Gadruff was watching how four Khazâd were fighting with a cart that was threatening to tumble over and scatter its entire load. The ground was uneven here and one of the wheels had got stuck. The dwarves were swearing, grunting, pulling, and pushing, and still they couldn't get the wheel out. Gadruff saw that they were going to have to unload the cart, partially at least, but he wasn't saying anything.
It was an early afternoon and they had already moved quite a lot of stuff all the way to the river bank, with the first carts, that had been loaded and moved early in the morning, already making their third journey. If the weather kept, they'd have the whole load there by nightfall.
"Oi, Gadruff!" Karloff's voice was coming from behind, and Gadruff spun around to see the dwarf coming down the canyon angrily. "Did yer deny me my r'venge so tha' yer could freeze th' bitch in that cage? Yer still owe me munny fer her, yer know?"
"What the hell are you on about?" Gadruff scoffed.
"Go and see fer yerself," the dwarf pointed deeper into the canyon.
Gadruff gestured at the four Khazâd to carry on and marched up the gentle slope and past the narrowing formed by two giant boulders.
The cart carrying the cage with the infamous Biting Bitch, the nickname invented and popularised by no other than Karloff, was motionless on the side of the road, its dwarven driver enjoying some mulled cider by the fire.
This was the stopping point, where two bonfires were sheltered from the ceaseless wind by a group of big, scattered rocks, and it was here that the men and dwarves came to seek some rest and warmth. Normally Gadruff wouldn't have minded but not only the cage with the prisoner should have reached the river bank by now, it had also been left outside the little shelter and directly in the freezing drought coming from the river. It was snowing too.
He made a few steps forward to take a look at the little figure shivering inside. She had a single, small blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her bare feet, where the blanket didn't reach, were blue. How long had she been here?
At first, Gadruff felt a surge of satisfaction: she fully deserved this treatment for being such a pain in the arse. Then, reason kicked in and told him it was his investment wasting away here. Even if she didn't become ill before the transaction he hoped for was complete, he still risked his reputation - Gadruff had always been known for supplying quality slaves. He swore and strode angrily towards the driver.
"You! Olmen!" he snarled at the dwarf, not caring if the name was right or not. "You got my money ready?"
The dwarf called Olmen, a particularly short and completely bald fella, looked at the faces of two other men that were with him as if he wasn't sure who the boss was speaking to.
"Whut munny?" he asked.
"What money? Well," Gadruff threw his hands in the air as if he was some cheap comedian on a stage, "you've left my goods in the cold to waste away, so I suppose you are ready to pay for them, no?"
"Whut goods?"
The dwarf was either very stupid or simply obdurate. Gadruff pointed towards the prisoner.
"Her?" Olmen shrugged. " Yer can't mano'uvre tha' cart inta' here so whut d' yer wan' me t' do with 'er? Let 'er out or whut? "
"Blankets, you prick! Ever heard of them?" he snarled.
Olmen stood up from his place and Gadruff noticed he had been sitting on a thick grey blanket folded many times over and placed on a flat stone. He grabbed it with furious huff.
"Pray she doesn't fall ill or your life isn't worth a shite" he hissed.
He walked back to the cage quickly and held the blanket out so that the prisoner could reach it.
"Here," he said gruffly. "Take this."
The girl didn't move at first, as if she didn't hear him, and he kicked the wheel of the cart to get her attention. She raised her head then, her teeth chattering from cold, her eyes red and her face covered in a marble pattern of bluish blotches. She looked at him with a pained expression and shivered even more violently when the icy wind blew over her exposed neck.
The cage was big and she had to get up to reach the blanket Gadruff was holding just outside the bars. She made a motion to rise and failed. She tried again and fell back down, and Gadruff realised she had difficulty controlling her own body.
With a rising panic he patted his pockets searching for the key. He found it, and quickly walked around the cart to cut a couple of thin leather straps off the horse's harness, then he jumped onto the cart to unlock the cage. He hesitated for a moment.
"If you try to bite me, I'll break every bone in your body, money or not," he warned even though he had a suspicion she didn't hear him because she had drawn her head back into her arms, her body convulsing.
He stepped into the cage, threw the blanket over her and knelt directly behind. He grabbed one of her hands as she was trying to tighten the fabric. There was no resistance and within seconds she was bound, arms and legs, only a whimper of pain escaping her lips when both blankets fell off. He quickly felt her body, covered by a flimsy nightdress, and swore to himself. She was cold as ice.
Seething with fury at Stanid and Olmen, he wrapped her up with the coarse fabric, scooped her in his arms, kicked the cage door open, jumped off the cart and rushed towards the fire. The group gathered there watched him with alarm.
"What the hell is wrong with all of you?" he growled at them as he was seating her down as close as possible to the bonfire. "It's only a damned girl. Have you all gone mad?" He shook his head. "And get some more blankets, bloody cowards!"
There was no answer from them and he wasn't expecting any. He rubbed her arms and her back to get the blood going in her veins, and slowly some colour returned to her face. Not only blankets but also a tumbler of mulled cider materialised in front of them quite quickly, and he put the drink in her bound hands and helped her take the first sip.
"Why the hell didn't you say something to those idiots?" he asked quietly when her convulsions subsided and she looked coherent enough to converse. "Were you trying to kill yourself or what?"
"No," she answered softly and took another sip of the steaming hot liquid.
He waited for her to say more but she kept drinking, taking little sips of cider, her eyes staring either into the tumbler or at the fire. Gadruff instantly saw through her pose: she wanted him to get worried, to start pressing her for answers. He smirked under his nose and took out his pipe. Two could play that game.
He blew through the pipe to make sure it was nice and clean inside, and was just reaching to his shirt pocket for the pouch of Shire Leaf when he heard the question.
"Why did you kill him?" her voice was quiet and emotionless as before.
He carefully kept his eyes on the pipe as he methodically measured out three pinches of roughly cut leaves, rubbing each pinch between his fingers to make sure there was no lumps. He pressed each portion down with a piece of carved wood - a beautiful tamper gifted to him long ago by a halfling whose name he didn't recall - then pried a burning twig out of the bonfire and lit the pipe, a slightly spicy taste spilling on his tongue as he pulled the smoke gently. Only then did he look at the girl.
"Killed whom?" he asked levelly.
She said nothing but her eyes didn't shift away from his face. These were incredibly blue eyes, he noticed, and the light in them was cold and mocking.
He sighed quietly and glanced in the direction of the three pervious idiots and the four Khazâd who had won their battle against the cart and were seeking some rest. More people were coming up and down the canyon, but everybody kept a safe distance from the Biting Bitch. He grimaced at such cowardice but was glad they didn't hear the conversation.
"What makes you think I killed him?" he murmured.
She finished her drink and dropped the tumbler on the grass, then shifted in his direction despite her bound limbs. An alarmed shuffling and grunts of warning came from the other men, but Gadruff didn't allow himself to flinch. Instead of vicious teeth, a pair of small, bound hands extended towards his pipe. Slightly surprised, he handed it over.
She took it gingerly, a bit clumsily because of her bonds. She brought it closer to her face, and Gadruff tensed for a split second thinking that maybe she was going to harm herself somehow, but she looked the pipe over with the curiosity of a child, then placed it in her lips and sucked on it gently. For a moment everything was fine, but then her eyes widened and watered, her face reddened, and she looked as if she was going to suffocate. The captain realised she had inhaled the smoke into her chest and pried the pipe out of her fingers before the coughing started. It was strong and long, and he had to smack her back when the air got trapped in her lunges, and he steadied her because bound limbs didn't let her keep her balance when she coughed particularly violently. She gagged a few times but thankfully didn't throw up and finally her body calmed down and she slumped against his chest, her breathing laboured.
"Goodness," she whispered at last, not without difficulty, "how can you enjoy such a thing?"
"Not so tough, are you?" he chuckled, readjusting the blankets around her small form, and suddenly he realised just how ridiculous the notion of her being the fearsome beast, the Biting Bitch, was. He frowned and said, quietly and without any pretense in his voice, "You are such a puny thing! Mind telling me how you killed the dwarf?"
She actually smiled turning her head up to look at him.
"I was first with my question. Why did you kill Jorr?"
"Why," he grimaced. "Do you miss him?"
"No," she looked away from his face for a moment and then her gaze returned, her eyes hard. "He was ten times the monster you are. You did mankind a great service. I'm just asking about your reasons because you have clearly damaged your business."
Gadruff glared at her. "What do you mean by 'ten times the monster', woman," he growled angrily.
She looked at him without fear. "You put bonds on women's arms and legs, Jorr put bonds on their minds. You lock them up in cages made of wood and iron, he locked them in cages made of guilt and belief that they deserve everything that is happening to them." Her voice changed as she was speaking, it dropped into a whisper and trembled. "I've met monsters like him before. They put you in a prison of mind you can't see and you can't get out of long after your physical bonds have been cut."
Gadruff watched her intensely with a deep frown on his forehead. "I'm not sure I understand," he admitted. "What did he do to you? Did he..." he wasn't really sure what he wanted to ask.
She shook her head. "Not to me, no. But the other women... Have you ever wondered why they were so obedient, so... meek?"
Gadruff nodded. "Whatever he did, they were nice and plump, without cuts and bruises, and they fetched me fair prices. I wondered how he got them to smile at their future masters, but I could never grumble, could I? I have no idea what you are talking about. Did he use magic?"
She wanted to answer but a spell of violent cough shook her body again and Gadruff drew his arm around her shoulders to steady her.
"Tut tut. Yer truly hav' become a romantic now - holdin' her eva so gently" sneered Karloff who had just rounded one of the big boulders and saw the scene. "Go on, giv' her a kiss!"
Gadruff turned his head to scowl at him. "Fuck off, Karl!" he spat. "You should be out on the hunt already."
The dwarf ignored this comment and came close. "She's healin' well," he said looking at her bruised face. "Ther' won't be ev'n a trace."
"Heard what I said?"
"Yeah, yeah," Karloff stepped back and out of Gadruff's immediate reach. "Jus' wanted t' watch a bit. Yer know, in case yer wanted t' show us why yer do what it is yer do," he said mockingly. "Or hav' yer sudd'nly gone shy?" he grinned but seeing Gadruff's expression he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "O'right, o'right, I'm going!"
When the dwarf vanished from view, Gadruff removed his arm. Before, there was something in the air, some connection with the girl. It was gone now.
"We'll talk later, lass," he picked her up and carried her back to the cage.
"Forget it," she whispered when he seated her on the cart and reached for his knife to cut her bonds. "I don't even know why I said anything."
"It's easy," he gave her a condescending smile. "I'm the man who can let you out of this cage."
She raised her eyebrows and looked around at men and dwarves scattered in the vicinity - they were all looking at her and at the captain. "Are you really?" she smirked.
Gadruff looked around as well and saw not only guarded, superstitious expressions, but greed and expectations running high. The trader in him understood he had walked into his own trap.
