Chapter 11 Darkness and Loss
Though they had searched the entire Forest for him, Bane was not found. This put everyone into a very bad mood, for various reasons. It had been two weeks since the Professor had been found dead, and the Ministry and her family wanted answers and justice. The wizards even joined in on the search for the Outlaw Centaur Bane, to come up empty handed on each search. After three and a half weeks of holding the protective spell in place all of the married males of the Forbidden Forest were worried about their mates, who had all collapsed into the pool with exhaustion. Scarlet had managed to hold the spell for the rest of the week, unable to hear Firenze's plea for her to stop, until she had collapsed into his arms flashed into her human form and was carried into their home for much needed rest.
She was so weak that Firenze feared losing her and took her to the Healer at the castle for help when she still hadn't awakened after two weeks of unconsessness. He paced the floor of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing in his human form as the healer worked on Scarlet and tisked under her breath. "How is she, Firenze," asked Headmistress Minerva as she placed a hand on Firenze's shoulder to stop his incessant pacing?
"I don't know, yet, she's been working on her for hours, and has already spelled several potions into her system. She hasn't stopped working long enough to tell me anything, which in my mind is not a good sign," said Firenze as Poppy finally uttered a surprised word as there was a flash of light and Scarlet transformed back into her true form..
Scarlet opened her eyes and found herself laying on a large bed in what looked like a human hospital, she wanted to move, but felt too weak and sick to do it. She blinked to clear her vision and found her husband and two other witches looking down at her. "Firenze, what, what happened," she asked in a soft feeble sounding voice?
"You've almost drained your magical core, that's what happened. By the way, Firenze, did you know that she was expecting," asked Poppy as she covered Scarlet with a blanket? Firenze looked down at his wife, and saw the spark of life in her eyes that Trigga had spoken of before he had left for his home and smiled knowingly before he answered the mediwitch.
"We were informed that she was with child, the day after our wedding, but it was not confirmed until just now. Scarlet, we shall speak about this later in private, he said as he knelt and whispered into her ear.
"Well, she is about a month and a half along into her pregnancy. Most of her magic was used to keep the child that she is carrying alive. I would like her to stay here for the rest of this month so that I can monitor the health of both her and the baby, and feed her the proper potions. It is summer now, So you don't have to worry about her being disturbed by any of the students," said Poppy as she flicked her wand and preformed a few more medical scans.
"I don't know about this, we still haven't found Bane, and I don't like the idea of leaving my wife and unborn child outside of the protection of the magic that protects our village," said Firenze frowning as he looked around the imposing room of stone.
"Firenze, look at her, she's not strong enough to be moved at this time. Poppy only wants to help insure the health of the baby and ensure that you don't lose both of them," said Minerva as Firenze held Scarlet's hand until it went limp and slid from his grasp as she lost consciousness once more bringing home Minerva's point.
"Don't worry we will keep her safe, and you may come and go here as you please, when you are not dealing with the affairs of your herd. We will send our fastest owl if there is any change. She will get stronger, with proper rest and potions, and should be able to return home soon," said Poppy as she drew the blankets to cover the rest of her equine body.
Firenze bent and placed a tender kiss to his wife's forehead as he placed a protective hand over where he knew his child rested. "I promise, my love, I'm only a call away. There is no distance too great that I will not hear your call to me," he said before rising to his fool height and leaving the Hospital Wing changing into his true form and breaking into a full run as soon as his feet touched the bottom step that led into the entrance hall. A week later found Scarlet strong enough to return to her home within the forbidden forest. She walked slowly along the bank of the Black lake and admired the view of the castle and its grounds as she waited for Firenze to come and escort her home, not bothering to pay attention to anything more than the beauty of her surroundings.
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, there were stars, that flashed before her eyes, and then the world went black as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and hoisted her unconscious form over his back to carry her into the depths of the forest and away from the other, who was coming for her. Firenze felt at peace as he walked toward the place where he was supposed to meet Scarlet to take her home, but that feeling changed as suddenly his mental link to her vanished abruptly. Fearing the worse, he galloped from the cover of the forest and looked around wildly for the woman that he loved to find nothing but a single red rose that he had brought to her earlier that morning.
He picked up the rose and screamed her name as he started to panic. No answer came to his ears. He ran into the castle hoping against hope that she would be there only to find that the last place that anyone had seen her was standing beside the black lake with the forest to her back. He ran from the school screaming her name as he ran. The entire herd heard him screaming for Scarlet and met him in a clearing that was half way between their village and the school with their bows to render aid to their chosen leader. The entire herd could be heard calling Scarlet's name as they searched late into the night and on into morning of the next day.
Firenze caught only glimpses of strange surroundings and flashes of pain from time to time through the next three days as he continued to comb every inch of the Forbidden Forest for the one that he loved. As he tossed in his sleep on the fifth night that she was missing he could faintly hear her voice crying to him, pleading, calling out his name, and awoke with his eyes wide in a cold sweat, knowing exactly what he had to do. He bolted from his bed, and ran as fast as he could for the Sacred Pool, with one thought in his mind, to get to Centaur Glade and get the help of Scarlet's family.
Bane finally had the key to Firenze's heart and smiled wickedly as he heard the sound of Firenze screaming for Scarlet over and over again. He took his prize into a room of his hideout that looked as if it was once used to contain human prisoners and Chained Scarlets wrists to a chain that hang from the ceiling letting her body sag before he took a cold bucket of water and splashed it directly into her face to wake her. "Wakey, wakey, my love," he said as her eyelashes began to flutter open, and she stared to come around. Scarlet could feel the coldness of the irons around her wrists and struggled to get her feet beneath her, before looking around wondering where she was, and where Firenze was.
"Firenze, I don't know what you're trying to do, but I don't like this game, please let me down from here," she called out to the darkness as she squinted her eyes attempting to look passed the glow of the single torch that hung from the wall.
"That's just too bad isn't it, my lovely Scarlet. You see, I rather like these kind of games. It must be uncomfortable for you tied up like that. I might let you down, if you agree to be my mate, and to give me many sons and daughters to make a new herd," said Bane as he caressed her cheek enjoying the softness of her skin under his hands.
"I'd rather die a hundred deaths, than bare your foals. You disgust me," snarled Scarlet as she turned her head away from him, and closed her eyes refusing to look at him.
"You will change your mind once I've mated with you. I promise that I can make you moan and scream my name much longer and louder than Firenze did. You will be the mother of my foals rather you like it or not. That said, I can make this as pleasant or as hard on you as you wish. Cooperating would be in your best interest my mate," said Bane as he walked slowly around Scarlet running his hand over her silky red coat and down the length of her making her cringe with shivers of disgust at his touch.
"I will never be yours, and bare your foals, Bane. My body heart , and soul, as well as the foal that I already carry belong to Firenze, so if you had hoped to impregnate me, and throw it into Firenze's face about how you've taken what belongs to him, than you are too late," snarled Scarlet as she focused her powers on the protection of her unborn son, and clamped her tail to her body preventing Bane from touching her private areas that belonged only to Firenze and no other.
"Let's see how you change your tune when you go for a while with no food or water to drink. Perhaps then you'll look upon me more favorably. As for your foal, that does not matter, depending on how you behave toward me once the foal is born, I could either raise the child as my own after I kill Firenze, or I can shatter his heart by killing the foal before his very eyes," smirked Bane as he placed a thick piece of cloth over Scarlet's mouth to prevent her from screaming, before kissing her cheek and leaving her alone in the dark taking the torch with him. Scarlet stood alone in the dark, and tried to focus on Firenze,. She knew that her magic was still too weak to attempt to escape or to even fight back, but perhaps if she thought of him hard enough he would hear her cries, and would find her.
For the next five months she was awakened in the most brutal way each morning with the feeling of Bane's front legs wrapped around her waist , his fingers rubbing and twisting her nipples, and his stiff member pounding into her body with brutal force. Her entire equine body burned, and it was all that she could do to not scream out in pain as she was violated over and over. During these brutal rape sessions Bane would remove her gag, hoping to hear her scream out his name, only to be disappointed and enraged when she called out to Firenze the second time that he had tied Scarlets legs and tail in a way that would not deny him his pleasures.
He beat her that night until she was bruised and bloody for calling out Firenze's name, before leaving her there shaking with pain. After that he would go to the dungeon and would moan and scream with each thrust into her body as it made his member burn, but she never screamed out again. This prompted him to rape her over and over again multiple times a day, and then beat her every night. As the months passed slowly by food became scarce for Bane, who had stopped feeding Scarlet all together, in favor of feeding himself. He decided to take the risk and venture into the Forbidden Forest to hunt for food, even though he knew that there was a chance that he'd be caught.
When Firenze had left to get help from the Centaur Glade herd, the sun had been shinning and the breeze was gentle. When he returned, however he found the entire Forbidden Forest herd surrounding the sacred pool with terror filled expressions upon their faces. "What's wrong, why is it so dark out here. I wasn't gone that long," said Firenze as he appeared with the Centaur Glade herd standing behind him?
Everyone just looked up to the sky and a few pointed silently.
"This is bad, very bad, Firenze. Scarlet is the guardian of balance in your forest. She is in distress. If we do not find her soon, it will only get worse. The Balance of this place will crumble, and it will be left a place that is not even fit for the humans that live at that school that you told us about. Pray that she is strong enough to survive, because if she dies, your Forest dies with her," said Beauty as she thought back to what had happened long ago when she was a foal, the day that her Mother had died before passing the Powers of Protection on to her. She had been only four at the time, but she had never forgotten what had happened and she trembled violently in her new mate's arms.
"Beauty is right, there's only one thing to be done. We'll work in shifts, so that we all have a chance to rest and replenish our magic. Sovarian, find our daughter," she said as she stepped back to the center of the pool and started to glow with Elemental Power.
"Okay, Let's get moving, we may have to search all of the surrounding places beyond your territory, since you've had no luck here. We will find her Firenze," said Trigga as he placed a firm brotherly hand upon Firenze's shoulder.
"I hope we find her soon. She's carrying my unborn foal. To lose either one of them would change my world forever," said Firenze as he summoned his bow and they all broke apart to search for Scarlet once more.
Months had passed and Firenze grew silent and very short fused. He had stopped hearing Scarlet's voice in his head a month ago, and the conditions of everything around them had gotten worse. Light had not returned to the land leaving no way to tell day from night. It was colder than it had ever gotten during the hardest Scottish winter, and not even the many fires of the village could bring warmth to their bones. Firenze slept fitfully as he dreamt of his wife and the foal that she carried and cried hard shaking with sobs as he woke each morning to find her not by his side where she should have been. She was now seven months along in her pregnancy and he feared for her life and that of his child.