Day 3- Late train

[Gothwolf86]

As she was raised up onto the outcrop, Beth couldn't help but feel a little useless. Of course, Katarina had the strength, the intimidating size, and doubtless, the endurance to win a fight, but Beth still felt a little feeble to not be able to assist her associate.

'If you're sure you want me to stay here, I'll stay,' She said, but hoped that the deflated tone to her words wasn't too obvious. She knelt, and watched as Katarina moved towards the carriage.

Pushing herself forwards on her elbows, Beth was able to move to the parapet of her rocky ledge, so that she could see without revealing her position too much. Still determined to lend some assistance if she could, she gathered a few large looking stones, and wrapped her broad hands around them.
She'd gotten a good throwing aim from hours of idle practice on the coconut shies, and, curse her perpetual need to help, she was determined that she wouldn't just up and run, should anything befall Katarina.

 

[Relent<]

She placed her back against the wall nearest the large sliding door at the opening of the car, careful not to lean against it and cause the axels to groan or squeak. She took a small tentative step toward the opening, paused, released a breath before drawing in another and moved again.
In two and one-half such small motions, she was along the door's edge, wary that her shoulder did not cross the threshold before she was ready. Fortunately, the car was about 14 feet high, and concealed her full height without her needing to stoop. The elephant trumpeted, and she leaned over to peer inside.
The elephant stood there in it's cage, unguarded and undisturbed. Perhaps a little warmer than it would have liked.
But the handlers and the veterinarian were nowhere to be seen in the car. She used her small steps to circle the car again, quietly. The door on the opposite side of the train was unopened, and still locked with chains and padlock from the station that had proceeded it.

If there had been robbers, they would have either used the hatch on the roof where the water would be supplied, or on the side of the train where the occupants would be least expectant of their entry. Confident that the car was empty, she stood on her toes, and placed her fingers along the edge of the top of the car, and lifted herself chin-high to the roof of the car. The watering hatch was also still chained closed...

The crackle of footsteps on the gravely sands caught her ear, and she dropped to her feet, and pivoted quickly to see who was approaching.
No one was there.

She didn't like this. Not at all...

 

[Gothwolf86]

Beth watched, her heart thumping in her chest, as Katarina carefully stalked around the wagon, and she had to admit that for her size, Katarina moved with considerable stealthiness.

She heard the elephant, and relaxed, at least a little; that was one less gigantic grey problem to worry about, but was it? Shifting uncomfortably, the rocks still gripped tightly in her hand, ready for the slightest hint of trouble, Beth squinted along the walls of the canyon, almost willing for the apparently absent assailants to show themselves.

As her gaze brushed over a small, natty bush stuck upon a small ledge on the opposite face of the canyon, she was sure she espied movement, and she readied one of her rocks just in case. It'd be better than nothing, and at least it might confuse a potential foe long enough for Katarina to get away.

She knew she couldn't compromise her position, but she also had a nagging urge to check her friend was okay. She saw Katarina peer over the top of the wagon, and, curse her helpful nature, called out;
'Katarina?! Is everything alright, Dear?!'

She cursed herself silently, and in the corner of her eye, she was sure she saw that scrubby bush rustle again.

 

[Relent<]

Katarina's face became pale at the sound of Beth's voice as it echoed along the interior of the valley. She eyed the walls of the canyon carefully, and relaxed a bit. It seemed no one was--

A sharp sudden sting in her left thigh. She turned to eye the injury and noticed a dart sticking from her leg, but rather than the dull ache of an injection, a sort of numbness radiated from the epicenter of the offending weapon. Before long her entire thigh was asleep, and she dropped to one knee, holding herself up with her hands. Another dart appeared in her shoulder, and she collapsed almost instantly to the ground, her hands shuddering as she tried to reach for the newest dart and remove it.

She could scarcely feel her fingers, and they fumbled clumsily with the body of the projectile, the site of which she couldn't feel at all. But still she saw no one. They would be looking for Beth before they made themselves so carelessly seen. She tried to scream to Beth, "Run!" but her voice caught in her throat, too weak to make more than a dull and listless groan.

She grunted, gritted her teeth, and tried to put her weight on the palms of her hands, but her entire body felt foreign. She felt as if she were twelve times her normal weight, and like her joints were made of overcooked pasta.

She heard the shifting of dirt again, and her eyes tried to follow the source of the sound. She heard footsteps and scraping....coming from underneath the train car. The cold barrel of some sort of rifle prodded the sole of her left foot, and seemingly pleased with the lack of reaction she was able to whimper in reply, he spared her the sting of another tranquilizer dart.

He motioned to something in the brush from the car, invisible to Beth on the bluff. He didn't know where the other voice had called from, the reverberation of her yell making it impossible to trace by ear alone. He had the advantage at the moment however that Beth could not see him on the opposite side of the car, nor would she be aware that Katarina had been incapacitated.

As the other man from the brush approached from the brush, he threw him an armful of rope and whispered, "Tie her." And with that he set out to find the other interloper...

The elephant trumpeted again, the car rocking slightly.

 

[Gothwolf86]

From her promontory; Beth was unaware of Katarina's mishap, but when she heard the previously docile elephant trumpet; she was hit with a crippling sense that something had gone awry.

However, the movement in the brush caught Beth's eye. She held her breath in stunned silence as she watched the rope fly and land heftily in the hands of the man who had emerged from the undergrowth. So there were two? She thought;
Just as well, she had two projectiles in her grip.
Beth adjusted her grip on one of her rocks, and slowly pushed herself up onto her knees.
Winding back her arm slowly, she took aim at this hitherto unidentified interloper, and, calling on all her practice, and considerable might; she flung the stone.

It was only then did she see the other man, his hands wrapped around some kind of long, hefty hunting gun, as he emerged from round the train car.
'Oh...' She murmured.

 

[Relent<]

A rock glanced the man with rope's forehead, and he swore in pain, as he dropped the rope to the ground and reached for a pistol on his hip.
"Keep that put away, you dolt!" The one with a rifle replied, ducking back behind the train car. The injured man did the same, wiping a it of blood from his brow as he got himself out of the open.

"Save your ammunition for our trading partners. And only if they try to fuck us over. No one will miss a couple of bandits; but someone will coming looking for them." He pointed his rifle at Katarina. "Did you see where it came from?"
He shook his head.
"Useless." He said through gritted teeth, and he peered from around the edge of the car. He called over his shoulder, "Hurry up and tie her before she wake up. I underdosed her, that one's a funny size..."

He looked at the phauxnorse's placid, vaguely conscious face. "Sorry, Katarina."

 

[Gothwolf86]

Having released the rock, Beth dropped down prone once more; hiding behind the lip of her rocky outcrop.
Beth had to hold her tongue and not cry out in triumph. That'd been a good throw! She replayed the image of the rock ping off the man's head. She peered over the edge of the outcrop, and Triumph soon turned to surprise as she realised the man was still concsious.

'Must have a hell of a thick skull.' She muttered. She looked down at the other stone in her hand, and cast it away. Another one probably wouldn't put the bonehead out, and she'd only draw attention to herself.

She tried to move so that she could see around or over the carriage; but it was useless. The car was completely blocking her view. Although, she did have a good view of the rifle armed man, as he mooched across the other set of tracks, looking this way and that; up and down the canyon walls.

She dived back as his gaze passed close to her; desperately hoping he wouldn't see her. She pressed herself into the rock as closely as her voluminous body would allow.
After a few moments, she gingerly raised her head, and felt releif wash over her when she saw that the rifleman had moved away, his back now turned towards her.

The carriage wasn't that far, and she was certain that her accomplice was in trouble. If she wasn't those two ruffians certainly wouldn't be up and mobile. She bit her lip, and slowly, began to wriggle back off the outcrop, she had to at least make an effort to check up on Katarina. To leave her would just be... immoral!

 

[Relent<]

"Whoever the hell beaned you probably just needed a diversion. I bet they've already run off." The rifleman said to the man with the rope, who had just finished binding Katarina's arms and legs at the wrists, elbow, knee, and ankle.
"Do you think this'll hold her?"
"It better."
Noting the rifleman's tone, he took what remained of the rope to strengthen the bonds, wrapping the ropes vertically between each limb so that they cinched tightly. He'd passed each rope perhaps 10 or eleven times going horizontally, and at first had only wrapped them vertically 5 times or so. With the additional rope, each bind had been latticed 10 across, and 12 long ensuring at the very least Katarina would not be snapping the ropes. Luckily for him he had experience tying freight.

The rifleman walked toward Katarina and kneeled down, tapping her face with the back of his hand. She groaned sharply, flinching a little.
"Just making sure you didn't go under. If I overdosed you, it could be difficult to wake you up again."
Katarina's eyes wandered up toward his face, and she recognized him. He was the veterinarian, specializing in large animals. He'd also treated a number of Katarina's work related injuries.

"Sorry I had to trank you, Kat-i, but I couldn't risk you messing this up. I want you to know that you're safe."
Her eye drifted from his face to the barrel of his gun. Somehow, she didn't believe him.

 

[Gothwolf86]

As she finally reached the ground, having slithered off the parapet; Beth was extra careful not to crunch the gravel and hard earth too loudly beneath her large feet. Keeping low, she peered around the rocks.

Only now could she see the around the other side of the train car. And what met her eyes did not make for easy viewing.
Katarina lay, bound on the floor, and the two goons loomed over her. Beth's brain stopped functioning on the rational level, and anger, normally supressed by this gentle girl, hopped into the driving seat.
'Katarina!" She cried, and, putting her head down, broke into a full sprint, barely registering the harsh surface beneath her soles and she pounded towards the two stunned men.

A part of her brain registered the gun, slowly being brought to bear on her, but it was no good, and she barreled bodily into the rifleman, falling in a ruck on the ground with the man, pinning him beneath her considerable bulk.

 

[Relent<]

Hearing the scream, the second man had grabbed his pistol faster than the veterinarian could tell him to put it away; and before he could even raise his own gun, the fury of the large girl was upon him. Though he was knocked to his back, he managed to maintain his grip on the gun and keep his finger from being caught in the trigger. He had loaded one shot into it before he'd come from under the car, just in case Katarina had needed an extra dose. It would serve just as well to put down a girl this size, if he could only get the damn thing aimed from underneath her.

But as they hit the ground, the second man, placed the barrel of his pistol against the back of Beth's head, cocking the barrel loudly.
There was a still silence-- not even a single wind--as the three acknowledged the presently tilted stalemate. The man with the pistol knew he couldn't kill Beth; The man with the rifle just needed Beth to release his arm; and Beth would undoubtedly be aware of the two guns on either side of her.

Katarina groaned, and rolled her head toward the scene in front of the car.
"You're...bad at this game..." She said faintly to Beth, with a wry sort of drunken smile. As her sense of feeling returned, she was becoming aware of her bondage, and panicked for a second as she began to struggle in the dust. She could pull her knees under her stomach, and arc her hips up, but couldn't gain any leverage to right herself. Furthermore, she couldn't get to her back to sit up, because of how her arms had been tied in a sort of square, and every time she tried to roll onto her side, her elbow would lever her back onto her stomach.
"Bodry..." She grunted at length toward the man beneath Katarina. "What for?"

 

[Gothwolf86]

The anger that had driven Beth thus far, slowly began to dissipate; the red mist fading from her vision, as she finally began to take rational stock of her situation.

She was kneeling across the veternarian's chest, straddling him, whilst the rifle was pinned beneath her shins, it's barrel nudging into the gravel, and her huge, bare feet lay either side of his hips and thighs. Beth had one of her hands in a firm hold on the man's collar, and her other was raised, ready to come down in a firm slap. Behind her head, rustling her wild, voluminous hair, Beth could feel a touch, and somehow, knew that it was a gun.

She dared not move her head, but allowed her eyes to roam down to look upon the veterinarian held underneath her considerable bulk. Her rust coloured brows curved inwards into a frown, and her freckled nose creased as her face scrunched up in thought.

'You.....' she murmured.... 'You're....' She lowered her free hand, still keeping hold of the vet's collar, and pointed a thick finger at him. 'I know you...' she continued. Beth had not long been with the Troupe, and knew few names, though she had a good mind for faces, and this one in particular, stuck in her mind. 'What are you....' Her brow furrowed further, as she struggled to make sense of the situation at hand. The gun tapping against the back of her head made things no easier.

She chanced a sideways glance at Katarina, and was at once both amazed, and disgusted at her condition. Beth had foul and recurrent memories of being bound, and seeing Katarina in such a state made her anger rise in her throat once again.

 

[Relent<]

Katarina continued to stare at Bodry the veterinarian awaiting his answer as if he were under some kind of obligation. Ill of the tension, the man behind Beth stunned her with the butt of his pistol, knocking her to the ground and kneeling down to roll her off of Bodry.
"Jesus, Addams!" Bodry said furiously, reaching up, and punching his comrade in the hip. "You better not have drawn blood!"
"She's fine." He said unphased, offering him a hand and pulling him to his feet.
"BODRY!" Katarina yelled, attempting to thrust herself forward in anger. How dare they strike a woman. How dare they refuse to explain themselves!

"Look, Kat'ee; it's nothing you need worry yourself with. You two are just in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
"Why elephant?! Why robbery?!" She demanded.
"It's not the elephant we're stealing. It's the tusk. We're meeting some...'traders' here to receive the money, remove the tusk, and get this thing back to the circus before anyone realizes what's happened."
"Tusk? Ivory poachers?! ARE MAD??"
"They're not so unreasonable, but just in case they are, we're leaving the elephant in-tact until they arrive. No one wants to make an incident out of this; that's what the elephant's to stay alive, and I'm to ensure it's safety during the removal. You two though are an unwelcome variable, and dammit to hell if you aren't too big too hide out here..."
Katarina's eye remained narrow and furious as she deciphered what Bodry was intending to do. They were going to remove the elephant's tusk, sell them, and return the elephant to the circus with some undoubtedly tall tale as to why the elephant should be missing two very pronounced features. Furthermore, she realized, and Addams had begun tying Beth in a similar fashion, the two of them were going to be completely helpless in the face of armed and dangerous criminals, possibly in a matter of minutes.

 

[Gothwolf86]

The blow knocked Beth down almost cold.
Lights swam and blinked before her eyes, and the sounds of the world seemed to sound as though they were being filtered through cotton wool.

The sudden grating stabs of the course gravel stunned her as she landed, and she quickly blinked away the twinkling lights of unconsciousness. She saw Bodry thump Addams, and realising that the vet still had a hold of the rifle, decided that playing possum would be the best bet right now.

She laid her head into the gravel, and closed her eyes. She listened though; desperately hoping that the subtle twitches of her ears wouldn't give away her deception. She listened intently to the conversation between Katarina and Bodry.

Of course. It all made such easy sense. It would be no trouble for an expert to remove the tusks from the poor beast, and a fine, fine profit could be made with such an article.
She was roused from her thoughts by the heavy crunch of boots on the gravel. She blinked her eyes open for the slightest of moments, and saw Addams tramp past her, rope swinging by his side.
Oh, god no... she thought. Damned if Addams was going to bind her. She chanced another quick glance, and spotted Bodry with the rifle once more. Curses. She would have to play along. Biting her teeth together tightly, she winced as she felt the ropes begin to tie around her vast arms, securing them firmly behind her back.

Beth's breath became short, and the most horrible, chest squeezing feeling of breathless dread began to descend on her. The memories had returned. Playing over and over inside the theatre of her mind. Cloying, dark, claustrophobic. She could take no more.

Beth thrashed upright suddenly, screaming her throat raw.

 

[Relent<]

Addams had bound her arms tightly, and was about to begin on her legs when she suddenly sprang up from underneath him in a fury. Bodry promptly raised his rifle, tranked her in the left buttock, and lowered his weapon to survey her reaction.
"Now I bet you'll say I didn't hit her hard enough?" Addams said with a snide smile.
Bodry shook his head, and looked over to Katarina, who was still furious.

"I know you won't understand, with your subsidies from the embassy covering the bulk of your expenses, but I have a family to feed. And I don't have any intention of going to jail. So name your price...what'll it take for you to keep your mouth shut, Katarina?"
Katarina sat up on her shoulders, trying to raise her head to eye-level with her captor, but could not get herself upright. She'd never before conducted a conversation from so near the ground. She admittedly didn't care for it. But what she hated more was that her trust had been abused, and now she would be at the mercy of bandits.

"You're going get us all KILL, Bodry."
"I've thought it all out. The elephant and we are all perfectly safe...or rather, we're safe from the traders. They won't have time to try anything with the next train so near our meeting time, and even on horses they won't reach us as quickly as you did. When we're finally retrieved, the ivory won't too be far away; but for all they'll know, the elephant had to have it's tusk removed by customs at the port. The sooner this deal goes down, the safer we'll all be..."

"What stop traitors from killing you, me, elephant, Adam, and Beth; and take ivory from corpse?"
"Addams is armed, and if we see more than two men, or more than three horses, the deal is off. But that's what worries me...We had a deal of no more than two on our end as well. You two could very well spoil this whole thing."
Katarina continued to glare up at him, as he pondered his next move.
"So long are you're both rendered motionless, I'm sure they'll feel more than secure. But I need to know you'll keep quiet...I suppose I could just as easily cut out your tongue, I know you can't write..."

 

[Gothwolf86]

Beth felt the sharp sting of the dart strike her, but in a second, the pain was all but gone, and she felt a warm, cloying sluggishness descend on her.

As the edges of her vision began to gray out; she toppled to the floor ungracefully, thumping into the ground and groaning. Twinkling lights swam across the fronts of her eyes, but she could just barely make out Addams, still stood, waiting for her to stop moving before he continued. She weakly jerked her head towards him, attempting to headbutt his shin, but it was little more than a nudge, and the anesthetic began to close her down.

As she went under, words drifted past her ears. 'customs', 'embassy', 'quiet', 'tongue'.
Hearing the word tongue, a part of her brain that was resisting the anesthetic suggested that Katarina was in trouble, and Beth tried to move, but managed little more than a drunken wriggle.

 

[Relent<]

As Addams bound Beth's ankles, he was hindered somewhat by her myriad of jewelery. He hoisted her heavy legs up, and jostle the jewelery about to clear the path of the rope, but was having little success. Ultimately, he ended up binding the jewlery down under the ropes, too flustered to be bothered with whatever subsequent pinch it may induce. In similar form to Katarina, he made several vertical passes between her ankles to make the ropes into makeshift leg-irons, and added extra around her arms with vertical passes between each arm and her torso.
"That oughta hold you." He said with a smug chuckle as he pulled the dart from her buttock, smacking it briskly at the injection site.

Katarina had begun to struggle in earnest as the words reached her of Bodry's intention to cut out her tongue. She would truly be dead to the world if she couldn't speak; however poor her linguistics were.
"Addams, get something to hold the lady's mouth open. I'll get my tools..."
"NO!" Katarina screamed, kicking her tandem legs out behind her trying desperately to get to her feet, and put her newly valued appendage out of Bodry's reach. It was a hopeless endeavor, however, and soon Addams returned with a pair of horseshoes and a length of rope. He paused outside of her reach, as she continued to flounder helplessly on the ground.
"You sure you don't want to trank her first?"
"We have to save some for the elephant." He replied coldly, his doctor bag in hand.

 

[Gothwolf86]

The slap on the behind jolted Beth suddenly; the pain broke through the numbing coldness of the tranquilizer; and although far from conscious; some semblance of awareness began to return.

She waited until, through her dulled ears, she heard Addams leave her; and, moving as though in slow-motion; she managed to squirm around on the floor; wriggling; half crawling, half rolling, she positioned herself in such a way that she could look up at Katarina; who, she saw, was struggling.

Above Katarina; she saw Addams and Bodry, looming. Her vision failed her; and it as she looked at the two men, they seemed to sway and ripple; as though she was viewing them from below water. Beth blinked away the feeling of nausea, and managed to speak; loudly, but little more than a babble;
'Lu....leave....Kat'r.... 'lone....' she managed, arching her back, and making a desperate attempt to kneel up. It failed miserably, and she flopped back down in the gravel.

She was aware; through her wobbling vision; that Bodry was carrying a large case; and in some distant, still running part of her brain; the terrible thought crossed her mind that he was holding a medical bag; and it would be FULL of all the bladed, needled, and terrible instruments of a physicians trade.
She attempted to cry out again; but all that left her lips was a dull groan.

 

[Relent<]

Katarina stood still a moment, conserving her energy to resist them whenever they should make their approach. She set her jaw tightly, and tucked her chin under--hell bent on keeping her mouth closed.

Addams took a step forward, and she lashed her torso at him with all the strength she could muster from her hips, almost knocking his legs from under him with her forehead.
"Stay back." Bodry said calmly, reaching toward Addams, and taking a length of rope from him. He began to walk in a painfully slow circle around Katarina, as she writhed and struggled to keep him in her sight. She contorted her obliques, as deeply as her spine would allow, until she lost sight of him somewhere to her left. She turned to the right, and tried to see behind her, tucked her head beneath to try to see beneath her, but she could not find him. When she looked back to her right, however, she was horrified to see that she'd lost sight of Addams as well.
And that's when she felt her legs tighten, and her stomach begin to drag against the dirt and gravel.

The two men had stealthily attached a length of rope to the binds on Katarina's ankles, and levering the rope with the underbelly of the train car had begun to drag her backward, the two struggling to heave her weight. She pulled on her legs, putting her knees underneath her hips, but was quickly put back on her stomach with another begrudging heave of her ankle ropes. Soon, she felt the cold iron of the train tracks against the tops of her feet, and then against her shins. They were pulling her body under the car, the weight of both it and the elephant intended to hold her in place while they committed their evil deed.

She thrashed her head, shoulders and legs in an attempt to roll onto her side, by which she would make herself too wide to fit under the car, but soon the car was up to her hips, and all hope in this was lost. She felt the cold against her shins again, and new that they had gotten the entirety of her legs over the tracks, thereby trapping her beneath the car. A few heaves further and she felt the underbelly of the car begin to grate against her buttocks, pulling her skirt up over her lower back as she was engulfed further beneath the train. Then they stopped.

The railroad was above and below her knees, the car on top of her lower back. She tried to push with her ankles and scoot herself forward from underneath, but she soon felt her legs being raised and bent, and then become wholly immobilized as they affixed her ankles to a length of track, essentially hogtying her. She tried to kick, roll, thrash, but all that moved was above her neck. She began to panic, still keeping her jaws tightly closed, and trying to find which direction they would come from. . .

 

[Gothwolf86]

Beth, still woozy from the anaesthetic; watched the whole affair going on before her in a somehow dreamlike state; words and sounds muffled and distant.

Some part of her hindbrain was telling her to get up, and, despite the fact that her limbs felt like lead, she endevoured to roll onto her front, and managed, with some degree of drunken difficulty; to scoot her legs under her, so her behind stuck in the air, and then, pushing against the gravel with her head, the pain of the sharp stones only the most mild of feelings; until, with a quick jerk of her back, she managed to kneel up, her buttocks resting on her heels.

Wobbling, swaying to and forth, she whipped her head around to fix the two men in her gaze.
Now what was happening? And why.... why was Katarina underneath the train car. What?
The switchboard of her brain was slowly coming back online, faculties and mental processes blinked on lazily, and slowly... painfully; she realised that trouble was afoot.
'O....oi!' she barked, her voice still thick and drawling from the latent tranquilizer shot. 'Whatchoooo doin' to Kata....' Still wobbling, but feeling the heat of her readhead temper rising; she rocked backwards, straightening her knees and pushing herself to her feet. Although still bound, she drew herself up to her full height.

'Don't choo be doin' any... anything to her.' She growled, pulling, with all her strength on the bonds, admittedly; to little success, but the strained, teeth gritted expression on her flushed face was more than a little intimidating.

 

[Relent<]

Katarina had grown quite ill of this silence, and as she'd suddenly heard Beth's nearly incoherent ramblings, she turned to face her. She was surprised to see that she'd gotten to her feet, not that it would do her much good with the way she was tied. Then again, they had neglected to tie Beth's knees they way they had hers, so she had a little more freedom of movement...

Unfortunately, this momentary distraction had given Bodry the time he'd needed to get inside the car from the side door, and get a rope lassoed around Katarina's shoulders. Using a pulley somewhere on the car's ceiling, he pulled what remained of her torso off the ground, arching her back severely and forcibly un-tucking her chin as she groaned, gritting her teeth fiercely. He tied the rope to a steel eyelet on the floor, and stepped out of the car through the open main door, standing beside Katarina, who had begun to breathe heavily through her nose, trying to wriggle her shoulders free of the lasso around her abdomen, but apprehensive of lunging forward once she did, as the rope would then be around her neck. As if she needed more bad news, she suddenly became aware of Addams in front of her again, this time at eye-level, and within arms reach.

"Get her mouth open!" He called to Bodry, one arm raised defensively, with a horseshoe hanging on either side of his elbow.
"Say 'Ahh" Kat'ee." Bodry said to Katarina kindly, like a doctor dealing with a stubborn patient. And with that, he began to knead his fingers against her ribs from behind, inducing a sort of spasm from Katarina as she writhed irritably beneath the car. The wheels groaned and grated against the track, as she bucked, and seethed, and hissed in a futile attempt to keep herself from laughing.

"Can't you just hold her nose or something?" Addams said with a frustrated grunt as he tried to line his arm up with Katarina's swinging head.
"And put my hand in danger of being bitten off? I have surgery to perform."

Somewhat more dismayed at his own errand, now, Addams, grabbed Katarina's shirt by the leather band that held it up on her, though it took all of his might just to hold her head still, even with the assistance of a train.
Bodry continued to exploit Katarina's backless garment, as he tucked his fingers between her arms and shoulder blades, and carefully prodded her armpits. Addams was met with a small spray of spit as she pursed her lips together to repress what might have been a squeal under normal circumstances.

The expression on her face could only be described as an agonized smile, her brow furrowed in concentration at her task, though her cheeks, lips, and teeth succumbing to the sensations being used to distract her. Addams, levered his palm against the bridge of her upper teeth, and mindful of his fingers began to press upward, trying to pry her mouth open. As resentful little chirps of laughter were bubbling up out of Katarina's chest, and Addams opened her mouth little by little, the sound of Katarina's apparent mirth became more and more audible. Katarina squeezed her eyes shut, and bared down on her front teeth so fiercely that Addam's palm began to bleed, but her laughter helplessly persisted.
Inch by inch, her jaw slackened, her teeth separating just enough until....KLANG! The sound of an iron horseshoe clattering against her teeth like an iron post rang out against the empty valley walls. Addams had wedged his arm between Katarina's teeth, the horseshoes acting as light armor to protect his flesh and bone from her savage bite. The only blood that resulted from this entry had been drawn by Katarina, as Addams' palm bled along her lip and chin.

Uncrooking his arm, he began to slide the open end of the "U" shaped iron down his arm, and over Katarina's molars, prying her mouth open further. She tried to bite down on it, and resist its continued pressure on her jaw, but it inevitably reached the end of her teeth, and rested on the gums just behind her wizened teeth. With her bite strength cut in more than half, Addams had no trouble pulling back his arm, extending it along Katarina's opposite cheek, and restraining the other side of her mouth. When that portion of his task was done, he stepped back, as Katarina shook her head and swung her face, vainly attempting to dislodge the steel from the back of her teeth, her mouth gaping and a panicked moan escaping her.

Bodry came from behind Katarina, his ministrations having ceased some time ago, and placed a booted foot in the middle of Katarina's chest, his fingers gripping the new rope around her shoulders. With a handful of the length in his grasp, he heaved his weight against Katarina's already contorted back, causing her to scream, but slackening the rope just enough for him to pull it up over her head. But rather than pull it over her head, he held it just above Katarina's open mouth before stepping back, and allowing gravity to do the rest. As Katarina's back relaxed, her weight fell forward, and the lasso tightened around her head, suspending her weight still, but now with the added benefit of holding the horseshoes more tentatively in place.

Finally looking over to Beth, Bodry, nudged his companion and gave him the brief command, "Finish up the preparations. I'll take care of this one." And with that he handed Addams a length of rope, and a pair of pliers...

 

[Gothwolf86]

Although still, practically drunken; Beth watched the preceedings with frowning fascination.

Why's Bodry in the train car? She wondered, wordlessly, inclining her head to see better. Her wonder turned to shock, and then anger, as she watched Katarina hauled back, her back arching so violently.
Beth tugged her arms at her restraints; arms swelling as her muscles fought against the impossibly strong bonds,

She roared, voice hoarse with effort, still unable to loosen the ties that bound her so firmly. Latent fear still dwelled at the back of her mind, and though she tried to use that to drive her onwards, and further her struggles, it was simply no use. The harsh, gritty textured rope around her arms and legs would not give an inch. Realising that struggling was futile, she instead, attempted to shuffle, and found that she could.

Ungainly it may have been, but to find that she could still move was a huge confidence boost to the drowsy, enraged woman, and she put every effort into shambling forwards.
'J....just... hold on!' She growled, words slurred, drool running from the corners of her mouth; 'I...I...I've got this, Katar'na.'

She had barely moved a few feet when she saw that Addams was striding towards her. She noticed, vaguely that blood ran off his hand,
She halted, and puffed out her already impressive chest, gritting her teeth, and, as best as possible in her uneven state; glared down at Addams, although it was hard to tell where he was precisely; due to the fact that one minute there were two of him, and the next, there wasn't.

Beth shook her head; trying to shake loose the last cloying remnants of whatever was in that tranquiliser dart.
'Just you... don't chu dare touch me!' she yelled, at Addams. She loomed a good two heads taller than the stocky man, but with her limbs bound, she knew that her chances were not good. She could, she thought; fall over on him though...

 

[Relent<]

((To verify, It's Bodry that's approaching Beth, and Addams who is staying with Katarina to finish the "surgical preparations." Incidentally, I'm keeping the next few posts fairly light while I wait on this potentially new player.))

Bodry eyed Beth quizically, cocking his head to one side as she slurred and spattered nonsense in an attempt to intimidate him. As he had with Katarina, or any large beast for that matter, he began to circle her, allowing the constraints of her bondage to create blindspots and gaps in her mobility potentials for him to exploit as needed. He still carried a rifle, though his surgical bag still lay by Katarina.

When he finally had positioned himself behind Beth, he levered the butt of his rifle between her ankles, and heaving it to the side like a crowbar, twisted Beth's restraints until her feet were spayed like a penguins, and then with a gentle push he knocked her to the ground.
"You're very stubborn, even with enough sedative in you to drop a horse twice your weight. I suppose it's a lucky thing that there's nothing you can do so long as you're tied. But I regret to say that I've not been left with a lot of options in dealing with you." He placed his boot on the small of her back, leaning over his knee with his rifle across his lap.

"Addams, have you finished up over there?" He called to his companion, who had just finished wrapping several more lengths of rope around Katarina's jaws, holding her tongue out with the pliers as the rope formed a vice between either set of teeth and her tongue, pinning it like a speared snake as it wriggled and struggled against the cold metal tool. The rope had been wrapped thickly enough to fill her mouth, the pressure tight enough to suspend her jaws even without the added assistance of the horseshoes. He'd also gone so far as to tie a few lengths at either side of her nose, over the top of her head, and attach them to the ropes around her mouth, forcing her to hold her head still while the following ministrations were completed. As she'd gradually become more and more helpless, terror had begun to sink in, and her heart raced so thunderously that Bodry could almost hear it from where he stood.
As Addams placed a boot against Katarina's stomach, and pulled a final knot from the ropes behind her that he'd attached to the ropes around her torso to arch her head back, he nodded to Bodry who returned his attentions to Beth.

"As a native of this country, you don't have the benefit of being too stupid to be silenced in such a simple way as Katarina. I suppose we'll just have to cripple you completely...Make it look like some manner of accident..."

 

[Gothwolf86]

Beth capsized with all the grace of a felled tree; striking the gravel hard. The pain was nulled by the receding effects of the tranquilizer, but she felt the hot moistness of blood running across her forehead; and tasted copper in her mouth.

She vaguely registered the pressure on her back, and Bodry's words found her ears; slow, cloying and muted.
'Y...you'll no....' She squirmed under Bodry with a grunt; and finished; 'cripp...cripp... hurt me.'

She bucked suddenly, enough to catch Bodry off guard; but it was little use, and did no more than temporarily stagger the man. Beth managed to tilt her head back and took a look up at Katarina. The way in which she was bound; those... myriad ropes, snaking and tense across her skin, were horrifying for Beth to behold.
The redhead's heart rushed and swelled in her ears; a horrible; whorling sound; pulsing as she felt her jaw beginning to set in anger.

'T...there'll... buh, be a place in... hell fer...you, Bodry.' she growled.