Myriad Acts of Banditry! (Rhi)

[DaGlobster]

Smed and his guards watched her closely, smiling like toddlers playing with their favorite toys. In his tiny, clawed hands, Smed was twirling the Owl mask around one of his fingers. "You're right Pigeon, but in the wrong way." He said, standing up off of his seat. "I don't give a rat's pelt about your riches, or jewels. Sure, it's money, but I steal them for the thrills. Ain't no thrill in having it given to me." He said, stepping forwards.

"I get a hell of a kick out of hurting you, though." He added, and snapped the owl mask in half, tossing the pieces over his shoulder. His beady eyes looked over her body, and a frown started building up.

"Aww, Pigeon! You fixed up all your cuts!" He said in mock sadness, and frown quickly turned into a scowl. A small, jagged knife stained with the blood of previous victims flashed from his belt to his hand, and he twirled it. "Search her. Don't leave a single cranny unsearched." He snarled, and the guards stepped forwards, and started giving her a very thorough looking over, with both their hands and their noses, even going so far as to check under her binding. It was evident that they were being purposely rough with their clawed hands, intent on renewing the cuts she had healed up.

During all of this, Smed had his knife held to her, the point digging into the skin on her waist.

[Rhindeer]

And there it went. Her plan, fluttering right out the window. Her stomach twisted at his words, and though she hadn't eaten in a while, she felt like she could sick up.

"I-it's not about giving it to you! It wouldn't be that easy! It's not even my money!" Owl said quickly, heart pounding. She bit back a flinch when he snapped her mask. Oh gods. He was just sadistic, that was it. Oh Kia. Okay. She needed to calm down, but it was a struggle when he had just flat-out admitted her one possible trump card was useless because he was more interested in just hurting her. How the hell could she counter that?

"D-do you know a man, the Red Wolf?" she continued on quickly even as the goblins descended on her. With an involuntary squeak, she curled in on herself as they went to search her, clenching her eyes shut as they sniffed and groped and clawed, as the leader held her at knife point. New cuts opened up under their hands and soon her fair skin was running red here and there, and she no longer had to try not to fight against fear--there was no fighting.

She tried to block out what they were doing and where they were looking, her breath coming fast, her teeth clamped down on the inside of her cheek to keep from yelping.

[DaGlobster]

Smed ignored her words, instead preferring to listen to the sounds she made when the goblins were searching her. Every little release of air, every time she flinched away from their sharp claws as they bit into her flesh. Smed was devouring every last bit of it. "You think you can fly away, but you can't Pigeon. Once these boys are done, I'm gonna clip your wings, and then it's off to the butcher to get looked over." He idly muttered, leaning his head on her thigh but keeping the knife exactly where it was.

He licked up some of the blood on her inner thigh, his small black tongue eagerly lapping up the crimson gold with a ferocity akin to animals.  He backed away from her, dragging a bloody hand across his face with a look of absolute bliss on his face. He immediately rushed back towards her, intent on sinking the knife into her ankle.

[Rhindeer]

He wasn't listening to a word she said, Owl realized. This wasn't going to work. Money wasn't holding his interest--he was only interested in her. Throat tight with fear, she realized then that if talking wasn't going to work, she was going to have to fight.

And that it was going to be a hopeless fight given her chains.

Think! What the fuck was she supposed to do?! There had to be something! Something other than just sitting here, letting herself get clawed and--and licked?

The leader was licking her. He was licking her thigh. Her skin utterly crawled and she jerked her leg back from him as though he'd cut her like the others and pressed her back against the wall. Oh gods, oh gods...panic rose up in her, and she didn't feel at all like her namesake bird of prey--she just felt like prey. Prey about to meet the butcher and--

No. Fuck no. What was wrong with her?! She wanted to be a hero, right? How did the stories go? Things got dark in the stories, right? But there was always a way! True, this wasn't a fairy tale, but goblins. There were stories about goblins. She'd read them! What did the stories say about goblins?

The leader pulled back and suddenly rushed her, the other goblins having moved away from her legs.

And Owl reacted out of sheer desperation.

Shifting her weight to her hands, she pulled both legs back and kicked out at his belly as hard as she could, then jerked in the grip of the other goblins, elbows flying as she tried to land hits wherever they would fall. She wasn't even thinking about escape or what she would do if she was even successful here; she was only thinking about hurting them, doing any damage she could.

[DaGlobster]

Smed snapped backwards when Owl hit him, stumbling backwards into the chair. Due to the odd angle, Owl had actually hit him in the face. He looked at her, blood dripping from his nose and over his lips. His eyes burned with an unholy fire, and a perverse smile slowly stretched itself across his face as he watched her struggle against the guards. They dug their claws into her flesh, and held on with vise grips, their helmets protecting them from her desperate elbows.

Smed slowly got up from the chair, and reached towards his back, drawing Anklesnagger. He stepped forward again, past her wild kicks, and swung the jagged weapon at...well...her ankle.

[Rhindeer]

Owl felt a momentary rush of satisfaction when the leader went stumbling back into the chair, but whatever satisfaction she got from that was lost when the others dug their claws into her and held on. She struggled wildly despite the pain and even bit one that dug its claws into her bicep--just close enough for her to sink her teeth into its wrist.

But her satisfaction was depleted completely when the leader returned, bloody-faced, and swung a new weapon down at her before she could do a damned thing about it.

She screamed, letting go of the goblin's wrist in the process, and yanked her foot back reflexively--but the hooks and other things had snagged into the flesh and she only wound up tearing the wound further. She cried out again, squirming and bucking in the goblins' grips, an unintelligible string of curses leaving her lips as tears streaked down her face.

"I'm gonna kill you!" she cried, thrashing still. "I'm gonna beat your ugly little face in until there's nothing left!" She kicked at him with her uninjured leg, goblin blood dripping down her chin.

[DaGlobster]

Smed  ducked under owl's kick, keeping his grip on Anklesnagger and using his newfound leverage to pull against one of her legs in an attempt to tear out the weapon. It came out with bits of flesh hanging from the bent nails and fishooma, and he swung at the other ankle. The goblin she bit in the wrist fell off of her , clutching the wrist for a few moments and releasing his own string of curses. It drew a knife, and went back in,  trying to cut at her hip.

"Skitzo!" Smed yelled, and one of the goblins from last night stepped into the tent, nailed torch in its hand. When it saw what was going on, it smiled, and held his torch club up against a lit torch inside the tent, and the club burst into flames, the nails slowly growing red hot as he stepped forwards. "Stop fightin', Pigeon..." Skitzo said, but it was clear in his eyes that he wanted her to keep fighting, just so he could hit her with his weapon.

[Rhindeer]

When the leader ripped his weapon free, the pain was like nothing Owl had ever felt. For a second, everything whited out and she screamed again, but thank gods she was thrashing so much, because his next blow missed her other ankle by a hair's breadth. Unfortunately, that burst of frenetic, survival-fueled energy was wearing out as agony and the exhaustion that came with agony and struggling began to take its toll.

Which meant the injured goblin got a hit in, slashing her hip, and she cried out again and swung her fist at the thing's face.

She was exhausted, and dizzy, everything a sickening blur, and she felt about to vomit, the pain was so excruciating. It didn't help that she'd glimpsed the state of the leader's weapon when he pulled it out of her--that was her skin. But she was running on sheer panic now, panic that only increased when she saw the flaming nail torch.

"You're fucking insane!" Stop fighting?! Yeah, right! Sobbing, she tried to kick him again, but her eyes were on the new threat, and there were too many of them, and she knew things were about to start hurting even more. "I'll stop when I'm dead, rat-fucker!"

[DaGlobster]

"Stop when you're dead? At least you'll stop struggling! Club her, Skitzo!" Smed yelled. This was exhilirating! the way her blood just splashed on everything (goblins included). Maybe at this rate, she'd tire out, and she'd fall unconscious. That would be perfect. He jumped at her back, attempting to tear at the binding with one claw, and hit her shoulder with Anklesnagger.

Skitzo started laughing, and he swung his flaming club sideways, intent on clubbing her straight in the abdomen. The red-hot nails on the club promised non-lethal punctures and excruciating agony.

The guard with the knife pushed onwards, attempting to embed the small blade in her outer thigh, while the other tried to bite at her neck, clambering up her bloody chest with its claws.

[Rhindeer]

Well, okay. Addendum. She'd stop when she was dead or unconscious.

It was too much. Owl was outmatched, and badly wounded, and exhausted, and there was only so much she could do when she was chained on a leash so short her movements were limited while bleeding profusely. When the leader jumped on her back and started to tear into her, and hit her bruised shoulder with that horrible, hook-filled club...

It only snowballed from there. The other one got her in the stomach with the red-hot club, and the other got his knife in her thigh, and it was too much for her to process. Agony enveloped her, so intense she couldn't even scream, and then, blessedly, her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped over as darkness claimed her.

[DaGlobster]

Smed hissed at all the other goblins to stop as soon as Owl slumped and fell over on her stomach, the chain giving her just enough slack to do so. All the goblins stepped away, except for Smed, who remained on top of her, standing on her back. "Piiigeon..." He whispered, nudging her unwounded shoulder with his foot. He jumped off of her, and put an ear up against her back.  She was still alive, unfortunately for her. "Well, 'least we know how long she lasts now." Smed cackled, and slapped one of her buttocks, walking over to a chest in his room that had a red paint mark slashed across it.

He opened it up, and took out a small container, and opened it up. "Skitzo! do me a favor and pull Anklesnagger out of her damn shoulder!" He yelled across the tent, and Skitzo promptly pulled it out of her shoulder, with the same result as the last time it was taken out of her forcefully. Smed walked over to her bleeding and cut up body, and opened the container. In one compartment, was a thick red glop, and in the other, smelling salts.

"Slather her up. Stop all that bleedin." Smed said, and the goblins all took handfuls, eager to rub her down with the substance. They passed it over her flesh, and the cuts would immediately stop bleeding. The cuts and gashes and punctures would remain, but for now, those wounds were prevented from bleeding, but they were most definitely going to scar.

One of the guards detached her chain from the tent pole, and held it tight in his grasp as Smed got back onto her back, and took out his knife. "Something you won't forget, Pigeon." He snarled, and carved the word "Pigeon" onto Owl's back, and slathered it with the glop.

He jumped off of her again, and passed the smelling salts under her nose.

[Rhindeer]

It took a minute, but the fumes finally roused Owl--and she immediately wished to be asleep again. Her first indication that she was awake was that everything was agony.

Her breath caught at the sheer intensity of the pain she was in; it didn't feel like there was a patch of skin on her that wasn't throbbing or stinging or aching, and when she drew another breath, it came out a whimpering sob. She didn't want to be awake, and with the fight drained out of her, the frantic adrenaline gone, it only hurt worse.

It wasn't just the pain, either. She had lost a lot of blood in that struggle and the result was sheer exhaustion. Cracking her eyes open, she saw through blurred, dizzy vision that she was in the same room and bit her lip to hold back another sob. Still the same room. This was real, and from the looks of the mess, not much time had even passed at all.

"Oh gods..." A sudden, crushing wave of futility struck her at that realization, and that thought alone was enough to make her bury her face in her arms, shoulders shaking as tears overtook her.

Because battered and torn up and exhausted, with a moment to think that wasn't devoted to struggling or planning, it was finally then that she realized she might actually die, and that her parents wouldn't know what happened to her.

[DaGlobster]

"Look boys, Pigeon's awake again." Smed cackled as he stepped over to her once more. The other goblins laughed and cackled. One of the guards was still licking blood off of his claws. Smed reached over, and grabbed a clump of her pink hair, and pulled it upwards so he could look her in the eye. "You're lucky I spared you, Pigeon. Any other goblin would've let you bleed out, maybe fuck your corpse a couple times, then cook you. We're going to take a walk, Pigeon. You, me, and a few of my guards in case you decide to get fiesty again." He snarled, and promtply pushed her head away from him, as if she disgusted him now.

The guard holding her chain yanked on it, cackling the words "Come on, Pigeon! Up you go!" like a child goading a pet forwards. The other guard jabbed at her side with the butt of his polearm.

[Rhindeer]

"Walk," Owl repeated, and laughed hoarsely, hysterically, because how did he expect her to walk like this? But she tried anyway, because some small part of her knew she had to, and that leaving this room was at least a chance of...something.

She tried to rise, but her ankle gave out, her back screamed, and the world spun dizzily, and she collapsed again with a yelp. Gods, she wanted to just curl up and never move again, but the one kept jabbing at her side, so with grit teeth she tried again, sweating with the effort.

"Why didn't you let me bleed out, anyway?" she asked as she wobbled, balanced on her good foot with her hands pressed to the wall for support. Her shoulder burned and she blinked back tears, tried not to focus on it. "If it's so against your nature?"

[DaGlobster]

"Because I like you, Pigeon." Smed purred as the guard transferred control of the chain to Smed. Smed wrapped the chain around his wrist, a small hand clasped around it. "I like the way you cry, the way you curse, the way you look. And I bet I'm gonna like the way you taste, too." He said, passing his tounge over his teeth, which were stained red with her blood. He motioned to one of the guards, and it exited the tent for a few seconds, and came back with a crutch for Owl. It was stained with old blood, and bore the insignia of the Serenian guard, which was damaged as if someone had tried to unsuccessfuly remove it in the past.

"You said something about Red Wolf, Pigeon. Yeah, I know who he is. But let's see if you know who I am. Who am I, Pigeon? Maybe you've seen me in the posters?" Smed said, and gave her his toothiest smile, replicating his expression in the wanted posters.

[Rhindeer]

He liked her. Fantastic. His words made Owl shudder like ice slipped down her back, and they made her feel slimy all over. Though that could have also been the red goop smeared all over her, goop she'd at first mistaken for blood; she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was.

Still, if he liked her...horrifying as that was, it was what had kept her alive this long. She had to make sure he kept liking her.

The crutch surprised her; she had half expected he'd get the help of the others and drag her by the chain. Taking it from the goblin, she started to wedge it under her good arm when she caught sight of the insignia and froze.

Oh. Shit.

Looking over at the leader as he grinned his toothy grin, she wet her lips and swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat. She hadn't thought about it until now; she'd been too focused on not dying, and even now it was difficult to connect the dots through the haze of agony and exhaustion. But she had taken to studying wanted posters, being she wanted to be a hero and all, and...

She supposed he should have clued in earlier that he was no ordinary, petty goblin thief. If this was who he was implying he was (and hopefully she was wrong; goblins looked the same to her) then she was in deeper than she knew.

Owl drew a deep breath. But who else would have property belonging to a Serenian guard?

"The..." Oh gods. Even as she started to say it, she realized how stupid she'd been. It was right there in his name. Right there in how he'd hurt her. "Mother of...you're the Anklehacker, aren't you."

She said it flatly, deadpan, the weight of her idiocy bearing down on her. With another harsh laugh, she turned and leaned her forehead against the wall. "Oh my gods..."

[DaGlobster]

Smed broke into a bout of his own laughter, pointing a clawed finger in Owl's direction. All the other goblins in the room started laughing as well, not out of mockery, but at her realization. "The one and only, Pigeon. Smed "The Red" Anklehacker, at your service!" he cackled, tugging on her neck iron. "Come along now, Pigeon. We're off to see the butcher!" He said, and he started walking towards the exit of the tent, pulling Owl by the neck.

Outside the tent, was not the warm touch of sunlight, but the cold dampness of a cave. Smed's camp was situated in the central chamber of a cave system, with tunnels leading in all directions to unexplored caverns. Smed took a deep draft of the air, which smelled three parts goblin, two parts rubbish, and one part cooking food. Stretching all over the chamber, there were little tents and buildings, with living spaces built on the walls, and even the cave's ceiling. The place was a veritable city, populated solely by goblins.

As Smed led her out, passing goblins stopped to gawk, laughing at Owl's half-nudeness and the state of her injuries. They came in all shades of green and dark blue, and some had tribal markings on them.

Smed leveled a finger at a massive tent that was about five-minutes away, towering above all other structures. "Isn't it beautiful?" Smed said wrapped one clawed arm around Owl's bad leg (since he couldn't wrap it around her shoulder), and took a deep smell of the air. "That there's the butcher's tent. That's where we're going." He said, and remained leaning on her for a few more moments. "Well, no time to waste! On you go!" He yelled, and gave her another stiff slap on the buttock with his clawed hand to get her moving.

[Rhindeer]

Owl's stomach dropped at his confirmation and the laughter of his buddies. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. She had heard of his deeds, that he had taken out an army caravan, and that all that remained of those soldiers were their charred--cooked--scraps. An entire caravan. Of trained soldiers.

And now here she was, because she had been an utter idiot. Just a few demented toddlers, she'd thought. Now it was off to the butcher.

She choked when he tugged at her chain and, unsteadily balanced on her good leg and a crutch, she almost fell over again before she limped along after him. In some crazy, impulsive part of her mind, she thought she could break free; he was vicious, but she was bigger, and she could yank that chain out of his hand, maybe, and...yeah. That was where the plan fell apart. He had been smart to lame her and, staggering along, struggling to keep up with him, she wasn't sure she could even wrench free. Just moving was making her dizzy and sick, each step was a struggle, and by the time they got to the door, she was panting and blinking back tears.

The sight before her didn't help her mood. Not just the sight of the butcher's, but the cave. The camp. The goblins that were everywhere.

She realized she was gaping, leaning on her crutch and staring. She couldn't even muster up the energy to be embarrassed when passing goblins made crude remarks at her. She had been expecting a forest or just the outdoors. Somewhere she could escape from.

Not an underground labyrinth.

Smed touching her bad leg snapped her from her crushing devastation. She flinched, a hiss of pain leaving her. "It's...uh...it's..." Smelly. Depressing. "Big," was all she could manage. So big. There were so many of them. "Bigger than I--ah!"

She jumped at the slap, which just made everything else hurt, and sucked in a breath. At first she felt mortified, being touched like that, and then it hit her. He was treating her like a horse. A lamed horse destined for slaughter, lead there by the reins. Once again Owl felt hysterical laughter bubbling up. It wasn't even funny, but for some reason, right then, she couldn't help it; this entire situation was so absurdly fucked up, and she was so stressed and afraid, she had no idea how to process it. Her stomach ached so she tried to keep it in, but that just made it worse, and before she knew it, she was laughing uncontrollably and doubling over in pain until she was cry-laughing and unable to walk just from that.

[DaGlobster]

Smed saw how she was doubling over in what seemed to be a mix of despair and laughter, and he took the opportunity to laugh as well. This woman was the most fun he'd had in ages, definitely better than that guard lieutenant with the stingy attitude and the stony demeanor. Sure, she was all tears when him and the boys broke her in properly, but the cold-faced bitch didn't give an inch until pushed to the very edge.

Pigeon, however, was the opposite. Every nudge, every little stimulus elicited a little reward for his efforts. He slapped her in the rear, and she hissed in pain. He told her she was going to the butcher, and she went pale. She was like a box of candy that had something in it every time it was opened.

And so he laughed.

And his guards laughed.

And the goblins passing by laughed.

And after about a minute, the entire camp was filled with raucous laughter, scratchy voices coming from all angles like a kaleidoscopic cacophony of malicious glee and perverse intent.

"Oh, that Pigeon! Such a good sport, boys! Go on! Give her a hand!" Smed called out, clapping his hands. A flood of about fifty goblins surged forwards, grabbing her by her elbows and legs and lifting her up and expediting her progress towards the butcher's tent, laughing and cackling the entire time. Smed jumped up onto another goblin's head, and landed lightly on Owl's belly, taking a seat on it. "Don't fret, Pigeon..." He started, twirling a lock of her pink hair unusually gently and resting his large head on her still bound up chest. "We're just gonna see if you're worth eating. No guarantee that you'll be chopped up." He muttered, and suddenly sat up. The goblins carrying her stretched their arms, hoisting her up as high as they could. "BOYS!" Smed called out, stepping off of Owl and using the hands of another goblin as platforms.

His voice echoed throughout the cave thanks to the natural acoustics, and the entire camp's laughing died down slightly.

"THIS HERE'S MY NEWEST FRIEND, PIGEON! SAY HI, BOYS!" He called out again, and the entire camp responded simultaneously:

"HELLO, PIGEON!" Came the reply, and Smed broke into more laughter, laying down on the moving bed of goblins next to Owl.

[Rhindeer]

The entire cave filled with eerie laughter, and Owl laughed even harder, which hurt even worse, and before long she had to stop just because she couldn't breathe. Her head spun and she felt light-headed and absolutely out of her mind. This whole thing felt surreal, like it could be a nightmare, and she prayed she'd wake up.

She could be so lucky.

When a crowd of goblins rushed she and Smed and hoisted them up, she expected to be mauled again and cried out when they grabbed her. Even if they weren't trying to injure her, she couldn't really tell the difference; those claws hurt, and her body was torn up enough that wherever they grabbed, they were sure to encounter some injury. Still, it was quite the surprise when instead of being bitten and clawed, she was hoisted up and carried like a hero returned home, and once again she was struck by the absurdity of it all, her tired laughter joining theirs, because here she was, being carried to a butcher, and everything was insane.

And then, of course, there was Smed. Smed, who sat on her wounded belly, making her gasp and squirm uncomfortably. The way he rested his head on her and twirled her hair was eerily gentle; she wasn't sure she liked that better than when he was mauling her, but maybe this was a good sign?

No guarantee she'd be chopped up? That was good, right? There was a chance? And all this crazy fanfare, getting the entire camp to laugh...that had to be a good sign? Maybe?

She clung to that hope even as each jostling movement made her wince, as a stray claw here and there drew a yelp, and when Smed 'introduced' them...

Owl worked some moisture back into her mouth and raised her good arm awkwardly, fingers wiggling in a wave. She grinned weakly, face pale and expression tight.

"Er, h-hello, boys..." And then, turning her head to find Smed, she barked a laugh that had her clutching her belly again before wiping tears from her eyes. "Ahaha...I think they like me. I sure feel welcomed here. So maybe we can just...y'know...skip the butcher...maybe tell some campfire jokes...?"