Stubbornness Can Only Get You So Far

[Caitrin de Archer]

This was ridiculous. She began to feel nervous, but she had no idea why; was Richard doing this to her on purpose? Probably, it sounded like something he would do. Caitrin didn't press him again for what was wrong, she just wanted to get out of here as quickly as she could. Breathing in slowly, she looked back at Richard, and wondered if there was any hope of getting the reigns back off him. She was focusing on Richard, so when he was suddenly jerked backwards, she jumped and her eyes darted upwards.

Caitrin was ignoring Richard on the floor for the moment, and was more concerned about the thug who had his eyes on her. She raised her eye brows at his words and coughed slightly, "Excuse me?" He hadn't found anything, nothing he would be keeping anyway. Her eyes flicked back down to Richard and rolled her eyes as he called her 'his noble' she would have said something to him, but the bandit had got there first. She bit down on her lip hard to stop herself laughing when the man asked her if Caitrin was Richard's sweetheart. Jesu, never again.

Caitrin just let Richard and the bandits have their banter, but didn't notice that the first bandit was coming towards her until he had his hands on her waist, and had pulled her off the horse. Straight away she began to pull against him, "Get off of me!" She screamed, and continued to throw her arms and anything she could think of, against the bandit, just to get him to let go. The only thing she suceeded in doing was motivating the second bandit to aid in restraining her. Usually she probably would have found it amusing that it took two men to restrain her, but this really wasn't the time to gloat about such things.

The chain! Caitrin had almost forgotten about that in the struggle, and now one of the bandits was eyeing the slit of sliver with a look of annoyance. Hadn't Richard said the chain was unbreakable? This could work in their favour and she almost had a smug look on her face. However that quickly disappeared as the bandit severed the chain and swiftly moved to knock Richard out with one swift blow.

"Richard!" She screamed out and pulled back against the man who still had hold of her arms. In her right mind she wouldn't have cared less what state Richard was in, but she was a lot safer with him than she was going to be with these two thugs. Now she was getting annoyed, they were trying to kidnap her from her original kidnapper. "Let me go." She shouted back at the man as the thug who had knocked out Richard rejoined them. He reached out his index finger and thumb and gripped both her cheeks in-between them; hard.

"Now are you going to come quietly?" It probably wasn't the wisest thing in the world to do, but Caitrin spat back in the mans face. He released her cheek and brushed his cheek. "Fine." Was all he said as he took a cloth out from his pocket and began fiddling with something else. The man looked up from the cloth to the horse, "We'll use that to get away, he won't know the first place to look." He grinned and looked back to Richard. "Now," He turned back to Caitrin, a rag in his hands, "This won't hurt a bit." Caitrin was about to say something but his hand was at the back of her head, and the other hand forced the rag over her mouth and nose. She tried to pull back, but his hand kept her head in place, and she began to feel lightheaded. Caitrin felt herself fall into the mans grasp and the last thing she could remember feeling was an annoying sense of deja vu.

[Richard de Calys]

A few hours later...

On a list of things that Richard did not much care for, being punched in the face would definitely be rather high up. It would, however, be overtaken by another event he had, annoyingly, also recently experienced: having his kidnapped noblewoman kidnapped. It was very bad manners. He would never dream of stealing another man's kidnappee, well, that was a lie but even so. It was all very irritating. He sat up, regretted such quick movement, and fell back again. Thud. He'd forgotten the ground was so hard. As he lay on the forest floor, staring up at leaves and a little blue sky he wondered just how he was going to find Caitrin, because there was no way he was going to let those...imbeciles rob him of his money. The whole situation was utterly ridiculous. And he'd probably ruined his cloak. Why was everything in life so difficult?

He sat up again, this time managing to not fall backwards. His head hurt, but that was probably due to a number of collisions with a solid floor. Putting a hand against the back of his head, he felt a lump. Brilliant. Now he was deformed. This was just getting better and better. Somehow those bandits were going to suffer. He wasn't exactly sure how yet, but he was determined it was going to happen. He was Richard de Calys, and this sort of thing was just not done.

After a few moments he stood up, finding his balance slightly dodgy but determined to find the men, and Caitrin, as quickly as possible. He was still two days away from Camelot, and this delay was not putting him in a very good mood. And then there was the problem of how to rescue (he used the term lightly, of course) his damsel (meant ironically, of course) in distress from her would be captors. He'd better get a damn good pay out for this. With quite some determination, and no plan whatsoever, he brushed the dirt from his clothes and made himself look presentable - or at least as presentable he could look given the last two days. He had no weapon, very little sleeping draught and virtually no muscle power. Right. Onwards, then.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Essentially, Caitrin had spent all day in the presence of idiots. Well, to her she had already been in the presence of at least one idiot, but they were taking it to a whole new level. She hadn't woken up until later in the afternoon, which was just as annoying as that was the second day in a row. Of course she'd struggled from the moment her eyes had opened, and their response had been to gag and bound her. They'd made camp not long afterwards so it hadn't mad much difference anyway. One of them had pulled her off the horse again, and with a length of rope which mimicked the effects of Richard's chain, he had pulled her into the clearing.

She had been terrified, of course she would be a fool to say that she wasn't. She had no way to defend herself, and she was in the middle of nowhere with two brutish sort of men. The one who had a hand on the rope shifted so he could hold her cheek in his grasp. "Not bad, for a noble." He grinned and Caitrin put her head away from him. She wouldn't tremble or quiver in front of these men now. They obviously didn't want to kill her, if they did then they would have already done so. That was one logical thought Caitrin was holding onto and she pulled back from the man.

The second bandit was now by her, and took the rope from the first man's grasp and tied the end of it on a low hanging branch. As soon as he had tied the last knot, she tried to pull against it, to break the branch. She couldn't be here, she needed to get home or at least get away from this pair. Of course the branch didn't break and when the men had their backs turned, she let herself collapse against the floor, her head downcast. Jesu, no matter what she had said to Richard, at least she had felt safe with him.

One of the men was coming over to her again and she rushed to her feet, her heart thudding in her ears. Her hands were bound in front of her, so she couldn't use them to push him away. He pulled down her gag and brushed a few hairs off her cheek. Although Caitrin tried to put her head away from him, he forced her to look back at him with his thumb and finger at her cheek. "You are going to make us a lot of money." He snarled, "But first, we need to know what noble household you belong too." Caitrin's heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest. She just kept silent and held her breath for a few moments. "I'm waiting." He said rather impatiently and Caitrin bit her lip nervously.

"I'm not going to tell you anything." The bandit laughed, he'd expected nothing else,

"All we want to do is get you home, then we'll be on our way." He tried the innocent approach, although it was probably far too late for that. "What is your name?"

"I will never tell you anything." She said it slowly, emphasising each word. The man laughed, and half turned away from her before quickly swinging back. Caitrin hadn't been expecting the slap, so when it came it knocked her off balance. Her cheek stung as she crumpled to her knees, tears in her eyes, but still looking up at him.

"If you don't tell us by morning, you may not live to regret it." He gave a rather menacing smile and turned back to his companion. Caitrin watched him go with nothing but hatred in her eyes. At least he'd forgotten to put the gag back up; that was something. So she just stayed seated silently where she was, her hands still bound out in front of her; attached to the tree. The stars were already starting to shine in the sky, and Caitrin's heart sunk slightly. She had been hoping Richard would somehow catch up with them. Although she hardly wanted rescuing by him, at least then she would be able to get home. She'd be safe then.

[Richard de Calys]

Richard had been wandering through the forest for about a week. As far as his feet were concerned, that was not an exaggeration. No matter how much of his life he spent in the damned place it would never stop looking like the same ten metres or so just repeated over and over again. He sighed, leaning against a tree in order to collect his thoughts. This was supposed to be an easy job. All he had to do was find Caitrin and bring her back to Camelot. What he hadn't been expecting was having to battle against her very unwanted advances, bind them together with an "unbreakable" chain and then rescue her from bandits. The whole situation was ridiculous. He just wanted his money now. And then to go anywhere that wasn't Camelot or this forest. If he could avoid all forests for the next...twenty years, then everything would be fine again. And he needed a new cloak.

With another sigh he pulled himself away from the tree and stood in an annoyingly indistinctive part of the forest while trying to determine his next move. Normally he was rather good at finding people, but there was no one to buy or steal information from. There weren't any tracks to follow as the forest floor was covered in them. Frustrated and tired and actually starting to get quite hungry, he crossed his arms over his chest and stormed off in whatever direction he felt like. It wasn't going to make a difference, now was it?

**

Oh, look! A tree. Those were a rarity. Richard was still in a foul mood. It was dark, cold, and his favourite - and ruined - cloak was the only thing that was even attempting to keep him warm. He walked rather awkwardly, cloak and arms wrapped around himself and convinced he'd been walking in circles. Caitrin had better be grateful when he eventually found her. Of course he had no idea what he was actually going to do. Normally he at least had half a plan, but it was hard to formulate one when the only asset you had was about a drop of a sleeping draught. He shivered and rubbed his hands together. As soon as he had the oppurtunity he was going to have a nice, hot bath and stay in it for a month.

"Have you checked on her again?"

"She still won't say anything."

Richard stopped and, as quietly as he could, found a tree to hide behind. He'd found them! The two men were sitting either side of a small fire, but he couldn't see Caitrin. Trust her to make everything as difficult as possible. He shuffled closer, aware that he was in no position to defend himself. This was certainly going to be interesting. He would stay here for a few moments, and try and learn something about his newly found foes before endangering himself. At least then he'd have a very small chance, as opposed to no chance at all. Their conversation was not all that insightful. He was just going to have to go with this, which usually wouldn't be a problem. He was a master of just going with it. This time however he wasn't quite so convinced.

After taking a deep breath, he practically jumped out from behind the tree. Now that his view was no longer obscured he could see Caitrin, tied up. She was obviously loving that. He gave her a quick wink before turning his full attention to the two bandits. "Ah! There you are. I have been looking all over for you two." He stood there, every bit the confident hero, hands on his hips and a grin on his face. "Now, if you don't mind, I really need to get my sister back. As I said earlier, my mother does fret so. It's not good for her heart. I've told her. I've said "Mother you really shouldn't fret so." He shrugged, hopefully it wasn't obvious that he was rambling until he came up with a better plan. "But what can you do? Mothers, eh?"

An idea occurred to him. It wasn't one of his best ideas by far, but at the moment it was the only thing he had to go on. The first man was already walking towards him, so Richard kept grinning as he pulled out the small vial of sleeping draught. He held up the small glass object in one hand, while holding out his other to stop the man advancing any further. "I wouldn't come nearer if I were you." Richard began, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "My mother, you remember her - the frightful one. Well, she gave me this." Inclining his head towards the vial he continued: "I drop this, the glass breaks. Bang." He let the statement hang in the air before stepping forwards towards Caitrin. The two men appeared to be taking his threat seriously. He was surprised. Obviously he was better at this than he first thought. "Well untie her then."

The first man just raised his eyebrows. "I don't think so."

Alternatively, this could all be going wrong. He didn't have time to mentally slap himself, as his head collided with the floor. Again.

[Caitrin de Archer]

It had felt like hours had passed, when it was probably no time at all. Now and again one of the men would come up to her and try to get her to speak. The only fruition of their efforts was that Caitrin now had a bruised cheek. She wasn't telling them anything and that was final in her view.

Caitrin looked up as she saw something moving in the corner of her eye. Her eyes widened and she quickly jumped to her feet as Richard flew into her vision. She'd all but given up any hope of him coming to find her, she figured he would have gone and found the next noblewoman to kidnap. She raised her eye brows as he winked at her, and then proceeded to babble. Did he honestly think he could reason with these idiots? Even he couldn't talk his way out of this surely? Caitrin just stayed silent and watched the scene in front of her. As they began to advance on him she started pulling against the rope again, Jesu how tight had they tied it?

The threat of the explosion was working, and for a moment Caitrin thought it was actually going to work. And then Richard was on the floor again. She rolled her eyes, well this was hardly the rescue party she had been expecting. She slumped back to the floor, and watched at the two bandits surrounded Richard. She sighed, at this rate she was never going to get home, or get any sleep, because presumably now they would move on and leave Richard here again.

But no, she looked up as one of the bandits came towards her, dragging Richard behind him. She winced as it muddied his already dirty cloak; he probably wouldn't appreciate that one bit. Using another length of rope, they bound Richards hands together and tied the length of rope around Caitrin's wrists. Essentially resulting in the pair being bound together. Well wasn't this absolutely perfect?

"Brother and sister reunited, heartwarming isn't it?" One of the men said before giving a toothy grin and settling himself back down by the fire, "We'll deal with him in the morning." He then said to the other man who also looked like he was settling down for the night. Caitrin looked on at Richard, who was still unconscious and rolled her eyes again. This really was completely useless. If he was going to rescue her he could have had the common decency to do it properly!

The bandits looked as if they were falling asleep and Caitrin watched them quietly, she wouldn't sleep for the moment. Maybe Richard had some sort of plan B or something? Well, he'd need to be awake to be of any use wouldn't he? After some time had passed, and Caitrin was sure the bandits were asleep she roughly kicked Richard in the side, in an effort to try and wake him up, and hissed quietly at him,

"Are you always this good at rescuing women?"

[Richard de Calys]

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The good thing about being unconscious was that you were probably dreaming about something pleasant. This was exactly what Richard had been experiencing, and had been rather enjoying it too. But someone had to go and put a stop to it by kicking him. Well that was just rude. He would have made some kind of vocal sign of his annoyance, but he remembered, just time probably, that in his current location that wouldn’t be quite a good idea. He just opens his eyes and stares forward. Caitrin de Archer stares back. Well, more glares back really. Confused, he tries to move, only his legs haven’t quite woken up and, even though they’re trying, his arms won’t move either. Caitrin just looks annoyed, and impatient, but then that’s nothing new. He tries again, and it’s only after the third time that he realises not only are his hands tied behind his back, but they’re tied to her. That was just brilliant.

He doesn’t reply to Caitrin’s question because she’s being facetious and anyway his brain is full of more important thoughts. The two men are asleep – that’s something. He tries to shuffle closer, but it’s rather difficult with his sleeping legs and Caitrin’s weight against him. How did he always manage to get himself into such ridiculous situations? He lets out a frustrated sigh. Everything had been going so well. They almost believed him about the sleeping draught, so what had gone wrong? He was supposed to be able to talk himself out of anything. That was how it worked, so how had he managed to get himself tied up and attached to Caitrin again? She wasn’t even a good person to be attached to.

The feeling was returning back to his legs, so he started tapping his foot because he needed some sort of movement and right now that was really the only thing he could do. He couldn’t think properly if he was just stood still, and something told him his companion wouldn’t be in a very good mood. Of course he didn’t need her help, but even if he did ask for it, she would probably just snap at him for it. Honestly, women some times. He was only in this mess because he was trying to rescue her. She could at least pretend she was grateful.

Still trying to formulate a plan, he ran his tongue over his front teeth, managing to make a rather attractive and squeaky noise in the process. No doubt Caitrin would appreciate, but she’d been rude so he didn’t care. Not that he cared much anyway. Nothing immediately sprang to mind, which was frustrating. He was not one to admit defeat, and definitely not one to ask for help. He turned his attention back to Caitrin. “I don’t suppose you can get your hands free? Or is that asking too much?”

[Caitrin de Archer]

Now that Richard was awake, Caitrin wasn't sure if she preferred him being awake or knocked out. Then again he wouldn't be of any use if he was asleep. Surely he had a better idea of how to deal with this than she did. To her, this was just another problem to be dealt with on her way back home now that Richard was here. Now there was the matter of getting away from here as soon as they could. That would of course have been easier if they weren't both attached to each other.

Although she was grateful that he had come to find her, more grateful than she would ever care to admit, it was still annoying that he hadn't rescued her properly. She just stared on at him, almost willing him to have some sort of back up plan. Caitrin pressed her lips together. If he didn't know what to do then where did that leave them? As far as getting herself out of bad situations went, Caitrin wasn't incredibly experienced. It wasn't something she had had to worry about before. Of course there were those in Camelot who had constantly told her that because she rode out alone most of the time she was in danger of being kidnapped, she'd never actually suffered the fate until now.

The rope was starting to hurt her wrists now, she'd sure that it would bruise. Fabulous, she would add that to the list of injuries she'd suffered on this trip. As for Richard, she didn't apologise for kicking him in the side. It had achieved its purpose as it had woken him up and that was what she had been after.

At his question she just stopped still for a few moments and raised her eye brows at him. Had he seriously just asked her that? "What do you think I've been sat here doing? Admiring the view?" She snapped in a hushed voice at him. She had been trying to get her hands free since she had first been tied up, somehow she was getting tired of not having free movement. However, at least she had had a degree of freedom with Richard's rope. To make the point she pulled against the rope to show how sturdy it was. At this rate it was going to be a long night. "Don't you have any way of getting the rope off?" A thought occurred to her, she could always just singe the rope away. They could be away in a matter of minutes. Of course Caitrin didn't really want to go down that route if there was some other possibility, after all, being a sorceress wasn't something she exactly screamed to everyone and anyone about.

[Richard de Calys]

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Richard was just glaring at Caitrin now. She could at least be grateful that he was here. Granted, he was here and tied up, but he was here all the same. How many men in his position would do that? And why was it up to him to save the day anyway? This wasn’t what he was being paid to do, and Richard was never one to go above and beyond. In fact, he was quite the opposite. He could think of more than one occasion where he managed to do less of a job for more money. Ah, the good old days. Before Caitrin and her stupid way of thinking came along. This was definitely the last time he ever went after someone, and probably the last time he took on any job which involved women. In his opinion they were annoying and useless. The only thing Caitrin had managed to do so far was complain and get herself kidnapped. At least he’d been doing something mildly heroic before he was kidnapped. She’d just been sat on a horse.

“I just thought you could be useful, that’s all.” Richard replied, finding it difficult to keep his voice down. He’d thought it had been a perfectly valid question. And if it wasn’t, she didn’t have to be so rude about it. It was all her fault they were in this situation anyway. But of course it would be up to him. While he was in no doubt that he would eventually think of something, it didn’t make him any less annoyed about the expectation. She was probably just going to sit there and let him do all the rescuing, and then she’d only complain about it afterwards. There was no pleasing her, which was why Richard had given up several hours ago.

He tried once again to free his hands, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. This was one of those times he wished he was freakishly double-jointed. He could make so much more money if he could list contortionism as one of his assets. He bit his lip, a little too hard and ended up hurting himself. This was a new level of pathetic. “I notice you still haven’t thanked me, by the way.” Even when whispering his annoyance was still thick in his voice. “I’m only here because of you. And,” his hand itched to be held up, so he flexed his fingers. He needed movement. “before you say something along the lines of” as he spoke he mimicked her accent, albeit not very well, and in a high-pitched voice to sound feminine, “You might as well not be here for all the use you are”, his voice reverted back to his usual southern accent, “I am not planning on being held hostage for you. So stop complaining and try and move your hands.” There had to be some way to get out of this...

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin, despite being grateful that Richard had come to find her, she didn't have to show it right away as he hadn't actually rescued her. She was still in the same predicament she had been in before he had arrived, only now she was suffering the fate with someone else. Someone who just appeared to be glaring at her. It wasn't her fault she had been kidnapped, Richard had failed to protect her. How had he expected to stop the bandits? With her bare hands? That was a ridiculous thought for a woman of her stature. Caitrin knew that she could take any man with the aid of her sorcery, but that was always a last resort for her as she knew the gauntlet hung over her head if she did resort to magic.

Although she had been rude in her reply to him, that didn't give Richard the right to return her mood. He should be taking the higher moral ground with this sort of thing. "And I thought you would be able to rescue me." She spat back at him; her bad mood was not showing any signs of subsiding anytime soon. "Turns out we were both wrong." She could feel her voice raising and that was hardly a good thing. After all, waking up the bandits was the wrong thing to do.

Caitrin was trying to break free, after all she didn't want to stay here until morning, and she doubted Richard would as well. She raised her eye brows at Richard, "I do not sound like that." She protested and rolled her eyes at him. Honestly she couldn't even do her accent correctly. As much as she was annoyed at him, she did try to move her hands as sitting here arguing wasn't going to achieve anything at the end of the day. The rope was bound tightly around her slender wrists and the only thing she achieved by pulling against the ropes was pain mostly. She could just feel the rope rubbing against her skin; Jesu it hurt. In all honesty she was trying to twist and turn her wrists in every possible position so that she could get free but it wasn't working.

Looking back to Richard she sighed, irritated because no doubt this would be her fault for not trying hard enough. She was trying, the rope was just bound too tightly. "It's too tight, can't you do something?" This was desperation really and Caitrin sighed again and made one last attempt to pull at the ropes and groaned under her breath. "You must have some idea?" Her voice was slightly raised and straight away she heard a grunt coming from where the bandits were sleeping. She froze; Jesu they weren't awake were they?

[Richard de Calys]

Why, exactly, was he to blame for all of this? Alright, the rescue plan hadn't quite gone according to...well, plan, but that hardly his fault. Richard thought he'd done rather well, actually, considering his only asset was an almost empty vial of sleeping draught. For a brief moment he considered the possibility of using it against the bandits - it had knocked Caitrin out for quite some time. But he doubted there was enough for just one of them, and he wasn't in a position to administer it anyway. Somehow he doubted he do as he did with Caitrin, although he'd probably enjoy it more. His foot was tapping on the ground again as he thought. It was embarrassing how long it was taking him to come up with a plan. Usually he had at least three ways to get out of any situation. So why was this one so difficult? Well, he was currently tied to an annoying redhead with an attitude problem who still hadn't shown any sign of gratitude whatsoever. He didn't know why he bothered - apart from the money that is. He had definitely earnt enough to by himself his own castle, if not his own kingdom. That would be good. He would name it Richard. It would be the grandest kingdom in all the world. He chuckled softly to himself. It might not be getting them out of their current predicament, but thoughts of Kingdom Richard were certainly lifiting his spirits.

In another attempt to achieve some form of liberty, he wriggled again, but only managed to get himself into an even more uncomfortable position. How had he even done that? Impressively, that was how, as with most things he did in life. Meanwhile, Caitrin was complaining again. By now he was zoning in and out of their conversation. Nothing she had to say was progressive, so there wasn't much point in listening. He could tell she was moaning simply by the tone making the words irrelevant. "I don't have a plan, alright?" His voice was louder than he had been expecting, but he was too annoyed to care. Ever since Richard had been kidnapped too Caitrin had just complained and said it was his fault that they were here, but she hadn't tried to anything about it. She'd just expected him to. Everybody expecting him to be able to sort out every single little problem and he was sick of it. He was never allowed to just sit back and wait to be rescued. "I have no idea how we're going to get out of this. Are you happy now? I could have just left you here. I could be on my way to wherever the hell I wanted to go. You're just money, and not the only means either. All you've done is complain. Would you rather be here by yourself? So come on then. The great, strong, independant Caitrin de Archer - you wanted to be left alone, you wanted the world to treat you like the adult you so clearly are not. You can get us out of this. I have had en-"

There was a sound that to Richard was suspiciously like movement. He closed his eyes and bit his lip. Brilliant. He'd let his composure slip for one moment, and woken the bandits up. This was why he didn't let himself get emotional about things. Emotions made you make mistakes. And even though it was impossible to remain calm around Caitrin, he shouldn't have been so damn loud. He still had his eyes closed, so he wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he could hear what he thought to be footsteps. And then there was the feeling of someone breathing down on him. He opened one tentative eye. "Oh...hello." The other eye opened. "Fancy seeing you here. Isn't that a coincidence?"

"I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you."

His hands strained against the ropes. He never spoke without hand gestures. This was all just wrong. "Well thankfully you're not. I'd never let my self-respect stoop that low." The next thing he was aware of was a fist colliding with his jaw. Naturally his head was thrown to the side and he gasped in both pain and shock. But Richard de Calys was (unsurprisingly) no stranger to a punch in the face. It would take a lot more than that to make him quiet. "Ow." He deadpanned before facing the bandit again. His jaw was burning and, from past experience, he knew speaking would only hurt more. To Richard that was just a price to be paid. "Well as much fun as this has been, can we go now? I presume you've searched us? You'll know we have nothing of value."

"Oh you're not going anywhere." The man grinned what Richard assumed was supposed to be a menacing grin. It wasn't quite there though.

"I had a feeling you were going to say that." He turned to Caitrin. "No sense of originality." Instead of another punch - which was something he had been expecting - he was pulled forward sharply, almost smacking his face against the ground. This was just weird. It got weirder. The bandit cut the rope. Finally! Hand gestures! He pulled himself up and grinned at Caitrin. See. This had clearly been the plan all along.

"On your feet, pretty boy."

Richard complied and started brushing dirt from his clothes. He assumed he was going to be taken somewhere. This wasn't the first time. "After you, handsome." This was when people made mistakes, and Richard was rather good at exploiting them. The man didn't say anything, or injure him. This was definitely unexpected. Instead he just grabbed Richard's arm and dragged him away from Caitrin.

[Caitrin de Archer]

This was possibly going down as one of the worst days of Caitrin's life, and that wasn't even an over exaggeration. Any feelings of being glad that Richard was here had quickly dispersed and she was now feeling more annoyed than she had done before he had arrived. He had come with the intent of saving her, so it had been totally logical for her to assume that he had some sort of plan.

The more Richard spoke, the smaller Caitrin began to feel. Richard had touched on a nerve and she just flinched with every word that Richard spat at her. She fell completely silent and just looked on at him, unsure of what was coming next. By the time Richard had finished, Caitrin could feel bitter tears in her eyes and she put her head away from Richard. She didn't even feel like shouting, she just didn't feel like doing anything. In fact she just continued to sit there rather uselessly, without looking at Richard. Of course this just made her feel worse, even though she hadn't thought that possible. It reminded her just how useless she was in this situation. As much as she wanted to get out of here, she couldn't think of how to save either of them. How could she help Richard when she couldn't even save herself?

She had been so caught up in her own wallowing she hadn't even noticed the bandits had woken up. She almost jumped as she realised the bandit was standing next to her, facing Richard. Her eyes were well adjusted to the dim light, so she could see that both of the bandits were now wide awake. Oh well wasn't this fantastic. This could only add to what was already turning out to be a fantastic day. She flinched as another fist collided with Richard's face, but once again she just remained very still and could only look on at Richard and the bandit; confirming Richard's earlier thoughts that she was indeed useless and that she couldn't save either of them.

Her eyes widened as the rope was severed from Richard's hands. Were they letting him go? Panic struck through her; he wouldn't just leave her here would he? But no, they weren't just letting him go, they were dragging him off somewhere else. Again she felt rather useless but she pulled against the rope, trying to get it to break so that she could reach him. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she had have reached him, but it was the thought that counted wasn't it? "Wait! Where are you taking him?" She called out, but she got no reply excepting a laugh from one of the bandits and a comment she couldn't quite make out. This was hopeless.

Caitrin just let herself fall against the rope; she'd been left totally alone in the forest clearing. Both of the bandits had taken Richard off, and now she was even more worried. God knows what they were going to do to him, and she was just sat here rather uselessly. She bit her lip and pulled against the rope again; Jesu why was this so hard?

She was about to give up, she was about to admit defeat and concede that Richard was right. Her whole act about how strong and independent she was, was crumbling around her feet and she couldn't do anything about it.

And then she mentally slapped herself.

Her eyes widened, Jesu what was she doing just sat here? Now wasn't the time for sitting here wallowing in her own sorrows. Richard wasn't being of any use, so it was up to her. She had to step up to the mark and actually do something useful. Richard might be annoying and frustrating but he had come to rescue her, and now it was her turn to rescue him. She turned back to the rope, and with a new found ferocity she pulled against the rope but it still didn't budge. She didn't give up this time however and she just sat there looking at the rope willing for an idea to come to her head. Of course she could use her sorcery, but that she knew was risky. Then again, the situation demanded a risk here and there. She whispered the ancient words until the rope sparked up and began to burn. Her heart was thudding in her ears, this was it, she was taking charge.

After a few moments the rope frayed and she pulled one last time and she pulled herself free of her bounds and stood up, feeling quite proud of her achievement so far. However this was only half of the plan, next she had to find Richard and get him out of here as well. Somehow that felt easier to think than to do. Nevertheless she pulled the hood up on her cloak and began to make her way towards where Richard had been led off by the bandits.

[Richard de Calys]

This was the second time today Richard was having a rather nice dream but was being brought back into the world with violence, and, if he was honest, he didn't much care for it. He would have said something, only he was too busy gasping and trying not to scream. It took him a few moments to get his breath back, and then a few more moments to remember just what was going on. He'd been taken by the two bandits away from Caitrin and then it all became a little fuzzy. All he remembered after that was pain. He was breath heavily, squinting in the darkness and trying to work out where he was and why his hands felt like they were floating.

"Back with us so soon? Maybe I didn't do it hard enough."

Slowly, Richard lifted his head to see the bandit grinning down at him. It was slowly coming back to him. His hands weren't floating at all. They were tied to two seperate branches above his head. Right. That was the first mystery solved, Richard thought, trying to get his head together. His back burnt, there was something trickling down the side of his face and it was a struggle to keep his eyes open and his head up. He just stared at the man for a moment or two, breathing heavily and then a grin managed to appear on his lips. "You do it as hard as you like, handsome." Calling the man handsome before had annoyed him, so Richard thought there was a rather good chance it would have the same effect now. It did. Clues to this included a fist to the stomach. Richard would have buckled over, but the ropes were keeping him upright and straining his arms in the process. The impact made him gasp and splutter, mingled blood and spit finding their way onto the bandit's shirt.

"Just do as we want and I'll release you."

"I've heard that one before." Richard managed between pants and coughs. He'd been in similar situations before, he'd always managed to get out of them then, he'd do it now. Besides, he had Caitrin to think of too. As fas as he knew she was still tied up wherever they had left her. He wasn't going through all of this not to get her back and get his money. "Twice as a matter of fact. Different contexts though." His throat was sore but Richard wasn't going to stop talking for anything. Right now, talking was the only thing he could do. And he thought he sounded rather good with a sore throat and consequently slightly husky voice.

"I won't ask again."

"I won't tell you at all." Richard said defiantly. He was not one to give into threats, even when his body was screaming at him to do so. He was Richard de Calys, his uncle was the king of Cantia. The man stood in front of him was just that - a man, of absolutely no consequence. And although he was still struggling to breathe, and although he could feel blood trickling down his back, down his face, from his lips, although he wanted this all to end, he had his pride. He'd die before he gave in.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Nothing but fear was pulsing through Caitrin, but it was that muddled in with an odd sense of adrenalin that was keeping her going. She was holding her breath, and walking incredibly slowly. She wasn't usually so cautious, usually she was one for running in and thinking of the consequences later. However she needed to keep out of the way of the bandits and somehow get Richard away as quickly as possible. She wasn't leaving without him; he had come to get her so she could at least return the favour. Or at least that was the general plan.

Caitrin stopped suddenly as she heard voices in the distance and just listened for a few moments. She settled as soon as she realised that there weren't footsteps coming in her direction, and it was just voices. Carefully and cautiously she moved forwards until the voices were at a normal pitch. She held her breath and pressed herself up against a tree trunk. Her presence hadn't been noticed yet but she could see Richard tied up. Jesu; what had they done to him?

"I'll go and get the girl, maybe we can get her to talk." One of the men was saying and the other bandit just gruffly nodded. Caitrin panicked and half dove behind the tree so she was concealed. Right, she would have to move quickly before the other bandit came back. Right, now what?! Looking around she noticed a discarded branch on the floor. Was it too much to hope that it would be that easy? She would have to risk it, she only had one shot at this.

Quietly she took up the branch and began to move slowly behind the bandit. Her eyes quickly cast towards Richard who seemed incapable of holding himself up. How fantastic; more problems! Her pulse quickening at an alarming rate, Caitrin quickly lashed out at the bandit; striking the bandit around the back of the head. He slumped rather effortlessly to the floor and Caitrin just stood there rather stunned for a few moments and couldn't quite believe her luck. It had actually worked?

Getting over her sucess with ease she made her way towards Richard and began to untie his hands. "We need to get out of here now." She said to him in a rather urgent tone which couldn't really be ignored. Richard however seemed incapable of even replying to her, so when she had untied his hands he just slumped towards her, meaning she had to half catch him before he fell to the floor. This would probably be a lot easier if she was anything near Richard's stature. "You could do with losing some weight." She huffed in a rather irritated voice but there was also relief mingled in there because so far this was all going to plan.

Right now what? She began to half drag Richard away from the other bandit, not really noticing the fact he was bleeding onto her dress. that would be something to worry about when they were away from here. She knew already that carrying Richard away from this scene was going to be impossible, he was one step away from slumping to the ground, and she wasn't the largest or strongest of women.

Caitrin for now could only focus on getting away quickly. No wait! The horse! She couldn't take Richard back to the horse; that would be too dangerous. She would have to fetch it herself. Carefully she helped Richard into a sort of sitting position. "I'll be back in a minute." She assured him, though she wasn't incredibly convinced that he could hear her at all. Caitrin then made her way through the trees to where the bandits had left the horse. She checked of course that the first bandit was not around, but he seemed to be elsewhere. Taking the opportunity quickly she untied the horse and led her back to where Richard was slumped by the tree.

Urgency was still key in this, and now this was going to the most difficult part to the escape. She began to pull Richard up again, "You need to help me." She was half begging with him, but it was like she was talking to someone who was already asleep. She wasn't strong enough to haul Richard onto the horse, but she was going to have to try. Slowly, she tried to shift her weight so that she could slump Richard onto the front of the horse; it wasn't going to be the most comfortable or rides but it would have to do. Anything was better than being here. After some time, and with great awkwardness, both of them were on the horse. Caitrin already felt exhausted, but she had to get them away from here. One of her arms was helping to support Richrd (Oh how things had changed!), and her other was holding onto the reigns of the horse. She nudged the horse into a quick trot. The quicker they got away from here the quicker she could make camp and address his wounds. It would all be fine; they were safe now.

[Richard de Calys]

We were going to have him waking up in camp, yes? Also, slight godmod of Cait, tell me if you want it edited.

This was beginning to become a habit. Was this the third time Richard had woken up in an entirely different place to that where he had lost consciousness? He wasn't one hundred per cent sure - he hadn't been keeping count, but it was certainly a higher number than he wanted. This was definitely an off day. As he slowly regained his senses the pain started returning. He couldn't exactly remember what had happened - another thing that appeared to be becoming a habit - all he was sure of was that his back was on fire and his head was about to implode. He opened a tentative eye. Last time he did this, he'd found himself face to face with a bandit. This time, however, there was a much - well, in comparison to a bandit - more pleasant sight. Caitrin de Archer was sat quite close to him. Well. This was confusing. The last time he saw her she was tied up. How on earth had she managed to escape? He slowly moved his head, which was probably not a very good idea at all - it appeared to be nearing sunrise and there wasn't a bandit in sight.

He tried, and failed, to sit up and so decided it was probably best to just remain lying where he was, wherever that was. He was in a forest, that much was obvious. He'd grown to detest this forest and right now wanted nothing more than to never set foot in it again. It was a stupid place where ridiculous things happened. The word would be a much better place without it. And it was cold. He shivered slightly and, on realised his cloak (his sadly ruined cloak) had been draped over him, pulled it up to his chin, wincing as he did. Movement would not be something he would be doing for a while. From where he lay he could just see Caitrin out of the corner of his eye. She didn't seem to be terribly distressed, that was odd. He would be fairly distressed if he were of the fairer sex. They weren't as good at coping with these things. "What happened?" He managed to force the words out, although his throat was dry and hurt far too much and made his voice harsh. "How, exactly, did we get here?" He would have raised an eyebrow, because, really, Caitrin was about as much use as, well, a woman, so how on earth had they ended up here? And, perhaps a rather more worrying question, what were they going to do next? He'd already been assualted, tied up and tortured...it couldn't possibly get any worse...

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin hadn't slept a wink all night; she hadn't really had time to. She hadn't stopped the horse until they were around two hours away from the bandits. Caitrin really had no idea where they were but it wasn't anywhere near the bandits, so it was safe for now. She had chosen quite an enclosed spot, so they couldn't easily be seen, and once she had settled Richard down, she hadn't been quite sure what to do.

She had been very still for some time, which wasn't like her at all, but this wasn't really a normal situation was it? She'd quickly lit a fire, because that seemed like the right thing to do, and then she had gone to collect some herbs. In heinsight, that had been the worst idea ever as it was still pitched black and all she had was a torch to guide her way. The only thing she had been able to find was some rosemary, and while that wasn't the best thing to aid Richard in his recovery, it was better than nothing. She had found a stream as well, and had torn a bit of her cloak off and drenched it in the water; she could use that to clean out Richard's wounds. This was all of course if he let her.

He had lost consciousness on the way to the camp and hadn't come too yet. She hoped he was going to be alright. Caitrin made her way back to the camp and settled herself back down beside Richard, pulling his cloak over his body to keep him warm. Caitrin was feeling quite proud of herself, but her work wasn't done yet and she knew that.

Her head moved towards Richard as she heard him shifting. A wave of relief washed over her; at least he was awake. That was something. His questions weren't unexpected, but she supposed the answers would be. Caitrin was feeling somewhat relaxed now that he was awake, because now she could properly treat him. "I brought us here." She said rather casually, poking the fire with a stick, "Once I'd rescued you from the bandits that is." A small little smug smile washed over her lips. Oh, he wouldn't like that one bit she was sure.

Caitrin shifted so that she was kneeling next to Richard and her eyes flickered over him quickly. "You were bleeding quite heavily, especially on your back." She explained quickly, there would be time for more explanations later but for now she just needed him to co-operate. "I need to treat your wounds, but that will involve taking your shirt off." She explained and pressed her lips together, wondering if he would actually comply.

Notes: Cait isn't happy about the 'as much use as a woman' comment xD

[Richard de Calys]

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If it didn’t hurt quite so much to talk, or breathe or generally be, Richard would have expressed his surprise at Caitrin’s words. She rescued them? That was irritating – no doubt he wouldn’t be hearing the end of that. He could tell as much from the smug look on her face. Well, it was all very well and good going around rescuing people, she wasn’t the one being tied up and beaten. If it had been the other way around then she would have been subject to a much prompter rescue mission, of that he was certain.

There was something rather embarrassing about being rescued by a woman, especially when you were Richard de Calys. This was going to be one of those times that was never spoken of, and if it was, it was going to be a heavily edited version involving hundreds of bandits with swords and all-sorts and Richard would no doubt come across as the dashing hero who let himself be rescued by the whiney damsel in distress because it would shut her up for five minutes. He chuckled to himself, and soon came to regret it when it made his chest, throat and back hurt even more. Ignoring the pain, he turned to his rescuer, because no doubt she wanted some kind of recognition, he managed to get out: “Well you took your time, didn’t you?”

If there was something Richard really didn’t want to do, it was take his shirt off. Not only was Caitrin going to be present, but she would probably be the one who would have to take it off, as he was in no state to do it himself. Obviously being beaten and tied up wasn’t torture enough. He’d never been shirtless in front of a woman before, so he was going to start with Caitrin de Archer. This was not going to end well. Couldn’t he just...not have his shirt off? He groaned. No, that was a stupid suggestion. He was fully aware what would happen if he didn’t have his wounds treated, so no matter how bad being shirtless in front of Caitrin was going to be, it wouldn’t be as bad as what could happen if he didn’t. “Fine...fine...” This was not going to be the most pleasant of experiences, of that he was certain. But there was nothing he was able to do about it, so he was just going to have to grin and bear it. Or rather glare and bear it.

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin just stared on at Richard, she had rescued him hadn’t she? Jesu would it have honestly killed him to say thank you? After all, if she hadn’t arrived when she had then God knows what state Richard would be in now. The bandit hadn’t looked like he was going to stop anytime soon, so Richard should have been grateful that Caitrin had come at all. Of course Richard was going to lie there and be all stubborn about the whole thing; typical. “Well my hands were bound rather tightly.” Of course Richard would never know how she had actually got free, because of the nature of it. So she would keep the illusion that she had somehow untied her hands. “I could have just run off you know.” But she hadn’t, she’d gone back for him and surely that deserved some aspect of gratitude? “Do you remember anything?” It would be quite worrying if he didn’t remember anything seeing as he had half supported himself to the horse. Maybe he had just been bordering on unconsciousness?

As unimpressed as Richard sounded at her suggestion, Caitrin was sure she was going to enjoy this. It was necessary anyway, so she could get a look at his wounds. The last thing he would want would be for his wounds to become infected. She nodded at him and gave a soft smile, this was probably going to be the most sincere thing Caitrin did with Richard. She began to pull up the fabric of his shirt from around his waist until it was by his chest and then she had to pause. Caitrin hadn’t ever seen a half naked man before, and it felt odd that Richard should get the privilege of being her first. “Can you pull your arms out?” She asked, holding onto the cuff of her sleeve to make it a bit easier for him. Once the shirt was off, Caitrin just held the garment in her hands for a few minutes rather awkwardly. Her eyes flickered over Richard’s now half naked torso and gave a sort of awkward cough. Caitrin ran a hand through her hair and forced her eyes back up to Richard’s face, “Can you move onto your side so I can get a better look at your back?” She now asked, hoping that wouldn’t be too tasking for him. “I just need to clean out the wound.” No doubt Richard would make this difficult, but couldn’t he see the logic in a non infectious wound.

She watched Richard for a few moments before he turned over and felt a surge of guilt rip though her. He’d only ended up like this because she had got kidnapped, and he had come to try and save her. Granted, whose fault it was that she had been kidnapped was still rather vague, but that wasn’t to be thought over at the moment. She was still grateful that he had tried, and she, with great difficulty, began to swallow her pride. “I never said thanks, for at least trying to save me.” Then she gave a small shrug like it was nothing, and waited for him to turn over so she could address his wounds.

[Richard de Calys]

Richard de Calys was not in the habit of being without a shirt in front of women. This was, perhaps, a little surprising when one took into account both his status and his sex. Needless to say, he was feeling rather exposed. And cold. And still in pain. This was only worsened when he had to move his arms, arms which really didn't want to move at all. He would be much happier if he could just lay there and not have to think about anything, and not have to listen to Caitrin's inevitable complaining because she was having to be nice to him. Well, it wasn't his fault he'd spent the last...God knows how long being tortured. It was Caitrin's, so she could be a little more gentle. "Ow!" Richard wasn't in the habit of making a fuss whenever he was in pain, with his line of work it was inevitable, but right now he deserved at least some sympathy. His back hurt a lot.

He could see Caitrin staring at him, something that really wasn't making him feel any better. This was horribly awkward and embarrassing enough without some overly lirtatious girl staring at him. He wasn't a very modest person - at least not with his own brilliance - but even he had limits, and this situation was definitely over them. And now he had to turn over. This was just getting better and better. He was never going after Caitrin again. The pain he was feeling and the embarrassment and discomfort at having to be half naked was never going to be worth whatever money Lord Rouland would give him. He slowly managed to turn over so he was lying on his side. This was going to get uncomfortable very quickly, but hopefully the pain would take his mind off it. What's more, when Caitrin started to clean his wound it would no doubt hurt even more, with some added stinging. What he wouldn't give to just be unconscious right now.

Caitrin's apology was rather unexpected, and despite himself he felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips. Even if her gratitude was a little late, he had to follow suit and ignore his own pride. This constant bickering was not going to get them anywhere, and he really didn't need to add a headache to his list of problems. "You're welcome. Fighting some bandits, saving the damsel in distress..." he coughed, and winced at the same time. Movement was definitely not a good idea right now. "Almost...All in a day's work really..."

[Caitrin de Archer]

Caitrin ignored Richard’s complaining as she took his shirt off. She hadn’t expected him to be so dramatic, after all, she was only taking his shirt off. She had too, and it wasn’t as if she particularly wanted too. As far as men went, Richard was defiantly down on her list of men she wouldn’t be going after in the near future. He didn’t seem to be the safest person to be around by any stretch of the imagination. She’d been doing just fine before he’d come along, and in a matter of two days, she’d been drugged twice and was now trying to heal a man’s wounds. Surely this wasn’t normal? Perhaps this was why Richard was a bit of a loner. Even though she had only been with Richard for a few days, she was becoming fond of him in a love-hate sort of way. She would be quite sad to leave him in a way, but also relieved as she probably wouldn’t be drugged again in the near future. That was the hope anyway.

She pulled the last bit of his shirt off a bit harder than she usually would have done, which shifted his arm, so he was forced to move slightly. Hopefully that would cause him some bit of pain. Caitrin wasn’t out to cause Richard a large amount of pain, but a little bit wouldn’t do any harm would it? After all, she was the one who would be ensuring that his wound didn’t become infected, so he should really be a bit more thankful than he was being. As he began to shift onto his side, Caitrin watched him and smiled as he spoke, even if she was raising her eye brows at his words. “You didn’t rescue me, I rescued you.” She pointed out and began to run her fingers lightly across his back, it wasn’t done for any other reasons other than medical ones. She needed to know how much pain he was actually in with his back. Running her fingers along the skin would cause a reaction of some sorts. Then again, it wouldn’t matter how much pain Richard was in, she was still going to have to clean out his wounds.

Picking up her drenched cloak, she began to dab the material against Richard’s broken skin. She was wincing as she worked, so she couldn’t imagine how Richard felt. She continued to work however, and increased the strength in which she was pressing against his wounds. She had to make sure they were clean before she dressed them. She’d have to use the other half of her cloak for that; Richard had better appreciate the fact she was sacrificing her riding cloak for him. After all, that was technically like sacrificing her warmth for him. He’d probably still complain; how fantastic. Caitrin was still cleaning out Richard’s wounds, but the fact he was no longer facing her was keeping her from being too distracted. She placed her spare hand on his waist so that she could steady herself whilst sorting out his wounds. Perhaps it was making him feel more uncomfortable, what a bonus that would be. “How are you holding out?” Caitrin asked Richard softly whilst moving to start placing the rosemary in his open wounds. Hopefully that would help somehow; then again he would probably just start complaining. “This will help the wounds to heal.” She said thoughtfully; her hand still on his skin. “Now just hold still for a few minutes while I dress the wound.”

[Richard de Calys]

The situation was becoming any less uncomfortable, or at least it wasn't for Richard. Caitrin was probably enjoying this - not his having no shirt, although he wouldn't be surprised - but his being so obviously uncomfortable and yet having to simply put up with it. Any infection was starting to feel like the lesser of two evils. Her fingers were cold, something he hadn't been expecting and caught him by surprise. Well that was nice and embarrassing. Richard de Calys was jumping because of some woman have cold fingers. That could only heighten his reputation. "We'll call this one even." He replied. It was a strain to speak, but he'd rather force himself to talk than sit in silence, besides, hopefully a conversation would lighten the mood. And, perhaps more importantly, he was in this mess because he was trying to rescue her, so he thought he deserved some recognition for his troubles.

Although it was doing him good, Caitrin tending to his wounds just hurt. He tried not to wince, so he clenched his fists and bit his lip. That just hurt too. It seemed he couldn't win. And now her hand was on his waist. Was this entirely necessary? He didn't think it was. In fact, Richard was convinced it wasn't necessary and was only something she was doing to make him for uncomfortable. Was it such a hardship for her to be nice to him? As he'd thought - many times - they were only in this situation because he was trying to rescue her, the least she could do was clean out his wounds without putting her hands all over him.

"Oh I'm just fine and dandy." He forced out, it was an obvious lie but he didn't care. He was in too much pain for that. "What about you?" He tried turning his head round to look at her as he spoke, but not being an owl, it didn't work very well. He wouldn't be doing that again.