Beats Entropy

(Continued from PART 1 , which was continued from PART 2, continued in PART 3 Continued in PART 4  Continued in PART 6 )

There are very few optimistic murders. Once you’ve been part and parcel to a few worst case scenarios you stop expecting pleasant outcomes. I’d punctured enough silver linings in my time I could feel my luck turning like a bad tooth; when the ache hit I was ready for it.
The Ogre caught sign of the girl before me, but not by much.

——————————————————————————

She was sleeping when he found her; beauty tangled low in sticks and burrs. Over lean and exhausted, she lifted easily and awoke slow in the brutes arms. I steeled myself for a cry of horror that never came: she opened her eyes, froze, then slumped overloaded and hopeless against the cruel thing holding her aloft. I don’t know if she was lost or running before we found her, but she’d been doing either long enough to be all but broken. The only resistance she managed was a token look of appeal in my direction.

The Ogre followed her gaze towards me.

“This has nothing to do with you”

My hand twitched towards my blade (some muscle memory of decency blunted by pragmatism), then fell to my side. He was the client, and the bargain held. Still…

“We don’t have time to dance round the maypole, Ogre. We’ll barely make the new moon as it is; she slows us down at all we won’t.”

The Ogre pulled his prize closer. Setting his feet he spoke with growling finality.

“She won’t slow us, and I’m not leaving her. She is to be my mate”

I’d like to think there was a time I would have done something…but as little as that, even, may have been a lie. I shook my head softly and looked away. The girl curled like a dying kitten in the crook of his arm, closed her eyes. I wouldn’t see those eyes again until the very end.

We walked on.

——————————————————————————————

The last few miles to the cave rushed through me. My focus flickered between the certain death to come, and the ugly business at hand. The Ogre bounced along beside me, carrying his broken doll with the solicitude of a jealous child; angling his body away so I only saw the barest flashes of hers. It was a welcome reprieve.

The steepness on the last incline lent a harsh, breathy quality to my voice.

“When we get there stay out if it. If you could have done anything you would have; I’ll deal with it.”

The Ogre’s back stiffened with stung pride. Women complicate everything.

“It’s my home…I will have a hand in defending it.”

His eye flicked towards his prize while he spoke, seeking some small approval.

I turned and began the long walk home.

The Ogre snarled in shamefull frustration, fear and pride raking over each other.

“Wait. You can go first and I’ll be there for back up.”

I turned again and began the final approach to the cave. The Ogre trailed hostlily behind me, muttering ugly redemptions I no longer cared to hear.