Hazel preening. The men jeering. Grimes grinning.
And Sophia in the middle of it all, dressed up like a pretty, if stained, porcelain doll, as though she should be having tea in some summer garden instead of digging a mass grave.
It was one of the most disturbing things, one of the most sickening things, one of the cruelest forms of torture that I'd ever seen - and there wasn't a damn thing that I could do about it.
More than once, I started forward, determined to slash my way to Sophia, no matter how suicidal that would be.
But every single time, Owen put his hand on my arm and kept me from giving in to my murderous rage. Even though I wanted nothing more than to leap out of the trees and cut down every single person I saw, I couldn't.
There were just too many men between her and me, not to mention Grimes and Hazel and their damned Fire power. They'd cut me down with their guns and magic before I could even get close to Sophia, much less rescue her.
Besides, I had Owen and Warren to think about too.
They'd come with me of their own accord, but I was still responsible for them. I might be okay risking my life but not theirs.
So I crouched there in the woods, and I watched the torture of someone I loved.
More than that, I memorized it - every gleeful yell, every crackle, pop, and sizzle of dead, smoking flesh, every foul smell that oozed through the air, every hiss of pain that escaped Sophia's burned, blistered lips.
Oh, yes, I watched, and I memorized every single black deed, every horrible thing, every bit of agony that Sophia was enduring. One by one, I embraced all of the sadistic terrors and the cold, black, unending rage that went along with them.
"What do you want to do, Gin?" Owen asked.
Hazel sent another blast of Fire magic into Sophia's back, causing Grimes and the rest of the men to howl with laughter again. The force of it made the dwarf clutch the shovel and hunch over in pain, but after a few seconds, she straightened back up and started digging again.
"The second that there's an opening, we rescue Sophia and get her the hell out of here. And while we're at it, we take these bastards out along the way," I said, my voice dripping with all the venom in my heart. "Every last one of them. No survivors - and absolutely no mercy."
Chapter Seventeen
Eventually, Hazel grew tired of her gruesome game and quit throwing her Fire magic at Sophia. The bodies continued to smolder, though, and I didn't see how Sophia kept from retching at the gruesome graveyard stench - or breaking down entirely.
"We've got some business to attend to back at camp.
You five, stay here and watch her," Grimes ordered some of his men. "She's a clever thing. Don't let her out of your sight, and don't go near her, no matter what. She's killed more than one man with a shovel."
Sophia spun the shovel around in her hands and gave the men on the bank a dark, toothy grin. More than one shuddered and looked away from her. Nobody wanted his skull bashed in, and they especially didn't want to end up in the pit with all of the other bodies. But the men did as Grimes ordered, drawing their guns and lining up on the dirt bank opposite her, making sure to keep well away from the edge of the pit.
Sophia studied them, considering her options, looking for any sign of weakness, just like I would have. But the men had the high ground and the guns, and she knew it.
So Sophia shrugged and went back to her digging, stabbing the shovel into the black earth, then swinging the dirt away in sharp, vicious arcs. I wondered if she was imagining that the earth was Grimes and Hazel. I would have been.
"Good," Grimes said in a pleased voice. "You've decided to behave. You see? We're making progress already.
I'll be back just as soon as I can, darling. Then we'll have a nice dinner and talk about our future here together."
Sophia kept her back to Grimes so he couldn't see the disgust on her face, and she kept right on digging, as if she hadn't even heard him.
But she wasn't the only one who didn't like his words.
Jealousy pinched Hazel's face, and she gave her brother an incredulous look. A few flames sparked on her fingertips, further hinting at her anger, but Hazel quickly curled her hand into a tight fist, smothering the Fire before anyone else noticed it. It seemed that Hazel didn't like it that Grimes was planning to devote so much of his time and attention to Sophia. I imagined that Hazel enjoyed playing queen of the mountain, given that I hadn't seen another woman in the entire camp.
Ever the gentleman, Grimes held out his arm to his sister. Hazel took it and shot Sophia a triumphant look, but the dwarf ignored her. Together, the siblings left the pit and headed back toward the main part of the camp, along with the rest of their men. The five whom Grimes had ordered to stay behind leaned against some of the sturdier-looking tombstones.
One minute slipped by, then another, then another.
Still, I waited, wondering if this might be some sort of trick, if Grimes and especially Hazel might double back and hide in the woods so they could torture Sophia some more, should she try to escape again. But five minutes passed, and they didn't reappear. Maybe they really did have some other business to take care of, after all. I wondered what was so important that Grimes would leave Sophia for it, especially when he'd just captured her again.
"How do you want to do this?" Owen whispered.
I stared at Grimes's men, who were standing roughly parallel to our position in the trees, before studying the landscape around us. Because this wasn't just about killing the men in front of me; it was also about making sure that we got Sophia away from Grimes forever.
Finally, I turned to Warren. "What's the fastest way back down the mountain to the car?"
He pulled his blue bandanna down from around his nose so he could answer me. "The same way we came up."
"There are no other shortcuts? No way we could get there quicker?"
He shook his head.
"What about Grimes and his men? Is there another trail that they could take to get in front of us and cut us off?"
Warren shook his head again. "Not a direct trail, no, although they can always just cut through the woods."
I nodded. It wasn't ideal, but there was nothing that I could do about it.
"And how do you want to take out those guys guarding her?" Owen asked.
I unzipped my backpack, drew out one of the silencers inside, and held it up where he could see it.
"Quietly," I said, passing the metal over to him. "I'll approach them head-on, while you sneak around behind them. We should be able to take them out before they realize that they're surrounded. But whatever happens, we can't let them get a shot off. That's my main worry, that they'll signal Grimes, and he'll realize that we're here to rescue Sophia."