d done, an excuse to finally get her on her back, legs in the air, drawing in customers.


    Bredonna told that girl to keep her trap shut, but she didn¡¯t listen. Anika would nod her head, shamefaced and sad, agreeing it was best. She¡¯d agree that she liked to eat, and yes, Bree, she would do her share to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Hadn¡¯t she always?


    But behind Anika¡¯s fake compliance, that horrible thing would flash in her eyes. The girl¡¯s dark eyes bleeding to midnight, fury trapped in ice. It was only a manner of time before it escaped.


    Something wasn¡¯t right with the witch¡¯s daughter, had never been right. Bredonna remembered it from when their parents were both alive. The two girls lived in a bug-stained shack of a house for years, stuck in three tiny rooms. Back then, bumping into each other and aware of every sneeze, no one could miss the obvious. Bredonna could feel Anika¡¯s unnaturally early symptoms of energy when they stood too close, raising the hairs on the back of her neck.


    Dah conned Anika¡¯s pathetic mother, Noelle. But Anika responded to his smiling face and calculated greed with suspicion. An angry, nasty child, Anika trusted no one anyway. Something happened between Anika and Mikos once-Bredonna, didn¡¯t have a clue what-but Mikos never tried again to be alone with Anika.


    He was afraid of her. Somehow, not long after Dah became Noelle¡¯s protector, Anika managed to hide her nature all away. Control it so that when the testers arrived in the Little Indio to test all the girls who¡¯d started their cycles, they passed right over Anika, declaring her null born.


    To keep the girl close, Bredonna got her the job with Jak, but the two of them were out to ruin Bredonna¡¯s life. They didn¡¯t waste any breath on gratitude.


    It would be so good to be done with their childish stupidity. This town was draining away all Bredonna¡¯s potential. One more offer to be a happy, safe, farm wife and her head would explode in a shower of shine the village would see for miles.


    Unfortunately, she needed them both until she could escape. Leaving her customers with fresh ale, she went after Jak, entering the kitchen as he fixed the lock at the back door. His red face was white, chest heaving gusts of panicked breaths. ¡°The bitch has done for me. Done it. The patrol will hear of this for sure¡±


    ¡°What did you do to Anika? Did you kill her?¡± Had he really gone so far?


    If the village found out Jak harmed an unclaimed woman, there would be an outcry. No one would let it pass. Treated like valuable cattle, with not enough women to go around, every pussy had a price tag. Unification transferred most healthy women to the cities, leaving towns outside those places without. Murdering a woman got a man hanged.


    Murder was offensive, but raping her-if she was proven of age-got a man a pat on the back for sneaking one in.


    If Jak brought the patrol, and the Consortium¡¯s squibbles discovered Anika¡¯s mother had been a strong witch, everyone connected to the daughter would be held accountable for not turning her in. No Mercy. They wouldn¡¯t care about any of the oddities associated with the pair of them-they probably wouldn¡¯t believe a thing Bredonna said at her trial, instead, looking at the evidence.


    Jak was making noises, a man worried for his life.


    It was a tricky idea, trying to sell something to the Unifier Procurement Teams they already thought they should own. How could Bredonna find the right buyer if the stupid cow got herself killed by a bar keep with a temper?


    ¡°The boy brought something to my door that will bring the patrol to here.¡± Jak managed to explain.


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    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°They have to be watchin¡¯ that Bounty Hunter.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°The Hunter. Fuck. Them dogs, them dogs drag a man to judgment, girl. They know. They know what I¡¯ve done. They do and they gonna eat my guts for punishment. Call down the O¡¯Mac to weigh my debts.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a myth. The sentinel''s don¡¯t care anything about debts,¡± Bredonna said flatly.


    ¡°You know nothing, Bree. Nothing. The patrol come, they gonna cut me open for my secrets, bleed me dry, they will. I¡¯m dead. I¡¯m a dead man and don¡¯t I deserve it.¡± Jak was babbling. Rubbing at his face, trapped in a hundred thoughts at once, clearly taxing his poor brain. He huffed and puffed at the door trying to get control.


    ¡°A dead man? Did you kill her or not? You make no sense. I don¡¯t understand. That tussle with the farm boys? That¡¯s no more than happens every night. What has you so shaken?¡± Bredonna lightened her tone, coaxing him. He¡¯d always liked it when she got soft and witchy.


    ¡°Was there something about the boy you didn¡¯t tell me?¡± Jak didn¡¯t calm, instead, at her touch he went stiff and angry.


    ¡°What? You know Anika¡¯s not a boy, you know she¡¯s a virgin. You know I need to take her to a city and get her a decent protector.¡±


    ¡°Yes. You told me. And you told me. You go. She goes. I help but get nothing, do I? Why a city? It¡¯s not a good place for women. If I¡¯m gonna die, I should know why.¡±


    ¡°Die?¡± Breddona tried not to scoff and roll her eyes at the dramatics. Sky save her from fearful men.


    Jak nodded.


    ¡°There¡¯s only poor farmers here, or worse, men who have to hire on at farms and who will never have a half copper to their names. It¡¯s not a good place for women here, either.¡± Bredonna answered. Why was he saying this now?


    The bell signaling the front door chimed. Jak looked at the thing in the corner like it was a prophecy of death. They both heard Anika¡¯s voice at the same time, complaining and cajoling at full volume from the other room, talking to someone.


    ¡°You just manhandle with all your big and tough on little o¡¯me? I told you I didn¡¯t do anything. Your hunting dogs didn¡¯t do anything. Everything is fine. Fine. Fine. All fine and fit. You need to get your magicer scum hands off of me.¡± Anika¡¯s voice went high whenever she was angry or afraid. Bredonna wanted to cover her ears from the stabbing pitch.


    Leaving Jak for the doorway of the washroom, Bredonna gained full view of the bar and the main room of tables and booths, the stairs going up on one side of the big hearth, and doorway to the back room. Everyone was watching the two well outfitted strangers with Anika held between them.


    One blond head swung toward Bredonna and a beaming, high-class smile above an oiled beard. One of the bounty hunter¡¯s men, a city born null. Bredonna remembered Gage. ¡°Private table. Upstairs?¡±


    ¡°Only my bed up there.¡± She reminded him.


    ¡°Back room, Addo. Let me light the lamps for you.¡± Jak said from behind Bredonna, using the Unifier term of respect. So stiff with fear his knees didn¡¯t bend, he passed her to lead the way.


    ¡°You do that. And that honey pot there can get us Jak¡¯s ale and steaks for men. None of that utto,¡± Gage said.


    ¡°And the spicy crunchies. Like those.¡± The man from the other side of Anika spoke up.


    ¡°You are an outsider. Don¡¯t you know those will make you shit fire? I don¡¯t recommend them. Let me get you some roast utto. It has crunch too. No? You sure? You aren¡¯t the smart type, you do what you want. Let me go and I¡¯ll get them.¡± Anika dropped her weight as if to wiggle away.


    The girl never knew when to shut up. She was a little widow¡¯s pet, snapping at ankles, any hand that came near. Noelle, her extra sweet, agreeable mother had been her opposite in every way.


    The two men looked down at Anika in surprise, then at each other. The bald guy, Bredonna, thought his name was Max, said, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to search this one. It¡¯s got huge balls.¡±


    ¡°Want to make comparisons?¡± Gage grinned.


    ¡°Yes, yes I do.¡± Max answered the grin.


    Anika struggled, twisting in her clothing, kicking at shins. She¡¯d get herself killed.


    Jak directed the men to the back room used for storage and the occasional town meeting with the Mayor and his cronies. There weren¡¯t any blicks around who could afford ¡°private.¡± Watchers hooted encouragement and suggestions. Most of them thought Anika was a boy, a girlish one, maybe. But a boy who deserved whatever he got. They couldn¡¯t grasp the idea that a woman would dare half of what Anika dared.


    Geared up, in city quality leathers and wool, Gage and Max had purpose and capability. It made them dangerous. No one stood to interfere. These were outsiders, and not welcome, but clearly had a connection to the patrol.


    That air drew Bredonna like a magnet. Opportunity always came with danger. Danger always came with a price. But she¡¯d vowed she do anything to escape a death of poverty and boredom. She fingered her hair and loosened the laces on her top as soon as the men followed Jak in the room.


    ¡°You were told to get food and drink.¡±


    The craggy mountain frost in the command stopped Bredonna in her tracks, skirts flaring. brushing the legs of the man who had crept up on her. ¡°I thought I¡¯d help with the lamps.¡±


    ¡°Not what you were told.¡± Head and shoulders taller than her, face shadowed by his hat and hood, this man reeked an unapproachable threat.


    ¡°Yes Addo.¡± His chill left no room for anything but obedience. Her first time this close to the Bounty Hunter, she wanted to be closer, but he was a building with all the windows snapped and latched. She knew when to hold her tongue and rushed to get the drinks, swinging her hips.


    But damnit. She knew his eyes didn¡¯t follow her.