Part Two of Legends of the Witch and the Warrior
Captain Canary Fantasy AU
Call this a T for…ahem…implied activities, and brief mentions of domestic abuse.
Thank you to everyone who asked for more of this.
The warrior Leonard was carefully grooming Gideon in the stable yard of an inn when a merlin with smoke-blue feathers alighted fearlessly on the horse's back.
"Sara?" he whispered hopefully. Then his heart froze in his chest as the dainty killer opened her beak and deposited a heavy silver ring in his hand.
He whistled sharply for Michael, who came soaring out of the trees to land on his arm. "You're the only bird I can understand, outside of the Lady's wood -"
"I got this, Boss," the old grey hawk assured him. The two birds of prey chittered back and forth for what seemed an endless space of time to Leonard, but was really only a moment or two, before Michael turned back to him. "She says the Lady has been hurt, and needs help."
"Can she take us to her?"
"Does a bear -"
"All right. I get it." He whistled for Raymond the hound, and set about saddling Gideon.
The merlin led them a merry chase that led through the forest to the outskirts of a small village and then back into the woods. Once back under the shelter of the trees, Raymond began to range eagerly along the track, sniffing enthusiastically - well, even more enthusiastically than usual.
"Michael?" Leonard asked tersely.
"He smells blood, Boss," the hawk informed him grimly. "So do we."
Leonard swallowed down the bile that was rising in his throat and continued on. Finally, Raymond dove off the path, wagging his furry tail ecstatically. Leonard cursed and swung down from his horse, moving quickly into the underbrush. He found the dark-furred hound situated beneath a bush, happily licking Sara's face, while she scrunched up her eyes and weakly tried to fend him off.
"Back, Raymond!" Leonard ordered sharply.
He fell to his knees, and shoved the excited hound aside. Sara was curled under the bush. She was dressed in dark blue leggings and a tunic, with a short hooded cape. Her lovely face was marred by a black eye and split lip, and one arm was wrapped around her ribs protectively.
"What happened?"
"I was having a…discussion…with a man who likes to beat his wife. It got out of hand."
"Did he have a partner?"
"His wife."
"His wife? The one he beat? That makes no sense."
Sara tried to smile, and reached for his hand. He caught it and raised it to his lips for a gentle kiss.
"I know. It's a disease of the heart and the mind...it never ends well."
"How can I help?" Leonard asked. "Do you need me to - ?"
Sara did manage a smile at that.
"It's how you healed me," he replied defensively.
"I know, love, but that particular spell is too complicated and costly for this. Although…I wouldn't mind revisiting certain aspects of it, when I'm not so sore."
"What can I do?" he asked again.
"Help me home? I've got herbs and medicines there."
"Of course." He touched her with careful hands, assessing her injuries. "I think you'll ride easier if I bind your ribs first."
She nodded her consent, then smiled at something over Leonard's shoulder. She nudged him, and he turned to see Michael carefully presenting a dead mouse to the pretty blue merlin.
"I think he likes her," Sara declared.
Sara road home on Gideon, sometimes dozing, nestled in Leonard's arms. "Are you sure she can carry both of us?" she'd asked.
"She's sturdier than she looks," Leonard had replied. "Like you."
She sighed drowsily, then frowned as she ran her hand along the arm that held her safe, feeling the tension in his muscles. "You're angry," she murmured.
"My hawk and my hound are showing greater human decency than an actual human, so yes - I'm angry."
"Not all men are like your father," she said gently, correctly pinpointing the source of his disquiet. "You're not."
Instead of replying, he pressed his lips to the crown of her head. Then he chuckled. "Look up."
Sara did, and saw Michael engaged in a display of loops and swooping dives. "He doesn't have to try so hard. If she didn't want him around, he'd know it by now."
'Home' for Sara turned out to be cave, not far from the pool where she'd saved his life. It was fitted with a wooden door to keep out the elements, and Leonard strongly suspected that he could have ridden past it a hundred times without seeing it, unless she wanted him to.
A skinny urchin erupted out of the underbrush, yelling and brandishing a large stick.
"Sin!" Sara called quickly. "It's fine. He's a friend."
The girl - Leonard finally decided - let the end of the stick drop. She was thin, with cropped hair, and dressed in boy's clothes. Leonard dismounted, and carefully helped Sara to slide down. He was glad to have a steadying hold on her waist as Sin shot forward to hug Sara fiercely.
"Gently," he warned.
The girl looked at him with wide eyes, then back to Sara. "I was worried. You didn't come home last night, and there was a fire in the village -"
"Shhh…" Sara soothed. "I'm fine."
"But -" Sin looked at her friend's battered face.
"I'll be fine," Sara repeated. "Leonard, why don't you see to Gideon, while Sin helps me get cleaned up?"
He nodded, and turned back to his horse.
"A bath wouldn't hurt you, either," Sara called.
Leonard grinned at that, and dropped his saddle bags next to the door.
When Leonard returned to the cave, considerably less fragrant and wearing his spare shirt, he was greeted by the pungent scent of crushed herbs. Sara was sipping a steaming mug that Sin had evidently prepared for her, wrinkling her face at the taste. She was curled on her pallet, wearing a clean linen tunic. She tried to smile when he entered, but Leonard clearly saw tear tracks on her cheeks.
Sin looked between the two of them with the weight of more knowledge than was entirely proper in her eyes. "Sara, can I go and visit Roy and Thea?" she asked with an air of innocence that both adults knew to be a sham.
"Can you get there before dark?"
"Sure."
"Michael could go with her," Leonard offered.
"Amaya knows the way," Sin protested.
"Both," Sara decreed.
"I'll see you in a day…or two," Sin replied slyly.
Leonard selected some coins from his belt pouch. "Here. Treat your friends to some hot pies."
"Thanks! I like him," she added in a stage whisper, before vanishing out the door.
Sara chuckled at her young friend's antics, then held out the empty cup for Leonard to take.
"Can I get you anything?"
Sara shook her head.
"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the pallet.
"Sin said…that woman I tried to help…their house burned down last night, with both of them in it."
Leonard swore softly, then gently pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry. You tried to help her."
"I failed."
"You can't save everyone. You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved."
"I know. I just…sometimes, I feel like I should have died on that boat, all those years ago. Like nothing I do can ever make up for all the pain I caused."
"And if you had, what would have become of me? Or your friend Sin? Hmm?"
"I know," Sara murmured.
"I have something of yours," Leonard said after a long while of just holding her. He fished in his belt pouch again and produced the silver ring, and slid it carefully onto Sara's hand.
"Leonard," she murmured with an impish little smile. "I'm not quite so sore anymore."
"Is that a fact?"