Archive-name: Violent/captred1.txt
Archive-author: 
Archive-title: Captured


     Their trap had been sprung and we were captured: I and my
lady.  What they were to do with us was, as yet, unknown.  But
what I had seen to this point boded no good.  Immediately after
we had been taken, the remainder of their band emerged from the
woods adjacent the path to continue their trek.  What most
frightened me was that no men were among the captives being
rounded up for further travel.  Instead, I saw a group of about
twelve women.  They were hogtied and laying on their bellies with
their shoulders on the edge of a small pond beneath a small
waterfall; their heads out over the water.  Only by arching their
necks backwards were they able to keep their heads above the
surface of the water.

     It was now clear how silence had been so excellently main-
tained that, even alerted as I was, no sound had given the ambush
away.  Gags filled their mouths.  Each had a keeper, who held the
rope about her knees.  The keeper simply had to pull up on the
knee rope and the woman's head would be ducked below the water. 
The women dare not make a sound to trigger their keeper, and once
submerged, they were silenced.  Any splashing would sound no
different than the water fall itself.

     Now their hogties were being cut off, their legs released
and the ropes about their necks attached to saddles, two to each
horse.  Off the riders trotted.  A slow pace for a horse, but a
fast run for the women.  Two in particular caught my eye.  They
were twins, with thick curly hair, black as coal, which hung to
their waists.  Like the others, their arms were bound to boughs
at wrist, elbow and shoulder, keeping their arms extended.  The
ropes at their necks were attached by a simple knot, but they
could not reach it.  They wore tattered black tops and red skirts
and no shoes.  As they were pulled away by their horse, they
grasped their ropes by their extended hands and ran, seemingly as
fast as they could.  I lost sight of them as they turned a bend
in the path.

     Then I saw that my lady had been similarly bound and gagged,
and her shoes taken.  The rope about her neck was given to her
horseman.  As I fought against the ruffians holding me, I felt a
great pain in the back of my legs as they cut my tendons.  I
heard her mewling to me through the gag for help and saw her
begin to run as she held onto the rope tied to the horse with her
outstretched hands.  As my consciousness faded, I saw her trip
and watched her being dragged past me, struggling to regain her
feet.

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