Chapter 12: Flirtations and Departure

That evening, I took a break from my nightly routine of tormenting myself over my condition to sit down, and recount the days' happenings to REHtoMna.

I took out a piece of parchment, the pen, and carefully unscrewed the lid from off of the pot of ink to ensure that I would not stain the bed sheets. I dipped the pen into the pot, and began to write:

Arrived quite early today. Ate breakfast after being found by your nephew-- I wish you would have warned me about him, as he is quite-- a lot to handle. Things are going well so far. Staying in a small inn with him in the adjourning room. Supped earlier this evening. Not much happened today. We will be leaving tomorrow to find Matthew. I hope that this letter finds you well. Thank you for everything.

I remain,

Beatrice

I set down the pen, and unsure of the procedure on how to transport the message back to her, I folded it in half… In a puff of white smoke that nearly gave me a heart attack, the piece of parchment disappeared and I knew that it was on its way to my confident-- if you could call her that. I had not been very truthful in my letter. Things were not going well with that perverted nephew of hers, whom I had learned was old enough to be my grand-father, and only looked so young due to the beauty of magic. He disgusted me.

I simply just didn't feel like telling REHtoMna about him just yet; after all, I did need him for now… But that simply did not give him the excuse to do what he was doing…

As our separate bedrooms were connected by a door, he had attempted several times to burst in on me, and catch me in the nude. On these three occasions-- for I had decided to count them carefully, and keep note of them for future reference, if need be, he had been unsuccessful, but all the same, it turned my stomach at the thought of sleeping practically beside him at night. He was a vile creature-- despicable, actually. The way he thought that he could--

But my thoughts were interrupted as in a second puff of white smoke, a second piece of parchment appeared in my still open hands. I carefully unfolded it, and read:

Beatrice,

I am ecstatic that you are not too angry with me for sending him along to be your guide. I write this letter in a hurry, as things are busy back home.

Until tomorrow,

REHtoMna

I chuckled at her formal, yet sloppy handwriting, and rolled the piece of parchment into a ball, and tossed it into the roaring fireplace. The little inn in which we were now staying was quite quaint and well-kept. I was glad that we had stayed here, as the woman who ran it was quite nice and warm towards me; we had spent the evening chatting, before the Viscount had insisted I go to bed. My room was quite large, and the sheets were beautiful; the reason I had practiced safety measures with ink. The only part about the inn that I despised was my companion-- I blew out the candle that had helped me write my letter by providing light, and deciding to leave the fireplace well be, as it was beginning to die down, settled between two sheets, thinking about the horny man in the next room over-- maybe, if I was lucky enough, he would somehow suffocate in the middle of the night, and I would no longer be bothered with him…

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"My love, my love!" I scream, and at last-- at long last, I am once again back in his arms. We embrace, and he kisses me upon the lips. I melt into his body. Our love is safe now… He is safe, and he is mine…

Suddenly, however, his face grows dark, "But you know that this is only a dream, don't you?"

"No," I whisper, kissing his neck, "No. No."

"It is-- and you are still in danger, as am I."

"Where are you then? Tell me. Please tell me."

His face lights up with a smile again, "You know that I can't."

"Please," I whisper, "Please!" I scream, as he disappears, and I am left alone. Alone-- alone…

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My eyes snapped open, and for a second, I wondered if it had been the troubling dream that had woken me, but then I realized that certain-- sounds were coming from the other room, and they alone had been responsible for my waking-- I will refrain from describing them in great detail for now, but I am sure that you can imagine what I heard.

At long last, the sounds subsided, and I drifted off towards a peaceful, dreamless sleep…

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"Wake up, dear," the voice makes me groan as my eyes snap open, and I am once again alert to everything that is going on… That's right, I think as I remember the previous days' occurrences, Him-- that Viscount…

"Repack your things," he's being bossy now-- pushy. I want to get up, and kick him right in his ugly face, but instead, as polite as I can be, I reply, "All right… I'll be ready in a few minutes."

He leaves the room, and I blockade the door that connects our room by temporarily moving my bed to right in front of the door. I don't care who the fuck he says he is. I am not going to let him bust into my room just so he can live out his sick fantasies by seeing me naked.

I hear his intense struggle a few moments later as he attempts to open the door. I laugh to myself, Serves him right-- the sicko, a few minutes later, I am ready just as the clock in the hall chimes six times. It's still early, I realize, groaning, as I pull back the curtains in the window to reveal nothing but darkness outside, Great-- the first day of many begins with the Great Pervert.

I sigh; move the bed back to its original space, and as soon as I have done so, the door opens to reveal the Viscount. I grin at him, maliciously… If he insists on being a pest, then he has even more hell in store for him, "Ready?" I asked, but he was clearly not pleased with my harmless prank to ensure that he could not lay his eyes on me when not fully clothed, "You think that was funny, you little slut?" he asked, grabbing me by the arm, and twisting it until I cried out in pain, "You think that was funny?" he exclaimed, turning me around, and forcing me against the wall. I cried out in fright, as his hands formed fists, and beat me across the back several times. Tears formed in my eyes, and for the first time, I was scared for the thing growing inside of me-- I didn't care if I aborted it or not. It did not-- simply did not deserve to have its life end in a way like this.

"And you're not going to tell anyone what happened here, are you?" he demanded, twisting my arm once again behind my back, "Are you?"

I nodded my head, he left the room, and I began to cry bitterly over the great mess I had landed in; I was pregnant, my husband was missing, and now, I was subject to the physical abuse inflicted upon me by a man three times my age.

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The barmaid and manager of the inn greeted us; my bruises were well-concealed behind my clothes, and I tried my best to smile at her; pretending that nothing terrible had happened, but it was difficult. She did not return the smile, and I saw that she had dark bags under her eyes, and appeared to be groggy as hell, "Long night?" I whispered, trying to sound normal.

She nodded, and the Viscount cut her off before she could reply, "That's enough chit-chat for now, Beatrice… We must be on our way after all."

I rolled my eyes at his behavior, and nodded.

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After having squared our leaving the inn, it's about seven in the morning, and without exchanging a single word-- thank God, I follow the Viscount out of the inn, and into the fresh morning air; my back is throbbing and bruised, and I am still very fearful for the life growing within me.

Already knowing where we're headed, I follow him into the dense cluster of trees that makes up the forest… it is then that he begins speaking to me again, "Your lover, Matthew-- after having returned from a then recent battle, stayed in that inn for nearly a week… It was then said that he was spotted wandering into the woods at dawn." Now he was acting as if his terrible beating of me not even hours before hadn't ever happened-- as well as his insatiable desire for me; he pulled out a silver flask, unscrewed it, and took a deep swig.

"Mm-hmm," I replied, looking wildly around me at the forest, and trying to ignore the fact that he was determined to grab my hand whenever it lingered at my side, "Would you please stop that?" I demanded, angrily, and then-- (although it wasn't a big surprise), he acted completely innocent by shrugging his shoulders. I groaned, and by motioning with my hands that he wasn't allowed to follow me, I wandered off of the path to get rid of the vomit that was stuck in my throat…

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Hours passed, and nothing… No sign of Matthew; it was expected, of course, so I was not too very disappointed, but all the same, I continued to hope and pray that due to some miracle, he would suddenly reappear, and kick the Viscount's ass for his flirtations and actions towards me.

We walked for nearly six hours straight without stopping; the Viscount, obviously, was quite out of shape, but pressed on, still trying his best to impress me; including showing off a faintly familiar gold ring that had been in his generation for centuries, and would be mine if I agreed to sleep with him just once; all the while trying to make me show something other than hatred towards him. However, I refused… of course. Was he infatuated with me? Hell, no. He wanted me to be yet another notch in his belt of whores, simple-minded women, wives, and other less knowledgeable idiot women he had actually been able to fuck simply by asking… He was a predator, if that was the word for him. He made my stomach knot up in much uneasiness.

He continually attempted to grope at me, and I was successful on each of these occurrences to simply slap his hand away or just pretend as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened in order to evade his wrath, and hopefully discourage any further horny antics. Maybe he hadn't slept with anyone in a day or two… I doubted it, since I had heard moans coming from the adjourning room in the inn the previous night which probably meant that he had hired a prostitute to "satisfy his needs."

Eventually, we came to stop in front of a small stream to have some lunch. I picked a handful of berries, knowing that they were not edible, and watched as he ate each and every one of them, and after several trips off of the path to "freshen up," we were on our way once again.

Still laughing at the distress I had caused, I nevertheless followed him. If I had to give a compliment to the guy, it was that he had a pretty good sense of direction. He knew which path to take, and which path to avoid at all costs. He would not be a bad choice for a guide-- ignoring the fact that all the while, he only truly had his mind on one thing…

At sunset, we came to a crossroads of sort; there were two roads. One leading to the right, and one leading to the left-- for some reason, and I am unsure why to this day, I felt, in my heart, that the left road was the one that Matthew had taken, but the Viscount disagreed. He told me point blank that it was simply more logical for Matthew to have traveled down the one to the right, as it was the more popular, and less dangerous of the two.

After about a quarter of an hour of arguing, he decided it would be best if we set up camp here, and chose the road we would take the following morning. I simply was not content with this arrangement. I soon found that he had brought along items to assemble only one tent, so I would be forced to sleep directly alongside him, and there was no way to avoid this, for I discovered, when first entering the tent, it was a very, very, very small enclosed space, and it would be uncomfortable as hell trying to sleep that night.

As I wrote my second letter to REHtoMna, declining to alert her to the physical abuse and sexual advances I had endured that day, I saw that the Viscount was drinking more and more from the silver flask that seemed to refill itself each time he emptied it. He lay down on the ground outside, looking up at the stars, and continued to drink until his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he passed out.

Disgusted, I folded the letter, watched it disappear, and then wandered back into the tent, hoping that I would be deprived of his company for the night. I stretched out on the floor, and soon fell asleep.

A few hours later, it began to rain outside, and sadly, that woke the Viscount… Holding my breath, and hoping that he wouldn't, he nevertheless entered the tent, and lay down beside me, "Sleep well, pretty girl… We have a long day ahead of us," I shuddered, hoping that it wouldn't go any further than that.

The materials used to construct the tent had obviously been intended for one man or woman, so I was forced to squeeze in beside him, and I felt his body beside me all night long; I could smell the stench of whiskey upon his breath, and it filled me with dread of what was to come; now that he was no longer sober, I knew that anything could happen… A couple of times, I could have sworn I felt his hand gently caressing down my back… He was disgusting. A regular pedophile, as I was so much younger than he.

I grew even more frightened of him; my eyes widened as I felt his arms searching my front; pulling me closer to him still in a tight embrace, and it was then, that he fell asleep, and his loud snores filled the tent.

I began to cry.

I was scared shitless now. This man-- if you could even call him that as he was so very vile was dangerous and I sensed that if I remained in his company for even another day, his sexual advances would worsen, and if I was caught off guard, he would get what he wanted easily…

I was so weak. So weak. The fact that I was pregnant no longer scared me-- not when compared to this. He had been violent with me; he had beaten me, and I had the black and blue bruises across my back to prove it if anyone doubted me in the future; they would probably remain for a few weeks as they were so bad. He was sick in the head-- demented. He was obviously quite powerful in society, and like so many others, power had corrupted him.

It was then and there that I decided. No matter what the cost. No matter how difficult it would become, I would leave his company as soon as the chance arose-- I would have left then and there, but I knew that as he had held me in such a tight embrace, he would most likely be awoken if I stood to leave, and even if I got past him, he would realize, and immediately try to stop me.

For now, I had to wait…

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Sometime around dawn, he rose again, and left the makeshift tent.

Thanking the berries, for I knew they were responsible, I seized my chance; gathering all of my possessions together, and carefully putting them back into my pouch, and then I made to leave.

Somehow, however, on my way out of the tent, he spotted me as I made to set down the path he had deemed "far too dangerous." My heart sinking into my stomach, I tried to ignore him, but he was screaming, "Where are you going?" he grabbed me by the arm, and spun me around to face him. His eyes were red and wild-- he was obviously still hung-over.

"I'm leaving," I said simply.

"Who do you think you are, little girl?" he asked, angrily.

"I'm not sure-- at the moment, but I know that I'm not afraid of you anymore-- in fact, I never was, you know why? You're a sickening little cowardly pedophile, and I'm not going to let you control me or beat me anymore."

"Please," his face suddenly changed, "Please… I'm sorry for hitting you-- it's just I've never loved--"

"You're so full of shit! Why don't you tell that to your twenty two ex-wives-- and that slut you were fucking last night--? How many more were there other than her? Hundreds? Thousands?"

"For your information, that was not a common slut… That was the little barmaid you made friends with only hours before-- all it took was a slip of a special powder into her evening cup of tea, and she was mine for the night-- she was curvy… She said I was the best she'd ever had-- although that might have been the powder."

"You sick fuck," I hissed, "you're so disgusting-- So, you're a rapist as well? I can't say I'm not surprised. Don't follow me," and I turned around again, infuriated that he had hurt the woman who had become my friend.

"Come on, Beatrice…" he suddenly plead, "Don't walk away from me… Can't we at least be friends?"

"No… I don't want your friendship, and I don't want you in my life anymore."

"Fine then. Fine. You think you can survive out there, you little whore…? You think that you could possibly make it? You don't these woods… You won't last a day."

"Really?" I asked, "I think you're wrong. I've survived many times before. I've braved deserts, and I've braved forests, and they're all the same… so get your filthy hands from off of me, and forget you ever met me," I wrenched out of out of his grasp, and began running away, knowing that he was still too disoriented to follow me… for now…