::Byakko no Miko:: Chapter 4 ::

They were… alone.

Her, and the unspeaking young bandit.

Alone, in a dark, small room, empty except for a couple of raised wooden planks one corner – a bed.

Caerria attempted to sit up, but winced as a sharp pain shot through her side, causing her to fall back onto her elbows, the impact jarring them painfully onto the dirt floor.

The few seconds in which that young bandit had pulled her across the floor and dumped her so unceremoniously onto the floor had obviously been more than enough to shift some more broken bones of hers around in her body to god-knows-where.

"Are you alright?" A male voice drifted out of the darkness, startling Caerria out of her stupor. She whirled around, a feat almost unimaginable to someone this injured, and came face-to-face with the young man aka bandit.

(His voice.)

Was she imagining it, or did he… for a moment, sound un-bandit like? Or even… cultured?!

Her eyes narrowed. Was he trying to act nice now so that she'd pleasure him more willingly? Not a chance.

Caerria turned her face away from him, and painfully pushed herself off the floor, hoping to give herself an advantage in height so she could, possibly, free herself. She struggled to stand as the chains bruised her wrists painfully, the sheer weight of them causing Caerria to nearly fall face-flat onto the floor.

Soft footfalls came from behind, and Caerria suddenly found the chains slipping off her wrists and ankles as the young man unlocked the padlocks which held them in place.

Free of them chains, she immediately straightened her back and turned to face the captor. To her surprise, she found that he towered over her, with her chin only barely reaching his shoulder. This was quite unusual, given the fact that she usually was taller than most of her male peers. His shoulders were broad and carried a sword slung casually across them, his bold and calm demeanor making her more than believe he could use that weapon as well as she used her hands and feet.

Caerria recognized the signs and immediately fell back from her captor, her eyes desperately searching the room for any way to escape. As her gaze fell on the young man again, she was incensed to see a slow smirk spreading across his face.

"What… are… you… smiling… at…?" She forced the words out through her teeth, her eyes flashing menacingly.

The man tapped a finger on his chin as he thought. "Hmm… I don't know. I suppose I'm feeling a bit sympathetic towards you…"

"Sympathetic?" Caerria spat the word out as though it was something dirty. Through his cloak of hair, she could see his brows arch slightly.

"More like laughing at my predicament, feeling decidedly amused at my futile attempts to escape, poking fun at the pathetic situation I'm in!" She threw the words into his face, and to her surprise, felt a lone tear streak through the patterns of dirt on her cheek, down… down… Caerria was almost sure she heard it fall onto the ground.

She turned away, and used the back of her hand to smear the traces of weakness from her face. She didn't hear him until he was right behind her.

"Sorry." The lone word hung in the still air between them.

"Huh?" Waitaminute, did she just hear him apologise?

He coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I did just apologise."

Caerria turned around to face him. His face was unreadable, hidden from sight by a cloak of black hair which shone slightly in the dim moonlight. She reached a hand out to brush the hair from his face, but he jerked back with a sudden movement, as if stung, and turned away from her. She let her hand fall, a hot flush filling her face.

"……" Silence reigned once more, until the young man picked up something from the ground nearby and plonked it in front of Caerria.

"This is?" She squinted to see what it was, but once her hand touched it, she recognized the rough canvas material as that of her schoolbag. With a cry of delight, she pulled the bag into her lap, then felt the things inside it.

(Here… they are all here… my possessions…)

"You… Thank you." She whispered softly.

They looked at each other in silence till a loud hammering at the door caused the both of them to jump in fright.

"Hey Aki, you done with that girl? We want to have a go too, so don't tire her too much, eh?" Boisterous laughter followed that rude comment, both of which filtered under the door and into the ears of the two.

Caerria took a step backwards.

He wasn't really going to rape her, was he?

The young man took a step towards her, then sighed when he saw her back away from him again.

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything to you," His voice filled the space between them, and he watched as her shoulders slumped visibly in relief, then all of a sudden, tense up again.

"How can I be sure of that?" She said, watching his movements closely. If he so much as took a step towards her, she was going to try and knock him out… painfully of course.

She thought she saw him roll his eyes as he walked to another end of the room. There, he felt the walls for something, then slowly pulled a neat square of wood out of the space it was in, cold air immediately blowing in through that hole in the wall.

"A secret exit? You're letting me go?" She whispered to herself almost disbelievingly, walking to stand next to him in front of the hole in the wall. It smelt cold and damp outside, and Caerria wrinkled her nose at the smell of decay.

"I am letting you go," He said, rolling his eyes again. He just couldn't believe how dumb the girl was. Anyone in his right mind would have jumped out of the hole immediately instead of staying to ask his captor if he was freed. Girls.

"You sure? You'll probably get into trouble you know, letting me go like that," Caerria said. She knew what he was thinking, that she was the dumbest thing on earth. Who ever heard of a fish asking the fisherman if it were freed when it was thrown back into the water? But she was a bit worried for him. Those guys outside were definitely not to be trifled with, and if they found out that she got away…

He turned to regard her with a strange look. "Just go. They won't do a thing to me, I'm sure of that." She thought she saw a gleam in his eyes as he said that, but shook it off as a trick of the light.

"If you say so…" Caerria muttered under her breath, then stepped out of the hole. She limped a few paces, then turned back to look at her saviour.

He stood there, unmoving, as though a statue, until she raised a hand to wave to him. Then, he grudgingly raised his, and waved a goodbye.

She smiled, then limped off into the darkness of the forest.

!!-!!

Hello ppl, nice to see you guys again! Gomen ne, it's been sooo long since I last updated… It's all because of school and homework and all that… Yeah, sucks I know. My mom won't let me online AT ALL cos of my O levels this year as well… Totally bleh.

Anyway, the only reason why I'm online is because I'm sick. Yeah, fell sick. But it _could_ be a blessing in disguise, no? *grins*

Reader's replies:

Chibi-face: Thank you for the compliments, I am pleased you liked my story so much. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you. :D

Sidelong: Wowee! Is that really you? Sidelong? *double-checks* Oh boy, it IS you! You can't imagine how happy I am seeing you review my story, seeing the fact that I so absolutely love Trials. :D I hope you continue to read my fics, and be sure to review! (PS: The Daine fic will take a while to get out, so sorry! But I'll be sure to get it out… some time.)

Eulene: Gomen ne, I haven't read your fic in a while, but I will be sure do so, not to worry! (PS: Leaving readers hanging is the absolutely most best thing that an author can do to torture them, so be sure to do more of it *evil laughter*)

Gapz~: Arigatou! I like Caerria a lot too!