12363- Eight Months Ago
Eight months previously
Wesley threw himself at the door to his cell over and over again, a resounding clang going down the hall as the padlock bounced against the metal door. It wasn't giving an inch, yet he tried anyway.
He and his gang were caught in Humber.
He would rather have been caught in Montevia.
Montevian knights didn't take liberties with captured females.
The others of his men who were in the same cell as him sat forlornly against the wall, watching him fruitlessly try to escape. They had tried to help the first hour, but the door held. Their wives were in danger as well, but not as much as Buttercup. Humbernians made it a point to break any pirate leader's wife first. Wesley was obviously getting tired from hitting the door again and again.
He stopped to catch his breath and scowled heavily at the barred door. They hadn't heard what was going on outside their prison, but they all knew. Wesley knew.
His wife was being taken against her will, and he could do nothing about it. At least, not as he was. His men saw the determination in his eyes and backed away in fear.
Wesley bit his wrist, not even feeling the pain as he tore off a chunk of skin. He just knew that he had to get to her. He was raising the bleeding wrist to drip in his eyes when the door came off its hinges. He stared in surprise at the man who moved the heavy door as if it were simply an archer's shield.
"Why didn't you do that earlier?" the man asked with his head tilted.
Wesley blinked, lowering his wrist as he saw a head peep from behind his shoulder.
"Buttercup."
She nodded hesitantly and scooted around her brother without touching him to run into Wesley's arms. He held her tight but kept his focus on the man he had only met once before.
Gone was the wandering knight symbol. Gone was whatever made his eyes brown, and now present was a crown of horns. Also present was blood dripping from slight claws on his fingers and sprayed all over his body.
Buttercup squeezed Wesley tight and sobbed into his chest.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
Buttercup's brother gestured and walked away. Wesley was in no mood to follow, but anywhere was better than the cell. He picked up his sobbing wife and held her bridal style.
"We are going to get out of here, Buttercup. I swear."
She nodded, still sobbing. Wesley walked out and found the wister in the front lobby of the prison, carving into the stomach of a man tied to the wall. The man's voice was hoarse, making him only able to let out low groans. Another man hung naked on another wall, and a third was muttering and trying to free himself from a simple ankle restraint connected to a third wall. The second looked in as bad, if not worse, a shape as the first, and the third looked scarred but currently unharmed.
"I'm going to kill you when you come near, you damned curious wister," the third threatened.
The wister pulled out something red and squishy from the man's stomach. "Is this the spleen or liver?"
"I'm not helping you!" the scarred man yelled.
Wesley finally found his voice, pressing his wife's face into his shoulder and away from the gruesome scene.
"What in the name of all that shines are you doing?"
The wister looked at him and gestured to the one he wasn't messing with. "Would you have rather I left his penis down your wife's throat as this one tore at her clothes?"
Buttercup cried harder. Wesley's mouth opened and closed like a dumbstruck fish.
"Would you not have done the same if you had managed to become a rage wister as you seemed intent on doing?"
The man whose spleen Finch was holding passed out from pain. Wesley swallowed bile, hearing some of his men behind him retch.
"I would rather get out and to safety now."
The wister nodded and dropped the spleen. "How long will these two take to die?"
He ran over to the scarred man and avoided a swipe at his head by the man's sword as he unfettered him.
"Hunter, will you—"
"Yes! Just shut up and get out of my sight!"
The scarred man threw a dart, but the wister disappeared before it could hurt him. The scarred man glared at the moving door before switching his glare to Wesley. He threw a ring of keys that landed at Wesley's feet.
"Get all your men and meet me in the courtyard. I'll get you out. Just don't let me near that wife of yours right now."
Wesley quickly kicked the keys to the least sick-looking man. "Do as he said. Try to avoid this place."
He went straight to the courtyard, only knowing where it was because he had been led past it on his way into the cell, rather dragged to his cell kicking and screaming. The scarred man stood in the courtyard, hands balled into fists and breathing heavily. Now that Wesley wasn't as overcome by the gore-filled sight, he noticed the wandering symbol tucked under the man's simple leather breastplate.
"What is a Wanderer doing with an obvious wister?"
The man shot a glare at him. "Have you not heard? He's the king of Montevia, and the whole damn reason we are at war."
Wesley nodded slowly. "I had heard, but I thought the rumors were exaggerated. The Wister King was supposed to be a legend, not my wife's brother."
Hunter's glare settled on the shaking woman in Wesley's arms. "Well, too bad. He's as real as it gets. You should check her for injury."
Wesley nodded and gently set her down. She wouldn't let go of him.
"Buttercup, let go," he whispered.
She shook her head.
"You're safe, my flower." He kissed the top of her head. "Let me check on you."
She slowly let go, sitting up with tears streaming down her face. He cupped her face and wiped at her tears before leaning forward and capturing her lips in a reassuring kiss.
"No matter what, I still love you."
She shuddered and nodded, looking down. He didn't want to make her talk, so he glared up at the wanderer.
"Turn around."
He did as told.
"When we arrived, she had not yet been exposed. They were holding her down and enjoying a strip tease, so I don't think she was raped."
Wesley scowled at his back and trailed kisses along the paths his hands took as he searched for injury. She relaxed bit by bit in the minute it took him to check. He pulled off his own shirt and covered her in it to hide the tears in her clothing. Soon after, all the men and their wives were gathered in the courtyard. Wesley helped Buttercup stand and looked to the wanderer.
"Well? How are we getting out?"
The wanderer hadn't stopped scowling. He spoke at normal level, "Finch, we are ready."
It was a bright, sunny day, so all the men cowered as a blast like thunder shook the ground, a plume of fire going up to the north. Wesley stared but not for long. The wanderer was already running to the south. He ran after him, helping Buttercup along. The other men did the same. They ran south as the inhabitants of the city ran north. No one paid them much more than a cursory glance, the women scared, the men rushing to put out the fire, and the children running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
The pirates followed the wanderer away from the city and into cattle land. They stopped at a watering hole, where they found Finch floating on his back.
The wanderer grabbed a nearby cow patty and threw it at the wister, who let it hit his face. And then licked at the gunk on his lips.
"Would Ri be disgusted with me?" he asked before going underwater.
The wanderer sighed and rubbed the back of his head. The wister shot out of the water at a dead sprint. The wanderer cursed and snapped out two balls attached by a rope and threw it at the wister's feet. Finch fell and rolled a good ten feet on the ground.
"You see what I have to deal with?" The wanderer exclaimed. "If you try to escape one more time, I'm not going to let you wake up next time you have to sleep!"
The wister got up and dusted himself off, smearing mud on his plain clothes. He walked back over.
Wesley had been watching all of this with a sense of unease. There were very few reasons the king of Montevia would leave a war he was fighting just to rescue his sister and a band of pirates.
"What do you want?"
Those freaky eyes locked on him, one five colors, the other two shades of blue. "Rianna Vigo. Any other questions?"
"No, what do you want with us?"
"Why would a king want to rescue pirates?"
"Yes, that is what I am asking."
Finch pointed at Buttercup. The wanderer threw a dagger at his king. The wister caught it.
"What would you want if our situations were reversed?"
"Shut up, Finch!" the wanderer yelled. "You are getting on my nerves! And I won't continue helping you if you don't stop being vague!" He stomped over to Wesley and held out a letter. "He wrote this when he was more sane, but it still doesn't read well."
Wesley took it with caution and opened it, reading it out loud to his wife,
"Wesley and company, I have done calculations and my country can't defeat Humber's capital on our own because by then the soldiers will be exhausted while they have fresh soldiers that have been training while we have been moving and I do not think I will be sane enough to take on an entire city by myself. I ask that you help me smuggle weapons that I bought from Decauter into Humber's capital via the underground tunnels and distribute them to my men once they are falsely surrendered to King Kioten. I will help as much as I can but I will be deteriorating by then because I am separated from my obsession and I believe I will do so at a rate I cannot calculate based on my experiments. I apologize if I do anything odd because I will not have very much control of myself and if my lower level eye changes color tie me down and if I start talking to my wife that isn't there tie me down and if I try to run to the desert please catch me because I'm trying to take care of her people as she wanted me to."
His eyes scanned over the rest, which was random scribbles of Rianna's name. He looked up at the wister, who was digging into the ground.
"What do we get out of this?"
Finch looked up. "Montevian citizenship, a noble title for the name Roberts, and a thousand coin for each pirate in your crew. Do I need to lessen it? Would she approve? How are you, Buttercup?"
She nodded and whispered, "No, most likely, and better than before. Why did you do that to them?"
"Did you know Rianna was raped? No? You weren't at our wedding, were you? Did you know I sent Rey to his death? How much worse would I have done to him than those men if I could?"
"You almost sound like you understand revenge," the wanderer muttered.
"Who taught me that?"
"You're right. So, is the dread pirate Roberts up to the Wister King's task?"
Wesley looked down at his wife and then at his men. His musings were interrupted as Buttercup jolted in his arms. He looked down to find her brother on his knees, his ear pressed to her stomach.
"Did you know that infants have a heartbeat before the mother realizes they are there?"
Wesley paled. "Wait, you're saying we're pregnant?"
Those predator eyes looked up at him. "She is. Are you?"
Buttercup clung to Wesley. Wesley blinked a few times before clearing his throat. A baby. They would have a baby soon.
"How long is that task?"
"Seven to twelve months long. Does this affect your answer?"
Wesley looked at Buttercup, who was now smiling slightly.
"If you take her to safety, then we will take your task."
"And all our wives," another pirate added.
Finch stood and somersaulted backwards, missing kicking his sister by a hair. He landed and spun around before stopping.
"How far is the closest Montevian held city?"
The wanderer glared at him. "That means yes."
"Then we're in."
Where is my wife?