I take two steps, perhaps three away from the corner we rounded, headed up towards the slaver market, and I see a last glance of the gazebo, and the Baron struggling to his feet. This somehow calms me as he and the woman by his side disappears from sight and then....nothing. From the dull, low pulse throb in the back of my skull, I would guess, someone clipped me, hard. And now, I am staring at my knees, as I have been for the last few minutes. My hair hangs down around my face, shadowing the glaring light that hurts my eyes. I remember thinking idly, that the light had to be a mage spell, it was so bright, yet gave off no heat. But now, its harsh gaze was shielded and my head rests limp at the end of my bloody neck.
"She's out cold", I hear one of them say, and I am content for the moment to allow them to believe anything that brought me a moments peace. My hands have long since gone numb, tied painfully tight behind my back, seated in a crude wooden chair. My feet, tied at the ankles to the legs of the chair itself, not long after I kicked one of them in the family jewels. I doubt he will be leaving an heir behind, I made sure the shot counted. Oh certainly, I took a pretty decent shit kicking for dropping the guy, but even still, it was so worth it, just to see his face.
"She's not going to talk." the voice coming from the one I dubbed 'Dumbass'. He did not care for the term, and I must admit, he knows his stuff. "Can you believe this bitch? I have worked guys over three times her size and they were crying like babies hours before this". Somehow, his words bring me comfort, and a for a moment, my lip curls into a smirk. It was my undoing, because the sudden unexpected sting of my lip causes just the slightest hiss from my teeth.
My hair is suddenly yanked back, and my head goes with it, revealing the blood stains upon my leggings where my split lip had been hovering above. The light once again assaults my eyes and I flinch, and a very loud man with nasty breath is once more screaming in my face. "well look who's awake..." he growls loudly, "I want names!" he spits at me, and through one eye, I peer back at him, "fuck you, you rebel shithead" I spit back, literally, doing my best to spray enough of my own blood back at him as to get him to flinch. It works, but I am repaid with another solid crack to the jaw, that sends me reeling, and my ears ring so loudly I can barely hear the asshole barking at me.
"What you fail to understand here, is your presence here is not welcome, nor will it be peacefully accepted". These words, come from the one calling the shots, standing somewhere off in the corner behind me, where I can not see him. But still, I know exactly where he is. I know he is a blue blood, through and through to my marrow I know the man is nobility. "Your time here is coming to an end, but before we make an example of you, you will be providing us with some much needed information. Failing to do so will only make this go far, far worse for you."
For some reason, his words strike me as incredibly funny, and I can not help the maniacally laughter that lifts from me, "Imagine that...someone does not like me". I can not help it, it just hits me as the best damned joke ever told and I lose it. I presume I was clocked again, because I really do not remember anything until I woke up staring at my knees again. It is significantly later, it is lighter in the room, but not by much. At some point, someone shoved a sack over my head and left me to smother or not as I would. I sit there pondering my very small list of options when I hear voices lift from the next room.
"You two head back, we will wake her up and start again". Somehow that idea does not sit well with me and I wrack my brain, and then do the only thing I can. I slow my breathing...to nearly nothing, and wait. I hear boots approaching, followed by another pair, slower, heavier. I do not move, I do not breathe, I wait as they approach. "hit her with the water" I hear Dumbass command his cohort, and I silently thank him for the warning. I am able to completely ride out the shock of the cold, and remain motionless. Taking the moment to draw in another long, slow, unseen breath. It is enough. "shit...check her" I hear, and suddenly the sack is yanked off my head.
I hold my breath, and as my head is tugged back, I am utterly resistless, and I feel the warmth of his hand beneath my nose, "She's not breathing..." there is a slight panic to his tone, and I feel a sharp sting to my cheek, "Come on bitch, we ain't done yet" he informs me, but I am utterly disobedient and continue to feign my death. "Shiiiiit" the sound he makes is beginning to take on the panic of a small child in a deep amount of trouble. "He said leave her alive....he specifically said...". My head is dropped and I sneak another shallow breath beneath my hair, and listen "If he finds out...dammit!!" the words rising in volume as the repercussions begin to build in his mind. "No, no, no".
Finally, what I had been waiting for, happens. I feel my bonds cut from my hands and I allow myself to fall to the floor, head first, and simply collapse there. "Fuck!!". Now his minion was beginning to panic, and was pacing the room, "What if we get a healer?". This got something thrown at the man, who quickly shut his mouth and left the panicking to Dumbass. I must say, he truly does throw himself into whatever it is that is occupying his mind, because he committed himself fully to the process, "I told you not to put that damned sack on her head!". Instantly his companion pipes up again, "Oh no you didn't, you told me to!!".
Excellent, while those two bickered amongst themselves, my hands were slowly experiencing an agonizing case of pins and needles. My feet were still tied to the chair, but that was okay, I was working things out in my head while those two twits worked themselves into a tizzy. I had most of it mulled through when Dumbass provided me with the opportunity I needed. He squats down over me, to do what, I will never know, because as he reaches for me, I do the same to him, grabbing at him suddenly and jerking my knees suddenly towards my chest, tugging the wooden chair with them. I tug as hard as I can and slam his face into the corner of the seat and a most satisfying crunch of teeth on wood is my reward. It's enough to ring his bell, and with that, I have his weapon from his hand in a heart beat.
He did not have a chance after that. Truly the look of shock on his face as his own blade cut his throat, will never leave my minds eye. Not ever. You can not do that to a person, you can not, and not remember it every time you close your eyes. I do not have time to dwell on it, for as Dumbass bleeds out, his cohort is already on me. I am now at a serious disadvantage, and much to my dismay, as his shouts lift, two others enter the room. I had hoped it was just the two of them, but clearly I had miscalculated. I manage to get the dagger in my hand deep into the inner thigh of that loud mouth, knowing precisely where to cut, and soon, he too is down, bleeding out on the floor, far faster than his friend. It's just one of those things you pick up, little details that matter.
It takes a minute or two more, but soon I am back in my chair and my hands are once again tied firmly behind my back. However, this time, the view is far better than it was just a few minutes before. Now, instead of my lap, I am staring at two dead rebels, and somehow, once again, it strikes my funny bone. I do not think I have laughed so hard in my life. It causes the men in the room to take pause, each one staring at me with a mix of fear and revulsion upon their faces. Not one of them willing at that moment, to even approach me. It makes it all the funnier and I giggle my fool ass off, grinning through bloody teeth.
I hear boots upon the floorboards and that voice returns, "Clearly we have under estimated our guest gentlemen. I suggest we up our efforts to persuade her". These words do not bode well for me, but at the time, I could not find it in me to stop laughing. The boys came up with an idea, and started hitting me again. It worked, I stop laughing. Clever boys.
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