Oathblood

'What a pity I need to kill you, child,' he said. 'You prove more entertaining by the moment.' He regarded her as he would have examined a particularly interesting insect, and she felt very much like a poor little bug that was about to be squashed.

I can't kill him -- maybe if I hurt him, Meri can get away-- But she knew with a sudden sick feeling that she couldn't even manage that; maybe if she'd been older, bigger, maybe if she'd seen and done more, but not now. Not when she was too small to take him bare-handed, not when it wasn't a daydream, not when she knew what human blood looked like. Her hand started to shake.

I'll just keep him occupied long enough for Meri to run. That was all she could manage.

He stepped toward her a pace, with his hands spread wide. He wasn't holding his own knife; he wasn't even trying to grab her. What did he think he was doing?

His next words told her. 'So -- let me see what you are made of. Let me see if a foreign child has half the courage of a Jkathan child.' His sardonic smile told her that he really didn't expect her to show even an ounce of courage. 'Come at me! Do what you will! I will not even stop you! A child of my people would be at my throat like a mad dog by now!' His eyes taunted her. 'What? Have you no stomach to make good on your threats?'

She brandished her knife at him, backing up into the brush, which crackled beneath her feet. Meri backed up with her, crazily staying behind her, even as Kira screamed silently at her to run while she had the chance.

He advanced, another slow step, then another. He laughed. 'Use that little blade, girl!' he taunted.

She tried -- she tried to force herself to stab at him, and she couldn't. She just couldn't.

Why is he doing this? To get me to come within reach so he can just break my neck? She continued to back up, as he loomed between her and the camp, dark and menacing against the glow of the distant fire.

Why is he playing with us like this?

It struck her that he was enjoying himself. He liked seeing the terror on her face, liked feeling so completely in control of the situation.

'You're nothing but a big bully!' she shouted angrily at him. 'You just want people to be afraid of you so you can feel important!'

'Little girls should not taunt their elders,' he admonished her. 'And there are plenty of people who will fear me in the days to come. Think how privileged you are to be the first to taste that terror!'

In answer, she made an abortive rush at him, slashing her knife toward his face, but darted back when he reached out to seize her as she had expected he would.

At this point, she really wasn't thinking anymore. She was observing and reacting, at a level of analysis that was almost instinct, knowing that if she did this, he would respond with that. As long as she could keep this game going, they would live a little longer. As long as she could observe and react, she wouldn't crumble under the weight of her fear.

But it seemed that he was getting impatient, tired of the game, wanting to bring it to its conclusion.

'What? You dare not strike, even when you know I will kill you? Even when I swear not to defend myself?' A cruel chuckle emerged from his lips. 'What a pity; I had even come to like you, a little. Oh, it would not have saved you, but I would see that you were properly buried and not left for scavengers. But since you haven't the courage of a jackal, it is fitting that you go to feed them. It is too bad that you have no stomach to use a weapon against another-'

He broke off his sentence to stare stupidly at the length of shining, pointed steel protruding through his chest.

'Fortunately,' Kethry snarled, 'We don't have that problem.'

And as he fell, Meri and Kira ran to Tarma's outstretched arms.

'Come on, kittens,' she said as she gathered them up. 'Let's go home.'

* * *

Children, kittens and puppies tumbled over one another in a shrieking, joyful mass in the middle of the nursery, a large room lined with shelves upon which resided the battered but beloved toys of a houseful of children. It was just as well that the toys had all been put away, for no doll or wooden horse could ever survive the melee of bodies in the middle of the room. At the moment, it was difficult to count how many there were of each species, but there was no doubt of how happy they all were. Warrl reclined at the sidelines, an indulgent and benevolent presence standing in for adult authority.