Hunted (Open - please PM before joining)

[Steiner]

Brinn quartered the area - it was now pitch black and though he didn't want to admit it he was getting worried.

Alexia had left her food and cloak back at the fire, and Brinn knew that unless she had better nightvision and direction sense, she was headed into the trackless forest. Given how thin and weak the girl was already, Brinn estimated she'd last a couple of days before delerium and weakness took her to the point where she'd be unable to travel.

"Alexia! ALEXIA!!!!!!"

Finally he heard muffled sobbing from somewhere close. He stopped and quietened, listening hard, before heading in the rough direction of the noise.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

How long she stood huddled in the shelter of the tree, she never knew.
Alexia shivered, the cold making her ache, numbing her.
Yet she was not yet numb enough to drive away the fear she had of being there alone.

She strained her ears.
Jumping at every sound, imagining animals, unspeakable dangers, her imagination running wild.

Finally the sound became more tangible.
This time she really had heard something.
Her frozen legs finally gave way as she slid down the tree trunk.
She did not try to move.
Crouched near the ground would aid her concealment and may even help her retain a meagre warmth before .... before the inevitable happened...

 

[Steiner]

By the time Brinn found her, he was jumping at shadows himself. She was wedged between two tree roots, her strength stolen by lack of food, and her bravery by the darkness. She trembled once as he picked her up, but said nothing more as he carried her back in the direction of the camp site.

When they got to the fireside, Brinn gently lowered her down. Reaching into his pack he withdrew a heavy winter blanket, which he used to wrap her in. Setting her head in his lap he stroked her hair gently, not intruding upon her thoughts or feelings.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

She gave but a single gasp as he swept her off her feet.
She was too weak to struggle, yet her eyes widened in surprise as she recognised him.
It was as if she had forgotten his existence, or was it merely surprise that he had bothered to come after her?

Limply she lay as he carried her, deposted her gently onto the ground and wrapped the blanket about her.
Her eyes closed, but she was far from sleep.

She began to shiver uncontrollably with emotion and cold.

Only now did she begin to realise how foolish she'd been ...

 

[Steiner]

He felt her shiver, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was too fast for easy slumber - should he wake her, should he leave her?

He drew her up gently, still wrapped in her blanket, and let her slump across his chest as he sat back against the log. Hopefully his bodywarmth would kickstart the process that the blanket should continue through the night.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

He said not a word.
No accusation, no lectures.
The touch was enough to begin to melt the frost about her senses.

She felt herself lifted and eased against him.
His body was beneath her.
She was cocooned between his body and the blanket.
Slowly the heat began to seep from him into her frozen senses.
Without knowing she pressed against him, seeking warmth, seeking comfort.
Again she felt his hand on her hair.

Her eyes fluttered open.
She turned her gaze up to him.

"I.. I'm sorry.... "

The broken whisper was all she could manage before lowering her head to bury it into his chest again...

 

[Steiner]

"You've had a hell of a time of it, girl, and I've been as much use as blind cat in a cheesewright's. I'm sorry I laughed at ye, killing a man is never a thing to laugh at."

His arm pulled her in tighter against him, letting her feel the comfort of his solidity and warmth beneath her.

"Still and all, you'll need more strength in you before you go running in the woods at night! There are blacker things than brigands that roam the forests by night. You stay here by the fire, where you're safe."

 

[cgraven]

The Dark Rider

Sleep came grudgingly as he fought the cold of the night. When sleep claimed the rider he did not know. The insistent hunt hard taken its toll on him.

Some where in the night the soft, pitiful sobs came to him, the sobs of a child lost in the night, alone and afraid.

Was it a dream or reality he knew not as he struggled form the world of the sleeping to that of the creatures of the night.

The jingle of harness, the pawing of the back demon, those pitiful sobs. No, no dream reality. He stretched his stiff limbs, the midnight blue cloak falling around him like the winding of a wraith. And he began to move towards the sobbing.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"You've had a hell of a time of it, girl, and I've been as much use as blind cat in a cheesewright's. I'm sorry I laughed at ye, killing a man is never a thing to laugh at."

Alexia smiled softly.
She was soothed by his words and by the arm that was wrapped about her.
His body was reassuring.
She closed her eyes and savoured the bodily contact.
She had been lonely for so long and now she was so utterly alone.

"Still and all, you'll need more strength in you before you go running in the woods at night! There are blacker things than brigands that roam the forests by night.
You stay here by the fire, where you're safe."

She nodded her consent, too weary and careworn to utter a word.
The fire was her enemy, yet it had eaten up the evidence, but it had consumed her mother's body with it.
She shivered. Her body shaking tremulously.
Again she pressed closer to Brinn trying to banish the memories, the bad dreams.
Tears still seeped out of her closed eyes, yet she breathed easier now and seemed to sleep.

The fire's patterns danced upon her somnolent figure and threw reflections on her straw coloured hair.

Unaware of any further danger closing in, Alexia finally slept...

 

[Steiner]

Brinn watched her in awe, she was a broken angel in the firelight, tears dewy on her cheek, hair like gold spidersilk. He gentled her when she stirred, stroked her hair when the nightmare came, and watched over her as the sky turned from black to indigo to pink.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia slept soundly at first.
Exhaustion kept the demons at bay.

Then, as was usual, she relived her horrors, those moments when her father left her, then her mother, then her desperate struggle for escape and the killing she barely remembered...

Scenes flashed before her eyes.
But this night, they were fleeting, ever moving.
None stayed long to prolong her torment.

She imagined soft words, soothing touches.
Somehow she felt secure.
The demons passed on, yet Alexia was tormented by their mercifully short visitation.

Exhausted, she slept deeply once more.
Her body heavy as she sook escape in a deeper state of slumber ...

 

[Steiner]

The rising sun bathed Brinn's face in golden light as it crept above the treetops. It was time to eat, stretch and be moving, but Alexia was still deep asleep - so Brinn humoured her for a few hours. By 08:00, or thereabouts, however he was forced to shake her gently awake.

"Alexia? Milady? Time you stirred yourself and greeted the new day!"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"Alexia? Milady? Time you stirred yourself and greeted the new day!"

The hand on her shoulder was gentle, yet persistent.
He knelt down and drew her body towards his, shaking her gently into wakefulness.

Alexia groaned and slowly opened her eyes.
With a start she realised that her body was pressed closely to Brinn's and that she was in fact laid in his arms.
His face was before hers, his expression warm, caring.

She squinted as the sun dappled through the trees, but seeing it was already some way into the day she started.

"ohh god.. wh.. what time is it... I... I must have slept too long.. "

She struggled upright.
Remembering the night before, she blushed, feeling foolish once more...

 

[Steiner]

"Hah... It lacks some time of noon yet, but it's been dawn for a few hours or so, I'd say. Now if you think you can stay here without running off, could you get some breakfast together from my pack? I'm going to get some wood together and get the fire going, and get some water from the stream over there. We both need a good wash to start the day."

Brinn ruffled her hair on an impulse and then lowered her down to the ground. Standing his muscles and joints creaked alarmingly from the sleepless night he'd spent on watch. Stretching a little he headed off into the woods to gather some loose branches.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"Hah... It lacks some time of noon yet, but it's been dawn for a few hours or so, I'd say.
Now if you think you can stay here without running off, could you get some breakfast together from my pack?
I'm going to get some wood together and get the fire going, and get some water from the stream over there. We both need a good wash to start the day."

Alexia smiled shyly at the good natured voice.
The familiar touch on her hair and his closeness made her shiver, but warmed her more deeply than his body had the night before.

As he hurried away, Alexia took a portion of bread, cheese and fruit from his pack and set it out.
She glanced at the stream and looked about unsure of how to get water.
The morning air was slightly chill, but the sun was breaking through and heating the sheltered area they had set up camp for the night.

Brinn had disappeared into the woods.
Alexia calculated that he would be quite a while.
She walked over to the stream. It was true she needed a wash. She felt as if she had been on the run all her life.
With a final glance, Alexia could resist the temptation no longer.
Deftly she slipped out of her overgarments, then her undergarments and finally her boots, making sure the blade was still well concealed.

Naked, she slipped into the stream.
The water was but shallow to offer a real bath, though it deepened in places.
Alexia knelt allowing the water to come up to her waist.
Shivering at the coldness, she lifted the water pouring it over her hair, her face, her breasts, her arms.
The cold tingling sensation reviving her, despite its chill.


She knew she could not dally long.
She was sure she would be dressed by the time Brinn returned and she could not risk taking a chill by allowing her body heat to be drawn from her.
Again Alexia poured water over her damp hair and let the rivulets trickle over her breasts.
She gave a sigh of satisfaction, feeling clean for the first time in ages!

 

[Steiner]

Brinn found himself whistling cheerfully as he grabbed armfuls of loose wood shaken down by the storm that night. Wandering over to the side of a large oak in the lee of the prevailing wind he grabbed some handfulls of moss, knowing that it would have been sheltered from the worst of the rain, and would be ideal kindling.

"There, that should fuel a good enough blaze!"

With a swing in his step, Brinn set off back for the nearby camp. The chore hadn't taken half as much time as he'd expected - he might even be able to grab the water for Alexia - he was looking forward to a wash in heated water, something he didn't take the time to do on the road often, but always did at Inn's.

Coming into the clearing from the opposite direction he'd left it, he dropped the firewood on the ashes of last nights fire, got the moss burning under a cone of piled sticks and slowly fed fresh wood into the heart of the new blaze. When things were going well enough he turned to the stream, and froze.

Alexia, naked, was in the water to her waist - looking like some naiad of the stream as she rinsed her hair with the sparkling water. He hadn't been able to appreciate her figure the night before, although he'd had the sense that she was a well proportioned lass - he made up the loss now, comitting every line and curve of her wonderful body to memory. His hands itched at the though of running his roughened palms along her flanks, or across her breasts. He could see that she would pause every now and then to check the part of the treeline where he had disappeared - it was clear to Brinn that she was expecting him to reappear the same direction.

After drinking in his fill of her perfection, Brinn decided he needed a cold water wash more than ever! Stripping his heavy boots, mail shirt, leather coat, linen shirt and woolen trews. He made his way towards the stream. Stretching his body as he went, Brinn hoped that Alexia would like what SHE saw as much as he had - it was true that Brinn's torso was striped with countless smaller nicks and scars, in addition to the arrow wound in his shoulder and the axe cut across his ribs that had almost taken his life three winters ago, but the heavy muscles bunched and shifted beneath a fine covering of blonde hair, and he knew that other women had found him fair enough. Reaching the stream he cleared his throat "Is the water cold, Alexia?"

 

[cgraven]

The Dark Rider

The sobs in the night like a wraith had called to him, in the midnight gloom, the fog , had come, its whipsy fingers like an unseen demon searched through the gloom of night and the rider had returned to his lonely camp to huddle against the tree and the cold of night till morning drew ny.

She who he sought, for in the riders ‘s mind’s eye he new his pry to be a lass, was near very near now. He partook of a merger breakfast of bread and honey mead, cared for the black demons needs and prepared to continue the pursuit. It was then as The rider was swinging into the saddle that a voice came ever so faintly on the morning breeze


"Is the water cold, Alexia?"

The dark rider pulled his black demon steed’s head around and his spurs nudged the beast in the direction of that faint voice. The demon steed’s tack clinked softly , as the bells of the funeral procession as he walked through the woods.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia did not linger, yet she scanned the woods where Brinn had disappeared in search of firewood and allowed herself a few more minutes in that tinglingly cold water.

She did not register a sound, before the words caused her to snap her head round.

"Is the water cold, Alexia?"

Alexia gave a soft gasp and exclaimed,

”Brinn!”

She drew her arms belatedly about her chest in a futile attempt to regain an iota of modesty, then finally realising that he too was naked, she blushed scarlet and averted her eyes.

”I.. did not hear.. I thought… “

She stammered, then sneaked a glance upwards from under lowered lids, letting her eyes travel along his form.
It was the first male torso she had seen and curiosity emboldened her.
He was muscular, scarred, but…. well formed…

She caught his eye, reading amusement and… something else she could not figure…
She looked desperately round for her clothes, deciding that she would try to make a dignified exit and leave him in private to his bathing…

 

[Steiner]

Brinn was captivated by Alexia's reaction - the sly peeking told him that she at least found him physically attractive, but the confusion and embarassment added to pieces a jigsaw that was slowly becoming clear to him.

Brinn could see that far from taking advantage of the situation, she was going run from it - and he stepped quickly into the cold water to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Alexia? Earlier, yesterday, when you said about not having known any kiss? You didn't mean recently, or from a stranger did you? You meant ever didn't you?"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia turned her gaze downwards as she realised that Brinn was closing the distance between them.
She stood helplessly as she heard the splashes as Brinn came to stand closely beside her.
She glanced round in confusion, not knowing where to look.

She shivered, not from the cold, as he touched her shoulder lightly.

"Alexia? Earlier, yesterday, when you said about not having known any kiss?
You didn't mean recently, or from a stranger did you?
You meant ever didn't you?"

Alexia blushed scarlett.

"Yes .... I ... you mean you think that I've... that... "

She didn't know what to think. Was he laughing at her?
He seemed.. surprised...

"I.. lived with my parents... until... until... they died... we ...
... we didn't have much to do with the other villages..
and when they started to get sick... everyone stayed away even more.
I spent my time at home... I tried to make it right, but... it didn't help... they still died... "

As Alexia speaks, her mind focuses on the memory of her life thus far, the sorrow of her recent bereavement.
She is unware of how her hands have fallen to her sides.
She stands unself-consciously naked from the waist up.
The eyes she turns to Brinn are sorrowful and vulnerable...

 

[cgraven]

The Dark Rider

A soft tinkling , as the bells of the funeral procession, mix with the merry babbling of the stream The Dark Rider drawing ever near to his pry. The black demon steed move like a wraith through the woods to emerge in a small clearing over looking the Stream. The couple in the stream naked as on the day of their birth turn as the Steed lowers his head to quench his thirst.

His pry at hand, for there is no doubt that the beauty before him is she that he has hunted , yet what be the role of the worrier that stands with her. Questions….always questions to be answered………..for Hue De Bois has learned in this land torn by civil war there is often a difference between the law and justice and though he is be for man sworn to up hold the kinds law…………He is also sworn before god to up hold justice…….This the lesson he learned from the old crusader fairer..

“ My pardon for disturbing you bath fair maiden , and gentle Sir.”

Hue's voice light deep and soft.

 

[Steiner]

Brinn reacted the instant he heard the strangers voice, not hurrying or leaping, simply strolling quickly to the flat rock nearby where his clothes and weapons lay.

Someone less experienced might have grabbed for a tunic, but Brinn knew that his nakedness would prove little hindrance in a fight, and so he simply slipped his sword from its sheath and leaned casually on it.

"You have a soft tread, sir, your woodcraft is remarkable. In fact you disturb us only by choice - as if you had passed by we would likely not have even spotted your presence. Did you have some pressing reason to?"

 

[cgraven]

A rye smile crosses my lips as the man casually strolls towards his garments the sun reflections glinting off chain mail. My hand rest easily on the pommel of my sword the Black demon steed's eyes catches his movement his body tenses ready for battle. My hand pats the tense muscles of his neck.

"You have a soft tread, sir, your woodcraft is remarkable. In fact you disturb us only by choice - as if you had passed by we would likely not have even spotted your presence. Did you have some pressing reason to?"

A hardy laugh

“ Nay good Sir, My Steed was but thirsty, and came upon this place to quench his need.”

My voice is light, casual, yet there is a ring of steal in as if he questioned my honesty for such is the conduct of men at arms.

“Tis true that I have traveled many a day in monkish solitude and yearn for pleasant company on my travels , yet my intent was not to disturbed you nor your lady.”

A courtly nod to the naked nymph that stood in the stream.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia tries to read the expression in Brinn’s eyes, yet a voice disturbs her assessment.

“ My pardon for disturbing your bath fair maiden , and gentle Sir.”

She turns and once again covers the top of her torso.
Her eyes fly to Brinn first and then to the stranger as Brinn seems to saunter to the water’s edge, leaving her abandoned and unable to move away, her nudity masked only by the shallows surrounding her.

She turns again and notes that Brinn has taken up his sword.
Her mind flies to the blade hidden in her boot and curses herself for her foolishness.

"You have a soft tread, sir, your woodcraft is remarkable. In fact you disturb us only by choice - as if you had passed by we would likely not have even spotted your presence. Did you have some pressing reason to?"

Alexia looks back at the object of the enquiry.
Her gaze moves over the armoured and beweaponed man.
She shivers, totally intimidated by his appearance.
Is he in pursuit of her, or is his arrival mere coincidence and… bad timing…?

She notes the smile on the stranger’s face, the ease with which he responds to Brinn’s questioning.
The stranger laughs heartily. Alexia is momentarily put at ease.

“ Nay good Sir, My Steed was but thirsty, and came upon this place to quench his need.”

To Alexia’s naïve ears, all seems to be well, if only she can extricate herself and don on her clothes once more.

“Tis true that I have travelled many a day in monkish solitude and yearn for pleasant company on my travels , yet my intent was not to disturbed you nor your lady.”

Alexia blushes as the stranger directly focuses his gaze on her.
His nod is respectful, yet he cannot help but notice her barely concealed curves and generous breasts.
She accords him what she hopes is a dignified nod and glances anxiously over at Brinn.
“… your lady… “

Of course he had assumed… finding them both in a state of undress.. that would be the natural assumption … and that assumption might prove safer for her, if she were throught to be travelling with her…What would that make Brinn?

Alexia looks at Brinn, wondering how he will respond, what he will say,
if he will deny the connection with her.
If he did so, perhaps it would be all the better for him in the long run, yet if he asserts that she is travelling alone... her status would become still more... vulnerable ... even if this stranger were not sent in search of her...

 

[Steiner]

The point of Brinn's sword drifted lazily downward, as he considered the strangers words. He HAD reacted a little harshly, so he allowed some good humour to return to his tone.

"Well, I bid thee welcome to the clearing, then. We have, I think, finished with the stream for now. I fear my lady and I will not long provie thee with company, as we are set to move from here as soon as we have supped and packed, but I'm sure you're welcome to our fire until then."