The Last Straw
Sep. 14th, 2022 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mylandmyrules[Events taken from Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter.
Some liberties have been taken to merge canon with Fandom.]
Two days later Soulwood woke her just before dawn when eight churchmen set foot on her property. She'd thought she had longer, but she was wrong.
Nell prepared, knowing she would die - or kill - before she'd let them take her back into the church. She sat on her back porch, John's hunting rifle cradled in her arms and waited. One tripped and scraped his arm on a root. His skin ripped and two drops of his blood landed on the ground. That was one.
Another stumbled and bit his tongue. The bloody saliva from his spit made him two. Six to go.
She was ready.
But then as they stepped out if the woods her heart caught. They weren't men. They were boys, not one of them older than fifteen. The church had sent children to murder her if she wouldn't come with them.
They couldn't make her kill children.
She fired a warning shot over their heads, but they were not going to be deterred. She took a breath, terrified for all of them, and then she felt a shift in Soulwood. A truck had pulled up the hill and into her drive and the boys froze.
Nell heard a voice over what sounded like a bullhorn or loudspeaker from the truck. Thad Rankin and his boys, of Rankin Replacements and Repairs, were there to fix the damages from the attack the day before and Mr. Rankin told them in no uncertain terms to get out and back to their homes. They fled.
And Nell made it inside the house, relief burning in her, and dropped to the sofa, trembling. When Mr. Rankin came to check on her, his eyes widening at her cut and badly bruised face, she was crying as she hadn't cried since she'd buried Leah. "They were children," she sobbed. "They were just children!"
They'd never stop. And next time there wouldn't be anyone to save her.
It was then she made up her mind.
"Mr. Rankin," she said, once she'd composed herself somewhat. "Seems to me I need to get myself to somewhere a bit safer for a while. Do you know anyone who might be willing to stand as caretaker for my house and land for a while? I have money put away to pay for what's needful."
And that afternoon she went to the library and made arrangements to leave for Fandom by the end of the week. She might not know anyone there anymore, but she wouldn't have to choose between her life and the lives of misguided children.
Some liberties have been taken to merge canon with Fandom.]
Two days later Soulwood woke her just before dawn when eight churchmen set foot on her property. She'd thought she had longer, but she was wrong.
Nell prepared, knowing she would die - or kill - before she'd let them take her back into the church. She sat on her back porch, John's hunting rifle cradled in her arms and waited. One tripped and scraped his arm on a root. His skin ripped and two drops of his blood landed on the ground. That was one.
Another stumbled and bit his tongue. The bloody saliva from his spit made him two. Six to go.
She was ready.
But then as they stepped out if the woods her heart caught. They weren't men. They were boys, not one of them older than fifteen. The church had sent children to murder her if she wouldn't come with them.
They couldn't make her kill children.
She fired a warning shot over their heads, but they were not going to be deterred. She took a breath, terrified for all of them, and then she felt a shift in Soulwood. A truck had pulled up the hill and into her drive and the boys froze.
Nell heard a voice over what sounded like a bullhorn or loudspeaker from the truck. Thad Rankin and his boys, of Rankin Replacements and Repairs, were there to fix the damages from the attack the day before and Mr. Rankin told them in no uncertain terms to get out and back to their homes. They fled.
And Nell made it inside the house, relief burning in her, and dropped to the sofa, trembling. When Mr. Rankin came to check on her, his eyes widening at her cut and badly bruised face, she was crying as she hadn't cried since she'd buried Leah. "They were children," she sobbed. "They were just children!"
They'd never stop. And next time there wouldn't be anyone to save her.
It was then she made up her mind.
"Mr. Rankin," she said, once she'd composed herself somewhat. "Seems to me I need to get myself to somewhere a bit safer for a while. Do you know anyone who might be willing to stand as caretaker for my house and land for a while? I have money put away to pay for what's needful."
And that afternoon she went to the library and made arrangements to leave for Fandom by the end of the week. She might not know anyone there anymore, but she wouldn't have to choose between her life and the lives of misguided children.