Her eyes scanned the ground as she moved through the forest. The basket on her arm weighed heavily. Spots of sunlight came through the trees and lit the forest floor in patches, the lush green laughing back at her. She was a girl living in a village about a mile away, living in her own cottage since her parents had died, making a living for herself growing her own herbs and greens, and picking berries when in season, such as now.
Humming, she made her way through the forest, picking berries as she moved along. All of a sudden, something made her look up. She had come over a hill and saw she had hit the kingsroad, leading through the forest, but something was out of the ordinary. An overturned carriage lay at the edge of the road. What on earth was going on?
It was eerily quiet. As she looked closer, she saw bodies scattered around the road. Arrows stuck from their backs. An ambush.
Shocked, she stumbled backwards She had to get away from here as fast as possible. As she moved to turn, she was grabbed from behind. "Now what are you doing here, milady?" a cruel voice whispered in her ear. He turned her around so she could face her attacker. He was a shabby looking man in his forties, tall. "Leave me alone! I was just picking berries in the woods!"
"You shouldn't be alone in here during such dangerous times," he said, watching her up and down and putting a grimy hand on her face. "But as you are, I'll guess you'll have to bare the consequences".
He held her tight as his hand reached for the laces of his breeches and tugged them loose. "No!" She screamed as she struggled violently to get loose.
"Hey, hey, hey, what have you got there?" it sounded, from behind them.
The man let go of his breeches and let out a grin, swivelling her around and pinching her arms painfully behind her back. She was a tall, slim, beautiful girl, with raven hair falling lusciously around her shoulders. She was wearing a light blue skirt reaching to the ground, with above that a white chemise with a wide neckline and puffy sleeves falling around her elbows, held together by a brown corset, laced up at the front. The way he held her made her long neck and clavicles stand out beautifully, as well as her perky, round breasts, slender waist and slightly flaring hips.
Another man was standing a short distance away, carrying a bag with mustered objects. To her horror she saw more of them, scrambling the ground around the scene of the crime. They must be the men belonging to the party that has performed the attack on the carriage, staying behind to rob the bodies of valuables.