Chapter 5

In the end, Bray commuted Malcolm's punishment because the sorcerer was lying. When all was said and done, Malcolm told him exactly what he knew, what signs to look for, and what Mythril in its raw form looked like. Bray made sketches and took notes, not about to send his beloved Abigail out into the unknown unprepared. He would not do it and he would not brook disobedience or defiance. There would be no lying.

"Luke… remove Susan's tongue."

"But… I told you everything!"

"You did. After I had to punish you. I shouldn't need to do that, Malcolm." Bray argued patiently. "I'm afraid you've been pampered; you're used to my leniency. We'll correct that." He spoke gently, like a parent to a child.

One the females, a child still not near breeding age, who had been put to work as a servant in the castle, since cooking, cleaning and breeding was all females were good for, had heard that and finished her job, cleaning out embers from the fireplace. She hefted her heavy bucket and walked out, head down and quiet as always. She needed to find Sister Abigail.


"What?!" Abigail glanced over at the beautiful brown-haired girl, that wasn't even a year old yet, chasing a butterfly.

Her heart pounded vigorously in her chest as she watched Luke Harper come toward the girl, not surprised when Susan began to resist. Right there, in the courtyard, in front of everyone, including her, he proceeded to hold her down by straddling her, whipped a knife out and proceeded to cut her tongue out. The gagging noises, the blood spurting out of the poor girl's mouth…Abigail had to look away and then watched as Susan was raped. Luke had broken one of the main rules of the DOV by raping a woman in front of an audience, instead of doing the deed behind closed doors. Abigail rushed off inside the castle to go tell Bray what one of his most trusted had done and couldn't wait to watch the bastard be punished for insubordination.

"I'm sorry, Abigail, that it upset you." Bray said when she found him and told him what she had seen, reaching out to cup her face gently. Sighing, he bent down to kiss her forehead, wishing he could have shielded her from that sight. "But… an example had to be made. People are getting too lax, forgetting the driving force of the Dominion and what we are trying to accomplish. Before this hour ends, what happened out there will be known to every last follower and they will know the reason why it was allowed."

No exceptions were that message and he would strike down with a holy and just punishment. This was just another reason why she had to get away from here, out of this castle, and out of the DOV. This was madness. He allowed one of his right-hands to break the rules by raping that poor, defenseless girl, AFTER cutting her tongue out!

"I-If you don't mind, I-I'm going to my room. I-I need to be alone right now…and I'm not feeling good."

Pulling back, his hands left her face and she'd only done it because they were alone at the moment. She knew better than to do it in front of people because it 'cut him down'. Ridiculous! Abigail let the tears fall and let him SEE her tears before she backed away from him, not recognizing this monster anymore.

"I won't be down for dinner, I-I hope you understand why. Good night, Bray." Bowing her head, she walked out of the room and ran to her own, throwing up as soon as she was completely alone in her private bathroom.

Bray let her go, knowing he had to go out and be seen, preach the word of the DOV, so they knew that this breach in protocol had been for a valid reason. If their leaders, if his most trusted, couldn't be trusted, then there was sin afoot and it had to be stamped out. They had to all remember their place, their reasons, and he would remind them. Luke, because he was just that kind of person, when he was done with Susan and had sent her packing to be tended too, had taken her tongue. He had taken it down to the cooks.


Over the next few weeks, Bray strategized with Abigail on what to do, how to act, and instructed one of the women, who had drifted from Wonderful, to coach her on how to portray herself. Bray looked disturbed as Lily told her all about Wonderful and how equally everyone was treated, the women were just as important as the men. Abigail assured him that Lily was fully with the DOV and appreciated breeding to help build their cause, their DOV empire. That seemed to settle Bray down some and Abigail continued listening, deciding once Bray was out of the room, she would warn Lily NOT to upset Bray by talking about how 'great' Wonderful was.

Before she knew it, the night had arrived where she would depart the castle and Abigail would've lied if she said she wasn't nervous. Bray assured her everything would be alright, raining kisses on her face and then allowed her to change into the black skirt and a soft lavender long-sleeved top. It was such a change, a difference from the pure white she was always forced to wear. Bray had a car brought around for her and once again, they went over her story for when she infiltrated Wonderful.

"My name is Abbie, I'm from Salny and I'm seeking a new beginning and refuge from the Dominion of Vesperia." She reiterated, a bag packed in her hand.

They had decided she wouldn't be coming back until she had surefire proof of where the Mythril was located and if it was even in the Undertaker's domain, along with some kind of talisman. Bray hadn't gone into details, just told her what to look and watch out for. Putting her bag in the trunk, he turned her around again and kissed her, keeping hold of her face tightly. He didn't realize it, but this would be the last time he saw Abigail for a long time…until she came back with reinforcements to bring him down or…in a body bag from the Undertaker killing her.

"Is it wise," Luke watched the car drive off, knowing it would drop her a few miles from the borders of Wonderful. She had been given a map to memorize and then destroy, but it would look awfully suspicious for a servant woman to arrive seeking appropriate employment in a vehicle. "To not require her to check in every few weeks?"

No, it wasn't, he thought, eyes narrowing as his head tipped to the side. "What's done is done."

"Of course."

Checking in was too risky. Bray had been the one to tell her the plans had slightly changed, slightly altered. He wanted her to get close enough to the Undertaker to be able to find out the location of the Mythril as well as if the talisman theory was the truth. Not to mention, if she was going in claiming to seek employment, a new beginning, as a servant girl, after leaving her 'home', why would she need to check in with them? It would be too suspicious, and Abigail was thankful to be rid of Bray Wyatt and the DOV for the time being.

It was a solid plan, but that meant she would not be checking in, only coming back, according to Bray, when she had the information he needed. That wasn't going to happen, however. Once the car stopped, a few miles from Wonderful, Abigail stepped out, grabbed her bag and watched it race off before her eyes moved to the stretch of road before her. It was a couple of miles north and Abigail breathed in the night air, letting a few happy tears slide down her cheeks because she was finally free. Now, it was time to liberate everyone from the DOV, but that would take a lot of time and effort.

"One step at a time." She murmured, hoping what Lily said about Wonderful was the truth because she couldn't handle watching women being raped, beaten and tortured on a daily basis anymore.

A woman traveling at night, by herself, was just poor common sense. "Oi, you see that?"

"No…" That was because he wasn't the one looking through the night vision binoculars. "Gimme a turn." He raised them, looking for a few moments and then frowned. "That a woman?"

"Aye, poor gal… she's likely to be picked up by them roving bastards."

"Probably. We'll keep an eye on her from time to time." They had to stand watch, keeping their eyes to the south.

"I wonder what the hell she's doing out there all alone…"

Her black hair was braided, currently hanging over her shoulder. It was waist length, Bray refused to let her cut it after begging with her to leave it alone. Just another choice taken away from her. White shoes were on her feet, a little scuffed to give the illusion she had come a long way. The bag in her hand was a little heavy, but nothing Abigail couldn't handle and, again, gave the illusion she had left home to pursue a new beginning elsewhere. It was a believable enough story, she hoped anyway.

Bray had, personally, taken an additional step in her disguise. Abigail was meant to have been walking quite some distance and a servant… he had rubbed her face in embers and then washed only a bit of it off, doing the same with her hands. Making sure the black remained in the lines, giving her the impression of someone who actually served.

"Why don't we send someone out to get her?"

"Because after dark, that's against the rules?"

"I'll send out a runner, it'll be quick."

"Don't let Steve catch ya, he'll have your balls…"

About a mile from Wonderful's gates, Abigail was stopped by a man with kind dark eyes, long black hair and a smile. At first, she didn't think he was coming for her, but that quickly changed when he stopped in front of her. Abigail swallowed hard, keeping her distance and hesitantly sized him up. This man was HUGE, muscular and built like a brick house.

"I-I don't want any trouble, sir. I'm just trying to get to the next town…" She spoke up in a low, quiet voice, hoping the men in Wonderful weren't rapist pigs like back at the DOV. "Please…"

"You ain't gonna get none either, ma'am. I'm here to escort you into the city walls for the night." He saluted her with two fingers, chuckling at the look on her scummy face. "Lady, it ain't safe out here and the big boss, he don't like folks out wandering." Which was true, but they were usually not supposed to go out and bring strangers in after dark. Wonderful had some serious bleeding hearts. "Come on now, let's go. You can stay in the common house for the night and get back to your business in the morning."

Everyone who walked through the gates to the city had to go through the scanner, something powered by the big boss himself, and nobody got in with a weapon of any kind. Nail files wound up setting off an alert. Austin had cracked a lot of jokes about that the first time it happened. This man worked for the 'big boss', which had to be Undertaker. Was this one of Undertaker's men? It had to be! Fate was on her side, apparently.

"O-Okay…thank you…"

She had no idea what to call him and he hadn't bothered giving her a name, just guided her, with his hand on the small of her back, the rest of the way into Wonderful. He stood well over 6 feet, muscular and had long black hair, along with a matching goatee, dressed all in black. The moment she stepped inside, it was like a whole new world full of life, laughter, and spirit. Abigail wiped some of the soot off her cheeks, trying to make herself look somewhat presentable and felt eyes on her with every step she took. The man guided her to a place called the common house, just as he said and left her there, wishing her well. He assured her they would take care of her and then went back to his post for the evening. She had thanked him before venturing inside, feeling as though her heart would leap from her chest from how hard it pounded.

"Jesus Chris look at you, you're so damn scummy!" A brown-haired woman with kind blue eyes laughed when she spotted the woman coming in. "Fuck… hey Amy, get some hot water and a bar of that soap, the scented!"

She ran the common house and, those who couldn't pay her fees, they had to sign their name and whatever else on the ledger for the big boss to review and pay for out of the community funds. It all circulated within Wonderful and, since money had kind of gone the way of proper civilization, they tended to use valuable goods as currency. Since Wonderful was one of the last bastions of actual freedom, they had been cut off from the majority of Vesperia, actual currency, like paper money, was hard to come by.

"Come here honey, let's do a lice check really quick. I'm Stephanie, by the way."

Lice?! She didn't have lice! This woman was out of her mind! Abigail suddenly remembered what she was doing here in the first place, having forgotten, momentarily, her past life with Bray and the DOV, nodding hesitantly.

"T-Thank you." She stammered, a little taken aback by how…free the women were here.

If the women back at the castle spoke the way Stephanie just did, she would've been severely punished. Abigail was waiting for a man to come and do the punishing, but none came. This was very strange to her. All Abigail could do was allow Stephanie to lead her to sit down on a nearby bed and lowered her head for the lice check.

"So, this is our little getting to know you room and most people hate it." Stephanie explained, chewing her gum noisily. "But we do lice checks in here and you'll have to strip, just down to your underwear. Gotta make sure you don't have any open sores, or wounds, or anything, you know? We've got a decent stock of medical supplies, but if you have something contagious… you were vaccinated, right? Before all this shit went down with those fucking Dominion assholes?"

"Yes, I'm up-to-date on my shots."

Without Bray's knowledge, she had asked Malcolm to administer the shots to her, not wanting to take any chances with diseases. Bray was against any type of vaccination and had destroyed the neighboring towns that had any kind of medicine to be injected in the human body. Just another reason she knew he was insane and out of his mind.

"My name is Abigail." She answered when Stephanie asked, slowly removing her clothes to reveal pale, unblemished skin all the way around.

"Good, good, now I have to ask you something personal. Any STDs or…?"