Blood Rust

Chapter Three

The man had to drag Rue, kicking and screaming and clawing, into his small, one story home. She heard the door thud shut and the light become dim, before her wrists were secured by rough hands and rough rope, shoulders twisted uncomfortable to accomodate the chair. 

Still she bucked and cried, not and particular words, just terrified out of her mind. 

She heard the man shout in frustration before something hard hit her on the back of the head, and everything went black.

 ---

Memories were slow to return to the young girls mind, and when she tried to bring anything recent forward, her thoughts scattered like cockroaches under a flashlight. 

"Unnghfd..." She groaned, head rolling to the side. 

"Atta girl, wake up." A male voice, deep and gravelly, but fuzzy and nearly incoherent, became audible.

"Who-who're you.." She mumbled. Her tongue felt swollen in her mouth.

"I'm the city's best killer. And you're one lucky little girl."

"N...nuthin you want..wif me.."

She heard the man laugh as if behind thick glass.

"No, I think you're going to be a special little girl. But you're too drugged up for me to explain now..."

She heard a scrape as the man seemed to scoot a chair back, then heavy steps as he strode over somewhere to her right. She attempted to turn, to maybe see the fuzzy details of what this man might be doing, but her bonds kept her from doing anything but rolling her head to the other side.

"Good, atleast you're trying. That's very good.."

A few clinks and the sound of a liquid being poured into a tankard.

"Wuzzat..?" she rasped. She realized how thirsty she was.

"Something to clear your head enough to talk."

He pressed the tankard to her lips, and she automatically tilted her head back slightly to allow the drink to trickle past her lips.  With each few seconds, her mind seemed to gain a bit more clarity. 

"Thas' better, now, innit?" He asked, pulling the tankard away. Memories came to Rue in a blur.

"W-wait! Don't hurt me, please, sir! I don't want to please noone in bed, I's only 12, please si-"

The man cuffed her sharply on the side of the head, silencing her please.

"Gawd, I didn't clear your head so you could spew a bunch of bullshit! Shut up and listen!" He snarled. Abruptly, he seemed to settle. Rue stopped and looked at her kidnapper.

He was tall, clearing a half foot or so more than the average man she saw in the streets. Despite the stink of ale that seemed to permeate the house, the man appeared well dressed and relatively clean. His rumpled slacks and collared shirt, however, did not speak the appearance of a killer.

"But sir, you says you weres a killer. You don't look like no killer to me."

His brow furrowed.

"Godess, your grammar is going to need work...Listen here, wench, you're going to start talking like a learned lady, not like a street cur." He told her, his tone stern and leaving no room for questions. Rue only swallowed and nodded.

"Now, where was I..." He looked up for a second and then focused back on her.

"Ah! Right. First, if I looked like a killer, I wouldn't be allowed near my target. Fat lot of good that would do my client." He told her. She just managed a weak, very fake smile. He grimaced in return and then continued.

"Second. I brought you here because I need an apprentice. Your reflexes are fast; of course, any street childs reflexes are fast, but you grabbed that horses tack while it was going full pelt after being spooked. That's quite impressive, especially since you're a child. For you to have reached that horse, you would have had to grab it exactly as it's head dipped in the gallop."

her mouth dropped open a fraction. This man sounded a genius!

She wanted to pin the encounter on luck, but was glowing too much from his praise.

"And yes, you may be thinking 'Oh, but what luck that was!'.  I've been watching you for awhile, Rue." He leaned forwards, enough so that the girl could smell the drink on his breath.

"You're a fast one on the rooftops. Never slip up. Get right past the guards, read what others eyes slip right over. You're clever, too."

He leaned back again. Rue could feel a genuine smile growing on her face.

But the man wasn't looking at her like her father would when she had done a good job in school. He was looking at her...with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"Oh, you're going to be one gorgeous force of nature, you are." He smiled in turn, but it was a sharp toothed grin afiitted more to a snake.

Rue felt a sliver of fear, and the man pulled out a knife, raising it and slicing open her bonds.

"And I'm going to teach you until you reach your full potential. Rue Frestene Grillix, you will be the deadliest, most beautiful thing this city has ever seen."