TW: Violence and victim blaming.
Skip to the page break to avoid, I'll summarize at the end for anyone that doesn't want to read that <3
*****
Ouch.
Once I started to regain consciousness, I began to notice a few sensations. Like the throbbing pain in the back of my head. The next thing I noticed was the cool, damp air wafting past me and the slight drip of water behind me.
Oh. And the blindfold across my eyes was coupled with rope around my wrists. That's super pleasant.
I need to figure out where I am, I don't even know if I'm alone or how long I was knocked out for. The air feels like a cave but I don't remember passing one, where was I taken to.
With a groan, I tried to stand up but the rock at my back made that task seem insurmountable. Yeah. I think I'll just stay here for a few more minutes. Gather my wits.
"I thought you'd never wake up. Princess needed her beauty sleep? Have it too rough out here? Maybe if Roman had just given you that rest like you asked for, we wouldn't be in this... predicament."
"Ah, bite me." I muttered.
"Tsk tsk. Such a mouth on you. I would've thought a lady, such as yourself, would know how to speak around others." My captor teased.
"I recognize your voice, you might as well take off this blind fold. You're not fooling anyone, Garrick." I stated.
I could hear him walking around, almost pacing, deciding whether or not to take off my blindfold.
"No. You don't give me orders. Not now, not ever. I have never sworn allegiance to you, to your family. Your pathetic excuse for a king, for a father!" Garrick's voice rising in each word, "You disgust me. Well? Nothing to say? No defense for your dear old Dad?"
"Oh please. There's no love lost in that regard. He may be my father, but I have no dad. What I have is-"
"Do not care. Genuinely." He interrupted.
Wow. What a dick. Jeez.
"You answer to me. And you have plenty answering to do." He spat the words.
I felt a tug on the rope around my hands, pulling me up.
Feeling his hot breath against my ear, I heard him ask, "Where are they, Princess. This is your one chance to do this the painless way. Just answer me. Where. Are. They."
"Where are who? I don't understand."
"Don't play dumb with me! That was your one opportunity, I'm truly sorry for what you're about to endure."
I took a sharp breath, expecting the worst. But I was met with an odd sound. It was the sound of a stone on metal. Was he sharpening a blade?
"Tell me. Where did he send them?"
"Garrick, I don't know. I don't know who 'they' are. I don't know who 'he' is. Just untie me and we can talk reaso- Ah!"
A searing hot pain sliced across my right thigh.
"I'll ask again. Where."
"Please, I don't know!"
"Wrong answer, Princess." He sneered.
Another slice across my leg. Just below the first.
"That was your last chance with me going easy on you. You will tell me." Garrick said.
"Please." I whimpered, the tears freely flowing now. I braced for the next cut in my leg. Instead, Garrick chose another monologue.
"Do you want to know the saddest part about this? This is all your fault!" He said with a laugh. "Really. You were within a half day of the castle. Less if you didn't stop for that rest you begged for. A stop which cost you your rescue too. Honestly, I hope you don't expect Roman to come to your aide, not after what you said to him. You could've spared yourself all this pain, if you had simply shut your mouth."
His last three words were punctuated with three stinging strikes to my cheek. I could taste blood where he broke my skin.
And then, Garrick chose another route. A cut, deeper than the first two, raced across my ribcage. As I bit back a scream, stars began to dance across the blindfolded darkness.
"You caused this! Just tell me-"
Thwip!
I heard a groan and a thud before succumbing to the calm of unconsciousness.
***
When I awoke, I was in a strange place. It was dark and full of fog, but I wasn't in pain somehow. I was relaxed, oddly at peace, but also incredibly nervous.
This isn't right. I'm not awake, am I? Well, I might as well enjoy it. When I wake up for real, everything is going to hurt.
I could hear a trickle of water in the distance but no matter how far I walked, it never sounded closer. The longer I walked, the more parched my throat grew. What had started as a seed of unease had fully blossomed into an untamed jungle of worry.
Astrid.
Oh cool, another disembodied voice. This one sounded different than Daphne, they had a different kind of aura about them. Where Daphne was welcoming and seemed kind, this voice was cold and distant. Why is this my life now?
"Hello?" I called out.
You shouldn't be here. You need to leave. You need to wake up.
"How? I don't know how I got here, the last thing I remember is I passed out after something happened to Garrick." I said.
You are not safe. Don't go to Adrienne, she's not who you think. Find the boat Daphne spoke of, that's the only way you'll survive. Leave Talfkar.
Cool, that's not super cryptic.
"I'm not leaving without her. I don't know who you are or why you expect me to trust you, but I will find her. And I don't know which boat it is. Daphne was interrupted before she could tell me. I was going to try and talk to her again and find out but, well, I got tied up in other things." I responded.
There's no time. You need to wake up. Now!
With a gasp, and a surge of pain to my leg, ribs, wrists, and face, my surroundings changed from the dark fog to a soft mossy bed and an enclosed meadow. Roman must have brought me here after I fell unconscious. There was a small campfire with a pot boiling, Roman was lost in thought while he stirred.
"Roman. You look like shit." I managed to cough out, spitting out a few more drops of blood, before falling back into a dreamless sleep.
*****
Summary: Garrick was asking Astrid where 'they' are and right before Astrid passed out, she heard Garrick fall to the ground.
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Between Two Vines
Adventure(Formerly The Forest of Life) Saviors aren't always as expected. They're people too. They make mistakes. But how they choose to live with those mistakes is what matters.
