A/N: Just to clear this up, Veriska's name is pronounced VAIR-ISH-KUH, the nickname Vrisi, VRI-SHI.

x

Warm breeze, bright sun, cool shade, Vrisi dreamed of a day two weeks ago. The boys were splashing playfully and experimentally at the girls who sat at the edge of the tank, their feet lying in the water as they reclined on the soft grass. At fourteen she was just past the proper age of being able to romp and play with the boys in the water like she did when she was younger. Vrisi thought longingly of the days when she could have joined in and splashed with the best of them. She could have soaked them all. Letting a sigh escape her lips she wished momentarily that the boys were gone so she could slip out of her clothes and go swimming. As Kodee's splash hit her in the shoulder she glanced up just long enough to see him being tackled by Bren, her fifteen year old brother. Laughing at the scene Bren was jokingly causing she lay back against the tree and wiggled her toes.

"Hey Vrisi wanna braid my hair?" her younger sister Staysi asked from beside her.

"Sure," Vrisi sat on her knees and let her younger sister scoot in front of her. As she finger combed Staysi's long light blonde hair she hit a snag.

"OW!" Staysi said reaching for her hair.

"Sorry!" she said. Vrisi started again and hit another tangle.

"OW!"

"I'm Sorry!"

"OW!"

"Sorry, your hair is just so tangled!" Vrisi dropped Staysi's hair.

"OW stop it!" Veriska opened her eyes to see the road in front of her strangely stationary. Perplexed for a moment Vrishi looked at the mules, Hugo and Jaxon. Hugo turned to stare at her with a big brown eye. What is going on? She thought, where's Luke at?

"OW stop! Vrishi run!"

"Luke!" Vrishi cried realizing Luke was behind the wagon, she whipped her head around the side of the wagon. "Luke!" She yelled at the man who backhanded her brother and kicked him backwards into the dirt. Vrisi jumped off of the bench and landed awkwardly on her ankle. Falling a little to the left she stumbled into the arms of another highwayman who held her up long enough to pin her arms behind her back. Her legs folded as a well placed knee dug hard into the big muscle behind her knee cap. She landed hard in the dirt a pebble cutting painfully into her shin.

"Look here Boss we got us another kind of peach," the man who held her arms behind her back said. Vrishi struggled as much as she could, even though her elbows and wrists burned with the movement, but her weak movements were nothing against the man's powerful grip. She craned her neck to see how Luke faired. About as well as I am, she thought sardonically as the man who held him down checked her brother's pockets and already donned the carved horse pendant that Luke had worn around his neck since he was a child. Vrisi fought back the urge to cry as she herself was subjected to the same treatment. Her eyes sought the wagon and a man stuck his head out of the back canvas hole. Their cargo was as good as gone.

"Nothin' but peaches and vegetables, but it'll still fetch a good enough price. Them peaches look mighty good." He hopped out of the back sporting a fruit in each hand. He took a big bite, juice spilling down his bristly chin to stain his yellowed shirt. The man that held her tied her hands behind her back. Vrisi tried to keep an eye on her brother who was spitting and cursing for all he was worth as two men stripped him of his clothes.

"You no good sons a bitches, I'll get you! See if I don't!" He snarled as the biggest man Vrisi had ever seen put his booted foot on the back of Luke's neck, forcing her brother's face into the road. Luke couldn't talk without inhaling rocks and a perilously close pile of mule dung. If she had found the courage to call out to her brother it fled her as a fist wrapped around the leather thong that held her own pendant around her throat. Her breath caught in her throat as it was lifted off her neck and wrapped around a meaty fist.

"What have we here? A little rabbit?" Sour breath tickled her ear as a big hand wrapped it's fingers around her upper arm. "Still as a little cottontail. Let's see if I can make you move." Vrisi squeaked as her head was pulled back and her throat flashed white and vulnerable in the summer sun. Her hat floated slowly down to the ground. The man leaned over her to look in her eyes. He was tanned and had pale blue green eyes that flashed coldly over a long nose that had been broken at least twice. Vrisi was sure he could hear her heart beating as the sound of it nearly deafened her.

"Don't you touch her!" Luke shouted through a mouthful of dirt as he shook off the mans boot and lifted his head off of the ground.

"You're not in the position to dictate how things go just yet matey," another man said, his accent reeking of the port towns that skirted the Emerald Sea.

"Let me up and we'll see!" Luke growled fighting to free himself in naught but his crisp white under things. With his hands tied behind his back he rose to his knees and the tall man grabbed Luke's head with his monstrously large hand. This caused a round of guffaws from the four men, Vrisi identified yet another behind them and out of the corner of her eye saw that yet another two were on horseback at the sides of the road their backs to a group of trees.

"Relax boy, if ye want yer sister to go back with ye in one piece," said the man with the peach juice running down his chin.

"Get your hands off her!" Luke yelled again and Vrisi wished firmly that he would shut up just like the highwayman bid him. Luke struggled worse than ever and his troubles earned him a hard cuff on the temple that sent him sprawling in the dirt his hands still tied firmly behind his back. He didn't move. A bubble of fear and anger burst in her throat and tears burned their way out of the edges of her eyes.

"That's much better," the man that held Vrisi said before loosening the back cords of her second best dress and ripping them a little in his haste to get it off of her.

~x~

"Then she kissed me right on the lips, and I swear it's true," Sir Risk said recounting yet another one of his many romantic conquests, this one involving a rather watered down version of the Lioness. Faleron never took these stories very seriously. "Ne'er will admit too it though and she'd give me a good thrashin' fer telling it-" Sir Risk stopped suddenly. Faleron recognized the look well. Suddenly he was back in Scanra the pine trees were stained a dark blue with the dim light that escaped the smoky sky. His horse fidgeted with impatience but didn't make a sound. Faleron put a hand to Picket's neck to calm him. Sir Risk's dark eyes scanned the trees slowly as the men they rode with stopped and looked around. They realized the scouts had not come back, and a grim chill settled in their stomachs. Faleron gripped the reins tighter than he should have and Picket resumed his fidgeting. Sir Risk hand signaled deftly of two men coming toward them, seven more spread out in the trees around them. Faleron's gut clenched as it usually did when he felt he was about to go into a fight. He gritted his teeth and waited for the attack. Faleron shook his head to clear it of the memory, and slowly returned to the present.

"I think there's something going on, mayhap a robbery over the other side of that copse of trees, and around the corner." Faleron glanced up at the blind hill they had been ascending; trees grew on either side of the road, thicker to one side. Before they reached the crest of the hill they took to the trees, silent as two fat does in starving time.

~x~

"She aint got much meat on her bones, still more girl than woman." Vrisi stood stock still in nothing but her clean white undergarments, thigh length shorts for the summer heat, and a thin camisole for an undershirt. In front of these men she felt she might as well be naked.

"That ne'er stopped you before Jako," said the man with the peach juice still wet on his collar. Vrisi still had her hands tied behind her back and she was pushed up against the back of the wagon.

"Just 'cuz she aint got much up there don't mean anything."

"She's sixteen if she's a day!" the man who had first tied her hands, and she supposed Jako was his name, said defensively.

"Barely more 'n thirteen or twelve," another said.

"Like I said, that ne'er stopped you before."

Feeling more frightened than she ever had in her life, with no one to protect her, terror settled over her like a cold rain. She could see Luke passed out lying in the ditch by the side of the road where the robbers had kicked him.

"I'm fourteen," she said in a quavery voice scarcely louder than a breath. The bandits didn't even hear her and she couldn't find the courage to speak again as she collapsed against the side of the wagon. They didn't even flick an eyelash her way. She moved again this time around the side of the wagon. The guard's attention was on the bickering men. She took a chance and moved slowly, her movements unbalanced as her arms were tied behind her back. She made her way slowly to the woods, they said nothing. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breathing stopped altogether as her steps got bolder and faster. She was almost to the edge of the trees when they noticed she was gone.

"Where?"

"By the trees! Over there!"

Vrisi's heartbeat froze within her chest, and she sprung into the trees faster than a true rabbit. Her white under things flashed in the bright light until she was under the shadow of the trees. She thought of Luke alone in the ditch and she felt she should go back. No, he said to run. I'll bring father and help back and they'll get these bandits! Crashing behind her caused her to look, even though she knew she probably shouldn't turn her eyes away from the rushing trees and unpredictable ground in front of her. Jako and another man were chasing her. A root jabbed her toes and she cried out in fright trying desperately not to stumble and lose her footing. She stumbled on a large rock and went flying to the ground. She strained quickly to get up, feeling like a tortoise rolled over on his back. She sent a quick prayer to the Beast Lady, I'll never laugh at another turtle again, I swear if you will help me! She managed to roll over on her side and struggled for frantically fleeing seconds to right herself. Cursing the bandits in her mind she rolled under a large bush just as they caught up to where she had been. Vrisi curled her legs up around her as their booted feet entered her field of vision. She held her breath, no small feat with her rapidly pounding heart sending adrenaline coursing through her veins. The feet moved around the forest floor slowly. She saw only one pair of boots now and wondered where the other bandit had gone. The remaining pair of boots moved closer to her bush and she willed her heart to stop beating so loudly in her ears as the boots stopped right in front of where she had concealed herself. Her breathing stopped all together and her ears strained to hear any sign of movement from above. She had to be ready. She was pretty sure she could get in a kick or two in the face that might daze him a little and allow her to get away. But there was still the other man to worry about. Where was he? That's when a knee appeared by the foot followed by a hand and another knee, and then a face. Vrisi sucked in her breath and kicked out as hard as she could at the man's face. She hit him squarely in the nose with one heel and the chin with the other. He yowled and shot back with a fist. It missed her entirely and she struck out again with her feet. Both heels hit him simultaneously in the chin. He rocked back for a second, then he reached back in the bush as quick as lightning and grabbed her foot. He yanked her out of the bush making her collide with him in a most unchaste way, her legs spread awkwardly over his lap, and she struggled to get away from him. Blood hit her in the chest staining her white under shirt a bright crimson as the man's bloodied face loomed over her own.

"I'll make you pay for that little bitch," the man said his eyes darkening dangerously as he slapped her hard in the face. Vrisi cried out in pain and rolled in no particular direction as wetness spilled down her face from a cut on her cheek bone.

"Get away from me!" she said kicking out furiously at him. He grabbed her legs and pinned them down painfully beneath him. She groaned in pain and tried to wriggle out from under him.

"Is that what it takes to get you to speak? Pain?" He said and pulled her closer to him planting kiss after kiss on her neck and chest.

"Stop it! Goddess help me!" she yelled again as he pinned her shoulders to the ground her arms hurt so bad at this that she thought her wrists might break. He bit her neck and she butted heads with him suddenly. "Get off of me!" Suddenly he went limp and sagged against her. His dead weight caused her pain to morph into pure agony, as she was pinned even more thoroughly against the ground, her wrists trapped under them both. He was kicked roughly off her by someone. Was she saved? She almost dared not to hope as the last of the pressure was off and she met the eyes of her rescuer.