Read Online The Feral Sentence - Part One by G. C. Julien - Free Book Online Page A

I
picked one up and rubbed my thumbs against the grainy
leather.
    “ Lookin’ for something?” the woman asked.
    “ Um, yeah,” I said. “Just a pouch. Oh—and maybe a belt.” I
raised the leather to eye level. “How much?”
    “ How much you got?” she asked.
    I
hesitated. Did the price really depend on how many pearls I was
carrying? What kind of a store was this?
    “ Well?”
    I opened
my palm.
    “ Seven.”
    “ That pouch is six pearls,” she said nonchalantly before
turning to her chiseling.
    I couldn’t help but feel as though I was being conned, but who
was I to argue? I needed the pouch.
    I held on to the item and approached the merchant. I’d been
about to hand over my pearls when I heard someone walk
in.
    “ Hey, sup, Hammer?” Ellie asked.
    The
woman grunted.
    “ You buying something, Brone?”
    I
nodded.
    “ Whatcha got there?” she asked me.
    I
extended the leather pouch, and she pulled it out of my
hand.
    “ Nice,” she said. “How much you charging this time,
Ham?”
    “ Four,” the woman growled.
    “ You said six,” I said.
    Ellie laughed, although I knew she hadn’t found this
funny.
    “ Six pearls? For a flimsy little sack of leather?” she wiggled
the pouch in front of Hammer’s face who immediately lost her
nonchalant attitude.
    “ I said four,” she said.
    “ But you originally asked for six. Is this how you treat
newcomers? By ripping them off?”
    Hammer didn’t speak, and I suddenly felt very uneasy. I didn’t
want to be hated by someone else.
    “ It’s okay,” I said, “I’ll pay the four.”
    “ No, you won’t,” Ellie said. “Hammer knows better.”
    I could see the fury building behind Hammer’s eyes, but it was
evident that Ellie had some kind of leverage over her.
    “ You need anything else?” Ellie asked me.
    I shook my head, even though I’d hoped to get myself a belt. I
couldn’t risk being completely despised.
    “ In that case, you get one pearl,” Ellie said, “and even that’s
generous.”
    She pulled a pearl out of my palm, dropped it onto Hammer’s
lap, then poured my remaining pearls into my new pouch before
leading me out of the tent. I hoped I wouldn’t have to return to
the Tools tent anytime soon, but that was wishful
thinking.
    “ That was close,” Ellie said, as we walked out into the
open.
    I wasn’t sure whether to thank her or scold her. I could have
handled myself.
    “ Oh don’t look at me like that,” she said. “You almost got
gypped.”
    “ And now Hammer hates me,” I said.
    “ What do you care? You’ll always have enemies here on the
island, Brone. But if you let them push you around, you’ll become a
victim.”
    I parted my lips to thank her, suddenly realizing that she was
right, but the sound of rapid footsteps caught my attention. They
were walking right toward me—Trim and her usual crew. There were
about six other women behind them, and the only face I recognized
was Sunny’s.
    “ There’s a drop coming,” Trim said.
    She threw a bow into my hands, and I nearly dropped it. Was
this a joke? I hadn’t received proper training. I didn’t know how
to hit a target. What good would I be with a bow?
    And what
was a drop, anyways?

CHAPTER
7

    If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have assumed we were running
from a wild panther. I’d fallen to the back of the line, with Trim
and her crew at the front and Sunny and the other women following
closely behind.
    They hopped and lunged forward over fallen trees, masses of
muddy water, and even animal carcasses. It was already hard enough
keeping pace; it was even harder with an oversized wooden bow in
one hand and a loose pouch filled with pearls. Trim had tied a
quiver around my shoulders, and I could feel the arrows bouncing up
and down as I ran forward. I feared they might go flying out, but
they did no such thing.
    I glanced back several times as we ran, praying no one, or
nothing, was following us. I could see an opening up ahead, and I
realized