A cool breeze rippled through the budding branches of the forest by the coastal city of Orsino. A neat path threaded through the trees, with the occasional tuft of grass or shrub growing within its confines. A shaggy gray horse clipped along at a slow trot, a bay mare following just behind. On the leading horse, a tall fool in motley and whiteface glanced casually at his surroundings, every so often looking over his shoulder at the pretty fool behind him holding a giggling two-year-old girl.
"Where were we supposed to meet Mark and Celia?" inquired the first fool of his wife, "shouldn't we have met them by now?"
"Maybe," she replied. "There are a thousand twists and turns to this path before we reach the city. Any one of them could be the meeting place they told me of in their letter." Sighing, Theophilos absently reached down to gently pat his horse Zeus, who snorted in reply.
"It's nearing midnight, shouldn't Portia be sleeping by now?" As if on cue, the toddler immediately went into a fit of obviously fake snoring upon hearing her father's voice address her. Within a few more minutes of riding, however, her snores subsided into the light breathing of true sleep. The path turned a few times more, when Claudia asked,
"Shall we stop for today? We aren't going to find them in the dark anyway. Maybe we'll meet up with them in the morning."
"Usually you'll let nothing interfere with meeting your children," remarked Theo, surprised. "Least of all the depths of night."
"Mmm, but I'm tired, and I couldn't give them my full attention even if we found them at this time of night. We can wait until the morning."
Mumbling something that sounded remarkably like the words "captain" and "torture," Theo silently found a suitable place to camp for the night, dismounted, and reached up to take his daughter from Claudia's arms. Soon, Portia's parents joined her in the realms of slumber.
Theo woke to find cold metal pressed menacingly against his throat. Blinking for the sudden daylight, a blurry shape above him settled into the sharp outlines of a face he knew well. With the knife threatening him, he chose to keep silent for the time being.
"I warned you what would happen if you ever set foot in Orsino again." drawled Captain Perun. "After you and the Duchess left, I told you of your fate should you return."
Theo quickly glanced around, and found Claudia still sleeping with Portia in her arms, both in the process of being tied to a tree by some more of Perun's men. "Don't worry, like I said two years ago when you left, your, mm, shall I say, wife won't be harmed… just locked up in a nice cozy asylum," The wicked grin on Perun's face was not particularly encouraging, "as for you…." The wicked grin again.
Inwardly groaning, the mental gears in Theo's head groggily began to wake up, going over in his mind the lists of anyone privy to the information of his current whereabouts. 'Claudia's children,' he mused, 'but they're the least likely of anyone to turn us in to Perun…perhaps…perhaps anoth…no. Not again. I refuse to believe that...'
"Eh? What was that you said?" Perun's harsh whine brought him back into reality, his eyes focusing on the cruel, hard blue eyes of his captor.
"A little hard of hearing, are we? That's interesting, very interesting…"
"BE QUIET, FOOL!" The Captain exploded, earning a grin from Theo as he touched a nerve.
"Sorry, Captain, but didn't you want me to speak louder?" Enraged at this sarcasm, Perun sent his fist swinging hard into the side of the fool's face, snapping Theo's head back against the still cold, hard ground. Momentarily stunned, he felt more than heard his wife awaken into shocked silence, followed by cold recognition and shouts of horror.
"Perun! How did you..? What are…! Where….!" After simply staring at the Captain for several dumbfounded moments, Claudia began to regain her wits. "Why are we tied up like this! You have the nerve to take the mother of the Duke host-"
"SILENCE, WOMAN, OR I'LL SLIT HIS THROAT THIS INSTANT!" The knife found its way once again to Theo's neck, bringing him back into reality, and Claudia's mouth settled into snarl of defiance. Panting heavily, Perun fought to collect himself.
After several moments of trying to control his temper problems, the silence was broken once again, as Portia drifted out of sleep, blinked several times in the harsh morning daylight, yawned, and with a frown glanced down at the bonds restraining her from proper movement. Scowling, she squirmed within the confines of her rough ropes, and began to make small noises of malcontent.
"Don't like! Don't like!" She shouted. "Wanna go home!"
"Hush, Portia. Be a good girl, ssssshhhhh. We'll go home soon, ssshhh." Stroking the toddler's silky auburn hair, although at a rather odd angle because of the bonds, Claudia calmed her child, and the whines turned to soft whimpers and the occasional sniff.
"All right." Perun, now once again outwardly calm, took matters back into his own hands. "Not another word out of any of you, or I'll reconsider my plans for you and throw all three of you into my House of Torment!"
"And what were your plans for us previously? Personally, I'm not seeing the difference here."
"Don't push it, fool!" The knife pressed still harder into Theo's neck, this time drawing blood. Frantically, Claudia attempted to push back the horrible images that shrouded her mind, twisted images of her husband's broken, mangled body, and the sound of her daughter's shrieks of helplessness…No. She could find a way out of this. She must. Thinking quickly, she decided to risk everything in the hope that Perun's pride had been wounded too sorely, and that
he wouldn't murder when there was a chance of torture and revenge.
"How fares the Countess?" Claudia inquired, her mouth tumbling over the words before she knew what she was saying. The Captain burst into sudden laughter, replying,
"The Countess? Your last sane words ask of Olivia? Perhaps you really will go to the asylum…" After another bout of laughter, he continued, "Olivia, actually, has fallen ill. The flu, the doctors say." Claudia's mind quickly processed this information about the current Regent, and next asked,"
"And my children?" But Perun was beginning to get impatient, only snapping in reply,
"None of your concern. Now shut up and don't move, and perhaps I'll spare the baby." And with that, four burly bodyguards picked up the foolish family, and deposited in the back of the wagon waiting by the road, bound for Orsino.