<span style="color: #FF0000">The night ended without incident, though there was a definite change in the attitude of the men. They seemed antsy and nervous, as if they waited for the other shoe to drop. Regardless, he was up before them and back into the saddle to start the day, even if the driver took his time to relieve himself and check the carriage more than once; stalling for time it would seem. <br/><br/>"Hurry it up! I am not going to lose an hour over you wanting to make sure that the damn wheels are on straight! If she is jostled about like some produce! I promised to get her there alive and in one piece, she can live with some bruising!" he snapped. The mare he rode tossed her head in a nervous manner and caused him to grip the reigns a bit tighter to get her back undercontrol. "From what I have heard of the other kingdom, she is going to get more than a few bruises from her sweet prince," the words were spat out but they were said loud enough so that she could hear him. "Now, get your ass in the seat and get moving!"<br/><br/>Only a few more moments were taken before the carriage was underway again, though the ranger was far just pissed. Time was of the essence, at least in the sense that the sooner they got there the sooner he could be done with her. All he wanted was for her to be out of his hair, then he could collect his money, his woods and return to his life of solitude. Even now, as he rode in the saddle he could remember the peace calm and comfort that he drew from the woods. <br/><br/>How long he was back in the time of his woods, he is not sure, but the sudden silence of the world around them roused him from his thoughts and made him call a halt. <br/><br/>"What is it?" asked the driver nervously. <br/><br/>In answer, he just drew his bow and knocked an arrow. The taunt cord pulled back to his cheek as he sighted off into the thick undergrowth of the trees. <br/><br/>"Wh..."<br/><br/>The driver could not even get his repeated question out, before BrÃ¡dach loosed the arrow and a cry of pain heard but a heart beat later. Another arrow was already out of his quiver and into his bow, "We are under attack!" he shouted while he fired off another shot. At about this time at least a dozen men poured from the woods and rushed them. "Protect the package!" he shouted as he fired shot after shot at the approaching swarm of men. The guards, closed in tight about the princess, their weapons out but there was something in the way they held themselves that called to question their commitment to the defense.</span><br/><br/><br/>There was no getting comfortable on that seat. Despite the plethora of pillows, blankets and other assorted comforts in her carriage, she couldn't find a position to lay in that would afford her sleep. Certainly, the corset hadn't helped in that regard, restricting her airflow to the point that she felt as though the air around her were scant. Her ribs ached, her back was rigid and wanted nothing more than to bend, to hunch. The pins in her hair were now digging into her skull, the shoes pinched her toes, and the dress felt itchy.<br/><br/>It was a wonder she'd managed to fall asleep at all.<br/><br/>But, when she had, it didn't feel like more than a few minutes, and it didn't feel restful. In fact, she felt annoyed, and it wasn't just at the coach itself. Her<span style="font-style: italic">favorite</span>ranger had decided to be obnoxious. Again. And his words hadn't gone unheard.<br/><br/>If anything, he'd gone the extra mile to make sure she heard him.<span style="font-style: italic">Produce?!</span>Maria thought angrily.<span style="font-style: italic">First I'm a common harlot, and now I'm little more than produce, jumbling about in the back of a carriage that may as well be a cart with padding?!</span>Silently, she fumed, picking up her needlepoint, if only to stab it over and over, to relieve her anger. Yes, if Simprina had seen her, she'd have fainted and, when she woke, she'd have gotten a lecture on how anger wasn't an appropriate emotion to feel for a lady, especially one of her "stature".<br/><br/>What Simprina didn't know wouldn't hurt her...<br/><br/>The needle pricked her finger, her grip on it all instantly gone as she brought it to her lips to suckle on, the pain startling; Almost as startling as the sudden halt. She heard the driver ask the very question that had been on her mind, but no answer was given. Where her curtains had been drawn, she opened them, intent on looking toward where everyone else was, eyes squinting as she tried to see what was going on. And, as soon as the arrow loosed toward a target she hadn't been able to spot, she had her answer.<br/><br/>Panicked, she pressed back into her seat, heart fairly in her throat as she listened to the orders being given. Later, she'd be indignant about being called a package, rather than referred to as a real person, but that wasn't important right then. What<span style="font-style: italic">was</span>important, was the sudden barrage of people coming to attack the carriage.<br/><br/>Guards forming a barrier about her, she noticed something off. Of all the times she'd been protected, in that way, there had been a tight barrier, one that couldn't be torn so easily through, their stance "at the ready". This time...sure, they'd band together about her, but this time...they appeared more lax. The ones on horses were half-heartedly watching, while the others weren't even really focused on who was coming at them. A few were staring at their swords, a few more were staring back at her carriage in a considering fashion.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Maybe...maybe he was right after all...</span>came a slow, fearful thought.<span style="font-style: italic">Maybe they wouldn't really care if I...</span><br/><br/>Her thought didn't finish as she pulled the curtains closed and hunkered down on the floor under some blankets, praying it was only her imagination and that BrÃ¡dach was very...very wrong.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">There were more of them. Each time his arrow felled one, it seemed that another two took its place. It was at this point that he shouldered the bow and drew his other weapons. Whatever was about to happen, he wanted to save his arrows. <br/><br/>"Ya!" he squeezed the horse's sides with his knees and charged off into the fray. It was not that he wanted to protect the bitch, it was more that he wanted to protect his profits. That woman was his ticket to the life he had dreamed and that he felt he deserved. Just need to keep her alive. <br/><br/>Without even a second thought he jumped from his horse onto one of the attackers who had managed to get on board her carriage, while her guard just stood there. The pair of them tumbled from the top of the carriage into the waiting guards below, there was a scuffle and sure enough one of the guards tried to stab him, but only came away with just a slash to his arm. <br/><br/>There was nothing else to do and it was time to implement his plan and hoped that it worked. It would be their only hope. <br/><br/>As he kicked away from the group, he rolled under her carriage so that he rested on his back his face up at what would be her floor. His hands came forth, palms pressed on the bottom until a click it heard and the floor opened up into her space. <br/><br/>"Time to go!" he said as he reached up into it, grabbed a hold of her and basically yanked her down through the hole and on top of him. Though they did not stay in that position for long as he pushed her to lay beside him then rolled atop her while shouting, loud enough for the drive to hear. "GET THIS BUCKET MOVING!" Then his cloak was pulled over top of them both while the carriage suddenly sprang forward and raced away, the two looking like nothing but a mound of dirt. <br/><br/>As he had hoped the attackers and the guards ran with the carriage and he waited only until the hooves were just faint enough, before he uncovered them both and got to his feet quickly, his hand on her wrist yanking her up with him. "Let's go!" <br/><br/>He tugged her along as they ran into the underbrush, the goal to get as deep into the woods at possible before he even thought to stop. Now, they were on their own, just how he liked it. Just him and the package.</span><br/><br/>She wanted to scream, to bolt out the carriage and make a break for her castle's walls. However, she wasn't stupid. She knew the likelihood of making it was nonexistent, either fainting from oxygen deprivation or being captured due to the inability to run properly. It was that, and only that, that kept her lying there, huddled in her blankets, heart thudding in her chest, praying it'd all be over.<br/><br/>And then an audible click had her heart stopping, fearful they'd breached the carriage and was preparing to be dragged out the door...only to be pulled through the floor?<br/><br/>Panicking, she landed atop him with an oomph, only to find herself rolled beneath him, his voice loud in her ear as he told the carriage to go.<span style="font-style: italic">Is he insane?!</span>Maria thought, paralyzed beneath him as the carriage came to life, barreling out of there while she lay there beneath him, unable to breath or even think about trying to move. The sound of the hooves, and the pounding of feet was nearly deafening, even after they'd all left and she was being yanked to her feet.<br/><br/>That was something she hadn't fully expected. The sheer strength that the ranger possessed, able to yank her up almost like she weigh nothing more than a dried leaf; Fairly throwing her as he did so.<br/><br/>"What are we going to do?" came Maria's harried whisper, trying to follow after him as best she could, despite her dress. The heels were making it difficult over the divets and ruts in the ground, the dress was getting caught on the brush, her hair (when her hood fell back) got tangled in branches. Her breath was scant, her eyes constantly blinking to try and get the dizziness under control while wriggling her torso around to see if she could afford herself more air. "We're completely exposed by ourselves out here!"<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">He ran and dragged her for as long as he could before her labored breath and stumbling steps caused him to stop and draw his knife. The blade gleamed in the light as he held it up before her eyes. <br/><br/>Then he shoved her down to the ground and straddled her, his form leaned over her own as he looked into her eyes. For a long moment he stayed like that before he took the knife and sliced up along her dress, through the first layer and through the dreadful corset. When he felt he had given her more than enough room to breath properly now he grabbed a fist full of her hair and then glared into her eyes, "We are going to run and move and do whatever else the fuck I say when i say it, understand?"</span><br/><br/>That knife...was more terrifying than those who had attacked the carriage. She was alone...with a psycho ranger...with him brandishing a knife. There was no one to hear her screaming, no one she recognized.<br/><br/>Just him.<br/><br/>Before she knew it, he'd pushed her down, any of the residual air she'd managed to pull in rushing free of her lungs, eyes widening as she tried to gasp, mouth dry as he hovered over her. The longer he hovered, eyes boring into hers, the more she felt like he was just going to end it right then and there, trembling beneath him as she waited for the pain that'd follow, as she doubted her mind was completely aware of what was going on.<br/><br/>...But the ripping...the ripping had her blood running cold. What was he going to do? Rape her, then leave her to die? Did he want to see what parts of her he was cutting before doing the deed?<br/><br/>It was the first moment...she honestly wanted to thank him.<br/><br/>The corset was cut, and air suddenly rushed in, gasping as he did so. She'd even have thanked him for it, but he then grabbed her hair, glaring hard at her. She tried to pull away, but the grip he had on her hair hurt, pushing pins in some places, and pulling hair in others.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">And his language!</span><br/><br/>Her hand twitched, beginning to raise a bit, almost as though she was going to slap, but hadn't fully made up her mind.<br/><br/>"You<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>watch how you talk to me," she retorted, angry despite her fear. "I<span style="font-style: italic">am</span>still the princess, regardless of where you drag me off to, so I suggest you treat me as such, or I<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>have your head!"<br/><br/>Yes, it would be difficult, given her current position, but she was determined. If she were going to get pushed around, it'd be by the Prince of Sirmia, all while knowing her kingdom would be safe. Not by some two-bit, cocky ranger with foul language.