Payment on the Go

Simbre took Malik by the hand, guiding him away from the wagon. Malik had never even kissed a woman before. Many girls had talked with him at inns and taverns. Abrie had always joked that he had a way with the ladies. He had always feared them in secret. 

Malik tried not to think too much. If he did, he would run and make a fool of himself. Didn’t everyone dream of marriage someday? Simbre was not an ugly woman, shouldn’t he find this joyous?

Simbre moved Malik to a white-clothed tent. 

“You will be prepared here.” 

Malik swallowed a lump in his throat. This is how stories talked of becoming a man. There was nothing better in all the world, the books told him. 

 “Lay down,” Simbre said, pointing toward a bedroll in the center of the tent. 

Malik did not question. He was too nervous to question anything. 

“Get comfortable,” Simbre said, bending down toward Malik. “You will be fine.” 

Malik chuckled a nervous laugh. “Oh yeah, sure.”  

“I am glad you have come around.” Simbre’s hand grazed over Malik’s cheek like a mother patting her child. 

Simbre stood. Malik watched every step she took as she made her way across the tent. He hoped she had changed her mind. Maybe he could play a few songs instead. That would make everyone happy, and he could move on with his life. 

What did moving on with life entail now? If Abrie died, then there was nothing for him anywhere in the world. If Mollie hated him too, then he had nothing. Maybe he could become a Borrower and live happily with them.

Simbre left the tent. Malik leaned forward, eyeing the tent flap. He could make a run for it and get to the medical tent. Maybe Abrie was better. The old man had a way about surprising people. At least he did in the last week. 

“There he is,” Simbre said, coming back into the room.  

Malik looked from the opening to the flap that Simbre had left out of. Simbre had come back with a young girl. The girl wore a white gown on her body and fresh tears on her cheeks.  

“What is going on?” 

Simbre put her hand on the back of the girl’s neck. “This is my daughter.” 

 “What is she doing here?” 

Simbre did not look like the motherly type anymore. Her face had drawn back, and Malik saw all the faults in her features. 

“She is who you will give your life to.” 

The girl looked no more excited than Malik to be here in the tent. The stories were a lie. It was not what he wanted. At least not right now. 

“She does not want to be here.” Malik thought it was obvious. Couldn’t Simbre see that? 

“She will do what is needed of her.” Simbre did not look toward her daughter. She showed no emotion to the sobbing girl beside her. 

“She does not want that.” 

“Fear is something everyone has. Every woman fears giving their lives to a man. It will pass and you will both be happier after.”

“I do not think so.”  

Malik stood. He had every intention of getting out of the tent. 

“This is how you have agreed to repay us for saving your friend.” Simbre sounded offended Malik had gotten up from the bedroll. 

“I don’t even know what I promised. This is not something that someone promises away. This is wrong.”  

Simbre looked confused. “What did you think would happen?” 

Malik held his hands out in front of him. “I don’t know. This does not happen every day to me. I didn’t know what to say, and now I do.”

“You are being a child.” 

“I do not have time for this. I have to find Mollie and check on my friend.” 

“You cannot go without paying up your part of this deal.” 

Malik pointed toward the girl beside Simbre. “She is your daughter. How could you do that to your daughter?” 

Malik had seen some cruel people across his travels with Abrie. He had thought he saw the worst of them, but Simbre showed him that surprises came in all packages. 

“She will conform.” Simbre squeezed the girl’s neck. “Tell him you are ready for this. Tell him to sit back down on the bed.”  

 “I need not hear forced words of fear. I cannot force your daughter to leave your company, but I would suggest she stay in the next town.” Malik stepped forward to leave the tent.  

His priorities were not in this tent. He should have followed Mollie. Simbre had used her presence to lure him away. As Abrie would have told him, he had been dumb. Abrie would have put it better than that, but Malik did not have the time for fancy words. 

“Thank you for saving my friend.” Malik started toward the tent flap. “We all appreciate your efforts, but I think it is time we gathered our things and headed out.” 

A hand pressed into the chest of Malik, pushing him back into the tent. 

“Ahh, Zimbre, so nice of you to join us.” 

Malik moved a few steps back, taking a better look at Zimbre. Malik assumed that this man was also a son of Simbre. Unlike Timbre, this son was large, muscular, and he looked less than happy. 

“I was just leaving,” Malik said, not daring to step forward. 

Zimbre shook his head. “I do not think I heard a dismissal.” 

Malik looked over to Simbre. She still held her daughter by the base of the neck. Malik wondered if she let go if the girl would bolt for the nearest exit. Then he thought again. Zimbre towered over the only exit Malik could see.  

“I don’t want any problems. I just want to gather my friends and be on our way.” 

“We all want you to get back to your friends. We would love nothing more than for you to all be on your way happy and healthy,” Simbre said. “However, first you must repay our efforts.”

Malik fished around in his pockets. He did not have much coin, but there was enough there for him to at least offer. He pulled out the handful. 

“You can have this and all the coins in Abrie’s supplies. I know it isn’t much, but it is what we have to pay you back.”

“That is not the agreed upon terms to our deal. You followed without a pause. This is what you wanted.”

Malik thought about running through Zimbre. Then he thought it would be the equivalence of running into a brick wall. 

“I was confused. I had just seen that monster. Mollie had stormed off. My friend is dying, and I don’t know what I am doing.”  

“I said a life for a life.” 

“But I did not understand it. I was clouded. I want to leave.” Malik sounded like a panicked child. 

“You understood.” 

This is why Abrie never let him out of his sight. He always got himself into a mound of trouble. This time it was more of a mountain. Malik drew in a deep breath. There had to be a way out of this.

“I just want to go.”

 “You will go, right after you pay.” 

Simbre stepped forward, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Do not make this hard on yourself.” 

Malik would have believed she cared for his feelings. Her voice was soft, her eyes reassuring, and her touch gentle, but he looked again to the girl behind her. She would sacrifice her daughter’s feelings for a deal. That meant she was not a good person. 

Malik wanted to plead with Simbre again. Maybe he could play to her emotions. Timbre had seemed like such a nice man. Maybe Zimbre would listen to him. Malik turned, looking at Zimbre. He did not look like anything in this whole ordeal had moved him an inch. Malik was not getting out of this. 

He took a few steps back. He would have to fight Zimbre. There was not any other solution. This would have been a good time to have grabbed his bow.  

Simbre stepped in front of her son. “Do nothing foolish.” 

Malik planned something very foolish. He would step forward, swing on Zimbre, and hope in the initial shock he could run right by him. After that, everything else was up in the air. He still had to make it through the camp, to the medical tent, gather Abrie, find Mollie, get the mules, and then run away without being caught. It was a horrible plan and doomed to fail, but he had nothing else. 

“Move.” 

“I will not allow you to ruin this moment.” 

Malik was not sure what kind of moment Simbre thought they had, but no one in the tent smiled. Even Zimbre looked frustrated that he had to be here. 

“One more chance,” Malik said. 

He made empty threats. Zimbre would destroy him. 

Simbre stepped forward but did not get to Malik before Zimbre let out a groan. Zimbre fell to his knees, holding his midsection in both hands. His sister was behind him. She had moved when no one paid attention to her. She had dropped Zimbre to his knees in a world of pain. 

Malik realized he would never get a better opportunity. He grabbed the girl by her wrist and ran. He could hear Simbre yelling for him to stop. When he refused, she yelled at Zimbre to get them back into the tent. 

Malik continued to run. There were so many things that would have to go right for this to work and he doubted he would ever get that far, but he just ran. He ran first to the wagon where they had been keeping the monster. There he found Mollie. She looked up at him alarmed.

“We have to go, now!” Malik grabbed her by the wrist with his free hand. Lugging both women behind him, Malik started off toward the medical tents. He had not expected to get this far. There was no panic in the camp. No rushing of the guards around the perimeters. 

Simbre had not been around to tell anyone what had happened. He may pull this off on pure luck. He stopped at the entrance to the medical tent. Callie and Sally were still where he had left them. 

“You two stay here with the mules. If I don’t come back out, then you two run into the woods. We have to get out of here, fast.” 

Mollie tried to ask something, but Malik stopped her.

“I know I have a lot to answer for, but right now, just please trust me.” 

Mollie closed her mouth, watching him enter the tent. 

Malik ran past the other patients. He ran past the waiting area, where they had been earlier. He ran to the tent flap where he had seen Timbre go to the nurse. Behind the curtain was another small section. Here there was a narrow hallway leading back into a bigger room. The doctor leaned against a small desk smoking a cigar. His nurse leaned over Abrie, who stirred under his covers. 

“Oh hello,” the doctor said, startled that Malik had barged into the room. “You must be the friend?” 

Malik decided not to answer. He did not have time to have a pointless chat with the doctor. Malik ran to the bed, pulling the covers away from Abrie. 

“Get up!” 

Abrie’s eyes peeked open. Malik wondered he could hear him. 

“Come on, Abrie.” 

Abrie groaned but did not move to follow Malik. The nurse stepped beside Malik. 

“Your friend will need to stay with us for some time,” she said. “His wounds were deep, and he will not walk until the lesion has healed.” 

Malik looked from Abrie to the nurse and then down to Abrie’s stomach. The stitching looked angry and red. The nurse was right. Abrie would be doing nothing under his own duress for some time. 

That meant Malik had to carry him. Malik put his hands under Abrie’s neck and back. He was just about to lift him when the doctor stepped forward, pressing a needle into his arm. 

Malik looked down, watching the doctor press the stopper. Whatever was in the needle had not been for Malik’s benefit. He felt woozy. His legs shook, and the room spun. Malik felt like vomiting all over but fell to the floor. 

“Get him into the strap-downs.” 

Malik tried to stay focused. He needed to get up and get Abrie before Simbre got around to informing the rest of the camp what had occurred. He needed to get back to Mollie and the girl. Malik needed to do a lot of things, but he could do none of them. He leaned his head back onto the floor and closed his eyes.