BAD WINE CRAPPY CHOCOLATE

CHAPTER THREE-4

Cori trailed them for the rest of that day, maintaining a discreet distance behind the wagon. The weather was crisp and clear, with white puffy clouds of all shapes and sizes drifting overhead. At one point she heard the sound of snapping twigs in a forest they passed, and nervously wondered if the people from the hill were pursuing her. Yet no one appeared from the shadowy spaces between the trees.
Her unwitting guide paused after the second day of his journey near a pool of fresh water. Cori tied Max's horse to a tree, waiting for the driver to get his fill of the precious liquid before taking her own. Later that night she slipped into the pool, relishing the chance to bath her tired body. The interlude ended when Cori thought she heard someone whistle in the darkness. She quickly got back on dry land to put on her clothes, only to discover that Roxi was gone.
As Cori watched the wagon leave the next morning, she was filled with dread. There was no way to keep up with it, and her only option appeared to be a long walk back to the knob. Cori intended to tell Max that she had gone for a stroll and became lost. She would deny any knowledge of his horse's whereabouts. Upon further reflection the time traveler opted to continue on, after realizing that the city must be nearby, since she had been traveling for two full days.
"I don't want to spend another minute with Max," she thought aloud. "And Brandon could be in trouble."
Cori planned to follow the road, hoping she would encounter some helpful person who knew the way to her destination. She silently prayed that no highwayman like Wendell would emerge from the woods to accost her.
At midday the road wound into a narrow gorge, its rocky walls providing a plethora of places for someone to hide. As she walked between them her courage waned, yet Cori could see no other path to follow. She was almost at the end of the gorge when ten men suddenly appeared, seemingly from nowhere. They quickly surrounded her. Their leather jerkins had a red C sewn on them. Cori had never been this afraid in her life.

"I'm...I'm on my way to the city," she said in a trembling voice. "Let me go."
"You were following Ira," said the tallest man sternly. "You were going to rob him."
"No, I wasn't! I just didn't know how to get to the city. I was letting him show me the way." The man gave her a wry smile.
"You're a clever thief. But I don't believe you. Come with us."
He took Cori by the arm and led her to the woods just beyond the ravine. The men had set up a
camp in a large clearing there. The prisoner's hands were bound behind her back. She was then ordered to sit on the hard ground. Cori spent the next hour trying to remember how she came to be in this predicament. Those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice coming from behind her.
"What would you think about someone who'd been a guest in your house, been extended every form of courtesy possible, and then steals your horse? And this is after the woman told me that she couldn't use my bed after I offered it to her, without me in it, mind you, because it would be asking too much of me. I mean, what kind of a person is that, Jerry?"
The leader of the Clovertons appeared before her, with Max Bardy at his side. Cori was somewhat relieved, though she did not know if Brandon's friendship would be enough to deter Max from taking retribution against her.
"I'd call her a horse thief," Jerry replied.
"That's a fair description. Now, what am I supposed to do with you?" Max asked with an inscrutable expression on his face.
"I was just taking a walk, and I got lost."
"And she's a liar, too," Max observed.
"If you do anything to me, Brandon will be pissed," Cori told him. "So you better not."
"She just threatened you, Max. How can you let her go now?"
"You're right, Jerry. My hands are tied, just like hers."
He took a knife from his belt and moved toward her. Having such a truculent individual approach
her with a weapon in his hand caused Cori to break out in a frantic sweat. For a moment she believed the

perspiration would enable her to slip the bounds off her wrists, but that didn't happen. Cori thought of her family, imagining how they would react when she disappeared forever. Max stared at her for a moment, before he bent down with the shiny blade pointed toward her. She closed her eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said with a grin, after cutting the ropes around her hands. "Although I should, given what you've done. I'm just going to take you back to the hill."
As they stood up, Hoochie Koo came riding up to them.
"Gino Chou wants to see you, boss," he said after dismounting.
"Why?"
"Someone named Bender wants your turf. Gino can't leave the city to see you, because he's
afraid it would give the guy a chance to make his move. You have to go there."
Max paced back and forth for a while with his hands clasped behind his back. Cori watched him
carefully, hoping that his decision would accommodate her desire to find Brandon.
"It could be dangerous for you to go there," Jerry pointed out. "I hear that they're really cracking
down on the Vitala traders."
"That's what I'm consternating," Bardy replied.
"You should really buy a dictionary," Cori said sarcastically. She was beginning to recover from
her ordeal.
"Silence, horse thief!" he responded in mock anger. "I guess there's no choice. Gino wouldn't ask
me to come if it wasn't important."
"How long will it take us to get there?" Cori asked him.
"Us? You're going back to the hill with Hoochie. I can't let anything happen to you. Or, as you
reminded me, Cane will be pissed."
"I won't stay there," Cori said defiantly. "I'll find a way to get to the city."
Max looked at her as he would an impudent child. The fear exhibited in Cori's eyes a short time
before had now been replaced by determination. He reconsidered his position. Max Bardy had always

followed his instincts. At that moment they told him Cori would be safer in the city, though he didn't know why.
"I guess you would," Max conceded. "And you're more likely to get into trouble traveling on the road by yourself. So you can come with me."
"Nathaniel sent some irises for you, boss," Hoochie said, handing him a knapsack. "I put some food in there for you, too."
"He gave you flowers?" Cori asked incredulously.
Max ignored her question and addressed Hoochie.
"Thanks. I was supposed to meet with Ernie Simms today. Go back and tell him I had to be
somewhere else. You can make a deal with him."
"Will do, Max. You be careful," Hoochie said before riding away.
"Can I trouble you for a horse, Jerry? I'm riding Roxi, so Cori will need another animal to ride.
And I don't have the time to wait for her to steal one."
Cori laughed aloud, her reaction due more to a desire to relieve the tension she had been feeling,
rather than from an appreciation of Max's attempt at humor.
One of the Clovertons brought a horse for her. Cori did not thank him, nor did she acknowledge
the other men as the two of them departed. They rode in silence for a while before Max suddenly gave her a penetrating look.
"What's the matter?" Cori asked him.
"I was about to ask you the same question. Did those guys do anything to you?"
"You mean other than treating me like a criminal? No."
"You're so tense. You seem like you're ready to bolt at any minute. Why are you afraid of me?" "I saw what you did to Wendell. You're a goddamn animal."
Max stopped his horse. Cori rode a little further up the road before doing the same.

"I had to get my message across. And Wendell's kind only understands one language. Would you rather I let him kill people for Vitala? Besides, I told Hoochie to remove the ants' teeth before he gave them to me. He must have forgotten."
"Ants don't have teeth," Cori snapped.
"Now you tell me. Why do you care so much about Wendell? He attacked Cane."
"He's a human being. Why didn't you turn him over to the authorities?"
"You're new to this place, so I wouldn't expect you to know that you're looking at the only
authority around here."
"You took pleasure in watching that man suffer. How do I know you won't do something like that
to me?"
"In the first place, I only did to it make a point. I don't get my rocks off by hurting people. And in
the second place, like I said before, you're very important to Cane. You know, we hadn't seen each other in thirty years, but it felt like it had been more like three days. He's my friend. So even if I did enjoy torturing people, I'm not about to cross him. And finally, you're not going to make it to the city alone. So you have no choice but to trust me."
Cori turned her horse around and continued on up the road. Max casually caught up with her. She noticed that he did not seem at all concerned about a highwayman waiting in ambush for them. Bardy was completely relaxed, and his confidence soon had Cori feeling equally at ease.
They rode well into the night, coming to a magnificent lake just when Cori thought she could no longer manage to stay on the Cloverton's horse. Max stopped in front of a small cabin near the shore and knocked on the door. A wizened old man opened it.
"Mr. Bardy! How good to see you. Come in, please come in."
He went inside while Cori remained outside, sitting on a bench that was on a gentle rise next to the cabin. She watched the waves breaking on the shore. They had a hypnotic effect upon her, and Cori, who needed little encouragement to begin with, could not resist the temptation to close her eyes. Max awoke the young woman soon after, although it felt to her as though hours had passed.