The morning's journey was uneventful. To save time, Zelgadis made Amelia ride Hiro, while Zelgadis led the horse. Around noon they reached a small forest. Zelgadis was uneasy to enter it, but he had little choice unless he wanted to forge a new path. The walked on in silence...

"It's really quiet today. I can't even hear the birds anymore." Amelia said.

"We can change that for you, Missy."

Zelgadis whipped his head around. A group of about 20 bandits materialized from the trees.

"Great, I pick the one forest Lina didn't clean out." Zelgadis groaned. "What do you want?" he demanded.

The leader grinned. "Your valuables, of course. And the girl."

Amelia was beside herself. She knew that these evildoers meant her harm, but if she were to bring them to justice, she would blow their cover! Maybe this outing hadn't been such a good idea, after all.

As the bandits moved in closer, Zelgadis whispered to Amelia. "Whatever happens, do NOT come back! I'll take care of this trash."

Having said this, Zelgadis smacked Hiro's rump as hard as he could. Hiro reared up, Amelia clinging on to his neck, and fled down the path.

"I don't think so. You'll have to kill me first!" Zelgadis spat.

The bandits, furious with the audacity of this man, moved in for the kill.

Zelgadis smirked. "Sorry, but I don't think so!"

"Dug Haut!"

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As Hiro continued to dash blindly through the forest, Amelia clung on for dear life! Even though she was a skilled rider, Hiro was too panicked to respond. Hiro left the main path and headed into the trees. As he ran he almost hit a tree. Luckily for him, he didn't. Amelia however, wasn't so fortunate. Her leg smashed into the tree, and she was sent flying!

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Zelgadis panted to catch his breath. After he had taken out most of the group with his Dug Haut, he had managed to beat the rest with his sword. Having caught his breath, Zelgadis dashed off down the path. He ran for five minutes when he was met with a disturbing sight: Hiro. Alone! Zelgadis ran to Hiro.

"Hiro, it's okay, calm down." Zelgadis tried to soothe the frightened horse. "What happened to Amelia? Amelia! Amelia!!"

Zelgadis looked about frantically. He saw a horse-sized hole in the brush nearby, so went in to investigate.

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Amelia was in a daze. She knew that she had fallen, but how long ago she didn't know. All that mattered was that she needed to breathe!

"Pain, so much pain...it hurts too much to breathe. Still, I've got to try!"

Amelia gasped a few times until she was able to breathe in a lungfull of air. But still, it hurt so much! As she continued to take deep breaths, she became aware of a sound. Somebody was calling her...but who? Amelia tried to respond, but only a squeak came out. She could hear a loud commotion coming towards her...

Somebody grabbed onto her arm, and she became aware that they were calling her name. The person was obviously male

"Why can't I see?"

As she became more aware of the outside world, the pain increased.

"My head..." Amelia touched her head with her hand.

"I know, Amelia, I'm doing my best to heal it. Just lie still."

Zelgadis was glad that Amelia was alive. When he had found her, she lay in a puddle of blood. He was relieved to see that the bleeding was from a small gash on her forehead, which he was healing. Hopefully she would be less groggy... Zelgadis finished healing her wound. She would have a nasty bruise, but nothing else.

"Amelia, can you hear me now?"

"Yes...yes I can...Mr. Zelgadis?"

"Yes, I am." Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief. "Is there anywhere else that you hurt?"

That seemed a silly question. Amelia hurt all over! She tried to pinpoint the most painful spot.

"My knee."

Zelgadis looked down and gasped. Amelia's knee was smashed up pretty badly, but it wasn't anything he couldn't fix.

"Just stay still, Amelia. I'll take care of it."

As the pain subsided, Amelia's thoughts began to clear up. "What happened to all of the bandits?"

"I made sure that they'd never harm another traveler again. There, all done. You should be able to walk on it now, provided nothing else is broken."

Amelia sat up, but grimaced in pain.

Zelgadis was quick to react. "Amelia, what's the matter?"

Amelia grit her teeth. "It's nothing serious, I'm just bruised."

"Will you be able to walk?"

"Yes, just give me a moment." Amelia willed herself to get up.

Zelgadis stood to assist her. "I would let you ride Hiro, but I think that would aggravate things even more."

Amelia waved him off. "Oh, I'll be all right. Besides, I think it would be best if he had some time to calm down."

"Well, if you insist."

"I do. I'm fine Mr. Zelgadis. Really!" Amelia smiled weakly.

Zelgadis shook his head. Amelia never was one to complain about herself. He could tell she was still hurting badly from the way she hobbled along.

"Please let a town be nearby." Zelgadis thought.

As they exited the forest, Zelgadis spied a town. His wish had come true! True, the town was rather small, but it would have to do.

"Come on Amelia, we're almost there. I'll go find an inn and you can rest while I look around." and he led her into the town.

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Amelia sighed in relief. Zelgadis had left her in an inn room for the day, then left to go look around town. Amelia slowly sat down on the bed.

"I know I told Mr. Zelgadis I was all right, but this really hurts! Time to do something about it, but first..."

Amelia slowly undid her cloak and dropped it on the floor. She knew she should fold it up neatly, but she was too sore to do it just yet. Instead, she spent a good part of an hour casting Recovery on herself until most of the pain was gone.

"Much better!"

Amelia then reached down to pick up and fold her cloak.

"This is filthy! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised after rolling along the ground like that."

On impulse, she ran a hand through her hair.

"A twig? Leaves? More dirt?! I must have looked awful coming into town! Hmm...I wonder if they have a bath house here? Not that I can go by myself...I'll have to ask Mr. Zelgadis later. I'm sure he'll love that." Amelia blushed at the thought. "I hope he finds something."

Then Amelia, having nothing else to take care of, lay down on the bed. Not wanting to get the sheets in the bed dirty, she covered herself with her cloak and fell asleep.

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For anyone who's curious, I based the whole scene with Amelia falling off of Hiro on something that happened to me. I fared a bit better, considering I didn't hit a tree (I was sideswiped by my sister on a horse she couldn't control), but pretty much everything else was exactly what I went through. (Not being able to breathe, not being aware of anything other than that fact, and that I hurt. Not seeing didn't really count, since my glasses had been knocked off. ^_-) I was actually lucky in the fact that I didn't break anything, nor get bloodied up. Just a pelvis as sore as heck, and grass stains everywhere. Joyous It helped me with this fic though (that one scene was actually what helped inspire me to write all that I have so far leading up to it, and everything that'll happen after), so it wasn't a complete loss. Now that you all think I'm odd, I'll leave you to think about what'll happen in the next part! :D