Escana (11 page)

He
struck her with his elbow, the thick thud of the contact echoed as
her head hit the ground.
The
forest
spun
around
her
as
s
he
ponderously righted herself with utter futility.
The
rain
continued
to
hammer
down
upon
them
as
if
she
had
failed
it
too.

She
quietly
tried
to
escape
within
herself
and
float
elsewhere
as
Solomon
continued
to
strike
her
mercilessly.
She
thought
briefly
of
her
childhood,
yet
any
moment
she
managed
to
capture
was
but
a
fleeting
memory
offering
no
succour.
This
time
she
knew
she
was
going
to
die,
what
little
she
had
left
would
barely
be
called
life
by
many.

She
should
have
been
feeling
fear
about
now,
she
should have cared about what he was doing to her.

She was jerked back into
consciousness as he slammed her against a tree. A bough cut into her
back but she refused him the satisfaction seeing her react to the
pain. It was a hollow victory at this point, but it was hers.

'Are
you
even
fucking
listening
to
me?'
he
swore,
his
face
pressed
against
hers.
She
could
smell
the
ale
on
his
hot
breath
as
she
tr
ied
to
stifle
an
involuntary
shudder
but
fail
ed
.
She hated when he drank, it
always led to something like this, the monster within him rising to
the surface.

He
knew
she
had
just
tried
to
evade
him
in
the
only
way
left
to
her.
He
was
wise
to
her attempts to do so
,
clearly
sensing
it
and
pressing
himself
against
her
harder,
betraying
his
true
intentions.
'
So
that's
it?
'
he yelled.
'
Lead
me
on
some
merry
fucking
chase
and
then
just
sit
there
and
wait
for
it?
Well
I'm
sick
of
you.
I
swear
to
god,
you
push
me
too
far
and
I'll
kill
you.'

Her mute despair only served to
enrage him further, yet there was still the faint hope that he was
still only threatening to end her. Part of her was tempted to goad
him into ending her just to get away from him one last time.

He
pulled
her
from
the
tree
and
lashed
another
wild
kick
out
at
her
as
she
fell.
It
caught
her
on
the
shoulder
and
sent
her
sprawling
back
into
the
path. 'If
you're
just going to
do your mute whore routine again,
I
can
work
with
that.
'
he said between breaths, his voice cracking.
'
Just
lie
there
and
don't
breathe
a
fucking
word.'
A
slight
pause
now
,
she
knew
he
was
waiting
for
her
to
defy
him,
he
always
tried to bait her into doing
so
.
An
opportunity she knew better than to take.

'
That's
it.' he said into the ensuing silence. 'You stay right there and you
wait for me.'

Still
cursing to himself under his breath, she watched as he walked toward
her prone form and undid the clasp of belt. 'You really don't make it
easy for yourself, do you?' he said, whipping it off his breeches and
cracking it out across the ground beside her heaving body. 'I could
thrash you to within an inch of your life for all the fucking pain
you've caused me, but I don't think that's enough. No, you'd never
learn.'

She
expected a grin to spread upon his face yet it never came. She
expected him to thrash his anger out and be done with it. She
expected a lot of howling and bluster before the apologies began
again. Instead there was a hollow look in his eyes that turned her
cold.

'You
deserve what you get now,' he said, his voice no longer ranting and
raving. He tore off her dress and flung it into the woods. 'You stay
right. Fucking. There.'

He
stretched out before her and he placed her shivering hands on his
clothes, but she couldn't see any sign of the former drunken lust in
his eyes. 'Go on, pull them off,' he said between gritted teeth.
'It's what you fucking want after all isn't it? Do that and I won't
kill you.'

A
brief tremble shook her body as she realised that he meant it this
time. He was sobering up and still threatening her. A final flicker
of defiance kept her hands from reaching up in spite of it. There was
something entirely off with his behaviour that she couldn't place.

He
tore
his
shirt
off
and
pinned
her
shoulders
down
with
his
arm.
She
whimpered
with
pain
as
he
traced
his
knife
along
her
thighs,
the
faint
lines
scouring
familiar
patterns
in
her
flesh.
She had even learned to like
it after a time, now it just filled her with revulsion.

As
she
lay
flinching
in
apprehension
of
the
further cuts
he
instead chose to
thr
o
w
the
knife
away
instead
dig
ging
any
deeper.
Her
anxiety
doubled,
she
had
no
idea
why
he
would
do
that.

His
panting
breath
touched
her
skin
as
he
tore
off
the
rest
of
her
clothes
and
groped
for
her
hand.
H
is
discarded
weapon
was
not
a
mercy
then
.

She
finally
acquiesced
to
his
silent
instruction
and
undid
his
breeches,
pulling
them
down
at
his
command.
She
felt
him
claw
at
her
skin
and
waited
for
him
to
rip
her
insides
in
his
need.
More
blood
trickled
from
her
lip
as
she
bit
it,
trying
to
suppress
the
cries
of
agony,
yet
still
he
didn't
end
the
wait.
As
she
was
pressed
back
in
the
stagnant
mud
she
stared
upward
into
the
dead
branches
of
the
trees.
She
prayed
silently
that
he
would
start
soon,
at
least
then
she
would
be
numbed
by
the
pain
and
wouldn't
feel
him.

He
shuddered
again,
still
not
carrying
out the deed
,
then
gripped
her
throa
t with clawed
palms that seemed inhuman in their murderous strength. He pressed her
head into the marshy earth. 'You got your chance, even after I caught
you with him. Instead you had to run off again in front of all those
people. You're dead now. Dead to me and dead to everyone who's ever
known you,'
he
sai
d
with quiet purpose
.

A
faint choking sound emanated from her, though it seemed foreign, as
if her body had rejected her own consciousness for this final action
and she was observing from above.

Ho
lding
her
throat
tighter,
he
started
pounding
her
head
into
the
ground,
his
grip
steadily
increasing
as
his
fingers
dug
in
for
purchase.
He
stared
into
her
eyes,
as
if
to
watch
the
light
leave
them.
Terror
filled
the
eyes
that
stared
back,
for
he
was
entirely
oblivious
that
they
were
looking
at what was
coming from behind
.