At His Mercies by Marline J (sneezy the snowman read aloud txt) 📖

There was a knock on the door. I looked up from where I was standing at the window pane. I had been too restless to sit down due to the fact that we were finally going to see my aunt, whom I had not seen in five years. 

“Come in.”  The door opened slowly and a middle-aged man dressed in a suit and wearing white gloves came in. 

“The carriage is ready ma’am.” He said.

Rick had been our trusted butler for the past ten years and a smile always crept onto my face when I saw him. 

 “I’ll take your suitcase.” He walked over to where my suitcase stood and picked it up with ease. I took my handbag and followed him out the door. I looked around one last time at my room. I wouldn’t see it for two months, the trip would take around three days and then we would stay at my aunt’s place for the rest of the time. I wasn’t looking forwards to the trip but it was worth it to go visit aunt Cecile. I had nothing but happy memories of her place.  I walked down the stairs and out the door, where the carriage stood ready.

 Four horses had been tied in front of the carriage and two soldiers were on horseback, one in front, and one behind us. This had been done as a safety precaution, because it was known that the road we were taking was not always safe.  I heard the horses neigh and opened the curtain of the carriage. My breath stopped in my throat and I glanced at my mother. Her eyes were wide with fright as well. 

“Mother, what do we do?” I whispered frantically. 

“Just keep calm and cover yourself with this cloth.” She told me. She quickly took a piece of cloth from underneath her seat and handed it to me to put over my head. It was impossible to mask the fact that I was a woman but it might at least be possible to hide that I was young.  I heard wild shouts coming from outside the window and then our carriage slowed down. When it had stopped completely our door was opened and a young man looked in. He had blond hair, cropped short and the freckles on his nose showed his youthfulness. 

“What do we do with these women, captain?” He shouted over his shoulder. Another man rode towards us and then looked in. His eyes were such a deep, smouldering darkness that I was momentarily lost in them. It was as if time had stopped for a few seconds and as if the world had stopped turning. His dark brown, almost black hair hung across his forehead and at first glance I could see that he was strong and muscular. He reached in and I moved away from him. With one quick move he was off his horse and on the step of the carriage. He reached in again and pulled the piece of cloth away from my face. He looked intensely at me for a few seconds. I was furious that he dared do such a thing and stared at him. I was so tempted to slap him in the face that I could not resist. I slapped him. 

“Florence!” My mother gasped. But I barely heard her. All I could see was that the young man who was leaning into the carriage did not look angry. He first looked surprised, and then amusement flickered in his eyes. I frowned. What was his problem? I longed to slap him again but before I had the chance he grabbed me and pulled me out of the carriage. He did not treat me gentle at all and I had to duck so that my head would not bang against the carriage door. I held on to the carriage with all my strength, I kicked and scratched him but he would not let go of me. 

“Let go of me!” I screamed. Behind me I heard my mother crying. 

 “Please, please don’t take her!” But it was all to no avail. He was too strong and in no time I was sitting on his horse. The strange thing was that I was not frightened. I was fuming. I turned around to look back and I could see that the two soldiers who had accompanied us were lying on the road, surrounded by blood. I sincerely hoped that they were not dead. My mother had gotten out of the carriage and was running after us, screaming. I was suddenly very aware of the kidnapper’s arm around me and his body pressed against mine. I knew though, that I could not do anything. I attempted to lean to the side so that I nearly fell off the horse but his arm prevented this from happening.  We rode in silence for at least half an hour. I was formulating a plan in my head, a plan of escape though I knew it would not work unless I could see under what circumstances I would live. Or if they would let me live at all. 

“Alex!” A man, middle aged with greying hair pulled up beside us. “That’s quite a prize you’ve got there.” He said, nodding in my direction.  The man sitting behind me, Alex, grinned. I didn’t see the grin but I could imagine it being there and that was enough. My blood started to boil. 

 “Yes, I haven’t seen a beauty like this in quite some time. And she has some spunk in her too. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with her yet though.” His tone was light and I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not.  “Well, after you’re done with ‘er, I wouldn’t mind having ‘er.”  Alex laughed. I felt the tremor go through his body and the low, hearty laugh escape his lips.  “Don’t you think you’ve had enough girls for some time Ralph? You’re already on the most wanted list in numerous towns.” I gasped. Was the man who was riding next to us Ralph? The Ralph? The man who had raped dozens of girls, not just raped them but mutilated them, cut off their hair, their breasts, their fingers. I was instantly terrified. Alex must have noticed my discomfort because he laughed again. I closed my eyes and willed the world away. This was not happening, not to me. This happened in books and in the newspaper which my father read every evening, sitting by the fire place, smoking a pipe. I was going to die, I was sure of it. And it wasn’t going to be a pleasant death. Horrid images were flashing through my mind, I could picture myself lying naked in a ditch, body parts cut off, surrounded by blood. Nobody knew where I was and I had no allies here. I was all alone.  The road went through dense forests and branches seemed to be lashing out at me and hitting me in the face. It was drizzling softly. I didn’t mind the drizzle, it masked the fact that I was silently crying, and had been crying since I had found out about Ralph. The horses’ hooves thudded on the damp ground and I wondered how long we would still be riding. I didn’t want to get to the place where they were bringing me because I was afraid of what they would do. At the same time, not knowing was worse. I wanted to know, needed to know. Asking Alex would be a risk but it would be a risk that I had to take. 

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked softly. I wondered if he had even heard. I dared not attempt to turn around and look at him, didn’t want to see the sinister look on his face. 

“Don’t talk.” He ordered me. I decided that it was safer to do as I was told than to demand an answer.  We arrived at a clearing in the forest. It was a large, slightly rounded space, with multiple tents set up. There were more men at the campsite, I could see them sitting, laughing, talking. Helplessness had crept up my spine when I realized that there were about eight men with Alex but despair went through me when I counted at least 25 more men here. Escape was not an option.  Alex jumped off the horse and then yanked me off as well. With a firm grasp on my wrist he pulled me towards the fireplace where most of the men were sitting. It was a campfire and above it there was a pot with some sort of food. I was brought to one of the logs around the fire and then he let go of my wrist. 

“Sit.” He ordered. I did as I was told though every muscle in my body was protesting. I hated being ordered around. I could see that the men were observing me and the lust showed clearly on their faces. Men were such disgusting creatures, I thought. That’s unreasonable, another part of my mind said, when I suddenly thought of Daniel. He had been my best friend for a long time and I knew that my parents were hoping that we would get married. Out of nowhere, Alex suddenly had a plate in his hand. It had a brown stew of some sort on it, with chunks of indefinable meat. I didn’t care though, because at that moment, I could’ve eaten anything. He handed the plate to me and I stared at it for a while, wondering how I was meant to eat it. Alex sat down next to me and I observed how he was going to eat the stew and saw that he had a fork. 

 “Um.. Sorry.” I said in a small voice, afraid to ask even the smallest favour. “I don’t have a fork.”

 “We have a limited supply of forks here, you can use mine when I’m done.” He said gruffly. I had to work hard not to give him a scowl. 

“That’s a fine lady you go there, sir!” A voice across the campfire commented. 

“Hands off.” Alex said sternly. And then he turned to me and started fingering one of my curls. “But indeed she is fine, very fine.” Even though I knew who I was with and I knew what Alex and his men were capable of, I couldn’t help myself. I slapped his hand away. There was an explosion of pain in my head. Alex had a firm grip on my hair and was looking at me angrily.

“Stop doing that.” He snarled. When he let go of my hair I stared at my plate, forcing my body to stay calm and not to attack Alex. I wanted so badly to smash my plate of food in his face.  It’s not reasonable. I told myself. He is so much stronger and more skilled. You wouldn’t last a second. But still, I longed to hurt him, even if it would hurt myself more than it would hurt him. The pain would be worth it. 

“I’ll