Chapter 3

I must have been staring in fear at Lord Nasher, because I didn't really register that Sand was nudging me sharply.

"Bow, girl!" he whispered savagely.

My eyes widened and I performed the most awkward curtsey ever witnessed by man. I just about fell over. Lord Nasher raised his eyebrow. I steeled myself for the inevitable 'off with her head!'.

Instead, with the faintest wry smile on his lips, he nodded to me. Huh.

He shifted his glance to Sir Grayson and visibly brightened. "Ah, Sir Grayson... a pleasure to see you."

Sir Grayson bowed gracefully and replied with similar grace, "It is my honor to serve, my lord."

"My lord," he continued, "it has come to my attention that this woman stands accused of murder, and is to be given over to Luskan for trial."

"What you have heard is true. Is that why you are here?" Lord Nasher asked. He reminded me of Captain Picard.

"I am here because this woman is my squire, and must be tried by your hand and the will of the Gods alone."

I tried to stand up straighter and look all noble and such.

I heard a haughty woman's voice from the other side of the hall. "What is this nonsense? This knight has no squire." I figured she was the Luskan Ambassador, Torio - Sand had told me all about her.

"I would choose your words carefully, ambassador, lest I think you were accusing one of my knights of speaking lies," Lord Nasher replied diplomatically.

'Owned!' I thought to myself. Lord Nasher was turning out to be pretty cool. I must have been smirking because Sand elbowed me hard in the ribs again.

"I only hear the words of a man shielding a murderer," she snarled. I winced at being called a murderer.

"Then let the accused speak. What say you - does my knight speak truly? Are you his squire?" Lord Nasher asked me.

"Yes..." I squeaked. I braced myself for another jab from Sand.

"Then it is true. That means this squire will be tried here, ambassador... not within Luskan's walls," Lord Nasher said with finality. I breathed a sigh of relief. Quietly.

"There is no justice in this - but I was a fool to expect justice in Neverwinter," Torio retorted, and flamboyantly stormed out.

I had a feeling that whatever happened, Torio was definitely not going to let me get off easy. Regardless of the truth.

All I wanted to do was get hammered, but we were leaving for Port Llast in the morning and I knew I'd regret it if I was hung over. I contented myself with being in a depressed mood.

It just wasn't fair. Why would someone murder an entire village? And why would someone accuse me of it? I was obviously set up, but I felt guilt for what happened. A whole village died because someone hated me enough to get me arrested by Luskan. Why would someone hate me that much? I wasn't even important! And what the hell was the deal with Luskan, anyway?

My emotions were harder to control when I was stressed, so I didn't bother. I stared blankly at my drink and wallowed in self-pity. Shandra had given up trying to lighten me up. We both sat there lost in our thoughts.

I saw Casavir get up from the table he was sitting at and make his way over to us. I pretended that I didn't notice him.

"Do you have a moment? I wish to speak with you…" he said cautiously.

"I'm really not in the mood for talking," I said.

"I only wish for you to hear what I have to say. You do not need to speak."

"Fine," I sighed. I resolved to keep my mouth shut no matter what he said. I figured he was going to talk about some boring logistics of our trip to Port Llast.

He sat down across from me and looked at me with concern.

I looked back into his blue eyes and made no effort to change the dispirited expression on my face.

"I wish to let you know that I will ensure you are absolved of this horrible crime."

Not what I expected him to say, but I kept gazing blankly.

"You need not worry while you are under my protection."

His chivalry radar had finally honed in on me. I glared at him. I was gladly accepting all the help I could get, but this was feeling very knight in shining armour come to save the helpless woman.

"You have only done good deeds in the time I have traveled with you." His voice softened. "It pains me to see you in such distress."

Distress. Like, damsel in distress? My nostrils flared with anger.

He hesitated, noticing my annoyance. "I…will do everything in my power to-"

I lost my temper and momentarily forgot my vow of silence. "I don't need your damn help! I don't want people following me around out of a sense of duty!"

"I'm not-"

"Go rescue a cat in a tree or something! I'm not some charity case here to make you feel holy!"

Shandra's jaw dropped at my outburst. Casavir steeled his face and stood up. He bowed his head slightly to us and then walked out of the front door of the inn.

I sat there steaming, but my anger didn't last for very long. I started to feel guilty for yelling at him like that.

"Damn it," I said quietly, and got up to run after him. I hoped he would let me apologize.

The crisp night air soothed my frazzled nerves. I hadn't noticed how much the stuffy and loud interior of the inn had stressed me out until I got outside. It was cool and quiet. Not many people were walking around; I glanced about quickly to see if I could spot Casavir. He was over at the docks solemnly looking out at the ocean.

I approached him quietly. His expression was stoic as ever, but I could see sadness in his eyes. It seemed to me that the sadness had always been there, though - I just hadn't noticed it before. I was always so wrapped up in my own issues.

I opened my mouth to say I was sorry, but he spoke first.

"I apologize for what I said. I did not mean to imply that you are incapable. It was not my place to speak to you like that."

I stared at him for a moment. "What? No, Casavir, I came here to apologize to you. I shouldn't have burst out like that."

"No, my lady, you had every right to defend yourself as you did."

I rolled my eyes and smiled ruefully. "I'm not used to all of this. I used to be in control of my life. I didn't need anyone's help or protection - I did things on my own and I was just fine. But now…I'm in danger all of the time and I'd be dead already if it wasn't for you and the others."

My chest tightened with the memory of the fear I always felt when there was a fight. It was paralyzing to see someone coming after me with the intent to kill. So paralyzing that someone always had to step in and defend me. Usually it was Casavir…

"Are you all right, my lady?" he asked with concern. I noticed that my eyes were clenched shut. I shook myself out of my trance.

"Yeah…sorry." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Look, it's been hard for me to admit this, but I really appreciate your help. It's good to have someone watching my back. I owe you my life a hundred times over."

"It is my-"

"Don't! Just don't say it's your duty. Please. That's all I ask. It isn't your duty to help me."

"I was going to say: it is my pleasure."

"Yeah right," I said and kicked him in the shin playfully. He said nothing as he looked at me but he had the faintest smile on his lips. I hadn't ever seen him smile before. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Well, maybe we should get back to the inn. Tomorrow will be a long day," I said.

"Lead on, my lady."

"And quit calling me 'my lady'," I scowled.

The day was hot and muggy, but I didn't let it bother me. Instead I thought of how far back we would be if we hadn't decided to take our trip by horseback. We still had a very long way to go, but our trip's length would be reduced significantly. I was also infinitely grateful for the horseback riding lessons I had taken when I was a kid. One less way to make a fool out of myself!

We were riding single file, so I didn't have to talk to anyone along the way. I let my mind drift as we trod along.

I still missed home a lot, but I was getting used to lifestyle I was forced to lead here. I was no longer constantly yearning for minor comforts and conveniences like bottled water and washing machines. Not to mention flushing toilets.

I still craved coffee sometimes, but I had gotten over my addiction pretty quickly after people looked at me like I was nuts when I asked about it. "Coffee?! We don't serve foreign swill here."

Back home, I used to get bored when I didn't have loads of entertainment to keep me busy. I'd get restless if my favourite TV shows were done for the season, or if my favourite websites weren't being updated quickly enough.

Now, though, I felt a kind of peace during the long hours on the road, or the times when I was alone in my room or keeping watch overnight. I was content to just sit there and let my mind wander.

I mostly thought about the upcoming trial and the need for us to find some kind of evidence to prove me innocent. Sand seemed to be quite confident that we would find what we needed. I thought about how relieved I was that we were taking a trip that wouldn't be dangerous. We were taking a well-traveled road to a port city, where we were going to check some stuff out, then come back home. We weren't skulking through the woods on the trail of otherworldly creatures, so how dangerous could it be?

My thoughts passed the time quickly. I was brought out of my reverie by a pang of hunger from my stomach and I wondered what time it was. I glanced at the sky and figured we would be stopping soon for the night.

Impending trial notwithstanding, I felt content and safe.

I traipsed though the woods, picking up dried twigs to use for tinder for the campfire. I sniffed the air and thought happily of how much I loved the scent of trees and dead leaves and moss and whatever else made the forest smell the way it did.

"Here's a good one," I sing-songed to myself as I picked up a nice branchy twig.

Suddenly, I was wrenched backwards by a strong hand across my mouth. My heart stopped as I felt something cold and sharp touch my throat.

How could I have been so complacent?

I tried to yell 'let me go!' but it just made a muffled sound against my assailant's hand. I was so scared. All I could think about was how I was going to die.

"You'd better be quiet, girl, or I'll slit your throat." My breath caught as I recognized the voice. Bishop.

He took his hand off my mouth but kept the dagger at my throat, pushing it at my skin slightly as though to warn me not to yell out.

I was too scared to even speculate on why he had me at knife-point. All I could think about was how I was going to die and how I didn't want to die.

I managed to force myself not to plead for my life - I knew that would get me nowhere.

"What are you doing?" I whispered. The fear was evident in my voice and I had no way to control that.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm holding a knife to your throat," he sneered, although he sounded amused.

"Why?" I croaked. I was coming dangerously close to crying, but I used every ounce of my strength to stop myself.

"To show you how weak you are. You aren't even going to survive long enough to see the trial at the rate you're going."

So…he wasn't going to kill me? I was so confused. And still scared.

"I'll never be rid of Duncan if you let yourself get killed," he continued, voice filled with disgust. "You're going to learn how to defend yourself."

He didn't make it sound like I had a choice. He took the knife from my throat, but not before dragging it just lightly enough to leave a shallow cut. It really stung.

"Ow," I blurted out.

He made a sound of utter exasperation and grabbed my shoulder to turn me around. He shoved the hilt of the dagger into my palm and stepped back.

I looked at the dagger in my hand. What, he was going to show me now? I was still shaking from fear. Regardless, I gripped it and tried to position myself into a somewhat defensive stance.

Then he lunged forward and punched me really, really hard in the face.

"OW!" I yelled as I stumbled backwards.

"Defend yourself, idiot!" he growled.

I was still in shock over how he had the gall to punch me in the face. Then he punched me again. In the same spot.

"Agh!" I yelled. I choked back a sob and tried to stop tears from escaping my eyes.

"What, you're going to cry, now?" he said in the most belittling tone I had ever heard.

I just wanted to run back to the camp. There was no way I could run faster than he could, though.

I saw him lunge forward again, but this time I had enough presence of mind to do something about it. I brought my arm up to block his punch, and, almost subconsciously, I pushed a few threads of magic into my arm to give it enough strength. It was awkward, and almost didn't work, but I managed not to get punched again.

"Good," he murmured. "Maybe you aren't completely hopeless."

Then he went on to actually show me a few tricks. He was impatient and relentless, but I learned some valuable, if brutal, defenses.

At one point I wasn't holding the dagger properly for a certain maneuver, so he came up behind me and wrenched my wrist into the right position. I thought about how this whole thing was like a romantic scene in a movie, aside from the fact that he was hurting my wrist. And that I had blood coming out of my nose. And that he was very, very mean.

He went on for what seemed like forever, but finally it started to get dark out.

"Go back to camp. We're done for now. And clean yourself up, you look like a dead orc."

I made a face at him when he wasn't looking. I started dragging myself in the direction of the camp, wondering what the heck I was going to tell everyone.

"Next time," he said from behind me, "I'll show you how to gouge someone's eye out."