Throughout the next day, she was left alone for the most part. The rapes had stopped, but only because the monk had decided to hold a continuous, never-ending sermon outside the shed where she was being held.
The man really did love the sound of his own voice. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to die, at least she wouldn't have to listen to him going on and on anymore.
Throughout the day she drifted in and out of consciousness, her body a heap of bruises and cuts. She was sure that she had a couple of broken ribs. In the back of her mind she had always known that all men, even the ones she considered friends, could be cruel, but not this cruel.
As her mind slipped out of the real world and into the blessed realm of unconsciousness, she dreamed, dreamed of how things could have been. In her dreams, she had never run away from home. She continued to live the same hard life that she had lived before on her father's farm, but this time, she didn't mind so much. This time, she married the simple young man from the neighboring farm. True, he hadn't been handsome or particularly bright, but he had always smiled at her and gone out of his way to make her feel special. She married him and had grown to love him. They had had several children and had grown old and happy together.
But, of course, this was just a dream that would never come true. The reality of the matter was that she was a whore who was about to be burned alive, condemned as a witch.
Unfortunately, the magistrate did not arrive to put her on trial before the next evening set on the village again. She didn't even have the strength to do more than whimper as she realized that the sun was setting again. When it was night time and the monk retreated once more she would be at the mercy of the mob again. Perhaps she wouldn't burn at the stake after all. No, she was quite sure she couldn't survive another evening like the previous one.
Her eyes darted around the small shed which was becoming darker and darker with each passing moment. There was a deep seeded look of desperation in them as they sought out some sort of means of escape, but of course, there was none, and even if she had discovered some way out of the enclosure, she did not have the strength to crawl, much less run.
Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes and her fragile, beaten body shook as she cried, making it even harder for her to breath. The sound of men screaming outside the shed led her to believe that the men were drawing closer and, at that moment, her panic and fear were so great that she didn't realize that the screams of the men were not the same as they had been when they had been a mob attacking her. No, now they were screams of terror.
The screams actually grew closer and closer and she sobbed louder and louder, not really noticing how each man's scream would suddenly be cut off.
When the door to the shed was torn off its hinges she was in such a state of hysterics that she didn't realize that the figure in the door was not a man there to torment her, instead, it was a beautiful woman.
The woman with strawberry blond curls and unbelievably beautiful features leaned over her, her full lips forming a small "O" of astonishment.
Was she an angel? Irina wondered. Even with the blood dripping from the corner of her lips and the strange, blood-red color of her eyes she was the most beautiful creature that Irina had ever seen.
"My dear! What have these monsters done to you?!"
Before she could wonder more about the vision before her, she found herself being lifted up into the woman's arms. As her body was shifted about she let out a cry of pain, one of her broken ribs doing the damage it had been threatening to do ever since it had been broken the previous evening as it pierced through her lung, making it impossible to breath.
The woman's voice penetrated through the pain, but just barely.
"Oh! I have made it worse!" Her voice floated down to Irina as she was rushed through the night, the crisp winter air making it even harder to breathe.
She didn't know where they were going or even how long the woman ran through the night, holding her softly. As she slipped in and out of consciousness she kept hearing the woman telling her to hold on.
Hold on? It didn't make sense.
The darkness and cold wind swirled around them as the woman moved impossibly fast with her and it was hours later when she saw faint lights in the distance.
Were they running towards a church? Irina couldn't imagine it could be anything else, never having seen such a grand, big building in her short eighteen years.
As the woman ran into the house she started calling out in a frantic voice, "Mama! Mama! Help her!"