"Let her go."
Lisa's hand was locked around Mary's thin wrist. The girl stood beside her, trembling.
In front of them stood a man in his forties. He wore a dark blue coat with brass buttons that probably cost more than most people in York made in a year. His boots were clean leather, polished to a shine. His hair was oiled back and gleaming in the morning sun. Gold rings sat on three of his fingers and a silver chain hung around his neck. Everything about him screamed wealth, careful grooming, status.
But all Lisa saw was a thug in expensive clothes.
Behind him stood two men. Bodyguards. Big, scarred, with hands resting on clubs at their belts.
The well-dressed man's smile was thin and polite, the kind that didn't reach his eyes. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."
"She's not a thing," Lisa said.
"Legally speaking, she is." His voice was calm and conversational, almost like they were discussing the weather. "Mary is my property. Purchased and paid for through legitimate debt transfer. All very official, I assure you."
"She's a child."
"She's a slave." He tilted his head slightly. "You're not from here, are you? Your accent is unusual and your clothes are strange. Foreign, clearly. Which explains why you don't understand how things work in civilized society."
Lisa's jaw clenched. "Civilized? You call this civilized?"
"I call it legal." The man's smile widened slightly. "But let's not quarrel. I'm a reasonable man. MARY!" His voice sharpened. "Come here. Right now."
Mary flinched. Her whole body went rigid and Lisa felt her try to pull away.
"Miss, please," Mary whispered. "Please let me go."
"I'm not letting him take you."
"You don't understand!" Mary's voice broke. "My family! If I don't go back, he'll make trouble for them. Please. I have to go."
Lisa's grip loosened slightly. "Your family?"
"My father still owes him money. If I run, if I cause problems..." Tears were forming in Mary's eyes. "Please, miss. I don't want them to suffer more because of me."
Lisa's mind raced. Her family was still in debt to this bastard? So Mary wasn't just his slave, she was leverage. If she ran, he'd go after them.
The man stepped forward. "You see? Even the child understands reality better than you do. Now." His voice hardened. "Release her. Immediately."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll have my men take her from you by force." He gestured lazily at the bodyguards. "Though I'd rather avoid unpleasantness. Bad for business, all this public drama."
Lisa looked at the bodyguards. Both were watching her carefully with their hands ready on their clubs. The younger one, maybe mid-twenties, had a fresh scar across his jaw. The older one was missing part of his left ear.
"Try it," Lisa said.
The man's eyebrows rose. "I beg your pardon?"
"I said try it. Let's see how your goons handle a woman who actually fights back."
For a moment something flickered in the man's expression. Surprise, maybe. Or amusement.
Then he laughed, a short and sharp sound. "Oh, I like you. Spirit. Fire. Completely misguided, of course, but entertaining nonetheless." He took another step forward. "Allow me to introduce myself. Edmund Weston. Merchant, moneylender, and as of six months ago, Mary's legal owner."
"Congratulations. You're a piece of shit with a fancy coat."
Edmund's smile vanished.
"I've been called worse by better people," he said quietly. "But here's what's going to happen. You're going to release my property. You're going to apologize for wasting my time. And then you're going to leave York before nightfall because I have friends in the bailiff's office and I don't appreciate foreigners disrupting my business."
"Go fuck yourself."
Edmund's jaw tightened. Then he raised his voice. "ATTENTION!"
The market square went quiet. People stopped their conversations, their bargaining, their work. Heads turned toward them.
"Anyone who helps me retrieve my property," Edmund announced loudly enough for everyone to hear, "will receive TWO silver pieces!"
Lisa felt the shift immediately. The crowd had been watching with mild curiosity before but now something changed in their eyes. They looked hungry, that particular kind of hunger that came when money was involved. Two silver was good money, the kind most of these people didn't see often.
An old woman was the first to move. She stepped forward and grabbed Lisa's left arm with surprising strength.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
Then a young man lunged forward and grabbed her right arm. A middle-aged merchant joined him and seized her shoulder. More hands grabbed her from behind, too many to count.
"LET GO!" Lisa twisted and tried to break free but there were too many of them. Five people now. Six. Their grips were strong and determined.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"
The old woman's face was apologetic but her grip didn't loosen. "Sorry, dear. But two silver is two silver."
"MARY!" Edmund's voice cut through everything. "Come. Here. NOW."
Mary stood frozen with tears streaming down her face. "Master Edmund, please..."
"I didn't ask for your opinion. I gave you an order."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"You embarrassed me. Made me chase you through the city like some common criminal tracking stolen goods." Edmund unbuckled his belt slowly and deliberately. "Do you know how that makes me look?"
Lisa's blood ran cold. "Don't you fucking dare..."
The belt came down across Mary's back.
CRACK!
Mary screamed.
"NO!" Lisa thrashed against the hands holding her but the old woman's grip was like iron. "LET ME GO! LET ME..."
CRACK!
The belt struck again, harder this time. Mary collapsed to her knees and her small body convulsed with sobs.
"You think you can run?" Edmund's voice was calm and conversational again, like he was teaching a simple lesson. "Think you can hide from me in MY city?"
CRACK!
The leather split fabric and skin. Blood appeared on Mary's dress, a dark red stain spreading across her back.
"STOP IT! YOU FUCKING BASTARD, STOP..." Lisa was screaming now and fighting with everything she had. Her voice was raw. "SHE'S A CHILD!"
CRACK!
Mary wasn't trying to get away anymore. She was just curled up on the ground with her arms over her head, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
The crowd watched in silence. Some people looked uncomfortable and shifted on their feet. Most just looked away and focused on their stalls, their goods, anything but the girl bleeding in the dirt.
The younger bodyguard was staring at Mary. His jaw was clenched tight and his hand was white-knuckled around his club. For just a second his eyes met Lisa's and she saw something there. Disgust. Shame, maybe. But he didn't move. Didn't say anything.
Edmund raised the belt again.
"LISA!"
The voice cut through everything like a knife.
Lisa's head whipped around. "Alex?!"
He was shoving through the crowd and his face was dark with fury. When he saw her, saw the people holding her, saw Mary on the ground, his expression went cold and dangerous.
He grabbed the young man holding Lisa's right arm and threw him backward. The man crashed into a vegetable cart and sent turnips rolling across the cobblestones.
"Get your hands off her."
The others released Lisa immediately and backed away with their hands up.
Lisa stumbled forward, free. She started toward Edmund with rage burning white-hot in her chest but Alex caught her arm.
"Wait."
"Let me go! That piece of shit is..."
"I know. I see it." Alex's voice was tight and controlled. His eyes were fixed on the scene in front of them.
Mary on the ground, bleeding. Edmund standing over her with the belt still in his hand. Blood on the leather. The two bodyguards flanking him and watching Alex carefully now.
That scar on her face. The one Alex had seen yesterday when Mary gave them water and bread. It came from this bastard. This piece of shit had been beating her for months, maybe longer.
Alex's hands clenched into fists. Every instinct screamed at him to cross that distance and break Edmund's fucking neck. To rip that belt out of his hand and wrap it around his throat until...
No. Stop. THINK.
He forced himself to breathe. To calculate.
If he attacked Edmund here, the bodyguards would jump in. A fight would start. Guards would get called. They'd get arrested. Then what? Mary would stay with Edmund. Lisa wouldn't get to Constantinople. The mission would fail. Everything would fail.
He couldn't make stupid decisions. Not here. Not now.
His eyes went to the bodyguards again. Both were tense and ready. The older one had his hand on his club and was prepared to draw it. The younger one was still staring at Mary with that same conflicted expression on his face.
Two against one. Maybe Alex could take them. Maybe. But not without causing a scene that would bring the whole city guard down on them.
Alex looked at Edmund. At his expensive coat. His rings. His smugness.
Rich bastards understood one thing.
He took a breath and stepped forward slowly with his hands visible. "Let's talk."
Edmund turned to face him with surprise on his face. Then his expression shifted to something amused and condescending. "And who might you be?"
"Someone who can solve your problem."
"I don't have a problem. I have property that wandered off and I'm correcting its behavior." Edmund gestured at Mary with the belt. "Unless you're here to tell me how to manage my own household?"
"I'm here to make you an offer."
That got Edmund's attention. His eyes narrowed slightly. "What kind of offer?"
Alex reached into his jacket. Both bodyguards tensed immediately and their hands moved to their clubs. Alex pulled out a leather pouch and opened it to show gold coins inside. Not silver. Gold.
"How much for the girl?"
Edmund stared at the money. Then at Alex. Then he laughed. "She's not for sale."
"Everything's for sale."
"Not to you, stranger." But Edmund's eyes kept drifting back to the pouch. "Besides, what would a foreigner want with a slave girl? Can't even take her back to whatever distant land you crawled out of."
"That's my business. Name your price."
Edmund's smile returned, calculating now. "You're serious."
"Completely."
A long pause. The market square was dead quiet with everyone watching.
"Ten gold," Edmund said finally.
Someone in the crowd gasped. Ten gold was a fortune. Most people in York wouldn't see that much money in five years.
Alex didn't hesitate. "Done."
Edmund's eyebrows rose. "Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Alex counted out ten gold coins. The metal glinted in the morning sun as he held them out.
Edmund stepped forward slowly, like he couldn't quite believe this was happening. He took the coins and weighed them in his hand, testing their authenticity. Then his smile widened into something triumphant.
"Haa! A hero, I see!" Edmund's voice was loud and performative, addressing the crowd as much as Alex. "Come to rescue the poor slave girl from the evil master! How very noble of you!" He laughed and pocketed the coins. "Tell me, does it make you feel good? Playing the savior?"
"I don't care how it makes me feel," Alex said flatly. "Just give me the girl."
"Ah. Well." Edmund's smile turned sharp. "There is one small complication."
Here it comes, Alex thought.
"You see," Edmund continued as he tucked the pouch into his coat, "I can't simply hand her over here. In the market. Like some common transaction." He gestured broadly. "There are proprieties to observe. Documents to prepare. The transfer of ownership must be done properly, officially, at my estate."
"Your estate."
"Weston Manor. North of the city walls, past the old mill." Edmund's voice was smooth and reasonable. "Come tomorrow evening. I'll have everything prepared. We'll finalize the transaction properly, as civilized men do business."
Alex stared at him. Every instinct said this was wrong, that Edmund had no intention of honoring the deal.
But what choice did he have? Start a fight here? Demand the girl immediately and watch Edmund refuse while keeping both the money and Mary?
"Tomorrow evening," Alex said.
"Excellent!" Edmund clapped his hands together. "I knew we could reach an understanding." He turned to his bodyguards. "Collect her."
The two men moved forward. The younger one hesitated for just a second, that same flicker of sympathy in his eyes, before bending down and picking Mary up. She was barely conscious and her body was limp in his arms.
"Wait..." Lisa started forward but Alex's hand caught her arm.
"Let them go," he said quietly.
"Are you fucking insane?! He just took your money and he's taking her!"
"I know."
"Then DO something!"
"I am. I'm making sure we're both still free to help her tomorrow."
Edmund smiled at them with that same cold and superior expression. Then he turned to leave. His bodyguards followed and the younger one carried Mary's small and broken body in his arms.
The crowd began to disperse immediately. Conversations started up again like nothing had happened.
Lisa stared after them. Her whole body was shaking with rage and helplessness. "You just... you just let him..."
"I gave him ten gold for a reason," Alex said. "Now we know where he lives. We have an invitation to his estate. And tomorrow we're going to get her out."
"He's not going to give her up."
"I know."
"Then why..."
"Because now we're expected. He thinks he won. Thinks he played us." Alex watched Edmund's group disappear around a corner. "That's when people make mistakes."
Before Lisa could respond, Bess appeared at Alex's elbow. Her face was pale and worried. "We need to leave. Now."
"What..."
"Someone sent for the bailiff's men. If they find foreigners causing trouble in the market..." She grabbed both their hands. "There's a shortcut. Follow me."
She pulled them away from the market square and down a narrow alley between two buildings.
Lisa looked back once. At the spot where Mary had been lying. At the blood still wet on the cobblestones.
Then they were running.
---
They made it back to the Swan without being followed. Bess led them through a maze of back alleys and side streets, paths only locals would know.
When they finally stumbled into the empty common room, it was still early morning with no other customers yet. Lisa ripped her arm free from Bess's grip.
She stood there breathing hard with her hands clenched into fists.
"That girl," Lisa said quietly. Her voice shook. "She gave us water yesterday. Bread. When we were exhausted and lost. She helped us."
"I know."
"And we just watched that bastard beat her." Lisa's voice cracked. "Watched him take her. After everything, after she was KIND to us, we just..."
"We did what we could without getting arrested."
"It wasn't enough!" Lisa spun to face him with her eyes blazing. "She's eleven years old, Alex! Eleven! And she's going to spend tonight in that house with him, terrified, in pain, thinking nobody's coming for her!"
"We ARE coming for her. Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow might be too late!"
"It's all we have!"
They glared at each other.
Bess cleared her throat. "I'll... get you both something to drink." She hurried behind the bar.
Lisa turned away with her arms wrapped around herself. "I can't believe they made a little girl a slave. I can't... how does that even happen? How do people just accept that?"
"I don't know."
"And everyone just watched. Just stood there while he..." Her voice broke again. "And then they grabbed ME. For silver. Like it was nothing."
Alex wanted to say something, anything, but what was there to say? She was right about all of it.
Bess returned with two mugs of dark liquid. "Here. Drink."
Lisa took the mug but didn't drink. She just stood there staring at nothing.
"Are you hurt?" Alex asked quietly. "Did anyone..."
"I'm fine."
"Lisa..."
"I said I'm fine." She finally lifted the mug and drank. Her throat worked as she swallowed. When she lowered it her expression was cold and hard. "Tomorrow night. We're going to that estate."
"Yes."
"And we're not leaving without her."
"Agreed."
Lisa nodded once and then headed for the stairs.
Alex sat down heavily at one of the tables. His hands were still shaking slightly from adrenaline, from rage, from the effort of restraining himself in that market square.
Ten gold, he thought. And I don't believe for a second he's going to honor that deal.
Shut up, June.
I don't care.
I SAID I don't care. Alex's jaw clenched. We're getting her out. End of discussion.
June didn't respond.
Bess sat down across from him. "That was either very brave or very stupid."
"Probably both."
"Edmund Weston is dangerous. Rich. Connected." Bess's voice was low. "You just made an enemy of one of the most powerful men in York."
"Good."
Bess studied him for a moment. Then she sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"No."
"Then you'll need to know what you're walking into tomorrow." She glanced toward the stairs where Lisa had disappeared. "But maybe wait until your companion calms down. She looks like she wants to burn the whole city."
"She might."
They sat in silence for a while.
Alex stared at his mug and thought about Mary's screams. About the blood on Edmund's belt. About how easily the crowd had grabbed Lisa for two pieces of silver.
Mary gave him water when he needed it. Bread when he were exhausted. She helped him when she didn't have to.
Now it was his turn.
We're getting her out, he thought again. Whatever it takes.