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The tent he was lead into was square and dirt floored. It was orange in colour and there were three poles in the room. Two were parallel about two meters distance between them. The other stood not four meters away.
Jack hardly noticed the tent though because upon entering his eyes immediately locked onto the sole occupant of the tent.
It was Dan.
She was chained between the two poles. Her arms held in place by cuffs and strong chains.
She did not look up at him as he was shoved inside. She was slumped over as much as the chains allowed and for a second Jack thought it was because she was asleep. However, as he was all but slammed into the wooden pole and his hands were chained around it, he got a full view of her back. It was bleeding in thin strips everywhere, her shirt all but shredded.
His chains were clicked into place; Jack was now chained to the pole from behind. Slowly he sank to the ground and looked at Dan. Now he saw that her head was turned so that he could not see her face. Which meant that she was awake but definitely not in the mood to talk.
His gazed wandered around the tent and then landed on the guards as they exited.
Scowling at Jack and ignoring Dans existence.
He gave a tentative tug on his chains. They clinked dully, but held fast. No chance of wiggling out of them then.
"Jack" she croaked.
Jack focused his attention back to Dan. She was now studying the sandy ground in front of her.
"Aye?" he asked, keeping the pity and fear out of his voice.
"Do you think I deserve to die?" she almost whispered as her voice broke again. She sounded almost fearful of his answer, and somehow defeated. As if she knew the answer and had already accepted it. Jack tried to see her eyes but her short fringe was keeping them from his view.
The question tore at him, and he could not keep the sadness from his voice. What had they been telling her?
"Nay luv, I've never met anyone who deserved it" he replied softly.
At this Dan lifted her head and her different colored eyes locked onto his face. "You're lying Captain," she informed him, giving a weak rueful smile.
Jack considered this, "Aye that I am, I've met several actually." With that said his eyes went glassy as he thought back to some part of his past.
"The ones who took your ship…" she said softly in understanding. Jack blinked, and then gave her a roguish grin. He hadn't realized how much she had read into him.
"Yes, but even they are misguided fools luv, and they'll pay the price" he confirmed.
She sighed and her head drooped lower, so that it rested on her chest. "I think I'm paying the price for my deeds right now captain".
Jack bit back whatever reply came to mind.
In fact, he couldn't think of a reply to this. He highly doubted she was in the mood for making light of the situation. He also knew she would hate to hear sympathy or pity in any form. She definitely was a weird one.
The tent flap swished open and six guards, followed by the general, strode in. The man stood tall in his polished armor, his white hair catching the sunlight from outside and giving him the impression of an angel of hell standing before them with a halo glowing around its head. He looked down at Dan in disgust and contempt.
There seemed to be a shadow over her, in direct contrast to the shining being before her, and her very presence seemed to insult him.
He sneered at her, tied spread eagle to the two poles that flanked her. Her top was tattered and torn and only just clinging onto her in shreds. The front had been ripped open, but she had a second shirt that covered the top of her chest still in tact. Even so, to the commander that stood over her she was scantly dressed, bleeding, a wreck of a person and a female that dared to oppose him and his operations.
Dan herself was not looking at the man that was boring holes into the top of her head with his squinty eyes. She was staring straight forward, her eyes level with the soldiers' shins, and Jack noticed with a pang of horror there was no defiance in them. The usual spark of indignation and icy rage was gone. Suddenly she seemed so much older, her eyes showed nothing but dull expectation of pain to come. There was no emotion. No life.
Her eyes said she was dead.
The general said something snide. Then he snapped an order and one of the guards handed him a riding crop? Yes, that was what Dan had called it.
He held it aloft, barked something in Spanish and then struck her hard across her already raw and bleeding back. Jack started at the sudden ferociousness of the attack. She closed her eyes tightly.
The translator spoke.
"Where are the horses?" the general struck again, and again said something in an accusatory tone.
The translator spoke.
"Why are you here?"
The thin stick struck again… "Where are the horses?", again, "Why are you here?".
Throughout it Dan didn't make a sound. It was eerie. As the riding crop struck across her back, the wounds from the lash bled again. Gods did they bleed.
Still Dan voiced no protest, no complaint. You could not even hear her breathe. Although she may have been timing her breathing with the strokes that were being dealt her. She was staring at the ground.
Jack wanted to stop it, but it was not in his nature to take someone else's beating onto himself. He had to think, had to think…
There was always a way out if you used your head.
But Jack could not think. At first Dan had given no indication that she was being hit. Now however as new wounds were added to others, her jaw had clenched and her eyes betrayed the pain she felt.
Dans' silent pain was preventing him from thinking rationally.
The crop continued to inflict pain upon Dan. And still she made no sound. Jack looked up at the other guards. None were looking at what was happening to Dan. Some were focusing in the ground, some were looking at the roof, one had his eyes closed and one had his head turned and was looking at the tent wall.
"Gutless bastards" Jacks mind snarled at them. He tried his hand at his chains once more, but to no avail.
If he interrupted now he would be beaten or Dan would be beaten harder.
"Why… why are you here?" the translator croaked as his voice broke.
Jack wanted to curse out loud as the general seized Dans' hair and yanked it back so that she was looking at him.
"At least the beating has stopped", he told himself weakly.
Dan was determined not to meet the mans eyes, so she looked right passed his head. He said something angrily and shook her roughly. She still did not look. She felt horrible and crushed, but there was still an ember of defiance within her. Buried deep under the ashes of her soul. The shaking was making it grow brighter, and the yelling was only fanning the tiny spark.
She hated this man, truly hated him. He shook her again and she immediately felt the irrational, hard comfort of hatred in her. Fury, blazing hot and feverish. She could not control herself any longer. She looked at the man, he had got his wish but he did not like what he saw. He stopped all movement and took a deep look into her eyes.
She stared back belligerently, not blinking and not looking away. The general did the same.
But it was he who backed down first; he blinked and took a step back. Then he turned his head, still keeping both eyes on Dan, and barked an order at one of his men. The soldier paled, but scurried away to do his bidding.
He returned only half a minute later bearing a three-pronged lash. The commander purposefully stretched it out in front of her. Fingering it up and down.
Her gaze held only malice and contempt. There was no fear.
The general frowned and cracked the whip once in the air. Right in her face. She didn't even blink.
He growled and circled until he was directly behind her.
Jack watched as Dans look hardened and she took on a tensed stance of readiness. The whip cracked out, hitting her back in three places. Three more wounds to add to her crisscrossed back. She baulked slightly at the unexpected amount of pain, but then readjusted herself to suit it.
The second time she made no reaction, other than her body shuddering.
The general struck again and again, faster and harder.
Dans head slunk forwards so that her hair hid her face, but not entirely. Jack saw her jaw clench and her teeth grit together. It went on for a few minutes more before one stroke caused Dan to hiss sharply.
This seemed to encourage the general, but it infuriated Jack beyond belief.
"Hey, mate" he called to the white haired torturer. The man didn't hear, as he was too preoccupied with Dans slowly yielding state.
"Oi! General!" he said louder. The man froze, his arm poised for another stroke. Then he seemed to realize that Jack still existed and was addressing him, and he strutted over to the pirate as if he had just accomplished a job well done. Jack clenched his bound fists.
The general confronted Jack head on. He placed himself in front of the bound captain and held up the lash, showing it off right in Jacks face. Jack just gave his best grin of calm indifference. The general pursed his lips in irritation.
He snapped something, his head turned so the translator could hear him; but his eyes never leaving Jacks face.
"What do you want?" the translator relayed, with much less zeal.
"I know where the horses are," Jack said smiling his most charming smile and making his eyes widen to add effect.
The translator told the captain.
Dans' head came up at these words; she seemed to have trouble focusing on Jack but her face said it all. She was horrified and seemed completely shocked. As if she had forgotten Jack knew where the horse paddock was.
"No, you can't" she rasped. Her shoulders shaking visibly as her control slipped.
"Sorry luv, but I was getting bored" he grinned at her abashedly, but his eyes told her a different story.
She shook her head, then grimaced as if the action caused her pain. She knew he was doing this to stop the beatings. But he had now rendered the whole painful experience useless. She had gone through hell for nothing.
The general spun on his heel. And snapped an order as he strode to the tent door. Jack was unchained, and then his hands were chained in front of him, so that he could move. He walked after the retreating leaders form. Grinning comfortably. The general spun and looked at him hard. His right eye narrowing as he took in Jacks posture.
Then he snapped another order and two guards stepped forwards and released Dans bonds. Once both arms were free of the two posts she crashed to her hands and knees, drawing in deep breaths and studying her chaffed and purple wrists. She had pulled against the cuffs when she was struck and as a reflex had tried to bring her hands to her body causing the wrists to almost bleed. She clenched her fists, gripping the sandy turf she was kneeling in.
The general turned and paced out the tent. Dan was pulled to her feet where she swayed dangerously before locking her body stiffly. She brought her head up and glared at the generals retreating back. Then as soon as he was out of sight and the tent flap had swished shut. She faltered.
The guards prodded her forwards and Jack questioned the translator who hovered nearby.
"What are they doing with her?" he asked as casually as he could.
"The general needs some, uh, how should I put this… insurance that you will do as you say" he filled in gravely and led the way forwards.
Dan was dragged forwards because her legs could not hold her. But she was not harmed again; in fact the guards were being curiously gentle with her. They gripped her elbows, to keep from touching her shoulders or back, and they walked at a slow pace so that the exhausted girl could keep up.
Dan was too tired to notice this or she surely would have tried to hide her weakness from the guards and have brushed them off.
They were brought outside to the centre of camp. And as Jack stood there bound and Dan slumped there guarded they were approached by a young officer, who had the bearing of someone who held power.
He was a middle-aged man with short brown hair and stern yet understanding eyes.
He immediately struck Jack as intelligent.
He stopped in front of them both and his eyes, after roving over Dan, rested on Jack.
"I am vice general Miguel Fortez, second in command of this camp. I hear you have agreed to take us to the horses. This is good, as we have been searching for very long." He said it in perfect English, stopping and starting. But better even than the translator spoke. "You'll both be accompanying my men and I on horseback, unfortunately under the generals orders, the girl is to walk behind", Jacks eyes hardened. This man seemed so sure of himself and completely at ease with the state Dan was in. How could she possibly keep up with horses? She could barely stand. The man sensed Jacks reaction and looked at Dan more closely. He gauged how badly she was hurt.
"I... I am sorry for your friend" he said hurriedly as if feeling guilty for apologizing. "We have lost many men recently and the general blames himself. He feels he has to be harder. Your friend has killed many of our soldiers and her horses would greatly assist our forces against the bandits in these woods." He talked lowly although the guards that were holding Dan did not understand English.
Jack gave a non-committable grunt that said what he thought the generals pity was worth.
The man was not affronted though. He gave a small sigh, gave Dan another look, and then caught the arm of a passing soldier. He said something in Spanish and then strode away. Back to the horses, who were now saddled and waiting.
Jack tried to engage the soldier that stood behind him in conversation. But the man just scowled at him and snapped something in Spanish.
The man the second in command had sent off returned with a shirt. He passed it to Dan, who took it and stood staring at it before reaching her arms in and in one swift deft movement pulling it over her head.
She inhaled sharply as it touched her back but other than that she seemed grateful to be protected once again.
The general strode out, mounted up and they were on their way.
***********************************************************************
The ropes that they put around Dans' wrists were coarse and tight. Once Jack was mounted, his hands were tied to his horses reigns, he very pointedly did not look back. Instead he strained his ears over the soldiers talk and laughter, to gauge how Dan was doing. For a while he heard nothing of her.
The talk continued and the forest passed slowly by. It was midday and the only one who was alert was the general and his second in charge. Despite the fact that Jack was supposed to be leading, he was flanked by two surly looking soldiers and trailed behind the two generals.
Then, as they were passing a ravine, full of water and complete with roaring waterfall, one of the soldiers hollered and the General spun in his horse to see what the problem was. Jack immediately got the feeling the commotion was stemming from Dan. He turned and was met with a most unnerving sight. Dan was on her knees in the dust. It seemed she had been dragged for a few meters before the horses had stopped. Her wrists were cut and bleeding from the rope. And her lips and mouth was covered in blood. Even as the General dismounted and stomped towards her, she continued her futile attempt to gnaw through the rope.
She had tried so hard, that she had shredded her face in some places and torn the knees of her pants. Her desperation increased as the man came closer to her.
Jack felt nothing but sorrow for her. She had lost her mind. The torture had made her feral and now she was insane. He had seen it happen before. He had, after all been in far worse prisons in his time.
Dan struggled violently against her bonds, she looked absolutely terrified of the man as he approached her. He clenched his gauntleted hand as he drew near, and raised it as he reached her.
Dan twisted in the dust like a snake in a corner. As the general brought his hand down heavily to her, she threw herself aside and came up behind the older man like a flash of lightening. Then using the rope that was attached to her hands she coiled it around his neck, placed her knee against his back and pulled the rope viciously taught. The man gasped as the coarse rope bit into his neck. Dan looked over the mans shoulders as he fell to his knees choking. She looked at the surrounding soldiers with clear calculating eyes. The eyes of a person out for revenge. She was perfectly normal.
Jack was immediately uncertain whether the whole rope gnawing trick was real and how much of it was a planned assault.
Some of the soldiers had dismounted and where halfway to her. But as they came she yanked the rope tighter, and they slowed. The vice general was closest to her. He regarded the situation calmly.
"Let him go" he said plainly. Dans' only response was a snarl.
Then a green clad soldier behind him sliced clean through the rope attached to Dans wrists. The rope went slack and the General fell coughing and gasping onto his hands. While Dan fell back with the sudden lack of resistence. She shrugged the ropes off, without so much as a flinch. Her wrists were cut very badly. The rope had been inflicting as much pain on her as it had the General. The soldiers advanced, only three.
But the General recovered first, and, so as not to lose face in front of his troops, he attacked Dan. He sprung on her as she was peeling the ropes out of her wrists. She was caught off guard and as a result they both tumbled in the orange dust. A struggle between an angry man and a desperate child. Dan clawed at his face as he sought for her throat.
She looked truly like a demon of hell. While the General had looked like an angel of hell, Dan was a demon. She snapped and snarled and clawed, while her hair was a tangle and her mouth coated in blood. Dan grabbed both his shoulders and rammed her forehead into the mans nose. He staggered off her, towards the cliff edge. Some soldiers grabbed her arms. She twisted away with a snap as her poorly healed arm broke again.
But the position of the general, who was holding a bleeding nose, was too perfect to pass up. He was bent over, studying his hand as it pooled with blood, the suns rays behind him. He looked up to see Dan racing towards him and his eyes widen as she struck.
She ran full speed into him, knocking him clean over the edge. For a split second Jack saw in slow motion both people hanging in the air, the sun behind them silhouetting them perfectly Then time sped up again and they both hurtled forwards.
The general looked terrified, in a panic he reached out and grabbed the girls shirt as he fell. And Dan, who was weak and weighed far less than him was pulled down with him.
He let out a shriek as he fell to his death, while Dan was a silent as the grave. Jack leapt out of his saddle to help, but was restrained by his bonds. For a second he had forgotten he wore them. She disappeared in almost slow motion as the place she had just been standing became empty and her feet disappeared from sight. The last sight Jack had of her were her startled eyes as she glanced at him and disappeared, head first behind the cliff edge, and out of Jacks line of sight. There was no noise, just the skittling sound of gravel as it followed the two beings to their deaths.
Everyone was hushed in shock. The vice general bowed his head and a few made the sign of the cross. Jack shook his head. Dan wasn't dead she couldn't be. How could she die by the hand of an idiot like that? Jack sighed. It was all because of her foolish pride.
The fighting, impulsive, brash young girl had gone to her death. With nothing but the chink of gravel hitting rocks below and a cloud of dust to show she had ever been alive.
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The tent he was lead into was square and dirt floored. It was orange in colour and there were three poles in the room. Two were parallel about two meters distance between them. The other stood not four meters away.
Jack hardly noticed the tent though because upon entering his eyes immediately locked onto the sole occupant of the tent.
It was Dan.
She was chained between the two poles. Her arms held in place by cuffs and strong chains.
She did not look up at him as he was shoved inside. She was slumped over as much as the chains allowed and for a second Jack thought it was because she was asleep. However, as he was all but slammed into the wooden pole and his hands were chained around it, he got a full view of her back. It was bleeding in thin strips everywhere, her shirt all but shredded.
His chains were clicked into place; Jack was now chained to the pole from behind. Slowly he sank to the ground and looked at Dan. Now he saw that her head was turned so that he could not see her face. Which meant that she was awake but definitely not in the mood to talk.
His gazed wandered around the tent and then landed on the guards as they exited.
Scowling at Jack and ignoring Dans existence.
He gave a tentative tug on his chains. They clinked dully, but held fast. No chance of wiggling out of them then.
"Jack" she croaked.
Jack focused his attention back to Dan. She was now studying the sandy ground in front of her.
"Aye?" he asked, keeping the pity and fear out of his voice.
"Do you think I deserve to die?" she almost whispered as her voice broke again. She sounded almost fearful of his answer, and somehow defeated. As if she knew the answer and had already accepted it. Jack tried to see her eyes but her short fringe was keeping them from his view.
The question tore at him, and he could not keep the sadness from his voice. What had they been telling her?
"Nay luv, I've never met anyone who deserved it" he replied softly.
At this Dan lifted her head and her different colored eyes locked onto his face. "You're lying Captain," she informed him, giving a weak rueful smile.
Jack considered this, "Aye that I am, I've met several actually." With that said his eyes went glassy as he thought back to some part of his past.
"The ones who took your ship…" she said softly in understanding. Jack blinked, and then gave her a roguish grin. He hadn't realized how much she had read into him.
"Yes, but even they are misguided fools luv, and they'll pay the price" he confirmed.
She sighed and her head drooped lower, so that it rested on her chest. "I think I'm paying the price for my deeds right now captain".
Jack bit back whatever reply came to mind.
In fact, he couldn't think of a reply to this. He highly doubted she was in the mood for making light of the situation. He also knew she would hate to hear sympathy or pity in any form. She definitely was a weird one.
The tent flap swished open and six guards, followed by the general, strode in. The man stood tall in his polished armor, his white hair catching the sunlight from outside and giving him the impression of an angel of hell standing before them with a halo glowing around its head. He looked down at Dan in disgust and contempt.
There seemed to be a shadow over her, in direct contrast to the shining being before her, and her very presence seemed to insult him.
He sneered at her, tied spread eagle to the two poles that flanked her. Her top was tattered and torn and only just clinging onto her in shreds. The front had been ripped open, but she had a second shirt that covered the top of her chest still in tact. Even so, to the commander that stood over her she was scantly dressed, bleeding, a wreck of a person and a female that dared to oppose him and his operations.
Dan herself was not looking at the man that was boring holes into the top of her head with his squinty eyes. She was staring straight forward, her eyes level with the soldiers' shins, and Jack noticed with a pang of horror there was no defiance in them. The usual spark of indignation and icy rage was gone. Suddenly she seemed so much older, her eyes showed nothing but dull expectation of pain to come. There was no emotion. No life.
Her eyes said she was dead.
The general said something snide. Then he snapped an order and one of the guards handed him a riding crop? Yes, that was what Dan had called it.
He held it aloft, barked something in Spanish and then struck her hard across her already raw and bleeding back. Jack started at the sudden ferociousness of the attack. She closed her eyes tightly.
The translator spoke.
"Where are the horses?" the general struck again, and again said something in an accusatory tone.
The translator spoke.
"Why are you here?"
The thin stick struck again… "Where are the horses?", again, "Why are you here?".
Throughout it Dan didn't make a sound. It was eerie. As the riding crop struck across her back, the wounds from the lash bled again. Gods did they bleed.
Still Dan voiced no protest, no complaint. You could not even hear her breathe. Although she may have been timing her breathing with the strokes that were being dealt her. She was staring at the ground.
Jack wanted to stop it, but it was not in his nature to take someone else's beating onto himself. He had to think, had to think…
There was always a way out if you used your head.
But Jack could not think. At first Dan had given no indication that she was being hit. Now however as new wounds were added to others, her jaw had clenched and her eyes betrayed the pain she felt.
Dans' silent pain was preventing him from thinking rationally.
The crop continued to inflict pain upon Dan. And still she made no sound. Jack looked up at the other guards. None were looking at what was happening to Dan. Some were focusing in the ground, some were looking at the roof, one had his eyes closed and one had his head turned and was looking at the tent wall.
"Gutless bastards" Jacks mind snarled at them. He tried his hand at his chains once more, but to no avail.
If he interrupted now he would be beaten or Dan would be beaten harder.
"Why… why are you here?" the translator croaked as his voice broke.
Jack wanted to curse out loud as the general seized Dans' hair and yanked it back so that she was looking at him.
"At least the beating has stopped", he told himself weakly.
Dan was determined not to meet the mans eyes, so she looked right passed his head. He said something angrily and shook her roughly. She still did not look. She felt horrible and crushed, but there was still an ember of defiance within her. Buried deep under the ashes of her soul. The shaking was making it grow brighter, and the yelling was only fanning the tiny spark.
She hated this man, truly hated him. He shook her again and she immediately felt the irrational, hard comfort of hatred in her. Fury, blazing hot and feverish. She could not control herself any longer. She looked at the man, he had got his wish but he did not like what he saw. He stopped all movement and took a deep look into her eyes.
She stared back belligerently, not blinking and not looking away. The general did the same.
But it was he who backed down first; he blinked and took a step back. Then he turned his head, still keeping both eyes on Dan, and barked an order at one of his men. The soldier paled, but scurried away to do his bidding.
He returned only half a minute later bearing a three-pronged lash. The commander purposefully stretched it out in front of her. Fingering it up and down.
Her gaze held only malice and contempt. There was no fear.
The general frowned and cracked the whip once in the air. Right in her face. She didn't even blink.
He growled and circled until he was directly behind her.
Jack watched as Dans look hardened and she took on a tensed stance of readiness. The whip cracked out, hitting her back in three places. Three more wounds to add to her crisscrossed back. She baulked slightly at the unexpected amount of pain, but then readjusted herself to suit it.
The second time she made no reaction, other than her body shuddering.
The general struck again and again, faster and harder.
Dans head slunk forwards so that her hair hid her face, but not entirely. Jack saw her jaw clench and her teeth grit together. It went on for a few minutes more before one stroke caused Dan to hiss sharply.
This seemed to encourage the general, but it infuriated Jack beyond belief.
"Hey, mate" he called to the white haired torturer. The man didn't hear, as he was too preoccupied with Dans slowly yielding state.
"Oi! General!" he said louder. The man froze, his arm poised for another stroke. Then he seemed to realize that Jack still existed and was addressing him, and he strutted over to the pirate as if he had just accomplished a job well done. Jack clenched his bound fists.
The general confronted Jack head on. He placed himself in front of the bound captain and held up the lash, showing it off right in Jacks face. Jack just gave his best grin of calm indifference. The general pursed his lips in irritation.
He snapped something, his head turned so the translator could hear him; but his eyes never leaving Jacks face.
"What do you want?" the translator relayed, with much less zeal.
"I know where the horses are," Jack said smiling his most charming smile and making his eyes widen to add effect.
The translator told the captain.
Dans' head came up at these words; she seemed to have trouble focusing on Jack but her face said it all. She was horrified and seemed completely shocked. As if she had forgotten Jack knew where the horse paddock was.
"No, you can't" she rasped. Her shoulders shaking visibly as her control slipped.
"Sorry luv, but I was getting bored" he grinned at her abashedly, but his eyes told her a different story.
She shook her head, then grimaced as if the action caused her pain. She knew he was doing this to stop the beatings. But he had now rendered the whole painful experience useless. She had gone through hell for nothing.
The general spun on his heel. And snapped an order as he strode to the tent door. Jack was unchained, and then his hands were chained in front of him, so that he could move. He walked after the retreating leaders form. Grinning comfortably. The general spun and looked at him hard. His right eye narrowing as he took in Jacks posture.
Then he snapped another order and two guards stepped forwards and released Dans bonds. Once both arms were free of the two posts she crashed to her hands and knees, drawing in deep breaths and studying her chaffed and purple wrists. She had pulled against the cuffs when she was struck and as a reflex had tried to bring her hands to her body causing the wrists to almost bleed. She clenched her fists, gripping the sandy turf she was kneeling in.
The general turned and paced out the tent. Dan was pulled to her feet where she swayed dangerously before locking her body stiffly. She brought her head up and glared at the generals retreating back. Then as soon as he was out of sight and the tent flap had swished shut. She faltered.
The guards prodded her forwards and Jack questioned the translator who hovered nearby.
"What are they doing with her?" he asked as casually as he could.
"The general needs some, uh, how should I put this… insurance that you will do as you say" he filled in gravely and led the way forwards.
Dan was dragged forwards because her legs could not hold her. But she was not harmed again; in fact the guards were being curiously gentle with her. They gripped her elbows, to keep from touching her shoulders or back, and they walked at a slow pace so that the exhausted girl could keep up.
Dan was too tired to notice this or she surely would have tried to hide her weakness from the guards and have brushed them off.
They were brought outside to the centre of camp. And as Jack stood there bound and Dan slumped there guarded they were approached by a young officer, who had the bearing of someone who held power.
He was a middle-aged man with short brown hair and stern yet understanding eyes.
He immediately struck Jack as intelligent.
He stopped in front of them both and his eyes, after roving over Dan, rested on Jack.
"I am vice general Miguel Fortez, second in command of this camp. I hear you have agreed to take us to the horses. This is good, as we have been searching for very long." He said it in perfect English, stopping and starting. But better even than the translator spoke. "You'll both be accompanying my men and I on horseback, unfortunately under the generals orders, the girl is to walk behind", Jacks eyes hardened. This man seemed so sure of himself and completely at ease with the state Dan was in. How could she possibly keep up with horses? She could barely stand. The man sensed Jacks reaction and looked at Dan more closely. He gauged how badly she was hurt.
"I... I am sorry for your friend" he said hurriedly as if feeling guilty for apologizing. "We have lost many men recently and the general blames himself. He feels he has to be harder. Your friend has killed many of our soldiers and her horses would greatly assist our forces against the bandits in these woods." He talked lowly although the guards that were holding Dan did not understand English.
Jack gave a non-committable grunt that said what he thought the generals pity was worth.
The man was not affronted though. He gave a small sigh, gave Dan another look, and then caught the arm of a passing soldier. He said something in Spanish and then strode away. Back to the horses, who were now saddled and waiting.
Jack tried to engage the soldier that stood behind him in conversation. But the man just scowled at him and snapped something in Spanish.
The man the second in command had sent off returned with a shirt. He passed it to Dan, who took it and stood staring at it before reaching her arms in and in one swift deft movement pulling it over her head.
She inhaled sharply as it touched her back but other than that she seemed grateful to be protected once again.
The general strode out, mounted up and they were on their way.
***********************************************************************
The ropes that they put around Dans' wrists were coarse and tight. Once Jack was mounted, his hands were tied to his horses reigns, he very pointedly did not look back. Instead he strained his ears over the soldiers talk and laughter, to gauge how Dan was doing. For a while he heard nothing of her.
The talk continued and the forest passed slowly by. It was midday and the only one who was alert was the general and his second in charge. Despite the fact that Jack was supposed to be leading, he was flanked by two surly looking soldiers and trailed behind the two generals.
Then, as they were passing a ravine, full of water and complete with roaring waterfall, one of the soldiers hollered and the General spun in his horse to see what the problem was. Jack immediately got the feeling the commotion was stemming from Dan. He turned and was met with a most unnerving sight. Dan was on her knees in the dust. It seemed she had been dragged for a few meters before the horses had stopped. Her wrists were cut and bleeding from the rope. And her lips and mouth was covered in blood. Even as the General dismounted and stomped towards her, she continued her futile attempt to gnaw through the rope.
She had tried so hard, that she had shredded her face in some places and torn the knees of her pants. Her desperation increased as the man came closer to her.
Jack felt nothing but sorrow for her. She had lost her mind. The torture had made her feral and now she was insane. He had seen it happen before. He had, after all been in far worse prisons in his time.
Dan struggled violently against her bonds, she looked absolutely terrified of the man as he approached her. He clenched his gauntleted hand as he drew near, and raised it as he reached her.
Dan twisted in the dust like a snake in a corner. As the general brought his hand down heavily to her, she threw herself aside and came up behind the older man like a flash of lightening. Then using the rope that was attached to her hands she coiled it around his neck, placed her knee against his back and pulled the rope viciously taught. The man gasped as the coarse rope bit into his neck. Dan looked over the mans shoulders as he fell to his knees choking. She looked at the surrounding soldiers with clear calculating eyes. The eyes of a person out for revenge. She was perfectly normal.
Jack was immediately uncertain whether the whole rope gnawing trick was real and how much of it was a planned assault.
Some of the soldiers had dismounted and where halfway to her. But as they came she yanked the rope tighter, and they slowed. The vice general was closest to her. He regarded the situation calmly.
"Let him go" he said plainly. Dans' only response was a snarl.
Then a green clad soldier behind him sliced clean through the rope attached to Dans wrists. The rope went slack and the General fell coughing and gasping onto his hands. While Dan fell back with the sudden lack of resistence. She shrugged the ropes off, without so much as a flinch. Her wrists were cut very badly. The rope had been inflicting as much pain on her as it had the General. The soldiers advanced, only three.
But the General recovered first, and, so as not to lose face in front of his troops, he attacked Dan. He sprung on her as she was peeling the ropes out of her wrists. She was caught off guard and as a result they both tumbled in the orange dust. A struggle between an angry man and a desperate child. Dan clawed at his face as he sought for her throat.
She looked truly like a demon of hell. While the General had looked like an angel of hell, Dan was a demon. She snapped and snarled and clawed, while her hair was a tangle and her mouth coated in blood. Dan grabbed both his shoulders and rammed her forehead into the mans nose. He staggered off her, towards the cliff edge. Some soldiers grabbed her arms. She twisted away with a snap as her poorly healed arm broke again.
But the position of the general, who was holding a bleeding nose, was too perfect to pass up. He was bent over, studying his hand as it pooled with blood, the suns rays behind him. He looked up to see Dan racing towards him and his eyes widen as she struck.
She ran full speed into him, knocking him clean over the edge. For a split second Jack saw in slow motion both people hanging in the air, the sun behind them silhouetting them perfectly Then time sped up again and they both hurtled forwards.
The general looked terrified, in a panic he reached out and grabbed the girls shirt as he fell. And Dan, who was weak and weighed far less than him was pulled down with him.
He let out a shriek as he fell to his death, while Dan was a silent as the grave. Jack leapt out of his saddle to help, but was restrained by his bonds. For a second he had forgotten he wore them. She disappeared in almost slow motion as the place she had just been standing became empty and her feet disappeared from sight. The last sight Jack had of her were her startled eyes as she glanced at him and disappeared, head first behind the cliff edge, and out of Jacks line of sight. There was no noise, just the skittling sound of gravel as it followed the two beings to their deaths.
Everyone was hushed in shock. The vice general bowed his head and a few made the sign of the cross. Jack shook his head. Dan wasn't dead she couldn't be. How could she die by the hand of an idiot like that? Jack sighed. It was all because of her foolish pride.
The fighting, impulsive, brash young girl had gone to her death. With nothing but the chink of gravel hitting rocks below and a cloud of dust to show she had ever been alive.
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