The Bid (28 page)

She stood over her kills, panting hard for breath, blood dripping from her side. They were useless now. Gone. A poison to no one any longer. As the bloodlust of her rage wore off, she heard weeping in the dark, dismal room. She could hear chains rattling as the children shook in fear of her.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Asha kept calling to them. “She won’t hurt you. She would never hurt anyone. They had to die or you would never be free!”

Worried now for the fragile minds of those who could still comprehend the world around them, Hanna rolled over and came out of the Otherside. She fell onto the floor on her side, naked and bleeding from the wound in her side and the rending down her front. She panted hard for breath, the pain of her wounds finally being felt now that she was PAN again. She was exhausted, the brief but violent fight having taken everything she had. Still, she was badly wounded and if she took the time to collapse now she might never get another chance to free the children. Without Najir and Jhon to come after her, she was their only hope.

She staggered to her feet after several tries, then fell over the com panel. She realized it was mostly voice commands that controlled everything in the room, but she had to at least try to override it and free her sister so she could free the others. The equipment in the room was pretty old considering, the chains themselves outfitted with key locks. She changed her plans mid thought and reached down for Majum’s clothing. Feeling around the pockets and all the seams, she finally came up with an old metal key. Making her way shakily over to the nearest child, she had to hush him gently before she could reach for his shackled wrists.

“Shh. I will not hurt you,” she assured him in gasping breaths of pain. She fitted the key to the lock and in two turns freed the boy. Then she pressed the key into his hands. “Free your family. And then, please, my sister. Find a way. If you can’t…” She collapsed against the wall, sliding down to the floor. “Get help. I have saved your lives. So now, I beg you, say nothing of the cat. Spare my family. I beg you.”

Then she passed out.

Jhon knew he made a terrible sight to see as he raced up the steps of the COM, still covered in the blood of two badly wounded men, but he didn’t have time to bother with niceties like cleaning himself up. He hurried past the outside guards, but he was aware immediately that he had caught their attention in passing. He put on speed, running for the inner chamber where the Masters were holding session. The doors were open, as traditionally they were, and he could hear the voice of a speaker echoing into the hallways. There was also a second set of guards who were already drawing to an alert state; there was no way in hell they were going to let a wild and bloody slave charge past them and into the inner chambers.

But he had to try. Hanna’s life depended on it. There was only one way to safely get onto Majum’s property without setting off alarms and alerting guards.

“Master!” Jhon shouted, surging forward past the guards and shouting into the chamber, his voice booming over the present speaker and making the Chamber of Masters break out into startled, rapid whispers.

“Hold!” the guards commanded him, throwing their weight against him and seizing him by his arms. But still he fought forward, putting brute power into every step until he had lurched over the threshold of the door.

“Master Fusut!” he shouted, making it very clear to them all who he wanted. The man in question got to his feet quickly.

“What is the meaning of this? Why does a slave address me so? Where is your Master?”

“She is in danger. Deadly danger,” Jhon said, keeping his voice loud and bold so everyone would hear him. “I come to you because you have proven to be wise and fair. I beg you, my Lord, to hear the plight of my Lady and take action before it is too late!”

“What danger?” he asked, hushing the room fiercely when their speculation threatened to drown out Jhon’s reply.

“The Baron Majum kidnapped her young sister.” Gasps rang through the room before he could rush to continue. “He sent her a note, taunting her with this fact. My Lady then went to his residence here in the city and put herself into his power in an effort to win her sister’s freedom. He then sent an assassin to kill myself and Najir so that no one would be the wiser and he could then keep her for his twisted pleasure.”

“You have proof of this? I cannot invade the Baron’s privacy on the word of a slave,” Fusut said, even as he moved forward toward Jhon and eyed his bloodied state.

“I have the note, which is not signed, and I have the assassin.”

“Will the assassin name Majum?”

“No, my Lord. He was very careful to keep his name untouchable. But the assassin was to make a call and tell the person on the other end that we were dead. I forced him to make that call and to do exactly that. I know you see me only as a slave, and that I have very little value in your eyes, but take me at my word, my Lord, when I tell you the voice on the other end of that call was none other than the Baron Majum himself. He speaks with a very distinct cadence, as you have no doubt noticed for yourself, and there was no mistaking this.”

Jhon had to pause to draw in several deep breaths, trying to soothe the racing of his heart and the pure panic that was threatening to pump through him in an endless cycle.

“Even if you do not believe me, let me take you to the side of my Lady and if I be wrong you may do with my life what you will.”

That seemed to give the Master significant pause. He walked up to Jhon, searching his eyes carefully.

“You would stake your life on this claim? Because believe me, for a slave to call a Master into question like this only to have the accusation be false, it will lead to your death. There will be no question of it.”

“I am staking my life on my Lady, my Lord. She is all that matters. So long as she is well, nothing else will matter to me.”

It seemed to be enough for Master Fusut. He turned to the rest of the COM. “I will need four Masters to come with us to bear witness. If what he says is true, Majum must be brought to justice by his peers.” He turned back to Jhon and said more softly. “And I pray you know what you are doing.”

Jhon could care less about what may or may not become of him. He was soon following Hanna’s scent trail straight to Majum House with five Masters and a contingent of city guards in tow. All he wanted was to get onto that property as quickly as possible and free Hanna. Going to the COM and exposing Majum for what he was had been Najir’s idea. A good idea. They were a force not to be contested as they stormed the property. They started with the main house but Jhon knew they were no longer there.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The demand was deep and authoritative, despite coming from such a young man. Jhon did not recognize him, but Fusut did and stepped up to where he was rapidly descending the stairs. Jhon felt a sick sinking feeling of dread. Was this going to be an opposition that could sway the Masters to halt their search before it even began?

“Young Master Kell,” Fusut greeted him. “I am sorry for the intrusion, but your uncle has been accused of committing a high crime by this slave.”

Kell looked up to meet Jhon’s eyes. He seemed wary and defensive, but did not act as though he had something specific to hide.

“And what does this slave say about my good uncle? I am certain he is mistaken.”

“He says your uncle holds Master Drakoulous and her sister captive here on this property. His proof is somewhat compelling. You understand that we cannot ignore the accusation when their lives might be in immediate danger.”

“Drakoulous.” The young man frowned darkly, clearly biased against the House. “I confess our Houses have never been friends, but this accusation cannot be true. My uncle would not dare endanger this House by disobeying the Feudal sanctions.”

“Then you have no objections to our continuing the search?”

Jhon held his breath. Kell could protest the invasion of his privacy and it could ruin the momentum he had earned so far. He knew Hanna’s trail led back behind the house, but he couldn’t explain how he knew exactly where to go. He could not tell them that his senses were ten times keener than theirs.

“I welcome your search. Just as I will welcome the justice you will deliver to this slave for his lies against my uncle.”

Good enough. It was good enough. Jhon hurried out of the back of the house, picking up her trail so easily he knew just how fresh it was. He was aware of Kell following close behind him. Since he was trying to lead the search in that direction, he welcomed the other man’s presence. The Masters would be drawn to follow him more than they would be to a slave.

To his surprise, Kell started to walk in the direction of Hanna’s trail. It was almost as if he, too, could sense it.

“My uncle’s workrooms are in this house back here. He is probably there even now. He will want to face these charges,” Kell announced.

Ah, so that was where they were! And Kell was leading them right to her! Jhon had the urge to grab the boy and hug him, but knew it had to be resisted. He was more interested in finding Hanna anyway. He and Kell hurried to the smaller house together. When they entered, it looked like a craftsman’s workshop, with benches and tools lining the walls and a partially carved wooden creature, like some kind of wolf, had been scraped out of a huge chunk of wood. It was almost surreal to see the beauty of the piece, to see an artistic side to a creature so rotted with corruption.

But there was no visible sign of Hanna.

However, he wasn’t following his eyesight. He was following her scent trail and she had definitely been in this room. Searching carefully, he came to the end of the trail just as Master Fusut was saying, “He’s not here.” And then to Jhon, “And neither is your mistress.”

“Wait,” he said, forgetting to add proper address as he stared at the workbench where her scent seemed to have gone right through it. What was more, he thought he could smell the sharper tang of blood now. They were close! So close! But the smell of blood made his stomach sicken. Were they too late?

“Behind here,” he said with all confidence, trying to pull at the bench. There had to be some kind of trick to it. Some kind of lever.

“How do you know that?” Kell asked, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to study the bench carefully. Then, after a moment, Jhon could swear he saw the boy pale under his dark blue skin coloring. “He’s right. There’s something back there.” He looked up and seemed to realize what he had said. “I can feel a draft.”

Plausible explanation, but Jhon was starting to get just as suspicious of Kell as Kell was becoming of him. He put it aside and started pulling at tools. It didn’t take long to find the lever, making the bench swing away from the wall. The Masters behind them gasped, but Kell grabbed a working light from the bench and wasted no time pushing ahead into the stairwell.

Jhon had overtaken him and run ahead of him by the time they hit the second flight. With his extraordinary eyesight he could see just fine in the dark, and he wasn’t about to waste a single second getting to Hanna.

He burst into the room, the surprise in his barreling action causing several frightened screams from within. Then he just stood there a moment, trying to take in the horror of what he was seeing. The children. Asha. Blood everywhere. A dead man and a mauled beast of some kind.

And Hanna.

“Hanna!”

Jhon was on his knees by her side in a heartbeat. He ignored everything else, Asha’s cries for help where she was lashed to the wall, the shocked gasps of the Masters and even Kell’s heartfelt curse. All he could see, all he could feel was Hanna. She lay naked in a pool of blood, most of which was her own. She was slumped forward over herself and the floor, her long hair barely concealing the speckling along her spine. He saw her dress on the floor and scooped it up, pulling it over her as carefully and as swiftly as he could. Let them think he did it for the sake of her modesty. Let them think whatever they wanted. Let them know the truth of it. Jhon did not care. All he cared about was that her skin was cold to the touch and her breathing was hardly discernable. She had a vicious wound in her side and something had raked her down the front. He held her close as tears of fear and impotence burned in his eyes. He had to get her home. She needed to be safe and cared for. He needed to get her out of this disgusting pit Majum had brought her to. It enraged him to think that Majum wasn’t there…but only for a moment because as he gathered Hanna close to his chest he realized he could smell Majum all over the place. Most specifically, where the dead wolf lay.

Understanding dawned and he looked to meet the eyes of the young man Kell, who had taken a knee beside the thing’s mutilated carcass. By the expression on Kell’s face, Jhon could see that he knew it was his uncle.

So. It appeared Hanna’s House was not the only one with secrets.

Kell met Jhon’s starkly knowing eyes and gave him a little nod before saying aloud, “It appears this slave’s accusations are all too true. This is a sad day for my House. Masters, I assure you that as soon as I find my uncle he will be delivered to you for justice. You may search the entire property until you find him.” Kell rose to full height and looked down into Jhon’s eyes from above. “Bring her to the house. I will see she gets the very best of care. I…I thought I knew my uncle. I do not know how I could have been so very wrong.”

Jhon heard the bitterness and anger in his young voice and felt compelled to say, “Men such as this have always had their ways of keeping their depraved secrets. Even from those closest to them.”

Kell nodded, and then turned to the communications panel. “Release the restraints,” he told it.

On command, the computer released Asha’s restraints, exposing how raw she was at all contact points. Despite obvious weakness, she managed to keep her back against the wall, hiding the spots down her spine until she requested one of the Master’s robes to wear and had herself safely concealed. Then she hurried to Jhon, who was carrying her sister out.

“Is she alive?”

“Barely,” he replied.