Archive-name: Violent/captred1.txt Archive-author: Archive-title: Captured Their trap had been sprung and we were captured: I and my lady. What they were to do with us was, as yet, unknown. But what I had seen to this point boded no good. Immediately after we had been taken, the remainder of their band emerged from the woods adjacent the path to continue their trek. What most frightened me was that no men were among the captives being rounded up for further travel. Instead, I saw a group of about twelve women. They were hogtied and laying on their bellies with their shoulders on the edge of a small pond beneath a small waterfall; their heads out over the water. Only by arching their necks backwards were they able to keep their heads above the surface of the water. It was now clear how silence had been so excellently main- tained that, even alerted as I was, no sound had given the ambush away. Gags filled their mouths. Each had a keeper, who held the rope about her knees. The keeper simply had to pull up on the knee rope and the woman's head would be ducked below the water. The women dare not make a sound to trigger their keeper, and once submerged, they were silenced. Any splashing would sound no different than the water fall itself. Now their hogties were being cut off, their legs released and the ropes about their necks attached to saddles, two to each horse. Off the riders trotted. A slow pace for a horse, but a fast run for the women. Two in particular caught my eye. They were twins, with thick curly hair, black as coal, which hung to their waists. Like the others, their arms were bound to boughs at wrist, elbow and shoulder, keeping their arms extended. The ropes at their necks were attached by a simple knot, but they could not reach it. They wore tattered black tops and red skirts and no shoes. As they were pulled away by their horse, they grasped their ropes by their extended hands and ran, seemingly as fast as they could. I lost sight of them as they turned a bend in the path. Then I saw that my lady had been similarly bound and gagged, and her shoes taken. The rope about her neck was given to her horseman. As I fought against the ruffians holding me, I felt a great pain in the back of my legs as they cut my tendons. I heard her mewling to me through the gag for help and saw her begin to run as she held onto the rope tied to the horse with her outstretched hands. As my consciousness faded, I saw her trip and watched her being dragged past me, struggling to regain her feet. --