Keyholder Demoness Bk. 02 Ch. 01

"Those two who are pulling the wagon don't have arms!" Charity said. "I'm having enough trouble with English these days... Wait! Maybe their arms are bound behind their backs somehow..."

"Fuck!" Faith said. She turned to Hope. "Does your world have slavery?"

Hope stared blankly at Faith for a moment, then began speaking in her own language again.

"Do they have slavery here?" Faith asked Charity.

"Uh... Look at Hope's wrists and ankles! She's wearing permanent cuffs with convenient attachment points.. Of course they have slavery here!"

Hope started pulling on Charity's arm. Charity turned to look at Hope, who was pointing up the mountain into the forest. "Go!" Hope said.

"She wants us to go hide," Charity said.

"No!" Faith said. "We need information. We have to communicate with the natives some time. How else will we ever find Blue and that Dammasch bitch?"

Hope grabbed Charity's arm again. "We... go!" She pointed into the forest. "Fai-" Hope pointed at the road. She pointed to herself and Charity again, then her eyes, then the forest.

"I think that she wants you to meet the people here on the road," Charity interpreted, "and she and I will stay hidden. Then we can jump out if they are hos... hos... uh, mean."

"What?! What are the two of you going to do? Yell 'Boo!'" Faith whispered. "Neither of you are exactly frightening. You are two little, pint-sized waifs! Hope is naked and weighted down by so many metal chains that she rattles like a tambourine if you pick her up and shake her. And you once said in a job interview that your strongest trait is your ability to listen."

"I feel like I should know this. What is a tambourine?" Charity asked.

Faith groaned. "Two of us should stay on the road. Only one should hide. Besides, I've got this." She pulled out the revolver.

"Put that fucking thing away!" Charity whispered. "Please don't shoot anybody!"

"We will have the advantage if two of them are attached to a cart. I just have to shoot the one person," Faith explained.

"Ok. Ok. Hope! You go!" Charity pointed to the forest. Faith and I will stay here.

Hope grabbed Charity's hand and held it up to her cheek. Then she turned and climbed up into the forest. She stepped behind a tree and disappeared from sight.

"So, now we wait, I guess," Charity said.

"Yep. Hey, put your shirt back on," Fatih replied.