Touch of Power. Maria Snyder V.

find inside. She had been alone with four men for almost a day. I entered into an open sitting area. A fire burned inside a stone hearth built into the left wall. A row of cots lined up near the right wall. Smoke rolled along the ceiling and spilled out the door. Along the back wall was another door. Running across the sitting area, I fumbled to unlock it. I yanked it open, revealing blackness. I hesitated in the threshold, afraid of what I might find. “Melina?” I called.

      “In here,” she said with a sob.

      I sagged with relief. “Hold on, I’ll get a lantern.”

      I rushed to light one. Holding it in front of me, I entered the dark room. Melina flinched as the yellow glow illuminated her bleeding and battered face. Her left wrist was chained to a cot and she wasn’t alone. Two other girls sat on other beds. They were similarly shackled. One of them also sported bruises, but otherwise they appeared to be unharmed. They stared at me in surprise.

      “Are you hurt?” I asked.

      Melina touched her cheek. “Not bad.”

      “Did they …” I couldn’t finish.

      “No,” the girl with the bruised face said. “We’re to be sold. But if you give them trouble, then …” She slammed a fist into her palm.

      “Sold for what?” I asked horrified.

      She looked at me as if she couldn’t believe how naive I was. “Wives if we’re lucky. Slaves or prostitutes if we aren’t.”

      The other girl gestured toward the door. “Are they gone?”

      “They’ve been, uh, neutralized. Do you know where the key to the cuffs is?” I asked.

      “One of them carried it with him,” Melina said.

      I placed the lantern on a nearby table. “I’ll be back.”

      Outside, the men remained where I’d left them. Kerrick appeared to be asleep, but when I neared, he asked, “Is she …?”

      “She’s alive, but injured, and there are two others.” I explained what I learned while I searched the men’s pockets for the key.

      “Unfortunately, selling women is not limited to this area.

      The plague has left many places with an uneven population. There’re gangs who will find wives for survivors for a price.”

      I glanced at the men. Bastards. Maybe I’d let Kerrick kill them, after all.

      “Did you heal Melina?”

      “Not yet.” This earned me an appraising glance. I dug my hand into Tall Guy’s back pocket and finally found the key.

      “Good. Release them and take them to Mom’s right now.” Kerrick pushed up on one elbow with obvious effort.

      “Why?”

      He huffed. “Can’t you just follow orders for once?”

      “Do you really want an answer?”

      “Only if it’s, ‘Yes, sir.’”

      “Not going to happen.”

      He paused as if summoning the willpower not to bark at me. “There’s a group of people—seven men and two women—heading this way. I can’t tell if they’re friendly or not, so you and the girls need to leave well before they arrive.”

      “What about you?”

      “I can handle myself.”

      I pushed on his shoulder. He fell back onto the ground.

      “Uh-huh. Want to try that again?” I asked.

      “No one’s after me,” he said. “You’re the one in danger. Plus you’ll be risking the others.”

      “What happens when these four wake up?”

      “I thought you didn’t care. They’ll be doing you a favor.”

      “I’d love to leave you. Believe me. But I gave my word. Come on.” I helped him to his feet.

      Even though Kerrick was taller than me, my shoulder ended up being the perfect height for supporting him.

      “Now what?” he asked.

      “We’ll hide inside the cabin until the others pass us by.”

      “What about the prior occupants?”

      “I’ll drag them inside.”

      “Your plan—”

      I pulled him along. He was too weak to resist. Fun. I dumped him onto one of the cots in the sitting room before releasing Melina and the other girls. They rubbed their wrists and followed me out to the main room. They froze when they spotted Kerrick.

      “You remember Kerrick from the inn, don’t you?” I asked Melina.

      “Yes.”

      “He’s part of the rescue team.”

      She glanced around. “Are there others?”

      “Ah … No. We had been expecting one man. Not four.”

      Melina shuddered.

      “And we have a bit of a problem.” I explained our situation to the three of them.

      They offered to help.

      “Where’s the chimney?” I asked Kerrick.

      Although dubious of my plan, he explained how I could find the metal pipe in the dark. It took me longer to locate the chimney than I had hoped. Kerrick had shoved a clump of muddy leaves to block it. I cleared it and hurried back.

      While I was gone, Bianca—the girl with the fading bruises—Peni and Melina had dragged the unconscious men into the hideout. They’d shackled the men to the cots in the back room and locked the door. Nice.

      Empowered, they discussed what they’d like to do to the men in great detail. Kerrick muffled a horrified croak. He had one foot resting on the dirt floor. “If you ladies are done plotting revenge, you might want to cover our tracks outside before the others reach us.”

      “How long do we have?” I asked him.

      “Ten, maybe fifteen minutes max.”

      Damn. I rushed outside and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. Between the scuff marks from the fight and the drag marks, even I could figure out which way we went. They would discover the hidden cabin in no time.

      Melina relayed instructions from Kerrick as I smoothed the ground with my hands and …”Are you sure he said to sprinkle the leaves?” I asked her.

      “Yes.”

      I worked as fast as I could to hide the marks, backing up until I reached the cabin. Standing in the threshold, I studied my efforts. We were in big trouble.

      Nothing more to do, I closed and latched the door. I gave Bianca my knife before picking up Kerrick’s sword. Both Melina and Peni armed themselves with kitchen knives.

      “Give me your other knife,” Kerrick said.

      I had forgotten about the one in my boot. But he hadn’t.

      When I handed it to him, he said, “Help me stand.”

      “But you’re too—”

      “They don’t know that.”

      Good point. I grabbed his wrists, pulling him to his feet. A weak pulse of magic traveled up my arm. I had a brief sense of the travelers close by before I let him go. He wobbled, but steadied himself with a hand against the dirt wall.

      Bianca and I positioned ourselves on each side of the door. Ready for … I wasn’t entirely sure. I strained, listening for any sounds, but I watched Kerrick’s expression.

      A few