Chess felt a presence loom over her and snarled up at it.
“Bastard,” she spat in English and swept her guitar in a vicious swing at the large man's head.
The construct shattered into a million motes of rainbow mana on contact, leaving the man unmarred and smiling at her. He gave her a small shake of his head and tsked before turning away.
"Fuck," Chess let out a choked curse and her shoulders slumped for a moment before she stood drew her last dagger, and charged the man.
He easily fended her off with his free hand, knocking her blade away and grabbing her shoulder in a vicelike grip. He never gave her more than a fraction of his attention.
“Now, now, we can’t have none of that,” Graventy admonished with a laugh before completing a flickering second of complex hand gestures that were blurred by tears and rain.
A faint nimbus of magic formed around Chess and she let out a hiccup and then tried to suck in a breath that never came.
Her eyes bulged as she fought for air and desperate, she clawed at her throat before turning her confused eyes to the man.
Her vision shrank into blackness around his amused smile.
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Chess came to gasping, with what felt like a freight train sitting on her right shoulder.
Her muddled mind took a second to form a coherent thought and to remember where she was then longer still to realize Grave’s large hand held her down.
Getting her feet under her, she jerked forward trying to break free but his grip was granite, and the more she moved the more he tightened it.
Chess screamed in frustration before sagging, making him do the work of keeping her upright.
How? She jerked back and forth but it only made him dig his fingers in deeper. I need to do something, she told herself. He had barely acknowledged her struggles.
“Fuck you!” She yelled then dug her nails into the web of his thumb.
It had no effect, his skin felt like iron.
Then she sang softly, willing the roots below him to surge and buck up then attempt to grab him.
He stumbled sideways a step before finding his balance then he moved with grace from rising root to rising root never in real danger of getting trapped.
His grip did not waver from her shoulder for even a moment as he used her as a way to maintain his balance. Even throwing herself forward had no effect other than to cancel her spell.
"That was fun," he said dryly. "Time for your first lesson."
Pain hit her like a brick wall and she saw swirling lights in her vision before her world shrank once again and she lost consciousness when breath wouldn't come.
She didn't see what hit her.
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When she blinked awake again it didn’t appear she’d been out long. Her head pounded like a freight train so, she gave up on fighting him for the moment and chose to instead try to gather her bearings.
It proved hard as her mind felt sluggish and mushy. Air, something about air magic. She couldn’t form the thought properly.
Ashley! She recalled hazily and glanced about through slitted eyes before finding Ashley's limp form sprawled a few paces away.
Raff, stood over her, and Chess struggled to get up again, to go to her daughter, but Graventy's callous grip hadn’t lessened. In fact, he pressed her against his leg to limit her movements.
The rain continued to drench them all and Chess noted with detached bemusement that Graventy's hand leaked a trail of blood onto her chest that was slowly turning the right breast of her tunic a muted pink.
Chess shuddered then her mind seemed to hiccup. Oh, Freya, he's touching me! He’s bleeding on me!
Chess snarled the thoughts down. No, no, no! Concentrate on what they’re saying about Ash! Why aren’t the guys doing anything? We can still get away!
“Shame it’s in a bad spot,” Raff said while prodding Ashley’s still form with a boot. “If she hadn’t moved like that she would’ve fetched a decent price on the block.”
Chess stared in disbelief at Ashley’s crumpled form, confused about what had happened before it came back to her.
Then her eyes bored into her daughter, willing her to be alive.
Raff bent to look closer at the bolt in Ash’s leg. “Yeah, she’ll be dead as soon as we pull this out. Won’t last much longer with it in, either,” Raff reasoned, his voice flat and dismissive.
She’s alive! Hope bloomed in Chess, confirmed by a slight rise of Ashley’s chest in concert with the blood that was oozing out around the bolt in her leg.
“Leave it,” Graventy said to Raff then he paused, listening for a moment.
“That fool, Caldur is about done for, if I’m hearing correctly,” he said.
The sounds of battle had faded replaced by the rain.
Raff turned and took a good look at Chess and she stared defiantly back into his cold black orbs.
He chuckled and stood, dusting his hands.
Graventy ran his free hand down to grip her breast.
"What do you think?" Graventy asked.
Chess saw red.
Incensed, she redoubled her efforts, hoping she could slip free now that he'd moved his hand from her shoulder.
It was to no avail. He simply returned his grip to her shoulder.
"I don't think she liked that," Raff said with a chuckle.
Chess settled for kicking at Graventy's shins as hard as she could with her heels. His legs were like stone and she hurt herself striking a mountain.
“Sadistic rapist bastards! Let me go, you useless vaginal discharge! I can’t believe your mother mistook the afterbirth for the baby!” Chess yelled at the man in impotent rage, in English.
"I think you're right," Graventy agreed.
Think, Chess, think! She pleaded with herself. No wood to use, I can’t sing, I can’t move, I can’t cast or he knocks me out. Inventory takes too long, Sprig! She tried to look behind her but couldn’t figure out how far away her umbrella was.
Thump only takes a second but what can I do with it? Fuck it, I'll cast it anyway. I hope it stays up if he knocks me out again. All magic has a range I just need to get far enough away from him, she told herself but didn't quite believe it.
Chess steeled herself anyway and cast Thump, maxing out its limits, before again she knew pain, and Grave’s magic returned her to blackness.
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Chess felt like she was breathing through a straw when she came to again. Her vision narrowed to the size of her hand from the lack of oxygen and the blows to the head.
How am I awake? Her vision swam and she felt her stomach do a flip. She barely held onto her lunch. Only Graventy's grip kept her in her kneeling position.
“Really?” Graventy asked.
“She’s some sort of plant bender that uses singing for her spells. Blasted strange elf class if you ask me,” Raff said. He stood a few paces in front of her.
“I thought you said she spoke Brastian?”
“Probably a class skill, I only heard her singing it. She looks like a wood elf so she likely knows that language,” Raff reasoned with a shrug.
“Old man Griff knows some. We’ll have to wait until we get her home,” the big man reasoned.
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“Flemming knows a little sire.” Kris put in his two cents.
"Does he? Well, we'll see if he can't get her to take the bond when Gwen catches up then," Graventy said.
Chess shifted uncomfortably, hoping he'd ease his grip.
“That one didn’t do a thing,” Graventy snorted a laugh at her when he noticed her stir, tightening his grip on her shoulder to bruising force. Chess whimpered at the sudden spike of pain.
The fact that Thump remained active was cold comfort.
Chess just stared at him with murder in her eyes and he frowned back for a moment before returning to the conversation.
The lack of air made her gap like a fish. So, it was all she could do to follow the conversation.
“So, this bitch killed Nathan, huh?” Graventy mused and Chess felt the bones in her shoulder grate as his grip shifted. “She's a pretty thing and weak for a mage her age. You sure?”
“Aye, she's the only one could've done it, Everyone else was ours,” Raff explained, kicking at a bush disconcertedly close to Adit’s hiding place.
“She might’ve recently awakened, full elves do it later than most. Would mean she’d live a long time,” Kris supplied with a leer before shuffling up close to Chess.
He reached out to grab her face and tried to shove a finger and thumb in her mouth. She shook her head violently and bit him, managing to catch the tip of his thumb. She regretted it immediately when the rancid coppery tang filled her mouth but took satisfaction in landing a blow on the toad.
“Fuck! Has all her teeth,” the creep said shaking his hand and sneering at her.
“That will make the payday from father even better,” Graventy said before returning his attention to Chess.
“So, you killed my little brother? Can’t say the twit didn’t have it coming. Always was a little too dumb to live. It happens with the purebreds like him sometimes. Only so many times you can breed your sister or aunt before kids come out strange.
"I dare say, dear old dad will pay well for you though. He’ll take real pleasure in taming your lovely ass properly. You’ll provide strong, long-lived sons to replace my brother.” He grinned and turned back to Raff.
“Today is looking up. I trimmed the fat and acquired a decent little payday in the process. Never would’ve guessed Caldur’s little patrol would’ve had two female mages for the taking,” Graventy said with mock cheer as Chess tried to jerk her shoulder free again before elbowing him as hard as she could manage from her awkward position. All she got for her effort was a throbbing elbow while the man didn’t even grunt.
“She’s a feisty one alright. Shame about the language though. It’s more fun when they know what’s in store for them,” Graventy laughed, brushing wet hair away from Chess’s face and gripped her chin to take a good look.
He glanced at the people behind him before turning Chess around and lifting her from the ground, setting her on her feet with his single hand and eliciting a pained moan.
Then she was finally able to draw in more air and her vision expanded.
Chess craned her neck to look back at Ashley and yearned for a chance to grab her and run. She ignored the sadistic bastard's continuing soliloquy as the three men led her to where Lynn groggily recovered her senses under the care of one of the female bandits.
The other woman tended to the man with the wounded foot.
Grave bent over the wounded man to take a look for himself. He clicked his tongue once and shook his head.
Then he moved.
Chess barely saw the motion: a quick draw and swipe and the man’s eviscerated neck fountained blood and he slumped his head all but removed.
Before Chess could react or take advantage of the opportunity he'd returned his grip to Chess's shoulder. Fuck!
“The horses will be too much of a hassle to remove from that mess and we can’t be slowed, leave them for that bitch Yarrow,” he told his people.
“Give me a collar so I can get this one suppressed and we can hightail it. We have the mages, Yarrow’s boys will waste time getting the horses out and we’ll have a good head start. Gwen shouldn’t be long now.”
Chess looked around in growing defeat, only a small ember of hope burning for the men to finally act. Freya, please, a chance, anything, it can’t end like this! I'll do anything! Don't let me become a sex slave!
She renewed her struggle against the man's inhuman grip. Every shift made him tighten down further but she didn't stop throwing her whole body into it.
Grave took a collar from Raff and flipped it open deftly with his free hand.
“This thing will suppress anyone short of a royal,” He assured her with a smile before leaning down. Chess was unsure why he felt he needed to explain everything to her when he didn’t think she spoke the language.
He looked down at her as he spoke like he was trying to piece together an interesting mystery.
He’s like a bad movie villain giving everyone time to plot against him. Not that I can do anything if those fucking assholes don’t do something, she seethed.
The rain had let up for the moment turning to a drizzle.
Chess heard a thump and groan followed by a wet crunching sound behind Graventy. Praise Freya, finally! Chess thought.
Her captor whipped around, drawing his knife with a clean motion and meeting someone's attack with the sharp ring of two metal blades clashing.
Head swimming from the sudden ability to draw a full breath Chess stumbled to her feet and fell forward tripping into Graventy's back, giving his attacker the chance to land a blow on his arm.
“RUN!” Someone yelled.
Chess took a coltish step to the side, catching sight of Steven as he dropped the corpse of the toady, Kris, and ran towards her, carrying a small axe and Sprig. Where'd he get that? She wondered for a fraction of a second.
Graventy deflected blows from Adit with contemptuous ease.
Chess gritted her teeth, waiting for her moment. She would do something to the asshole.
Then she saw it.
When the blades next rang out, she cupped her right hand, and with a millisecond to check that Thump was active and maxed, she clapped him over the ear with all the power she could muster.
Thankfully, she remembered old boxing videos and turned her hips into the blow.
Her hand stung but the effect on Graventy was profound.
He took a stumbling step to the side with a groan and raised his hand to his wounded ear.
And not wasting an opportunity, Chess wound up and kicked him in the balls as hard as she could.
He collapsed to a knee then bent forward with a pained bellow of rage. One hand gripping his ear the other on his balls.
He tried to rise only to fall sideways onto his other knee. “Bitch, whore!” He let out a wheezing bellow, trying, unsuccessfully, to rise again.
Unfortunately, it had all been a moment too late for Adit. The young man’s eyes filled with shocked disbelief while his hands gently grasped at the long knife buried to the hilt in his side as he crumpled to the ground.
No! Chess shook her head, eyes widening and she took two steps towards him in shock.
Chess looked mechanically at Steven who slid to a stop beside her. He shoved Sprig into her hands, “Go! Get Ashley and run! If he gets a moment to cast, we’re all dead!” He said, urgently gesturing at Ashley and pointing into the woods before turning and swinging his ax at the large man who’d already regained his feet and had an even bigger blade in his fist.
Chess watched the blade flash attacks at Steven for a moment in indecision before ripping herself from the sight.
Run you, idiot! They have reinforcements coming, she admonished herself.
She caught a glimpse of Ehan fighting off Raff and one of the bandit women with quick short swipes of two shorter swords, his body covered in a blue nimbus.
Chess shook her head and turned, practically tripping over Lynn in her haste to get to Ashley.
Chess helped the skunkkin to her feet, her arm protesting at the effort with sharp spikes of pain. The right side of her head throbbed to a similar rhythm.
“Let’s go,” Chess urged pulling at Lynn's arm, her heart thundering in her ears.
I need to get Ashley, out. Her chest constricted with the wild thought.
Lynn shook her head, “I’ll catch up.”
Chess didn’t argue and dashed toward Ashley.
She slid to a stop on her knees at Ashley’s side where a pool of blood and rain was slowly filling in a small divot beneath her.
Chess cursed. No, Freya, no, please hold on. She fumbled at her belt with frantic and shaky hands before forcing out a raspy breath and a long draw-in.
You can do this! Think. She whistled the beginning of ‘In Hell, I’ll Be In Good Company,’ to grow a vine around Ashley’s leg while her leg bounced with anxiety. She tightened it as fast as possible then threw frantic looks over her shoulder to watch the men battling behind her to make sure no one was coming for her.
She gasped when she saw Raff grappling with Ehan and the woman's raised ax waiting for an opening.
No! You’ll only get yourself killed, just go, she reasoned while finishing her spell.
Chess quickly jumped to Ashley’s other side and dropped Sprig onto the soggy ground in preparation to move her. Then, taking a deep breath, Chess grabbed Ash’s good leg and did a ranger roll for the first time in years.
Ashley was heavier than Chess would’ve guessed but with a distressing amount of pain and pure fury, she managed to get her up in a proper fireman’s carry before squatting to grab her umbrella with her free hand.
With a final glance back, Chess bolted.
The final view of the others showed Steven and Lynn facing off against three bandits while another two were bent over comrades.
Every step felt like someone was driving a needle into her collarbone and the side of her head as Ashley’s weight pressed into her new bruises. The weight of her drenched clothes only added to the misery.
“Gwen! Quick, after them!” Grave’s bellowed voice caught up to her as she fled.
Oh, Freya please delay them, she prayed, forcing herself to put on more speed. She kept her head down to watch her step on the uneven forest floor.
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Just one more minute, then you can rest, she kept lying to herself as she fled, choking on the humid air.
It felt like her heartbeat was slamming a hammer into her neck every time her right foot landed.
Chess didn’t know how long she’d been stumbling through the woods. It felt like days but it had likely been less than an hour when the sharp retort of a branch cracking made her whip her head around. She nearly tripped in the process but felt a wave of relief when she saw who it was. The distinct smell of a skunk's spray followed the young kin woman as she caught up to the struggling pair.
“Keep going. They aren’t far behind,” Lynn gasped at Chess while taking furtive looks behind.
“I can’t. We need to get the tourniquet off soon or she’ll lose the leg,” Chess wheezed out, her body quivering from the exertion. She looked back but couldn’t think through her fatigue.
“I need a sec,” Chess said, taking a slow deep breath, trying to settle the staccato beat in her chest.
After setting Ashley down carefully, she cut the vine from her leg and let the blood return to the limb for a minute. Then she summoned amber sap and liberally smeared it around the bolt, likewise filling the puncture in her foot before summoning another vine to bind the leg again.
Everything took less than a few minutes.
She took a few seconds to tie Sprig to her belt before moving to pick Ashley up again. She felt a distressing shift in her back as she once more rolled Ashley onto her shoulders but she clenched her teeth and put one foot forward before giving Lynn a firm nod that she was ready.
“Just a little further, then we can try to hide. The spray should mess up his sense of smell,” Lynn compromised tugging at the collar around her neck. “I got him right in the face when he was breathing in.”
Chess mentally gagged at the thought and spared a thought to ask about Steven but left it for now. I wonder how she found me.
After a few more deep breaths they took off again, this time at a ground-eating lope instead of the frantic run.
As they passed by yet more trees that looked exactly like many of the others in their run Chess had a moment of dèjà vu.
It took her a moment to track the reason before she recognized the hill they were skirting and her very first lean-to of vines came into view near the abandoned campfire.
“I know where we are, there’s a place nearby we can hide,” She got out between ragged breaths, setting Ashley down and checking her pulse. The girl remained unconscious, but thankfully alive.
“We need to hurry; Ashley can’t take much more. I'm worried it’s too late for her leg already," Chess added.