Friends comes in the oddest shapes
The handiwork of her own son disgusted the old witch. How could he be in possession of so much violence? Sure, she loved her son above everything in the world and she was sure everything he did was for a reason. But why this? Why had he maimed this man when he knew the sacred treasure he carried? How could he risk his own future like that? And how could he hurt someone that looked so much like him?
She spent a lot of time nursing the broken man in the bed. Half the time he didn't even notice she was there. He had the kind of deserted look she once had seen on a dying old man. She changed his bandages, gave him freshly made elixirs for the pain, fed him and helped him urinate when he needed that seldom service. She had to keep him alive, for the baby's sake. She checked every day for signs of life from the little one and got them, to her great relief. Her son seemed to have lost all interest for the wizard. He never asked how he was doing, he never went to see for him self and when she tried to talk to him about it he turned his back to her and walked away. But if he didn't know what was best for him at least she did. This baby was going to be born, no matter the cost.
*-*
Two weeks later Severus took his first, stumbling steps out of bed. His wounds were healing well, the witch was a talented nurse. But she could do nothing to the pain in his mind. He couldn't shut out the dreadful loneliness. And the little boy inside him wanted him to end it all. He'd been through so much already, he wouldn't survive another attack like this.. But he couldn't. He had a task, he was the protector of an unborn life. It was still alive, he could feel it moving almost all the time now and he'd grown considerably round the waist considering he'd been in bed for fourteen days and ate less than before. The jacket didn't fit him anymore and even the loose shirt was starting to stick to his body. Thankfully he could still fit in his pants, they had a low waist and would probably fit him through the whole pregnancy, and he'd brought one of his dressing gowns from Hogwarts just in case he would stumble into something where formal clothing were needed. Now it became his one and only maternity robe.
Every hour, every living minute he feared the beast that had done this to him would come charging through the door and do it all over again. The only reason he kept moving was to heal faster and to get some strength back into his body. Although he'd nearly been broken, the Sheriff hadn't managed to kill the old stubbornness that made him the wizard he was. The little boy had to wait, now he had to get out of here, somehow. He had to wait for an opportunity, and he had to keep a low profile. Thank god the witch didn't se him fit to teach for the time being. If he was lucky the Sheriff would forget all about him. Somehow he doubted it, though.
*-*
Patience is a virtue and the potions master knew all about it. He waited, he kept out of arms way and prepared. The Sheriff had paid him a couple of visits and it seemed equally painful for both men. The Sheriff looked shameful and he tried with his gentlest of voices to smooth things out between them. Severus kept his distance to the man as much as he could and as much as he dared. He never hesitated answering questions anymore and thankfully the Sheriff never mentioned the.. incident. The finest, most delicious food were brought to his quarters and he even got the offer to have a walk in the cherry garden every day in the morning, followed by a guard of course. Severus accepted all offers and tried to act and look grateful to the man he wished dead.
>The only thing keeping me sane right now is the lust to be the one watching you draw your last breath!> And as the wounds on his body slowly mended Severus felt the need to escape this place more and more.
>He'll wait until I think I'm safe, and then he'll do it all over again just to prove to me who's my master.> But no one was the master of Severus Snape and he intended to keep it that way. And while he waited his body grew with him. Severus savoured no feelings for the stranger occupying his body other than the need to protect it from harm. He'd never considered having kids of his own, they were loud and irritating and besides, no woman found anything remotely attractive in him or his appearance. To picture himself as a father was absolutely ludicrous. He had nothing to offer a child! He had no clue what so ever on how to raise them, feed them, and care for them.. Even his father the werewolf would be considered a better parent. But he had no choice in the matter of carrying the baby to term, and what would happen then he didn't know. He had no knowledge of pregnancy curses powerful enough to impregnate a man, and if this particular curse came with a solution for the actual birth- he didn't know. But he couldn't worry about that now, that was waaay ahead in time. Now his main job was to stay alive, and when the opportunity arose, escape.
*-*
He couldn't believe he'd spent over six months in this stinking hellhole. And better yet, survived. To the captured wizard's great relief the Sheriff seemed to have little time to spare for the time being, caused by Robin Hood's many raids the last weeks. This meant he was seldom home, and when he returned he didn't have the energy to beat up defenceless servants or wizards, he just went straight to bed with the nearest whore who did the job of shagging him willingly. This way he saved all the energy he'd normally use in slapping someone around to next day's hunt for the Sherwood fox. And that left many anxious souls breathing a little lighter, as their days became a little safer.
The past month his stomach was starting to resemble an out of control bun dough, and to think he had three more months to go… By the end of this he would be big as a house, and this was a problem he had to consider in his plan.
>It's already uncomfortable walking, how will it be if I need to run?>
He was already starting to get slowed down by his growing abdomen and if he waited another month before he tried to escape it would be too late. Therefore he awoke to every new day with his senses in high gear, just in case this was the day he would get his chance.
*-*
The opportunity presented itself at the breakfast table one day the Sheriff in one of his better moods decided Severus was to join him and his mother. He had started to send Severus those.. looks again and the wizard found it most unnerving. And he was uncomfortable with the bulk on his belly that made him look like the Sheriff's fat brother.
He was halfway through his meal, the nausea finally seemed to have stopped hunting him in the mornings now, when a messenger came storming into the room like his ass was on fire.
"Sire, I bring news from Sir Robin of Loxley! He wants a meeting!" The Sheriff spat out his breakfast and jumped to his feet with a murderous expression in his face. Severus who was the lucky man who ended up with the Sheriff's half chewed food in his face was silently wondering if it was considered impolite to wipe his face.
"The nerve of that bastard!" the Sheriff hissed and dried his mouth with the tablecloth: "Where and when!"
"Right now, by the old tavern!" the messenger replied fearfully.
"Mother, escort Snape back to his quarters when you're finished, and YOU," he said, addressing the only servant present: "Saddle up my horse!" And then he ran out the hall with the messenger boy hot on his heals.
The witch was the next one to get to her feet. She had a hasty look at Severus before she seemed to make up her mind.
"Go up to your quarters when you're finished, you hear?! I need to do something!" And so she disappeared like a fluttering old bat up the stairway leading up to the east wing. Severus knew she was fond of guessing the future through her crystal orb, and he guessed she was anxious to know if her son would succeed in catching Loxley this time. That left only Severus in the dining hall, and a golden opportunity.
Thanks to the Sheriff he knew exactly where to go to get to the stable. Like a shadow he crept through the halls, his senses in high alert. Luckily most of the guards were called out to catch Robin and the servants were busy cleaning the many bedrooms of the castle at this time of the day, so Severus had the halls for himself. By the entrance to the stable Severus waited for a minute and listened. Leading to the stables there was a little room where some of the Sheriff's finest saddles where stored, it was a dark room where Severus easily could hide in the dark. But first he had to make sure there was no one in there. He heard voices at the end of the hall and new he would have to be quick. The ones the voices belonged to might come wandering down the hallway and find him here any minute.
He listened for a while until he decided it had to be safe and was just about to open the door and sneak in when a side door suddenly opened on his left. He had waited too long and now he was caught, even before he'd tried to make a run for it! Out the door a small figure came with haste in its steps and Severus recognised her immediately. Her bruises seemed to have healed well, the potions master wasn't the only one who'd escaped the Sheriff's needy hands lately.
She stopped the second she saw him, fear screaming from her every pore. And why shouldn't she? She looked straight into a face that had never shown her any mercy or kindness. The voices seemed closer now. The girl's duty was to report him to the guards. If she didn't and later was discovered not doing so she would be beaten to death, it was that simple. And now she was standing there with a petrified expression on her face, her breaths shallow and scared. She reflected every trace in Severus' face down to the begging eyes. Severus just waited for her to scream so it would be over with quickly. How could she not report the man wearing this hated face? She had every right to scream up, to destroy his chance of freedom for the pity sake she might save her own life doing so. And he wouldn't blame her for doing so. In an intense moment they just stared at each other, and then she lifted her tiny hand and brushed some of Severus' fingers. Big blue eyes wished him good luck without words, then she turned and walked away from him. Severus' heart ached for her.
He managed to slide through the door just in time before the guards rounded the corner and stumbled right on top of him. He hid in a dark corner in the small, leather-smelling room like a vampire waiting to strike. Patience embossed his every feature. He had waited for a chance for so long and now finally it was here. He didn't dare to stay here any longer, the Sheriff was too dangerous, and strolling along the very edge of sanity he could snap any second. He would regret murdering him, of that Severus was certain, but that wouldn't be much of a comfort to Severus who would be dead. And his mood swings were getting more and more long lasting, and Severus had sworn that he would rather take his own life than to end up in the Sheriff's bedchamber again. He could hear voices from the other side of the wall, it sounded like men saddling up their horses and leaving in great haste. Five minutes later he heard no more sound from people in the stable and carefully he opened the door to see. The stables were deserted, except from a very few horses that were left behind. The main gate leading out into the courtyard had been left open by the hasty retreat of guards and the Sheriff himself.
With swift, determined steps his feet carried him to the very paddock he'd visited once before. Shadow was left behind and Severus knew why, the Sheriff hadn't managed to break him in yet. One might wonder what exactly made the wizard choose this precise horse. He had no riding skills what so ever, he hadn't touched a horse since he was a small boy and back then they petrified him. Now he slowly opened the paddock where the fiercest beast he'd ever encountered without a wand was locked up and had no idea why.
>He's like me, somehow.>
The black stallion backed away as it saw who was coming, and Severus could tell why. It believed the man that was trying to tame him had returned and that he now was going to teach him another lesson. A nervous, spiteful neigh broke the silence, hot air was steaming out of the horse's nostrils and he stamped his hoofs against the sawdust- coated floor. It was telling Severus.. no the Sheriff to stay away from him. The wizard took one step into the paddock. Spite the danger of the horse kicking him with one of his front hoofs he stood still. Not saying anything, just staring at the stallion with the long, curling mane, giving him the chance to discover that the face was the only thing he and the Sheriff had in common.
Intelligent black eyes gazed on him, and the horse slowly settled down. Still suspicious, but calmer. He searched the man standing in front of him, felt the power running through the man like an untamed river. This wasn't the monster that came at him with sticks that denied him his natural urge to move and to run, unless he would accept to carry the man on his back. This was another man. He looked the same, but he smelled different and he could see he was kept in captivity much like him self. And he carried a great burden, the stallion could feel it. This man was just. He was a worthy master.
And in that moment the champion stallion given the name Shadow and the potions master by the name Severus Snape tied a very special bond. Mutual respect were exchanged between the two. Together they had a chance for freedom, and they both knew it. Shadow, the horse that had not allowed anyone on his back in his entire life had found his master and showed him so by brushing his muzzle against his stomach. Severus simply nodded to the horse and started to release him from the ropes tying him. He had let the horse come to him, he had shown him he wasn't like his evil mirror image, and now they both had signed a soundless pact to get out of here together.
Severus had no time to saddle the horse and bridle him, nor did he know how to. And how to even get up on the horses back was a problem he hadn't foreseen. He was in no shape to jump, and even if he would have been his stomach would have weighed him down.
"It seems I didn't think of that little detail my new friend," he sighed as he loosened the last rope. As it understood perfectly the horse went out of the paddock and stopped besides a small stool placed by the side of the wall. Severus followed him with a surprised look on his face.
>This stallion isn't only fair, he's wise as well!> Even with the stool to help it wasn't an easy task to climb Shadow's back. But the horse had the patience of an angel and stood perfectly still as Severus clumsily entered his back. The wizard even had time to cling to the horse's mane before it started walking towards the exit.
"Through the village and to the forest," Severus whispered. Shadow neighed curtly as to tell him he understood. The streets were probably swarming with the Sheriff's men, and they would have no problem recognising both Severus and the stallion. Their best chance would be to make a run for it. Severus didn't even need to tell the horse this or instruct him in any way. And of that he was truly grateful, for he had more than enough to hang on.
The sound of galloping hoofs on the stone. A mass of black thundering down the village street, fleeing for the forest. On the streets people stopped in their chores, their conversations and daily business, as the black cloud stormed by. No one caught the face of the stranger with the billowing cloak, but there were no doubt in their hearts this man was on the run.
*-*
At the tavern by the end of the village a mighty pissed Sheriff was starting to understand that Robin Loxley was a no show. How could he have been so blind?? It was so obvious when you first looked at it. By ordering all his men to come with him to the meeting place the Sheriff had opened every door for Robin Hood and his plunderers.
Right now he was probably back at the castle or something equally yielding, robbing him blind. He was about to order his men to break up when the sound of galloping hoofs reached his ears and interest. And into his view a very familiar horse came storming down towards him on it's back a very familiar looking shape…
Fury beyond anything he'd felt in his entire life exploded in his body and mind as he recognised the two figures. A madness threatening to suffocate any reasonable thinking made him roar in anger as he started the hunt.
*-*
Severus had never ridden a horse in his life, and the experience was anything but pleasant. He had nothing to hold on to except for Shadow's mane, and his curving stomach didn't apply to the shaking sensation at all. The horse tried its best to run smoothly for his new master, but it sensed the man wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer. The wizard could see the forest now. In there he could hide if he were lucky, die more probably. Just a few hundred meters and they would be on the open field. A furious cry made him cold with dread, and then he saw him, at a white horse by a bridge and a small brick house, probably the tavern.
"Run, Shadow.. run!" Severus gasped into the stallion's ears. The horse quickened its pace making it even harder for the man on its back to hold on. It made a sharp left and ran into a small alley. A hundred paces and he would pass the gate and run into the snow- covered fields where he could outrun any horse, with his back free, that was.. The Sheriff's angry cries made the wizard's soul freeze with fear as sharp images of what the man would do to him if he was caught flickered before his eyes. He was about five hundred horse paces behind now, and closing.
"Faster, faster!" he urged the glistening black stallion, which obliged in a heartbeat. Faster, faster.. the trees in the horizon were growing slow, too slow.. They would never make it. Still they both went on. None of them wanted to give in to despair, to give up hope. After all, a small fragment of hope was the only thing both of them had left in their beating hearts. Some creatures don't do well in captivity, and in years to come people would remember the sight of the two- showing them how they wouldn't stop fighting even when all hope seemed lost. And behind them a screaming man and his footmen where closing in by every second, the man in the lead with murder in his eyes.
Life is not fair to some. And now the wizard was out of luck. It was a miracle he'd lasted as far as he'd come with the bulging stomach protesting every unwelcome move, and his body suffering from a weakness now making his heart starting to protest to the strain it was put upon. He closed his eyes as the chase continued, let Shadow lead the way and concentrated on one thing only, to hang on. A sharp pain in his lower abdomen made his hand instinctively race to the aching spot to ease the pain. The horse sensed his pain and slowed down, afraid the one he carried might fall off if it continued in this pace. Behind them their chasers yelled with renewed energy, getting closer and closer.
"No.. don't slow...down, don't let them catch... me..." Severus moaned, still grasping the aching part of his body. He was starting to get sick and he was afraid he would vomit all over the delicate black back of which he was seated. Shadow hesitated. He was torn between the urge to run, flee for his life and the urge to protect and serve his newfound master. And now his master asked him to run faster even if that meant he would hurt more. And then he understood. The man on his back would rather die trying to escape then die in the hands of the Sheriff, the dark man. He obeyed his master's wish with a heavy heart as he felt the grasp of Severus' remaining hand around his mane getting weaker.
A cramp roared through his body with such heat Severus lost control over the last fingers entangled in the silk black mass of thick mane. He had the oddest sensation of flying before he crashed down to the ground, only cushioned by ten centimetres of snow. His left hip was the unfortunate to suffer the hardest blow as he landed on his side and got the wind knocked out of him. No! This wasn't happening. But he could hear the stallion stop and turn around with a fearful neigh as he understood he'd lost his companion.
>All is lost.. and he's coming back to me! He knows there's no hope and still he comes back for me!> Severus, in his ache and fear of the Sheriff's coming punishment forgot his problems for a moment solely to the heroism by a simple horse. Blinding pain in his hip and lungs that seemed to have forgotten their task in life.
"Run.. Shadow... Run.. now!" he muttered through gritted teeth. He didn't want this magnificent creature sacrificing his life for him.
>Save your self! For pity's sake, leave me while you still can!> The sound of approaching hoofs in snow, ten folds of them. Severus arched his way up on his knees, waving his arms for Shadow to run away before it was to late. The horse slowed down, then stopped. Black, shining eyes gazing into Severus' equally dark eyes. Again an agreement were made between them, the horse turned around and ran, as fast as it could, into the woods. The black clad man found little comfort in the cold snow as his deadly enemy approached him with a face wrenched in anger and pain. Five men thundered by Severus' frozen body, following the horse on the Sheriff's order.
The Sheriff stepped off his white horse in a deadly silence. Behind him another ten men on horseback lined up. Severus looked up as he was approached. He was a poor sight, with clothes and hair bathing in sweat and his face contorted with pain from the bruised hip. Before his inner eye a glimpse of needy hands all over his body made him revolt in disgust and despair. If he'd had a potion to make his heart stop beating and save him... from what was coming... the vial would have embraced his lips in one final and deadly embrace by now. The man standing over him started to pace around, fury steaming from every pore in his body. Then he suddenly went down on his knees besides his pregnant twin tugging him so close their noses brushed as he screamed the word:
"BETRAYAL!!" Severus closed his eyes as the rain of spit hit his face like acid. The man who now had a firm grip of the wizard's robe started to shake him back and forth:
You betrayed me!" he roared: "My own face, my own body!!!" Severus couldn't help the shiver running through his body.
>Have mercy, kill me now.. Don't haul me back into that... chamber... Kill me now, I beg you.> A sudden flash of the Sheriff standing naked in front of him, erect. The shaking became more brutal, the Sheriff's voice came close to hysteria:
"I trusted you! I gave you everything! And this is how you repay me?! I should kill you!" The pressure... the pressure... the memory of the unforgivable. How he longed to die right now, on this very spot. How he longed for the Sheriff to let his hands caress his throat the way he had caressed his body a couple of weeks ago. How he longed for the Sheriff to squeeze until there was no life left in his twin's black eyes, until he was free again. Then something happened that Severus wouldn't, couldn't have imagined. The Sheriff's angry face shattered into a million pieces and tears started flowing down his face.
"Why did you leave, wasn't I good enough for you? How could you betray me after all that I've done for you?? My dear, the bearer of my unborn..." He leaned backwards, away from the crying man tugging his robe, and did little to hide his repulsion towards the sobbing man in front of him.
"Get. Away. From. Me..." he whispered, too revolted to consider what was wise or not. He just wanted this piece of filth off him. Then a sharp kick in his rib made him once more aware of the life he'd sworn to protect.
>I can't do this.. too much.. no hope...> He wanted to scream, he wanted Albus here so he could tell him how much he hated him right now for leaving him here with this monster and an undoable task. He wanted to bounce to his feet as he once had been able to, and more than anything he wanted to show the pitiful creature with his face who the REAL Severus Snape was. He would make him shiver and bow down in fear, he would make him eat his own filth so he could feel and taste his own stench. And everything he'd ever done against another human being would be done to him, through the power of Severus' wand. Death would be too easy.
But he had a life to protect. And with a trembling voice Severus spoke up:
"Remember what I carry and that it's life is fragile! If you want the seat of the throne of which you lust so badly you can't kill me." The Sheriff rose to his feet as he dried his tears with the back of his hand, mumbling for himself. A gaze strafed Severus before the man turned and mounted his horse, and the wizard knew he would die after the life he carried within his body was born, or sooner- if the Sheriff found an excuse...
"Spare the stomach and the face," the Sheriff ordered his men before he slowly rode away.
*-*
The forest has many eyes. And on this particular day the hunt on the field caught the interest of a pair of sharp ones. Wolf Little, Little John's eldest son was out hunting deer in the forest of which the rotten Sheriff claimed to be his, as well as everything else around the area. The sound of closing hoofs in snow and the yells of many men made him at first believe they were on to him and that he was the one they were hunting. Then, after climbing a tree, well hidden and out of reach, he could see the man and the horse heading for the forest.
All the black was an odd contrast to the white snow, and they were too far away for the boy to make out the face of the person riding the horse. He noticed, though, how the person, a man most likely, had a hand to his side as if he was in pain. He had to be in pain. No man with such poor riding-skills would ride bareback and use only one of his arms to hold tight. He was dressed in clothes made of a fabric and in a style the boy had never seen before. The billowing cloak stood out like a sail behind him making the boy think of old ghost stories his father used to tell around the campfire at night. Some two hundred horse paces from the tree line the man on the horse threw his head back, mouthed a soundless scream and fell to the ground. The boy could see how he struggled around in the snow, the horse which returned for his master and the chasers getting mercilessly closer and closer. There was no time for the stranger to climb the horse and escape, he seemed to be in a fair amount of pain and he didn't even try to get on his feet, he just waved at the horse.
And then the strangest thing happened. It was like time slowed down as the black companions exchanged gazes. Even from where he sat, Wolf could feel the power and magic in that moment. The moment was over as sudden as it had shot down from the sky. The black stallion turned around and ran, leaving the man in the snow, like they just had made some sort of deal. A couple of seconds later the men chasing the stranger had caught up with him, and still he made no effort to run or even move. He looked like he knew the end was coming.
A man on a white horse approached him, there was no doubt in Wolf's mind this was the dreaded Sheriff, while five, six other men followed the horse into the forest. Thankfully the black horse chose another path than the one leading straight by him, not that he thought its followers would notice him if it did, but he preferred to be on the safe side. Back on the field the Sheriff, more commonly known as "the bloated toad" in Wolf's community, now had stepped down from the horse and was pacing around and around, while talking frantically. Sadly Wolf was too far away to catch what he was saying, but still he had no problem sensing that the red-faced man was angry. The man in the snow still did no attempt to stand up, and from what Wolf's trained ears comprehended- kept his mouth shut. The boy in the tree watched as the Sheriff's rage evolved and the inevitable explosion came.
"Betrayal!!!" Wolf had no problem snatching that word, the Sheriff was screaming at the top of his lungs! And after that something more followed.. "my own body, my own blood…" What did that mean? And then the other man finally spoke up, or whispered- the boy could only see the man's lips move, but the effect was more than enough. The Sheriff let go of him, got to his feet and mounted his horse. He seemed to give his men some orders before he rode off, and the man dressed in black was beaten into a pulp, before he was dragged away.
The boy climbed down the tree as easily as a squirrel and snook back into the depths of the woods like a phantom with many unanswered questions in his young mind. Who was the stranger, why had he tried to escape, was he somehow able to talk with horses and why was the Sheriff so mad at him?
*-*
He could have cried of gratefulness to the two guards kicking him upwards the tower and into his old quarters. That would mean no dungeon, yet. The fact that he had been kicked and beaten senseless two- three times before he ended up back here again was erased from the memory thanks to this simple bliss. One severely bruised wizard collapsed down into his bed and welcomed the pitch dark folding out in front of his tired eyes. If tomorrow ever came he wouldn't think about it now, couldn't.
As night slowly crept by Severus slept, or was blissfully unconscious for his poor body and mind to try and patch him back together. But a man does not heal in one single night, and Severus was strolling along at the very edge of what a man can take, no matter his powers. Maybe his subconscious mind knew that if Severus woke up while the Sheriff sat by his bed, masturbating, he would loose what little will left to keep on fighting. Maybe his subconscious mind knew that the battered man didn't need one more dark night, chained and waiting for the beast to strike- as a silent figure bound his arms and legs to the bedposts, while panting heavily and mumbling about betrayal.
>I'll keep you alive. As long as your heart beats my mother is satisfied. And I… I'll have my reward in a couple of months, I'll be patient, and enjoy you… for now.> Faith works in mysterious ways, and for the poor man sleeping in his bed, right now was far away from the brutal reality that was his life.
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