6,000 Words
This is a vague love story that is mildly historically and scientifically inaccurate. Let's begin!
Prologue:
When Catherine stepped through the dark doorway she never could have guessed what was on the other side. Well that's not true, she could have guessed that it was her living room where a show was paused while she went to the bathroom and got more popcorn. What she hadn't been expecting was a cave. Yes, a cave! You know, a wet dark place where monsters lived. She turned around just to check, nope the kitchen was gone. She wasn't dressed for this! Catherine was wearing her auburn hair in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, a plain with v-neck tee, cutoff shorts over rainbow stripped leggings, and monkey slippers that were starting to soak up every drop of water she stepped in as she walked cautiously to the mouth of the cave.
At the age of 22, Catherine was the youngest in her class to ever time jump. It took years of training and practice to even be able to jump to the next room ten minutes past. When she did it for the fist time last month she thought she was going to die from the rush of it all. All the adrenaline and emotions pumping through her, she felt on top of the word and at the bottom of the sea. For as long as she could remember teachers were grooming her to recover parts of history that were lost or unrecorded. She hadn't even been trying when she landed in the cave, somewhere, some when. She felt 110% unprepared for this!
As she stepped out of the cave she could hear the sound of metal clashing, grunting, and yelling. The unfamiliar sounds scared her, she wanted to go back the way she came, but knew there was nothing waiting for her. She decided to walk towards the sound, no use sitting around waiting for something to happen. As she walked he dropped pieces of popcorn so she could find her way back, the light yellow orbs contrasted nicely with the fallen leaves of Autumn. Besides leaving a trail was a good idea. It had worked out alright for Hansel and Gretel, right? She didn't have time to ponder the children's fairy tale because a group of large men had stepped in her path. On the left there was a tall lean man with a bow drawn, on the right was giant man with a large claymore, and in the middle was the most beautiful man she had even met.
Maybe beautiful was the wrong word but it was the first word that came to Catherine's mind. He was tall with broad shoulders, dark shoulder length hair that was half up and bangs the hung almost to his eyes. In one hand he held a claymore in the other was a dirk. They wore the same expression on their faces; confusion, suspicion, intrigue. Her bowl of popcorn slipped from her grasp spilling it everywhere. Their eyes never left her. The middle one took half a step forward and she took half a step back. He raised one eyebrow at her and a corner of his mouth tilted up. He did it again, half a step, and so did she. "Calm down lass, we don't want to hurt you. We just want to know what you're doing here." he said in a gentle voice. Catherine ran.
Robert:
Cormack's arrow flew before Robert had the chance to tell him to hold. It struck true, of course it did. It always did. Wasn't that one reason he kept the archer around, well that and he was his cousin. But the strange woman got up and continued to run, straight towards the river. If she meant to lose them by floating down river she would be sorely mistaken. They had heavy rains this season and the river was high. They made chase.
Cormack on his right and Angus on his left. The trio made a good team. Enough power to easily take on a large group of men, but small enough to move around unseen. Except maybe Angus, frankly the man was huge. About a head taller than Robert himself he was a force to reckon with. Cormack on the other hand was the opposite. He was slim and nearly as tall as Robert, but that didn't fool anyone who new him. Cormack was agile and could steal your purse, dirk, and woman all before you could say a word. Robert liked to consider himself a jack of all trades, you never new when you would need a little skill.
They had the woman cornered. One man on three sides, and the river behind her there was no where to go. Again Robert said, "Lass, we're not going to hurt you. Come with us before you get yourself hurt." She looked behind herself, as if considering jumping. "You'll not be wanting to do that. Your bleeding and if you go in there you'll bleed out, if you don't drown first." She stood there for a long moment before her eyes glazed over and she tumbled to the ground.