Cult AU

[keenly]

Dramatis Personae

ADIUTA
Elven Servant
Friendly but brainwashed.

MASTER INPROBUS
?????
Just a nice guy.

HARIOLUS
False Divine
Was not elected as Divine in Tevinter, so started a cult claiming himself as the true Divine.

EWAN
Praestes
Trying for promotion?

FAMULA
Human Servant
Serves Benedict.

FAMULA
Human Servant
Was forced to sever two of her fingers.

Comments

[altusimperius]

He may not see Benedict right away, but anyone could certainly hear him, whining as he is behind the gag in his mouth. He's wriggling fruitlessly around on the back of the first horse in the line, having never fallen unconscious but been subdued and hogtied all the same.

When he sees Colin lift his head, he gives a muffled cry of alarm. Hey Colin: we're being kidnapped.

He knows Athessa is behind them somewhere, but it's too dark to see her.

[sulahnan]

That's because she's looking down at her hands, bound together with rough rope and attached to the rearmost saddle. The cord creaks when she flexes her hands, trying to find any slack in her bonds, but every time she so much as tugs on the rope, the man on the horse turns to glower at her.

When she does look up, her elfin eyes reflecting the moonlight in eerie green, the man decides that it's impertinence and kicks his horse into a faster walk, forcing Athessa to keep pace or be dragged.

"Look at me again and I'll have that eye out, rabbit. Keep moving!"

[keenly]

He could disrupt everything if his head would stop spinning, but just reaching for a healing spell leads him to a brick wall. The manacles around his wrists have a rune engraved that's stopping him from casting. They're not dead yet, so their future doesn't look very bright. They'll be wanted for information, and Colin has no faith in his ability to hold up under torture.

He hears Bene and meets his gaze; hears whoever it is harassing Athessa and suddenly starts struggling. He has no plan for what to do if he gets to her, but his confused brain is making him try anyway.

Soon they stop before what looks like a fort with a wooden wall surrounding. Several people meet them, start untying the two men from the horses. Another blow against Colin's head does just enough to cause his knees to buckle and his struggle to end. Someone shoves him forward, and he stumbles in the correct direction.

[altusimperius]

Though treated considerably more gently, Benedict too is removed from the horse and directed toward the groaning wooden door in the fort wall. He struggles and drags his feet, but his captor is stronger and has very little trouble conveying him inside.

In the split second before he and Colin are shoved into a little room, he catches sight of Athessa being dragged away, to another part of the compound.

[sulahnan]

There's a brief moment, sometime after the strangers strike Colin, in which Athessa tries to leverage the element of surprise on their captors. Since her fighting prowess is in her legs already, and it's only her hands that are bound, she manages to take out one of the men posing as guards, knocking his leg out from under him and bringing a swift kick down onto his throat. Blood flecks spatter his horse and she ducks under it to avoid being grabbed by yet another pair of grasping hands. But it isn't hands that find her, but a swift knee to her chest. It throws her back into the horse's side and she gasps, trying to get back the wind that was knocked out of her, but the man who hit her has the advantage and pulls her up to his level with a fist knotting painfully into her hair.

"This one needs breaking," he says to his compatriots. Athessa spits in his face, and though he sneers in disgust, he doesn't release her. Of course he doesn't. Instead, he back hands her with such force that she collapses at the horse's feet.

"Bind its legs until you get to the thresher. The hounds aren't fit for hare coursing after last night's hunt."

The ropes tighten around her ankles and she rolls onto her back, trying to kick the man, to kick anyone, but they've learned to keep vigilant. The guard keeps hold of her feet and drags her along the ground out of sight.

[keenly]

He glimpses Athessa when they start to drag her in the opposite direction, and he suddenly gets his fight back, throwing himself in her direction and screaming her name against his gag. Between the kicking and screaming, it takes a paralysis spell to bring him to heel, and he goes totally limp and has to be dragged the rest of the way.

[altusimperius]

Having gone into total shock by this point, Benedict is easily ushered along, though he whimpers something that sounds like Athessa's name as she disappears from view.