Robber Royale: Fairytale of a Thief and a Scoundrel

Uldien

At first, their trod was steady and constant, long enough that Gaelian began to hope they might just pass by the camp entirely without noticing, but it was not to be.

"Halt!" A loud commanding voice called out. "Check it out."

There was a pause, filled only with the noise of restless horses and her own heartbeat, then, "Fire sir, still warm."

"And here!" A few others called out from various places.

"On your guard men, seems we have come across something." The first commanding voice called out again. "You four check left, you four right, you forward, you back. Let's see what filth we can flush out of these infested woods."

It took them mere moments to find her, if they hadn't on the way up, than definitely on the way back down. Her hiding place was really only good if they had decided not to poke around...and they had.

The trip down the hill was excruciating, but luckily, part of their roughing her about included practically dragging her, or else she couldn't have made it. She cried out several times unintentionally, the raw pain ripping it out of her, but she tried not to, tried not to give them the pleasure; clenching her teeth to try and keep it in as much as possible, before she was flung to the ground before their leader, who still hadn't bothered to get off his horse.

"What's this then?" He questioned the group who had brought her.

"We found a wench." One of them answered, obviously pleased.

There was some malicious chuckling and a few lewd comments, but all went quiet suddenly, and she guessed the commander had gestured for silence.

"Where are the others?" The commander said down to her then, speaking slowly and clearly, as if she might not understand otherwise.

Carefully, she pushed herself up to a seated position, favoring one wrist and spitting out dirt, giving herself a little time to think. She was in a precarious situation. She had no doubt Fox was within witnessing distance, but she also knew from his reputation that he wouldn't intercede unless it was a game he thought he could win, he wouldn't endanger his men that way. And right now, things weren't looking very good on that front.

Looks like she would be playing this one by herself. Whelp, better get it started.

Attempting a crasser accent, she said, "Others?" Shrug, "Just me."

"Really. Just you and all these fires?" He questioned. Some of his men snickered.

"I was cold." She answered flatly.

His demeanor changed, just a little, as he shifted in his saddle, "Where is the rest of your party?"

She laughed once bitterly, "How should I know?"

The Commander nodded once slightly, which apparently meant 'backhand her soundly across the face' as that is what happened, faster than she was ready for - which meant she took it full on, no defense. It sent her back to the ground, echoing in waves of pain through her entire head, making it hard to concentrate on his next words.

"I shan't abide my time being wasted. I say again, where are the others?"

She sat up again, though she kept the back of her cold hand gently against her burning face.

"I really don't know. I'm afraid you're overestimating my role within this band sir, I wasn't exactly engaged in planning sessions here." Only one man managed to snicker before the look on the commander's face stopped him cold. 

She put her hand up to ward off another blow, continuing hurriedly, "They saw you comin', and since there weren't very many of them and so many of you, they split. All different directions they went, running scared. Left me behind on account of me leg is injured," She said, gesturing down at the leg, "Couldn't keep up. Least a mile from here by now. And they'll not be coming back for me either if that's what yer hopin', plenty like me to be found elsewhere."