A/N: Thank you guys for your comments! I'm having fun with this one; I hope you're enjoying it as well. :)
Chapter 6
Tearing through the forest, she never looked behind her, certain that over the sound of her beating heart, the creature was crashing inexorably behind her. She burst through the bushes into a clearing, and her heart sank; she had blundered her way to the Black Castle, trapped, with the castle's wall behind her, the lagoon on one side, and more forestry on the other. Looking about desperately, she dropped her bag containing her meager belongings, and grabbed a fallen branch, ready to fight for her life.
She glanced at the water. Certain death lay in that direction; even she knew that the water was its territory. No help lay in the direction of the forest; the shadows seemed dark and oppressive from where she stood. She edged closer towards the trees, steeling herself for battle. The crashings grew louder, until the animal burst out upon her with a roar. Proud of herself for refraining from screaming, she wielded her branch and whacked it soundly on the side of the snout as it rushed her. That brought it up short; she could almost see the perplexed thought process as it re-evaluated her position as lunch. Evidently it was hungry, for it paused, and instead of retreating, crouched and narrowed its eyes.
Wendy nearly stopped breathing. This was it. It was going to attack her, and she'd be dragged into the water and drowned, and--
Strangely, in the midst of her terror, she felt time stop, and her fear seemed to melt away. An inner calm and sense of clarity came over her. She somehow knew that this would not be the way she was to die, and she almost heard a low voice saying, No. Not now.
Suddenly it snapped at her leg, tearing at her skin; she jumped backwards and fell before it could break her leg, hitting her head rather hard on the ground. She tried to stand again, scooting away as quickly as possible, but her leg wouldn't cooperate. It began crawling towards her quickly-so fast-but suddenly something brought it up short.
She heard a metallic reverberation and suddenly the croc let out a bellow of pain and anger. It turned away from her, striking her head with its tail in the process and causing a hot flash of pain to pass through her, then it growled. ...at her? No, there was something else in the clearing. Something threatening the croc. She forced herself to stand again, grabbing her branch, and focused on the scene unfolding before her.
There was a whirl of teeth and a flash of light glinting off of a sword. Then the croc bellowed again, the cry sounding pained, and suddenly crawled into the lagoon, disappearing almost at once. She allowed herself to fall against the wall as she tried to regain her breath and ability to think, as she looked into the forget-me-not blue eyes of her rescuer.
Captain Hook.
A/N: Aaand the long-awaited moment has arrived… don't hate me. :p More is coming!