Scars of Silver Read Free Page A

pent up panic burst free.
Malcolm vaulted over one of the shorter goblins and bolted for the
exit.
    Outside the chamber dozens more goblins loitered
about. Malcolm shoved through them, knocking them aside and
trampling a couple. With a burst of excited shouts they tackled
him. One on one he could kick a goblin’s ass, but not so much with
a rugby pile of them. Too joyfully the little monsters dragged him
back into the chamber.
    They tossed him onto the table as he kicked and
screamed. The cold of the stone cut into his back muscles. The
goblins yanked his arms over his head. Loops of heavy rope twisted
around his damaged wrists. Malcolm shouted and struggled with every
ounce of animal determination he could muster, every bit of it
wasted. Ropes were lashed to his ankles and jerked through the
rings at the foot of the table, stretching him and keeping him from
kicking.
    The woman leaned over him. Her cool hands cradled his
face. “Shh… It’s ok. It’s ok.”
    “How is this remotely ok?” Malcolm snapped.
    She shook her head. “Shh… Listen to me. Just listen.
Please? This won’t hurt. I’m not here to hurt you. Trust me.”
    “Bite me! Who the hell are you? Let me go!” Malcolm
twisted against the clench of the rope, gnashing his teeth and not
caring about the tears stinging his eyes and face.
    “Be still, please!” She stroked his face, staring at
his mouth, leaning so close that strands of her hair tickled his
forehead. She kissed him. Hard. Forcing her tongue between his lips
until Malcolm jerked his head to the side. She drew back, but
nothing changed in her urgent expression. “All you have to do is
Touch me, okay? That’s all.”
    Malcolm yanked against the ropes. “How can I touch
you like this?”
    Her hand curled around his. She kissed him again
quick, before he could flinch away. Her words tumbled out fast.
Desperate. “Just Touch me. Touch me now.”
    “You are already touching me,” Malcolm protested.
    “No. You have to Touch me, Sidhe,” she insisted,
breathless with urgency. “Touch me. Touch me. Just Touch me.”
    He tugged against the ropes again. “I can’t touch you
like this.”
    “Let his hands up,” she told the goblins.
    They didn’t release his wrists, just let a couple
feet of slack into the ropes. A goblin, one on either side, forced
Malcolm’s hands into the woman’s.
    “Touch. Touch.” The goblins chanted.
    “Now, Touch me.” She curled her fingers into his
dirty palms.
    “I am touching you.”
    “Touch me, damn you!” She gripped his hands until her
nails stabbed into his palms.
    “I am touching you!”
    “He’s not doing it!” She snapped at the goblins. “You
promise he would Touch me!”
    “Touch… Touch…” The goblins chorused louder.
Viciousness dripped like venom from their snarls.
    “But I am touching you!” Malcolm searched her face,
and then the goblins’, for some kind of clue. Any hint at all. They
weren’t making any sense!
    “Liar!”
    The goblins unbound his feet. They flipped him face
down. Always so damn many goblins. Fighting always useless, but
Malcolm fought against them still. With his arms and legs
stretched, they bound him to the table once more.
    The woman snatched a fistful of Malcolm’s hair and
yanked his head back. What had been pretty about her before was
gone with her red-faced fury. Her lips curled back with hatred.
“You have to Touch me now!”
    “But I did!”
    The first strike of the whip sliced across his back.
The thin material of his t-shirt shredded. Malcolm screamed.
    “Touch!” The goblins spit at him.
    “Touch me, Sidhe!” The woman yelled, clutching his
hand.
    “I am!”
    “Again!” she snapped.
    The whip cracked again. The white hot burn of it
lanced across his flesh. Malcolm trembled, unable to process the
fullness of the pain. His own agonized outcry a foreign sound. Over
and over they demanded the ‘Touch’. Over and over they beat him.
Malcolm lost count how many times. His throat screamed