Bound
A Short Story
He rode on the horse, but he kept the woman walking ahead of him, always in sight. The dark, hand-braided rope that bound the entirety of her upper body was anchored at the other end of its length around his waist.
He knew she was too weak to get away, but not too weak to cause real trouble if he gave her the chance. She’d already tried spooking the horse once, but the horse had seen a lot and wasn’t spookable and the man had climbed down from the saddle and backhanded her across the face with all of his strength. Blood flew from her split lip and her knees had buckled, but her eyes stayed hard and dangerous. She straightened up quickly, as though they were playing a game she was eager to continue. Then her tongue darted out to taste the blood that ran from her nose and lip. Seeming almost satisfied by it, as though she had achieved something.
He drew his hand across his pants to clean it, leaving a bright smudge that he scowled at. He made a sharp warning gesture and got back on the horse. They walked on, keeping to the forest as always, crossing any stretches of open ground at night when they could not be spotted from the sky.
He respected the woman’s deadliness, but now that she was contained by the rope he only truly feared the leather-winged creatures that were the size of three bulls and could fall from the sky like doom. And…
