Death and Honor: Book 2 of 2 Read Free Page B

without getting sick. Kaylin deserved a chance, slim as it seemed.
    He had no idea what time it was when he felt the wagon shift a fraction. A moment later the faint sound of metal on metal came and he knew she’d started picking the lock. The lock clicked and the door squeaked. Her feet hit the ground and she ran into the night. Go, go, go. A few seconds later the mastiffs barked and snarled. Kaylin’s luck had run out.
    Xander shook his head at the futility of her effort. Now Hess would be doubly on guard when his turn came to try.
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    L oud clanging woke Xander from a fitful sleep. “Everybody out!”
    Xander’s body obeyed Hess’s command before his brain came fully awake. He slid out the still open cage door and lined up beside Jackson and Mary. The boy Xander half blinded stood beside Jackson and another boy from the second cage Xander didn’t know stood beside him. Sophia stood a little ways apart. All their eyes focused on Kaylin who laid on the ground, hands and feet bound with heavy cord. The dogs’ fangs had torn her cloths and she had several bloody gashes on her arms.
    Hess stepped in front of the slaves, scowling, arms crossed. “This slave.” He turned around and kicked Kaylin the ribs. “Tried to escape last night. As you can see she failed. Now one of you will share her punishment.”
    The slaver strutted up and down the line of kids, making a show of deciding who to punish, enjoying the fear in his young prisoners. Hess stopped in front of the boy Xander didn’t know. “Last night she left the cage door unlocked but none of you who shared her cell tried to escape. For that bit of wisdom.” He grabbed the boy from the other cell and flung him down on the grass beside Kaylin. “You’ll be spared.”
    Hess rolled Kaylin over on her stomach with his foot then repeated the procedure with the boy. His helper brought a ten foot bull whip and handed it to him. He brought the whip up then cracked it down on their backs. For the next five minutes Xander watched with clenched teeth as Hess flayed first the cloth then the skin of their backs. When he finished sweat poured off him and both Kaylin and the boy bore bloody lines from their shoulders to their waists.
    Sophia caught Hess’s eye and he nodded. She hurried over with her satchel. Xander hesitated then went over to help, when Hess said nothing he knelt beside her. The boy whimpered but his cuts looked shallow. Kaylin had fallen unconscious and she bled from the cuts on her back and from the gashes the dogs gave her. Sophia mixed a paste of herbs and water and spread it on the boy’s back. His whimpering stopped at once.
    “What was she thinking?” Sophia whispered.
    “I tried to warn her,” Xander said, just a quiet. “She wouldn’t listen.”
    “I’m tempted to let her suffer for what she did to John.”
    “Blame the slaver, not her. Those dog bites could get infected.”
    “I can’t look after her and the two boys.”
    “I know basic first aid,” Xander wanted to do something to ease her burden since it was in part his fault all three got hurt. “Tell me what to do and I’ll look after her.”
    Sophia mixed a cup of paste with different herbs and handed it to him. “You need to apply this to the bites three times a day. I can fix you more during meal time and exercise breaks.”
    “Load those two up,” Hess said. “It’s time to move.”
    Sophia helped John to his feet and led him back to the cage they shared. Xander handed the cup of paste to Mary, lifted Kaylin, and carried her back to their cage. He was glad she didn’t weigh much as the short walk to the wagon felt like a mile He slid her in as gently as he could then climbed in beside her. Xander took the cup from Mary then offered her a hand up. Once Jackson had joined them Hess slammed the door in his face and pulled the tarp back in place.
    Soon they started moving. Xander cleaned Kaylin’s wounds the best he could then smeared Sophia’s paste over them. At once