[closed] tiptoe through the tulips

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict, Wren, James, Simon, Hanzo, some new friends
WHAT: The time has finally come to return Benedict to his people. Something maybe goes a little bit wrong.
WHEN: Early Bloomingtide
WHERE: southern Tevinter
NOTES: Warnings for violence.

Three Templars, a magister's son, and a Shimada cross the border from Hasmal to the Tevinter Imperium: it sounds like a joke, and in many ways it probably is, but to Benedict it just seems like overkill.
His mother requested the Templars, ostensibly for protection against the southern apostates driven mad by their little war; Hanzo, a man whose name he recognizes but is too young to properly remember, presumably tagged along for the practical benefits of visiting Minrathous without the Inquisition's grandeur.

Magister Calpurnia Artemaeus awaits them at the family home, and all they have to do is get there. Surely the nightmare will soon be over.

Comments

[paladingus]

Simon, for his part, does not need to be told to shut up, because he's still gagged. The dirty cloth has sucked what feels like every drop of moisture from his mouth and throat, and he's beginning to feel dizzy, but he still has the wherewithal to raise his head and give Wren the most incredulously appalled look he can manage with half his face muffled.

[judgemewhole]

Just mirror that look, and you'll have the same expression that James has on his face when he looks at Wren from the other side. If he could move, he might consider doing something like kicking her, but as it stands he steels himself for the bullying punches and kicks from their captors, and the gag being yanked back into place.

He is prepared to kick out at the hoard as best he can, so they'll take their time hitting him and not the other two.

[altusimperius]

James gets a bemused look from the man as his gag is replaced, and though it's possible his instructions might have been heeded, now they'll never know. Wren's head connects, albeit at a non-ideal angle, which startles their captor more than hurts him, and he stumbles back with a "shit!"
It immediately gets the attention of the others, and the mouthy mage heads over with the archer to look inquiringly at the big one. "Getting punchy," he explains, nodding to Wren.

"Guess we've got a volunteer to go first then," says the mage, deadpan, "lucky you, we weren't even going to do this until tomorrow." He nods toward Wren, and the archer grabs a fistful of her hair, dragging her off the cart to land hard on the ground. He and the big guy pick her up by her shoulders and legs, holding fast in the likely event she thrashes, and proceed to take her over toward the tents and the campfire.
At the very least, there's no jeering or laughter involved; they're all tired, and whatever they're going to do likely relates more to business than pleasure. [in other words Don't Worry I wouldn't spring gross shit on you]

Hanzo is able to spot the tip of his bow, which rests in a pile with the other weapons, still in the pushcart and stashed over behind a bush. No harm has come to it, at least.
Benedict follows his gaze, then looks to him imploringly.

[eruit]

His attention is caught by Storm Bow immediately - he does his very best to school his features, turning his eyesight over to where Wren is being dragged away from the others, likely as a punishment for her actions. Hanzo is not entirely sure what it is that he is going to be able to do, bound and gagged as he is, but the look that Benedict throws at him is desperate if nothing else.

It is quite amusing, to see how things change.

Slowly, eyes drinking in the area around them, Hanzo shifts, watching. They're distracted by Wren and Hanzo waits, looking at the rest of his fellows before he nods sharply at Benedict - enough to give him some courage, at least, and enough that he might be able to begin to make his way over towards his bow and their weapons, to release the spirits inside.

[limier]

There’s enough time for a look of vicious self-satisfaction at the impact, the curse. It's replaced shortly by the indignity of a slack-faced fall.

Under other circumstances it might be funny; here and now it hurts, old joints jarred and black curls torn to dangle from the archer’s knuckles. The plight of Average Joe Slaver goes unreflected on, as true to expectation, Wren does her futile best to make their job as difficult as possible.

In the end, it’s not very. One furious glance catches Hanzo, Benedict, as they pass. Any focus she’s previously spent to divining their intentions, or guarding their little group is gone. Everyone's on their own just now: Take or leave the distraction.

[paladingus]

If Wren has accomplished nothing else, she has at least given the rest of them more of an inkling of what's in store, though Simon can only guess at the details and hope the Maker is watching over them all. He can't see where she's being taken--

--but he can see Hanzo, from the corner of his eye, and it gives him the slightest ray of hope. There's nothing he and James can possibly do to facilitate their own escape, bound the way they are, but if he kicks up the kind of fuss that can be sustained, maybe...

He thrashes in his bonds in an attempt to make enough noise to catch the attention of whoever is left, doing the best impression of a fit that he can possibly summon up from his memories of a mage back in Ansburg who was prone to them. If the slavers have gone to the trouble of dressing his wounds to fix him up for market, he expects that they've got at least enough investment in his health to come and see what's wrong with him.

[judgemewhole]

Something in James cracked at the sight of the slaver dragging Wren away from them by her hair. A memory unlocked, unbidden and unwelcome -

- Mother dragged from the coach by her hair, screaming to him and Nicholas to 'Run, Run!' Sounds of Father trying to hold them off with a sword -

- and suddenly he's putting up as big a Fuss as Simon. Trying to tear through the gag with his teeth, struggling hard against his bindings, trying to find a stone or something to cut himself free and snarling. Snarl inside his head, through the gag, just this guttural, murderous sound as his green eyes flashed wildly and he tried to pitch himself forward.

[altusimperius]

Taking small reassurance from Hanzo's nod, Bene nods back, but his attention is immediately diverted by the sound of a commotion and Ser Wren being hauled across the camp.
Two of the slavers approach the Templars still remaining in the cart, and the blade of a knife is quickly held to Simon's throat, likely nicking him as he thrashes. "Keep going," warns the female voice of the blade's bearer; he's like to slash his own throat if he does.
The archer has returned to watch over James, arms folded, letting him rage himself out and watching with dull curiosity. It's nothing they haven't seen before.

Wren is brought toward the fire, where one of the smaller of their captors has been laying what appears to be a brand across the flames. It's a bit of a rush job, since, as they said, they weren't planning on doing it just yet, but she's kept firmly planted to the ground by the big one's knee on her back as they all wait, and wait, and wait, for the metal to heat.
When, at last, the ringleader is satisfied by its progress, he wraps a cloth around the handle and picks up the searing brand. "Right," he calls boredly, and the man outweighing Wren carefully shifts her to reveal the back of the specified hand.
"Sorry love," he mutters to her, "it'll go quick."

It's pressed in mercilessly, just above her knuckles, and though she can't see it at the moment, the brand looks like this:

[limier]

Waiting is the worst part.

She tries a few more kicks before the grind of knee against spine grows too heavy. A tired business then of watching the fire, of readying for the strike. Her face flattens, jaw grits, but preparation can’t smother reflex for the sudden touch of heat — struggling again now in blind compulsion.

It’s one thing to burn; another not to flee or fight it. Instinct pounds at the back of her mind, self-preservation clanging out the stupid order to pull away. No. This is the worst part.

The sweet smell of burning flesh, and a moment’s misplaced empathy for the beasts of her youth. For other, human faces, spiked with the ugly sear of ozone. Unbidden, for Amsel,

For the others still behind her.

Pain's almost helpful. Makes it tricky to think. Her breaths come wheezing about the gag gnashed in her teeth, muffle the dull whine in her throat. Her knuckles flex only to send burned skin rippling, and this is the worst part. Traced into nerves, she could picture it with eyes shut tight, but can’t transfer to shape. Imagination: Some hulking ovoid thing, a monstrous egg.

Nausea swells, and by the time they’re done, she’s done fighting. Two more to go, and — no.

No, that’s definitely the worst part.

[altusimperius]

Once the work on Wren is done, she's set aside, jostled away from the fire to be watched by the slaver who also keeps an eye on Hanzo and Benedict. They're not doing anything interesting, probably conspiring or something equally pathetic, and she's got dinner to eat, so she spectates with detached boredom as the same two as before go back to get Simon.
It takes several of them to carry him (especially if he tries thrashing again), but only just the one to give him the same brand as Wren, in much the same manner.

James they left for last, on account of what seemed to be a real meltdown, but even he is simply flung up over the big slaver's shoulder and carried like a sack of potatoes to the fire and the branding iron. After he receives the treatment, all three of them are positioned such that they have a slaver on either side of them, a blanket over them for what may be meant to pass for a modicum of kindness, and a long morning to lie there and think about their situation.

Blessedly for Hanzo and Benedict, at least for now, their captors are too tired to bother them further.