called an outsider with such disgust. They didn’t even pronounce it right. They said ootsider. “Two hundred.” Galaxy, he hoped that was enough. Enough to make these men wary and to buy him some time.
The head arse in charge furrowed his brow. Either he didn’t like the idea of two hundred men, or he couldn’t count that high. Bannon was betting on the latter.
The oaf turned to the man beside him, who was just as disgusting but more fit. “Tie them up. We heid out at first light.”
A shiver snaked down Bannon’s spine, and a sense of foreboding swirled within him. Galaxy help them, they were not only going to die, but if the IN found out they were here, their families and everyone back on Regelence could be in danger. The momentary escape from reality due to Louie being hit faded, and his mind raced, trying to figure a way out of this. He needed a miracle. His best bet was to play along until he could get free.
Grabbed from behind, his shoulders were wrenched up and his wrists tied painfully tight. He had no way to wiggle free of these ropes. Panic seized him, and the blood rushed from his head, leaving him cold in the face and light-headed.
Come on, Bannon, don’t give in to a fit of vapors. You’re better than that. We can get free. We have to.
He didn’t believe Timothy for one minute, and the weird flush was not receding. He tried to look up and blink away the odd sensation, but his body had had enough. Bending at the waist, he vomited all over the leader’s rough hide boots.
§ § § §
Bannon glanced down at his tied hands resting in his lap and grinned. Thank galaxy for bird-witted chawbacons. Every society had them, and Bannon had been lucky that Skye’s cockleheads were the ones holding him prisoner. The old “I have to go” ploy was not only good for stalling when one was forced to attend a ball they did not want to go to, but apparently it worked for thwarting bad guys too. Once the men had settled down to eat their dried meat, cheese, and bread—the savages hadn’t even offered him and Louie any—Bannon tried to think of any reason for them to untie him, so he’d finally settled on the excuse of relieving himself. And it worked! He’d been hoping only to get the ropes looser, but they’d tied his hands in front. He couldn’t believe his good fortune.
Bannon’s stomach growled as he watched one of the men shovel a piece of cheese past the scraggly mess that passed for a beard and mustache. Arsehat! Not only were the MacLeans—he’d heard one of the barbarians talking—horrible hosts and not feeding him, they were basically ignoring him and Louie as well. Which meant Bannon had a lot of time to think. Unfortunately his mind kept drifting back to his empty stomach and aching limbs. “Hey, Louie,” he whispered.
She had her head resting on his shoulder and rolled it upward to look at him through a veil of dark hair.
He brought his hands up and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “We need to go make sure there is nothing at the crash site that can identify us or Regelence,” he whispered.
She snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re tied up.”
Bannon beamed at her, then brought his wrists up in front of her face and wiggled his fingers.
For the first time all evening, she grinned, and relief hit Bannon so hard, he fancied he actually felt lighter. They were going to be okay. Somehow, someway, they’d make it. Now if the MacLeans would just go to sleep. Oh no! There might be a flaw in his plan. “You don’t suppose they will stay awake to guard us, do you?”
Louie shrugged, and he felt it against his side. “We’ll pretend to be asleep.”
Well, that was better than nothing. Who knew, maybe it would work. Pretending to have to relieve himself had. He supposed he’d fight if he had to. Glancing around, Bannon searched for a weapon close by. Several of the men had dirks.
We should shove those knives up their—
With a mental groan, Bannon cut Timothy off before he got going. If they were going to successfully escape, he needed his concentration.
His stomach growled again, which was not good for scheming.
The MacLeans all had swords, but he wasn’t at all positive he could lift the blasted things; they were bigger than