Phantoms Little Lotte—Yep, the girls are fine… for now. And I'm glad you like how my guy talks. I wasn't quite sure that it was ok, but it seems to be working out.
June Birdie—Yep, problems, trouble… those girls are impossible!
Sylence—I don't know who's going to have a fling with who yet. We'll just have to see where the romance falls.
Mysticpig—We like "rescuer" Woads! And annoying shoe stealing foxes! I'm happy you like it so far!
Wanderer of the Roads—I'm glad the Woads English is working out. I think he sounds like a cave man, but hey, if everyone likes it. Thanks for reviewing!
Ailis-70—I'm happy I've helped change your perspective on Cynric. I don't know how he was supposed to be in the movie, but this seemed like a compatible personification. Fox fur coats… hmmmm… I might have an idea.
KnightMaiden—But confused Knights are so wonderful. Can't you just see their poor confused expressions. Then you could take them by the hand and help un confuse them!
Sarmatian-woman—I'm glad you liked it. I wonder what won't happen to Tess and Will.
Twilight Falcon—You know… that's a good question. What's going to happen to the Woad when the Knights/Cynric/Merik find him? Hmmmm… I wonder. Glad you liked it!
Evenstar-more2004—Yes, foxes have a tendency to do rather rude things. But oh so cute!
DarkAngelPearl—Yep, Merik's one smart cookie! And don't worry, nothing too bad will happen to Will or Tess.
I love CHEESECAKE—First, thank you for both your reviews! I'm glad you like the stories.
Nino—I'm glad you like the story so far. And thanks for the warning!
--I'm soooooooo sorry this took so long to get up. Life caught up with me, then kidnapped me. I'll do better about updating, promise!
Disclaimer: I own Will, Tess, and the loverly Woad man!
"So… what's your name anyway?" Will asked her 'rescuer', after they'd been walking for a while.
The man glanced at her. He was no longer dragging Will and Tess through the forest. But they were so lost by now that they had to stay with him. "I am Ombra."
"Oh." Will nodded to herself. "I'm Will." She added as an afterthought. "And that's Tess."
Tess gave Ombra a half hearted salute.
The man gave her an odd look. Then returned his attention to the forest.
The girls exchanged a look and decided that it was going to be a long trip.
By this time, part of the group of men had almost made their way back to the lake. Cynric was leading them, glad to not have been put in the group with the two lovebirds. They were going to try and kill him later anyway, so why not try to delay it.
Finally, they pushed there way through the last of the brush, and arrived at the shore of the lake. All the men felt disappointment and worry when they didn't immediately see the girls. But they didn't get too discouraged and they started to fan out to look in the tall weeds and around the rocks.
After several minutes of tense silence Merik turned to face Cynric who wasn't far behind him. "Where were you and the girls again? Which side of the lake?"
Cynric paused and looked around. After a moment he pointed to a large rock on the other side of the lake. "We were there. I was on the rock, and the girls were wading in the water."
Galahad, who was on that side of the lake, quickly made his way over to where Cynric had pointed. He walked around the rock, then stopped very suddenly.
"Anything?" Called Dagonet, the fourth and final member of their group.
"There are footprints in the sand." He called back, as he kneeled down.
"The girls!" Asked Merik as he started to make his way over to the younger man.
"And someone else's." Galahad paused. "I don't think their Cynric's either."
The other three men converged on Galahad, and Cynric knelt down beside Galahad to study the other prints. "No, there not mine." He studied them for a moment longer then stood and turned to the two knights. "They're not Saxon either. We don't know this territory well enough to go barefoot. So…Woad. Which means it's your area of expertise.
"So Woad's were hunting them." Said Galahad nervously.
"Or at least one found them here." Said Merik.
"I think your right." Said Dagonet after a few silent moments. He had been slowly going over the ground around the rock. "There's only one set of footprints here. A scout probably."
"And what would a scout have done with the girls?" Asked Cynric.
Dagonet rubbed his head. "Taken them back to his village."
"And then?"
"Anything they wanted to do to them."
Will had expected to be corralled into some hut, given a little bit of food, then pulled out when the Woads finally decided to take them to the Knights. Boy was she wrong.
The camp was primitive, and fairly mobile. There were also a lot of people. Those were the first things the girls noticed. Mostly because their arrival caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stair at them.
Ombra led them to the center of the village where there was a group of old men. They started to talk, but Ombra cut them off after a few moments and started speaking quickly, with hand motions, in a language Will and Tess couldn't hope to understand.
"So that's Woadish?" Will asked Tess softly, not taking her eyes off of Ombra.
Tess made a small shrug. "I don't know. I saw the movie. Everything was in English. They said like 5 words in Woadish, max." After a few moments of silence, Tess spoke up again. "What do you think they're saying?"
"Probably about us being captives of the Saxon, and how much they can blackmail the Knights for."
Finally the discussions seemed to end and one of the elders said something to the rest of the tribe, and made some sort of hand signal.
As if in one movement, all the women of the tribe moved forward and took charge of Will and Tess. Soon, they found themselves washed and dressed in dresses, styled like the other women in the camp. Will in a dark green, and Tess in a dark red.
Then they were brought back to the center of the camp, and once again faced the group of elders.
One of the elders said something, and Ombra steeped forward to translate. "He says… you could be Woads."
Will tried to refrain from rolling her eyes. "Yeah, we look like lots of people." She muttered. To her slight embarrassment, Ombra appeared to translate her comment.
Then another elder spoke, this time causing Ombra, as well as several of the other men the girls could see, to smile. "He says… you no have to go back to Knights. Could stay here. Plenty of men to choose from."
Will and Tess exchanged looks. "Actually…" Will stuttered a bit. "Actually…"
"We already have husbands." Tess supplied.
Ombra looked a bit disappointed as he translated. He wasn't the only one. Then a man, who was heavily tattooed spoke.
Ombra glanced at the elders for permission to translate, and got the ok. "Who husbands? Some here of higher rank want challenge husbands."
"The Knights." Will said, crossing her fingers discreetly. "Were married to Knights."
Ombra translated and the man backed down.
There was a bit more discussion and Ombra turned back to the girls. "We take you back to the wall now. Then we talk with Knights."
Quickly Will and Tess were ushered out of the camp, and surrounded by warriors. They tried to relax, and hoped that none of the warriors decided to challenge any of the Knights.
