A Little Help, Please? (Alcide)

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin looked over her shoulder as she rode swiftly through the woods. She had been running errands for her Uncle; some of the villagers in his lands had had a complaint about their taxes, so she had been sent to hear them and relay the report to her Uncle. Her Uncle of course had insisted she take a guard with her, what after the incident with Richard. However, she had left before he could send anyone with her; she was only going on a short ride anyway so she wanted to just get it over and done with. She had no intention of staying in the woods longer than she needed to anyway; she had had enough of them over the past few months. Caitrin nudged her mare on further, increasing her speed a little. The trees whirled past her, and Caitrin allowed herself to relax a little. In retrospect, she was regretting not taking a guard with her; she was a little jumpy as of late. A few months ago she would have been certain that nothing could harm her, and that she could handle anything and everything, but now she knew her limitations in a way. Her time with Richard had shown her that really she couldn’t do much by herself in terms of defending herself. She had her sorcery, yes, but she was too afraid to use it; even against bandits.

Wiping such thoughts from her head, Caitrin slowed her mare a little as the ground began to get a little bumpier. She had no desire to be thrown from her horse, or for the mare to have a twisted ankle or something similar. Caitrin pulled her satin hood down, and looked around her, wrapping the reigns around her wrist as she stroked the mare’s head, “We’ll be home soon.” She whispered to the horse, who made no reply except to continue along the road. Caitrin heard a branch break in the distance, and whipped her head around. Jesu, this had been a mistake. She would soon be jumping at her own shadow. Another branch snapped, and Caitrin didn’t have time to look round to where the noise had come from.

Caitrin felt someone collide into her side, she was thrown from her horse, and landed painfully on the forest floor; underneath whoever had jumped into her. She tried to get up straight away, but the person had his weight on her; she screamed, so he covered her mouth with his hand. She was still struggling, but she took a moment to look at the man; who had dark features, and a smirk. Caitrin was throwing her fists against the man, trying to bite the hand which was clamped over her mouth. The man was just laughing to his friend, who had hold of the mare’s reigns. Caitrin had a quick idea, and kneed the man in his upper thigh. He flinched and removed the hand from her mouth. Taking her chance, she took advantage of the fact he was recoiling, and wriggled out from under him and tried to make a run for it. That worked for all of two seconds before the other man had grabbed her round the waist, and clamped his hands around her, stopping her from going any further. Caitrin continued to scream, so the man put his hand over her mouth and dragged her back to his friend who was still writhing in pain on the floor,

“Stop struggling, you won’t get away again." One man hissed in her ear, though it didn’t stop her struggles, if anything it just increased them. He produced a knife, and pressed the cold unforgiving metal against her pale throat, “I said; stop struggling!”

Tagged: Alcide
Timeline: In the series 2-3 gap
Location: The woods to the north of the de Archer estate
Time of Day: Afternoon[/color][/size]

[alcide]

Alcide had come to know these woods well during his nomadic life; he knew the forest trails and paths and had tread them more than few times before on his travels. He traversed from kingdom to kingdom with no particular destination, following familiar roads and trekking across the land and never really grew jaded from all his traveling from one place to the next; he enjoyed it. There was a sense of freedom to it. Many people didn’t seem to have that these days. And if they did have it, they didn’t seem to value it much in Alcide’s eyes.

His horse was walking along a narrow route that ran along the forest line. He let the animal choose his own pace and the beast certainly wasn’t in any hurry so Alcide assumed a slightly more relaxed posture on the saddle as well, letting his shoulders slouch casually, and resting his hands on the grip of the saddle. His eyes raked the surrounding woods every now and then, but it was calm all around him – until a scream pierced the air. Hearing it for the first time, it did not really elicit any particular reaction from him. It was not his duty to care about anyone else but for himself. There was a moment of silence and he continued to ride forward the trail, but another scream soon ricocheted through the still air. He pulled his horse to a halt and sighed through his nose, his heels digging into the horse’s flanks as he made the stallion turn around.

He stepped from his mount and threw the reins over the horse’s head and tied them to a branch, patting the animal’s neck as he walked around to its other side and began to walk through the woods toward where the scream had come from. He ducked his head under another branch and approached the bandits and the woman they had apprehended, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. What he saw didn’t really surprise him – the scream had belonged to a woman, after all. His face adorned a stony expression as he looked over at the men and their captive; his eyes flickering towards the blade that was held against the woman’s throat. The man holding her glanced at him coldly. ”Move along, this isn’t your concern.”

He chuckled darkly and continued to walk toward them slowly. ”No,” he agreed. ”It doesn’t concern me.” Alcide unsheathed his sword and calmly pointed it at the man, his eyes dark. ”What are you doing?” the man spat out, quickly looking at his friend. ”Step any closer, and I will slit her throat. I’m warning you.”

”No, you will not.” He smirked at the man. ”I recognize a coward when I see one,” Alcide spoke, taking a step toward the bandit again. The man was clearly hesitant and backpedaled slightly, dragging the woman with him and still pressing the knife against her throat, glancing at his partner again. From his peripheral vision he saw the other man trying to sneak up to his side but he didn’t react to it yet. Then the man lunged and Alcide acted swiftly. He sidestepped and expertly dodged the man’s attack, driving his own blade into the man’s stomach in return and then pulling it out, the blade glistening with blood. The bandit fell to the ground and then lay motionless. Alcide turned to point his sword at the man again. ”See how quickly he met his death? You will be next, unless you release her. Let her go. Now.”

Tag: Caitrin de Archer

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin would have been lying if she had said that she wasn’t scared. Only an idiot wouldn’t be scared in her position. The metal of the blade was cold, and cruel against her skin, but it stopped her protests for the time being. Her breathing was shallow, and the man was pulling her effortlessly. She didn’t beg for him to let her go, or not to hurt her. If he wanted to hurt her then he would; men like this didn’t care; she wasn’t going to lose her dignity as well as everything else. She was a stubborn and proud woman, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d lost her immaturity and belief that she could take on the world with no consequences a long time ago. Caitrin risked pulling against the man, to test him more than anything but he just grunted, and the knife edged closer to her. She stopped, and bit her lip, trying to stop herself from screaming again. She doubted it would make much difference anyway; they were in the middle of nowhere.

Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might rip out of her chest. She knew how vulnerable she appeared as a woman, travelling alone, but she wouldn’t succumb to whatever they had in mind without a fight, if needs be. There was no point in struggling at the moment as it was clear she would lose. She managed to wriggle her hand up her front, so her palm was against the bite of the blade, so at least she had some leverage. The bandit noticed, but paid it no heed as a third man had joined the group. For a horrible moment, Caitrin thought that this could be another one of their party, come to see the spoils. She held her breath, until the bandit who was holding her spoke. Caitrin didn’t let herself hope just yet, this could be nothing more than a lad, thinking he could play the hero; the knights around here were full of such hopefuls. Though the man didn’t look much like a knight.

Caitrin winced, and looked away as the man made quick work of the second bandit who had tried his luck on jumping him. She was no stranger to blood, or gore, she had grown up under the roof of a Mercian warlord after all; however, she didn’t have the stomach for it. She wanted to retch, but didn’t. The man who was holding her kept dragging her backwards, away from the other mans quick reach. She could feel the blade shake in his hand, and once again she just held her breath, waiting for something to happen. “Would you risk her life?” He asked, trying to regain control of the situation; his confidence growing again, “One step closer and I’ll slit her throat, and yours afterwards.” Caitrin’s eyes darted up to the man in front of her; her chest rising and falling rapidly. She didn’t know if the man who was holding her had the stomach to slit her throat, though anyone could was capable of the worst when they were panicked, “Now, leave us,” The bandit smirked, and ran a finger down Caitrin’s cheek, “To our own business.”