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Time Enough (Lady Nightshade and Mr. M)

Athena smiled up at Michael. Something about him that made her start to feel better from what they had faced. With a gentle blush she drew up to her own mount without a problem. More to show his men that she wasn't made of lace.

"It's gone from here for the time being. I think there might be problems elswhere, but for now I just wish to get away from this place."

They already had a day and a night travel from "home". Looking over to Joe she arched her eye and mouthed 'you still owe me tonight'. Before she smiled and looked over to Michael. The Knight looked as if he wanted to say something else to her, but couldn't as Athena snapped her reigns to her horse and took off from a cantor to a run. "Whoever Catches me, get's to escorte me on a walk this evening!!" She yelled back ovr her shoulder as dust blew up from the horses wake.
 
The company thundered after her, with Michael, Joe, and actually one of the men at arms in the lead. It was a close thing, but even in armor, Michael had less weight than Joe, and a better horse than the soldier. It was eventually him that came neck-and-neck with Athena. He did not try to stop her, but instead raced with her, bounding over hills and plunging into a wooded area with her, the wide dirt trail that served as their road guiding them through the trees as they raced. Michael's laugh echoed beyond the beat of their hooves, and his grin flashed at her, his face beaming his simple joy at the speed and the motion and being with her.
 
Laughter filled the air as the road thundered around them. Athena had to resist the urdge to call out words that were not of this time. Part of her even forgot for a moment "when" they were. Giving the Knight a sly grin she decided to make things more intresting. Though, in part, something had seemed strange and called to her. Of course, she was also not in any hurry to head back to having servants follow her around like lost puppies either.

Her eyes flashed up ahead to an old wagon type path. It was barly visible to the naked eye as she pulled the reigns hard to the right. The horse obeying without hesatation as he thundered to the right. Athena, having to duck her head right off as a low hanging branch lay in her way. Having glanced behind, Michael was fast on her heels and saw the threat. The next guard in line didn't and a crack was heard, quickly followed by laughter about a girl getting the best of a seasoned rider.

If anyone was questioning where she was leading them, they kept the thoughts to themself for the time being. Naturally, she knew Joe wouldn't say a word. If she was being lead by some kind of instinct, it had to be done. After what she had felt and seen, she just wanted to have some free time before anything else. It didn't take long until the sound of running water could be heard and they came out into a slightly open clearing. A winding river flowed just up ahead, yet father on there was the sound of a waterfall that was hidden by the trees. Only then did she start to slow her stead and looked to see who had won the game...
 
Only Michael entered the glade with her, although the hoofbeats approaching indicated they would not be alone for long. He rode up and cut in front of her, making her horse pull up short (and, given her relative inexperience on a horse, made her feel like she was going to fall off), and he grinned, his joy at just being with her clear on his face.

"So, I think I won, yes?" He looked around. "This is a lovely spot to rest the horses. Though it's only a half-hour into the ride back, we have already put them through a bit of strain. We'll take a few moments and refill our canteens and such." The others rode in, Joe in the lead, and the best rider of the men-at-arms still rubbing his helmet where his head had got banged on the branch.

Michael turned to the group. "The Lady Athena has found fresh water. Let's resupply." He glanced at her and winked.
 
A deep crimson blush roused her face as she dismounted her horse. Looking back to see Joe she smiled warmly towards him before turning to walk towards Michael. The horses didn't need to be guided to know that there was fresh cool water for them.

"Yes, you did win."

Athena walked over to the water herself and kneeled down. Cupping her hands, she dipped them into the running water and took her fill before patting her face with her hands. It felt good, but she longed for a longer rest.

"I'd rather we stay here for now. After what i saw... I am in need of a rest."

She knew that the men wouldn't argue with her. It was a lovley spot indeed that she found. The couple guards then scanned the surrounding area for any threat. When none was found, Athena excused herself to walk towards the woods. Over some rocks that were placed int he water. Telling them she needed to deal with womenly needs, no one followed her. Besides, she could hold her own in a fight if in need.

Truth be told, all she wanted now was a cool soak to calm her nerves. With her new senses, she guided herself down a deer path and was lead to a smaller clearing. A small waterfall was roaring gently into a crystal clear pool. With a glance behind she couldn't resist the urge to strip her clothing. Setting the clothing into a neat pile she dove right in with a screech. The cool water tingled her skin as she swamn around freely.
 
The water was cool and refreshing and slid over her skin deliciously. After the death and horror and danger she'd seen, it was an immense relief to just let all of it go and swim about in the small pool. The twinge of a sense that had brought her here was much, much different from that she'd felt in the village; it was much lighter, much more benign. She didn't have to consider it right now, though; it wasn't pressing, it wasn't forcing itself on her, so she could distract herself with just getting clean. And... half-way hoping one of her men would show up.

Someone did show up. But not who she expected.

Her attention, when it ranged out of the pool, was mostly focused on the trail back to the encampment clearing. So it was a bit of a shock when a male voice spoke up from the opposite end of the pool.

"Well, look here, boys! See what we have?" the man's voice was smooth and mocking in its tone. "Entertainment!"

He spoke up quickly, then, from the shadows of the trees: "I wouldn't call too loudly, my dear. You have three arrows nocked at you right now. I'd hate to damage that flawless skin. Not when we just want a little fun, is all..."
 
Athena opened her eyes wide as she sunk into the water. Not that it did any good with the water being crystal clear. Without being able to cry out, she was pretty much on her own. Her eyes scanning over to where her weapon was, she knew it would be impossible to reach it.I wonder if Joe has some sort of mindspeech. She thought and mentally cried out for help as she tried to swim over to reach her blade.

"I don't think so girly.."

A second came to her view and scooped up her clothing and weapon. He had a vile smile on his face and there was no doubt in mind what kind of entertainment they wanted.
 
The leader stepped out now, followed by other men on both sides of the stream. Six men in all made themselves known. The leader was brawny, strapping, handsome in a way but his grin was glittering with malice. With her clothes and weapons away, they felt no concern any longer.

"You know, if we have to go in there after you, it's going to be that much more of a bother for you in the end... heh..." he turned to grin at his men. "In the end." They chuckled as he turned back to her. "So I'll make you a bargain. Come out of there, be nice and obedient, and we won't be rough with you. We're just... poor lonely travelers, looking to pass some time with some lovely female companionship. Can you blame us?"

He gestured to the embankment where she could climb in and out. "Come on. Out with you."
 
Like hell she was going to go anywhere near the bank! At least she was a good swimmer and had more of a chance to evade them in the water. Surley, they would get rowdy enough to make enough noise for someone in her party to hear. Knowing that if she went to the back, she'd have no chance to fend off six of them.

"I don't think so scumbags!"

If they had to come in after her, she might be able to pull a weapon off them. Men like them had more then one primaray. They probably thought her a simple minded women. Well, they were going to be in for one hell of a suprise.
 
Their brows furrowed, and they looked at each other in confusion. "Scum... bag?" the leader mused, putting those two familiar words together for the first time. "I take it that's a bad thing. And I also take it that means you've chosen the rough path." He smiled. "That's fine. We all tend to like it rough. No reason to hold back now."

He waved to one of the men on the bank opposite. "Tanner, you're a good swimmer; go fish her out." The man in question grinned and stripped off his jerkin and boots, handing them to his nearby compatriot. When he shucked off his woodsman's trousers, he was already semihard amongst the thatch of pubic hair, leaving exactly zero doubt as to his attention. With little hesitation, he dove into the pond, arrowing underwater toward her like a pale rape torpedo.
 
Her eyes opened wide as the man raced towards her in the water. If they htought she was going to be easy to catch her, they had another thing comming. Athena dove back into the reeds. A hand reached to grab anything that might help. Comming up with a rock and a thick reed she moved as Turner came up ad lunged. A hand grabbed at her breast, but she was too quick. Taking the rock to smash it against the back of his head and dove out and under the water to get away for a few feet. When she poped back up to suck in a breath of air she heard cursing as Turner standing.


"Wench!!!"
 
The leader make a "tisk"ing sound. "That was Tanner's favorite head! I'm afraid he'll have to get you back for that one."

The man was turning on her as she swam away, invective on his lips and fire in his eyes -- which also were a little unfocused, and suddenly he sat heavily into the water, crushing reeds haphazardly as he sank to his neck, looking markedly more dazed as the hard blow to the head took its time settling in. One of his nearby mates came to try and fish him out. The leader seemed to look on her with new eyes.

"Ah. A woman who actually knows how to fight. Rare, indeed. The struggle ought to be delightful." He motioned to several of his bowmen, who kept their arrows trained on Athena, while he and the rest of his men started to disrobe. It seemed as if it would be three on one, this next time.
 
Damn it! There's no way I can avoid them forever. Thinking fast as each man came slowly towards her. Each one held a smile in their eyes as their excitment was clearly obvious when they dove into the water. Each at an angle as the first one came up and lunged at her. Instinct came with ease as she dove under water, and was grabbed by the ankles by another. Forcing her up as she swallowed a mouthfull of water and coughed it up.

"Got you.."


The man hissed, hooking her arms behind her. The more she moved, the tighter his grip came as the leader waded slowly towards her.Not to mention the pressing of himself against her bottom.

"My, the little fish seems to be in trouble." He moved closer as the man behind her lifted her up to expose her breasts more. "Perfect. I bet they are nice and firm..."

Without warning, Athena slammed her head back into the bandits face behind her. A cracking sound as the nose broke was quickly followed by the cry of pain.
 
Her captor loosened his grip on her, but not enough for her to entirely escape. His cry of pain devolved into cursing, as the men closing around her laughed at his misfortune. "A fighter to the end... excellent!" the leader chuckled, his hands bare millimeters from the soft flesh of her breasts.

As the men's laughter died off, one voice kept laughing, louder and more raucously. The other men fell silent at the unfamiliar voice, and turned to look at the source.

Michael stood at the edge of the forest on the trail from the campsite, sword drawn, laughing like a maniac. The two bowmen immediately swiveled to aim at him. He laughed a few minutes more while the men in the pool spread out warily. Finally, he stopped, as if just noticing nobody else was laughing. "Was... the joke not funny?"

There was a rustling from the woods on the opposite side, and suddenly the bowman over there grunted and swiveled, loosing his arrow into the body of his compatriot across the way, whose own arrow went sailing up into the air as he fell. The first bowman made a yelp and then went silent with a cracking, popping sound, and he went flying limply to the side as Joe came boiling out of the forest and dove like an otter into the water, slicing through the water like a shark while Michael finished off the two men still on the bank with him.
 
"MICHAEL!!! JOE!!!!"

Athena screamed their names. Happier that they had arrived in the nick of time. The man who held her captive lost his grib. Letting Athena have the upper hand as she jabbed her elbow up into the leaders throat. He gasped and dropped a knife into the water with a plop as he stagered back.

"K-kill them all!"

His eyes flared as a couple more armed men came from behind. It was plainly obvious they had to be slaveres or some kind of mercs.
 
Michael spied the other men coming out of the forest, swirled his sword around in preparation, and launched toward them with a ferocious grin on his face.

Meanwhile the leader and his men kept their eyes on the pale form of Joe under the water. He dived deep, and then did something on the bottom of the pool, and the water got cloudy as he swirled up silt and detritus from the bottom of the pool, masking his movements.

The men got more worried, ignoring Athena for a moment. Steel clashed on steel on the riverbank while the men in the water looked about, growing steadily more wary. "Impossible," the leader snarled. "No one can hold their breath that long!"

Just then, Michael knocked one dying man into the pool, creating a big, distracting splash, and in that instant, the man who had held Athena gasped as he was pulled underwater... and did not come up again.
 
Her eyes flashed towards the leader as water splashed up into the air. Knowing very well that they made a huge mistake attacking her. One they would pay dearly for as Athena looked over to see Michael's gaze towards the enemy. It gave her more then enoguh time to swim towards the reeds and into cover. With nothing to really fight with, she was more a hinderence then help.

Besides, they are more then a match for those two.

There were more shouts as she splashed over into ihe reeds. The rest of the guard came crashing into the fray. Starteling the leader as he had managed to climb out of the water as the body of his comrade floated up. Michael's men barked out some words that Athena couldn't catch and spread out to find any that were still hiding into he surrounding area. A few fled while, the leader, managed to sneak around with a knife towards Michael.

"MICHAEL!!!"
 
The men-at-arms surged around her knight, pursuing the rest of the outlaw band, while Michael at least hung back near the pool; she was his focus, after all. He turned just as the outlaw leader surged up out of the water, knife in hand, and he brought his sword up too late… except it wasn’t too late, because the leader was slowed by having to pull his ankle free from a pale, grasping hand that reached up from the water and tried to drag him back into it.

So Michael was able to fend off the initial stab, and after that, it was a done deal. Skilled as he was with the knife, and he was skilled, the leader man had met his match with Sir Michael’s swordsmanship, even if the simple greater reach of the sword wouldn’t have sufficed for a victory. Joe surfaced over near Athena as the two men battled on the shore; he said nothing, just looked at her to make sure she was okay, and then turned to watch with her.

They fought, for a while, but as it became apparent that there was no way he could win, and the men-at-arms started to come back and surround the fighting area, so there was no way he could escape, the leader finally made a choice. He straightened, dropped his fighting stance, spit in Michael’s direction and with a gallows grin, cut his own throat. He did a good job, too, hitting the artery so that he bled out within seconds. The soldiers and nobility could just watch, even if they’d wanted to do so something to save him.
 
There seemed to be a little blood spray as the man took his own life. Falling to the ground as the light left his paling eyes. Athena winced. Closing her eyes as a cold shiver ran down her spine. Leaving a trail of goosebumps over her skin. Without any word, the guards moved and grabed the bodies of the dead. Where they were going to dispose of them, Athena didn't know. Nor, did she care in the least as she backed up into Joe.

"I. I don't understand.."

She whispered and looked up to Michael. The look she saw on his face she couldn't read. He was a soldier then as the rush was coming down. Whatever he was feeling, she was only greatfull that she had both men in her lives. Not wanting to think of what would have happened if they hadn't decided to come look for her. Only then, did she start to cry. Letting her hardened walls fall . Not caring that she was in the nude with only a couple reeds streached across her breasts.

It was fear of what could have happened. Mixed with the sucide her own eyes had watched. She knew Joe understood. It wasn't the death that scared her. The events of the day had caught up and all she wanted was to relax.

"I.. I feel so dirty..."

Whispering again.
 
"He didn't want to face the King's justice," Michael said softly, dropping off his leathers and stripping off his tunic as he waded into the pool, moving around his men who were fishing the bodies out of the water and carrying them off to the deeper forest. "This makes me think he was a villain of the worst sort, that he'd rather kill himself than subject himself to the courts." He moved close to Athena and Joe, and tried to give her his tonic to cover herself with until they could find her clothes.

His men were taking the slain outlaws to a good spot where they could be buried under rock cairns, the best they had time for. It's unlikely any of those men deserved a good Christian burial, but like God, Michael and his men were forgiving in death, and did what last rites they could. If he weren't more concerned with Athena, Michael would be out there with them.

Joe was also more concerned with his partner. "Athena... er, my lady... You're just in shock. It's a difficult thing to experience, you just need to rest a little, let yourself cope..."

The two men both encircled Athena in the water, lending their warmth and their various strength without competition, so focused were they on just her well-being.
 
The mention of her name from Joe made her blink back her green eyes as she looked up to see that both were next to her. They were alone now. Other then nature and god himself standing watch as she almost shivered. What she wanted was comfort. Things were still confusing from the earlier events of the day. Only to get worse from the attack.

Does this sort of thing happen all the time?

Athena thought to herself and made a mental note to ask her partner later if being a time skipper was a magnent for trouble. It was strange that her life was seemingly so upside down and yet, it felt right (even with all the danger). With a sigh, she sank a little into the water.Pushing asside the offered shit from michael as she let her head rest against his shoulder. Her left hand swimming through the water to grab hold of Joes as she squeesed his hand.

"Shock. I guess you could say that." Giving a fake laugh. "I didn't even hear them come up. They knew your face Michael. As if they were told of our whearabouts."
 
Michael's arms came around her, and Joe's hand was warm and secure around her own. She wasn't sure if this was the flesh hand or the artificial one, or if both were artificial, or if it even mattered; it felt right, at least, as far as hands go.

"I don't know about that," Michael mused, although his expression grew sharp and calculating. "Many an evildoer around these parts know the face of the local nobility. It's only sensible to recognize your enemy, hopefully before he recognizes you." He thought for a moment, then shook his head, making a slight swishing sound in the water. "If they'd been told we were all here, they wouldn't have stopped to dally with you, with armed soldiers just a few dozen feet through the forest."

"No, they weren't told we were here," Michael said with some finality. But it was Joe, crouching neck-deep in the water and gazing at the two of them, who spoke the corollary, softly and with a certain sense of knowing in his tone, even though he left the next few thoughts unsaid for the moment.

"But they seemed to know where you were pretty exactly, Athena."
 
That was a thought she really didn't want to think on. Was it why she felt so compelled to be here? That she wanted to have these men find her and be killed? Athena sighed and shook her head slightly as a bitter distaste filled her mouth.

"Well, it wasn't like I was shouting for the world to come see me like this..." She grumbled with a blush rising against her face.

It really bothered her as she drew her hand away from Joe and swam off from both men. Looking at them with an almost sadness in her eyes. Of course, joe knew the real reason why she was looking like that. She couldn't help but still have that feeling of why she was led here. why that trouble was finding her. All she wanted right now was comfort and answers. Answers she knew that couldn't be found in simple words.

"You both smell by the way."

Athena stated abrutly. Trying to change the subject as she wrinkled her nose and splashed water at Michael and Joe. If it was anything, she had to try and change the subject. Right now she wanted to play the pretty princess and not think of the bad guys or of her dutys.
 
Joe laughed and ducked under the water to avoid the splashes, while Michael stoically took the droplets in the face and arched a prim eyebrow at her. "My lady, I'll have you know I am no more aromatic than any gentry. Including yourself. Besides," he glanced over at Joe, "not in front of the help."

Joe surfaced and spouted water like a squirting fish before glancing at Michael. "She's told you before, I'm not precisely a servant so much as a junior colleague. It's just easier to play the servant for people who don't understand how a woman could be in a leadership position." He tilted his head at the knight. "I thought you appreciated a woman who took charge?"

Michael's expression became an indiffrent mask, but his ears got very pink. "Good sirrah, may I suggest you-" and at this Michael launched a splash without warning. With Joe's reflexes, he didn't have to be surprised by it, but he laughed and took it. He brought his arm back to splash back at Michael, then paused, pivoted, and launched a drenching wave in Athena's direction.
 
She was about to shout something about them acting like children when the wave came roaring at her. Athena didn't even have time to close her eyes and swallowed a mouthfull of water. Chocking, she sputtered and coughed. Water dripping from her forehead and down her cheeks when she lost the little composure she had left and launched herself at them.

"You two are so dead!"

Crying out with laughter as slammed into them both. Not caring that they were all in the nude. That her breasts were pressing and rubbing up against them both while she cupped handfulls of water up intot he air at them. Sparkeling like dimonds in the air as they danced and spattered down against them all.
 
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