𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔 - 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞?

"I'm not a witch," I said with a small smile and my arms crossed around my chest before adding, "Just yet."

Still gripping Thomas's hand tightly, the man let out a chuckle. "Don't tell me you're learning witchcraft to get back at me for ruining your first arrival into Camelot?"

Thinking for a moment, I decided to play along in his little word game. "Right, I won't tell you that, just for the sake of pleasing my knight in shining armour," I paused, looking up at him with a grin, "Sir Knight."

Laughing with delight, his head thrown back and his grip on Thomas's wrist completely loosen. "You didn't change one bit, miss witch," he said, a sweet joy filling his syrupy chocolate eyes as it radiate through his perfectly white grin. He was glad to reunite, though I wasn't sure why given our first meeting wasn't really a good impression to have on each other. His face grew strained for one short moment after. "I'm sorry," he whispered softly, looking back towards Thomas.

"I was there. I saw you," he spoke again, not quite finishing his sentences or at the very least, try liberating me from my questions about his sudden change of behaviour.

He was there?

Where is "there"?

"Run along. I have matters to attend with the little miss," he directed at Thomas before turning to me, nodding his head onto the wooden door exit. Thomas frantically ran back to his little group of friends before casting me a nasty glance when he sat there, safe in the circle of defence provided by his friends.

I nodded at the knight and went back to the counter to grab my leather pouch, directing an apologetic glance at Gerald before muttering, "I'll be sure to come back," as I turned and ran to follow the knight as he walked out.

Stepping onto the unswept dry leaves and fallen twigs, I let the cold autumn breeze hugs me with its scent as I followed the steps of the knight, staying not farther than a few feet from him.

"So, what crime did I do now?"

His strained expression grew harder at my question. He kept his gaze on the ground, nose flaring every few heartbeats. His eyes stare straight and his strides are filled with purpose but lack the motivation as if he's actually bringing me along with him as part of his duty.

"Lord Greysen dispatched those knights to accompany your friends in your rescues. Lady Hilda and the servant boy," he stopped, taking a long breath before continuing, "They tried everything to gather help. But no one cares enough for a measly servant girl. Words went out that young Lady Hilda marched to Lord Nicholas's home with the servant boy in search of you. When they found out you left and didn't come back, the three panicked and one person came to young Lord Nicholas's mind." he said, giving me a pointed look. "Yes. Lord Greysen. Upon being questioned, he told them about the night he had with you and about the intruder. Lord Nicholas doesn't completely trust him but he wastes no time on the young Lord. Lady Hilda went around asking for help even from the royal court, who very easily dismissed her, for as I earlier stated, they don't care enough to help a mere servant girl out. Lord Greysen kept in check on the progress and noticed both Lord Nicholas and the servant boy spending their days in the wood more than once in those few days, though their path seems to differ."

I merely nodded as I listened. They are genuinely worried for me when I'm gone. And here I thought, I was gonna rot and die tortured by Martha in that hut without anyone actually trying to find me. "Why did he help me?"

"Lord Greysen might despise Feiya's influence on his friend, but no fight could ever truly break his care for the young Lord. When the murmurs of Lord Nicholas finding Feiya's lifeless body reached Lord Greysen's ears, he decided he had to help. That very day, the servant boy, told everyone in the room that he found your location and can lead us to you. Though us knights couldn't do much against your beast-formed friend, it's the thought that counts," he continued with a small grin, "Everything was a blur that day. Couldn't remember how we survived. Though, you looked horrible that day, couldn't believe you were still breathing and alive when we found you and I'm very glad you're up and running again, little miss."

Ah. That was where "there" is.

There.

I remembered that I did see an unclear blot of presence that looks like him in that hut where I was held captive for days. Being tortured and treated just as Martha pleases. In my tiny cage with a deep open cut, my organs dangling and the smell of death high in the air. The smell came from none other than me.

I stare blankly into the distance as I let my feet follow the knight with no sense of my own purpose in my steps.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, so quietly I'm certain I had imagined it. "I didn't mean to let you remember the quite possibly darkest moment of your life."

"It wasn't your fault, sir," I reassure him. "It's not as if I can turn a blind eye and pretend it didn't happen anyway."

He mainly turned his head a few times, watching our back as if scared if we were followed. Feeling weirded out by his action, I couldn't help but grow more sceptical. "Where are we going, Sir Knight?"

"Please, call me Aeron. I'm taking you to the paladins' temporary training ground."

"Training ground?"

"You attract danger even when it's miles away from you, so I would like to teach you how to defend yourself."

"With no need for payment? In case you didn't notice, I'm a servant who didn't earn many profits from my work."

"Your presence would do more than you think. You shouldn't worry too much, little miss. We don't bite. At least, not if you don't poke us. Though, we're stern when we need to be."

"And why would you be so kind to train me?"

"Take it as an apology for your first arrival in Camelot," he said with a toothy grin. A wisp of air brushed past his shoulder-length hair, waving it ever so lightly. He tried to maintain a calm posture, which was difficult given that he was also wary of our surroundings for some bizarre reason that I couldn't fathom.

Blinking my eyes once or twice doesn't exactly clear my questions off my mind. But something at the back of my throat tells me not to question more of it. We walked across town, passing by the cobblestone bridge. Its uneven stone structures prick the bottom of my feet for the lack of protection in this era's shoes. The river flows by at a fast motion under the bridge, making constant splashes as it swifts. The grass below my feet had turned yellow in colour, not for lack of tending but for the season change.

We kept walking till we reached an open field with grass of yellow, orange and red, surrounded by tall trees, a pond at the heart of the field and a big house standing tall and firm, far across the field.

I pointed towards the house as I turned at Aeron, "Is that where we're going?"

"Good eyes, miss witch. That's exactly where I'm taking you."

"Mh– wait." I stopped my track as I eyed the man, trying to study him. Am I acting just like a gullible child being guided with candy to their captor's home right now? Was that why he was trying to be discreet when taking me here? "Are you possibly going to make this my third time being abducted?"

He laughed again for the first time since we start walking here, "You're off to a good start. Always assume possible danger. But, no. Why do you think I want to keep you hidden here?"

"Don't take offence, sir knight. But you did act weird in town as if you're afraid someone's following us," I point out, placing my palms firmly on my sides.

"That's because we mustn't let anyone know where our current, temporary training ground is," he spoke in a rather nonchalant manner.

The urge to ask him why is scratching down my throat, to the point that I had to bite my tongue down to stop the question. I nodded, mouth glued shut in hope that it was enough for him to look away from me and kept walking.

I'm not sure if Aeron could possibly be a mind reader or if he's just good at reading one's actions, but once again, as if reading my mind, he gave me a small light nod before walking to the house, leaving me quite dumbfounded. I followed him once more, with light slow steps.

The closer the house came to my view, I can smell the scent of meat and bread, floating in the crusty air. There are sounds of loud chattering and laughs filling the empty and hollow valley. It's all so harmonious. Not at all threatening in any way. Maybe it was in fact truly just me worrying over something that wasn't even there to harm me.

Aeron twisted the knob and pushed the door open, letting himself into the big house. A checkered marble slab covered the floor. Clean, shiny and polished. Could it be servant work? It's not a shocker if it is. After all, this house is too big to maintain alone. The space was spacious yet not a single soul can be detected in it. Though, I could have sworn there were loud voices of laughter and talking erupting somewhere in the house before. It's almost as if all those voices and laughter and cheerful banter had all evaporated into the thin air leaving nothing behind but silence in the big empty space the moment I step into the house.

I keep a close distance from Aeron, afraid to get lost in the foreign house if I stray too far away from him. "Are we alone in this house, Aeron?"

"No. The others were probably in the kitchen."

Nodding slowly, I let my eyes trail around the area. Clean white wall, a white staircase, a chandelier hung over our head, a few full-bodied armoured stands around the corners, and a few fancy-looking vases placed to fill the area. "Whose house is this?"

Aeron opened his mouth to speak but before he could answer me, a sharp low voice interrupted us somewhere from upstairs. "What's she doing here?" asked the voice.

I turned my head to the top of the steps and saw a man with beautiful platinum silver hair and grey stormy eyes staring at me. It's Greysen. He wore no expression on his face and his eyes were unreadable and guarded. Though I wasn't sure if I was merely imagining it after having heard a series of this and that about him, or he actually seemed to be emitting a warmer aura, golden rays beaming around him. He almost seemed righteous yet still a dark beautiful mess at the same time.

His eyebrow raised under my constant stare, arched in an "I-demand-answer" manner. Finally realising that I had been staring, heat rushed up to my cheeks as I immediately broke eye contact with the cold man. I turned my gaze towards Aeron in a timid effort to avoid answering Greysen.

"I took her away from the inn downtown. She got herself into a fight with one of the lackeys, sir," Aeron spoke in a monotone flat voice.

Greysen's expression grew amused, his eyes lit for a brief second as the statement sunk into him, emitting a chuckle from him. "A fight? Could it be her trying to back someone up again?"

"Yes, sir. How did you know?"

"I've only ever heard of it from Clifford, but apparently she stood up for Nicholas in front of his father once. And I'm not sure if this is true, but apparently, she also stood up for me once." Greysen eyes trailed around my figure and stop when they reached my flustered face. His eyes were calculated and filled with wonder. He descended the stairs in slow elegance. "She rarely causes a scene, but when she felt the need to defend someone, she just does it. However, I wasn't sure why she would do the same for me."

I exchanged stares with him, swallowing hard the taste of bile down my throat as I tried to straighten up and keep my chin up. "Perhaps, I'm just nice."

His lips twitched and raised a bit upwards. He's now standing, looming right in front of me. His tall figure looks down at me, overlooking me with its huge blanket of shadow. "No one is just nice for no reason," he said.

"Well, I know I am. Don't you think so?"

"I don't know. Are you?"

"Maybe I'm nicer than you."

"Funny you'd say that when you're standing in the shelter I provided."

I paused briefly, scanning the area. Now that I see it again, the amount of plainness and elegance in the front area does seem to suit him. "You have a nice house."

Nodding, "Thank you—" he said as his eyebrow raised at my sudden change of topic.

"What?"

"Why did you suddenly change the flow?"

"Why not?"

"Why n—" he brought both his thumb and index finger to the crest in between his eyebrow, messaging it lightly as if I had just given him a migraine. "You can be very infuriating."

"I know. You know that too."

"I did. I must have romanticised your personality too much that I had completely forgotten about it," he said, scrunching his face briefly, before lifting his gaze off of me as he step away and walked away heading to another room on the left side. "I'm very sure I still wasn't told why she was brought here, but I think I trust you're smart enough not to do anything that might harm me, Sir Aeron," he said, holding a glance before nodding and disappearing into the other room.

I stared at where he was at. Did I just talk in a civil manner with Greysen? Did he just talk in a civil manner with me? Did all that just happened, or was I imagining everything? There's no evidence that could properly prove for a fact that he was in fact having a conversation with me, here, just now.

My mind was elsewhere, floating itself into the abyss of time and space, running along the field of grey, hopping along on the yellow brick and sailing along down the pink pond. In short, I was distracted and lost in my own head.

A hand was placed softly on my shoulder, making me jerk and yelp in response. Aeron who was a bit flustered by my reaction cleared his throat and nod his head to the right side of the room, towards a long hallway. "Come along. Let me take you to meet the others."

"Is it another nobleman and lady?"

"Well— you can say it that way," he said, shrugging his shoulder before walking into the hallway. Aeron's steps were sturdy and careful, his hair bobbed and sway. His sturdy back was all I could see as I followed him. I can see how he might have looked great in his knight armour just from that back. Though, even when he's not wearing it, like right now, where he's just wearing a simple red tunic, he still looks just fine.

"How far along are we going?"

"It's close by. If they were no longer in the kitchen, then we just have to go through the backdoor and go to the training ground."

The kitchen was empty. No soul was in it, but just as Aeron anticipated, the merry voices were instead outside, behind the kitchen door. It doesn't sound merry or cheerful anymore; more like grunts and warrior yells. They're already training. If only I had those motivation and dedication and not to mention, discipline in life. The fact that it was still so early in the morning made it more fascinating to witness.

Walking out of the kitchen door, I shivered when my body came in contact with the cold outdoor air. I have forgotten it was ever this cold after being inside that manor for a bit. I might have grown comfortable and accustomed to it too quickly.

The men in the field stopped their training, all heads turn to me and Aeron. Some stared with huge grins, some with a confused glance and some with a lack of interest. "Took you long enough, Sir," greeted some of them. "We thought you went off to buy more whisky, but you brought a girl home instead. Is she a gift for us to win? To motivate us to do our best?"

"No. Who was that?" He asked, craning his neck to survey which of the soldiers said that. "Was it Paul? I don't care which one of you it is. I don't want to hear more of that. I want everyone to treat our guests with respect. This young lady, some of you met her already. She was that little girl we saved from the wood that one unfortunate day," he said, walking towards a barrel filled with wooden swords. He grabbed a few out of the bunch and tossed one to me, which I clumsily caught.

"And what is she doing here, Sir?"

"That's simple. I want her trained."

The crowd was silent, heads turning to look at one another, no one spoke out as confusion was all they feel about the announcement before another voice ask him, "Did Lord Greysen know about this?"

Aeron casually nods, "He just met us on our way here just now."

Another asked him, "And he agrees?"

"If I hear it correctly, he didn't care as long as it does him no harm." He turned to study his knights and nodded as he point out towards the scrawniest of them all to come forth. "Jude, come out. I want you to spar the lady."

"With all due respect, sir. I can't spar a lady."

"You can't or you won't?"

"Both, sir."

"If you refuse, Jude, I'll add three more laps for you to run today, and thirty extra pushups."

The boy gulped, sweat running down his forehead as his eyes run to find mine, terror and calculation filled his iris. I gripped my wooden stick and gave him a nonchalant shrug. With one hard gulp, he bowed his head and shook his head.

"I stick to my claim and would accept my punishment."

"Very well." Aeron turned to me with a small smile. "Jude was the only one closest to your weight rank. I guess we won't be able to find out your ability to fight against threats just yet. You can always watch for a bit. Okay with that?"

I nodded at him. I'm not going to complain about that. Sometimes, it's better to learn by watching first before trying it on hand.

The people spread around the area, some spar with wooden swords, some spar with their real sharp swords, some are training on aiming arrows at a target and some use basic fist fights. A few also were doing warmups like Jude.

Poor Jude was running around at a low speed, catching his breath every now and then, but he didn't stop. Instead, he tried to run faster every time. His push on himself to constantly out beat himself was amusing to witness.

"Aeron?"

"Yes, miss witch?"

"Would you stop that joke?" I laughed. "At least not in front of them."

Nodding with a slight grin, "Carry on. You had a question."

"I want to spar you."