Koinu-chan: Chapter two! Aren't you excited?!

Murtagh: …

Koinu-chan: Come now! Don't pull a Neku! Besides! I'm not that mean! You are the hero after all, not the villain! Wow! So many exclamation points!!! XD

Murtagh: *sigh* Your excitement is exhausting.

Koinu-chan: And now to begin the chappie!

"This is a normal spoken sentence."

"This is a 'quote'."

"THIS IS SHOUTING!"

"This is whispering."

"An emphasized word will look like this."

This is a thought. Foreshadowing and flash backs will also be in italics.

A stressed word in a thought looks like this.

You should be able to figure everything else out on your own.

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"Pompous bastards," Murtagh mumbled. He grumbled about the incident for quite a ways down the road.

Once during the trip, the girl had woken and stirred a bit but Murtagh had forbidden her to speak in the interest of conserving her strength. She had seemed tense but Murtagh thought little of it, perhaps the horse ride made her uncomfortable.

After some time, Murtagh halted Tornac and set about putting up camp for the night. Once he had finished, he boiled some rags and then drew near the servant girl to see to her wounds. She obediently rolled up her sleeve and allowed him to clean and bandage the cut on her arm. Promptly after he finished, however, she drew away and refused to let him tend to her other injury.

Confused, Murtagh prodded, "Why won't you let me tend to your other cut? If I don't see to it soon, it will get infected."

The girl shook her head and shivered in what appeared to Murtagh as terror. "You could…It would be so simple for you to…" she stammered incomplete sentences, her voice quavering at several points. Her hands made their way to her bosom, clutching at the fabric of her dress.

Comprehending the girl's fright, Murtagh spoke softly and gently when he said, "I won't hurt you or try to force you to sleep with me. I'm not like that dirty old man," he offered his hand as he continued, "Look, if you get uncomfortable, you can hit me or something. I'll back off and let you calm down then maybe I'll try to finish after that."

"But if I strike you-"

"I won't even fight back," he promised, hands in the air surrendering with his posture.

The girl hesitated and though she still looked unsure, she eventually nodded her consent.

TIMEPASSESTIMEPASSESTIMEPASSESTIMEPASSES

Murtagh rolled out a sleeping mat so the servant girl could lie down and not dirty her clothes. He indicated that he needed her to lie on her belly then, trying to put her at ease, suggested that she move the skirt herself.

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Caterina shivered at the idea of baring skin in front of a man so soon but obliged. The man touched her hand lightly when she had fully exposed her cut which stung in the night air.

Caterina felt scared and defenseless in her position. She was terrified that the man would do something terrible despite his word. Terror made her heart pound loudly inside her chest.

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Feeling waves of fright and general discomfort roll off the servant girl, Murtagh made his job as fast as he could while still being gentle and thorough.

Trying to make light of the tension, Murtagh asked, "So do you have a name?"

"Caterina," was the timid reply.

"My name is Murtagh," he said. "I'm pleased to meet you, though the circumstances could be better."

She didn't laugh but she did seem to relax a little.

Shortly there after, Murtagh said, "I'm finished. You can get up now, but be careful that you don't reopen the cut on your leg."

When Caterina rolled over and her features caught the light, Murtagh fully realized why the old man had been so (disgustingly) interested in her. She was the most beautiful woman he had seen in a very long time.

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Caterina saw the look that Murtagh had given her. It frightened her for just a moment but then she remembered his voice and how strong his name sounded to her.

He won't hurt me…

She yawned and stretched, tired and a bit sore from her adventure that day.

Murtagh looked concerned all at once. "Are you tired? Maybe you should rest." He looked out suspiciously at the surrounding area and then said, "Yes, you should rest. I'll keep watch."

Caterina almost asked, "Are you sure you'll be ok?" but thought better of it and nodded instead. She lay down on the sleeping mat that was beneath her and fell asleep quickly.

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Murtagh watched the girl fall asleep and then sat with his back to the fire, the girl between the two, his blade bare across his left leg. He rested his right forearm on his bent knee and settled in for a long night.

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Koinu-chan: So I've uploaded the chappie but that's because I feel like I'm taking too long. I'll try to get some more writing done but I just took on another story. Wish me luck!