Twin Desires Pt 7

Today is the conclusion of Part 1 of Twin Desires.  Katrinna and her twin's story will continue.  Stay tuned for  updates.  Meanwhile, we left off with Justin shaken from Katrinna's close brush with death. 

Chapter Seven

by

Macie Snow

 

                Justin pulls me to my feet as we look across the river, to see the gypsies rushing across downstream at a shallow bend in the river. I gulp thinking of how close I had been to being slammed against the rocks at high speed.

                Conroy was clutching his arm to his chest as the group ran to us, away from the Death raptor. The giant bird launches itself up, and begins to circle above us, screeching and waiting for an opening.

                “Bloody bird got me,” Conroy pants as the group stops in front of us. He quickly shows us his arm before holding it against his chest again. I wince upon seeing a huge, bloody gash across his forearm.

                “We need to bandage that,” I say, looking around for Zypher, and my saddlebags.

                “I’ve been through worse miss, but I appreciate the concern,” Conroy smiles, nodding to me. “Right now our biggest concern is that bird.”
                Justin turns to me and stares intently into my eyes. “Are you okay Katrinna?”

                I nod and smile. “I’m fine Justin.”

                “Good,” he gently brushes my wet hair back from my face before turning to the gypsies. “I have a plan.”

                The gypsies huddle around Justin while he tells them his plan, and I stare across the river, trying to think of a way to Zypher without exposing myself to the Death raptor.

                “Does everyone understand?” Justin asks, drawing my attention to the group.

                The gypsies nod, grim looks on their faces.

                “Okay then, let’s go,” Justin says, standing. He produces a shrill whistle, while the gypsies produce similar sounds, and the horses all come trotting up. Justin grabs Flinn’s reins and checks her saddle while the gypsies mount their horses. I run over to Justin and grab his arm.

                “What are you doing?” I ask as panic slowly working its way to my heart.

                “We are going to kill the Death raptor. Stay here,” Justin demands, mounting Flinn.

                “We shall dispatch of it quickly, do not fret,” Raldyn says softly, smiling at me. I frown and look to Justin.

                “Promise?” I whisper, grasping his leg. “Promise you won’t go and die on me?”

                Justin chuckles. “I won’t,” he looks up at the gypsies. “Everyone clear on their roles?”

                The gypsies all nod solemnly.

                “Good. Then let’s go,” Justin says.

                They all flick their reins quickly, causing the horses to leap forward. I watch numbly, uselessly as the Death raptor screeches and dives toward Ajax, who ducks and swings his sword at the giant bird’s foot. The bird cries out angrily and swoops up, circling before it dived again, this time aimed toward Justin.  The group scatters, each rider rushing in a different direction. The bird pauses, confused, before it continues to Justin.

                I open my mouth to scream out a warning, but no sound escapes my throat as terror grips me.

                The bird reaches its bloody toward Justin, and at the last minute Justin leaps from Flinn’s back and rolls before finding his footing in the shallow water. I blink slowly, watching as he draws his broadsword, specially ordered by Father specifically for Justin’s talents, and braces himself for the coming onslaught. Volos whistles loudly, drawing the bird’s attention, as Raldyn pulls out a bow and shoots an arrow directly into the bird’s right eye. The bird screeches, flailing to remove the foreign object from its eye as it quickly looses altitude.

                Ajax, Volos, and Conroy all lead their horses close to Justin before they in turn leap off, finding purchase in the shallow water. The Death raptor crashes loudly into the river, splashing water everywhere. Raldyn continues to shoot arrows at the massive bird as Justin, Volos, Ajax, and Conroy shout as they rush the bird. They all converge on it at once and immediately begin hacking away at it. The bird cries out and flails desperately for escape, but its feathers are drenched and it cannot take flight.

                I lift my fist to my mouth, stifling a plea for them to spare the bird as I watch it brutally murdered. After what seems like eons, the bird utters a soft, desperate cry before it collapses in the river. Blood and black ooze flow down the river as Justin and the gypsies stand still, panting to catch their breath.

                Ralydn lets out a joyous laugh. “We did it!”

                Conroy releases a sigh of relief and Ajax smiles hesitantly.

                “We must burn the corpse,” Volos states flatly.

                I frown, but Justin nods and gestures for everyone to drag the bird out of the river. They drag it to the opposite bank and I nervously look for a way across, hesitant to get back into the water that nearly stole my life. I watch as Raldyn starts building a fire around the massive corpse. Justin walks to Flinn and pulls flint out of her saddle. He walks over to the carcass and lights the dry wood. The fire quickly flares to life, slowly engulfing the bird. Justin looks around, and upon spotting me on the opposite bank, gestures me over.

                I shake my head as tears of frustration well up in my eyes. I couldn’t make myself do it. I couldn’t get back in the river. A look of realization crosses Justin’s face and he walks toward Zypher. Grabbing the black stallion’s reins he leads the horse across the river and stops in front of me.

                “Are you okay Katrinna?” he asks letting go of Zypher’s reins. The stallion walks to the edge of the forest and starts grazing.

                I shake my head furiously, a knot in my throat preventing speech as my tears overflow.

                A look of shock appears on Justin’s face and he reaches toward me but lowers his hand before actually touching me.

                “What am I going to do Justin? How could I ever save Katrinna when I can’t even cross a river? I’m beyond useless, and I’d just as soon save Katrinna as I would shove you off a cliff. I don’t deserve to be a princess, I could never be queen, could never rule. What am I supposed to do?” I wail, launching myself at Justin.

                Justin wraps his arms around me, gently embracing me. “Oh Katrinna, you’ll do just great. You ran after her without any regard for yourself. You put her safety above your own and you’re following your heart. You’ll be a fantastic queen.” He murmurs, gently kissing the top of my head.

                I shake my head, breathing in his scent. “No I won’t. Adrinna would. She will. I won’t ever be a queen. I’m not good enough. I’m too reckless. And I don’t follow my heart, I deny it because it wants to break the rules. A queen wouldn’t want to break the rules! I’m not a queen! I can never be, because I love you!” I sob into his chest.

                Justin hesitates before gently lifting my chin, forcing my to look into his eyes. “I love you too Katrinna, and I will help you be a good queen, because you will be. You’ll be the best queen this land has ever had.”

                My heart leaps to my throat. “You love me?”

                Justin nods, his lime green eyes sparkling. “And I won’t ever leave you.”

                I laugh and clutch him closer. “I’ll hold you to that.”

                “Good, now let’s go. We have to save your sister,” Justin says, lifting me onto Zypher’s saddle.

                I chuckle and clutch the saddle horn as Justin leads Zypher back across the river. We rejoin the gypsies, who had heard none of our conversation, but who looked at my tear stained face questioningly, and watch the Death raptor burn, trailing light purple smoke into the dusk sky.

Replacements

Welcome to my newest story.  This is going to be something of an experiment for me, as I'm going to write this as it needs to be written every week, and not work it as I would my other projects.  It'll be interesting, if nothing else.

That said, this is always a first draft, and if I missed something in editing, don't beat me up too bad.  Remember:  you get what you pay for.

Replacements

Part Nine

When faced with adversity, one has the choice of two paths: you can give up and accept what comes next, or you can face it, struggle, fight, and come out stronger in the end.

My choice was simple, for I didn’t find myself where I was without some struggle. As such, I would continue to fight—and perceiver.

It wasn’t easy.

I had no memory of what happened after leaving the lab. I remembered driving, then bight lights, then—nothing. Not until I opened my eyes and found myself lying in bed, seeing a drab ceiling, and realizing I was in a hospital.

My body was numb because I was being kept on a pain killer. Though I had difficulty concentrating, I knew this meant I’d been in an accident, and that I’d been hurt badly.

I found out soon enough just how bad.

Two days after I awoke, two people from the company came to see me, accompanied by a doctor. The doctor was there to give me the bad news: I’d suffered a skull fracture and internal injuries, which would eventually heal. However, the front of my car was crushed by a semi that had blown a red light—the bright lights I remembered—and my legs had been so badly damaged that the only way to save my life was to amputate them both at mid-thigh.

I took the news with as much calm as the pain killers I was on allowed. I nodded, and closed my eyes for a second, thinking about what had brought me to this point—

Then the doctor left, and the questioning from the company execs began.

They asked why I was authorizing clandestine experiments in the lab. Why I had Martha working alone. Why I didn’t instantly report the accident, per operational protocols I myself authorized.

Most of all, they wanted to know who the woman was who’d been in my car at the time of accident.

I asked about her; I was told she was injured, but the company had no record of her, that she was unwilling to speak to anyone until I spoke. Video recordings showed I’d left the building with Martha apparently unable to walk, but . . . there was no indication she’d been in my car at the time of the accident, just this other woman.

I told the execs who the other woman was. I told them about the breakthrough I’d “discovered”, that I’d decided to keep it quiet until I could confirm that prior experiments were viable, and I described what had happened, how I’d panicked, and why I’d had Martha in the car with me when—well, when the accident occurred.

I placed the blame for everything upon me. They seemed to accept that, and left so I could rest.

For several days I was alone. No one else from the company came to see me. I was attended to by nurses and doctors. I spent the time thinking, but not about my condition. No, I had no control over what happened to my body, so I focused my attention upon other things.

Five days after my meeting with the company execs, I had a real visitor: Martha. She was in a wheelchair, still recuperating, but once we were alone she was able to stand and pull a chair closer to my bed so she could sit and hold my hand.

She was beautiful—but then, I had an eye for beauty. Of course, I’d never intended this new body for her; this was suppose to be Craig’s new form, but given the accident in the lab, and that it was Martha who was affected . . . knowing it was her put a real smile on my face.

Martha had become a lovely woman, a young Latina with dark hair and eyes, smooth skin the shade of cinnamon butter, and a beautiful smile emanating from her wide, full lips.

She asked how I was, but I was more interesting in how she was feeling. Martha said the body was taking some getting used to. It wasn’t so much she was a little taller, but that everything was so much rounder. I knew she was meant: when I saw this body, with its original owner, I was drawn to the curvaceous form, the large breasts, the wide hip, her rotund behind, those strong, shapely legs . . .

I’d first imagined Craig having to live his life as this person, feeling the eyes of so many people looking at him like that, wondering who want him, who desired him—who would treat him and he once treated me.

I was wrong, though. This was the body of a woman, a goddess who would know how to treat it, how to love it, how to bring pleasure to herself, and to another. On Craig it would have been wasted, because he would have hated it forever. But in Martha’s hands—I saw her love in her new eyes. Despite what happened to her, she didn’t hate, she wasn’t upset.

What I saw in her eyes was love. And the need to help me.

In time I left the hospital, and recuperated at home. The company kept me, and even kept Martha, though they knew if she were to remain as she was, she would need a new identity. I knew I had her original DNA in my house—hair, mostly—and it would have been a simple process to comb her apartment to find DNA samples that could return her to her old self.

There was a problem, however: the original research had, how should we say? It had vanished. Or it seemed it was incomplete. It didn’t matter: the company could replicate most of the research that had created the mixture that changed Martha down to her DNA, but in all likelihood, it might take them years, or decades, to recreated everything.

They suspected I’d done something with the information. Their suspicions were true, and I did nothing to hide the fact. However, I saw no reason to be a complete bitch about everything. Information would come to light slowly, but the company would have the whole process in time. A process that would make them incredibly wealthy—as it would anyone who own a share of the patent.

But there were other things I wanted as well.

I found my position secured at the company; in fact, after a couple of years I was made the head of European Division. Martha was given a new identity: Celesta Urquía. She moved to Switzerland with me and did a little of everything for me: assistant, researcher, confidant. And she knew her way around a lab like no one’s business.

I was also given the ability to walk once more.

Growing new legs was impossible. Creating new legs with bio-nano-technology was something the company was starting, and I knew I could help there. After all, if the process I’d invented could change someone’s DNA, and alter them completely, then it was a very simple thing to change the process so transplanted items—be it organic, mechanical, or bio-mechanical—could be fitted on and within a body without fear of rejection.

So my new legs are constructed. They were grafted and bonded to my thighs. I spent six months teaching myself to walk once more. When everything was over, I was the one with the legs everyone wanted to see—

Olivia, she of the nano-grown silver prosthetic legs. Legs that I was proud of owning. Legs that, after a year and a half in a wheelchair, once more made me whole.

Life is now so different. Craig is away from me for good: before leaving for the new position, I visited him in his office, and told him that if I ever saw him, for any reason, I’d rupture his testicles with one well-placed kick. He left the company not long after.

The old Olivia died a few months after I began rehabilitation. She’d never regained consciousness. I saw to it the medical bills were covered, and that “her” family received a settlement from insurance. They’d lost a daughter; I couldn’t replace her, but I could try to ease their grief.

Celesta and I spend our days and evenings together, relaxing, in peace. She is so unlike the other Martha, just as I am so unlike the original Olivia. She loves touching my legs, the replacements that let me be normal. She is no longer my sub, however—

When I was still without legs, and Celestra was taking care of me, I told her I couldn’t be her mistress any more. I desired her help, and I loved her being with me, but I couldn’t see our relationship continuing as one of submissive and dominant. To my surprise, she agreed. She’d found another level within our relationship, and though she knew she would never be anything but a submissive, that she wanted to be something else with me . . . more of a lover, or even a . . . companion. If that were possible.

I told her it was very possible.

I replaced someone so I could experience love with another person. I did, but never in the way I expected. In turn, she replaced another whose life I extinguished, because I wanted revenge for what was really nothing more than a slight.

In turn, I suffered my own loss, and my own replacements.

There are some who would say I’m insane, that murdering two people is not the same as loosing your legs. They’re right about the later; as for the former . . . I don’t know. I really don’t. If I am mad, how would I ever know? The insane are not privy to their exact mental state, and if my lovely Celestra thought I were crazy, would she stay with me?

I think not.

We make each other happy, and I know I couldn’t live without her. Her love sustains me, and I sustain her. We are perfect for each other.

I’ve taken her love, and used it to banish that obsession I once felt.

I’m better. I’m happy.

I’m loved.

And only the future will ever change me again.

The End

I think "The End" says it all. If you have any comments, leave one below.

Next Week:  Halloween is coming!

Twin Desires Pt 6

Katrinna is trouble with a capitol T.  How one girl can find so much trouble is beyond comprehension.  With this week's harrowing excitement, will Justin come to her rescue?

 

 

 

 

Twin Desires

Chapter Six

by

 

Macie Snow

 

I groan and look up at the sky. Night was falling, but tired as I may be, Justin would not allow us to stop. Of course I would not voice my complaints. I understood that Adrinna was being rushed away even as we slowly worked our way through the forest. Volos, on the other hand, had no such urgency as he continued to voice his complaints.

“My men cannot protect you if they are tired. We would be a hindrance at best,” Volos implores, begging Justin to stop with his unspoken words.

“We cannot afford to stop. Your men have more rest than us. She is holding up better than you seem to be,” Justin says, nodding my way while glaring at Volos. I duck my head as a slow blush rises to my cheeks. “I cannot help but question if you are really helpful to us at all, considering all you seem to be able to do is whine.”

Volos snaps his mouth shut and glares a Justin, blessedly silent for the time being. I silently thank Justin, though his words might have been a tad too harsh, for the silence.  I knew Volos would start complaining again shortly.

 

Zypher huffs and I rub his neck, running my fingers through his silky mane. After the mad dash out of the castle, I’d hardly given the poor stallion more than a half hours rest, and it was obvious the horse’s strength was starting to wane.

Behind me, Volos released an exaggerated sigh.

I groan and turn in my saddle. “Stop being such a baby and just sleep in your saddle. Justin has some rope that you can…”

The words die in my throat as I stare in horror at the dark figure approaching us from the sky. The bird was huge, and mean, if the gore hanging from it was anything to go by. The sun setting behind it provided little light to see details, but I knew something bad when I saw it. And this was bad with a capital B. Raldyn, the rider bringing up the rear of our group, smirks at me, obviously thinking I was gaping at him.

“Justin?” I call our nervously.

Justin groans. “Not you too!”

I can only gape as the huge bird closes in on our group, black talons stretched towards us.

Ajax, the rider directly behind me, sees the horror in my face and follows my gaze. His face pales as he shouts, “Run! It’s a Deathraptor!”

Suddenly, all the horses are running, spurred on by instinct. The bird screeches, likely upset that we had noticed its approach, and startles Flinn, who leaps forward, running even faster. Justin scrambles to tighten his grip on the reigns, righting himself before he falls to the ground.

“Into the forest!” Volos yells. “It can’t go into the dense trees!”

The gypsies swerve to the left, leaving Justin and I to go right. Our horses crash through the underbrush as the bird chases Justin and me, knocking aside branches as it tries to find a way into the trees. Branches rain down on us and we urge the horses to go faster as a river comes into view. Flinn races across, Justin urging her to go even faster, but Zypher hesitates, launching me into the river.

“Justin!” I scream as the current pulls my head under and drags me along. I kick my way to the surface, and when I break through to the surface again I see that the current had drug me nearly fifty feet away, and was swiftly pulling me further downstream.

“Justin!” I scream, coughing out water. “Help!”

Justin yanks Flinn to a stop and gapes at me in horror before urging Flinn down the bank of the river after me. I look around, searching for a tree branch, a rock,  or anything to grab a hold of and slow my rapid flight down the river. But nothing useful is in sight, and I spot the Deathraptor circling above me.

“Justin! Look-” I gasp as the current pulls me under, right as the giant bird dives straight for my head.

The river tosses me head over heel, and I twist, trying to fight my way back to the surface of the water and breathe. I kick my legs, aiming towards what I assumed to be the surface, but end up being bounced against the riverbed. I claw at the water, hoping to grab hold of something, anything to get my bearing. The river offers no mercy as it pounds me against its rocky bottom. As my lungs burn, begging for oxygen, I claw at the murky water. Miraculously, I find myself clutching what seemed to be a rope. As the line went taut, from holding be back from the rivers relentless pull, I feel a sudden jerk and my head is pulled free from the river.

I gasp in the sweet oxygen as sound bombards my eardrums. The Deathraptor was screeching, circling some trees on the riverbank where I could vaguely make out Flinns hind flank as I was pulled from the river. The gypsies were on the opposite river bank, shouting and generally making a ruckus as they tried to distract the Deathraptor from Justin.

I groan as I’m pulled onto the bank, bruises already forming on my shoulders. Letting go of the rope I drag myself towards the relative safety of the trees, and lean against the nearest trunk sighing. Gasping in great gulps of oxygen, I soon hear someone running towards me from the woods. I tense, reaching for my dagger, but relax when Justin comes into view.

“Katrinna!” Justin cries in relief, falling to his knees a foot away from me. “Are you alright?”

I sniffle as water drips down my nose, and my bottom lip quivers. Why did he always stop a foot away from me? “I’m fine,” I sniffle. “Zypher stopped is all. I didn’t- didn’t do anything. He just…” I take a deep, quivering breath, trying not to burst into tears as the shock sets in.

“It’s okay Katrinna,” Justin whispers, staring at me intently, his hands clutching at his knees, knuckles white. “You’re safe. Everything’s okay.”

The Deathraptor screeches overhead and Justin winces.

“Well…” Justin starts, but I cut him off by flinging myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck.

“I almost died!” I cry out in hiccupping sobs. “I couldn’t find the surface, I couldn’t do anything it just- And I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t think and I couldn’t do anything!” I cry out.

Justin nervously pats my back as I sob into his shoulder. But our moment together was brief, as from across the river we hear a loud, panicked scream.

Twin Desires Pt 4

Ever wonder about Justin's past?  We get a little taste of it today: Justin will have to set aside his personal grudges and learn to trust.

Chapter Four

 

                When you hear that a kingdom is neighboring another, you assume they are close. You would be wrong. It turns out that, even though Saludyn is a neighboring kingdom to Tantin, my father’s kingdom, it is extremely far away. And the easiest path from Tantin to Saludyn, is not easy at all. Woods stretched from the edge of our palace to the mountain range serving as the border to our kingdom. If you attempted to go around the mountain range, you would find yourself in King’s bay. So named for the first king who founded the two kingdoms, which, ironically, used to be one kingdom. So we were forced to travel through the woods, to the mountain range, to a tiny path through the Icy mountains, creatively called the Icy path. The plan seemed simple enough, until you took into factor the many creatures within the woods, much less later on. The creatures ranged from the mildest mannered of chipmunks to the deadly bear or mountain lion, yet it did not stop there. Rumors, mostly from drunkards in taverns, told tales of fantastical magical creatures such as the beautiful unicorns, powerful phoenixes were often tried to help travelers.   But there were also tales of the cunning intellect within the minds of creatures such as centaurs of sphinxes, who were just as likely to help a traveler as they were to hinder them. Most frightening of all however, were the dragons.  Dragons were said to be naturally violent, and to detest humans, knights and kings mostly. It was said that this hatred spawned from when a decree was made declaring dragons too dangerous, and thus ordered their existence terminated. The dragon’s treasures were stolen, their eggs were smashed, and hatchlings slaughtered. Supposedly, some kings kept hatchlings as pets, believing that by having such a majestic, deadly creature in their households their family and kingdom were a force to be reckoned with.

                What utter rubbish, I think as Justin continues to tell me about magical creatures and the dangers that we may or may not encounter. Though, What if it’s true? What if the Saludynian king has a couple dragons in his hold? What if the drunken rumors weren’t just rumors? If  they were true, and Adrinna didn’t comply with her captor’s demands, as she surely wouldn’t, would they feed her to the dragons? Suddenly even more frightened for Adrinna’s safety, I turn in the saddle to face Justin.

                “Justin!” I cry fear for Adrinna bubbling up in my chest.

                Justin snaps his mouth shut in frustration. I blush deeply, realizing that Justin had still been talking, and that I just revealed that I hadn’t been paying any attention to him. “What Katrinna?” Justin asks gritting his teeth in frustration as he pulled Flinn to a stop by Zypher.

                “Is it true that-” I start to ask, unaware of the volume of my voice. But before I can get the rest of my question out, Justin quickly slap his hand over my mouth, effectively silencing me. I glare viciously at him, as a slow blush rises in my cheeks. I push impossible thoughts away and try to talk around Justin’s hand, but all I can get out is a few muffled sounds.

                “Shh,” Justin whispers in my ear. I shiver as his breath tickles my earlobe and the impossibilities start pushing their way to the surface. Then I notice the look on Justin’s face. He was tense and unmoving as his eyes darted around, frantically searching the woods around us. Realizing that something was very wrong I pull at Justin’s hand until he moves it away from my mouth reluctantly.

                “What’s-” Justin’s hand flies to my mouth again and he glares down at me as he places a finger to his lips, silently telling me to shut the hell up.

                I huff angrily to let him know how unhappy I was about being silenced. Justin’s lime green eyes intently search the trees around us, flicking nervously from left to right and back again. The woods are entirely silent however, not even animal noises escaped the forest. I don’t pay much attention as I suddenly find myself entranced by Justin. The last rays of dying sunlight were illuminating the left side of his face, making his eyes sparkle.  I picture those eyes staring into mine, raw with desire as I run my fingers through his wavy blonde hair, gently brushing it away from his eyes.

                Just as my imagination takes a turn towards a more physical connection, a twig snaps, and Justin tenses as his eyes focus on a single spot in the trees as I practically leap out of my saddle in surprise. Justin slowly moves his hand from my mouth and grips the hilt of his sword in one hand, and Flinn’s reigns in the other.  I reluctantly drag my eyes to the same point in the shadows, and force my mind to the present, away from the interesting turn my wild imagination had taken. The shadows shift and swirl until they finally spit out a cloaked figure. Then another. The first was a black horse and its rider. The rider was wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled up to hide his face.

                “State your business here!” Justin bellows, gripping his sword handle tightly as I try to push back the fear tingling up my spine.

                The mystery rider smirks. “Why should I state my business to you? These are not your woods. I do not live on your king’s land, for I am not his property.  Pardon me,” the rider states sarcastically. “I meant that I am not his subject. Knight,” The rider spits the last two words like poison.

                Anger flares in Justin’s eyes and he opens his mouth to retort, but the rider beats him to the proverbial punch.

                “Silence yourself knave. We must be onto business,” The dark rider smirks. “You look as if you have considerable amounts of wealthy goods on your persons. Do yourself a favor and remove them.”

                Anger flares hot in my chest, quickly replacing the fear that had been crawling up my spine as Justin stares at the rider furiously.

                “Who do you think you are?! He-” I cry, gesturing to Justin. “-is the best knight in the entire kingdom! Show some respect!” I scream, trying to fry the rider with a single look.

                The rider smirks and lifts his left hand, leaving his right hand to rest on the saddle horn. He makes a complex hand gesture before whistling shrilly. I frown as my ears ring, unsure of what te rider was doing, until I hear Justin take a sudden, short breath.

                All around us, gypsies start appearing from the woods. I look around frantically, as hundreds of knife-wielding, bloodletting, sticky fingered gypsies and bandits appear out of nowhere. I literally stop breathing, before shrinking down into my saddle as much as humanly possible.

                “Since you have played hard to get, we will simply have to kill you. Knights these days,” the rider sighs, shaking his head. “No respect for us honest thieves.”

                “Too true Volos,” the gypsy to the right of the rider says. His hand immediately flies to cover his mouth as he shoots a fearful look towards the rider.

                “Your name is Volos?” Justin asks, his voice sounding strained.

                The rider, Volos sighs. “Yes, my name is Volos. As this slippery tongued idiot let slip. You might also know me by my cheesier nickname, The Rebel. Whoever gave me that nickname deserves to be drawn and quartered.” Volos growls, dismounting his black steed.

                “It’s quite cute,” I say coyly, fluttering my eyelashes. Adrinna had always believed a woman could charm her way out of anything, while I had never believed that myself, it was never too late to try. Some of the bandits snicker as Justin turns and glare viciously at me. Volos pulls his hood back to reveal a ruggedly handsome face surrounded by black, shoulder length hair, his stormy grey eyes stood in stark contrast to his dark hair and I noticed a slight hook to his nose, as if it had been broken and never properly set. He is also well built, muscular, and probably around six feet tall, overall a very intimidating person. I would guess him to be in his early thirties.

                Justin’s back stiffens at the sight of him as his grip tightens around his sword hilt, turning his knuckles white.

                “Silence!” Volos yells at the gypsies around him. The surrounding gypsies fall into a fearful silence as Volos turns his attention back to me and Justin. “Now, we must start working on your demise, so that we may steal your valuables,” Volos growls, he gestures to the gypsies behind him and they start marching towards us.

                “Katrinna,” Justin whispers to me, as Zypher steps back nervously. “When I count to three, you run.”

                “No,” I retort, surprised that he thought I would just run away.  “I’m staying here.”

                The bandits’ approach us, grotesque grins on their faces as they draw their swords. Justin pulls his long broadsword out of its scabbard and holds it in front of him as he pulls on Flinn’s reigns to force her back a step.

                “No, Katrinna, you don’t understand. You need to run. Run as far as you can.” Justin says, continuing to back Flinn up slowly, forcing me to back Zypher up. Justin remains facing the bandits as I reach towards my swords, before realizing they would do me more harm than good.  I reach to the sheath around my waist and draw my knife instead. I hold the knife if front of myself forcing my hand to stop shaking as I was still clutching Zypher’s reigns in my left hand and I needed to at least appear confident.

                “I will not run. We have to save Adrinna, and I certainly can’t do it by myself,” I whisper to Justin furiously, an angry blush rising in my cheeks at admitting my own incompetence.

                Justin glances back at me, and he looks furious, though there seemed to be some desperation in his eyes. “Stop arguing with me Katrinna, just do as I say!”

                “Why should I?” I scream, tightening the grip on my knife.

                “Hey!” Volos yells.

                “What?!” both Justin and I yell to Volos at the same time, both of us glaring at him furiously.

                “If you two lovebirds are done bickering, we are about to kill you here. You’re supposed to be terrified and attempting to run,” Volos growls.

                “Told you, you should have run,” Justin whispers angrily to me. “Even he thinks so.”

                Approximately thirty of the gypsies sprint towards us, quickly covering the last few feet that had been separating us. Justin yanks on his reigns and jerks Flinn to the left, quickly positioning himself between me and the gypsies. Suddenly, I hear a big clashing sound, and peer over Justin’s shoulder just in time to see all the gypsies disappear into the ground.

                “What….. just happened?” I ask softly, trying to look over Justin’s shoulder.

                “I- I don’t know, they just, fell.” Justin mutters, clearly shocked.

                “What do you mean they just fell? Where did they-” I start to ask before Volos cuts me off, again.

                “What is this! Where did this hole come from?” Volos yells to his men, stomping over to the edge of said hole. I get Zypher to move so that I am able to clearly see around Justin.

                “Sir, this is the hole you had us dig this morn’. Was to trap trav’lers you said. And to steal their goods af’er” One of the gypsies shouts out to Volos.

                “What? I ordered no such thing!” Volos yells angrily before pausing and peering down into the hole. “But hey, it worked, see? Easy prey.”

                “Sir, it did work indeed, and they would be very easy prey, only, those are our men in the hole,” another gypsy says.

                “Ugh, my head hurts,” Volos says, clutching his forehead between his fingertips.

                I start giggling at the absurdity of the situation as the adrenaline that had been pumping through my veins dissipated, leaving me on a high of sorts.

                “Katrinna, stop laughing. Now is our chance to escape,” Justin says, turning Flinn around and running off. I back Zypher up before yanking on the reins and running after Justin. But the sudden movement draws Volos’s attention and he shouts.

                “Oye! After them you idiots! They’re escaping!” Volos screams. I glance over my shoulder to see Volos and the rest of his men running after us on foot, before they are engulfed by the earth. I pull Zypher to a quick stop and turn back. Justin notices and follows suit, albeit reluctantly. I stop Zypher at the edge of the new hole and dismount before peering into the mass of angry, confused gypsies at the bottom of the new hole.

                “What’s this hole now?” Volos shouts in a gypsies face.

                I giggle as Volos knocks the man upside the head.

                “Ouch! Sir, you also ordered us to dig this hole to catch pass’rbys,” the gypsy says, rubbing his temple here Volos had hit him.  

                I glance at Justin as he stands by my side, peering down into the hole, silent anger burning in his eyes.

                “Why on earth would I order two holes dug?” Volos bellows.

                “You had us dig this hole las’ night sir!” One of the gypsies shouts. “And this mornin’ you forgot where it was, and ordered another dug!”

                “Ugh, my poundin’ head,” Volos moans, rubbing his temples while the gypsies around him began bickering.

                I start laughing again and Justin looks at me disbelievingly.

                “What, pray tell, is so funny?” Justin asks incredulously.

                “They- He…..Hole…..Forgot- Fell,” I giggle, unable to grasp the absurdity of the situation. Deep in my mind I knew I was making a fool of myself, but the leftover adrenaline didn’t care.

                “Well of course he forgot Katrinna, he was clearly drunk,” Justin says sternly, pulling me away from the edge of the hole.

                I stop laughing and cock my head to the side, confused. “Drunk?”

                “Obviously,” Justin says his jaw tight.

                I glance back into the hole. From what I knew, gypsies couldn’t afford the luxury of alcohol strong enough to get drunk on. Which meant they could only get it for special occasions, or when something terrible had happened. And since the gypsies seemed to be a little worse for the wear, I seriously doubted that Volos had drank to celebrate. I suddenly felt a pang of pity for the gypsy leader.

                “Come on Katrinna, let’s go,” Justin says as he grabs my arm and tries to gently pull me back to the horses.

                “Wait,” I say softly. “We can’t just leave them.”

                “Yes, we can just leave them!” Justin yells, face deep red with barely restrained fury.

                I tug my arm free. “No, we have to help them. Maybe they’ll be willing to help us in return.”

                “They were going to kill us!” Justin screams, staring at me like I was crazy. Quite honestly, I was starting to wonder that myself, but I decided to follow my guts.

                “They just wanted money Justin; they’re probably just hungry, and tired. We can help them, and maybe prevent them from killing anyone else,” I plead, looking towards the bickering gypsies desperately.

                “You don’t even know them!” Justin yells.

                “Oh and you do?!” I scream back.

                Justin snaps his mouth shut and glowers at me, working his jaw in frustration.

                “Justin,” I ask hesitantly. “You don’t know these people do you?”

                “I did,” Justin answers shortly. “ Once.”

                “What?”

                “I knew Volos.”

                I glance towards the hole full of gypsies, who had become strangely silent. “What do you mean, you knew Volos?”

                “We grew up together.”

                “You‘re a gypsy?” I ask incredulously.

                He corner of his mouth hitches up in amusement before he answers firmly. “No. Volos is a knight.”

 

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

 

“Volos is a knight?!” I scream, head spinning with confusion.

                “Well, he was,” Justin says, rubbing the back of his head angrily, clearly at a loss of what to do with his hands, now that he no longer needed to hold his sword. “Volos was my role model when I was younger. I looked up to him. Then after… after the accident he lost it. He rebelled against everything to do with the king, and left. Nobody has heard from him since. He’s a murderer Katrinna, he killed my brother.” Justin says softly.

                I open my mouth to speak, but close it again without saying a thing. I hadn’t known Justin when he was young. Only Adrinna. The two of us were raised alone; every day had been filled with lessons on becoming a princess. Ballet, so we could be graceful dancers at balls, horseback riding, for ceremonies, and the never ending etiquette lessons that I so despised. I’d never thought of Justin’s childhood, never even knew he’d had a brother. As well as I thought I knew Justin, as much as I secretly loved him, I realized I really didn’t know a thing about Justin, other than his time in knighthood. The last thing I wanted to do was rip open some deep, emotional scar by rescuing the man who murdered his brother. Yet… I couldn’t bring myself to leave those men in those pits to die, whether they were murderers or not.

                “I know you want to help them Katrinna, but you have to listen to me when I tell you, that man is dangerous,” Justin says softly, reaching for my arm as his eyes silently plead with me.

                “I’m- I’m sorry Justin,” I say, shaking my arm loose and backing up towards the hole. “I have to help them.” I turn and run to the edge of the hole with Volos in it, ignoring Justin’s frustrated grunts. I stop at the edge of the hole and glance over my shoulder to see Justin decimating a tree with his sword, blinking the images away, I look down and find Volos in the mass of gypsies. He was scowling up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought, while his men mumbled quietly to each other.

                “Hey! Volos!” I yell, crouching down. Volos focuses his gaze on me in confusion.

“Haven’t you ran away yet girl?” he asks in disbelief.

I shake my head, grinning. “No, I’m going to help you out.”

                Volos scowls, “Why on earth would you help us?”

                I smile gently, “Because I cannot just leave you here to die. My morals are higher than that.”

                Volos’s eyes narrow skeptically, but I ignore him and run to Zypher’s saddlebags. I root around until I find some rope which I tie to Zypher’s saddle, ignoring Justin destroying another tree nearby. I double check the knot, then unwrap the rope and start to run back to Volos with the end, only to find Justin blocking my path.

                “Katrinna I can’t let you do this,” Justin whispers, voice strained with emotion, eyes filled with hurt as his chest heaves in exertion and small beads of sweat run down the side of his face.

                I meet Justin’s gaze, carefully avoiding looking at the sword in his right hand. “I have to. You may be willing to leave them, but I’m not. I was taught to have mercy for everyone Justin, and give them a just punishment. Most of them are nothing more than common thieves. I will not let them suffer this death. I am truly sorry for what happened to your brother, and you’ll have to tell me the story sometime, but I must help them Justin. Please.”

                Justin glares down at me before his eyes soften. “Very well. But do not let your guard down. And I will be watching both of our backs extra closely.”

                I smile and jog around Justin to the edge of the hole.

                “Here!” I shout, tossing the end of the rope into the hole. “Climb on up!”

                One by one Volos and his men climb out of the hole. As they climb up I lead Flinn to the other hole and repeat the process. Once all the gypsies are out, Volos turns to me.

                “Why did you help us?” he asks hesitantly.

                I smile gently, “Because I could not leave you to die.”

                “But we tried to kill you.”

                “I don’t think it was against me personally. Besides, you all must  just be desperate,” I say softly.

                Volos goes silent for a few moments before speaking again, “Let me repay your kindness. I overheard you say you were on a quest, to save someone. Let us come, we can help.”

                I turn to look at Justin and see his jaw hanging open in shock.

                “That is a very generous offer, kind sir, but I don’t think we require any assistance.” I reply, forcing back a grin at Justin’s expression as I turn back to Volos.

                “No? You were just overcome by a simple band of gypsies. If it weren’t for my….” Volos clears his throat loudly. “We would have killed you,” Volos finishes, placing his hand on his sword hilt. “I always repay my debts madam, this is no exception.”

                I look back to Justin and he shakes his head slowly. I turn back to Volos. “Give me a minute,” I say, smiling in apology before walking over to Justin.

                “You can’t let them come,” Justin whispers furiously.

                “And why on earth not?” I protest. “We could use the help, because he’s right you know.”

                “He tried to kill us Katrinna!” Justin cries.

                “Excuse me,” Volos says, stepping in next to me and Justin. “But we can be of assistance. You’ve saved every single one of our miserable lives, dear maiden, and we will repay you.”

                I look at Justin pleadingly.

                “Who is this knave that challenges your decisions?” Volos asks, glaring at Justin.

                “He’s my, ah, guard,” I say, glancing at Justin.

                “My perception may be skewed, but I believe guards are to remain silent as they do their duty.”

                “You-” Justin growls, stepping forward angrily.

                I throw myself between the two of them. “Stop it Justin, he just wants to help.”

                “We don’t need help from people like him,” Justin spits.

                “Don’t talk that way to me boy,” Volos growls. “I merely wish to repay my debt to the kind lady.”

                “Then leave us to be on our way and consider it repaid,” Justin growls.

                “I cannot, mine honour would never allow it,” Volos says.

                “Honour indeed,” Justin says furiously. “Where was your honour when-”

                “Enough Justin!” I cry. I turn to Volos. “We appreciate your offer, but cannot accept such a large favor. What I did was a trifle, no more.”

                “I beg to differ madam,” Volos says softly. “It was an enormous act of kindness, to brutes that deserve naught but anger from you.”

                “None the less,” I say, as I start to steer Justin towards our horses to keep him from punching Volos in the face. “We cannot accept your offer.”

                Volos is silent, and only speaks up once Justin and I reach the horses.

                “Did you say he was your guard, fair maiden?” Volos asks slowly.

                I turn to look at Volos and see the gears turning in his head. “Yes…” I answer hesitantly.

                “Then you must be a lady of great riches, to have such an important man as your guard.”

                “Indeed my father is rich, but what does it matter to you? Do you plan to rob us, since we will not accept your offer?” I ask nervously.

                “No, of course not! Perish the very thought!” Volos cries out. “I merely had a thought.”

                “You wouldn’t dare,” Justin growls from behind me.

                “We can escort you on your voyage. We know how to survive in the wild.” Volos says.

                “I already told you-” I sigh.

                “And in return, you can pay us for our efforts,” Volos finishes with a flourish. “Quite brilliant if I do say so. It solves both our problems quite nicely.”

                I remain silent as I ponder his offer. Justin grips my shoulder and spins me around to face him.

                “You can’t honestly be considering this!” he whispers furiously.

                I remain silent.

                “Katrinna, you cannot spend your Father’s money! Besides that, he would never approve of giving it to gypsies, much less letting them join you in a journey across the kingdom!”

                I meet Justin in the eye, having decided. “I’ve made up my mind. You can’t change it.” I spin on my heels and stomp back to Volos, ignoring Justin’s protests.

                “Volos, I will accept your offer. If you help us save my sister, and bring us back to my Father safely, every one of your men will be paid one hundred crowns.”

                The gypsies mutter to each other anxiously.

                “One hundred crowns each?” Volos sputters. “That is way too much, only the king has that kind of money!”

                “I assure you, my Father has enough. My only other requirement is that none of you ever steal, or kill again. Now will you accept my offer?”

                Volos nods.

                “Good,” I smile, and glance over my shoulder looking for Justin, only to see him step in front of me.

                “What are you thinking Katrinna?” Justin mumbles angrily. “You can’t do this.”

                “I have it under control Justin. Besides, if Father finds out, you will lay claim to the idea, no?” I whisper, well aware that Justin would indeed take the blame, if only to keep me from being punished.

                “No, I will not lay claim to this madness,” Justin growls, crossing his arms over his chest.

                I smile, knowing that if push came to shove he would lighten my punishment. As would I lighten his if our positions were switched. “Very well Justin, I will take full responsibility for this ‘madness’ as you say. After all, it will either work wonderfully, or we will all end up dead. And if we end up dead it really doesn’t matter whose idea it was.” I grin, turning back to Volos, leaving Justin dumbfounded at my back.

                “So who are we rescuing?” Volos asks.

                “My twin sister,” I say, distracted by Justin’s smoldering glare aimed at the back of my head.

                Volos raises an eyebrow, “Not many twins ‘round here,” he says. “Mostly just the princesses.”

                I shake my head and look at Volos. “Well, we don’t really look much alike,” I chuckle nervously, glancing over my shoulder to tell Justin to stop glaring at me.

                “What do you want?” I whisper to him.

                “Nothing, my lady,” Justin chuckles.

                “Augh! Don’t start with that again!” I cry, stomping over to Zypher to get a drink of water.

                Justin chuckles before firmly addressing Volos. “Okay Volos. So are you going to help us?”

                “Aye,” Volos answers gruffly. “Me and all my men.”

                “That won’t work,” Justin grunts. I turn from Zypher’s saddlebags and glare at Justin.

                “What are you doing?” I cry.

                Justin ignores me and speaks to Volos as I roll my eyes and tilt the water canteen up to drink. “We cannot afford to take thirty men with us,”

                “A hundred and thirty-seven,” Volos interrupts.

                I splutter and spit out the drink of water I had just about inhaled before I fall into a coughing fit, causing many of the gypsies to stare at me.

                “Fine,” Justin says, clearly irritated at being interrupted, though shock briefly appeared in his eyes at the large number. “We cannot take a hundred and thirty-seven men with us. We would move slowly and be seen quickly.”

                “My men are swift and silent,” Volos growls, clutching the hilt of his sword.

                “Be that as it may, we will be riding on horses. This is a matter of extreme importance. We cannot afford to waste any more time,” Justin snarls.

                Volos and Justin glare at each other as I recover from my shock, and subsequent coughing fit. I quickly replace my canteen and run over to place myself between them. “What Justin means, is that we are in a very big hurry, and cannot afford to have a large troop that can be easily tracked down. Not even men as wonderful as yours Volos.”

                Justin snorts and I glare at him. “We can only have a few of your best men with us, yourself included of course.”

                “You tryin’ to cheat my men out of their pay?” Volos growls angrily.

                “No! Of course not! All of you will be paid the specified amount. But we can only take a few men with us.” I say calmly.

                “Three men, including you, would be perfect,” Justin cuts in.

                “Three of your best men,” I say, fluttering my eyelashes flirtatiously.

                “Fine,” Volos says gruffly as Justin glares at me. “Ajax, Conroy, and Raldyn.”Three men emerge from the mob as he speaks, and gestures to each in turn. “And myself, of course.”

                I look at the four men, ignoring Justin’s sharp intake of breath beside me. The youngest, Ajax, was probably a little younger than Volos, in his late twenties. He had a strong build, and was rippling with muscles. He was a bit shorter than Volos, but more than made up with it in muscles. He had short medium-brown hair, very tan skin, and dark blue eyes. The man next to him, who Volos had said was Conroy, was probably around 35. He had an average build, and was about the same height as Justin, who was 5’ 8”. Conroy had jaw length coppery hair, russet skin, and bright green eyes. The last man, Raldyn, seemed ageless. He could have been anywhere between twenty and forty. He was thin, and almost as tall as Volos. He had blonde hair, that looked almost white, which he wore in a long ponytail. His eyes were endless pools of darkness, black as the shadows lurking in the night. I shudder, Raldyn officially creeped me out.

                “Will these men please you?” Volos asks sarcastically to Justin.

                “These men will be fine,” Justin says, his voice strained. I frown at him, wondering what was wrong with him.

                Volos walks over and talks to another gypsy, who seems to be second in charge. Soon after, the rest of the gypsies melt back into the shadows, leaving us with Volos, Ajax, Conroy, and Raldyn.

                “We need to go,” Justin says. “It’s getting dark, but we can still travel a bit before nightfall. Then we will make camp, and continue in the morning.”

                Volos scowls, but listens. We all mount our horses and ride deeper into the forest.