Author's note: Elmont you creep, just what are you doing to this poor girl?! Anyway, I really like how this story is turning out and hope you all are enjoying it just as much. I know that I'm really happy with the way that it is turning out! Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a review if you have the time, I would love you forever.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story itself and the female character.
Elmont had originally planned to return to the market place the next day, but had been swept off his feet with the many duties that always managed to rule his life. Five days had past for him in the blink of any eye, and now as per order of the king he was to take two days off. It was the first day it wasn't raining in a week though, so things were looking better already. It was always like this, the king ordered he take two days off after working fourteen straight. He was fine with it, for usually he returned to his house on the small amount of land he had inherited from his father in that time. During his working days he had to remain at the castle to be ready for anything and it was always nice to return home once in a while.
Today though, he ventured back out into the town and hoped was happy to see that they were still pulling rocks all over the place. He was worried in the time that he'd been gone they would have finished with everything and then he would have absolutely no clue how to find the mysterious maiden again. This way at least there was a chance he would be able to find her pulling rocks again, for people poor enough to have to do physical labor usual needed to do it often. Most times the situation was kind of a don't work; don't get to eat, kind of deal. He could only hope that red's life wasn't like that.
It wasn't hard to find the red headed girl, though this time he had left his horse in a stable; in hopes he might get to interact with her. She was pulling rocks from the field again, though this time at a much slower pace. She still wore the same horribly stained dress and Elmont briefly wondered if that was because it had been five day, or that was the only piece of clothing she owned. That worried him a lot, because there was no way someone would pull faster because it had been raining out. This left the huge possibility that she had been out pulling all week in the rain and was now sick because of it. Elmont wanted nothing more than to be able to march over to the girl and scowled her for being so foolish. He couldn't though, because technically they had not even met yet.
Thoughts flew out the window as she stopped to cough violently. It sounded painful even from how far away he was. What was worse is that it didn't stop for minutes upon minutes and when the girl pulled her hand away from her mouth he noticed that she grimaced. It didn't take a genius to figure that that she probably just coughed up blood, for it had sounded that bad to begin with. Before he realized he had even been moving, Elmont was steps from the girl, who still hadn't continued her work yet, and was more than likely having great difficulty finding the strength to.
"Are you going to be alright, my dear?" He said and the girl shot her head up to look at him in alarm. Apparently she'd been in her own little world and forgot that people could hear her hacking. In fact, she did not look like she had expected anyone to talk to her afterward, like she thought that no one would care that she nearly couched up her insides in the middle of a field. Elmont's heart clenched in thought of how sad this girl's existence must actually be.
He wanted to say so much more to her, but choose to wait quietly for an answer instead. It would be easier for conversation to happen if he didn't just start fussing about someone he didn't know at all. She most likely would not approve of that or appreciate it at all. After a few moments of her just simply staring, she smiled at him with large sad and tired eyes, and Elmont thought his heart was going to shoot straight out of his chest. "Sorry sir, I did not mean to disturb your day with my coughing. I'll try to be quieter next time."
She sounded so exhausted, like she was running on her last limb and already starting to fall. Up close and facing her, he could now see the dark circles that were under her eye and could not help but wonder when the last time she got a proper night of rest was. More than anything else though, she sounded scared. Like she truly believed that her coughing had upset him and now he was over here to demand that she get a whipping from a superior. He tried not to wonder if that had happened before.
"It did not really disturb me, I was just wondering if you were alright." He tried to smile back at her, but it probably looked more like a grimace. He was really worried about her, and could not find it in himself to be happy at the moment. She looked surprised more then anything and then nervous. She bit down on her lip and her eyes darted back and forth as if to see if anyone else was around to hear. There wasn't anyone, for she had already been falling behind and then when she had been forced to stop, she had been left all together. She looked at the ground losing her smile, and answered with a very quiet, "I'm fine, just have a little bit of a cough."
Elmont found that he wanted to take her by the shoulders and just shake her until she realized that there was no way she was fine with a cough like that. That there was no way that she should be out here working, that it was dangerous for her to be out here all alone, that she needed someone who could take care of her. He didn't though, now wasn't the time for something like that. "You should get a good night's rest with some soup for your throat, I am sure you will be fine after that. More importantly, you should take the rest of the day off; you are going to kill yourself working out here with sickness like that." He wasn't actually sure that would help her cough, but it certainly couldn't help to try. The worst thing was that she just frowned at him as he talked, like she didn't understand what he was telling her.
"Sorry sir, I can't do that. I have to work, please don't worry about me, I do not mean to be a bother." That was the last words she said to him, before turning back to her job and beginning to lug the large rock by a rope once more.
Elmont found himself regretting not wearing his usual armor today, as he had chosen a simple tunic and pants instead today. If he had been wearing his uniform, perhaps she would have taken his words as law and done what he said.
The girl only got about five more feet, before she had to stop and cough again, this time he was close enough to see the blood splatter against her hand as she did so. It had to be more then incredibly painful, and even he winced as she did so. She also swayed as though she was struggling to even stay up, and having difficulty with the straight part. She just looked so tired in his eyes, like a bright light that was flickering and about to go out. He didn't want that beautiful light to go out, had he just met her.
What Elmont did next her wasn't exactly proud of, he moved quickly so that he stood directly behind her and delivered a swift blow to the back of her neck. His training offered that this was painless and a great way to knock out enemies when you had the element of surprise. Still, he had never imaged using this move on a defenseless girl.
Trying not to think to hard about it, he heaved her over his shoulder and then started off towards the stable where his horse was. They hopefully wouldn't ask many questions, and he could be on his well on his way home or perhaps even there by the time she woke up.
God, he was turning out to be quite the interesting character. Captain of the guards, stalker of unarmed, and unguarded woman, and now kidnapper. He really didn't like what this girl was doing to him, but really all he wanted was for her to rest her sickness away, and if he had to force her to do that, then so be it.
He was going to make sure this bright light didn't work itself to death, didn't go out tonight.