And we are back! Don't worry our favorite Queen isn't quite down and out. I still own nothing.
"I can't just leave her there, she is injured and we can sneak in and get her." Sam pleads with Solari and Sarah.
"We need to wait, your mom could have escaped at almost anytime, she is keeping herself there for a reason. She knows you are here, but I think it is a good idea for you to go to her and let her know about how far away Ephiny and the rest are."
Sam doesn't have to be told twice and heads out to check on her mom. She is able to sneak past the one guard, replaying Solari's words about a bigger play from the Queen. With only one guard and knowing she had backup, Sam doesn't understand why her mom didn't simply walk away even with her injuries she could have escaped easily. Sam crawls under the suspended cage, she notices that Gabrielle breaths are short and as if she is trying to find air. Her eyes are shut tight but she is not sleeping.
"Mom?" Sam whispers
" Sam, honey, I'm okay," Gabrielle tries to reassure her daughter, wincing as she moves to look down at Sam..
"I'm not entirely sure of that, but Solari wanted me to let you know Ephiny and the others are about candle mark, maybe two away. Why don't you let me get you out of here?"
" That was the plan, but when I saw who was leading this group, I have to stay to determine if he had captured anyone else for his slave trades. Besides I owe him, and plan to pay my debt. Honey, I'm" Gabrielle pants the effort from speaking making it even more difficult to breathe, "I'm okay. Your mother?"
" She's okay, and I'm sure giving someone hades about staying behind. Mom, are you sure you're okay?" Worriedly Sam asks.
" I will be. You need to head out, someone's coming and I need a little more time to make sure there are no others who we can help." Sam places her hand on Gabrielle's cheek and heads out. As Sam disappears, another woman enters the area and makes sure Sam is out of ear shot.
" He wants me to check on the Queen," she says alerting the guard. Kneeling down next to Gabrielle, "My Queen let me help. I can set your ribs so you can at least breathe a bit easier." Gabrielle just shakes her head, deciding against speaking.
"Guard, I need her out of the cage to check her out." Seeing the guard hesitant to open up the cage, "Look at her, she can barely breathe, her arm is dislocated and she can barley see out her eye. What could she possibly do to escape? Now open the cage so I can make sure the merchandise isn't damaged and the value drops, you don't want Him mad at you?" The guard thinks on it for a second, he isn't quite sure why He is scared of this small woman, Amazon or not. He walks over to the cage and releases the latch, dropping Gabrielle onto the ground. The drop was only about a foot, but the impact jars Gabrielle's injuries, her head swimming from the pain coursing through her. The woman drops down to Gabrielle, getting close to her ear to speak.
"My Queen, I know it hurts but I need you to focus on my finger tapping your arm, it will help you relax and allow me to set your ribs." The woman begins to tap, tap, tap on Gabrielle's arm and as Gabrielle is able to focus on the rhythm, she begins to untense.
"Good job my Queen, now keep focusing on the tap in your head," the woman says as she stops tapping and moves her hands up to Gabrielle's ribs. Gently feeling around, she locates the rib that is causing Gabrielle so much distress, she again bends down and places her forehead on Gabrielle's, closes her eyes and whispers.
"My Queen, this is going to hurt." Feeling Gabrielle shake her head, the woman begins to voice Tap, Tap, Tap, and when she feels Gabrielle is fully focused on it, she pushes quick and hard onto her ribs, feeling them set into place. Gabrielle screams out and then passes out. The woman has her head on Gabrielle's chest, a tear escapes from her eyes as she silently apologizes to her Queen for the pain she inflicted upon her, needed or not.
"Woman" He says as he enters into the clearing. "How is our guest?" The woman stands for Him.
"She is alive, I had to set her ribs and her shoulder is dislocated. I was just about to set it too."
"No, leave it as is, it will speed up her training," He comments.
"Or it will permanently damage the merchandise and degrade the value," she says before realizing she just spoke back to Him. He backhands her a moment later, sending her to the ground where is follows it up with a kick to the head. The woman lying motionless on the ground. He looks at the guard, "Put the Queen back in her cage, her training will resume shortly." The guard fixes the open end and tosses Gabrielle back into the cage.
He takes a tree branch from the ground and begins to poke the Amazon Queen in her injured ribs, Gabrielle opens her eyes taking in the woman lying on the ground, Him looming near.
"You know I'm not much of a morning person, I prefer to be woken gently and by someone with less" Gabrielle glances down to the mans crotch, " even less than what you have." Knowing she is pushes her luck, she was partly prepared for the cage to be jerked to the side so suddenly, throwing her into the side.
"Queen Gabrielle, I did miss your wit. And if I recall, the last time we met it also got you into more trouble."
"That maybe true, but it was so enjoyable and if I recall the last time we were together, it ended up poorly for you."
"While our departure wasn't on my terms, I believe this time around you are the one who will be treated poorly," He states motioning for the cage to be flipped. Gabrielle allows the cage to toss her, needing to keep Him talking.
"This is so much more enjoyable for me, are you enjoying yourself."
"Anytime a man shows me a good time is torture to me. Will I have you all to myself or do I get to share your generosity with others you befriended on your trip." The cage flips again, but then abruptly flips back, batting Gabrielle like a bat hitting a ball, blood seeping from the where the bridge of her nose collided with the cage.
The woman has now made it to a standing position, "how much do you think you will fetch for her if you continue to beat her, you need her trained not broken?" And even though she expected the backhand, it still knocks her down, but she bided sometime for the Queen.
"Woman you need to watch yourself or you will be retrained yourself," He states and turns back to Gabrielle.
"And you Queen Gabrielle are our only esteemed guest on this trip and will be the sole item I bring to market." He waves his hand again, flipping the cage. Gabrielle learning that no one else has been captured no longer has to play His game. She gets her legs out the holes in the cage, securing herself as the cage is flipped upside down, now hanging upside down.
The guard begins to shake the cage, to try and knock Gabrielle off. When they all realize this tactic won't work He yells for the guard to climb in and get Gabrielle out.
As the guard opens the bottom of the cage and begins to climb up, Gabrielle relaxes her hold and begins to fall onto the guard, both landing on the ground below. Gabrielle elbows the guard in the side of the head, grabs his sword and rolls away and to her feet. She is about to attack Him, but while Gabrielle was messing with the guard, He grabbed the woman and now had His sword at her throat. Gabrielle gets the first look at the woman's face, registers that the woman administering her aid kept referring to her as "my Queen," and is startled to see who is staring back at her.
"Helena," Gabrielle whispers, and drops her sword, knowing that He won't hesitate to kill her Amazon sister.
"Your mercy will always be your downfall my Queen." He says as the guard Gabrielle attacked is now alert, walks over and repays Gabrielle with a blow to her head, as she lands on the ground he kicks her for added pleasure.
"Take her to my tent," He instructs the guard. Standing and watching the guard drag Gabrielle away, "You will tend to your Queen, but I will not hesitate to kill either of you if the need arises. Queen Gabrielle may fetch a large sum of dinars, but she might be more useful dead."
"Sam, she will be alright. You saw her take on the guard in her current state, we will get to her soon. " Solari holds Sam shaking her head no longer willing to allow her Queen to endure such torture.
"Who was that woman that the Queen surrendered so quickly for?" Sarah asks aloud. Both Sam and Solari shake their head not recognizing the woman.
"Sarah head back and meet Ephiny and update her, let her know we need to be prepared to attack as soon as possible. Sam and I will head over closer to where the Queen has been moved, I need you and Ephiny to attack from this side and to the south. Send 4 additional Amazons to Sam and my position. We will signal you to begin the attack as we are about to enter and retrieve the Queen."