Disclaimer: I do not own any of the fantastic characters from OUAT.
Author's Note: THANK YOU so much for checking out this story. I am super excited about it, and cant wait to upload more chapters. Now that Emma and Hook are in Camelot we will see a lot more fast paced adventure, but of course all the really good stuff will be in due time. Anyway, onto the next installment. Please remember to review and be sure to read the note at the end of the story.
Chapter 2 – The King
"Did he just say Camelot?" Emma's jaw remained slack as she watched the man on the horse disappear in the distance.
Hook cocked his head to the side, "As in the story?" He ran his hand over his mouth in thought.
"You know it?" Emma shot him a quizzical look, "Didn't take you much for the bookish type." Standing there wasn't going to get them anywhere, and while Hook laughed at her remark they had continued walking in the same direction as the man on horseback. "What's so funny?" She asked, kicking at a stone on the ground and watching it roll off into the brush.
"Just because I'm a pirate doesn't mean I'm some senseless barbarian, love." He mused, adjusting the front of his coat and then flashed a soft smile.
Emma watched the way his hand lingered on the brass buttons of his coat; the way his fingers delicately encircled each one before finding the pocket and seeking refuge. It was brief moments like these, moments she rarely paid attention to, that she saw softness in him that normally wasn't there; a small reminder that all of his brash selfishness hadn't always been his true identity. Her eyes traveled up to his face, thankful that he was focused on the road ahead of them.
"See something you like?" His sudden words caught her off guard and she quickly snapped her eyes back to the road. She could feel the back of her neck grow warm.
Emma scoffed, "Just making sure you aren't planning on stranding me here on my own."
He looked at her as if to challenge the comment, not thoroughly convinced that it was the true reason why she was looking at him. He refrained from addressing it; avoiding the probable argument that would surely follow a statement such as that. Instead he picked up his pace down the road, his footsteps far more hard and determined than before.
They traveled mostly in silence, the sun arching high through the sky and settling somewhere behind them just as the curve in the road widened. The first hint of the evening air blew in as they approached a few homes on the outskirts of Camelot, and Emma wrapped her naked arms around herself to fight some of the rising chill.
She felt his hand on her shoulder almost instantaneously, as if he had been watching her all the while, "Here," he slipped his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders. "This should keep out some of the chill."
Emma slipped her arms into the soft leather, leather that very much smelled of rum and the ocean and something oddly Hook like that she couldn't put her finger on. His body heat had warmed the material from their walk and she immediately felt the comforting heat wash over her skin and travel through her body. "Thanks," she said lamely, but tossed in a smile in hopes that it would make up for it.
Hook merely shrugged, "Least I can do, although," he glanced over at the approaching cottages, "If we don't want to call attention to ourselves I suggest that we dress a little bit more Camelot and less …" He looked down at his own attire and held out his arms.
"Leathery." She finished, and chuckled as she looked down at his jacket wrapped around her.
"Precisely," he reached out and ran his hand over the jacket material, "although I must admit I do enjoy seeing you in my clothing."
She rolled her eyes, "Don't get used to it."
He chuckled again, this time letting his eyes linger much too long at the spot where her arms were folded beneath her breasts. Emma, however, was busy looking off at the cottages thinking in silence. It was one thing to just wander up to strangers and ask for help, but it made it extremely difficult when you were in a fictitious fantasy land. Emma racked her brain for information about Camelot. Hell, she had heard the tales of King Arthur enough during high school English class. Now she wished she actually paid attention more during those classes.
"Come on," Hook mumbled, breaking her away from thoughts of a round table and a bunch of knights in shining armor. "We can try to get some clothing from one of these places before moving on." He nodded at the closest house.
Emma furrowed her brow, "And how exactly do you plan on doing that? You can't just waltz up to someone's house and ask for clothing."
Hook merely smiled and then pointed at his face, "Pirate…remember?" He smirked and then headed off in a run before Emma had a chance to stop him.
"Hook!" She hissed out, ducking behind a tree and peeking out just enough to watch him move along the side of the house before disappearing all together.
The silence settled in around her as the sun fell behind the trees. In the distance she could just make out a few candles being placed in cottage windows. Would they be able to figure out a way back to Henry in time to save him? No, it wasn't an option to just hope that they'd do it. They had to do it. Everyone was counting on her to find Henry and get him back to Storybrooke. Failing, no matter how difficult the situation, just wasn't an option. She pressed her body against the tree even harder, straining through the growing darkness to make out Hooks form. All she could make out was the swaying silhouettes of the trees.
There was a crunch of leaves to her right.
She shot her gaze in its direction, "Hook?" she whispered, shifting slightly in the hopes of seeing him come through the thick of the trees and back to her. "Hook?" her tone was a bit more panicked now, suddenly realizing that she had nothing with her for self-defense. The crunch came again, closer this time, forcing her to get down on her hands and knees and look for something, anything, to keep herself safe. All she managed to find was a broken tree limb with a semi pointy end.
The crunch came again, only this time it was followed by a grunt, something quite animal like, and a loud crash of brush. Emma threw her body back against the tree, the pointy stick tight in her hand while she surveyed the trees for any sign of an attacker. Times like these always reminded her how damn great flashlights were.
The shadow darted out at her without warning. Knocking into her and grunting again. Emma dropped the stick and hit her head against the tree trunk; it stunned her for a moment, disorientating her enough to prohibit her from finding the stick. The thing gripped at the bottom of her shoe, grunting again as Emma began frantically searching the ground for her weapon. When her fingers finally touched it she slashed upward towards the thing and felt the stick hit it's shoulder, it grunted again, and then grabbed at her arms.
"Emma stop," She slashed again, "Emma it's me…" gurgled the voice.
Emma thrust the stick forward again, although this time a hand prevented it from colliding with anything. "Emma I said it's me." The ringing in her ears ceased, and suddenly his voice registered with her.
"What the hell are you doing?" She back up on her bottom and practically kicked him in the shin.
Her eyes finally adjusted to the dark and she could see his face through the denseness of the forest night.
Hook glanced down at the stick she was holding and chuckled, "Really Swan? A stick?" His finger touched the pointy end, "These things only work on vampires, love." He chuckled, and then turned back to the bushes behind him, all the while rubbing a spot on his head.
"What do you know about vampires?" Emma felt her eyes go wide, "Oh god, they don't exists do they?"
Again, Hook laughed, ducked behind the bush, and then reappeared with a pile of clothing. "No they don't," Emma's shoulders relaxed, "Well not in this realm at least." He chuckled again and tossed her something brown and white. "It's the best I could do." He pointed at the clothing.
Emma fanned out the dress and held it up against her body, "What happened?"
He began untangling a belt from a pair of pants, "Slipped in through the back of the house, grabbed the first few things I saw. Lucky for us the young Lord and Lady weren't in."
Emma slipped the jacket from her frame, "Then what happened to your head?" She flickered her eyes up to a bump on his forehead.
He snorted, "It's hard to navigate the trees without a light, Swan. Hit myself on some of the low hanging branches. Knocked me over…"
"So that's what all the grunting was about?" She asked.
He smirked, "Well, what else would it have been about?"
Emma tossed his jacket back at him, "Knock it off." She looked down at the dress again, this time really scrutinizing what she was going to be forced to wear. "Couldn't you have grabbed another pair of pants?"
"Not likely, love." He began unbuttoning his shirt, all the while keeping his eyes focused on her face. "Around here women wouldn't be seen wearing them."
She couldn't stop herself from watching the first few buttons of his shirt open up, nor could she stop the flush that rose in her cheeks. "Around here women wouldn't be seen doing anything. It's too damn dark." She bunched the material up in her fingers.
"The faster you get that on the faster we get to the kingdom. Then," he undid the last two buttons and pulled his shirt off his shoulders, "we can figure out how to get back to Neverland."
Emma stared at his naked torso longer than she would have liked to. In fact when she finally yelled at him to change someplace else she couldn't stop the crack in her voice. Hook merely chuckled and balled the clothing up in his arms.
"As you wish, Swan." But even as he walked away Emma was certain she saw a glimmer in his eye that hadn't been there earlier.
Without any more distractions to keep her from changing, Emma shed herself from her normal clothes and pulled the brown dress up and over her head. It fell in two layers to the ground, hitting her feet and hiding the 21st century boots she was wearing. The cap of the arm and neckline was trimmed with an itchy lace that she wanted to rip off. Unfortunately the neckline was also low enough to expose a good portion of her cleavage and removing the lace trim would only expose even more. She cursed under her breath and adjusted the dress a few times before finally giving up and letting it be.
When she turned to face the direction Hook had gone off in she jumped in her skin as he stood there leaning against a tree.
"How long have you been standing there?" She asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious and wrapping her arms over her chest to try and cover her exposed skin.
"Just arrived," he breathed out, seemingly distracted by the way her chest was rising and falling in the dress.
"I look like an idiot." She exclaimed, rocking on the heels of her boots before dropping them back down onto the ground.
"On the contrary," he stepped away from the tree and smiled, "You look quite lovely, Emma."
She felt that damn blush again, and she shook it free almost as fast as it had come, "What should we do with our clothes?" It was then she finally took in his own appearance, a white tunic looking shirt that opened into a v-neckline. His pants were brown and, well, tight. Too tight. How the hell could he walk in pants so damn tight? She averted her eyes.
"Here," He closed the distance between them and grabbed the clothing from her. The brush behind them was thick and high, and Hook shoved the ball of clothing into the center of a bush. "If we have a chance we can come back for them. In the meantime we need to fit in as much as possible."
Emma nodded, for once fully agreeing with his decision. Carrying around her tank top and pants would only draw attention to them. This way they could sneak into Camelot with little to no suspicion. "So what do we do now?" Her hands slapped against her thighs.
Hook looked back over his shoulder and squinted, "I can see more candle light up in the distance. My best guess is that the kingdom isn't too far from where we are. " He turned back to Emma, "We have two choices, we can either camp here for the night or keep moving."
"Keep moving," she didn't even hesitate. The faster they got to Camelot the faster they could leave.
"We're decided then." Hook held out his arm and gestured back towards the main road. His gaze moved from her face and back to his arm, "Just so you don't trip in your new dress." He smiled.
She wasn't sure why she reached out and took his arm, all she knew was that it seemed only natural for her to take hold of him and let him guide her back through the brush towards the road.
"If you get tired you let me know, alright?" His voice was sweet and sincere; Emma felt the corners of her mouth curve into a smile.
"Look Hook if this is some excuse because you're tired; you just need to say so. I'll slow down for you."
"Are you joking with me Swan?" He added, feigning a shock.
She chuckled, paused, and faced him, "Just trying to get a rise out of you."
"She's trying to get a rise out of something, isn't she Gwaine?"
The two men on horseback blocked the road; Emma hadn't even noticed they had cleared the forest. Hook took one step forward and blocked her from the men.
"Can we help you?" He asked, looked up at the two men, surveying the swords they had against their armored sides.
"Can you help us? I'm not sure I've ever met such polite thieves, Percival, have you?" The one named Gwaine drew his sword from his hilt.
"Thieves," Emma mumbled, "We aren't thieves!" Hook shot a pointed look at her and she suddenly recalled the clothing they were wearing weren't exactly bought at Macys.
"Well that's something you'll have to take up with the King." The one named Percival jumped from his horse and removed some rope from his satchel.
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, sir, but we're not thieves and we won't be going with you." Hook ushered her to back up and she did so without question.
Gwaine slid from his horse as well, and lifted the visor on his helmet. "Now that's an unfortunate declaration." He held up his hand and circled it once above his head.
The thundering of hooves pounded at the road, and Emma watched as a dozen or so knights emerged from the darkness. Each pulled their sword from the hilt, brandishing them down in her direction.
"You see that's where we differ in opinion." Gwaine stepped forward, stopping inches from Hook, "We are loyal Knights to the King, his right hand when it comes to protecting our precious Camelot." He leaned in, "And if we demand you are to come back with us to face the charges, well, I'd suggest you do so."
Hook wasn't aware of the sword until it pricked the skin beneath his chin, nor was he aware of the two men who had pulled their swords on Emma.
"Well come quietly," Emma finally whispered, pushing her front against his back, practically begging him to challenge the knights any further.
"Excellent," Gwaine clapped his hands together, directing two of his men to separate Emma from Hook. They did so harshly, knocking her about with rough hands and careless movements.
"Careful with her!" Hook yelled, trying to break himself free from Percival to get to Emma. The blow from Percival knocked Hook from his feet, sending him careening into one of the horses and onto the ground. In other circumstances she would have yelled out, demanded to see if he was ok. Somehow she didn't think those requests would go over well with the knights. Instead she lowered her eyes and kept her mouth shut; inside she cringed at her own weakness.
The ropes cut into her skin as they tossed her over the back of Gwaine's horse. She was able to chance a quick glimpse of Hook who unconsciously had been tied up and strapped to the back of another horse. He hadn't so much as moved in the last five minutes. Emma pressed her cheek into the side of the horse and closed her eyes.
"Let's get you back to the King," Gwaine chuckled and yanked the reigns of his horse. Every bump in the road felt like a thousand blows to her body. She suddenly wished that they had knocked her out as well.
She felt like throwing up when the horse finally stopped galloping. Emma swallowed it back over and over again until she finally seemed to get the gagging under control. With her eyes still pressed shut she could hear the click of hooves on cobbled pavement, a shout for the drawbridge, and the sudden galloping again as Gwaine ushered his horse and men beyond the castle walls.
"Time to wake up," Hands pulled her down from the horse and finally she opened her eyes.
If ever there was a moment when she felt like she stepped into a story book it was this. Giant stone walls towered in front of her, adorned with flags depicting a family crest. The doorway to the castle was enormous, reminding her of all the old fairy tales she had been told about Princes and Princesses. It was just like that. Beautiful and frightening. Inviting and Distant.
"Looks like your lover is waking up," she was being pushed forward by Gwaine, passing by Hook who was finally making noise from the back of his horse.
"Where are you taking us?" She asked, not bothering to fight against the pull of the ropes.
Gwaine gave her a long sideways glance, "To the King. He's been waiting to locate you both for quite some time." The doors of the castle opened and Emma felt the walls practically swallow her whole. Behind her she could hear Hook groaning in pain.
"I still don't know what you are talking about. We haven't stolen anything. We've only just arrived here." Maybe if she appealed to their better nature they'd let her go.
Gwaine snorted back a laugh, "The King has been under the impression that the person, or in this case persons, responsible for stealing from the royal armory, weren't that bright. Outsiders, he calls them." As they approached another set of doors Gwaine was greeted by a smiling servant before gesturing for her to open them.
"We may be outsiders but we aren't thieves." She stated sternly, locking her eyes with his for a moment.
"What were you doing skulking through the forest outside the castle walls?" He turned his attention back to the corridor, "Hiding weaponry I'd imagine."
As they approached the end of the corridor Gwaine slowed his steps and waited for two more knights to bring up Hook beside them.
"Are you ok?" Emma whispered, her eyes trailing over the bruises on his face.
"Right as rain, love," He tried to smile, but winced as the knight yanked him forward and shoved him against the wall demanding him to shut up.
"Well now," Gwaine clapped his hands together again, "If you'd excuse me for a brief moment I'd like to fill in the King about our discovery before handing you over." He stepped backwards, offered Emma a little wink, and then pushed through the large doors and disappeared.
The two other knights stood there, watching quietly as Emma moved from where she was standing and approached Hook.
"Look, when we get in there I'll take care of it, ok?" She lifted her roped hands up tried to push some of his hair away from the bruising on his forehead.
Again he tried to smile, "Emma Swan, coming to my rescue. Who would have thought?" He choked out a strangled laugh and then coughed.
The double doors opened again and Gwaine stepped back out into the corridor.
"Look, from all the stories I know King Arthur of Camelot was a just and fair kind of guy." Emma leaned into Hook's side, "Just let me speak and hopefully we can get out of here."
Gwaine gestured for the other knights to bring them forward, "The King would like to speak with you now."
In stoic silence Emma and Hook were guided into the room, the large double doors swinging closed behind them. The grand extravagance of the hall had her leaning her head back in awe. It was massive from top to bottom. Even the large tapestry that hung from the wall was lavish and rich looking. At the far end of the hall sat a throne, a dozen or so men crowding around the figure that sat there. They moved slowly, the knights shoving them every now and then causing Emma to stumble over her own feet.
"Step forward," The commanding voice seemed to separate the men around it, and Emma lifted her eyes to take in the King of Legends.
He was much older than she had expected, graying hair trimming the edge of the bejeweled crown on his head. She had expected him to be younger, at least by a decade or more. She supposed that myths and legends weren't always so accurate.
The knight to her left kicked behind the knees of Hook causing him to fall down on all fours. He looked at Emma and she dropped down onto her knees before anyone could assault her.
"My King," Gwaine bowed his head, "these are the two I spoke of."
"Excellent work Gwaine," He stood from the throne, "If you'd be so kind as to fetch my son Arthur it would be appreciated. If the boy plans on being King one day he should be here to observe."
Emma furrowed her brow and glanced briefly over at Hook. He was too busy staring up at the man on the throne as Gwaine disappeared through a side door.
"We've been searching for those responsible for thievery for some time now." His eyes bore into Emma's, " Honestly I expected you to be, well, I didn't expect you to be so well composed."
"We didn't steal anything." She mumbled through gritted teeth.
One of the knights stepped forward, and kicked Emma in the back, "You'll speak to the King with respect, wench."
Her body toppled forward and she slammed her chin on the cold hard floor. She could taste the blood in her mouth almost instantly.
"They keep demanding their innocence, Your Highness." The other knight added, yanking Hooks head back by his hair. "But we've seen through their lies."
The man on the throne ran his hand over his neatly shaved beard and gazed down at them. "Did you find any of the stolen artillery?" He asked.
One of the knights shifted behind her, "No my Lord, we found them hiding in the woods and immediately brought them to you."
The King stood there quietly for a moment, not even bothering to turn his attention to the young man who had entered the room with Gwaine.
"So we are still missing our artillery?" He asked, although Emma noticed it sounded more like a statement than a question.
"Yes my Lord." Again the knight shifted awkwardly behind her.
The King stepped down from the throne, the young man now falling in line beside him. "Let them rise and look me in the eye."
Emma was quickly dragged to her feet, the blood in her mouth causing her to gag the slightest. Beside her Hook clumsily stumbled. "Please, your majesty, we haven't taken anything. We've just arrived to Camelot…we haven't-"
The slap across her face came as a harsh surprise. Through watery eyes she glared up at the King.
"You see Arthur, this is how we must behave to command respect in our Kingdom. Peasants that think they can speak so freely need to be tamed." The King gave a sideways glance at his son, "You must learn to demand respect and loyalty if you plan on being remembered as a powerful and commanding King."
"Of course Father," Arthur replied quietly, taking a moment to look between Emma and Hook.
"Now," the King lifted his hand and placed it under Emma's chin. "Tell the King exactly what you are doing here in Camelot?"
NOTE: Exciting things are about to happen! Please leave a brief review after reading, I appreciate the feedback more than you know.
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