THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

ever being chased by a morphing beast or fighting a croggle, but I’d survived both, so I saw no problem in going along with the request, even as terse as it sounded.
    I stuck out my other hand, both palms up to show I was no threat.
    The leader raised his spear to my throat. “Don’t move.”
    I figured that out on my own.
    A skinny kid around fourteen I hadn’t noticed before came out of nowhere and lashed red vines around both of my wrists before I could blink.
    I glared at the leader. Purple just topped the list of my least favorite colors. “A little unappreciative after I helped you kill that thing.”
    “You destroyed it.”
    “Agreed.” I enjoyed a moment of pride over having the skill–and strange internal power–to defeat a monster that huge. Something flickered in my memory.
    A ceremonial moment after I’d completed a similar kill.
    But the look on the leader’s face didn’t say thank you.
    Instead he snarled, “You destroyed all the croggle, leaving not an inch of skin or bones to be used. You ruined meat that could have fed our village for two weeks. And now that we have to deal with your arrival our hunting trip is curtailed.”
    Just. My. Luck . “Only trying to help you keep these children safe.”
    A female, maybe sixteen, stepped up to the leader. So there were girls here. She wore a muted burgundy tunic with a braided gold edge that stopped short of her knees and ankle-high skin boots like the rest of them. The boots were made of material that reminded me of animal skin, supple and breathable. Her hair fell in dark ringlets woven of blond and black, surrounding a stunning face...until her dull gray eyes slapped me with icy hatred.
    Ignoring my claim about trying to help, the leader spoke to the girl. “Is the child safe, Etoi?”
    “Yes, Callan.”
    “Did you contain the other two?”
    “Yes. The second team has them bound and waiting for your signal to return to the village.” 
    Just as I’d figured, this group had caught Gabby and Tony.
    What little good will I had toward anyone at this point was quickly sliding away, but I had to stay calm until I could figure out how to free Gabby and Tony. And after that, a way for the three of us to escape.
    I’d draw on that strange energy inside me when the time came. I just had to be careful around these small children.
    This Callan guy wheeled around to address the glum-faced pack of children circling him. They ranged in ages from ten to fifteen with mixed eye, hair and skin colors as if none were related, but dressed in three basic colors–mostly browns, a smattering of deep-reds and one golden color.
    Their leader might be older than me, maybe even eighteen or nineteen now that I’d studied him more. Hard to tell when someone had the honed edge of a warrior. He told his band, “We’ll find another food source we can defeat, or we’ll find something better for food. But now we must return to the village.” I heard a couple of rumbling grumbles, quickly suppressed. The leader obviously had the unhappy group under control.
    Someone poked me with the tip of a spear to get me moving. “Ouch.” I called out to Callan, “Would you tell them to stop stabbing me?”
    He again ignored me, striding ahead to lead the way.
    Just let me get my hands on another spear and I’d put a couple of holes in him. As I had no choice but to follow, I asked him, “Why are you taking us prisoner?” 
    He didn’t slow his stride or turn around. Instead he ordered, “Silence, tek-nah-tee.”
    That word again. What did it mean?
    Hopefully someone at this village we were going to was more open-minded than this guy.
    The two boys behind me spoke between themselves. One mumbled, “What do you think he’ll do with three tek-nah-tees?”
    When the second boy answered, his voice was flush with respect...or fear. “What would you do if a tek-nah-tee killed your brother the way his died? You saw what–”
    “Don’t talk about that. I couldn’t eat for two days after seeing the vid of what happened to him.”
    Who was this “he” they were talking about? Their leader?
    Should I be more concerned about being thought of as a tek-nah-tee, whatever that was, or finding out what this Callan had in mind for us?
    Both sounded deadly and unavoidable.
     

CHAPTER 11
     
    There had to be a way to escape without harming a child, but I hadn’t come up with it yet and only young ones surrounded me. And even if I did figure that out, I wasn’t sure I could