Sophie stood there panting. Her arms hung down at her sides as she barely held onto her sword and dagger. Blood covered both blades and bodies were strewn about the glade, but this time, she was calm. It hadn't been easy, but when she had seen the men sneaking up on Eirik, she had gone on the offensive. They had found him alone and decided that twelve against one was pretty good odds in their favor. They had been wrong.
Eirik had killed half of them. He'd also taken a dagger to the arm. He stood across the clearing, also spent, staring at her as he tried to catch his breath.
She saw the way he was looking at her from where he stood and it scared her. What if the blue swirling vortex returned? What if she was suddenly sent back home. The last thing she wanted was to fall for him just to disappear with no explanation. She had thought about telling him where and when she'd come from, but how exactly does one explain technology to someone who's never seen such a thing?
"We need to make sure there aren't any more!" she said, turning and walking away from the clearing. As much as she couldn't stand Ulriech, she was rather fond of Eirik. He was calm, kind, and had a sense of humor. Besides that, he was a beautiful man to look at. The last thing she would ever want to do was hurt him.
Looking for more soldiers to battle hadn't been high on his list of things to do right then, but there was no way he was just going to let her wander off alone and he sprinted after her. "Sophie!" He ignored the pain in his left arm as he chased her down. She was small, but she moved fast and it took more effort to catch up to her than he expected.
"We have to protect the city," she said when he finally reached her.
"I understand that," he said. "Remember, I'm the one that taught you that! But we have to make sure we're not sitting ducks ourselves!" She kept walking and he finally had to grab her by the arm. "Sophie, stop!"
She turned to face him, but refused to look up into his eyes.
"We need to give the others a chance to catch up. Those probably aren't the only scouts out here and if we're not careful, we could find ourselves in the middle of an actual army. I'm good. You're good. And we're great together, but I don't think either of us could survive that."
She knew he was right. The only reason she was going off in such a hurry was because she wasn't ready to face the reason behind the look he'd given her. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Don't be sorry. I know you just want to protect the city. But we have to protect ourselves, too."
She nodded.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Then why won't you look at me?"
She briefly glanced up at him. "I'm fine."
He wasn't so sure. "Let's get back to the rest of the men and we'll scout the area together. I don't want to get caught off guard and alone."
She agreed and let him lead her back to the others.
Ulriech was leading the charge and seemed a little disappointed that he had missed out on the first fight. By this time, Sophie had caught her breath and wasn't about to take any abuse from him. In fact, in the mood she was currently in, she was more likely to stick him with his own dagger again.
In her attempt to put as much space between her and Ulriech as possible, she moved to the very back of the group. She was in no mood to listen to the sound of his voice. What she didn't realize was that another group of enemy scouts had circled around behind them. Eirik was busy reporting their findings to his brother. The other men were mindlessly marching and not paying attention to much of anything.
A scream shattered the unusual silence and everyone turned to find Sophie in the arms of one of the men they were searching for. He held a wicked looking dagger against her throat and had an evil looking smile in his face.
Ulriech stomped over, pulling his sword free, which only succeeded in angering the man. He pressed the blade tighter against her throat and Ulriech stopped.
"What do you want?" he bellowed.
"We have what we want. Follow us and she dies." the man sneered as his men surrounded them and they backed away, disappearing into the woods.
Eirik bolted after them, but Ulriech blocked his way. "No!" he exclaimed. "It could be a trap."
"We can't just let them take her!" Eirik snapped.
"If you go charging after her, you could get her killed, or you could get yourself killed."
Eirik realized that although his brother was usually not the greatest planner when it came to battle, this time he was right. He nodded and dropped his hand from the hilt of his sword. "So, what do you suggest we do? We can't just let them have her!"
Ulriech shouted for several of the men and they stepped forward. He sent them out to scout the area and find out just how many enemy troops they were up against. Two others, he sent back to the city to let their father know what had happened so he could send more troops.
Sophie couldn't see where they were taking her. They had put a hood over her head and thrown her over the shoulder of one of their soldiers. She had done her share of kicking and screaming, but now she was just letting herself be carried off. So far, they hadn't found the dagger in her boot, so she knew that if they left her alone long enough, she would have a slim chance of getting away. Unless she was completely turned around, and she was sure she wasn't, they were taking her west towards the coast.
By sundown, they had made camp and built a fire. Several men were placed on guard and Sophie was instructed to sit down and shut up. They fed her something they probably considered food, but she turned up her nose at it.
She watched the guards carefully. She knew where all three of them were at all times and by the time the rest of the men had fallen asleep, she already had a plan. The guards seemed to rotate around on a pretty predictable pattern and she waited until they were otherwise distracted to make her move.
Leaving her cloak draped over a pile of branches so it looked like she was still there and had fallen asleep, Sophie ducked into the trees and made her way east. She wasn't sure how long it would take her to find Eirik and the others, but she was determined to walk all night if necessary.
It was cold and she rubbed her arms as she stumbled through the dark woods. Thank goodness the moon was bright enough that she could at least see where she was going. She stopped several times to listen, hoping no one was following her, and it seemed as though her ruse had worked.
Mumbling to herself, she hoped one of the men had picked up her sword, because she was going to need it. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to let those Neanderthals sneak up on her like that! In fact, she was downright mad about it.
She had just climbed over a fallen tree when a pair of arms encircled her and lifted her off her feet. Her first reaction was a snarl, until she recognized the voice against her ear.
"You know, a blind man could track you, with all your mumbling as you're tromping through the forest."
"Eirik!" she gasped. "Oh, thank goodness!"
"You're not hurt?"
She shook her head. "No. No, I'm not hurt. I'm mad."
"You scared me."
"Scared you?" she let him lead her to the others who were more than happy to stop for the night and rest.
"Yeah, I was scared!" he snapped.
"I didn't do it on purpose!" she snapped back.
"I didn't say you did!"
"No? Well, you implied it!"
The others stared at them as their conversation began to turn into a shouting match.
"Well, this whole situation could have been avoided if you had been paying more attention! What have I told you every time we've been in the lists? You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times!"
"Telling me something when we're play fighting is incredibly different than actually being out in the woods! And what about all of them! None of them noticed we were being followed! Why is this my fault when they are all way more experienced than me? What about you? You're supposed to be leading this damn regiment! Why didn't you notice?"
"Because I was too busy keeping an eye on you!"
One of the men had handed her the sword she'd dropped earlier and she suddenly threw it onto the ground. She reached into her boot and pulled out the dagger, flinging it down beside it, and walked off.
"Where are you going?" he barked at her.
"Home!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Maybe then I won't get in your way and you won't have to waste your time looking out for me!"
"That's all he does anymore," Ulriech muttered.
"You shut up!" Eirik snapped. He stormed after her and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off her feet and carrying her back to camp. Plunking her down beside the fire, he gave her a look that, even in the dark, she knew he meant business.