Victoria bit her tongue as she was dropped to the ground. Her fingernails were torn from trying to hang on to the bandit's sleeve. Poor Simone! Those awful men, what would they do to her?
Together, they could maybe help protect each other, but now, the sounds of a wagon leaving were sending an icy fear through her heart. They were separated.
And in danger. Simone, arguably in far worse danger, though Victoria wasn't overly optimistic about her own prospects.
A bored sigh sounded from near her, and she turned her blindfolded face towards the noise. Waiting to see what he would do.
There had to be more than one; there was no way he would be able to move half of what was stolen from the scene by himself. Victoria had been deposited on the ground, not into a new cart.
Soon, footsteps proved her correct.
"What is that?" A new voice asked.
"They left her behind. Deal's over. Let's leave. Something will eat her, but I don't want to get caught with a kidnapped human." The original replied. "Get all the loot."
The sounds of general bustling met Victoria's ears, and she considered what she should do. Being left behind couldn't be too bad, right? She tested her bonds, which were tight enough that they almost cut off circulation to her hands and feet. She was unlikely to get free of them anytime soon.
She didn't want to be eaten.
Grimacing, there was only one other option she could think of right now.
"OM!" She choked out around her gag. "OM!"
"What's it want?" Someone was behind her now.
"OM!" She tried again. Curse this blasted gag! She had plenty to say and had never been prevented from speaking her mind so cruelly before.
"Take the gag off. Take care not to move the blindfold. We don't want her seeing us on the off chance she survives long enough to tell somebody."
"Right. Here you go," This monotone voice was closer to her face, and she could almost feel the person's breath. "Say it quick. If you start screaming, gag goes back on, not that there's anyone to hear you."
"Tom," She breathed. "Tom, please help me."
The moment she'd heard the voice, she had flashed back to her time at the orphanage. Tom and Bran had been her biggest tormentors of the halflings; their taunting voices still echoed in her dreams to this day.
"Who's Tom?" The voice asked curiously. It was a trick. It had to be.
"Don't pretend, Tom, that you forgot your old friend?" Victoria tried. It was a lie. They'd never been friends. She'd been terrified of him! "It's me, Victoria! From the orphanage, remember? In Klain? Finn helped get me adopted, and tried to help you, too…"
She trailed off. Maybe she'd changed too much. Perhaps twelve years was too long! She had grown and matured and changed, while halflings stayed at the same height and appearance for much longer.
There were some whispers she couldn't make out, and then her blindfold was ripped from her face, taking some of her hair with it. She winced.
"Good to see you again, Tom," She said quietly, as the familiar, bullying, unsmiling face stared into hers. "How have you been?"
What had driven him to work with bandits? The uneasy, unofficial peace between humans and halflings was at risk with this strange criminal behavior. She wanted to point that out, but needed to know whether this revelation about her identity would work in her favor or against it.
"You remember this woman?" A voice behind Tom asked.
"She was a child, shorter than our height, then." Tom answered, ignoring Victoria's question.
"You have some attachment to her?" The second halfling queried.
"None whatsoever." Tom's reply chilled Victoria, and she cut in fervently.
"I'm so glad to see you again! I thought I was in the hands of total strangers, and as you might know, portals are beginning to open from other worlds to here, and since… Oh, clearly you already know that," Her brow furrowed as she reasoned it out. "That's how you got the magical herbs to give to the bandits, isn't it? To put us to sleep while we were kidnapped?"
"They were not supposed to kidnap anyone," Tom replied grimly.
"Oh, I know! I heard you get onto them about it. I'm sure you're not to blame!" Victoria smiled. Technically, Tom was to blame for the robbery part of things, but not the kidnapping side. Although he did just want to leave her behind to be eaten, which would be kind of murdering her, but she decided to gloss over that for now.
She could worry about everything later, right now she needed to talk to them.
"Since I know you're innocent in all this, perhaps you could let me go?" She smiled hopefully.
"You know my name and face. That is too much information for you to leave with." Tom stared at her.
"Oh, then I'll join you! Wonderful! I'm an excellent cook, everyone says so," Victoria babbled on even as she remembered that halflings hate talkative people.
"Was she always like this?" One of the other halflings moved forward into her field of vision. A female.
"No. As I recall she was nearly silent." Tom squinted as if still trying to decide whether it was the same person or not.
Victoria clamped her mouth shut. She had indeed been very quiet back then around the strange children. She had known from the beginning that something wasn't normal about them. When they first came to the orphanage, she nearly stopped talking entirely.
Miss Jessie had been worried about her in passing, but with so many orphans to place for adoption, she hadn't had time to linger on it for long.
It hadn't been until Finn showed up that Victoria began coming out of her shell again. Perhaps silence was the way into the halflings' good graces, if she could manage it.
That was a more difficult task than she anticipated it being. The halflings–she'd now spotted four, including Bran–whispered to one another while she lay on the ground, still tied up and staring.
She almost wished they'd replaced the gag to make it easier to be quiet. She wanted so much to interrupt and try to convince them that she was worth keeping alive, or at least not killing. Several times she opened her mouth only to snap it shut again.
Victoria wanted to greet Bran, tell him he was looking well.
She wanted to compliment the female halfling's dress.
The urge to reiterate how great her cooking was and offer a demonstration was so tempting!
Biting hard on her tongue, she tasted blood. She must have hit it hard when she was tossed off the wagon. Her jaw was also sore. She focused on those two facts to further discourage herself from interrupting the whispered conversation. She should let it play out, shouldn't she?
The tension was building in her as she endured the occasional glances of the people who appeared to be children. It was maddening.
The sensation was similar to when her nephews and niece would share all-but-silent conversations amongst themselves. They'd shared some sort of unspoken secret bond and language from birth, and sometimes used it to the exclusion of their caretakers.
Including, on occasion, Victoria.
She'd scolded them and taken it in stride, but deep down it had hurt her that she'd never gotten to experience the bond of a true sibling. Gabriel was probably closest. The thought caused a pang in her stomach when she remembered their last interactions.
He didn't want to be close to her.
Finally, the burden of being quiet was far too much. She just had to try her hand at getting out of the situation.
"I'm sure Finn would love to see you again!" Victoria chimed in cheerfully. "She married my brother, the king, you know."
"The king?" Tom raised his head to look at her.
"Yes, King Commodore Roland. My adoptive brother," Victoria continued with a smile on her face. "I'm sure he'd be glad to reward you for letting me go after those bad men kidnapped me. Finn always liked you and Bran quite a bit."
That part was mostly true. Finn had put a lot of effort into the boys before she knew they were halflings.
Bran's face showed no emotion, but she clearly had his attention. She decided to press the matter.
"Maybe we could all go to Klain together to discuss it, and the portals? Since halflings have so much experience on the matter, I'm sure your input and experience would be quite valuable. Perhaps you could be hired on as consultants, even! I'm sure that would pay well enough to sustain you."
She was banking on the fact that they were organizing crime for monetary gain, because she didn't see what other possible motivation they could have for it. The lure of legitimate pay with less effort would surely be enough to draw them away from their criminal activities.
Wouldn't it?