Author's note - this one was damned hard for many reasons. All my resolve to get it out three weeks ago made not the slightest bit of difference. So here it is, horribly late, and I only hope that it hangs together. I'm sure it could do with some trimming, but that's not happening tonight!

Disclaimer: None of this is mine, I borrow only by the grace of Mutant Enemy etc.

Things Fall Apart – Chapter 11

“No! The preacher is mine!” The Reaver leader shouted, rounding on River. “You said they’d want the girl! Do they think we’re playing games here? Ek sal vir hulle wys wat dink ek van hulle spieletjies!”

He turned and strode away down the aisle of the theatre, heading for the door where the Reaver who had brought the news of Serenity’s demands waited uneasily. The Reavers guarding the theatre muttered amongst themselves, unsettled by the sudden disagreement. The cause of it lay flat on his back on the stage, out cold.

The prophet was slumped in his chair, pale with exhaustion. “We haven’t time to waste on your vendetta,” he snapped at the Reaver leader’s retreating back. “The Alliance are little more than four hours away, and we must leave soon. We need this last subject. Without him, none of this means anything.”

The Reaver leader stopped and half turned, muscles rippling along his arms as he clenched his fists. “I have waited years for this chance. Years! I will take my revenge for what was done to me and my men. I will have his hide!”

“He has repented,” River said in a thin voice, staring absently at the floor. “He chose a different path.”

“By the time I am through with him he will have repented a whole lot more,” the Reaver leader growled. “I’ll gut him before he leaves this station, and I’ll have that girl flayed for this! They will take what we offer them or they will take nothing!”

“That will leave our people exactly where they were before, lost and confused and bickering amongst themselves while the Alliance drive us further and further out into the black,” the prophet r