6. Captured

EMRICK

Red is the only color I see as I cut a swatch through the enemy.  They had the audacity to sneak onto my shores, like thieves in the night.  Killing women, children, the old and the feeble alike.  Needless to say, these cowards owed me a debt.  A debt I planned on collecting in blood in the process of getting my hands on their warrior princess.  Yet somehow, deep down this battle felt wrong to me.  I had a nagging feeling that I was somehow being played. ​

Out of nowhere, a shiny little ball flew at my head. I gasped and lost my balance for a bit.  Then from  the corner of my eyes I saw another one fly into an enemy warrior’s head.  He stood shorter than all the other men on the field and for some inexplicable reason, I felt drawn to him. The enemy soldiers formed a semi-circle around the young warrior, their backs to his, as if to protect his blind side.  But he needs no such protection.  He's dispatching my clans-men with ease and making his way over to me.  Finally, I thought, a worthy adversary. 

KERRIENNE 

I purposely put myself in the giant’s way as he bared down on me with a huge sword that looked twice as long as my arm.  I saw the momentary shock on his face when I blocked his swing.  As we stood, sword against sword, fighting for ground, I looked up into his eyes.  Johan's soul shines out at me through glowing red eyes. 

“Johan?”  I felt his hold slacken a bit and watched in astonishment as his eyes flashed from red to sky blue and back to red again.  I looked up into a face so well sculpted, it was absolutely flawless.  A God in human form. 

​I heard myself speak.  “You have been deceived. We are not your enemy.”  I reached out to touch his cheek but before I could make contact, something hit the side of my head hard, knocking off my helmet…  My hair came tumbling down my back and shoulders as the world around me spun in circles and I saw stars behind my closed eyelids.  I felt my sword slip from my hand and my body fell against his chest.  I felt him catch me in his arms, almost absent mindedly, like he was just reacting to me falling against him. 

I've found Johan.  Though only for a brief moment, I found him and I will find him again.  I looked up into his confused face as he spoke to someone I couldn’t see. 

“What ye do that for?”  He asked angrily. 

“Emrick?”  An astonished voice from out of view answered back,  questioningly. 

“She’s mine.”  I heard him say as he gently lifted me into his arms.  I tried to stay awake, tried not to let darkness invade my consciousness but a dull throb started a relentless pounding in my head and I gave in to the engulfing darkness. 

EMRICK 

I looked down at the small warrior in my arms.  It’s the warrior princess I’ve heard so much about and have come to claim for my own.  I impulsively brushed the hair out of her face.  A face with pixie-like qualities.  Skin the color of wind-blown wheat, slanted honey colored eyes and curly hair the color of cinnamon.  In her eyes, I saw wisdom that one seldom encounters in one so young.

She reached out to touch my cheek, leaving a tingling sensation behind as her hand fell away.  I felt the rage receding and I knew my eyes had turned back to sky blue, their normal color, cause I can once again see in colors, and not just in a red haze.  I cradled her into my arms and looked down at the young woman fighting not to lose consciousness, as I heard myself say once again with conviction, “She’s mine.”  As the words left my lips, something shifted, in the fabric of time as well as deep in my soul.  She’s mine I repeated silently. 

I looked out onto the battlefield in astonishment as the enemy soldiers all dropped their swords and fell to one knee.  All eyes were on me or rather, the young woman in my arms.

I spent the last day watching her unconscious form, carried her in my arms, urging my horse sometimes at breakneck speed to go faster, constantly checking her to make sure she was still alive, the steady rhythm of her heartbeat, a song that made my heart sing.  I could kill Lars for hitting her so hard.  A soft growl escaped my throat just thinking about how still she had been.  Holding her unmoving form had been pure torture.  I held my breath until the healer touched her temple, drawing a pained grunt from her unconscious form.  And still I hounded her until she confirmed that she would pull through fine. 

She looked so tiny and delicate in my shirt.  But on the battlefield, she had looked invincible, every inch a warrior goddess.  She had worn a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to her back and she moved as if her sword was an extension of her arm.  And though she could've easily killed my men, she'd only wounded and disarmed them.  I later found out from her men that she was on her way to my keep to ask for an audience. 

I disrobed her and cleaned her up myself, much to Lars’ objections, my second in command.  In fact, she hadn’t been out of my sight since I picked her up off the battlefield.  I even took my meals in my chambers. 

There was something about her that appealed to the deepest parts of me, something that made me want to take her in my arms and never let her go.  I wanted to shelter her.  Protect her.  Love her.  I’ve never considered taking a wife or fathering children for fear of passing on whatever the hell I was.  But from the first time I looked into her warm honey colored eyes, I felt the winds shift.  The lass belonged with me and I with her. 

KERRIENNE 

Waking was a slow and agonizing process.  As I climbed towards consciousness, various bruised and battered bits of my body came to life and they all seemed overly determined to make consciousness a living hell.  My entire body ached and throbbed… I could barely move from all the pain.  Even worse, my head was pulsing as I struggled to remain conscious.  I sat up too fast and regretted it immediately, as dizziness and nausea hit me all at once, like a punch to the gut, and I fell back against the bed. 

Taking a couple of deep breaths, I tried again. Much slower this time, I sat up and looked around.  I was in a large bed.  In a room I didn't recognize.  A  huge fireplace dominated one corner of the room, with two overly large chairs angling towards its warmth.  I stepped out from under the covers to find I was no longer wearing my armor, I was dressed in a man’s shirt that was way too big for me.  It fell off one shoulder and stopped just below my knees.  My sword and shield were nowhere in sight.  In a panic, I  looked around the room for a weapon to defend myself with should I need to.  

A soft creaking brought my gaze back to one of the chairs near the fireplace.  At first glance, it appeared to be unoccupied but taking a closer look, I saw the outline of a man.  He stood and the room shrank.  Though I was unarmed, I took a fighting stance as he moved towards me, two strides and he was in front of me, his aura overpowering as he looked down at me.  All of a sudden, I felt hot and my pulse began to beat faster.  My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.  

He was wearing a skirt, no not a skirt, a kilt that hung low on his hips and his chest and arms were bare.  I had a distinctly unpleasant feeling that I was wearing his shirt.

“Who's Johan?” He asked quietly. 

Instead of answering his question, I glared at him defiantly, comical really considering my gaze was in the middle of his chest.  So I tilted my head back and glared up at him.