Author's notes: Thank you all so much for your reviews on my last story about Lottie. They were very encouraging and helped me make this second story about her. Not everything about Lottie has been revealed yet, but some clues are given to you in this story. Please let me know what you think of this story in a review and it will mean a great deal to me and hopefully inspire me to continue writing these stories. I do enjoy it a lot so far.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on Outlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story. Lottie is the only character that I have created.
Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: The fight lesson
"Sometimes you find yourself in situations where you ought to back down. However, you find that just can't do it. Your better sense abdicates and your pride wins its place on the golden throne. Perhaps the decisions you make in those situations show what kind of person you really are, or will be when you are fully grown up."
Lottie watched as Claire was being taught how to use a knife. Jamie had given her a knife but now he had been criticized by Ned for not having taught her how to use it properly first. So, Angus had been chosen as the right person to teach her. Claire seemed to catch on rather quickly and all the men were watching the show in good spirits. Lottie herself was perched on the wagon behind Jamie, Murtagh and Dougal with her brown coat wrapped around her for warmth while watching.
"Straight up!" Angus ordered. "He'll drop like a stone."
"All right. Straight up...and in," said Claire with a grin and Willie stumbled off from the playful push delivered to his back as she demonstrated her new knowledge with the weapon. The lesson was finished and the men seemed satisfied that Claire now had basic skills in how to kill an assailant from face to face as well as from behind.
"Lottie!"
Lottie looked up at hearing her name spoken. It was Dougal who had spoken to her over his shoulder.
"You should know ho to defend yerself as well, little lassie." He gestured for her to take her place in front of Angus.
Lottie scratched her eyebrow and looked down at the hem of her skirt.
"No, I...I don't think so, Mr. Dougal," Lottie said, using the name she had accidentally started using on Dougal Mackenzie when they met. " I will pass, thank you," she declined politely.
The men were now all giving her questioning stares. They didn't seem angry. No, surprised by her decline was more the right word.
Dougal cleared his throat.
"Now, Lottie, it is very important thet ye learn. I'm no asking again. Go on down there now, lass."
Lottie gave a troubled sigh. She knew she shouldn't risk exposing who she really was and where she came from. Doing what Dougal asked might endanger her, and Claire along with her.
"Look here, I really don't think it's a good idea…" she started but got no further before Jamie had turned around and started over to her in a calm manner with a grin on his face. He reached her in a couple of long strides and put his hands on her waist and lifted her down off the wagon with ease.
Having been planted on her feet on the grass Lottie cleared her throat and shooed away the look of surprise she assumed was on her face. When recovered she was about to attempt resisting this caper of theirs one last time when she heard Angus speak down at the foot of the slope.
"Nah, I ain't teaching the wee lass to fight with a knife. I draw the line at mistress, here."
Disagreeing grunts were heard from some of the men but Angus continued none the less.
"As Murtagh said: the lass can use poison if need be. We give her a knife and she'll stumble and end up with the blade sticking out of her own belly."
Lottie felt irritation begin to build at hearing what Angus thought of her. She didn't want to get into a fight with him, verbal nor physical of course, but her pride was now wounded. She looked around at the expectant and playful faces of the men around the campsite. Claire had backed away a bit feeling finished with her lesson and was now eying Lottie with a slightly worried expression. Slowly the older woman shook her head in such a discreet way that only Lottie would notice it. Lottie felt her eyebrows lower in a set expression of determination as she surrendered to her pride.
"Och, come on, Angus. Ye're the best one to teach her, "Jamie argued from up the slope.
Angus scoffed at that and pointed the knife he was holding at Jamie from a distance.
"You teach her, Jamie," he said a little mockingly.
Lottie looked back and forth between the two and narrowed her eyes into slits. A lesson was going to take place but it wasn't going to be she who would do the learning from it this time.
"Or are ye perhaps afraid of the wee lass?" Angus taunted while putting a hand palm down next to his waist to signal that's how tall he thought Lottie was compared to him. In reality she did at least come up to his nose. The rest of the men roared with laughter at the joke he had delivered and Jamie grinned. While being levelheaded Jamie had his pride too and threw his hands in the air dejectedly. He strolled down, taking Angus' place at the foot of the grassy slope and beckoned Lottie with a finger.
"Come on, Lottie. Ye need no worry yerself, lass. I'll be careful."
Lottie stood with her hands balled into fists hanging by her sides. Carefulness be damned, she thought and tossed her brown coat up on the wagon. Birds were chirping up in the trees as she marched her way down the slope. She took her place in front of Jamie, her checkered skirt in green, black and white on the verge of touching the muddy grass beneath her feet.
Jamie extended the knife with the intention of giving it to Lottie.
"All right, lass. First ye…"
"Haven't you ever learned to attack with a knife?" Lottie interrupted Jamie and he froze with a stunned look on his handsome, Scottish face. The rest of the men were quiet too and Murtagh and Dougal made their way closer to the "knife-fighting" pair to take part. "Where is it written that I should do all the work and you should just stand there like a dumb, sluggish ox?"
Jamie's mouth actually dropped open at hearing those words and several chortles could be heard coming from the small audience. Jamie didn't laugh though and for a moment Lottie worried that what she had just said might be an offense he might be inclined to make her suffer for. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind though and focused on her anger and will to now prove herself to them all.
"Lottie!" Claire took a step forward and hissed at her.
Lottie chose to ignore Claire who stood to her right and continue on with her scheme.
"I just mean it's quite possible that someone would attack me with a knife in his hand. What is it that says I happen to already be in possession of the knife, like the scenario Angus played with Claire?"
Rupert Mackenzie and Ned Gowan turned to each other and nodded approvingly at her estimation of scenarios.
"Aye, it's good indeed that the lassie thinks. Not all lassies would think of different fighting situations the way she does," Rupert said to Ned who agreed with an "aye" of his own.
Jamie exchanged looks with Dougal who gave a shrug and a tilt of his head.
"Just daen't go all out now, laddie, but give her a taste of what she be askin for," he said and placed a watchful hand against his chin. An evaluative gesture that made him look like a typical teacher.
Jamie nodded and got a slightly more determined gleam in his eyes and a more determined stance. Here we go, Lottie thought and braced herself for what she knew was coming. Suddenly Jamie raised the knife above his head and made a leap forward towards her. Lottie was no expert in defending herself against a knife but she had assumed Jamie would chose the most basic form of attack to start with for a novice like her, which he had just done. Fast as lightning she dropped to the muddy ground. With her palms planted firmly on the ground she spun around while at the same time extending one leg. With her extended leg she caught the back of both of Jamie's legs right in the movement forward and swept him off his feet. He hit the ground quite hard and lay flat on his back, looking up at the cloudy sky.
The crowd was silent and only the chirping birds above their heads could be heard. Jamie remained on the ground for only a moment, then his head poked up and he gave Lottie a confounded stare. Quickly and as gracefully as possible he got to his feet and brushed off his kilt with sharp strokes of his hands. Lottie stood up and tossed back her red haired braid with the green ribbon at the end. With her chin held high she pushed her shoulders back.
Suddenly Claire made an attempt to approach her husband but was caught gently but determinedly by the elbow by Dougal and forced into a stop.
Jamie stood in a heel to toe broad stance eying Lottie appraisingly with now narrowed eyes of his own. She refused to look away from his dark blue eyes though and kept eye contact accompanied by a stubborn frown. She didn't know what to expect.
After a while it seemed like they had been in that frozen position forever. And that was when Jamie finally broke out into ringing laughter. Lottie's eyebrows went up and her hands went to her sides. Rupert Mackenzie added to her surprise by clapping his hands and contributing with a bellowing laugh. As the tension had been lifted the rest of the men began chatting excitedly and making impressed and surprised sounds while Claire approached Jamie. He put an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. He then spoke something to her that Lottie couldn't hear and Claire nodded. Jamie closed the distance between him and Lottie and grinned at her.
"Well done, lassie, well done," he said and gracefully bowed down his head a little. He cocked his head to the side. "Ye managed to make me somewhat annoyed so tha I would lower my guard. Where did ye learn to do what you just did though?"
Lottie met Claire's cautioning stare and then looked back at Jamie and shrugged.
"Oh, you know: I had an older brother who was a soldier," she lied.
The End
Author's notes: Please, please take a quick moment and let me know what you thought of the story! Thank you.