I own no one but my own people
The pirates led the royals down the stairs in their cottage. The coppery scent of blood and the foul stench of the waste that dead men expelled filled their noses and it took everything the princess could do to keep from gagging.
Even Robin had trouble with the pile of corpses they were passing on the way down to the front door and he had fought in the ogres war.
He had been one of the very few of royal blood who had been in the fray instead of just directing his sergeants and lieutenants to do the fighting as his father had wanted him to do.
But Robin had won every archery tourney since he had been allowed to enter them on his tenth birthday and seeing as how the only way to bring down an ogre was an arrow or spear in it's eye, it wasn't the typical knight wielding the sword and mace that won the war.
It had been the fabled spearmen from the southern kingdom who had previously been laughed at and mocked by the rest of the country for training their soldiers in 'pointy sticks'. Spearmen and archers like Robin, whose aim was so true that with every arrow he shot, an ogre fell.
So Robin had not only joined the fighting but almost every battle he was on the front lines, his young bright eyed squire, the small but speedy son of a butcher, who dreamed of one day becoming a knight, fighting faithfully beside him and was tasked with the heavy burden of picking up dead man's arrows and keeping his masters quiver full.
That loyal squire now laid dead at the entryway of the cottage, sword still in hand and a hole in his stomach curtesy of some pirates cutlass.
The prince fell to his knees when he saw the young boy on the ground, flies already buzzing around his head, ignoring the commands for Robin to get back on his feet.
Emma closed her eyes as tears leaked down her face. She hadn't known the squire long but the time she had known him he had been a kind wide eyed boy full of hopes and dreams of own day serving the kingdom of Nottingham. He looked up to and adored Robin and her husband in turn had treated the boy like a son. It hurt the deepest part of her to see him laying face down in the dirt, the blood pooling around him had already started to darken and congeal.
He hadn't even reached his thirteenth birthday.
Robin gathered the boy in his arms, stroked his brown curly hair as he rocked him back and fourth as if he were a babe that needed comfort.
He had been small in life and looked even smaller in death.
The laughter that surrounded him and mocking sobs made Robin's very blood boil.
"He was a brave little lad, I'll give him that," a pirate with a sour looking face said followed by a snort of laughter. "Of course bravery don't mean shit when you got a sword in your belly."
The prince saw a flash of red as he scrambled up from where he was mourning, launching himself at the pirate who had made the comment but was quickly restrained.
"He was braver than any of you could ever hope to be!" Robin roared as he fought against the arms seizing him and the rope he was bound with. "He had more loyalty and honor than any of you will ever know!"
Through his rage he saw Regina standing amongst the other men. While she didn't laugh at the princes pain, she didn't show any comforting emotion either. Her face was hard like stone, neither caring or uncaring about the boy one of her shipmates has murdered.
"Well then here's hoping loyalty and honor can get you into heaven because it didn't give the boy a whole lot of luck down here," Hook replied, nudging at the corpse with his boot.
"Don't touch him!" the prince shouted over the laughter of the men. His voice wanted to crack and tears wanted to fall for the memory of the young boy but he forced himself to remain steadfast.
Hook raised a brow at the prince but didn't reply to the command other than to turn towards two of his lower deckhands.
"Bury the body, mark the grave," Hook ordered the two men. "Deep enough to warrant respect but don't take all bloody day." The captain turned his attention back to the surprised prince. "What was the lads name?"
Robin closed his eyes as the name of his faithful squire tumbled from his lips.
"Roland," the prince said. "His name was Roland. He was my squire."
"A strong name," the pirate captain replied, surprisingly without mocking. "It would have served him well as a knight."
Neither Robin nor Emma responded to Hooks shockingly kind words. The blonde did, however, wrench herself away from the man that held her and made her way over to her prince.
Unable to embrace him she just laid her head on his chest, her tears staining his silk shirt.
"I'm sorry." She whispered so faintly that only the man mourning could hear her comforting words.
The man who had restrained her earlier grabbed hold of her again and without another word the band of pirates led the royals away from the cottage and from the men and boy who had died fighting to protect the two royals.
None of them said a word as they walked to the edge of the shore. Even with only the pale moon light and the torches to guide them Robin could see a gaggle of horses at the edge of the shore.
They dismounted so we wouldn't hear them riding up Robin suspected correctly. The pirates had moved swift and silent, hidden in the shadows. They had crept like death up to the cottage, silencing any man who could have raised the alarm.
None of the guards nor staff had any warning. It had been near supper time when the pirates ambushed them so the soldiers would have been more concerned about getting their bowl of venison stew and a chunk of brown bread to mop up the grease rather than looking out for danger while the staff would have been finishing up the small feast of roasted suckling pig basted with herbs and spices, candied walnuts, wild pears and mashed turnips that Emma and Robin would have shared as their first private meal as husband and wife.
It had been a massacre...
They cut the binds on Robins wrists, instead tying his hands in front of him so he might grasp the reigns. The men had started to do the same with the rope around Emma's wrist when Hook stopped them.
"You don't need to bother," said the one handed maurderer. His gaze fell on the suddenly nervous blonde, a lecherous look in his eye. "She'll be riding with me."
Robin charged at the pirate captain, only getting a few steps before Hooks cutlass was at his throat.
"You're not touching her!"
"Tell me, Locksley… Is her life worth your own?"
He didn't even blink.
"If the price for her safety and virtue is my death then I will gladly pay it."
Hook smirked at the bold words.
"You might be willing to pay that price." He pressed his sharp steel deeper into his skin. A trickle of blood ran down his throat. "But is she?"
"Don't hurt him!" cried Emma, struggling against her captors. "Please!"
The pirate grinned at the protest, stowing his sword in his leather scabbard. "Afraid I have to honor the lady's wishes. Looks like you won't be paying anything today." A deep mocking bow followed by the snickers of the men surrounding them. "Your majesty."
Robin was led back to some brown spotted horse and then assisted onto the back of the horse and handed him the reins.
He watched as Hook sat atop a large black gelding, watched as the men grabbed hold of his bride and placed her on top of the horse in front of the pirate captain.
"Don't worry, Love," Hook whispered loud enough for Robin to pick up the words meant to infuriate him. "I don't bite." He nibbled at her ear. "Much."
With a kick in the horses ribs they he was off. Regina rode over to the prince on a white mare that looked almost silver in the moonlight.
"You ride off, your pretty little blonde bride gets fucked by every cock on that ship," she told him. "So don't be stupid and play the hero."
Rather it was to warn him out of whatever fondness she had felt for the prince at one time or out of want for the ransom he was worth.
Robin strongly suspected the latter.
He suspected right.
As they rode into the night, led only by torch light Hook leaned in close to his captive.
"Every single man that sails under me would love to stick their half rotten prick in a princess," he muttered in her ear. "Even the wench has been known to lick the honey from between a woman's legs a time or two."
Emma closed her eyes against the onset of tears. She had barely been able to tell her husband she wanted him to make love to her on her wedding night and now this man was telling her that she was going to be raped by a hundred dirty foul pirates, all for the chance at a hefty ransom… She had already been groped and molested by one of those disgusting men. She could still feel his finger inside her and the way his blackened fingernails dig into her breast. That alone made her want to curl up in a ball and never set eyes on a man again.
Emma wanted to go home. She wanted her mother, she wanted her father, but most of all, perhaps surprisingly of all, the princess wanted Robin.
"Normally I wouldn't mind but your father being who he is, well, it's best to keep a pirate bastard out your belly and keep you from walking bowlegged. So to keep you safe," Hook continued. "I will claim you as mine and you will claim me as yours. No other man will be allowed to touch you. Of course that means I get to shove MY prick into you whenever I desire but it's a price I'm willing to pay."
Emma wasn't sure what made her snap. The smugness of which he talked of 'claiming' her, the fact that he had threatened her husband's life far too many times to count, the fact that a twelve year old boy that Robin cared for deeply was being lowered in a shallow grave with rocks on scratches to mark who laid there, perhaps all of it, perhaps none, perhaps more, but whatever it was, a fire came alive inside of her.
"Those are my choices then?" Emma whipped around to face the one handed captain. "Submit to being raped by one man or fight while being raped by a hundred?"
"One hundred and eight, actually. But yes, those are your options."
The princess steeled her expression. She made herself as tall as she could manage and leaned in close.
"Then I would rather die screaming than live in a cowards silence."
Hook laughed at the comment, throwing his head back and any semblance of confidence drain.
"What is it with you royal lot and making these big and bold proclaimations of death and honor and glory? One of these days you're gonna say the right thing to the wrong person and you're gonna find it rather difficult to say your pretty little words when you have a sword shoved down your throat. But if that's your choice I suppose I could just strip you down and tie you eagle spread when we get back to the ship. Oh don't worry, I'll give you a feather bed in one of finest cabins, it'll save the men some time, they won't have to keep them from having to keep going up and down the stairs to the brig everytime they want a good hard fuck. I am a generous captain after all."
Emma shut her eyes again, only this time she wasn't able to help the steady stream of tears that were coursing down her face while they continued to ride. The men laughed and told dirty jokes, sang crude songs, complained about the saddle sores, all the things men do when they're trying to pass the time on a long journey spent atop a mount.
At one point someone had gotten enough wine in them to ask Regina, (she was 'wench', Robin noticed. Always 'wench', they never called her by her name. Like she was some nameless object rather than a person) rather or not she really thought some 'virginous probably inbred prince with a little cock' could really make her slick between her legs.
The men laughed. She threw back that 'the thought alone already makes me far wetter than you ever did, Smithers'. The men laughed harder.
The pirate aptly named Smithers just yelled back 'wait until we get back to the ship, you'll see how wet I can make you.'
While the men laughed again, Robin glanced at his former lover. She wore a smile, like she too enjoyed the joke but it didn't quite reach her eyes. If someone took the time to really look at the dark haired beauty they would notice that her smile didn't appear happy at all...
The blackened night sky had turned into a dusky blue by the time the caravan stopped. Hook rounded on the prince, making a show of pulling out a dagger from his belt and it to Robin.
"In about ten minutes we're going to arrive at a dock. A dock that will be crowded with people who would gladly fight to rescue their prince and princess should they try to raise the alarm." Hook jabbed the point of his dagger into Emma's back making her wince. "So, either of you yell or scream or draw attention to yourselves, the lovely little princess of Misthaven gets a nice little knife hole in her back. You understand me? Your Grace?"
Robin glared at the one handed man. What he wouldn't do for his bow and even just a handful of arrows. The prince could hit the center of the bullseye at four hundred yards, nearly double what most men could hit period. He should have grabbed his bow. He should have grabbed his bow and his quiver, he would have destroyed his enemies in a matter of minutes. But his father's voice told him to grab his sword instead.
'Swords do better in close combat,' the princes adoptive father King John of Nottingham, who had never once used either steel or arrow in battle, warned him.
The man who never would have even been king if it hadn't been for the untimely and rather sudden death of Robins biological father and the former Prince John's brother King Richard the Lionheart told Robin time and time again that 'bows are for tourneys and ogres, no real place in real battle.'
But still, Robin grabbed his sword instead of his bow and now, thanks to his stupid mistake, both he and Emma were held captive by a bunch of cutthroats who would sooner murder the prince and rape his princess all for a few chests of gold.
He nodded as a reply to Hooks question and without another word the caravan rode forward and sure enough they came across a dock that even in the early morning was still full of sailers and pirates, fishermen and merchants, wives and mothers sobbing their goodbyes or celebrating their return and salt water smelling whores for the men who have been at sea without a woman for far too long and were too impatient to get to the nearest brothel.
The pirates and royalty rode about halfway down the dock to one of the larger more regal looking ships and Hook presented it to the royals as if he was presenting a castle full of gold.
"Welcome, my esteemed honored guests." Snickering throughout the caravan. "To the Jolly Roger."
The captain ordered two of his men to take the gaggle of horses, save but two, that they had stolen and sell them to one of the horse merchants. There was no need for mounts on a ship afterall.
"We sail at daybreak," Hook informed the crew that had gathered around him as he dismounted, grabbing hold of Emma and pulling her down off the saddle with him. Robin got off his own horse, stumbling slightly but still remaining upright while the other pirates dismounted their horses as well.
"Lannis will ride to the Northern Kingdom and deliver our terms to Queen Snow and King David," said Hook.
A low grumble at the mention of every pirate in Misthavens enemy. Emma couldn't help the fleeting feeling of pride that came from the men who had captured her and Robin fearing and hating her father.
David would save her. Her and Robin both.
"Alton, you ride to Nottingham and give King John the same. Harley, you'll bring Locksley to the wenchs chambers if that's still her wish."
"It is," Regina said with a smirk towards the prince who simply glared back, a far cry from the looks he had shared when he was her lover and not her captive.
Hook pursed his lips but said nothing else on the matter
"And Barr, you take Princess Emma and…" The captain looked down at the blonde who was fighting a losing battle to hold back her sobs, expecting to hear him tell his deckhand to do what he had threatened on the road, to take her to a cabin where he would strip her and tie her to the bed for any man to use however he saw fit…
"Bring her to the brig," Hook instructed. He ignored the confused look on the blondes face. "Then give the key to me. ONLY to me."
There was a loud grumble of disappointment, all of them understanding the meaning behind the words their captain spoke. Even Robin looked relatively surprised at the turn of events. Emma just stared at the one handed man who met her gaze.
"Smee, meet me in my quarters," was his final word. Hook shared one last look with the blonde before he turned and headed onto the deck of his ship.
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