Sorry that I've taken soooooooo long to get this chapter up. I had loads of work to do recently. Anyways, I hope you enjoy rest of story.
Oh yeah, It starts to get complicated here. Basically for the first three paragraphs, when I leave a line between one paragraph and the next it's a new person's POV. But then after that it's just normal.
Disclaimer: still don't own anything.
In Her Dreams-Knights in Shining Armour
The girl was very strange indeed. Several times she tripped and fell, cursing in a foreign tongue. The woads watched in a sort of avid fascination. She was, of course, no threat to the trained-to-kill group but threat or no threat; they had to keep their territory protected. The leader of the group of a dozen or so lean, armed men gave the signal to close in on the intruder.
Caitlyn pounded her feet angrily on the ground as she walked. Her trainers were soaked with the slushy snow and she could feel her nose turning a painful colour of red. Up and down her bare arms goosebumps prickled among the marks that several thorn bushes had kindly left her. Ten minutes ago it was exciting, awaking in an unknown forest in the snow, now it was just plain annoying. She was scared, hungry, cold, hurt and, most of all, bloody confused. Where was she going? She didn't know.
A bird landed on a branch above her, covering her with yet more snow. Great.She thought, a really great day this has turned out to be.
He was within ten feet of her now, as was his followers. Beside him, the bowman raised his bow, ready to lease the arrow. He nodded his consent and the arrow whizzed through the air, missing the girl's nose by an inch, and imbedding itself in a tree. They leaped into the path, yelling and hollering as they went. The girl screamed, once, and then fell to the ground unconscious. That was easy. The man thought; as he bent down to study her. Slowly, she came round and looked blearily at him. She screamed, but this time she didn't stop. Several of the men fell down after being kicked in the knee, some clamped their hands over their ears while the rest tried to control the screaming, struggling bundle on the floor. He quickly stuffed his hand over her mouth to try and stop the terrible sound, but then let go quickly with several teeth marks now on it. After a number of confused minutes, the man stood triumphantly over the gagged and tied girl, while others nursed their injuries and glared at the stranger.
'Who are you?' He commanded her to answer, in a deep voice. Warily, he undid the gag and asked her again.
'What are you doing here? Where are you from?' he barked while the girl stared at him with wide eyes. This is hopeless, he sighed.
'Shall we just kill her?' asked one of the troops, followed by many nods of agreement from the others. The man looked at her again. She was young, very young. And scared.
'No. Take her on horseback, Brevalear. Be back by sundown.'
When she thought all was safe, Caitlyn tried to get the material off her head, which was hard while her hands were tied behind her. She must have been quite a sight to the man scanning the forest edge with his keen eyes. It was not everyday that you saw someone flinging themselves around, legs kicking, running into trees and generally making a hell of a lot of noise. At first he didn't know what it was and immediately unsheathed his sword. Then 'it' finally lay still after tripping over for the umpteenth time. He approached it cautiously. It, or rather, she was crying hopelessly from beneath the material over her face.
When she felt hands at her back, she screamed hoarsely, while twisting and turning in a hysterical way. This day was getting worse and worse for Caitlyn and she was terrified at what this new threat was. When she felt her arms freed however, she ceased her crying.
'Help me,' she begged, 'Get this thing off my hea-'. She could breath! Alleluia! She almost choked on shock. This was no stranger, she knew that face. It was Tristan! She gulped down her surprise and tried to figure this out. A few hours ago it was 2006, now it was the Middle Ages. How does that work?
Tristan pulled the girl to her feet. 'Are you hurt?' His voice was quiet and without any expression, but his eyes could not hide his curiosity. 'I'm fine' she was surprised to find that she could speak after all that screaming and crying. 'Thank you for helping me Trissss, er, I mean…thanks.' Caitlyn smiled stupidly at him. Well if he didn't think I was crazy before, he definitely does now.
Tristan studied her for a few more moments, taking in her bright pink top and jeans, the plastic bracelets around her wrists and her scruffy trainers. Caitlyn shifted uncomfortably in his gaze, before he turned and walked silently away.
'Well…hey…wait!' Caitlyn spluttered indignantly, hopping after her rescuer. 'You can't leave me here!' He turned towards her with a quizzical stare, 'Well get on then.'
Caitlyn went from confusion to relief to horror as she realised what he meant, 'On this?' she whispered pointing to the beast.
Caitlyn briefly recalled a small riding school not far from her home, five years ago. The horses there were cute and fluffy, she wore enough protective clothing to resist a firing squad and they provided steps for getting on and off. And with that experience she was supposed to get on this thing? Oh God... Caitlyn took a deep breath and prepared herself for some very unladylike scrambling. She took the reigns in her trembling hands and raised her foot half heartedly towards the stirrup. For the second time that afternoon Tristan stood a little way off observing this strange girl's acrobatic efforts with a hidden smile. Caitlyn, still determined to triumph, suddenly felt hands grip her waist and in a whoosh she was in the saddle and looking down into the slightly smug face of Tristan. 'Thank-you' she whispered trying to hide her burning fire engine cheeks and regain some poise. He said nothing only leaped, to Caitlyn's amazement, onto the horse and in a second was sitting behind her and urging the horse into a trot.