Chapter 10

Adrienne ran back down the estate road in a desperate frenzy, knowing her very life depended upon getting away from the Vagnors and their evil control.

One of her shoes flew off and lay in the middle of the road, but rather than take the time to retrieve it, she ran on, discarding the other shoe as well.

Running barefoot on the cobblestones was not easy and with the initial surge of adrenalin gone, she was beginning to tire rapidly. Still, doggedly she ran with an occasional glance over her shoulder.

The lengthening shadows of the late afternoon were deep as the sun began disappearing behind the hills.

Adrienne listened as she ran, trying to determine if anyone was following, but with her own footsteps and pounding heart, she simply could not be sure.

Gasping for air and fighting the pain in her side, she forced one foot in front of the other, her pace slowed by near exhaustion.

A noise in the woods beside the road spurred her to new efforts. Could they have caught up so quickly? Surely not... yet...

The sunset faded and darkness began enveloping the road and woods.

Tears of pain and humiliation rained down her cheeks. She could not bring herself to believe what she had done, forced or not, in the last two days. Yet, it all now made a sort of perverted sense of the nightmares and lapses of memory.

There! Again a noise. Yes, she thought, footsteps back on the road behind her.

She tried to run faster, but her body was simply to the point it could no longer obey her frightened mind.

Her pace was little more than a fast walk, yet the sight of the main gate gave her renewed hope. Another fifty meters and she would be through it and onto the main road. From there she could walk or hitch a ride to the safety of the village.

She heard voices now. Clearly she was being pursued.

Adrienne almost stumbled as she neared the stone pillars which supported the massive gate. She paused only for the slightest moment to catch her breath, yet it was in that moment that a giant hulking figure stepped out of the shadows of the pillars to block her escape.

She knew it was Hugo, the largest of the brutes she had met yesterday. The sneer on his face told her exactly what he wanted.

Even though exhausted, she turned to run, only to find Franz and Andre, the other groundskeepers closing in from the other direction. Theirs were the footsteps and voices she had heard.

Her mind reeled. Freedom so near, only to be snatched away.

In desperation, she approached Hugo.

"Please," she pleaded, "you must help me! The Vagnors are evil people who have been doing terrible things to me!"

His long muscular arm went out and in two powerful downward sweeps, ripped the blouse and then the skirt from the stunned girl. His smile widened as he looked at the nude young body.

Her only thought now was getting through the gate. She lunged to get past him, but with a quickness which belied his size, his hand shot out and clutched her tightly.

Her scream was stifled as the other hand slapped her. Even though open-handed, the force of the blow knocked her unconscious.

Adrienne's knees buckled and with the ease of hefting a sack of meal, the giant flung the limp body across his shoulder.

Hugo and the other two quickly walked through the woods to a small clearing beside their quarters.

Adrienne moaned softly as she began to regain consciousness.