The next thing she knew, harsh voices around her were issuing commands in a dialect of Drakarian she didn’t understand. Since she was gagged, she couldn’t very well explain that she didn’t know what they wanted, but soon a burly peasant pulled her roughly from the back seat and threw her over his shoulder. Although it was an insult to her dignity, Brenda almost welcomed the ride the way her knee was hurting.

She tried to arch her back enough to look around. But before the rebel slapped her down again, tears came to Brenda’s eyes when she didn’t see another jeep carrying Jax. She knew he wasn’t in the same jeep as she had been, and for a moment, she was terrified that they had killed him back on the road in the ambush.

The rebel carried her into a small hut and threw her down not-too-gently on a mound of dirty old rags and burlap sacks from vegetables. He removed her gag and then left abruptly. Brenda didn’t even want to think about what they smelled like, or what other living creatures shared her resting place. Just as tears her tears were about to start, a strange sense of calm came over her. She could almost hear Jax’s voice -- "Don’t give up, duchess -- I don’t intend to die here in this godforsaken armpit of a country."

For the first few minutes after her captor left, Brenda gave in to the pain and exhaustion and cried. Then, when she realized that she couldn’t even wipe her eyes or rub her nose because her hands were tied, Brenda tried to control her emotions. Taking one sniff of her "bedding" convinced her to stop crying or she’d be forced to rub her nose on the filthy rags. As her breathing slowed to occasional hiccups, Brenda fell into a fitful sleep.

When she awoke, she could see through the crudely covered windows that it was getting dark outside. As soon as Brenda tried to push herself to a sitting position, she became painfully aware of the fact that she hadn’t answered nature’s call for several hours. She caught her breath when the tarp covering the "door" of the hut moved, but then relaxed a little as a peasant woman entered.

"Bathroom! I have to go to the bathroom!" Brenda said the words slowly and distinctly in English, but with her hands tied behind her, she couldn’t very well use any kind of gestures to convey her point. The woman kept her head down and didn’t pay any attention to Brenda. It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

"Do you understand that if you don’t let me go to the bathroom, I’m going to piddle all over the floor of your hut!!??" Still, the woman didn’t seem to hear Brenda’s plea. Brenda caught her lower lip between her teeth and then grimaced as she realized that much worse things probably happened on those very same rags not that long ago.

Then, out of the blue, the woman came towards Brenda. She made a little spinning movement with one finger and Brenda realized she was going to untie her hands. Her joy was short-lived – the woman re-tied them in front of Brenda, and then pulled her to her feet. "Please – I need to use the bathroom!" Brenda begged, and to her surprise, the woman took the rope binding her hands and led her out of the hut.

Even the minimal remaining daylight hurt Brenda’s eyes after being in the hut for so long. But she still tried to see if there were any other jeeps or signs of life – specifically, Jax – in the village. She slowed her steps, but the woman only jerked on the rope and pulled her faster behind her as they left the village and went to a primitive facility some distance away.

Brenda kept glancing over her shoulder as they walked, trying to see anything that would indicate the rebels were keeping another prisoner. When the woman stopped and indicated that Brenda should attend to her needs, she put a hand on the woman’s arm in supplication. "Please – can you tell me if there’s another man in the village – a man like me, with light skin?" The woman’s face remained stoic. "The man that I was traveling with – my friend? Have you seen him?" But the woman only put a hand to Brenda’s back and shoved her in the direction of the massive hole that served as a unisex bathroom for the village.

When she finally returned to the hut, Brenda didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. She had to face her luxurious "bed" again, but it seemed like a thick goose-down feather mattress compared to the latrine facilities. The rebel woman untied Brenda’s hands again, only to re-tie them behind her back. Brenda tried several more times to ask about Jax, but the woman remained silent. Then she left, and shortly thereafter, Brenda cringed when a stocky, less-than-fragrant, male rebel entered the hut with an arrogant smile.

He approached Brenda with a confident swagger, his eyes lighting up even though she was filthy and probably smelled as bad as he did. When he crouched down next to her with lust in his eyes and rubbed some of her long hair between his grubby fingers, Brenda shuddered to control the nausea. "Leave me alone!" she warned, in the most aggressive tone she could muster considering the circumstances.

Her captor wasn’t impressed. When he laughed, the spaces where several teeth were missing showed, even in the dim light. "You prisoner," he rasped. "Me guard. Me do what me want."

Brenda tried to think of other things as he came closer and tried to nuzzle her neck. "You guard…….do you guard the *other* prisoner, too? Mr. Jacks?"

The rebel never lifted his lips from the back of her neck and Brenda had to control her shudder as she felt his tongue at the back of her ear. "Me guard good……..both prisoners."

Brenda’s elation at hearing that Jax was still alive outweighed her disgust at the guard gnawing on her ear. "So then there *are* two of us …. Mr. Jacks is in the camp somewhere?" She bit back a scream as she felt the rebel’s grimy fingers slide over her shoulder from the back and slip inside the neckline of her blouse.

"Mmmm……two prisoners. Much money for you, much *much* money for man."

Brenda’s eyes widened as an inspiration occurred to her. She had to control the bile rising in her throat as she felt the rebel’s lips sliding down the side of her neck and his fingers slipped deeper into her blouse. "You know, if it’s money --- LOTS of money --- that you want, you should really just contact my father. He’s a very rich man back in the United States and I’m sure he’ll triple whatever someone else offered you for Mr. Jacks and myself."

The guard’s hand slipped out of her blouse, but then Brenda inhaled sharply as it came back up the front of her throat to cup her chin. He turned her face towards his, and she had the strong urge to vomit at the smell of his breath. "Not just money. Rashid give us money AND prisoners. Guns AND medicine, too. Make trade."

Brenda closed her eyes and tears squeezed out when as she realized what he was talking about. {Prisoners. Of course they’d rather deal with Rashid. He’s captured dozens of rebels – he probably would make a trade of them for Jax and me in a heartbeat. He’s such a vain jerk, he’d figure he captured them once – he could capture them again.} She was spared her worst nightmare as his lips by-passed hers and aimed for her other ear.

Just as the rebel seemed to lose interest in her ear and his lips were zeroing in on hers, the sound of a sharp, guttural command from the door of the hut caused the rebel to jump back. Brenda blinked back tears to see another rebel outlined in the doorway. This one was much taller and the way he had his hands propped on his hips and the tone he used with the guard indicated he was the leader.

"Rashid no pay if woman is used!" The leader strode angrily into the hut and took a swing at the guard, who ducked and rolled to the far side. The lusty rebel cowered for a minute in the corner. "Leave – NOW!" The leader didn’t need to say it twice as the guard took a wide path around him and scurried out of the hut.

Brenda tried to sit up straight. She lifted her chin in defiance, hoping that she could talk him into letting her see Jax. "My name is Brenda Barrett, and I am the fiancée of Crown Prince Rashid. I demand that you….."

"You are DIRT!" The leader’s words came out with such malice that Brenda jumped visibly. He slowly approached her with all of the confidence appropriate to his position.

Brenda tried to keep her cool in the face of danger. "You seem to have the advantage. You know my name and I don’t know yours....."

The rebel leader squatted down next to her and whipped a knife from his boot. "I sell you back to Rashid.....HE will tell you all that you need to know!" He waved the knife wickedly in front of her face, and when he deliberately flashed the blade, Brenda closed her eyes as she expected feel it carve a stripe across her neck. But instead, he pulled it back and sliced through the ropes binding her wrists.

As he rose and walked away from Brenda, she sat back on the floor and rubbed her wrists to try to start the circulation again. Her breath came in halting spurts. "Thank you..."

The leader looked back down at her with disgust. "Tarak."

Brenda nodded slowly. "Thank you......Tarak." She refused to look away as he stared into her eyes. Despite his macho trick with the knife, Brenda suspected that Tarak might be her only hope of finding Jax. "Where is Mr. Jacks?"

Tarak took an apple out of his jacket pocket. He squatted next to the door and pulled out the knife again to peel it. "He is alive. Rashid will not pay for him if he is dead."

{Of course. Rashid wants that pleasure for himself.} "I want to see him." Brenda rose to her knees, her feet tucked beneath her.

"What is he to you?" Tarak’s gave never left the apple.

Brenda swallowed hard, squelching every feminist inclination she had in her body. "I am his woman."

The knife paused momentarily before Tarak continued to slice the apple. Brenda knew she had touched a nerve. Even among the peasants, monogamy was respected in Drakar. Even the worst criminal would not dare touch her now that she had declared she "belonged" to a man. There were a few tense minutes while Tarak munched on an apple slice, and then after he tossed one to Brenda, he rose slowly to his feet. "Jacks man make baby in you?"

Brenda tried not to swallow the apple slice whole as her hunger hit her like a ton of bricks. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I’m not sure. It’s too soon to tell." {Why should I tell him about my gynecological history? He wouldn’t understand anyway.}

Tarak hesitated a few minutes again, but then walked briskly to where Brenda knelt. He pulled her arm, dragging her to her feet. She inhaled sharply when he whipped out his knife again and held it to her throat. "I take you to Jacks man. If you try get away, you both die."

Brenda swallowed slowly. "I understand." She let out a shaky breath as Tarak flipped the knife shut and pulled her towards the door of the hut. The fresh air of the early night felt like heaven to Brenda, but she really didn’t care. All she could think of was how badly hurt Jax might be.

Tarak led her to a hut about 50 feet away and pushed her through a doorway into near darkness again. When Brenda’s eyes adjusted to the dim light cast by a single candle inside, she made out the form of a blonde man lying on the floor. She gave a soft sob and ran to him, dropping to her knees and cradling his head in her lap. "Jax!" she sobbed, pushing his unruly blonde hair back off his forehead and rocking back and forth.

Jax’s face was a mass of bruises. He had a nasty cut over his right eye, and several small cuts on his left cheek. His hands and feet weren’t tied because he was barely conscious. But at the sound of Brenda’s voice, his eyes fluttered open and he gave a wan smile. "Duchess....."

"Shhhh....don’t talk." Brenda pressed her fingers gently to Jax’s lips. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and then looked up furiously at Tarak. "I need some clean water and a rag!" She stroked Jax’s face gingerly. "And some food and something for him to drink."

"He is alive. You leave now." Tarak folded his arms with authority as he blocked the door of the hut.

Brenda’s eyes narrowed with anger. "His wounds need to be cleaned or he’ll get an infection. Rashid will never keep his end of the deal if Mr. Jacks is half dead."

Tarak hesitated for a few minutes, but then poked his head outside the hut and gave some orders in a gruff tone of voice. A few minutes later, a peasant woman entered the hut with a bowl of water, a filthy rag, and a cup of some kind of mushy rice concoction . She left as quickly as she had come, and Tarak pointed to the supplies she had left on the floor. "That’s all you get. Use time wisely."

Brenda could have sobbed in happiness when Tarak left her alone with Jax in the hut. But she knew also knew that Tarak had made major concessions -- food and water. She couldn’t take a chance that she might be able to persuade him for anything else that night.

Jax had passed into semi-consciousness again, but as soon as Brenda pressed the wet rag to his face, his eyes flew open. "I’m sorry, Jax," she murmured. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I just.......I don’t know what else to say.......I’m soooo sorry......" She dunked the rag in the water again. "Do you think anything’s broken?"

Jax shook his head as Brenda continued to mop his face and clean away some of the dirt. But when she tried to clean the cut above Jax’s eye but he caught her wrist in his hand. "Brenda, listen......Tarak’s not going to give us a lot of time."

"He told me that he’s made a deal with Rashid......for guns and money." Brenda’s voice was grim. She picked up the cup of rice and sniffed at it, her appetite suddenly gone.

"Brenda...." Jax gripped her wrist tighter, forcing her to look into his eyes. "......when we get back to the palace, tell Rashid that I kidnapped you. Tell him that I forced you to leave with me."

"But you didn’t, Jax! I told you before -- I broke it off with Rashid even before you showed up. He knows that I didn’t want to stay there with him."

Jax pushed himself to a sitting position and gripped both of her shoulders. "Brenda.....for God’s sake, just listen to me and do as I say. Rashid’s pride has already been hurt. If he thinks that you left him voluntarily, he’ll kill you on the spot. But if he thinks I forced you to come with me, he’ll save face. His dignity will still be intact, even among his own men. It’s your only chance to make it out of this mess alive, Brenda."

Brenda stared down into the cup of rice. It was even worse than she thought. In all of the years she had known him, this was the first time Jax had ever sounded this pessimistic. He was fully expecting to die, and yet he was only thinking of saving her life somehow. Tears came to her eyes as she finally looked up into his. "OK, Jax.....I’ll do whatever you want me to...." She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand again and tried to smile. ".....but only if you’ll try to eat a little of this gruel."

Jax quirked one eyebrow at her and stared down into the cup. "You drive a hard bargain, duchess." Without any utensils, Brenda dipped her fingers into the bowl but when she held some of the rice up to his lips, Jax stopped her hand again. "And believe me .....I may be down, but I’m not out yet." He looked around cautiously. "Stay alert, cause if I can manage a way for us to get out of this, I’m still buying you that Extra Value Meal in Lontak."

Brenda laughed out loud, and it was music to Jax’s ears. The whole time the peasants were beating him, all he kept hoping was that they were taking out their frustrations on him and Brenda was being spared any manhandling. She was still awkwardly feeding him some of the rice mixture when Tarak came back into the hut.

"Time’s up. You go back to own hut now." Tarak waited a moment as Brenda looked longingly into Jax’s eyes, but then he came forward and pulled her by her arm to a standing position. Jax winked at Brenda as best he could, and then before Tarak led her out of the hut, he spun her around and re-tied Brenda’s hands behind her. Jax had to stifle the urge to jump up and strangle Tarak -- the only thing that had kept him going during his ordeal were fantasies of how he would get even with every man who even dared to look at Brenda cross-eyed.

Tarak led Brenda back to the original hut and pushed her inside. Soon after, a peasant woman brought her a cup of the same noxious rice goo that Jax had eaten and a bowl of water to use for cleansing. The woman untied Brenda’s hands so that she could eat, but after she made one last trip to the "bathroom," her hands were re-tied and she was left in the dark on the rags to sleep alone. The last thing that Brenda thought of before exhaustion and pain in her knee took their toll was Jax’s face as she had left him. She knew he hadn’t given up after all. If there was a way to get out of Drakar, Jax would find it.

The next morning, Brenda was rudely awakened by the same peasant woman. She was brought another cup of rice stew and some fresh water. She had barely finished a quick clean-up when Tarak appeared in the door of her hut, motioning for the peasant to bring Brenda quickly. The woman pulled Brenda to her feet and half-dragged her out of the hut into the bright sunshine.

Brenda put a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun, but just as quickly the peasant woman pulled her hands behind her again and tied them. Tarak came forward and put Brenda over his shoulder, but not before she saw Jax being led out of his hut towards a waiting jeep. She almost cried in relief when she saw that Tarak was carrying her to the same jeep. Some peasants forced Jax into the rear of the jeep and then Tarak literally dumped Brenda into the front passenger seat as he climbed into the back next to Jax. The pain in her knee caused Brenda to drift into unconsciousness again as the jeep pulled away from the village.

The next thing Brenda knew, the jeep had stopped again. Tarak jumped out and picked her up, but Brenda had to smile to herself when she heard Jax chattering to the peasants who were pulling him out of the back of the jeep. She managed to raise her head just in time to see his face, and her eyes clouded with tears when she saw him give her a confident, irreverent smile and a wink.

Tarak carried Brenda into a small cabin that reminded her of the one where she and Jax had spent the night and made love. Had that really only been three nights earlier? It seemed like a lifetime ago. The rebel leader dumped Brenda on the floor on a nest made of rags and tree branches, untied and re-tied her hands in front of her, and then turned and started speaking rapidly in Drakarian. Brenda finally realized that Tarak was speaking to another peasant -- this time, a short, frail-looking, older man. While Tarak was giving him orders of some kind, several other rebels brought Jax into the same hut. They put him against a far wall, untied his hands, and then handcuffed him to a metal brace in the floor.

While Tarak apparently finished giving instructions to the peasant, Brenda began to make some sense of what was going on. The rebels couldn’t just drive up to the palace and deliver their prizes to Rashid. And they couldn’t very well give Rashid the directions to their camp to pick up the two hostages. For all she knew, perhaps Tarak and Rashid hadn’t even agreed on a price yet. This was apparently the pick-up point where the exchange would be made when the deal was finalized.

When Tarak finally finished speaking to the peasant, he gave Jax one long last look and then left the cabin. The small man waited until the sound of the jeeps faded into the distance. Then, he came over to Brenda and in a hushed voice, he began speaking rapidly to her in Drakarian. "Jax....." Brenda whispered, not even sure if he was conscious. "......are you OK?"

There was a slight pause, but then Brenda heard Jax’s voice. "I’m here, Brenda. Are you OK? Did they hurt you?"

"No." The peasant glanced back at Jax and then to her again before repeating his rapid speech. "Jax…" Brenda murmured again. "Do you know what this guy is saying to me? He’s driving me nuts." She eyed the peasant warily, although he didn’t seem to be as menacing as any of the rebels.

Brenda peered around their short guard to finally catch sight of Jax. "I think he’s asking you why they had to carry you in, Brenda." Jax rubbed his nose with his cuffed hands. "Apparently this guy has a humane streak -- he wants to know if something’s wrong with your legs."

Brenda nodded and then looked into the man’s face, which almost seemed kind by comparison to her other guards so far. She gestured towards her leg with her bound hands. "My knee -- I sprained it yesterday." The peasant shook his head and gave her a vacant look, so she tried to sit up straighter. When she did, she could reach down and point to her knee. "Knee," she said louder, pointing to it. She grimaced, and then pantomimed touching it and then crying. "Hurts."

The peasant raised his eyebrows in apparent understanding. He rose and went to a corner of the hut, and then returned a few minutes later with a knife. Brenda shrank back against her bed of rags, but the peasant shook his head at her as if he was trying to re-assure her. When he took the knife to her pants leg, Brenda inhaled to scream but he quickly slit the fabric so that he could more easily see her injury.

"I don’t think he’s going to hurt you, Brenda," Jax said, trying to reassure her. "Just try to stay calm."

"Yeah, that’s easy for you to say." Brenda’s voice was breathy with fear. "He’s not waving the knife around at you." But Brenda’s fears abated a little as the peasant set the knife aside. When he saw her discolored and swollen right knee, Brenda saw him grimace in sympathy. He held up his fingers to her face by way of explanation, and then gently pressed her knee, almost as though he were examining it. Brenda tried not to flinch or cry out, but when he pressed directly on the bone, she yelped in pain.

"BRENDA!" Jax cried. As the peasant rose from his crouched position and went back to a crude stove in the corner, Brenda saw Jax straining at the ring that was holding him handcuffed in place. "Did he hurt you?"

"I’m OK, Jax," she wheezed. "He just pressed a little too hard on my knee and it hurt." Jax gave the peasant a malevolent look. "It’s not his fault, really – I think he was just trying to figure out what was wrong with it."

The peasant returned with a small cup of steaming liquid. He offered it to Brenda with a benevolent smile. "Jax……he wants me to drink this stuff, I think." She took the cup and sniffed at it. "It smells like herbs and really cheap wine."

"I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to hurt either one of us, duchess." Jax sighed. "This guy is obviously the go-between for Tarak and Rashid. He’s probably getting some kind of commission for making the exchange."

Brenda smiled at the peasant and took a cautious sip of the brew. "And if something happens and we’re not in tip-top shape, his life wouldn’t be worth spit," she said, licking her lips delicately.

"You’ve got it.". Jax strained to see her. "Remember now, Brenda – I kidnapped you. Promise me you won’t try to be a hero and put your life on the line to save mine."

Brenda smacked her lips as Jax’s comment went completely unnoticed. "’Ya know, this stuff ain’t half bad once you get used to the taste." Jax watched as she set the cup down gingerly on the floor and then curled into a little ball. "I think maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a little while."

Jax smiled grimly. "You do that, duchess." He watched until he saw her fall deeply asleep. "You get all the sleep you can now…….before the real fireworks start."

Brenda slept for almost 8 hours after drinking the herbal tea that the peasant guard gave her. When she awoke, she was pleasantly surprised to see that some of the swelling in her knee had gone down and the pain was significantly less. The peasant served her and Jax some kind of fish stew and gave them a bowl of water to use to "wash" as best they could while handcuffed.

"When do you think Rashid will come to pick us up?" Brenda asked as night fell. The peasant had treated them humanely, but hadn’t spoken to them much.

"Probably in the morning," Jax replied. "Unless they’re still haggling over a price."

The peasant appeared with another cup of herbal tea for Brenda. "You know, I’d bet money that half of the ingredients in this stuff are controlled substances," she quipped.

"Hey…..if it helps your knee, don’t knock it," Jax sighed. He watched as Brenda drank more of the concoction and not long afterward, she was snoring loudly. "That’s my duchess…." Jax whispered in the dark. He looked around at the peasant, who also appeared to have consumed some of the spiked tea. "In case I don’t get a chance to tell you later, Brenda," Jax said quietly, "……I love you."

*^*^*^*

Brenda was rudely awakened the next morning by a loud voice, swearing at her in Drakarian. When she looked up, she discovered it was Rashid’s favorite lieutenant, Trang. He was calling her names that roughly translated to every variation she could think of on the word, "wh*re."

Trang dragged Brenda out of the cabin as Jax was pulled by some of his fellow officers. They were shoved roughly into jeeps and the drive to the royal palace began. When they arrived, Brenda was taken in one direction and Jax in another. She tried to get one last glimpse of him, but her own captors were pulling her towards another door into the palace. Brenda managed to smile, though, when she heard a voice with a distinctive Aussie accent railing at the guards. "Hey – watch the fabric there, guys!" They shouted at him in Drakarian, but Jax didn’t seem to notice. "Say now – just because I happen to like the Mets and you guys like the Yankees, that’s no reason to rip my shirt like that!"

As soon as they got into the palace, Brenda was taken up to the wing where the living quarters were. She was almost certain that Jax had been taken to the dungeons. The two guards "escorting" her pushed her roughly inside her former room where Rashid’s "harem" was waiting for her. Brenda took a deep breath at the sight of them. "Well, girls -- long time, no see!"

None of them answered as they surrounded her and stripped the grimy sweats from her body. Brenda was almost glad that she was rid of the filthy clothes. They pulled her into the massive bathroom where a bath had already been drawn. As the wives scrubbed every part of her body vigorously, Brenda couldn’t think of anything but where Jax might have been and what was happening to him.

Her hair was pulled back and Brenda recognized the scent of her favorite shampoo. As long as none of the women came at her with a cup of tea, Brenda felt fairly sure they wouldn’t harm her. She allowed them to shampoo her hair and only sputtered once when they pushed her head beneath the water’s surface to rinse her hair.

Two of the wives shaved Brenda’s legs as another one applied a second helping of shampoo to her hair. Yet another massaged her scalp until it tingled while Brenda watched the women wielding the razors carefully. Without warning, the shampoo wife pushed her head beneath the water again, this time holding it there and threading her fingers through the strands until they were completely rinsed.

Brenda’s lungs were about to burst when she came up out of the water. "Hey!" she cried, reaching blindly for a towel as her eyes were stinging with soap, "what’re you trying to do, drown me?"

She felt a towel at her fingertips and Brenda grabbed for it, but then she froze. There was a sudden silence in the room. She couldn’t hear the sounds of the women speaking beneath their breaths anymore -- no doubt about her and her betrayal of Rashid. Brenda rubbed her eyes briskly with the towel, and when she pulled it away, she gasped aloud.

Rashid was sitting on the side of the tub, smiling lewdly at her. "Hello again, my angel." He reached out and traced a finger down the side of her face to her shoulder. "Welcome home."

To be continued......