She could feel the cold steel of the knife still pressed up against her. She couldn't struggle too much or she'd just end up stabbing herself. He ripped the buttons off the front of her riding habit. No. No, this wasn't happening. She couldn't let it. But she also could barely move, so she did the only thing she could and screamed, praying someone was out there to hear her. That turned out to be a bad idea. It only made him angrier, and he jabbed her in the side with the knife. It didn't go all the way in, but it was enough to give her a decent sized wound. On the plus side, it knocked the knife out of his hand long enough for her to kick him. Then she struggled, trying to free her arms while he retrieved the knife. He he grabbed her hand and put the knife to it.

"That's it. I'm gonna take one piece at a time. Should I start with your fingers?" he said and then put the knife to her head. "Or maybe your ear will come first." then he ran the tip of the knife down her body. "Maybe I'll just make the left side match the right." he said raising the knife. She closed her eyes tight and waited for the pain. Then she heard what sounded like a horse gallop and a sword being pulled. Then she heard him yelp and then her arms went free. She only opened her eyes for a second, when she saw one of the other men coming at her. She couldn't stand, so she closed her eyes again and turned away. Then there was a hand on her shoulder and she flinched.

"It's alright. You're safe now. It's okay." said a very familiar sounding voice. She slowly turned back around toward the direction of the voice. She couldn't believe her eyes. There in front of her was a face she never imagined she'd ever see again, let alone have it be the one saving her. And from what she could tell, he was almost as surprised as she.

"S...ss...Sebastian?" she stuttered.

"Catherine? What?" he said. His head was spinning what was going on? Why was she out here? He shook his head and put his hand out to her, but she flinched again, not knowing if she should be afraid of him too, considering what happened when last she saw him. "I'm not going to hurt you." he said, and she eased a bit. "But we need to get out of here in case their friends come...can you stand?" she shook her head. He reached down and helped her up. Her arm was around his shoulders his around her waist as he propped her up.

"I have a horse just over that hill." she said.

"Do you think you can ride?" he asked.

"Not very far." she said. She hoped her adrenaline was up enough to get her a safe distance.

"It'll have to do." he said. He used his free hand to take his horses reigns and guide him over the hill.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as they stumbled along.

"It's a long story. I'll explain when we're safe." he said as they arrived at the horse. He lifted her up and she groaned a little at the pain. "Are you sure you can ride?"

"I don't really have a choice do I?" she said. He hopped on his horse.

"Just follow me. I know where to go." he said. They rode off, and soon he could see Catherine starting to slump over on the horse. "Catherine, don't quit on me now, we're almost there." he said. Shortly after, they pulled up on a cave. He got down off the horse and ran over to Catherine just in time to keep her from falling to the ground.

"What is this? Just take me back to the castle." she mumbled as he lifted her.

"You'll never make it that far. If we don't stop and dress that wound you'll bleed out." he explained. He carried her inside and sat her down, then brought the horses in and tied them up to a log that lay on the ground of the cave. He took a blanket, a rag and a flask out of his saddle bag. He laid the blanket down and put Catherine on it. He pulled back the flap of her jacket to get a better look at the wound. "You're going to have to take off that corset." he told her. She breathed in at an attempt at a sarcastic laugh.

"Of course I will." she said breathed. She tried to sit up to take of her jacket, but was struggling.

"Umm, do you...do you want me to um." Bash said as he started to reach to help her, but then pulled back, feeling awkward. She looked up at him, defeated and he knew she couldn't do it on her own. He propped her up and slid the the sleeves off one at a time and then laid her back down.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked. She'd asked him that question many times before and never got a straight answer, and she wasn't getting one now either.

"Not a question you should ask someone while you're still bleeding, in case they change their mind." he said as he made her roll over on her good side facing away from him. Truthfully, he wasn't really sure why. Now or then.

She pulled her jacket to her to cover her front as he began unlacing the back of her corset carefully.

"Are you thinking of changing yours?" she wondered.

"I'm still here aren't I?" he said as the corset came loose and he removed it with ease. She closed her eyes and shivered at the cold air. He looked down at her lying there, suddenly she looked so small, so frail and unassuming. He dampened the cloth with the alcohol from his flask. "This is going to sting." he warned, as he gently brushed her coat away from the wound and reached down to wipe the blood off. She winced at the contact and Bash put his hand on her shoulder for comfort. As soon as their skin made contact his mind flashed with another vision.

A young girl sat on a cold stone floor, soldiers around her, leering. One touched her cheek.

"I think I'll take the little Medici first." he said, then laughed menacingly.

Then the vision was gone.

"Bash! Bash are you okay?" Catherine asked. He shook his head.

"Fine. I'm fine, I just...I'm fine." Bash said as he continued to clean the wound. Was that vision of the past? Of her? Had she been...but she was so young, so innocent. And then he remembered the look in her eyes when he'd found her earlier. My god, it was her. It was the same look of terror. Suddenly he felt sick to his stomach and some of the hatred he'd felt for her was replaced with hatred for the men who did that to her instead. "You're loosing too much blood, I can't get it to stop."

"I thought I might not make it through the day when I went out there, but this isn't exactly how I thought I would go." she said quietly, as she could barely speak now.

"What WERE you doing out there?" he prodded as he tried to put pressure on the wound.

"I was trying to save my family from those rebels." she said.

"Rebels?" he asked.

"They have been threatening our family for months, I just wanted to make it stop, to make my children safe again." she said. Then it came, he felt guilty. She'd gone out into almost certain death for her children? Mary was right, he'd made a huge mistake. He'd been so angry at the time, he couldn't see the other side of it.

"They will be, we'll stop them, but first we have to stop this bleeding." he said. He took her hand and put it on the cloth that sat atop her wound. "Here hold this a minute." He started to build a fire.

"What? What are you doing?" she asked when she realized. He finished and put a knife into the flame. Then he went and kneeled down in front of her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to cauterize it." he said. She shook her head. "I have to or you WILL die. It's alright, you'll be okay." he assured. He went back over to the fire and picked up the knife. He pulled out his glove from his pocket and handed it to her. "You might want to bite down on this. I've known men to take a piece of their own tongue off." he said.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better." she growled.

"No. It's supposed to keep you from biting off your tongue, though your tongue would likely sooner take your teeth off than the other way around." he said. She glared at him as she grudgingly placed the leather between her teeth. He gripped the knife in one hand and took hers with the other. "Ready?" she nodded. He took a deep breath and placed the scolding metal on her wound. He could hear the sizzle and Catherine's grip tighten around his fingers. The glove fell out of her mouth as she screamed in pain. Bash dropped the knife as the penetrating sound of her wailing triggered the vision again.

Young Catherine was screaming as the men tore her dress. One pushed her down and climbed on top of her. The screaming continued, but the vision changed. Now he could see his siblings laid out on the floor again, flames all around. He panned up to see Catherine hovering over them. She was holding Claude's hand and running her fingers through Charles's hair as she cried.

"No!" came another blood curdling scream.

Then he was back again. Catherine was shivering with pain. He pulled her in to comfort her.

"It's alright. It's okay." he said as she continued to shake. Bash leaned back and let out a breath, praying that he would never have to do that to anyone again.