"There we go", Willow happily stated two hours later, pointing to the mistletoe clinging to the branches of one of the trees up ahead; they had spent the last one and a half hours in the woods, finding the oak leaves Hecate would need and the mulberries, the mistletoe having turned out to be a bit harder to spot than the rest of the herbs and plants the Goddess had asked for.
"I'll go get them", Pat offered at once, figuring that she'd be better suited to climb the tree thanks to her strength and stamina; nodding, Willow stepped back to give her some room, then watched how she started the ascend by grabbing the lowest branch and pulling herself up, moving up the tree with surprising speed, especially considering her lack of depth perception.
"Be careful", she thus called out, glad that the mistletoe wasn't growing too high up; briefly glancing back at her, the demon nodded, then focused on climbing again, thus not noticing how Willow suddenly paused, tilting her head slightly moments later as she strained her ears, the strange rustling sound not far away from their location having caught her attention.
Remembering what Arya had told them about wild animals and bandits in the woods, she turned to glance at the area around them; and moments later, she spotted someone moving among the trees, instinctively stepping backwards until she bumped into the tree, giving her best to not sound too loud as she said her girlfriend's name, something in her voice prompting the demon to freeze in mid-movement and glance down on her lover.
"What is it?" she wanted to know, her concern growing when in response, Willow only motioned for her to come back down; forgetting the mistletoe for now, she hurried to do so, and not even half a minute later, she stood next to her partner again, giving her a look which was both questioning and worried.
"I saw someone", the witch whispered in response, glancing around nervously, "maybe it's nothing, but…"
"Probably not", Pat dryly replied, squinting as she peered at the surrounding woods as well, now, "knowing our luck…"
As if that had been tempting fate, the rustling sound which had made Willow perk up in the first place reached their ears again, and they both tensed; and then, a group of masked men stepped out of the surrounding foliage, the demon holding back a groan when she, despite their masquerade, recognized two of the five as the bandits she had knocked out shortly after their arrival in this strange world, now cursing herself for not killing them when she'd had the chance.
"Remember us, do ya", the smaller snarled, glaring at her, "it's time for payback."
"Stay with your back to that tree", Pat hurriedly whispered to the witch in response, making sure the bandits couldn't hear her, "or try to hide behind it, just make sure you don't get too close to this."
Nodding, Willow swallowed heavily as she watched her partner take a step forward, a low growl coming from the demon moments later; if this upset any of the bandits, they were hiding it quite well, brandishing their crude weapons and giving their best to look menacing and dangerous.
"Come on", the demon snarled, briefly wishing for a weapon as well as she raised her fists, "can't decide who should go first?"
In response, two of them started moving forward, and she took a few steps to meet them; clearly, they didn't have much of an idea about how to use their weapons, Willow reflected as she watched her lover duck the clumsy swing of a rusty axe quite easily, then slam her fist into the man's stomach and knock the air out of him before she swept the other guy's legs out from underneath him with and made him fall down with a surprised yelp.
Smiling slightly at how easily her partner had the upper hand, Willow kept her eyes on the fight, observing how Pat took down another one of the bandits; she heard the rustling behind her just a second too late, and just as she turned her head, the two guys had grabbed her, a third clamping his hand over her mouth and pressing a dagger to her throat, the blade old and nicked, but still sharp enough to slice her open, should he choose to do so.
His palm over her mouth muffled her startled outcry, and before she could let out another one, he hissed into her ear that he'd kill her, should she try to scream; she froze at once, still remembering how it had felt to have her throat slit, her heart hammering up to her throat as the men started dragging her away from the tree, the one covering her mouth still keeping his dagger close to her throat.
Before they could get her out of sight though, the demon turned as she threw one of the attackers over her should and slammed him down to the ground; their eyes met, and moments later, a loud growl echoed through the forest as the black haired woman realized what was going, fire bursting from her fists as she lost all self-control and restraint and started to rush over to the men about to kidnap her lover.
Willow's relief about her lover spotting in time what was going on only lasted for a few seconds; then, her eyes widened again as she saw one of the bandits behind her partner start moving as well, brandishing a heavy wooden club, her tries to cry out a warning for nothing, the man keeping her mouth covered realizing what she was doing and making sure that she couldn't get out more than muffled sounds.
Frantically, the redhead struggled against the grasp she was held in as she tried to warn her lover about the danger behind her; and seconds later, she had to admit that she had failed as the man swung his club and hit the demon in the head, making sure to stay at her blind side, a grunt which sounded both surprised and pained coming from her as the club connected.
Stumbling, Pat fought to stay on her feet, knowing she couldn't let them take her down, not with three of them so dangerously close to kidnapping her lover; before she could even regain her footing though, the club smashed into her head again, warm blood flowing a second later while she went down, hearing Willow cry out, the sound being enough to force her up on her hands and knees again.
Gritting her teeth, she tried to ignore how the world was spinning around her and how much her head hurt; and then, the club came down for a third and final time, slamming into the back of her head and knocking her out, the last thing she heard before blacking out being yet another cry of her lover, along with the laughter of the man who had taken her down.
"Let go of me!" Willow half snapped, half shrieked, struggling against the hold the men had on her; now that her lover was out cold, or perhaps even dead, they didn't bother to cover her mouth anymore, giving her a chance to voice her dismay about their treatment of her as they dragged her through the woods.
"Shut up", the guy with the knife, obviously some sort of leader of the group, snarled at her, "or we'll gag you."
"Let go I said!", the witch demanded in reply, keeping up her struggles, eager to break free and run back to her partner, to make sure that she was alright, "or you'll regret it!"
"I've had enough of this", the leader decided as an answer, bringing the knife up again; Willow had a second to ask herself if he'd just slit her throat now, after having figured out that she'd be more trouble than she was worth – and then he swung the weapon, slamming the blunt hilt against the side of her head, hard enough to cause stars to explode in front of her eyes.
Still she kept up the struggles, not willing to let one physical attack stop her; the leader of the thugs let out another snarl, then whacked her again and again, until she was close to blacking out, fighting to stay conscious now as she hung limply in the grips of her kidnappers.
"There", she heard the guy grumble, accompanied by the chuckles his cronies were letting out, "much better. Don't worry, woman, we ain't planning to keep ya. Soon as your friend paid us, ya're free to reunite with her."
All she could do in response was let out a weak groan, still struggling to stay awake, telling herself that she had to remember where they were taking her; after the blows to her head though, she felt so dazed that the world was spinning and blurring in front of her eyes, a dreadful feeling of nausea settling in her stomach and making her feel like throwing up.
"Almost there", she heard one of the men comment, briefly asking herself how long they already had been dragging her through the forest, and if she perhaps had blacked out several times during the trip, without even being aware of it; giving her best to keep her eyes open, she tried to focus on her surroundings, only to feel despair well up within her when she had to realize that she no idea where in the vast forest they were.
Asking herself how her lover was ever supposed to find her there, she tried to spot something distinctive, something which would help her to find her way back to the place where Pat and she had been attacked; before she could see anything useful though, the bandits dragging her along apparently had reached their destination, since they stopped abruptly, then let go of her unexpectedly, a startled cry coming from as she dropped down to the ground, ending up on all fours.
Even though she still felt dizzy and nauseous, Willow forced herself to raise her head, to her slight surprise finding herself in what looked like a makeshift camp; crude tents made of animal hide and sticks had been put up in a circle, the approximate middle of said circle marked by a fire pit, the sad remains of the deer they had grilled over the pit lying on the ground next to it, having attracted a swarm of flies, the smell of the meat nearly making the redhead retch despite her best tries to hold it back.
"Alright", she heard the leader say, his feet and legs moving into her field of view moments later as he stepped in front of her, "now we got a few hours until your companion's ready to deal with us again, don'tcha think? Hamish over there gave her a few good ones. So how should we pass the time?"
From the way his companions were grinning and leering at her, Willow had a pretty good idea about how they might want to pass the time; within seconds, her blood ran cold, all her dizziness and nausea vanishing when she was grabbed and roughly hauled to her feet again, the leader looking at her with a lusty glint in his eyes.
"I get first go", he then told his mates, already reaching for the length of rope he used as a belt, "you can have her when I'm done. Hold her down."
"No!" Willow protested as they dragged her to the nearest spot clear enough of branches to force her flat on her back, ignoring her struggles as one of the men took firm hold of her wrists and securing them above her head, only letting out a harsh chuckle at her tries to break free of his grasp.
"No, stop!" the witch cried out as two more men approached her, both of them grinning widely as well, exposing brown and rotten teeth; as she realized what they intended to do, she kicked wildly at them, even managing to fend them off for a minute – until one of them managed to wrap his hands around her calf and forced her leg down onto the ground, his companion following suit moments later, panic rising within her as they spread her legs and the leader of the thugs approached her, the bulge in his pants making it obvious that he wasn't willing to waste any time.
"Don't touch me!" Willow shrieked as he knelt down between her spread legs and grabbed her hips, the sound of her skirt tearing mixing with the cry she let out; he took a moment to snarl at her that she should shut her mouth and that no one would hear her, anyway, then his dirty, rough and callused hands slid from her thighs up to her hips and beneath her shirt, the redhead squirming beneath his unwelcome touch when she felt his fingers grab her breasts.
"Stop it!" she nearly pleaded, wincing when he squeezed rather harshly, looking as if he'd start to drool any moment, "please! Get your hands off me!"
"Keep holdin' her", the man snarled in reply, moving one hand to his pants and hurriedly opening them, "last thing I need is that she kicks me in the balls!"
He pulled his pants down and exposed himself, the redhead's panic reaching new heights at the sight of him; and when he grabbed her skirt and started to pull it down harshly, as well, she forgot all the promises she had made to herself about never using magic against another human again after the incident with Warren and grasped the power deep within her, her eyes briefly filled with darkness as she unleashed the magic, reaching out for something, anything, she could use as a weapon, her eyes narrowing as she found the perfect object not too far away.
Giving her best now to keep the panic at bay, she focused, the man holding her arms looking startled as he noticed the change of her eye colour; before he could say anything though, perhaps try to warn his mates, the deer antlers were ripped from the carcass with an audible fleshy noise and shot through the air, hitting the leader in the back with enough force to go all the way through, a strangled, surprised cry coming from him as the dull antlers burst out of his chest, blood splattering everywhere.
"Oh God!" the witch heard one of the men cry out, the hold on her arms and legs vanishing moments later, making it possible for her to hurriedly sit up; from the corner of her eye, she saw the bandit who'd had the grip on her wrists reach for his weapon, a crudely made dagger, and her eyes narrowed again as she concentrated and reached for it with her power, the weapon flying out of his hand moments later and up, the blade embedding itself deep in his eye, killing him before he even had the chance to cry out.
"She's a witch!" she heard another man cry out, panic in his voice now, a malicious smile curling her lips as she thought of how quickly the tables had turned, how quickly she had gone from fearing them to making them fear hear; she moved to look at the one who had cried out, ready to finish him as quickly as she had dealt with his companions, and that was when something hard came down on the back of her head with shocking force, the darkness vanishing from her eyes a split second before she blacked out as unconsciousness took her.
