The Camp

Her POV

I was practically dragged back to this camp. While the men did not “harm” me, they sure as hell weren’t nice or accommodating. As the trees started to thin, I noticed the loud sounds of several people being congregated in one location. It wasn’t long after that we broke through the tree line and I could see our destination. The camp filled most of a large meadow, it had to be the size of at least three football fields and it was densely packed. Surrounding the whole thing was a ditch lined with sharpened wood spears. As far as I could tell there was only one small way in or out.

I tried to do a quick surveillance while we walked. I wanted to know how many men were guarding the entrance and how many were stationed along the perimeter. The only thing I could gather was a complete lack of discipline amongst the men. This was surprising given The Creepy Thin Man’s personality. I thought he would have run a very tight ship, but to my benefit, he seemed to be completely unconcerned with his regiment.

When we entered the camp, my guards and the ones at the entrance started mingling, completely forgetting about their posts. While it was impossible to get an accurate headcount, the lack of organization meant my chances of slipping through would be greater. That would only work if I could get the men to stop staring at me. Every time we passed someone new, they would stop what they were doing to eye me up and down. I tried not to pay too much attention to it, I need to focus on the details of my surroundings. I noticed that every so often there would be fire rings with several men surrounding them. Some were eating, some were playing dice, but most seemed to be having loud pissing matches with each other.    

At first the tents were small, dirty, packed very close together. In some of the tents I could hear snoring, so it was likely there was a night shift. As we approached the center of the camp, the tents became larger and were spaced slightly further apart. The fires were bigger and very few men were lingering about. As they saw The Creepy Thin Man, they scurried away.

My entourage, now much smaller, approached a single, small, and undescriptive tent. For a brief moment I debated trying to catch my holders off guard and just bolting, but that plan didn’t work so well for me last time and now there was a whole army between me and the only exit I knew.

I was pushed inside the tent, knocked down on my butt, and tied to a pole at my back. I was officially a prisoner and my chance of getting out of this situation looked dull. There was nothing in this tent and couldn’t even try and sweet talk the guards.  

Since the encounter with the two men by the stream, I had kept trying to make noise. It was mostly grunts while I was fighting, but they were silent. It didn’t take me long to realize my voice was completely gone and while this was concerning, I hadn’t had much time to think about it being taken captive and all.

Two men sat at a small table in my tent. They had a handful of dice and seemed to be playing some sort of game. I decided to test out my mute theory and started trying to yell things at them.

“Hey you two ugly assholes!” – Silence

“I’m so horney and want to have your baby!” – Silence

They didn’t even look over to see me moving my mouth like a crazy person. I couldn’t speak, grunt, or scream. I tried clicking my tongue and that did work, oh hey, and I could whistle too. However, whistling turned out to be a bad idea, because now the men were watching me.

 “No use try-in to run little lass. Ye in the middle of da camp and some of the men ain’t going to be nice if they catch ye.” One of the men gave me a big toothy grin as he spoke and I could tell he was would enjoy chasing me down.

But the man’s grin wasn’t the issue for me. For the first time I thought about the accent all of the men here seemed to have. I couldn’t place it and I spoke 7 languages. It definitely wasn’t American or British, but it didn’t sound Scottish or Irish either. It was like some weird combination of them all.

I took in the appearance of the men again. They had on the same drab uniform as the rest. Based on the men I saw walking through camp, there were a few hundred men all dressed the same way. I scoffed at myself. There was no way. Absolutely no way that any of this could be real. How on Earth could I have been transported to the middle-ages? But my mind couldn’t think of another explanation.  

I was starting to get the idea that the woman at the bar may have been for real. But what was she? Some sort of witch or deamon? She definitely was not the Fairy God Mother from my childhood movies. But it seemed to fit. Ariel lost her voice when she made a deal with the sea witch, and Cinderella did have a Fairy God Mother. All I needed now was a poisonous apple and a beast.

Fairytales aside, I needed to face the reality of my situation. It was likely that I was trying to survive in the medieval world. Women mean nothing now unless protected by a man or family. Even if I could manage to escape, it’s unlikely I would ever find the “help” I need. I have no money, know no one, and it had been at least 36 hours since I had a decent meal.

The flap to the tent opened pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Sir Duggar wants the lass.”

Well it was not or never. I could either try and fight my way out of this situation or be raped for the foreseeable future. I decided to go with fight and as soon as they loosened the rope on the pole I thrashed to the side elbowing the man in the neck as hard as I could. He went down and I tried to scramble to my feet, but the other man grabbed my arm and slapped me hard across my face. The impact stung and my eyes watered making my vision blurry.

I could feel two men holding my arms and at least one more had my feet. It didn’t stop me from fighting. I kept swinging, kicking, jumping, and dropping all my weight, anything I could think of to try and get out of their grasp. It didn’t do me any good because I was still carried to one of the larger tents and dropped in front of The Creepy Thin Man.

I tried to stand, but was pushed back down to the ground.

“You do not understand your position, or lack thereof. You were a woman in the woods alone, dressed scandalously, and you think you are on the same level as me? You should be on your knees beginning me for mercy or frankly, just on your knees.”

The men around me snickered and sneered nodding their heads in agreement. The Creepy Thin Man bent to me and lifted my chin so that I was looking him in the eye.  

“It has been a long time since I have had someone as pretty as you.” Without breaking his eye contact, he ordered his men, “Leave us, but surround the tent. If she tries to run, she can be the play thing of whomever catches her.”

 “I was not lying to my men. If you try and run I will let them do whatever they want to you. Now you have a choice. You can strip your clothes slowly, bathe in my chambers, and have dinner with me, or you can fight and I will throw you out to them.”

Well that took a weird turn. I couldn’t believe this. He wanted me to bathe and have dinner with him? I knew there were all kinds of kinks, but this was definitely a weird one. I definitely did not want to strip or let this man see me naked, but the reality was, I couldn’t run. I had already tried that option a few times and they always caught me. And now Creepy Thin Man had just given his men permission to rape her if they caught her.

At this point, my only real option was to stall and try and keep my clothes on for as long as possible. While I was still on the ground struggling with my inner dilemma, The Creepy Thin Man walked over to a table and poured two drinks.

 “Maybe a drink will ease your mind?” He held out a glass to me and took a sip from the second. I slowly got to my feet and approached him drawing out my movements as much as possible. I took the glass and couldn’t help but notice I was trembling. The liquid was bitter and brown, but I down the whole thing like a shot. I was definitely going to need some liquid courage if I was going to make it through the rest of my night.

“Another glass of that and you might even enjoy tonight. I am Sir Alekzander Duggar, but in our private company, I would like you to call me Duggie. Now, it is only fair that you tell me your name pretty one.”

He seemed to wear a genuine smile as he spoke and I got the sick feeling he thought he was being sweet with me. His demeanor quickly changed when I didn’t answer him. When I couldn’t answer him.

 “My dear,” a more sinister smile “you can either tell me, or I will beat it out of you. Either way, you will be screaming and I will enjoy it.” 

My heart was pounding and I opened my mouth to speak. But, just like before I couldn’t say anything. Sir Duggar took the glass from my hand and set both back down on the table. He moved forward and grabbed both of my upper arms, squeezing just enough to make it ache.

“Tell me your name girl. Do not make me ask you again.”

I tried to tell him again while pulling away, but he held me firm.

“Remember what happens if you try and run or fight. Being with me is a mercy compared to my men.”

In a last ditch effort to make him understand, I pointed to my mouth and tried to scream. I could see the moment recognition hit him. His eyes grew wide and the sickest smile I have ever seen spread across his face.

He dropped my arms and dashed to another table in the room. When he turned around, I realized he had a dagger in his hand and rushed toward me. I tried to move away from him but I knew I couldn’t run. We danced back and forward until he was able to grab my wrist. He pulled me toward him, pushed up my sleeve, and quickly cut me across the arm. As soon as he made the gash, he stared up at me. Even though I was sobbing the tent was silent.  

“Oh, my pretty little dear, you truly are wonderful. How was I blessed with a mute?” The admiration in his eyes would have been endearing if he hadn’t continued speaking, “I guess you will not be able to scream my name after all, but do not worry your pretty little head. We are still going to have plenty of fun.”