Disclaimer: I own Rachel and Erica. All 'Dragonheart' characters belong to Universal Studios and the script/books author Charles Edward Pogue.
996 A.D.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-oof! Owww."
Rachel groaned where she had faceplanted onto the hard ground, trying to force her rebelling lungs to work before she passed out from lack of air. It was a long, scary, moment before her lungs finally obeyed, her diaphram spasming as she gasped for air... and then promptly choked on the lungful of dirt she had inhaled.
She had almost recovered when Erica landed on top of her, once again driving the air from her. "...gedoff!"
"Shit! Sorry!" Erica gasped, franticly scrambling off of her friend and slumping onto the ground next to her. "Are you okay?"
"Gimme a minute..." Rachel groaned as she sat up and took in a few deep breaths, stubbornly ignoring the ache in her right side as she looked around, her eyes widening when she realised that they were in the middle of a large field of grain. "Where the hell are-ack!" The last was caused by the sudden impact of the spellbook slamming onto her skull, reuniting her skull with the ground. "...Owww! This is getting mighty old, mighty fast!"
"Are you okay?" Erica asked while smothering a giggle.
The other teen winced and pushed herself into something that resembled a sitting position, cradling her aching head in her hands. "Yeah... As long as things stop hitting me in th' head!" Rache groaned, massaging her temple as she peered between her fingers at their surroundings. "Th' hell are we?"
Erica rose to her feet and spun in a circle, spotting wheat, wheat, and, surprise, more wheat. "I have no clue. There aren't any wheat fields around town... are there?"
"Not that I know of..." Sighing, Rachel stiffly rose to her feet and tucked the spellbook under her right arm. A glance up at the sky only added to her unease. "The sun's at the wrong spot. Should be a few hours away from sunset. That looks like morning."
"Well, crap."
Rachel thought Erica summed that up rather nicely.
"Vagabonds!"
"Huh?" Rachel snapped her gaze towards source of the yell and blinked as an arrow embedded itself into the ground next to her left foot. Startled, she jerked her gaze up from the arrow and stared at the man on horseback that was riding towards them, another arrow notched into his crossbow. "The hell?"
"Run!" Suiting actions to works, Erica spun and bolted, dimly aware that Rachel was right behind her as she ran. A quick glance over her shoulder her gave her the only look of her pursuer that she wanted, taking the crossbow he was aiming in their direction to mean that if they didn't speed up, they were basically screwed.
Rachel frowned, and spared a glance at Erica, who was gasping heavily as she struggled to keep up the hectic pace. Damn. We can't outrun a freakin' horse!
Skidding to a stop, Rache turned and glared at the man on horseback, thoughts whirling. Taking a deep breath, she rose her right hand, her palm facing outwardsas she spoke one, sharp, word. The blast of fridgid wind that she summoned managed to not only frighten the rider, but put the horse into a panic as well, making the creature skid to a dead stop before it gave a scream of fright and turned tail. Sorry. Your rider didn't give me much of a choice.
"Rachel! C'mon!" Erica called from the depths of the field.
She made sure the rider was gone before turning to sprint over to the other teen. "You okay?"
"I'll live. Good thinking with that spell."
"Thanks. C'mon, let's put some distance between us and where ever the hell this is," Rachel said softly as she brushed past Erica and headed towards a patch of forest at the far edge of the field.
She knew, the moment they stepped foot into the forest, that they weren't anywhere near town. It didn't feel right. The forest had a clean, pure, sense to it that the forest near their town didn't have. There wasn't any garbage littering the ground, or any marks on the trees. The underbrush was vibrant, untrampled, and covered nearly every part of the forest floor.
"Rache?" Erica called after a few minutes of staring at her statue-still friend.
"...yea?"
"We're not home, are we?"
Rachel sighed and looked over at her. "No. We're not. I don't know where we are, 'Rica. But, I think I hear water up ahead. We'll stop there for a bit, okay?"
"Sure. I could use a drink." Or a cold splash of water to wake me up.
It only took them a few more minutes of walking before they reached a small creek, and Erica loosed a heavy sigh as she dropped to her knees on the fern-lined shore and plunged her hands into the cold water. After a drinking her fill and splashing the cool liquid over her face and neck, she sat back on her knees and looked over at Rachel. When her friend gave no sign that she knew she was there, Erica tossed a small rock at her, effectively gaining her attention. "Hey. Don't you space out on me. You're the only thing that's keeping me from running around screaming and pulling my hair out."
Rachel chuckled and stepped away from the water's edge. "You can do that anyway, it'll be fun to watch," she snickered, laughing when she received a splash of water as an indignant answer.
"So. What do you think happened?" Erica said as she stood and brushed dirt from the knees of her jeans.
"I dunno. I really don't." Rachel sighed, shaking her head to accent the statement. "Obviously we activated a spell, but damned if I know which. I thought I knew every major spell in this book..." Another sigh left her as she frowned down at the book in her hands, scowling at the dark, worn, cover. "I'll need time to look through it again. Maybe I missed something."
'Rica bit her lip, holding back what she had been planning to say. She knew that Rachel had memorized everything in the spellbook - the other teen had to have read that book cover to cover fifty times or more. Whatever had happened, had been triggered by something much more powerful than whatever she or Rachel could conjure up.
Knowing better than to mention anything, Erica rose to her feet and brushed dirt off her jeans. "I think we should try to find out where we are. Or, at the very least, find a safer spot to crash at so you can have time to go through that book again."
"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea." Rachel tucked the book under her arm again, then eyed their surroundings critically. "Upstream or downstream?"
"Um, eeeny, meeny, miny, moe?" When her friend glared at her, Erica shrugged. "Upstream. Tiny creek like this has to be fed by something bigger, right? I mean, that's what a show on the Discovery Channel said."
Rachel rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Oh, yes, when in doubt, do what the Discovery Channel says. Wonderful survival tip there, 'Rica."
"Shaddup. Bitch."
"Nag." Traditional snarking finished, Rachel sent her friend a final, amused, smile, then started to pick her way along the bank, wading through ferns and dense grasses that flourished by the creek's edges.
The sun had continued along it's predestined path during their trek through the forest, rising from it's mid-morning position until it beat down upon them, the heat and angle telling Erica that it was past noon. It was a good thing they were following the creek; travelling through a forest without following an already existing path was hot and tiring work. 'Rica considered it a small miracle that neither of them had tripped and twisted an ankle, or fallen headlong into the creek itself.
Finally, just as Erica spotted a clearing - blessed be, an end to the forest! - Rachel tensed and stopped dead in her tracks, tilting her head as if listening to something that she, herself, couldn't hear.
"What is it?" Erica whispered, knowing that those pointed ears of Rachel's weren't just an odd mutation. The other teen's hearing was amazingly sharp, especially when she concentrated.
The auburn-haired teen frowned, then rose a finger to her lips, signalling for Erica to be quiet before she gestured for her friend to follow her as she crept upstream.
"It's all very good to go about hacking and whacking dragons! But, if a dragon falls in the forest, and no one gets to hear about it, does it make a thud?"
Erica paused in mid-step and exchanged baffled glances with Rachel. "Dragon?"
Rachel shrugged and took another step forward, slapping a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream of shock when a ear-shattering roar cut through the air. She was seconds away from following a panicked Erica back into the woods before her curiousity overruled her fear. Gesturing for Erica to stay put, Rachel crept forward, pausing once again when she discovered that the creek they had found was fed by a large pool at the base of a waterfall.
Kneeling behind a large boulder, she peeked over the rocky edge and blinked at a Knight on horseback... and a monk. Luckily, the roar of the waterfalls managed to smother her startled yelp when a half-decomposed corpse of a horse and rider exploded from the falls and flew towards the Knight, who barely managed to avoid it by ducking low in his saddle. There must be a cave behind the falls!
"That's all that's left of the last dragonslayer that tangled with me! If I were you, I'd quit while I was ahead!" The shout resonated throughout the stone beneath her, and she couldn't help but snicker at the monk's cry of fright when he accidentally picked up the floating head of the corpse. Wait a minute! Dragonslayer?
Rachel was still trying to process that new tidbit of information when the Knight launched his javelin into the waterfall, the sound of his yell jarring her out of her thoughts. Holding her breath, fingers curled tightly around the spellbook, she leaned forward a bit more to get a better view, only to discover that the weapon had jarred to a stop halfway through the falls. It hung there, quivering for a moment before numerous loud crunches were heard, the javelin vanishing a foot at a time into the curtain of water.
Finally, Erica, not liking being left out - even if the situation was ridiculously insane and dangerous - crept over to Rachel's side. "What's going on?"
"Just watch," Rachel whispered, smiling when several pieces of what used to be the javelin were launched out of the falls, impacting loudly with the Knight's hastily risen shield.
"You know I've got quite a collection in here!" the voice boomed again.
"I won't be added to it!" The Knight shouted back.
Rachel growled and picked up a fist sized stone, glancing at Erica when her friend grabbed her wrist.
"What are you doing?" Erica gasped.
"I'll explain later! Just trust me!" she whispered before jerking her arm free and launching the rock, grinning when it smacked the Knight right in the forehead.
"Rache, what the hell?" Erica yelped. "Are you insane?"
Rachel chuckled. "Only enough to be interesting," she retorted before clambering up onto a boulder and smirking at the sputtering Knight. "Now what exactly do you think you're doing, hmm? Y'know, I hated bullies when I was in my own town, you think I'm gonna like them any better in a different environment?"
"You don't know what you're doing, child!" the monk shouted at her worriedly, flailing dramatically as he tried to slosh his way out of the pond. "That dragon is evil!"
Erica blinked. Dragon?
"Oh, yeah? Cuz I don't see him backin' you into a corner and threatenin' to kill you. All I see is a couple of soakin' wet idiots." Rachel snapped as she glared at them.
"This isn't the time for games, wench!" The Knight snapped, quickly rising his shield to deflect another thrown rock.
"Wench?" Erica grumbled, handing another rock to Rachel, who happily threw it. "Gods, can he be anymore insulting?"
"Child, please! You're in terrible danger!" That was from the Monk.
A low, insulted-sounding, growl rumbled from behind the falls, drawing both Rachel and Erica's gazes before the former teen's eyes narrowed. "We're nowhere near town, Erica," Rachel murmured, glancing from the spellbook to the Knight.
"Yeah. I'm starting to figure that out. You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?"
"Mm-hm."
Erica shook her head. "If you get us killed, I'll never forgive you."
"Noted, brighteyes." Rachel smiled and tossed the spellbook at the red-head, who yelped and nearly fumbled the catch before hugging the book to her chest. "Hold the book. I don't want to get it wet."
The Monk, meanwhile, was arguing with the Knight. "Sir Knight, you can't wage a battle against that beast with those two children in the battlefield! It would mean their deaths!"
Rachel smirked and mentally judged the distance between herself and the Knight. "Yeah," she drawled, grinning at the two men when they turned to look at her. "Because we're just two defenceless little waifs in need of a big, strong, man to protect us." And before either of them could comment on her snarky tone, she launched herself off her perch and tackled the Knight right off his horse.
They crashed into the freezing water, the horse giving a started neigh before shying away from them. They grappled. The Knight was stronger, but she had been in more close quarter fights. She braced a foot against his stomach and flipped him off her, rolling to her feet afterwards and shaking her soaked hair out of her eyes. The Monk looked completely scandalised, and the Knight blinked at her from where he had landed, as if he didn't know how he had gotten there.
Erica clapped. "Defenceless waif, one. Big, strong, stupid, man, zero."
"Naturally," Rachel smirked, watching the Knight closely as he got to his feet and started over to her, looking as if he was torn between striking her or shaking her silly. She let him close the distance, and when he shot a hand out to grab her shirt - or maybe strike her, he looked rather upset - she caught his arm, spun into him, and threw him over her shoulder.
The next time, he wasn't as calm. "You're protecting that beast? Are you insane?"
"Only enough to be interesting- whoa!" It was sheer luck that had her dancing out of reach of his sword, using her momentum to turn her body in a perfect roundhouse kick that struck him in the back and sent him back into the water. Shaking, she shot a glare at the falls behind her. "Yo! Run! Fly! Do something, just get the hell out of here already!"
"Oh, no, you don-!"
A stomp on his foot and an elbow into his stomach shut the Knight up again, giving her enough time to take in a shaking breath before the waterfall exploded behind her. She gave a startled shriek and automatically ducked, raising her bruised arm to deflect the wave of water that soaked her to her skin.
But she kept her eyes open, staring up in awe at the dragon that had just leapt through the curtain of water. Patches of his hide glistened in the sun, the water accenting the already present tones of gold and bronze in his scales as his wings spread to their full width, beating strongly to gain altitude. Just before the gust of wind from his wings sent her tumbling back into the water, the dragon lowered his gaze to hers, staring at her...
Anything else was obliterated by her entrance into the cold waters of the falls.
By the time she had managed to slosh her way out of the pond, the dragon was gone, and the Knight, with a rather scathing glare in her direction, had remounted his horse and taken off after it, paying little attention to the Monk that scrambled after him.
"Ugh. Men."
"Rache!" The call drew her gaze to Erica as the teen scrambled over to her.
"I'm okay!" Rachel assured her. "I'm okay. Just-" she paused and sneezed, "...cold. And wet. Did I mention cold?"
Erica reached her and hugged her tightly for a moment before pulling back and smacking her upside the head. "You scared the hell out of me! Don't you ever do that again!"
"Sorry!" she grinned, raising her hands to fend off any more hits. When she was fairly certain that Erica wasn't going to whack her again, Rachel dropped down to sit on the pebbled shoreline and tugged her right sneaker off, grumbling as she shook water out of it. She was in the process of ringing the water out of her socks when the red-headed teen sighed and plopped down next to her. "I can't feel my toes."
Erica rolled her eyes. "That happens when you fling yourself into ice-cold water."
"Mm. But didja see the look on that Knight's face?"
"You should have seen the Monk's! He looked entirely too much like a fish."
"Trout or bass?"
"Bass. Bigmouth Bass."
"Aw. I missed it." She wiggled her toes, then gave up waiting for sensation to come back and replaced her socks and sneakers. "Ugh. Let's get out of here."
'Rica sighed and got to her feet, going to reclaim the spellbook she had left hidden in some ferns. "And where are we supposed to go?"
"I dunno." Rachel drew the last word out as she pulled a black pouch from her pocket and shook it in Erica's direction, the coins within jangling. "But if we find a town, we can go shopping!"
"You didn't."
"I most certainly did."
"You stole that from the Knight!"
"Yup!"
Erica stared at her friend blankly for a long moment, then grinned. "You're an evil, evil, person. I love you."
"Yup."
It was well after sunset when they finally stopped for the night, and a now dry Rachel didn't bother to hide her tired yawn as she trudged around their campsite, picking up pieces of fallen branches. By the time she had gathered enough to keep a fire going for the night, she was practically sleep-walking. Doing a controlled collapse onto the ground, she piled some dry leaves and twigs together and set it ablaze with a simple fire spell, waiting until she was sure she wouldn't smother the flame before adding actual wood to the fire.
A loud sigh made her look over at Erica as her friend sat down across from her, the red-head looking about as awake as Rachel felt. They hadn't managed to find a town. What they had found, however, was an apple tree. Without any way to carry provisions, they had eaten their fill, then pocketed a few apples and continued on.
Rachel shifted a little and pulled her final apple out of her pocket, using a corner of her tank top to clean it off before taking a bite. "So," she said in between mouthfuls of the delicious fruit. "Any ideas on where we are?"
"None. No, wait, that's not true. We're exactly where you wished to be," Erica sighed, raising her gaze to meet the hazel one of her friend. "We're in the medieval ages where you're allowed to defend yourself, where you can be as free as you want and... and where dragons exist."
"Still having a bit of trouble coming to terms with the last one, huh?"
"Well, yeah... I mean, I don't think it's a bad thing. But, I haven't revered them all my life like you have, y'know? We don't know where we are, or... or when we are. We're totally out of our league. And, I could really go for a burger right now."
"Don't even mention decent food," Rachel muttered as she finished off her apple and tossed the core into the fire.
"Sorry. But, you're enjoying yourself, aren't you?"
"A little, yeah."
"Though I know one thing you do miss."
"Mmm?"
"Pizza."
Rachel groaned. "Stop that. You're being cruel."
"Ice cream."
"'Rica."
"Chocolate."
"Okay okay! Stop it already you bloody sadist! Gods..." Rachel glared at her testily for a moment, then smirked. "Chocolate covered strawberry Dairy Queen Blizzard."
"Now that is just pure evilness," Erica chuckled as her friend yawned and lay down, stretching out on her back. She's got the right idea. I'm exhausted.
Rachel sighed and stared up at the stars, listening to Erica move closer to her before her friend lay down. A quick glance told her that 'Rica seemed to be almost asleep, and Rachel smiled as she put her right arm behind her head and turned her gaze back up to the stars. There was a certain constellation she was trying to find-
"Rachel!"
She bolted upright at the scream, and looked over at a frightened Erica. "What? What's wrong?"
"What's that sound?"
Rachel paused and managed to make out the lonesome hoot of an owl over her frantic heartbeat. "It's just an owl, 'Rica."
"You sure?"
Rachel groaned. "Yes." Knowing that she wasn't about to get any rest anytime soon, she shifted so she was sitting lotus-style in front of the fire and picked up the spellbook. "You haven't camped out before, huh? Just go to sleep, 'Rica. I'll keep an eye out, okay? No big bad owls will get you." When it looked like Erica was going to protest, Rachel glared at her until her friend rolled her eyes and lay back down.
The auburn-haired teen sighed and opened the book, dropping her gaze onto the old pages. She skimmed over the spells she had memorised, looking for something that she might have missed. Anything that could explain what had happened.
But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
An hour later, shoulder's slumped tiredly, she set the book aside, then chanced a look over at Erica. The other teen seemed to be asleep, and, after throwing another branch onto the fire, Rachel lay down again and turned her attention to the stars.
Sleep claimed her minutes later.
tbc
