[A/N]: WARNING! This chapter contains RAPE.
I'm not happy with Iorveth's portrayal in this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it. And please let me know if there's something I messed up and should improve!
Chapter title goes to Bullet For My Valentine.
With her headband covering her ears and a sweet smile gracing her lips, Gwen managed to get past the guards and into the town easily enough. On the other side of the door she was greeted by the sight of water. She paid it no heed and climbed up the wooden floor that rose until it reached what must have been the town's ground floor. From where she stood she could already hear the murmuring of a crowd of peasants, waiting for something to happen. She could only hope she wasn't too late.
In her current state, however, she couldn't hope to fight the guards by herself and live. A distraction, Cedric had told her, but where could she find something to distract people with out here?
The docks were almost completely deserted as Gwen made her way to the other side, past locked doors and posters with Iorveth's likeness on them. Here and there somebody stood, rummaging through cargo or cleaning the planks, but nobody paid her any heed. She took a corner to the right and followed the platform down to the water before resuming her way forward. When she reached actual ground, she came upon a spot without anybody in the near vicinity. She noticed a pile of wooden boxes close by and, taking a look around her, saw a couple of torches hanging in sconces.
Telling herself to make haste and to not fear the fire, she walked over to the closest torch. She glanced around once more to make sure nobody else lurked nearby before she pulled it free, slowly so that she couldn't drop it or hurt herself. With it in hand, she went back to the pile of boxes, stopping to gather some dried straw on her way back. She scattered it around the wood and made to throw the torch on it all, prepared to sprint away the very moment she did so, only to feel something grab her. She managed to swallow her scream as she turned around and was greeted by the sight of two guards clad in armour.
"What are you doing here?"
Without waiting for them to act, she dropped the torch, which missed its target and landed harmlessly on the ground, and ran off as best as her leg allowed her to. Even though the guards wore heavy armour that made them slow, one of them still managed to catch up with her even before she got to the end of the street.
"Where do you think you're going?!" he yelled as he grabbed her by the arm once more, pulling her to a halt and turning her around to face him with one swift movement.
It didn't take the other guard much longer to catch up with them, panting when he did. Gwen tried to pull herself free with all her might, but it only made her captor tighten his grip on her arm until it was all she could do not to whimper. Once she remained still again, her mind racing for a way out of this mess, he reached up and ripped her headband away. The guards could only stare at what the action revealed.
"Another bloody elf!" the second guard yelled, and Gwen bit her lip to keep quiet, annoyed by the fact that someone would even think of calling her an elf.
His friend jabbed him in the side with an elbow. "No, you dolt. It's quite obvious that it's a half-elf, can't you see? The ears aren't pointy enough."
If Gwen had received a sheep for every time she had heard that, she'd never have to worry about going cold or hungry.
"I don't know what's worse. The fact that a human felt the need to get it on with an elf, or that the half-elf decided to join the Squirrels," the first guard, the one holding her, muttered.
"Well, have you seen those she-elves? One might claim that even the men are pretty lads," the other admitted as he stepped up to her other side to help his comrade to contain her.
"No!" Gwen yelled when they began to drag her onwards. She dug her heels into the ground and refused to relent, even when one of the men smacked her in her face. "No, no, no, no!"
She wanted to scream for help, but knew these people stood for the law in this place and that nobody would dare lift a finger against them. If they even wanted to do so in the first place. And she wanted to beg for mercy, wanted to yell, "Anything but that!" but knew that if she did, her fate might get even worse. Furthermore, Gwen did not beg. Ever.
Her struggles all ended up being in vain when the two men practically lifted her up so that her could no longer reached the ground. Her mind went black in terror and she knew that she had lost. She hung her head in defeat and the world went by as they carried her up a small slope. From here, she could hear the crowd from the other side of town yelling and booing, and she realised that they must have started bringing the criminals forward now.
They met two more guards on their way up. One of them slept while leaning on his pike, snoring as he did so, but awoke when the others arrived. The other man eyed their captive to see what they had found. His mouth dropped open in realisation.
"What? What is it?" the stupid guard, the one who had called Gwen an elf, asked him when his comrade remained silent, still gaping.
"That's the half-elf!" he shouted all of a sudden.
The guard to Gwen's left gave him a look before saying, "Yes, well done, you've figured it out. Ya never seen one before or what?"
"Yes I have," the other retorted, though he didn't look so sure. "But tha's not just any half-elf. Tha's the one Loredo was makin' such a fuss about, remember?"
The stupid guard jumped back at that, letting go of Gwen in the process. "This is the royal basted Stennis wanted to get rid of?"
She took the opportunity to punch the remaining guard in the face, but he turned his head just in time. Instead her fist met chain mail, most likely hurting her more than him. Before she knew it, the guards yelled incoherent words at each other and the man grabbed her arm once more. Gwen swore under her breath.
"Stupid whore. But yes, tha's right. Think o' how glad Loredo'll be now tha's fixed. He gets wha' he paid fo', and who knows, mayhap we get a nice lil' bonus."
"Hey, don't ya forget that we were the ones to find 'er!" the guard to her left exclaimed.
"Loredo don't have to know that, does he now? We're all friends here, ain't we? Looking out for each other?" the previously sleeping guard offered. "And anyway, we did cover for your asses last week when you-"
The stupid guard shushed him, holding up a hand to interrupt him. "Will you let us through or not?"
"Right, of course," they said as though they had forgotten the whole purpose of their visit.
They opened the gate to let them through, and they dragged the half-elf, who began to struggle again, with them.
"Let me go! Bloede pavienn!" she cried out, most likely attracting the attention of everybody in the near vicinity. The Elder Speech had slipped from her tongue before she could stop herself.
The guards made their way through the yard, up another hill, past a ballista and a few deserted tables. A few more guards stood here and there across the property, watching the scene unfold with curiosity. Gwen wanted to curse each and every one of these filthy humans, to chop off their private parts and to feed them to themselves. Perhaps to force the men to feed them to each other.
None of her pulling and tugging helped her at all, and before she knew it they had lugged her up a flight of stairs and into the house that occupied the top of the hill. A bald man stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed and brow raised as he watched his guards bring this uncooperative person upstairs.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked when they halted just beneath him, seeing as he blocked their path.
"Look at what we found," the guard to her right said as his companion reached out to grab a fistful of Gwen's hair.
She had tried to keep her head down in the hope that he wouldn't recognise her and would send them away without hearing them out, annoyed by the interruption. That plan disintegrated right before her eyes when the guard yanked her hair upwards, forcing her to lift her head. Her angry eyes met those of him, and they took him in as he stood before her in all his glory.
He wore a shirt that used to be white, but now sported so many stains that it looked more grey. Just above the collar she noticed the beginnings of a tattoo on his chest, and a silver chain hung around his neck, a fleur de lis attached to it. Armoured breeches covered his legs, and Gwen saw a dirk and a tankard dangling from the belt that only barely contained his stomach.
"Look what we have here! And here I thought I had paid all that money for nothing," he said, raising a second brow as a grin broke out across his face. He leant down and grabbed Gwen's chin between two grubby fingers. "Do you have any idea how expensive rich bastards such as yourself are? You should consider yourself honoured I went through all the trouble. Especially since you're just an unwanted half-breed."
"Plough you," the half-elf spat at him, ripping her chin free from his grip. She swung one of her legs backwards in her anger, filling the tiny space with the yelp of a man whose family jewels had just been violated.
"And a feisty one at that," Loredo remarked, though he didn't seem too happy with what she had done. "Take her upstairs."
"No! Let go of me or so help me-" The remaining guard hit the back of her head with a gloved hand, and for a moment everything went black.
When she opened her eyes again, she was lying on a bed, her arms tied to the headboard. The rope chafed her wrists when she began to struggle, trying to free herself, though with no luck. Her breeches pooled around her ankles, and those of Loredo were no where in sight when he entered the room through the doorway, his lower half naked.
"Ah, welcome back," he said and sniggered.
Gwen tried to yell at him, but all that left her mouth were muffled sounds; she had been gagged.
"No! This cannot be happening! she thought as he climbed on top of her, the weight of his fat belly pressing down on her. It almost made her throw up, but the feeling of something else pressing against her made all thought and feeling leave her body. Perhaps if she lay still enough, he would lose interest and leave her...
Loredo pulled down her smallclothes with one hand while he squeezed her breast with the other. Tears sprung into her eyes, but she blinked them away before they could fall. Without thinking, she pressed her legs together, and the bastard had to pry them open with both hands to get what he wanted. He smiled at her defiance, at the fire that burned in her eyes, at her unwillingness to please. She hated men like that more than anything else. They took what they wanted and loved knowing they had to do so with force.
Memories from many years ago filled her head as he placed a knee between her legs and grasped her hips with both hands, nails digging into her skin even through her tunic. She should have thanked whatever gods that existed that he hadn't wanted to completely undress her, to witness what his actions done by a different man had afflicted upon her. She should have thanked those very gods that he didn't want to kiss her and instead simply sucked at her neck as he forced himself inside of her.
The smell of sweat almost overwhelmed her, and she choked back a cry. His heavy breathing combined with his groans filled her ears as he filled her, over and over again. His shirt crept upwards through his repeated movements, revealing his fat belly whenever he forced her to look down at him instead of up at the ceiling.
The half-elf did not know how long she lay there, motionless while this pig continued with his ministrations. Once or twice he attempted to snake a hand down to press up against her, most likely in an attempt to get her to make a sound. Thankfully he lost interest sooner rather than later and instead opted to grab a breast, or her hips, or her bottom.
It didn't take long, yet still far too long, before he quickened his pace, more groans leaving him than that breaths entered him, until he let out one string of strangled sounds. His hips jerked erratically as he emptied himself into his victim, who had taken to biting her tongue so hard she tasted blood. All to prevent herself from making a single noise.
When he finished, he rolled off of her and sat on the edge of the bed, his back facing her. He sighed when he turned to look at her, but the half-elf refused to look at him, tried to hide her face behind her arms. The sight made him chuckle.
He pushed himself off the bed, but before he could do or say anything more, something flew at him. With a thwang it pinned Loredo's hand to the wall behind him, and the man let out a yell, pain and surprise mingled in his voice. Gwen turned her head at the sound, noticing the arrow that had dug itself into the flesh of his hand and into the wood of the wall. She saw a shadow moving through the room, though it was too dark to see who or what, and in that moment she didn't particularly care about that.
"Who- what-" Loredo began, but by then the shadow had already reached him, a hand to the back of his neck knocking him out.
When the stranger moved closer to the bed, Gwen thought to recognise Ivor, but didn't verify it for herself. What did it matter, anyway? What was done, was done. Either way, her eyes followed him as he kneeled next to her, anger for once written on his face as he pulled up her smallclothes and breeches. For a moment Gwen feared that he would direct his fury at her, especially when he pulled out a dagger and moved it towards the half-elf. She didn't shy away, however, and he surprised her by using it to cut the ropes binding her wrists.
Once he had freed them, he held her arms to inspect the bruises the ropes had left behind. The expression on his face told Gwen he did not like what he saw, and a voice inside of her wondered why he even cared.
Gwen had been trembling all the while, though this she only realised when Ivor's arms encased her and picked her up, holding her close his chest. Her teeth chattered though she didn't feel cold and the grip she held on Ivor's sleeves kept slipping as she could not find purchase.
The elf carried her down the stairs, past guards who lay out cold on the ground, until they arrived at the ballista. There he carefully moved her to his back before descending down the stone wall by a rope that hung there, his arms straining to hold the weight of both of them. The rope took them to the docks of Flotsam, where Ivor turned to the left towards the water, away from the buildings.
Squirrels stood there, waiting for him and helping the two of them with climbing a few rocks, looks of surprise crossing their faces when they noticed his baggage. They didn't ask questions and Ivor didn't give explanations as he carried the half-elf in front of him once more, on their way back to the camp. The elf that Gwen had wanted to rescue was part of the group, but the half-elf did not seem to notice or care.
When they reached the camp, Iorveth stood at the front of the crowd, awaiting their return. He frowned when he saw the state of Gwen, and many Squirrels looked at her either in surprise or with pity. Their commander dispersed them with a wave of his hand before he came forward to help Ivor with his burden.
"What happened?" he snapped at Ivor as the man gently placed her on the ground, leaning her back against a tree trunk. Iorveth doubted that the blood coating the insides of the half-elf's legs were of the natural kind.
Ivor opened his mouth to reply, but the very moment Gwen came in contact with the floor her eyes widened and she shot up. She stumbled, landed on her hands and knees and promptly began to throw up, coughing and sputtering all the while. Ivor rushed to her side and made to hold her hair for her, but without looking up she slapped his hands away.
"Don't!" she yelled once she had stopped heaving, but her voice cracked and the rest came out as a hoarse whisper. "Touch me..."
Iorveth saw tears form in her eyes and drip down her cheeks, but she turned away from him, not daring to meet his gaze. Without another word, she limped over to a low-hanging branch on the tree and, though her arms were visibly shaking, pulled herself onto it. The commander didn't intervene and watched as she slowly made her way up, wincing every now and then.
Once the leaves blocked the view of her, Iorveth turned to Ivor, anger in his eye, and he repeated his question. "What happened?"
Ivor held up his hands and the pained look on the man's face managed to cool down the fire inside the unit leader, though only a little.
"She arrived at Cedric's a few days ago, and when she heard that Saoirse had been caught, she wanted to help her, who knows why. But Loredo..." Ivor's voice trailed off, and Iorveth filled the silence with a curse.
"That bastard paid for her after all. I hope the dh'oine paid for his actions," Iorveth snarled, his eye narrowing at Ivor, willing him to give him confirmation.
The look on the elf's face was enough of an answer, however, and the commander took a step towards his soldier.
"Cedric told us to keep him alive! He said that without him, things would get even worse for the non-humans," Ivor explained.
Iorveth spat on the ground. "Malu cachu! That Cedric was always too weak when it came down to it!"
He looked up at where Gwen had disappeared, his fists clenching at the thought of some filthy human forcing himself on her. On any in his unit. Ivor slipped away while he was distracted, hoping to evade the man's wrath while he still could.
Bloede pavienn: Bloody ape... Of course meant as plural, but unfortunately I have no clue how the rules for plural words are in the Elder Speech, so forgive the crudeness of the solution (Elder Speech)
Malu cachu: bullshit (Welsh)