I got some things to figure out and not a lot of time to do it. Fer one, I need to know where Callen stashed our guns. Also, I gotta know where Ro is. And finally, it'd be real helpful if I wasn't tied up in this tent.
"Callen," I call out. "Sargent Callen!"
The tent flap opens but it ain't Callen who comes in, it's one of his men. He's young, maybe even younger than me, with strange orange tinted eyes set close together. He looks a little too excited 'bout the fact that there's a young lady all tied up and helpless right in front of him.
"What do you want?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you're here." I barely remember to keep with my proper accent. "What is your name, officer?"
He closes the flap and crouches in front of me.
"Blaine."
"Blaine. I must ask you something indelicate."
He raises his eyebrow. "You've got to relieve yourself, miss?"
I let out a huge sigh. "Yes, thank you. I wasn't sure what I should do. I've never been held prisoner before." I look up at him through my eyelashes and smile.
Blaine gulps. "Sargent Callen told me not to untie you, no matter what."
"You can keep me tied up, if you'd like." I bat my eyelashes, keep my smile real wide. "Just lead me out behind the tent and turn around. Or don't turn around, if you prefer. Won't that be okay?"
"Well, I mean... yes, but." He's gittin' ready to cave, orders be damned. I'm gonna win him over, cuz Blaine's got everything I need him to have—a gun, a knife, and an overabundance of hormones.
"Maybe if we call your Sargent, he'll be able to tell you what to do."
"He's busy with those desert traders. He won't want to be bothered."
Perfect. "Then can't we go real fast? I'll be back here before he even knows I was gone. And then I'd owe you a favor. You'd like that wouldn't you? If I owed you something?"
Blaine looks back and forth like there's someone else in the room that cain make the decision fer him. But I've tempted him with something he ain't likely to resist. Finally, he comes 'round.
"I suppose I would like that." He keeps my arms bound, but unties me from the post and then drags me outside and 'round the back of the tent fer me to do my business. 'Fore we git there, I chance to look beyond the lawfolk tents to where a new one's sprung up. Must be fer the traders. Shadows pass back and forth in front of the soft light glowin' from within it. Hopefully, Callen's still inside there, occupied with Tegan.
"Here we are." He comes to a halt. "You know, I'm going to have to watch, just to keep my eye on-"
That's as far as he gits, cuz I've taken the rope tetherin' me to him and looped it 'round his neck.
Blaine chokes and sputters, graspin' at my makeshift noose with his hands. "I don't wanna kill you, Blaine. But I will unless you do exactly what I say. Got it?" His eyes bulge. Oh, he gits it all right.
Blaine nods slightly. "I'm gonna let the rope loosen just a bit." The wind roars 'round us, so I say my words real firm in order to be understood. "And yer gonna keep yer mouth shut, you hear me?"
He nods again. "You know how I know yer gonna do as I say, Blaine? Cuz while we was walkin' back here, I took the gun you was carryin'. You know, it ain't too smart to have a gun down the back of yer pants when yer escortin' a prisoner behind you. I kind of git the feelin' you'd be reprimanded by Callen fer that."
Poor Blaine, he looks like he might just cry. I almost feel sorry fer him. He's just so dang green, me liftin' that gun without him even realizin' it. Stupid. I thought they trained lawfolk better than that. "I'm gonna loosen up on you now, and as long as yer quiet, I won't kill you. And keep yer hands up high."
Lettin' go of the rope, I move 'round so that I'm facin' him fully. My gun stays level with his face. I'd like to take his knife from him next, but my hands are still tied together and I'd have to lower the gun to git at it. And I cain't very well ask him to cut through the rope fer me, cuz it'd be way too easy fer him to grab the gun out of my hands. No, I'll have to deal with remainin' tied up fer now, and just focus on gittin' information from him.
"Where's Ro?" He don't say nothin'. "Where's Ro, or I'll shoot a hole 'tween them beady eyes of yers."
"Why are you talking like a commoner? I thought you were from the capital." He stares at me through them weird eyes. Damn it. Maybe I'll have to kill him after all.
"Last chance," I say, cockin' the gun.
Ain't no denyin' I mean business. "All right! All right! He's in the tent with the orange flap."
The lawfolk have three tents—the one I was in, a smaller one with a grey cover, and a final one next to that, sportin' a bright orange door. "Good, we're finally makin' progress. Where's Frank?"
"Frank?" He's all confused.
"Frank, my shotgun." I growl at him, and the desert echoes. Dust swirls 'round our heads, pricklin' our eyes. Both of us squint, tryin' to keep it out. "And my goat and all the supplies you took fer that matter."
Just like she heard me talkin' about her, Nessie's panicked bleatin' overpowers the wind's cries. Peerin' 'round Blaine's shoulder, I cain just make her out through the dust-darkened air, wedged between two tents along with the sleds carryin' our supplies.
"Callen's got your guns," Blain claims. "I don't know where they are."
"Well, one thing at a time, I suppose." I push him in front of me and we round the back of the covered grey tent, and then approach the third. If Blaine's tellin' the truth, Ro should be right inside. But the entrance is clearly visible from the traders' tent. If Callen were to spy me tryin' to git Ro out, we'd be in big trouble. Like the maroonin' kind of trouble.
I crouch down with my head next to the back of the tent, still aimin' the gun at Blaine. "Ro? Ro, you in there?"
No response.
"Blaine, take yer knife and start slicin' the canvas."
He looks surprised. I wonder how rich a person's pa has gotta be fer someone as clueless as Blaine to land a job as an officer of the law. Don't they gotta pass some kind of intelligence test or something? The kind of test that would have questions like, "If an underfed smart aleck desert dweller steals your main weapon, what do you do?" Poor Blaine must have missed that one, cuz he's fergotten till now that he's had himself a sizeable knife at his disposal this entire time.
I stand up and take a step back from him, so I'm too far away fer him to stab. My gun stays steady. "Go on then," I coax. "Knife. Canvas. Slice."
Blaine wrinkles his nose at me, causin' his eyes to move even closer together. Then he sets to slicing.' 'Fore long, he cries out in alarm, and poor stupid Blaine, he's bein' sucked inside the tent through the hole he just made. I cain't tell why or how it's happenin', but I cain guess.
Blaine's still halfway out of the tent, his legs kickin' as he tries to scramble backwards. I shove his backside, willin' him forward, cuz he's blockin' my way to Ro.
Blaine loses the fight with his assailant and the rest of him disappears into the tent. I follow close behind, only to find myself inside a dim space with a knife pressed to my throat.
"Ro!" My voice breaks over the dust I've been inhalin'. "It's me!"
If I had to go on sight alone, I wouldn't have known who I was dealin' with. It's too dark now, and we're nothing but shadows to each other. But it's him. His breath comes in heavy gasps. I reach out and there's his hand, still holdin' Blaine's knife. He begins to shake as he clasps onto me, onto the reality that it's not some demon come to torment him.
"May? May?" He leans his head against mine, and we're both tremblin' now.
"It's me." I desperately wanna throw my arms 'round him, 'cept both of us still have our wrists bound. I kiss him, and he cain't help but wince. His lip's been split. Well, we ain't got time fer that kind of reunion anyways. Blaine lies a few feet from us, moanin'. "Git these bindings off me, then I'll help you."
Ro works clumsily, tryin' to cut through my ropes in the darkness, his own hands still locked together. "How did you...? When did you get here? Where's Callen?"
"Tegan and the others are keepin' him distracted. I had her convince him I was the real outlaw—that you was just coverin' fer me. Callen arrested me and secured me in another tent. We've been here fer hours already. Didn't you know that?"
"No, I've been—I guess I've been unconscious." His words are so soft that the noise the world's inflictin' on us threatens to drown 'em out. "There, you're done."
I shake out my sore wrists and then take the knife from him. "What did Callen do to you?"
"I tried to get away. He got angry. Look, it's nothing, May. I'm fine. But we've got to get out of here."
"Agreed." I git to cuttin'. "And fer that, we need our guns back."
A/N: That May... she is nothing if not resourceful! Do you like the way she dealt with Blaine? She's found Ro, and I am grateful for that, but they aren't out of the woods yet! Can they get passed Callen and escape? As for the approaching dust storm... how is that going to factor in?
May has a new project she'd like to fund with your generous votes. It's an organization dedicated to recruiting and educating young lawfolk like Blaine so that they won't be complete morons. She'd also like to see desert dwellers recruited. Seems like it would make things a whole lot more fair!
This chapter is dedicated to one of my fellow Wattpadres, FarahOomerbhoy. I am excited to say that as of August 15th, her fantasy THE LAST OF THE FIREDRAKES will be published!!!