Wyrd: Book One of the Witch War Trilogy - WATTYS 2018 WINNER!

Chapter 7: When Rowan Upsets a Little Girl

"Piece of ..." she cut off the last word, censuring herself, as she whipped out a roundhouse kick to box him in the right ear. He grunted and ducked, quicker than she'd expected, as her foot sailed over his head. She wanted, for the sake of the child, to make it as quick and bloodless as possible, but the Captain was a mountain of a man with reflexes like a damn hummingbird. He moved like a boxer with some serious kinetic mojo. He bobbed and weaved and feinted as she tried to hit him. The FFs had picked their Captain based on skill and not morality, just like the bastard vermin they were. He threw his full weight at her, trying to grab her by the waist and pull her down, but she turned past him, tripping him with one foot and moving her knee to the middle of his back, using her weight and his momentum to hold him down. Then she held both sides of his head and twisted it sideways, one quick snap and it was over.

Okay, so not so tough after all. He lay still underneath her as she looked up into those large mahogany eyes on the small brown-haired girl, that were, to Rowan's horror, looking rather glassy.

"I'm here to save you," Rowan offered, just as the wind gusted in from the open window, blowing back the platinum locks that always hid the right side of her face, revealing the mottled swirls and burns that moved up her side, up her neck and over her cheek, towards her temple. She realized, too late, that she was also covered head to toe in blood. To this little girl, she probably looked like a monster, one who had hurt the man who had given her the teddy bear.

The little girl began to cry, big gasping sobs escaping her lips.

"Please," Rowan whispered, "shhhhhh. I'm going to help you get back to your mom, okay?"

The little girl just wailed louder.

Damn it, damn it, damn it. Where was Joel when you needed him? He was the one who was good with people.  

She waited, but nobody rushed in to see what the commotion was about. Rowan supposed she should be thankful that no one was listening in too closely, but instead she was horrified, angry, that the guards ignored the frantic cries of a little girl in a room with the Captain of the Guard. None of them deserved to breath Htrae air.

 In desperation, attempting to get the tears to stop trickling down the child's face, she tucked her arms underneath her pits and pecked at the air.

"I'm a chicken, buck buck!" She said, flapping her imaginary wings.

The little girl stifled a sob and watched her curiously, as Rowan made a mockery of herself, keeping an eye warily on the door.

Once the sniffles halted, Rowan approached slowly, kneeling down to the little lady's height.

"I'm Rowan. What's your name?"

The waif just looked at her dolefully.

She looked at the size of the girl and the size of the window and started to formulate a plan. There was no way she could make it through, but she could contact Joel through the talk-stone and get him to send Rask. Rask could piggyback the girl and catch up to the rest of the group, and Rowan could sneak out the way she'd come. There was no way she was squeezing through the window without some magical assistance and Joel was busy making the escapees a cloud of moving mist. But it could work if she got the child to cooperate, crawl out the window and run to the sheltered picnic bench where she could hide.

"Okay. I'm going to pick you up and help you get through the window, ok? It'll be a game. And then you're going to run and hide under that table, there," she said as she lifted the girl to see. But the child squirmed until she put her back down. "My friend, Rask, will meet you there and take you to your mom and you two will go to a happy place, yeah?"

The girl shook her head. No.

"It'll be like a game," urged Rowan.

Her little head shook back and forth.

"It'll be easy."

The little girl's bottom lip began to tremble.

"Look," Rowan pleaded. "I was a little girl just like you once. And you know what I learned? I learned that nobody is going to save you, you have to save yourself."

Just as Rowan realized that she had said the wrong thing, the child began to howl. So Rowan picked her up and cradled her, rocking her back and forth, stroking her small head and hushing her. There was a momentary lull punctuated by a few small hiccups, during which Rowan took the opportunity to reevaluate. She'd have to carry the child and sneak back the way she'd come. But the sun was up and there was likely movement beginning around the encampment now.

Still, there was no other way.

She moved the child to her left hip and opened the door a crack to peer out. There was a soldier in the common area snacking on an apple. He looked like he was still half asleep, probably startled awake by the child's lament. She'd try and sneak past, but she'd knock him out in a pinch, she decided.

"Whatever you do, just keep your eyes closed, okay?" She whispered to the little girl. "Please just keep them shut as tight as you can. If you do I'll give you a special prize when we get out."

And with that, she moved through the door and out into the open corridor trying to sneak by. One small hiccup from the waif had the guard spinning around on his toes and dropping a perfectly good apple.

"INTRUDER!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, the sound carrying easily through the thin slatted-metal door and into the sleeping quarters. "Help!" And then he lunged to block the only exit.

Before Rowan could act, the child squirmed out of her grip and started to scream, and Rowan was forced to put her down. She wrapped herself around Rowan's leg like a boa constrictor, hindering her movement as bewildered FF soldiers began to pour into the common room. What she assumed was a mage – in long johns – emerged from the undisturbed third door she'd pondered over less than 20 minutes prior. He looked like a damn mage.  His hair was in a halo of static around his head.

"What's..." he blustered, clearly bewildered, taking in the leather clad warrior and her tiny companion, "...going on here?" His hands reached out in front of him, readying to launch a spell. The FFs closed in, weapons out.

"Hey squirt," she looked down trying to reassure her small ward, "It'll be okay." In one fell swoop she unclasped her cloak, letting it fall to cover the girl, and pulled out a matchbook. With a flick of her wrist, she lit a small flame. "I never" Rowan said, "go down without a fight."

***

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! How do you think Rowan's going to get them out of this? Will she succeed? I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you enjoyed the chapter, please vote. It keeps me writing. Thanks!