The Less Than Great Escape

Her POV

One of the men had managed to grab my cloak and I jutted back as my body moved passed my head. The man who grabbed me tried to climb on me while I was down, but I rolled to the right and got up to my knees. The second man grabbed my arm but I took the heel of my palm and shoved it into his nose, instantly breaking it. The man swore and turned away from me. The first man was coming at me again and I punched him in the throat as I spun and stood up. Before they could come at me again I took off into the woods.

I had a decent heads start, but they were still chasing me. My heart was hammering in my chest but I had to keep going. I moved around trees and hurdled over fallen trunks before coming to boulder half way buried into the ground. I jumped up over it and launched myself forward, but I didn’t see the shallow cliff on the other side.

I also didn’t see the group of men at the bottom of the cliff and I was only in the air for a second before I crashed into one of them.

 “Oy! Grab her, she broke me nose.” The second man had just reached the top of the cliff and was shouting down at us.

I scrambled off the man that I had landed on while he tried to grab me. I noticed four others in the group as they all started lunging toward me.

I slipped past one, punched another, and spun so I could keep them from getting behind me. I was trying so hard but I was tired and there were so many of them. I could feel my blocks and punches slowing down. Every time I managed to take one down another one took his place and I just couldn’t keep up.

While turning to block a punch from my current attacker I noticed there were far more than 6 men around me. Where were they all coming from and more importantly, how many more were there?

I grabbed the forarm and bicep of the man in front of me and dislodged his shoulder. He went down and I readied for the next attack but no one else came at me. In the break, I heard clapping.

I had slowly moved away from the cliff side and I recognized that the men had me surrounded. I looked up to see the clapping man. He was also dressed as a knight, but his uniform was different. His tunic was cleaner and his armor gleamed where the metal on the rest of the men was dull. This man was their leader.  

He was tall and lean with a hook nose and thinning hair. He had an air about him that said he was born into money and found himself superior because of it.

I lifted my head and met his stare. He raised his eyebrows and then sneered at me. Apparently, I should not have the audacity to look this man in the eye. Everything in my body told me to climb this cliff and punch him in the face for looking down on me with those awful beady eyes but I knew I wouldn’t get away from this group before they killed me.

I decided to try a different tactic. I changed my face and gave the best fake sweet smile I could. I forced a blush to my cheeks and dropped my head like I was shy and then glanced up at him through my eyelashes.

He seemed to like this meek version of me much better than the defiant one. His eyes softened and the corner of his mouth rose into a smirk. He nodded his head and two of his men stepped forward and took my arms. I thought he would come down the cliff and talk to me, but the next thing I knew I was knocked over the head and the world went dark.

***

I woke up draped over the back of a horse. My hands were tied and my head hurt like a bitch. I groaned involuntarily and tried to get a glimpse of my surroundings. Due to my angle on the rump of this beast, I couldn’t see much. In the distance, there were tree bases telling me we were out of the woods but following the edge. I looked to the ground and noticed the packed dirt that spread several meters wide. We must have moved to a dirt road, and one that seemed to be used frequently.  

My wiggling must have alerted someone because my horse stopped walking. Dirty black boots enterend my line of sight and I could feel him reach behind me to untie the ropes connecting me to the saddle.

Gravity is such a fickle bitch because as soon as the last knot was undone I fell on my ass facing the horse. Two sets of arms grabbed me and lifted me to my feet. I looked to the left and right and realized I was now in the grip of the two men who chased me from the stream.

Mr. Broken Nose man gave me an evil smile and slid his free hand from my inner thigh up to my breast and squeezed. The other man had his free hand on my opposite hip trying to pull me toward him. I started thrashing and doing anything I could to get out of their greedy grasp. As Throat Punch man pulled me in, I threw my head forward and bashed his skull. He dropped me and I kneed Mr. Broken Nose in the groin. I was free and I didn’t hesitate, I took off into the woods.

I was exhausted, hungry, and my vision was blurring from the pain in my head. I didn’t get far before someone tackled me from behind. My arms were still tied behind my back so there wasn’t much I could do as he pinned me in the dirt.  

“Get her up.” I heard the voice behind me and recognized it as the leader of this group, the creepy thin man.

I was raised unceremoniously to my knees and turned to face the leader. His face held nothing but disdain.

 “What is your name girl?” At nearly thirty, I couldn’t believe he was calling me a girl.  my face must have shown my scoff, because the man stepped forward and slapped me. “You will answer when spoken to!”

I would not give this man the pleasure of seeing me afraid. I held his gaze and refused to back down.

A small eerie smile appeared on his face.

“Tell me, what was your great plan? You stumbled into my regiment, caused a fuss, and then just expected that we would let you leave?” He shook his head and looked at me like I was nothing more than a disobedient child. “I have never met a woman who could fight. I am curious to know who would dare bother with teaching a girl. As if it did you any good.”

I could tell he was baiting me for a reaction and I would not be a willing participant in his display of power. I stood up and dropped my head. He wanted me to get angry, to keep trying to fight. But I knew I had already lost. I was surrounded and my hands were still tied behind my back. Instead of fighting, I dropped my head in submission.

 “Taker her to camp,” Another short command, “She’s not to be harmed.”