Ice Blink

49: Captain of Chains

Kenai was still screaming, even as the captain dragged Nuna back down the slope. She fought every step of the way, but her feet dragged, creating deep furrows. Lumi and Iki were shouting – she wanted to beg them to run, to leave while they still could, but soldiers rushed past her, heading to the slope, and she knew it was all over.

"Nuna!" Kenai cried as the captain dragged her past his cage. Their eyes met for one terrified heartbeat.

Then one of the guards grabbed Kenai by the hair and slammed his head against a bar. He slid to the cage floor, still, silent.

"No!" Nuna writhed, kicking and punching blindly, stamping on the captain's feet. Her fists met thick leather pads and bounced harmlessly off them.

The captain laughed darkly, only a little out of breath.

"Let go of me, you monster!"

"It's Captain Viggo to you," he crooned in her ear. His arm was crushing her ribs. "Be sure to tell the spirits I was the one who ended you when you meet them in the Sila. Oh, look, your friends are joining us. You can all die together. Won't that be sweet –?"

As he glanced across to Lumi and Iki's struggling forms, as his attention drifted for a fraction of a heartbeat, Nuna twisted and kneed him in the groin with all her strength.

He doubled over with a wheeze, but two of his underlings had Nuna's arms pinioned before she could do any more damage. Viggo recovered disturbingly quickly, straightening and surveying her with a dangerous gleam in his eye. He had a scarred, rough, wolfish face.

"A fighter," he said.

I'm a healer. But for you, I'll make an exception.

Viggo gave Nuna a thoughtful, appraising look that made every inch of her skin crawl. He motioned to the guards, and they dragged her past the group of cages in which the Nualiks were still confined, and into the main camp.

No, no, no –

The soldiers formed a circle around her as they deposited her in the centre, tearing off her parka – with the shard still inside – and backing away.

On her knees, already trembling violently as snowflakes settled on my too-thin tunic, Nuna was pinned in place by countless stares. She had thought their masks were bad, but seeing them bare-faced was worse, because it proved to her that these were just people, just ordinary men and women with families and consciences and souls, yet they were capable of such horrific acts.

"Nuna!" Iki threw himself against a guard, but they held her friends on the edge of the circle.

Trepidation trickled through Nuna as Viggo strode past, barely giving them a glance, his predatory focus on her.

He stopped in front of her and said, "Your friends are going to watch. I think they'll like that, don't you?"

There was a roaring in her ears. Get up. Get up. Fight him. Nuna could see herself lunging, knocking him backwards, stealing his weapons, but her numb legs had stuck to the snow and she could do nothing but stare straight ahead at Viggo's knees.

His knuckles connected with her cheekbone and her head snapped to the side. She flung her arms out to catch herself as white-hot pain exploded.

"No fight?" Viggo taunted. "I thought you'd last longer than that. Where are the Inua?"

He knew. How did he know? She could have been anyone, just a stray villager –

When she didn't respond, he kicked her in the ribs and she went flying like a doll, landing in a heap in the snow.