Asunder: A Gathering of Chaos by Cameron Hopkin (children's ebooks free online .txt) 📕

used the women that way – not even the Beastless would do that.” He paused and considered. “Well, actually, I did hear of a woman being raped once when I spoke with another tribe at a trade-meet, but they said the man responsible had his shkiffa burnt off and got thrown out of the tribe.” He made a chopping gesture as if cleaving meat in two. “The Pacari are not like this.”

“All right,” she said. “Sorry. It’s not important right now. Let’s find the guards.”

The hallways on the third floor turned and twisted in illogical ways, and soon Nira wasn’t sure where the stairs were anymore, much less the room they were looking for. Kest was quiet, letting her take the lead. “Do the men of the Mainland do this thing?” he asked finally.

Nira sighed. Should have kept my mouth shut. “Sometimes,” she responded. “Not good ones, but others. It happens. More than it should. I bet if they got their dicks burnt off it would be a pretty rare thing, but most of them get away with it, or maybe they spend a week or two in jail. Pay a fine. Who’d have thought the jungle savages would have the right of it?” She pulled her cloak tight, frowning at him. “Now shut up about it, will you? I’m supposed to go act like a whore for this guy in about two minutes and talking about rape is not helping.”

“I’m sorry.” He sounded sincere. “You will do very well, Nira. He will like you. You look – I mean… sorry.” The big-shouldered young man looked away, falling silent. She ducked her head to hide a small smile. I knew he peeked.

They came around a corner in the warren of servant hallways and suddenly found themselves in a wide corridor graced with brocaded wallpaper and fancy vidrin-faced sconces for the glowpods. The floor was carpeted, and in the distance they could see the hallway widen into the broad balcony they had seen from below. The grand chandelier threw multifaceted light down the hall, creating odd fractals of light and shadow on the walls and ceiling. The illumination played over a quartet of guards sitting at a small table halfway between them and the balcony directly across the hall from a large set of white-painted doors. They were playing cards. Nira took a deep breath. This is it.

Kest slumped into his role as the pimp, stepping in front of her and leading the way to the guards. They were chatting and laughing, and none of them noticed the burly lad or the dark, slender girl until they were nearly on top of them. “Who’s this, now?” said one of them. He had his helmet off, and his face was flushed. A large tankard sat on the table in front of him. The others looked up from their game.

“Got a girl here for Master Guyrin,” rumbled Kest.

The red-faced guard stumbled to his feet. “Another one? There’s already two in there.”

Nira’s blood ran cold. Two other girls, in there now? Light protect me. For all her posturing and rough words, she was not even remotely experienced in these kinds of matters. The more people there were in the room, the more complicated and dangerous this would be. She had absolutely no desire to let this stranger get his hands on her, but there seemed to be an increasing likelihood that she might have to follow through on the promise of her costume. I should have run away from Renna the second we reached Megalith.

“Don’t know about no other girls,” Kest said flatly. “They told me it was a ‘mergency and I had to bring a dark one.” He gestured to Nira. “Brought the darkest I have.”

“You did good, boy,” the drunk guard said, leering at her.

“Come on, Mackey, you can’t quit just because you’re losing,” groused the guard on the far side of the table, holding up his cards. “Send her in and get back here. It’s your draw.”

“Hang on, now,” slurred Mackey, advancing on her. “Seems to me that two’s more’n enough. Little man won’t miss a third. Don’t you think?” He took her by the arm, yanking her cloak open in the process. She tensed again his rough pull and saw Kest ball his fists. Catching his eye, she shook her head. Not yet. “I mean, I know cards is fun an’ all, but I could think of a couple of other things to occupy an afternoon, couldn’t you, Pog? Hibben?”

There was a moment of silence. “I imagine I could,” drawled the one nearest them, putting his cards down. “Plenty of empty rooms on the west side of the house.” Both he and his partner stood up, turning to Nira with slow, unpleasant smiles.

“This ain’t what she come for,” protested Kest, trying to seem only as concerned as a pimp with a deal going sour might be. “Master Guyrin won’t like it.”

“He’s right,” the one still sitting said. He had a smoker’s voice, hoarse and thick. “I know Mackey’s stupid, but when did he infect you other two? You going to steal a whore from a chaos wielder? You’ve seen what he can do. Just send her in. Come on, dummies, sit down.”

The two who stood up together hesitated, turning back to the seated man. Listen to the smart one. Please. She feared the armed men, of course, but even more than the imminent threat of being abused she was worried about disturbing Guyrin, of ruining the whole thing. That was far more likely to get them killed than whatever these fools might do.

Drunk old Mackey wasn’t in any frame of mind to hear sense. He threw an angry middle finger at the seated one. “I’m in charge here, you greasy turd, and I’m sick of hearing you. You cheat, anyway.” He rounded on her, his eyes clouded with anger and lust. “You’re coming with me, little girl.” He fumbled for her arm with drink-blunted fingers and she danced out of