Unapologetically she was taken under the arms and dragged out of the house. She resisted and tried to pull herself loose, but this only resulted in her dress shifting off her shoulder, the disheveling of her hair and the hitting of her hands in shackles behind her back. At the square she was roughly pushed forward, at the edge of a circle that was formed around what was evidently the leader of the group of attackers along with a few other attackers that were higher in rank. He was holding a speech. Most villagers were present, guarded by the attackers, most of them in shackles.
With a shock the girl recognised the leader as the rider who had been chasing her in the cornfield. When she was pushed forward his eyes fell on her. 'Well, well, well' he said, slowly striding along the edge of the circle of prisoners. 'What have we here?'
Angrily she glared back at him, understanding it was no longer of use to look away or attempt to go unnoticed.
'Show her to me' he said to the guard who was still holding her.
Again, the guard gruffly pushed her forward, now stepping out of the line, painfully pinching her tied arms behind her back so that her chest was pushed out and she squirmed, head turning far to the side so she wouldn't have to look at her attacker. She felt a shiver go through the villagers as they recognized her.
The leader reached out his hand and took her chin in his hand, forcing her head to turn. 'I thought so', he said. 'I thought I'd seen a rare flower in the field today.'
'Don't touch me', the girl said glaringly, her voice dripping with disdain.
'Ah, a feisty one too', he said. 'I can imagine you've had to fend men off before.'
Slowly he let go of her chin and slid the back of his fingers down along her neck. He stopped at her collarbone, which was exposed because her dress had slid down her shoulder in the struggle with the guards before, and slowly followed it to the left. With a wild push of her shoulder she threw his hand off and shook her dress back on her shoulder. Laughing, her attacker raised his voice, for everyone to hear.
'I could rip this dress off you right now, but I think I'll keep that sight of you to myself', and, turning to the circle of prisoners, 'I had thought you were all not worth much, but now find myself looking upon you much more favorably. Who would have thought there were girls off this quality to be found in this hamlet', he said, taking her by the arm and pulling her towards him. 'I'll see what I'm to do with you all after I've seen how she can make me feel. I'll have her!', throwing her in the arms of two guards and making the sign to take her inside.
*****************
Shocked protests rose from the villagers as they tried to pull themselves loose from the guards holding them. This was still a time where a girls' honour depended of her virginity and her remaining untouched until she was wed, and the thought of this pure beauty being ravished filled their hearts with outcry. 'No!' cried a young man. It was John, a boy from the village who had been in love with her for years. She saw him being hit with a stick in the stomach before she was being dragged to the nearby smithy by two guards, resisting furiously and shouting 'no!' and 'let me go!'.
Inside the smithy her eyes slowly got used to the darkness as she heard the noise being beaten down and eventually dying out, outside. She looked around the wooden building and at the two guards who were stationed at either side of the door to keep her here. After a minute the doors barged open and the leader strode in with a few of his officers.
She backed up as the leader walked to her until suddenly she felt the wooden walls against the shackles of her wrists behind her back.
