He stepped back a couple of steps. "You and your voice, you and your words, your daydreaming, your prophecies, all of it evil. And then, you had a daughter, who looked like your twin. When she first came to us, I thought that you had finally changed your ways. But no, it turns out that she was really your daughter, and your grandson, that beast, was to destroy the world. And you killed them. Tell me, Gabrielle, did you kill her because she wasn’t evil enough?"

As he talked, she managed to untie one of the knots. She knew she had to keep him talking.

"Do you really hate me that much? If I’m so evil, why didn’t you kill me when I was born?"

"Because Hecuba loved you. Of course, she didn’t have a choice, she is your mother after all."

"And you are my father." Herodotus gave another cackle. He stepped toward Gabrielle.

"So you want your father to love you? Is that it?" He stood nose to nose with her. Gabrielle tried to push herself into the tree. Lust and hatred met fear and sadness as he savagely took her lips. She tried to scream and he forced himself on her more. She lifted her knee with all the force she could mustered, and connected with his groin. As he doubled over in pain, she managed to get herself free. She started to run, but he made a swipe with his arm and tripped her. Her head connected solidly with the ground as she fell. She slowly rose up, but the dizziness and her lost of blood only allowed her to rise to her knees.

Herodotus recovered, and knocked her fully to the ground. He backhanded her twice. The cut above her temple began to bleed again. She could feel as he pinned her arms above her head. She lifted her legs and threw him off of her, but the force was not strong enough for him to let go of her arms. He quickly straddled her and punched her in the face. As the darkness overcame her, she could feel him on top of her, forcing himself into her.

 ********

"It looks like he went off the road right here. He sure didn’t try to cover his tracks, did he?"