A/N - Once again procrastination against homework rocks! Anyway i got the next chapter up, and to answer some of your questions, there is a bit of romance in this chapter, but the rest will come later, and not necessarily with the same person, hehehe...enjoy!
Chapter 6
Ace, Xavier and Sebastien found Leopold sitting on a large rock, which was located on top of the hill on the far side of the large forest. All three of them were out of breath as they finished trudging up the hill. Ace immediately collapsed onto the soft grass once they reached the top, as Xavier bent over and threw up in the bushes. Sebastien stood fine from all his years of training with the King's Own.
"Mithros what a climb!" Ace said clutching his chest as he rolled onto his back.
"How the hell do you do it in that thing?" Xavier asked wiping his mouth and turning to join the rest of them, as he pointed towards the dress Leopold wore.
"Shows how out of shape you two are." Sebastien said laughing "Looks like you knights are a bit lazy!"
"Hey it's the off season!" Ace complained
"There is no off season!" Sebastien replied
"There is when you hide out at your parents house!" Xavier said sitting down beside Leopold as the three boys laughed. Xavier shielded his eyes as he looked into the distant sky where black clouds were forming, telling them of the coming rain.
Sebastien seemed to have read Xavier's mind "Those clouds will be on us in a few minutes!"
"We could use the rain!" Ace commented standing up and surveying the place. "What a view! You can see the fief from here!"
Ace continued talking to himself while everyone else ignored him.
"What do you guys want?" Leopold asked rubbing her arms against the breeze which was quite strong that high up.
"We just want to know if your alright." Xavier replied smiling
"Aren't cousins allowed to do that anymore?" Sebastien added sitting down on the other side of Leopold so that he and Xavier squished her in the middle. Leopold had to smile as her cousins cheered her up. They always did have a way of making her smile.
"So your really never going to get married huh?" Xavier inquired giving Leopold a small nudge in the side of her stomach with his elbow.
"I've been thinking about it for a while now." Leopold replied staring out at the open space around them.
"And your decision?" Sebastien asked waiting for an answer
"I just don't think marriage is for me." Leopold replied "I mean like aunt Carlotta said, no man would want to marry me. No boy would want to marry me with the way I behave. And there's no way I can change who I am for some one I don't even love."
"What if you did love the boy or man?" Sebastien asked
"I doubt it." Leopold replied smiling "I don't think I'm ever going to love anyone."
"I hope your kidding!" Xavier said loudly which startled Leopold
"What?" Why?" she asked looking at him confused
"Your saying you don't love any of us!" Xavier responded indicating Sebastien, Ace who was still looking at the surroundings and himself.
"Your guys are different. All of my cousins are different. Of course I love you. I'm talking about someone I could marry when I'm older." Leopold replied smiling as Xavier's face broke into a grin.
"Wake up little cousin! You are older! And your not going to be getting much older where you can still marry!" Sebastien said laughing
"Marry while your young the adults say!" Ace said walking over to them and sitting on the floor in front of the three. He had finished surveying the place and was now listening to the conversation. "I'm twenty-five years old and my mother is still arguing with me to get married. It's a bit annoying if you ask me!"
"All of our mothers are trying to get us to marry!" Sebastien replied smiling.
"Yes, and some of us are even spoken for!" Ace said teasing Xavier.
"Your just jealous because no one will agree to court you!" Xavier responded
Leopold turned to her cousin astonished. "Why didn't you tell me Xavier! Who is she?"
"Her names Eliza of Silver Wing." Xavier responded blushing deeply. "I wasn't sure when to tell you, that's all."
"Are you going to marry her?" Leopold asked wanting to have another family reunion
"Once midwinter is over." Xavier said laughing. Leopold gawked at him before throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a giant hug.
"Congratulations!" Leopold respond "I'm so excited!"
"Of course your going to be in the wedding!" Xavier said hugging her back. Leopold was so excited she turned and hugged Sebastien as well before moving on to Ace.
"This is wonderful news!" Leopold said laughing
"So your really not going to get married?" Ace asked whining
"What's it to you?" Leopold asked smiling and nudging him with her foot.
"Nothing." Ace replied with a sly smile. Leopold didn't believe him for an instant
"It doesn't matter either way" Sebastien replied
"Yeah, I doubt we could find someone good enough for our Leopold" Xavier replied teasing.
"Alright, you've had your fun!" Leopold replied. "Move on to something else."
"Of course milady!" Ace teased.
"Well there's been a change in plan as to where your going." Sebastien said quickly
"What?" Leopold asked
"Yes because of most of the others' wives' giving birth, you're going to live with Uncle Mark and Aunt Delilah in Corus!" Xavier said hurriedly
"Yes and the best part is that they're staying in the palace so you'll have fun exploring and meeting new people of the court." Ace continued
"And this is a great opportunity for you to tone your manners to please the aunts!" Sebastien finished before Leopold could soak in the information that had been given.
Leopold glanced between her cousin shocked. Her aunt hated her! The last time she had tried living with her aunt, her aunt had 'accidentally' placed a needle on her chair. When Leopold sat down it poked her and she couldn't sit down for a week. Leopold only ended up spending two weeks with them before she went crazy and left.
"When was I going to be told this?" Leopold shouted standing and starting to pace
"Right now!" Ace said cheerfully!
"It's not all that bad!" Sebastien said
"Not all that bad!" Leopold screamed "Aunt Carlotta let Darren be attacked by her dog and didn't stop it until Darren had almost lost his hand!"
"Well see that's the good thing!" Xavier replied "Darren will be going back to Corus with you for a while!"
"To meet his knight master! And then he's leaving again!" Leopold argued as tears started forming in her eyes.
"Yes but cousin Luke will be there! He's still a page isn't he?" Ace pointed out
Leopold refused to answer as hot tears started stinging her face. It didn't help that the rain started pelting them at that moment. Ace stood and embraced Leopold in a warm hug as she cried into his chest. He cradled her against the wind, and ended up carrying her back to the fief and leaving her asleep in her room.
*~*~*
Leopold refused to talk to her cousins for the rest of their visit, and by the time they were leaving Wessex she was only speaking to them if it was of importance. Other than that she tended to be as far from them as possible. She kept busy helping in the stable or spent most of her time in the woods, anywhere her cousins couldn't find her suited her perfectly. Unfortunately Darren and Craig already knew everywhere there was for her to go, so they would repeatedly lead the others to her just to annoy her.
When they finally left the fief Leopold said a humble goodbye to her aunt and uncle before passing her cousins without a glance, collecting her skirt around her she mounted the white gelding that stood waiting for her. Sebastien, Ace, and Xavier had apologized over and over and were now tired of their cousins childlike attitude. They mounted their horses as Eryk and Emery finished talking to Uncle Anthony and Aunt Carlotta. Once Emery and Eryk were ready to go, and Aunt Carlotta had finally let go of Darren and Craig, the eight started out for Corus.
They rode in silence the entire way there, as Leopold was still getting over her anger. The only time anyone said anything to each other was when they would make camp for the night, and even then they argued most of the time and got nothing done. By the third night everyone's tempers were flaring and they were all mad at each other. Emery and Darren argued over which location to stay the night in, Ace, Craig and Sebastien argued over whose turn it was to dig the latrine, Xavier and Eryk fought over one person getting more rations than the other and Leopold kept to herself arguing with all of the boys over every little thing. By the fourth day, the eight had been traveling in a forest Leopold had never bothered to learn the name of, when they were attacked for the first time, by a small band of boys no older than Leopold.
The eight stopped their horses as they started being surrounded from all sides by the boys, coming out from the trees with daggers and swords. The six knights immediately moved their horses to surround Leopold and Darren in a circle as they drew their swords and waited for the first attack. Leopold herself was staring at one of the boys who seemed to be the leader, because he held up his hand to stop one of the boys from attacking.
"To what do we owe this pleasure of you fine gentlemen," he glanced quickly at Leopold "And women, riding in our forest?" the leader asked glancing again at Leopold and meeting her eye. He held the gaze as Leopold refused to look away. Finally the leader had to as he glanced at each of her cousins. The boy was well dressed in breeches and a light tunic that flowed un-tucked, and his boots weren't very scuffed or dirty. He was as tall as her cousins, with dark blonde hair, and from where she sat brown eyes. Mostly all of the boys there were dressed the same as the leader, not poorly but not richly either.
"Your forest?" Emery the oldest inquired "Last time I heard it was the King's forest."
"Depends on which King you serve!" the boy replied taking out his own sword and glancing again at Leopold.
"We serve King Jonathan of Tortall!" Eryk said pointing his sword at the closest boy.
"I wouldn't be so gallant about that." the leader said with a small laugh as he glanced away from Leopold to Emery "Tell you what, why don't we just take the girl, and we'll let the rest of you go." The boys around him smiled as they shot glances at Leopold while laughing. Leopold looked around the circle at the boys with disgust on her face, she spat at the closest boy and he lunged towards her. Ace blocked the way with his horse, moving so the boys couldn't get through as his sword was pointed at the boys chest.
"C'mon, she can't be worth that much to you. A pretty little thing like that." the leader continued grinning at Leopold. She knew he was doing it on purpose and she wasn't about to let him get away with it. Drawing her own sword, Leopold dismounted to her cousins horror and rapidly walked towards the boy. Ace jumped off his horse and grabbed her arms to hold her back as she growled at the leader. The leader himself laughed at Leopold as Emery and the others dismounted and the fight began.
Around her Leopold's cousins fought the bandits as Leopold stood waiting. There was no one for her to yet fight, but she couldn't bear standing around whilst others fought her battle.
She watched Ace fighting with one of the boys to her left. Each of them had to be at the same level at swords, but Ace was able to slice the poor boys sword in half. The boy looked at his broken sword before taking out two daggers and lunging at Ace. Leopold screamed at Ace, who had turned around to fight someone else. Ace turned in time to meet the bandits daggers, but he had a hard time keeping up with the boys fast arms.
Hearing a scream, Leopold turned around in time to meet one of the bandits sword as it bared down on her. Moving fast she brought her sword around to the right and sliced the poorly trained bandits arm, before hitting him in the face with the hilt of her sword, sending him falling backwards as he clutched his face.
"I see you've been trained!" She turned to the next boy who happened to be the leader of the boys. Their swords met several times back and forth, left and right before they became temporarily locked. "I love that in a woman!" the leader continued. Leopold kicked the boy in the groin which immediately made him back up. He took a few deep breaths before lunging at her again. She turned and met his sword as they continued walking backwards whist fighting. Leopold spun and sliced the boy in the stomach, only deep enough to cut his clothes and scratch his belly but nothing more. He in turn spun and sliced low as Leopold jumped out of his way. The fight continued until the bandit had Leopold squashed against a tree. Their swords locked again and the bandit moved to an inch within her face. "You are a fiery one aren't you?" his eyes laughed at her as she glared at him. Before she could strike he grabbed her around the back of her neck and kissed her quickly and passionately before letting go. He pushed away from her and turned to meet Eryk's sword with his own.
Leopold was so stunned she didn't hear the boy come up behind her and grab her around the waist, hoisting her into the air and starting to drag her into the woods. Leopold screamed and fought her captive, yelling for her cousins. Xavier heard her amongst the noise of the fight and called for the closest cousin Sebastien to help. The two ran towards Leopold who was biting the boys hand. They got closer as the boy set Leopold down, still holding her by the waist and placing a dagger at her throat.
"No!" Xavier and Sebastien screamed at the same time along with the leader of the boys who had turned in time to see what had happened.
The battle immediately stopped as everyone turned to see what had happened. All of Leopold's cousins ran towards her, but the closer they got the more the boy dug the dagger into her throat. Soon the two groups of boys and cousins were mixed as they waited for something to happen.
"Let her go!" Emery called dropping his sword and cautiously taking as step towards the two.
"Stay where you are noble!" the boy who held Leopold called. Leopold started crying as she felt a drop of blood run down her neck.
"Benedict let her go!" the leader said taking two cautious steps forward with his own sword raised at the boy. "I should have never let you come!"
"Your right Aaron! It was a mistake for me to come. Unfortunately I'm the one with the dagger at her throat, not you!" Benedict replied pointing his free hand at Aaron the leader before grabbing Leopold's left arm and pulling it up behind her back. Leopold winced at the pain as she swallowed and tried to move her throat away from the dagger.
"Benedict let her go!" Aaron yelled stepping closer and closer.
"Stay away from me Aaron! I'm warning you!" Benedict yelled back pointing the dagger at Aaron as he started backing up down the trail.
"Benedict I don't want to hurt you!" Aaron replied stepping closer
"Don't make me kill the girl Aaron!" Benedict replied laughing "Besides, isn't she the one you want?" The next second Benedict was gagging and coughing up blood as he collapsed all of his weight on Leopold. She screamed and ran from the boy. She was caught by Ace who cradled her in a hug as everyone turned to watch Benedict. The boy doubled over onto his knees before falling onto his face in the dirt with three daggers sticking out of his back. Looking up two boys came walking down the trail. One of them was grinning and the other was scolding.
"Your welcome Aaron!" the one who was grinning said
"Thanks Gawayn." Aaron replied with a small smile
"I don't see why you had to throw three daggers" the other boy who was scolding said glancing at Benedict
"Jeff, the jerk deserved it!" Gawayn replied pointing at the dead Benedict
Aaron turned back to Leopold and her cousins and apologized about Benedict. He whistled to his group and they all started retreating into the trees. Two boys came forwards and took Benedict's dead body and carried it into the woods with them. The last to disappear was Aaron, Jeff and Gawayn. Aaron looked back one more time and winked at Leopold before disappearing with the other two.
Leopold stared after where they retreated. Sebastien came up to her with a hand placed on his left arm where he had been caught.
"Are you alright?" he asked staring between her and the trees.
"Yeah," Leopold replied touching her lips slightly before snapping out the trance she seemed to be in, while holding a torn piece of Ace's shirt to her throat. Turning to Sebastien she smiled. "I don't believe I can say the same for you." she pointed at Sebastien's arm as he laughed it off.
"Nothing but a scratch. We'll should be out of the forest before nightfall if we hurry up." Sebastien replied turning back to where the others were getting the horses ready to leave again.
"Same here," Leopold replied silently taking the reins of her horse and mounting swiftly.
They reached Corus the next night with out any more trouble and were escorted by many guards to the palace, where they were greeted by their uncle, who welcomed them graciously into his rooms and sent a healer for those who had gotten hurt. There was to be a feast the next night, welcoming the nobles to the court for the beginning of Autumn, and all were invited, and because he now had his nephews and niece there they were required to attend. Leopold went to the room given to her and collapsed on the bed, to tired to even ask for a bath to be drawn. Instead she fell asleep dreaming of the Aaron and that kiss.
Chapter 6
Ace, Xavier and Sebastien found Leopold sitting on a large rock, which was located on top of the hill on the far side of the large forest. All three of them were out of breath as they finished trudging up the hill. Ace immediately collapsed onto the soft grass once they reached the top, as Xavier bent over and threw up in the bushes. Sebastien stood fine from all his years of training with the King's Own.
"Mithros what a climb!" Ace said clutching his chest as he rolled onto his back.
"How the hell do you do it in that thing?" Xavier asked wiping his mouth and turning to join the rest of them, as he pointed towards the dress Leopold wore.
"Shows how out of shape you two are." Sebastien said laughing "Looks like you knights are a bit lazy!"
"Hey it's the off season!" Ace complained
"There is no off season!" Sebastien replied
"There is when you hide out at your parents house!" Xavier said sitting down beside Leopold as the three boys laughed. Xavier shielded his eyes as he looked into the distant sky where black clouds were forming, telling them of the coming rain.
Sebastien seemed to have read Xavier's mind "Those clouds will be on us in a few minutes!"
"We could use the rain!" Ace commented standing up and surveying the place. "What a view! You can see the fief from here!"
Ace continued talking to himself while everyone else ignored him.
"What do you guys want?" Leopold asked rubbing her arms against the breeze which was quite strong that high up.
"We just want to know if your alright." Xavier replied smiling
"Aren't cousins allowed to do that anymore?" Sebastien added sitting down on the other side of Leopold so that he and Xavier squished her in the middle. Leopold had to smile as her cousins cheered her up. They always did have a way of making her smile.
"So your really never going to get married huh?" Xavier inquired giving Leopold a small nudge in the side of her stomach with his elbow.
"I've been thinking about it for a while now." Leopold replied staring out at the open space around them.
"And your decision?" Sebastien asked waiting for an answer
"I just don't think marriage is for me." Leopold replied "I mean like aunt Carlotta said, no man would want to marry me. No boy would want to marry me with the way I behave. And there's no way I can change who I am for some one I don't even love."
"What if you did love the boy or man?" Sebastien asked
"I doubt it." Leopold replied smiling "I don't think I'm ever going to love anyone."
"I hope your kidding!" Xavier said loudly which startled Leopold
"What?" Why?" she asked looking at him confused
"Your saying you don't love any of us!" Xavier responded indicating Sebastien, Ace who was still looking at the surroundings and himself.
"Your guys are different. All of my cousins are different. Of course I love you. I'm talking about someone I could marry when I'm older." Leopold replied smiling as Xavier's face broke into a grin.
"Wake up little cousin! You are older! And your not going to be getting much older where you can still marry!" Sebastien said laughing
"Marry while your young the adults say!" Ace said walking over to them and sitting on the floor in front of the three. He had finished surveying the place and was now listening to the conversation. "I'm twenty-five years old and my mother is still arguing with me to get married. It's a bit annoying if you ask me!"
"All of our mothers are trying to get us to marry!" Sebastien replied smiling.
"Yes, and some of us are even spoken for!" Ace said teasing Xavier.
"Your just jealous because no one will agree to court you!" Xavier responded
Leopold turned to her cousin astonished. "Why didn't you tell me Xavier! Who is she?"
"Her names Eliza of Silver Wing." Xavier responded blushing deeply. "I wasn't sure when to tell you, that's all."
"Are you going to marry her?" Leopold asked wanting to have another family reunion
"Once midwinter is over." Xavier said laughing. Leopold gawked at him before throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a giant hug.
"Congratulations!" Leopold respond "I'm so excited!"
"Of course your going to be in the wedding!" Xavier said hugging her back. Leopold was so excited she turned and hugged Sebastien as well before moving on to Ace.
"This is wonderful news!" Leopold said laughing
"So your really not going to get married?" Ace asked whining
"What's it to you?" Leopold asked smiling and nudging him with her foot.
"Nothing." Ace replied with a sly smile. Leopold didn't believe him for an instant
"It doesn't matter either way" Sebastien replied
"Yeah, I doubt we could find someone good enough for our Leopold" Xavier replied teasing.
"Alright, you've had your fun!" Leopold replied. "Move on to something else."
"Of course milady!" Ace teased.
"Well there's been a change in plan as to where your going." Sebastien said quickly
"What?" Leopold asked
"Yes because of most of the others' wives' giving birth, you're going to live with Uncle Mark and Aunt Delilah in Corus!" Xavier said hurriedly
"Yes and the best part is that they're staying in the palace so you'll have fun exploring and meeting new people of the court." Ace continued
"And this is a great opportunity for you to tone your manners to please the aunts!" Sebastien finished before Leopold could soak in the information that had been given.
Leopold glanced between her cousin shocked. Her aunt hated her! The last time she had tried living with her aunt, her aunt had 'accidentally' placed a needle on her chair. When Leopold sat down it poked her and she couldn't sit down for a week. Leopold only ended up spending two weeks with them before she went crazy and left.
"When was I going to be told this?" Leopold shouted standing and starting to pace
"Right now!" Ace said cheerfully!
"It's not all that bad!" Sebastien said
"Not all that bad!" Leopold screamed "Aunt Carlotta let Darren be attacked by her dog and didn't stop it until Darren had almost lost his hand!"
"Well see that's the good thing!" Xavier replied "Darren will be going back to Corus with you for a while!"
"To meet his knight master! And then he's leaving again!" Leopold argued as tears started forming in her eyes.
"Yes but cousin Luke will be there! He's still a page isn't he?" Ace pointed out
Leopold refused to answer as hot tears started stinging her face. It didn't help that the rain started pelting them at that moment. Ace stood and embraced Leopold in a warm hug as she cried into his chest. He cradled her against the wind, and ended up carrying her back to the fief and leaving her asleep in her room.
*~*~*
Leopold refused to talk to her cousins for the rest of their visit, and by the time they were leaving Wessex she was only speaking to them if it was of importance. Other than that she tended to be as far from them as possible. She kept busy helping in the stable or spent most of her time in the woods, anywhere her cousins couldn't find her suited her perfectly. Unfortunately Darren and Craig already knew everywhere there was for her to go, so they would repeatedly lead the others to her just to annoy her.
When they finally left the fief Leopold said a humble goodbye to her aunt and uncle before passing her cousins without a glance, collecting her skirt around her she mounted the white gelding that stood waiting for her. Sebastien, Ace, and Xavier had apologized over and over and were now tired of their cousins childlike attitude. They mounted their horses as Eryk and Emery finished talking to Uncle Anthony and Aunt Carlotta. Once Emery and Eryk were ready to go, and Aunt Carlotta had finally let go of Darren and Craig, the eight started out for Corus.
They rode in silence the entire way there, as Leopold was still getting over her anger. The only time anyone said anything to each other was when they would make camp for the night, and even then they argued most of the time and got nothing done. By the third night everyone's tempers were flaring and they were all mad at each other. Emery and Darren argued over which location to stay the night in, Ace, Craig and Sebastien argued over whose turn it was to dig the latrine, Xavier and Eryk fought over one person getting more rations than the other and Leopold kept to herself arguing with all of the boys over every little thing. By the fourth day, the eight had been traveling in a forest Leopold had never bothered to learn the name of, when they were attacked for the first time, by a small band of boys no older than Leopold.
The eight stopped their horses as they started being surrounded from all sides by the boys, coming out from the trees with daggers and swords. The six knights immediately moved their horses to surround Leopold and Darren in a circle as they drew their swords and waited for the first attack. Leopold herself was staring at one of the boys who seemed to be the leader, because he held up his hand to stop one of the boys from attacking.
"To what do we owe this pleasure of you fine gentlemen," he glanced quickly at Leopold "And women, riding in our forest?" the leader asked glancing again at Leopold and meeting her eye. He held the gaze as Leopold refused to look away. Finally the leader had to as he glanced at each of her cousins. The boy was well dressed in breeches and a light tunic that flowed un-tucked, and his boots weren't very scuffed or dirty. He was as tall as her cousins, with dark blonde hair, and from where she sat brown eyes. Mostly all of the boys there were dressed the same as the leader, not poorly but not richly either.
"Your forest?" Emery the oldest inquired "Last time I heard it was the King's forest."
"Depends on which King you serve!" the boy replied taking out his own sword and glancing again at Leopold.
"We serve King Jonathan of Tortall!" Eryk said pointing his sword at the closest boy.
"I wouldn't be so gallant about that." the leader said with a small laugh as he glanced away from Leopold to Emery "Tell you what, why don't we just take the girl, and we'll let the rest of you go." The boys around him smiled as they shot glances at Leopold while laughing. Leopold looked around the circle at the boys with disgust on her face, she spat at the closest boy and he lunged towards her. Ace blocked the way with his horse, moving so the boys couldn't get through as his sword was pointed at the boys chest.
"C'mon, she can't be worth that much to you. A pretty little thing like that." the leader continued grinning at Leopold. She knew he was doing it on purpose and she wasn't about to let him get away with it. Drawing her own sword, Leopold dismounted to her cousins horror and rapidly walked towards the boy. Ace jumped off his horse and grabbed her arms to hold her back as she growled at the leader. The leader himself laughed at Leopold as Emery and the others dismounted and the fight began.
Around her Leopold's cousins fought the bandits as Leopold stood waiting. There was no one for her to yet fight, but she couldn't bear standing around whilst others fought her battle.
She watched Ace fighting with one of the boys to her left. Each of them had to be at the same level at swords, but Ace was able to slice the poor boys sword in half. The boy looked at his broken sword before taking out two daggers and lunging at Ace. Leopold screamed at Ace, who had turned around to fight someone else. Ace turned in time to meet the bandits daggers, but he had a hard time keeping up with the boys fast arms.
Hearing a scream, Leopold turned around in time to meet one of the bandits sword as it bared down on her. Moving fast she brought her sword around to the right and sliced the poorly trained bandits arm, before hitting him in the face with the hilt of her sword, sending him falling backwards as he clutched his face.
"I see you've been trained!" She turned to the next boy who happened to be the leader of the boys. Their swords met several times back and forth, left and right before they became temporarily locked. "I love that in a woman!" the leader continued. Leopold kicked the boy in the groin which immediately made him back up. He took a few deep breaths before lunging at her again. She turned and met his sword as they continued walking backwards whist fighting. Leopold spun and sliced the boy in the stomach, only deep enough to cut his clothes and scratch his belly but nothing more. He in turn spun and sliced low as Leopold jumped out of his way. The fight continued until the bandit had Leopold squashed against a tree. Their swords locked again and the bandit moved to an inch within her face. "You are a fiery one aren't you?" his eyes laughed at her as she glared at him. Before she could strike he grabbed her around the back of her neck and kissed her quickly and passionately before letting go. He pushed away from her and turned to meet Eryk's sword with his own.
Leopold was so stunned she didn't hear the boy come up behind her and grab her around the waist, hoisting her into the air and starting to drag her into the woods. Leopold screamed and fought her captive, yelling for her cousins. Xavier heard her amongst the noise of the fight and called for the closest cousin Sebastien to help. The two ran towards Leopold who was biting the boys hand. They got closer as the boy set Leopold down, still holding her by the waist and placing a dagger at her throat.
"No!" Xavier and Sebastien screamed at the same time along with the leader of the boys who had turned in time to see what had happened.
The battle immediately stopped as everyone turned to see what had happened. All of Leopold's cousins ran towards her, but the closer they got the more the boy dug the dagger into her throat. Soon the two groups of boys and cousins were mixed as they waited for something to happen.
"Let her go!" Emery called dropping his sword and cautiously taking as step towards the two.
"Stay where you are noble!" the boy who held Leopold called. Leopold started crying as she felt a drop of blood run down her neck.
"Benedict let her go!" the leader said taking two cautious steps forward with his own sword raised at the boy. "I should have never let you come!"
"Your right Aaron! It was a mistake for me to come. Unfortunately I'm the one with the dagger at her throat, not you!" Benedict replied pointing his free hand at Aaron the leader before grabbing Leopold's left arm and pulling it up behind her back. Leopold winced at the pain as she swallowed and tried to move her throat away from the dagger.
"Benedict let her go!" Aaron yelled stepping closer and closer.
"Stay away from me Aaron! I'm warning you!" Benedict yelled back pointing the dagger at Aaron as he started backing up down the trail.
"Benedict I don't want to hurt you!" Aaron replied stepping closer
"Don't make me kill the girl Aaron!" Benedict replied laughing "Besides, isn't she the one you want?" The next second Benedict was gagging and coughing up blood as he collapsed all of his weight on Leopold. She screamed and ran from the boy. She was caught by Ace who cradled her in a hug as everyone turned to watch Benedict. The boy doubled over onto his knees before falling onto his face in the dirt with three daggers sticking out of his back. Looking up two boys came walking down the trail. One of them was grinning and the other was scolding.
"Your welcome Aaron!" the one who was grinning said
"Thanks Gawayn." Aaron replied with a small smile
"I don't see why you had to throw three daggers" the other boy who was scolding said glancing at Benedict
"Jeff, the jerk deserved it!" Gawayn replied pointing at the dead Benedict
Aaron turned back to Leopold and her cousins and apologized about Benedict. He whistled to his group and they all started retreating into the trees. Two boys came forwards and took Benedict's dead body and carried it into the woods with them. The last to disappear was Aaron, Jeff and Gawayn. Aaron looked back one more time and winked at Leopold before disappearing with the other two.
Leopold stared after where they retreated. Sebastien came up to her with a hand placed on his left arm where he had been caught.
"Are you alright?" he asked staring between her and the trees.
"Yeah," Leopold replied touching her lips slightly before snapping out the trance she seemed to be in, while holding a torn piece of Ace's shirt to her throat. Turning to Sebastien she smiled. "I don't believe I can say the same for you." she pointed at Sebastien's arm as he laughed it off.
"Nothing but a scratch. We'll should be out of the forest before nightfall if we hurry up." Sebastien replied turning back to where the others were getting the horses ready to leave again.
"Same here," Leopold replied silently taking the reins of her horse and mounting swiftly.
They reached Corus the next night with out any more trouble and were escorted by many guards to the palace, where they were greeted by their uncle, who welcomed them graciously into his rooms and sent a healer for those who had gotten hurt. There was to be a feast the next night, welcoming the nobles to the court for the beginning of Autumn, and all were invited, and because he now had his nephews and niece there they were required to attend. Leopold went to the room given to her and collapsed on the bed, to tired to even ask for a bath to be drawn. Instead she fell asleep dreaming of the Aaron and that kiss.