take a life, except in self defense or honorable combat.” He pulled my knife from its sheath. “I, on the other hand, have no such qualms.”
I sighed. A lot of options went through my mind at that point. I could continue to comment on his breath, or even spit in his face. For that matter, he was close enough for me to break his knee, since they hadn’t seen fit to tie my legs. But all of those grand gestures would undoubtedly result in my immediate demise, or worse, my slow execution. And I had an intense desire to live as long as possible.
So I spilled my guts. I told him everything that had occurred since I had seen the fireball. It didn’t matter; my wife and kids were safe. The only lie that I clung to was our true destination. If I didn’t make it and, at that point it didn’t look good, I didn’t want Larry going after them.
When I finished my tale, he shook his head. “So you’ve deceived me all along. You lied about being alone. You stalled for time so your family could get away. And worst of all, you deprived me of the supplies they were carrying in your van.” He sighed. “That was stupid. Very stupid. I could have ransomed you back to them for those supplies. I might even have dealt in good faith and let you all live.”
Larry gestured with my Bowie, waving it before me. “But now, I can’t trust you. I can’t ransom you. And you know, of course, I can’t afford to feed you or have you go to others with what you know about me. Actually, Mr. Dawcett, it appears that your usefulness is at an end.” He raised the blade to my throat.
Larry’s eyes bugged out, and he shrieked as, to my amazement, a wet, red-streaked shaft erupted from his left shoulder and buried itself in Edgar’s throat. Edgar released my right arm and dropped to the ground clawing at the crossbow bolt protruding from his throat. Michael shoved me away, and I fell on my face.
I heard the crack of a rifle. Michael screamed and fell, twitching briefly beside me. His lifeless hand gripped a pistol, and I saw with horror that the barrel pointed directly at my chest.
Han froze, looking at the carnage of the last two seconds, then slowly raised his hands. I struggled to my feet. Larry lay screaming, thrashing about on the ground. Michael and Edgar were both apparently dead.
Debra’s voice rang out from the edge of the tree line. “Don’t move, big guy, or I’ll kill you, too!”
Han’s eyebrows rose slightly, probably at the sound of a woman’s voice, but he didn’t move. I smiled shamelessly. The cavalry had arrived.
Chapter 5
Lors que Saturne amp; Mars esgaux combust,
L’air fort seiche longue traiection:
Par feux secrets, d’ardeur grand lieu adust,
Peu pluye, vent chaut, guerres, incursions.
The year that Saturn and Mars are equal fiery,
The air very dry parched long meteor:
Through secret fires a great place blazing from burning heat,
Little rain, warm wind, wars, incursions.
Debra cautiously approached from the trees with her rifle pointed conspicuously at Han’s chest. “Lee?” Her eyes never left her target as she spoke, “Are you all right?”
It was a ludicrous question, considering the circumstances, but I couldn’t bring myself to laugh. Besides, I didn’t think she would find it very funny. “Fine,” I croaked “You want to untie me?”
She pulled a little utility knife out of a belt sheath. One good thing about being a knife maker, everyone in the family had a sharp blade.
As soon as she cut me free, I went over to Michael’s body and relieved it of the pistol he had been reaching for so desperately. Then I went over to my clothes and began to dress. As I pulled my boots back on, I noticed that Larry had stopped struggling and sat up. His left arm dangled uselessly, and his left leg bent awkwardly at the knee. I could see he was in a lot of pain, but his eyes held more hatred than anything else. I stood and pointed the pistol at him. “Okay, Larry, it’s my turn now. Toss me your pistol… slowly.”
He continued to glare as he complied.
“Thanks, Larry. Now I’d like to have my knife back.”
He tossed it without a word, bare of its sheath. He had still been clenching the blade as he thrashed about on the ground. It was a lucky thing that he hadn’t hurt himself severely, or maybe not so lucky. The world would probably have been a much better place without him.
“Toss me the sheath, too.”
When I’d gotten that, I walked over to him and searched his clothing for concealed weapons. Then I gave Han the same treatment.
Debra startled me, speaking from directly behind me. “Are you really all right?”
“Yeah, just a little bruised up.”
As I turned back to her, her eyes widened. “Oh, my God, doesn’t that hurt?” She reached out to touch my neck, pulling back bloody fingers. It’s funny how a wound you don’t know about doesn’t hurt… until it’s pointed out to you. As soon as I saw those bloody fingers, my neck began to sting as if I had been branded. I wasn’t as fast as I’d counted on; I hadn’t totally evaded the knife, after all.
“Didn’t even know it was there until just now.” I reached up to feel the shallow slice on the side of my throat, wincing as I touched the length of it. “Now it hurts like hell, though.”
Debra yelled back toward the trees, “Zachary! Bring the first aid kit. Hurry!” My wife, being who she was, had prepared for this eventuality. I would have been surprised if she hadn’t.
Zachary came into the clearing at a dead run clutching the kit to his chest. I noticed he steered around the bodies, but couldn’t seem to keep from looking down at them. I knew there was no help for it, but I wished he didn’t have to be exposed to that, despite what I had said about his having to grow up in a hurry. His eyes widening as his mother’s had at the sight of my neck, he handed her the kit. My wound must have looked pretty bad. Once cleaned, however, it proved to be no more than a scratch, one that bled profusely and burned like fire, but a scratch nonetheless. I covered Han and Larry with my pistol while Debra cleaned me up. It was eerily silent as she worked on me. No one said a word. Like truculent children, we refused to acknowledge each other. After a minute of that I turned my attention to Debra. “What are you guys doing here? Not that I’m not grateful, but I thought you’d be long gone by now.” I hissed as she wiped hydrogen peroxide on the cut.
She kept her voice low as she told me what had happened. “When you didn’t make it back in time, I was afraid you’d gotten yourself into trouble.” She finished washing my neck and reached for a tube of ointment. “Good guess there, huh? Anyway, we waited another five minutes to make sure you weren’t just running a little behind, then we came back. We found a hidden road just a little ways down the hill and followed it here.” Squeezing the ointment on my neck, Debra pulled a cotton swab from the kit and proceeded to smear the gooey mess along the cut. “We got to the edge of the clearing here in time to see that guy,” she glanced up at Larry, “pistol whip the other one. When he sent him into the cabin, Megan said she could sneak up on him and get a shot at the others from inside. I was going to wait on her to make the first shot, but then that one came at you with the knife.” She nodded at Larry again, and her voice got lower as she whispered, “I thought they were going to kill you.”
Debra opened an adhesive bandage and gently covered the cut on my neck. I saw tears in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She sniffed and took a deep breath, then jerked her chin to indicate Larry again. “I figured I couldn’t wait any longer and was just about to shoot him when you kicked him, and he screamed and fell. Megan
