The Lady Katherine Chronicles, Number 9
Lady Katherine And The Dark Awakening
By Sazzy
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Codes: |
uber J/7 |
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Rating : |
NC-17 |
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Setting: |
November 1191, Nottinghamshire, England |
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Thanks: |
MercyCroft and Jay
for beta reading this for me :) I have to add a thank you to Monty Python for lending me part of the opening scene ;) |
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Disclaimer: |
This is a work of fan fiction but uses characters that bear a striking resemblance to those that are copyright of Paramount Pictures. No infringement on their copyright is intended by the author in any way, shape or form - this is just a bit of fun. This story includes an all female relationship, so if you don’t like that then look away now. |
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Lady Katherine Johnson tucked her purchase carefully into her bag and turned away from the stall to survey the rest of the crowded market. As was common on market day in Mansfield, the castle courtyard was alive with activity as peasants tried to get the best deals from the merchants who had made the trip to sell their wares. The sea of humanity bustled about the multitude of small stalls that were densely packed into the enclosed yard. The people were going quickly about their business, since it was a particularly freezing November day, and Katherine tucked her hands inside her woollen cloak to ward off the chill. Katherine wore several layers under the long outer garment, yet they did little to stop the gnawing cold from permeating her bones. The stalls selling hot foods were suddenly looking more appealing, despite the less than appetizing smells of various vegetable based stews wafting off some of them. As Katherine studied them, she noted that some of the bubbling concoctions even made Nicholas’ cooking look good. In a last vain attempt to fool her body into thinking it was warm, Katherine pulled up the hood of her cloak. It also served the added purpose of disguising her identity, just in case anyone she knew happened to be there.
Even though it was nearly three months since she had been cast out of Markham Manor, her husband Mark was still maintaining the charade that she was merely ill and off recuperating somewhere. It continued to puzzle Katherine why he would do so. It had crossed her mind that he still harboured hopes that she would come back to the manor and be with him again. After all he had begged her to, the last time she had seen him at Loughborough Castle back in September.
In a way she wished she could have taken him up on the offer, if only to prevent the damage he was doing to the Markham estate with his mismanagement. However, that part of her life was gone now; it had been over as soon as she had met Anne and fallen head-over-heels in love. Thinking of the young woman, she realised it must be time to meet up again and she started walking for their pre-arranged meeting spot.
The two of them had come to Mansfield for the day to pick up some winter supplies for the outlaw camp in Sherwood Forest where Katherine now made her home. Though she was happy living with Anne there, part of her still longed for life at the manor. Anne sensed it too, and she remained confident that they would still find a way to depose Mark and re-instate Katherine. Katherine, meanwhile, had accepted her situation, realising that it really wasn’t that bad after all.
After a few initial problems, most of the outlaws had been welcoming enough. But the biggest advantage was that she got to spend much more time with Anne now than she ever could when she had been lady of the manor. She couldn’t quite believe they’d made do with the scarce meetings they’d had before her exile. Spending pretty much every day together, Katherine had come to realise that Anne was everything to her, vital to her very existence. In fact, she couldn’t imagine living a single day without her. It was almost scary sometimes, how much she truly loved her. As if to prove her point, she felt a silly sense of excitement trickling through her at that moment, at the mere prospect of catching sight of Anne in the market. She didn’t know why she was surprised – it happened every time she saw the younger woman. As soon as those intense blue eyes met hers the familiar warm sensation would spread through her chest; the one that always seemed to put a stupid smile on her face.
As Katherine pushed through the crowded marketplace in search of those eyes now, she suddenly spotted some of the Lord of Mansfield’s guards heading her way. They weren’t after her in particular, just patrolling the busy courtyard, but she didn’t want to take the chance that they may recognise her. She had been to Mansfield in her official capacity as Lady of Markham a few times and one of the men may be observant enough to connect the two disparate views of her, even if she did look rather different right now in her common peasant’s clothes.
She looked around for somewhere to try and look inconspicuous. She supposed her best bet was to appear as if she was interested in something at one of the stalls. Crossing to the nearest one she picked up a random object from it, a rough piece of clothing.
“How much?” she asked the stallholder while keeping one eye on the guards behind her.
“Twenty pennies,” replied the man eagerly.
“Right,” noted Katherine distractedly, fishing in her purse.
“What?”
“There you are,” said Katherine handing him the money as she looked over her shoulder at the passing men.
“Wait a minute!”
Katherine focussed on the small man for the first time, unsure why he was waylaying her. “What’s the matter?”
He looked back at her indignantly, his hands on his stout hips. “Well, we’re supposed to haggle.”
Katherine rolled her eyes, “No, no, I’ve got to get…”
“What do you mean, ‘no, no, no?’”
“I haven’t got time, I’ve got to…”
“Well, give it back then,” demanded the man grabbing the garment off her.
Katherine could see that people were starting to turn and look in their direction as the irate stallholder raised his voice.
“All right, all right!” she said putting up her hands and trying to appease him, “So what do we do?”
A small smile crossed his chubby face. “Right, well, let’s start with me saying I want twenty for that.”
“I just gave you twenty,” noted Katherine with exasperation, though the man didn’t seem to hear her, now he was into his haggling patter.
“Now are you telling me it’s not worth twenty pennies?”
“Er…no,” replied a bemused Katherine.
The man steadfastly ignored her again, holding out the garment for Katherine to inspect instead. “Look at it, feel the quality, that’s none of your goat.”
“All right,” said Katherine, “I’ll give you nineteen then.”
“No, no, no,” sighed the man, “Come on do it properly.”
“What?”
“Haggle properly. This isn’t worth nineteen. You're supposed to argue,” he explained before demonstrating in a singsong voice. “'Nineteen for that? You must be mad!”
Katherine was really starting to get fed up with the annoying little man now. It didn’t help that she had noticed the rather inviting smells of warm nuts and ale wafting up from the next stall along. They really made her wish she had selected that one to hide from the guards instead. It was as if her stallholder had been waiting all day for some poor, unsuspecting victim and now he had one he wasn’t about to let her go.
Katherine let out a slow sigh as her stomach made a loud rumble. “All right, I’ll give you ten.”
“That's more like it,” noted the man, beaming enthusiastically. “Ten? Are you trying to insult me?” he said, theatrically putting his hands to his chest, “Me? With a poor dying grandmother? Ten?”
“All right. I'll give you eleven.”
“Now you're getting it. Eleven? Did I hear you right? Eleven? This cost me twelve. You want to ruin me?”
“Seventeen?”
“No, no. You go to fourteen now.”
“All right. I'll give you fourteen.”
“Fourteen? Are you joking?”
Katherine just stared at him in disbelief. “But that's what you told me to say.”
He shook his head as if she were a hopeless case. “Oh, dear.”
………..
Anne paced nervously back and forth across the courtyard, keeping her eyes trained on the people of the market as she did, looking for any potential signs of trouble. She had been to Mansfield for supplies dozens of times before without any bother, but she couldn’t help feeling just that extra bit wary when Katherine was with her.
To add to her anxiety, Katherine had also insisted that she needed to go and speak to one of the merchants she knew on her own. Not that Katherine was a wanted woman, as far as Anne knew. That was despite the incident at the inn in Cotgrave a couple of months previously, when Katherine had started a drunken brawl. Though it hadn’t been particularly amusing at the time, Anne couldn’t help looking back on the incident and smiling fondly to herself, as she recalled how absolutely steaming drunk Katherine had been. Of course, she wouldn’t let Katherine know she had found it funny. Fortunately, from what Robin had gleaned from his contacts, Katherine had not been recognised in the overall chaos, so it was still just Anne herself who could possibly be identified as an outlaw.
Knowing that, Anne wore the hood of her calf-length cape up over her blond hair, though she probably would have done anyway, to keep her head warm in the cold of the late autumn air. Winter was fast approaching now, and Anne wondered how Katherine would find it, living out in the forest when the snow fell and the waters froze. Though she considered that Katherine could hardly be considered faint-hearted, and would most probably take it all in her stride. It was amazing how easily she had adjusted to the rough life with the outlaws after years living as a noblewoman. She was even getting better at wielding a sword, though Anne thought she would never be a natural. Her skills with a bow were something else altogether, though, and she had won over any last doubters amongst the outlaw band with her skill.
As her eyes scanned the crowd once more, Anne’s thoughts came back to something else that had been playing on her mind all day. When the day had started back at the outlaw camp, Anne had assumed that Katherine knew full well what day it was and was just pretending that she didn’t. However, now it was the afternoon, Anne was beginning to think that Katherine had indeed forgotten that it was Anne’s birthday.
As she considered that, Anne began to have doubts over whether she had in fact ever told Katherine that the Seventh of November was her birthday, this one being her Twenty-Seventh to be precise. Trying to recall if they had discussed it at any point, Anne became convinced they had - she knew that the Twelfth of April was Katherine’s birthday after all.
Anne deliberated that maybe nobles didn’t celebrate such things in the same way as peasants did. For the common people it was a big event when they reached another anniversary of their birth, since it marked another year of successful living amongst people where life could often be cut cruelly short. There would normally be lots of food and drink and general cheer, along with gifts, usually of the homemade variety since the people were generally poor and better served spending their money on things like food.
Even if Katherine wasn’t used to celebrating birthdays, Anne thought she would have at least acknowledged it in some way, but there hadn’t been a single word on the subject. Disappointedly, Anne had to deduce that she had merely forgotten. Anne was so caught up in her glum thoughts that she didn’t spot the guard until he had clamped his hand around her arm.
“Hey, I know you!”
Cursing herself for allowing her thoughts to distract her so, Anne turned to the young guard who wore the Mansfield colours of red and purple on his tabard. “I don’t think so,” she replied keeping her head low so that her hood obscured her face, “I think you must be confusing me with someone else.”
He wasn’t being put off, maintaining a firm hold of her arm as she tried to pull it away. “No, no, you’re that outlaw woman…one of Robin Hood’s band…”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she insisted, “I’m just here for the market like everyone else.”
Suddenly his other hand darted out and yanked her hood back. “I knew it!” he cried triumphantly, “You’re that Seven woman! Hey, lads!”
Anne spotted another three guards glancing their way as he called to them, and realised it was too late to try and bluff her way out of the situation. She drew back her fist and thumped the young guard forcefully across the jaw as he turned back to face her. In the couple of seconds it took to disentangle him from her arm, the other troops had managed to dash over and leap on Anne. She fell heavily onto the cobblestones under their combined weight, desperately kicking and punching out at them in an attempt to get free.
………
Katherine was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to manage to extricate herself from haggling with the persistent tradesman. Just as she was starting to lose the will to live, she noticed a disturbance on the far side of the market. Through the crowd she could just spot a blond head being wrestled to the ground.
“Oi, come on,” said the stallholder, noticing her distraction, “Are we haggling or what?”
“Sorry, but I don’t want it anymore,” replied Katherine, trying to size up the best way to get over to where Anne was in trouble through the dense throng which was getting denser with the prospect of a fight to watch.
“Don’t want it? Did you hear that?” he said to the crowd at large in a horrified voice, “She doesn’t want it…”
“Oh, shut up!” cried Katherine, picking up a gourd off the table and whacking him round the head. As he slumped to the ground in unconsciousness, she looked at the solid container for a moment. It made quite an effective weapon.
Scanning the stalls a few more times, Katherine gingerly clambered up onto the top of the current one, glad that the canvas seemed to support her petite frame. She took a moment to judge the distances in front of her, swaying slightly on the unsteady structure. A stray thought played across her mind, wondering at how funny it was that all this seemed natural to her now, how she was becoming more like one of the outlaws with each passing day. Not only that, but she actually found it rather exciting.
Then she was off, vaulting between the coverings of the neighbouring stalls to propel herself swiftly to her target. A few appreciative ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from below tracked her progress across the stall tops. Finally she reached the end of the row, leaping down to the ground and clobbering the nearest guard with the gourd she had brought with her. The other three glanced up at her in surprise from where they had Anne pinned face down on the ground. Katherine seized the opportunity to kick one of them resoundingly across the jaw, sending him tumbling to the side.
As another let go of Anne to come at her, Katherine thumped the gourd down on his head, finally shattering it, but also succeeding in knocking the man out. The final guard seemed unsure as to whether he should stay holding onto Anne or let go to face the new threat. His indecision proved fatal as Katherine punched him squarely in the face. As he flopped backwards onto the ground, the surrounding crowd burst out into spontaneous applause and Katherine made a quick theatrical bow to acknowledge them, trying to ignore the pain emanating from her knuckles.
Realising she had been released, Anne’s head came up from the ground. Her eyes glanced round at the fallen guards before they swivelled up to Katherine. Seeing who it was that had come to her rescue, a broad smile crossed her face.
“What kept you?” noted Anne cheekily, as she clambered to her feet and dusted herself off.
“Don’t ask!” replied Katherine, rolling her eyes.
“Oi! You two! Stop right there!”
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Katherine and Anne turned in unison to see another dozen or so guards attempting to get through the throng to apprehend them. Fortunately, the crowd appeared to be making it more difficult than necessary for the troops to get through. One particularly stout woman had ‘accidentally’ dropped the entire contents of her basket at their feet, and the guards’ curses as they tripped through the turnips and cabbages were audible to everyone present.
“Uh oh, looks like our cover is well and truly blown,” remarked Katherine.
“Indeed, I suggest a hasty retreat,” agreed Anne.
Katherine nodded and turned to run in the direction of the gate to the enclosed courtyard, knowing that Anne would be right on her heels. They frantically barged through the crowd, trying to avoid the obstacles that littered the yard. Skidding round the end of the row, Katherine didn’t spot the precariously balanced wooden containers until she had crashed straight into them. The tower toppled over, the wood splintering on the stone and releasing the chickens within. The animals squawked and flapped noisily around her as Katherine tumbled to the ground. As she tried to bat the animals away, the flurry of feathers was broken by a hand shooting out and hauling Katherine to her feet.
“If you’ve quite finished playing with the birds?” Anne asked.
“Yes, thanks,” replied Katherine, indicating they should carry on running as the owner of the chickens desperately tried to round up his wayward flock.
Closing in on the gate, Katherine saw that there were actually a couple of guards stationed there. The men looked surprised as they spotted the two women hastily fleeing in their direction with general chaos in their wake from where the other troops were battling through the crowd behind them. The two men leapt into action, pulling on the large levers either side of the solid wooden gates in an attempt to close them before Katherine and Anne got there. Katherine could see that she and Anne weren’t going to make it on time – they were going to be trapped in the yard. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Anne bending over as she continued to run. The young woman whipped out the dagger from her boot and launched it at one of the guards in one swift motion. The blade caught the corner of his tabard and pinned him to the lever mechanism. The other gate banged shut, but Katherine and Anne sprinted through the still open one onto the track beyond.
Anne pulled up sharply. “Go and get Delta, I’ll hold them up here,” she quickly instructed.
Katherine nodded and ran off in the direction of the stables, realising that getting her horse was their only hope of making good their escape. She took time to shoot a quick worried glance over her shoulder, spotting Anne drawing the sword she had secreted under her cloak and facing the guards as they came through the gate. Katherine prayed she could keep the men at bay for long enough.
Luckily the stables were amongst the outbuildings that surrounded the castle, outside its high stone walls. Katherine quickly retrieved Delta, leaping onto the colt’s back and spurring him out onto the muddy track. Her hood was pushed back by the cold wind buffeting her face as she charged down the road with her cloak flapping out behind her.
As she approached, Katherine could see that Anne was just about maintaining her position thanks to some furious swordplay and the narrow gap the men had to come through to get to her. The clanging noises from the clashing blades echoed up the road. Katherine dug her heels into Delta’s sides, forcing him into a gallop. Anne must have heard the fast approaching horse, as her eyes flicked briefly in Katherine’s direction before she had to fend off another swipe.
Holding on tightly to Delta’s reins with her left hand, Katherine extended her right hand. “Anne!” she yelled just before she got there, slowing Delta ever so slightly.
The young woman swivelled round and grasped Katherine’s hand as she thundered past. Katherine was almost pulled straight out of the saddle with the sudden extra weight, but she clung on for dear life as Anne managed to flick herself up off the ground to land behind Katherine on the horse’s back.
“Go!” cried Anne as she wrapped her arms gratefully around Katherine waist.
Katherine didn’t need to be told twice and urged Delta into a full gallop once again. A few arrows thudded into the ground around Delta’s fleeing hooves as more guards appeared on the battlements.
“Is anyone following us?” Katherine called back to Anne, having to raise her voice over the sound of the wind whipping past her face.
“Yes, unfortunately,” Anne replied as she craned her head round to look behind them, “Three mounted guards. Just head for the forest as quick as you can!”
The mud sprayed up from the track as they pelted along it, the troops slowly gaining on the over-burdened Delta. Katherine knew they wouldn’t be able to outrun the men all the way back to the camp – Delta was fast, but not when he was carrying two people. She just hoped that either the guards wouldn’t pursue once they got to the forest or that they could lose them in the trees.
Turning off the road in the direction of Sherwood, the icy wind stung Katherine’s eyes as Delta pounded over the exposed fields. Katherine reached up to brush away the few tears that were forming in the harsh breeze, along with the strands of hair that had worked themselves free of her ponytail and were obscuring her vision. At least the rest of her was warm now, a combination of the adrenaline that was pumping because of their flight and the fact that Anne was pressed up tightly against her back, her head tucked onto Katherine’s shoulder.
Delta finally made it to the tree line and Katherine urged him on amongst the trunks. The trees were quite widely spaced in this part of the forest and they could still maintain a fair pace as they wound their way between them.
“Did they follow us in?” Katherine asked Anne, keeping her own eyes on where they were going – the last thing they needed was to come a cropper because she wasn’t paying attention.
“Yes,” confirmed Anne, “They don’t seem to want to give up without a fight. Head on down to the river and we can try and lose them.”
Katherine nodded and tugged commandingly on Delta’s reins to direct him towards the river. Though Katherine’s knowledge of the forest was nothing compared to Anne’s, she could now find her way around with some degree of confidence, having spent the last three months living there. Katherine carefully guided Delta on down the slope that led to the water, his hooves slipping a couple of times in the carpet of wet leaves that lay on the forest floor.
Reaching the bottom, Katherine just managed to hold him back from the edge, stopping him sliding right off the bank into the rain-swollen waters. Pulling sharply to the left, she directed Delta along the riverbank, catching sight of the guards appearing at the crest of the slope as she did. Spying their quarry, they pushed their mounts on with added urgency, careening haphazardly down the slope. Unfortunately their eagerness also meant that they found it rather difficult to stop at the bottom. One of the horses slithered straight into the river, neighing loudly as it hit the cold waters and dislodged its rider. The other two men desperately yanked at their reins, pulling their steeds up short and sending a flurry of mud into the fast-flowing river.
“Turn across the river here,” Anne suddenly said to Katherine.
“What?” shot back Katherine in surprise, “You want me to go into the river?”
“There’s a narrow shallow passage,” Anne revealed, “Trust me, we’ll be all right.”
Katherine studied Anne’s face for a moment as she arched round in the saddle. Anne’s pale blue eyes regarded her intently. A small smile crept across her face telling Katherine all she needed to know.
Katherine swung back round to face the river. “Come on, Delta,” she instructed, pushing him toward the water.
However, when they got there, the young horse stopped abruptly at the edge, reluctant to enter the cold waters, no doubt thinking his mistress must be mad. Katherine could see the pursuing guards were only a hundred yards or so along the bank now and closing fast.
“Come on, boy,” Katherine urged again, giving him a small kick of encouragement.
Delta whinnied and stomped his hooves in the mud, still refusing to budge. Suddenly there was a resounding slap and Delta shot forwards. Katherine flicked her eyes round to Anne, who just shrugged.
“I think he just needed a bit of a helping hand,” she noted nonchalantly, quickly grabbing onto Katherine again as Delta plunged into the river.
Katherine was relieved to find that it was shallow in that
section, just as Anne had said. Delta
splashed easily through the water under Katherine’s guidance, his hooves no
more than a foot under the surface as they clopped over the stones. Springing out of the river on the far side,
Katherine stopped the colt for a moment, giving him a small pat of thanks for
braving the chill waters. The remaining
guards had stopped on the opposite bank, obviously unsure whether to risk the
crossing. The shallow path wasn’t
obvious in the bubbling waters and Katherine herself would never have known it
was there if Anne hadn’t pointed it out.
Gathering their courage they forged onwards together. One of the horses disappeared immediately into the depths as its rider chose the incorrect path. The other one was more fortunate, finding the shallow area more by luck than judgement. Sensing he had picked correctly, he spurred his horse into a trot, and Katherine responded, realising she was about to get caught if she dallied watching him any longer. Delta scrabbled up the bank and into the trees, though Katherine could hear the guard’s horse wasn’t far behind now.
“Slow down and let him catch us,” Anne suggested to Katherine.
Katherine wasn’t about to question Anne’s plans now, and did as instructed. She could hear the thump of the hooves on the wet ground growing closer and closer as she pulled back on Delta’s reins to slow him to a trot. The guard drew alongside Delta, seemingly unsure what exactly he was meant to do now he had caught up with them.
“Stop your horse and surrender,” he instructed, drawing his sword and pointing it at them.
Katherine looked round at Anne to see what she was intending. She just caught the quick smile Anne offered the guard before she whipped up the branch she had been holding, concealed on the far side of Delta, and whacked it into the man’s chest, sending him flying off the back of his mount.
“Now go!” instructed Anne urgently.
Katherine geed Delta into a gallop again, leaving the guard cursing on the ground as they disappeared into the forest.
……..
Anne dipped her head under the low opening to her hut and drew the wooden door closed behind her. Undoing her thick leather belt she dropped it and her sword onto the soft straw that covered the floor, sinking down on the makeshift bed made up of various furs and blankets piled on top of one another. She lit a single candle by the bedside to bring a little light to the room now it was dark outside. Lying back on the furs, she stared up at the thatched ceiling as she rubbed her hand wearily over her face.
She hadn’t really felt like socialising with the other outlaws once they got back to the camp after their successful escape from the Mansfield guards. She knew it was silly really, after all it was just a birthday, but she couldn’t help feeling disappointed that no one seemed to have noticed. She supposed if she just went to sleep it would soon be a new day and she could forget all about it. However, before she got the chance to try, the door swung open, letting in the light from the campfires outside. The orange glow silhouetted a familiar figure in the doorway.
“Didn’t you want anything to eat?” asked Katherine, coming in and joining Anne, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“No, I’m not hungry,” replied Anne distantly, staring back up at the roof, “I’m tired, I was just going to go to sleep.”
“Oh, right,” noted Katherine.
The older woman went quiet for a moment and Anne stole a sneaky glance at her. Katherine remained perched on the edge of the bed with her back to Anne, the fingers of her left hand playing absently with a loose thread in one of the blankets. Anne supposed she should have known it wouldn’t have been long before Katherine spotted that she had left the group of outlaws eating Nicholas’ dinner by the fire and sought her out. It was just a shame she wasn’t quite so observant when it came to dates.
“So…” began Katherine slowly, shaking Anne out of her meandering thoughts, “…you won’t be wanting your birthday present then?”
Anne suddenly shot up into a sitting position and Katherine’s head swung round to regard her. Anne could see the smile twitching at the corners of Katherine’s lips.
“You thought I’d forgotten didn’t you?” Katherine asked, raising her eyebrows slightly in inquisition.
“Well…I…er…”
Katherine turned her whole body to face the stammering Anne, shuffling closer to her on the blankets. Her fingers stopped teasing the thread and came up to Anne’s face instead, brushing gently across her cheek before cupping it. Anne found herself mesmerised by Katherine’s eyes, their blue-grey depths illuminated by the flickering light.
“As if I could forget the anniversary of the day you were brought into this world,” Katherine said, her smile now fully on display. “I may be getting old, but I haven’t gone senile yet.”
Anne laughed. “You are hardly old,” she insisted.
“Maybe not,” allowed Katherine, “And I suppose you are a year closer to me now.”
“For a few months anyway,” agreed Anne, “What is that, only eleven years behind now?”
Katherine shot her a horrified look. “I thought you were trying not to make me feel old!”
Anne crept even closer to Katherine, placing her legs either side of the other woman’s. “You’ll always be young in my eyes,” she said in a low seductive voice before she leant in to press her lips to Katherine’s.
As soon as the connection was made, Anne felt the surge of emotion within her. She closed her eyes, savouring the lush taste of Katherine’s mouth as her tongue slid inside brushing past Katherine’s own. She almost forgot everything as she fell under the spell of Katherine’s enticing lips and her own raging desire. Almost.
“So…erm…” began Anne, using all her willpower to pull back, “You mentioned a present?”
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Katherine chuckled huskily. “I don’t know if you’ll like it,” she said, clambering up from the bed, “But I wanted to get you something, as this is your first birthday since I’ve known you. It was rather hard trying to think of something, though, especially since I don’t really have the same opportunity to acquire things as I did when I lived at Markham.”
Katherine picked up her bag from the corner, delving into it. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t give you something a bit more personal,” she added, “But Mark obviously still has all my belongings back at the manor house. That is if he hasn’t burnt them all or thrown them away.”
“That’s all right,” Anne reassured her with a smile, “Anything from you will be personal. And I do already have your pendant after all.” Anne tenderly patted her chest where she always wore the small blue gemstone, close to her heart, a constant reminder of Katherine.
Katherine smiled back before turning her eyes down to fish deeper in her bag. Seeing the warm smile, Anne realised that whatever Katherine’s present was, the fact that she had Katherine in her life meant much more than any material possessions. Still, she couldn’t help be curious about what was in the bag.
Finally a triumphant look crossed Katherine’s face, and she pulled the item out, hiding it behind her back and crossing over to sit on the bed once more.
“Right, close your eyes and hold out your hands,” instructed Katherine, seemingly almost as excited as Anne herself.
Anne did as ordered, waiting expectantly for something to be placed in her upturned palms. She was completely unprepared when Katherine’s lips brushed across her own in the most delicate of caresses. Anne’s eyes flew open again.
“Sorry,” grinned Katherine her face hovering just in front of Anne’s, “I couldn’t resist. You were just pouting so cutely. Shall we try again?”
Anne raised a single eyebrow of admonishment before closing her eyes again. “I shall endeavour not to pout in a inviting manner this time,” she noted.
The feel of something soft against her fingers indicated she had succeeded. It was some sort of material, light, silken.
“All right, you can open them now,” Katherine offered.
Anne slowly peeked down at her hands. Sitting there was a stunningly blue silk shirt. As Anne ran her fingers delicately over it in wonder, she thought the material was unlike anything she had ever touched. It was so amazingly soft she just couldn’t stop caressing it. Studying it in more detail she noted the intricate embroidery that adorned the cuffs in a slightly different shade, along with the matching pattern that tracked around the collar and down the v-shaped neckline. It must have taken someone a great deal of time and care to make the garment.
“It’s beautiful,” she said finally, glancing up at Katherine who was beaming happily, “Thank you.”
“Well, aren’t you going to put it on?” suggested Katherine, her voice strangely choked.
“Of course,” agreed Anne eagerly, quickly whipping off her rough black tunic and shirt and slipping on the new one. As it slid over her head and floated down over her body, she marvelled at the sensation of the sheer fabric against her skin. “Where in heaven’s name did you get it?” she asked, running her fingers over the embroidery once more.
When there was no answer, she looked up at Katherine again. The older woman was just gaping at her. She almost looked like she was about to cry.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” asked Anne, suddenly concerned. She extended her arms and looked at the shirt, checking to see if something was wrong with it.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Katherine reassured her in a husky whisper, taking Anne’s hands to stop her anxious perusal, “It’s just…perfect, more than perfect.”
Seeing the soft look in Katherine’s eyes sent a fresh flutter of warmth trickling through Anne. She thought the shirt was probably the best birthday present she had ever received, especially if it garnered this sort of reaction. “You got it at the market this morning?” she suddenly deduced.
“That’s right,” confirmed Katherine, “I actually spoke to the merchant last month when Nicholas and I went to Mansfield, to arrange for the shirt to be made. But it wasn’t ready for me to pick up until today. So I asked the others not to mention anything about your birthday before I got the chance to give it to you, though they all wanted to give you a big party of course. I did suggest that they could throw you one after I had given you my present, so if you want to join them now…”
Anne put her fingers to her chin for a moment, stroking it in contemplation. “Hmm, let me think, it is tempting…”
Katherine looked at her evenly, trying her best to hide her worried expression.
Anne took pity on her. “I’m joking of course!” she said, “As if I’d rather get drunk with them than have our own private celebration.”
She slinked closer to Katherine on the bed, the other woman appearing unable to move, caught in the allure of the approaching vision. Kneeling in front of the dumbstruck Katherine, Anne placed her hands gently on either side of her face and drew her forwards until their lips met in a soft kiss.
“So you really like it then?” asked Katherine when Anne leant back for a moment, “You’re not going to complain that it’s not black?”
“I do possess some clothes that aren’t black, you know,” Anne insisted, rolling her eyes.
“You do?” said Katherine in pretend surprise, before casting her eyes around the room. “Where?”
Anne poked Katherine playfully in the arm, stopping her search for the elusive clothes. “You’re supposed to be nice to me on my birthday.”
“Oh, I can be nice,” Katherine remarked, a saucy look now creeping onto her face, “Very nice.”
Katherine shoved Anne backwards onto the bed, tumbling down with her and swiftly capturing Anne’s lips in a mind-blowing kiss. It was so intense that Anne barely registered Katherine’s hands gliding over the smooth fabric of her shirt until Katherine propped herself up to look down on her.
Katherine’s right hand still tracked across the material, straying up to the neckline and toying with it between her thumb and forefinger. “Actually one of the reasons I picked this colour was because it was the same colour as that dress of mine you tried on,” noted Katherine, “The one you looked stunningly gorgeous in.”
“As I recall, I didn’t manage to keep that on very long.”
Katherine looked up and down Anne’s body a couple of times. “I’m afraid I think you might have the same problem this time.”
Anne merely had time to quirk her eyebrow in anticipation as Katherine dipped down again, devouring her lips in a passionate kiss. Anne’s hands shot up round Katherine’s head, tangling in her hair and pulling her ever closer as the fiery kiss deepened. She could feel Katherine’s right hand sliding down over her stomach and up under the hem of the shirt, eagerly seeking out the flesh underneath.
Her fingers continued their frantic trail up Anne’s body beneath the flowing shirt. Anne groaned against Katherine’s lips as she squeezed her breast, kneading the flesh enthusiastically. As her thumb brushed roughly over Anne’s stiff nipple, Anne tightened her hold on Katherine, trying to mould the mouths together as one, desperately seeking out Katherine’s tongue with her own.
The combined feel of Katherine’s hands upon her and the silky material, gliding against her skin, drove Anne wild with desire. She pressed her thigh up against Katherine, rubbing hard between her legs. Katherine broke away from her mouth, groaning.
Then her hands were on Anne again, frantically clawing at the shirt.
“Careful,” noted Anne, smiling at Katherine’s uncontrollable lust, “You’ll damage my present.”
“I’ll get you another one,” growled Katherine.
Anne felt the rush of heat searing through her when she saw the wanton look in Katherine’s dark eyes. She captured Katherine’s hands. “Allow me,” she suggested.
She slowly sat up, pushing Katherine up with her, since she was sitting straddling Anne’s legs now. Teasingly Anne peeled the shirt off, inching it up over her head with deliberate care. Katherine’s lop-sided smile, the one that twitched saucily at the corners of her lips, was obvious spreading across her face as Anne finally got the shirt off. Anne dangled it tantalisingly in front of her before flinging it off across the room. As Katherine’s eyes came back from subconsciously watching its trajectory, Anne swiftly wrapped her arms around her, pulling their bodies close as they sat on the bed, covering her lips once more.
Katherine seemed stunned for a moment at how Anne had taken command, before she slipped her hands round Anne’s back, raking her fingers down the smooth flesh either side of her spine. Anne’s head instinctively went back at the sensuous touch, Katherine seizing the opportunity to dip down to Anne’s neck and draw her flesh in between her teeth, sucking gently.
Katherine’s loosened hair tickled across Anne’s collarbone as her lips tracked a path down her neck and across the muscles of her shoulder, sweeping on down to her chest. Now it was Anne’s breasts that Katherine was sucking; nibbling; biting. First one and then the other and then back again, caught up in the fire that was quickly enveloping them both.
Anne needed to feel Katherine’s skin too, yanking at the older woman’s shirt, barely able to control her hands’ grabbing assault on the fabric. She wasn’t entirely sure how, but finally it was off and flying across the room to join her own recently discarded one. With the material gone her hands were free to roam across Katherine’s pale, soft skin and roam they did – around her waist, up her back and then round to squeeze the delicious mounds of her breasts. Katherine moaned appreciatively, the sound sending a burning need right through her.
Wrapping her arms round Katherine’s neck she pulled her back down into a hungry kiss. Anne continued her backward momentum, dragging Katherine down with her onto the blankets. Katherine’s hot bosom pushed into Anne’s own, the flesh squashed together between their bodies.
Katherine’s hands were all over her now, exploring her flesh. Every touch sent a fresh delightful skittering sensation shooting through her. So consumed was Anne, that she barely registered Katherine tugging her trousers off. She realised Katherine must have slipped her own off too when a naked limb dipped between her legs, sliding through mixture of sweat and other fluids that coated the inside of her thighs.
As Katherine rubbed her whole body provocatively against her, Anne gasped again, feeling the flood of juices increasing ever more. She slid her fingers into Katherine’s hair, now she was in reach again, and pulled her into another tongue-tangling kiss, needing some way to release all the pent up desires that were threatening to spiral out of control. Her whole body ached to be touched, sensitive to the merest caress, the brush of the furs at her back adding to the stimuli.
Finally Katherine took pity on her, tracking her hand down further from where she had been maddeningly toying with Anne’s nipples. There was no resistance as she slipped one and then another finger inside Anne. When she slid the rest of her body down across Anne’s so that her hot breath and then her tongue joined her hand, Anne lost all coherent thought. Time seemed to stretch on in an unending array of wonderful sensations. As she feared her head might explode from the pulsing fire pounding through it and the rest of her body, she suddenly sensed the building orgasm. Giving in to it, she rode the blissful wave as it crashed through her leaving her trembling in its wake.
When her mind eventually engaged again she managed to open her eyes, to look up into a pair of blue-grey ones gazing warmly down at her.
“I love you.”
Anne smiled at the three simple husky words that meant everything. “I love you too”
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Katherine hazily registered the soft tickling sensation across her breastbone as she swam up from sleep. Slowly peeking out from half-lidded eyes, she spied Anne, trailing her fingers in a delicate caress across her skin. She seemed entranced in what she was doing and it took a moment for her to notice the sleepy blue eyes studying her in return.
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
Katherine smiled, propping her head up slightly with a hand behind it as she did. “Yes, but what a lovely way to be woken.”
“I can think of a few better ones,” replied Anne, snuggling up to Katherine under the furry blankets.
Katherine turned her face to Anne’s, lying next to her on the pillow. “I just bet you can,” she noted, closing the small gap to place her lips lightly upon Anne’s. Her arms snaked around the young woman’s body, pulling her even closer into a warm embrace. She took a moment to luxuriate into it, recalling the how she had explored every inch of that body the night before…many times. It was then that she noticed how warm it was in the room, despite the fact that she could see it was another grey November day outside through the single small window. Her eyes flicked to the far side of the room where a fire was burning in the small hearth, crackling away and sending its smoke up the chimney. “How long have you been awake exactly?” Katherine asked Anne.
“Not that long,” replied Anne non-commitally.
Katherine narrowed her eyes suspiciously recognising the evasion. “And you were watching me sleep all that time?”
Anne looked slightly abashed at being caught out. “Well I did light the fire, but yes, after that…”
Katherine kept her eyes fixed on Anne, knowing that the younger woman would feel compelled to elaborate further soon enough under the penetrating gaze.
“I just like to watch you lying there, peaceful,” continued Anne, succumbing, “Your breath fluttering out past your slightly parted lips, your chest rising and falling rhythmically,” she added wistfully. “Anyway, it’s your own fault for giving me the opportunity by being such a lazy bones in the morning.”
“I am not!” cried Katherine indignantly, “You’re the one that sleeps like a log. A herd of wild boar could come crashing through our hut, reduce it to kindling around you, and you wouldn’t wake up until the rain started falling on your head. In fact even then it may take a flood to wash you away into the river to rouse you.”
Anne pouted at Katherine. “You are exaggerating.”
“I am not!” countered Katherine, “You even snore,” she added for good measure.
“I do not!”
“You do!”
The playful argument was cut short by Anne deciding the best way to try and win was to tickle Katherine into submission. Katherine frantically tried to avoid the dancing fingers as they stole under the blankets and skittered up her sides, but couldn’t resist for long as Anne pinned her in place.
“All right, all right, I give up!” cried Katherine eventually, trying to catch her breath between laughs.
Anne rolled off Katherine, smiling at her success. “Actually it does serve another purpose, watching you sleep.”
“Really?” enquired Katherine doubtfully, brushing away the auburn hair that had flopped into her eyes during the tussle.
“Yes, it gives me time to think.”
“And what were you thinking about this morning?”
“I was just mulling over how things have changed over the past year,” Anne replied thoughtfully.
“In a good way I hope?”
Anne smiled reassuringly, reaching out to stroke Katherine’s cheek. “Oh yes, most definitely for the better. But considering the past, I was thinking I might take a look at that book we got from the abbey at Loughborough, if you still have it.”
“Of course,” confirmed Katherine, heartened to hear that Anne wanted to examine the pagan book. She’d been denying her past for too long, and this was just another welcome indication that she was finally coming to terms with all that had happened to her and her parents. “I’ve been keeping it safe and sound, in the hope you might take a look eventually. It’s right here somewhere.”
Katherine clambered up out of the bed, shivering slightly despite the heat from the fire. She hoped she could quickly find the book and get back under the welcome warmth of the blankets, not to mention getting back in the arms of the gorgeous woman waiting there for her. Stepping over the clothes that had been haphazardly discarded on the floor the night before, she noted that the shirt she had given Anne had been picked up and folded neatly on top of the wooden chest that sat against the wall. The young woman must have done it while Katherine had still been asleep. Katherine eyed up the disorganised pile of belongings in the corner, before taking the plunge and delving in amongst them. She tried to carefully root through them, but had to give up in the end, casually tossing items over her shoulder in an effort to find what she wanted.
“God, how do you ever find anything in this place?” she remarked flicking a look back at Anne, “You need some sort of storage, or a bigger hut.”
“That’s all your stuff, cluttering up the place,” replied the young woman. She was now lying on her front, chin resting on her upturned hands as she watched Katherine’s efforts with no small amusement. Or maybe she was just smiling at the sight of a nude Katherine in front of her. “I knew full well where everything was before you moved in here,” added Anne, “I didn’t know anyone could acquire so many clothes in such a short space of time.”
Katherine shifted some swords out of the way, the hilts banging noisily together. “I could say the same about you and your weapons. How many different swords does one person need?”
“They all serve a very specific purpose I’ll have you know.”
Katherine turned round to look at her sceptically. “What, such as bringing you luck?”
“I’m telling you that sword is lucky,” insisted Anne, referring to the one she had lent Katherine, “Not only did you manage to beat Kirby with it, but it also saved your neck as I recall.”
“Are you saying I couldn’t have beaten Kirby without a little help?” enquired Katherine, stopping her search for a moment to fix Anne with a questioning look.
“Well…er…no, not exactly,” Anne offered hesitantly, “Your sword skills are improving,” she added diplomatically.
Katherine chuckled at Anne’s back tracking before turning back to the pile. “I’m just teasing you. I know I’m not the world’s greatest swordswoman, but I don’t think I’m that bad for someone who only picked one up for the first time about six months ago. Ah-ha here we go!”
Katherine swung round happily clutching the leather bound book. She quickly crawled back over to the bed, pressing up against Anne’s enticingly body as she snuck under the covers.
“Bloody hell, your feet are freezing!” exclaimed Anne, squirming away from the chilly limbs that had brushed up against her own.
“Just shut up and look at your book,” replied Katherine, frowning indignantly at her, “Before I put them somewhere else.”
“Sounds like an offer to me,” noted Anne cheekily. She quickly took the book and glanced down at it to avoid Katherine’s withering look of response.
Katherine watched Anne gliding her fingers reverently over the embossed cover before she carefully opened it. The glow from the fire illuminated Anne’s face, picking out her striking bone structure as she scanned the text with her soft blue eyes. Katherine could see the advantages of studying someone when they were otherwise occupied; it gave you a candid look at them. Of course, she had watched Anne sleeping dozens of times before too, but she had hardly been about to admit that before. The vision of Anne that was revealed to her now was different to her sleeping one though, eyes wide with wonder as she read the ancient words. Katherine felt a swell of pleasure within her upon seeing the obvious delight Anne was getting from the book that Katherine had kept for her. Noting how fascinated Anne was by it, Katherine decided to go out in search of some breakfast and leave her to it for a while. Seeking out her clothes on the floor, she pulled on her trousers and was just slipping her light under-tunic over her head when a pair of arms slipped round her waist from behind.
“Where do think you’re going?” whispered Anne, pulling Katherine back against her.
“I thought I would give you a bit of space to have a look at it,” replied Katherine, glancing back at the young woman, “I know you need to concentrate to properly take in the text.”
Anne pursed her lips slightly, looking off distantly in contemplation. “That’s true,” she remarked, turning her eyes back to Katherine, “But I don’t need to look at it right now…”
Katherine dipped her head as she let out a small laugh, the look in Anne’s eye had been unmistakable. “You are incorrigible!”
Anne promptly spun Katherine round in her arms so they were face to face. “And you,” she began, placing a delicate kiss on Katherine’s lips, “Are irresistible!”
Suddenly Katherine found herself tumbling back onto the blankets once more. Before she knew it her clothes were quickly removed once more.
“There wasn’t much point me putting those on was there,” she remarked sardonically, looking down at her own naked body since Anne seemed to be studying it intently too.
“Not really,” agreed Anne, allowing her fingers to join her eyes’ perusal, “You know I’d just keep you naked in here all the time if I had my way.”
Katherine laughed. “Only if you agree to leave all your clothes at the door too.”
“It’s a deal!”
“I shall remind you of that on a cold December morning when it’s your turn to light the fire.”
Anne’s eyes finally flicked up from watching her hand brushing across Katherine’s abdomen. “What do you mean my turn? I always end up lighting the fire.”
Katherine grinned, knowing the truth of the statement. “But you do it so well.”
Anne didn’t reply straight away, holding Katherine’s gaze as she walked her fingers across Katherine’s chest, up her neck and brought them to rest against her lips, parting them slightly. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” noted Anne before replacing her fingers with her lips.
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Anne flicked anxiously at the dead leaves that carpeted the shore of the lake with her boots as she walked along. Katherine had gone off for one of her regular meetings with Tobias, to catch up on the news from Markham, and that always made Anne nervous. She realised her fear was rather irrational, but a small part of her remained scared that Katherine would be tempted to go back there one day, go back to her husband.
It hadn’t helped that Katherine had told her how Mark had collared her at Loughborough Castle a couple of months back. He’d proceeded to ask, in fact practically beg, Katherine to return with him. Katherine had only told Anne because she didn’t want to keep any secrets from her, rather than as any kind of ploy to make her insecure or jealous, but Anne had found it hard to hide her disgust at the man’s audacity. Of course Katherine had turned him down flat, but she had noted that he had seemed sincere in his apology for his past actions. Anne thought he would have to be bloody sincere before she could forgive what he had done. Though she had just about restrained herself from harming him in the past, she still held a certain degree of resentment towards him. He had murdered her parents after all, that was hardly something she was going to forget in a hurry.
Trying to stop the insidious thoughts, she reminded herself that Katherine loved her, had chosen her over the opportunity to go back with Mark and rule over the manor again. If she needed any more evidence of Katherine’s love then she needed only to look back at the previous night and that very morning. Those memories brought a warm smile to her face, and she shook her head, not knowing how she could ever doubt Katherine’s feelings. Sitting down on the lakeside log that formed a handy resting place, she heard a sound from the trees. She quickly swivelled round, hoping that Katherine was back early and had come to seek her out.
Instead she was meant by the sight of Will Scarlet, creeping out from between the trunks towards her. “Oh, it’s you,” she noted with barely concealed disgust.
“Don’t be like that,” said Will, actually sounding hurt by her tone, “I just wanted to give you your birthday present, since I didn’t get the chance yesterday.”
Anne eyed him doubtfully as he crossed the space to join her on the log. “You want to give me a present?”
“Does that seem so strange?” he commented, “We were close once.”
“‘Once’ being the operative word,” noted Anne bitingly, “You’ve shown your true colours since then.”
Wills dark eyes regarded her evenly. “I’m sorry if I’ve been making things difficult for you since we broke up, I was hurt and I took it out on you. It was wrong of me.”
Anne couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. Will, apologising? She remained doubtful of his sincerity, though. “That was over 5 years ago,” she pointed out, “You can’t still be harbouring a grudge surely?”
“What can I say,” he offered, “I really cared for you…”
Now Anne was starting to have serious doubts about Will’s purpose in offering up the supposed excuse for his behaviour. As far as she knew, the only person Will cared about was himself. “What do you want from me?” she asked him, cutting to the chase.
“Nothing, honestly,” he replied, still maintaining eye contact, perhaps to try and convince her of the veracity of his claims, “All I want is to give you your present, in the hope that it will be a small step towards us being friends again.”
“Friends?”
“Yes, friends,” he insisted.
Anne looked at him, trying to work out what he was playing at. Could he really mean what he was saying? She had to admit that he hadn’t been half as bad recently after his initial challenge to Katherine’s arrival at the camp. There were times when he had actually been civil. Mind you he hadn’t actually been round that much either, so that could go some way to explaining the lack of hostilities.
“All right, where’s this present then?” she eventually asked, deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
He smiled and turned to rummage in the bag at his side, producing a small box-like object wrapped in cloth. He grinned again as he handed it to her, and Anne was amazed at how it changed his face to see something other than a surly snarl on it.
She peeled away the cloth to reveal a wooden trinket box, ornately carved with what Anne recognised as some pagan symbols that referred to good health, friendship and family among other things.
“Did you…make this?” she asked in wonder, glancing up at him.
“Yes.”
She looked down at it again. “It’s…lovely,” she said, surprised that it was.
“Happy birthday,” said Will, leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek.
Anne flinched slightly at the contact, turning her eyes away from him. She was so resolutely trying to ignore him and the crawling sensation he evoked that she failed to spot that he hadn’t pulled completely away. As she turned her face back in his direction he closed the small distance between them and pressed his lips to hers.
Anne flew up off the log. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, looking at him in shock.
“Oh, come on, Anne, you know you want to,” said Will rising too, his face now back in one of its more familiar expressions - a suggestive leer, “You can hardly be getting what you want from that woman.”
Anne’s mouth opened and closed silently a few times as she sought the words to counter the sheer magnitude of Will’s delusion. “For your information,” she finally said, the initial surprise subsiding, “Katherine satisfies me in ways you never could, in ways you could only dream of. Not that it’s any of your business anyway.”
Will’s eyes scrunched together doubtfully. “That cold, haughty noble, satisfy you?” He remarked, the scepticism obvious in his tone.
“She is not cold and haughty,” stated Anne, glaring furiously at him, “Katherine is a warm, passionate woman. And what’s more she’s intelligent, kind, compassionate - all things that are foreign to you.”
Now it was Will’s turn to stare at her angrily. Not that Anne cared if he was annoyed or not. She knew it had been a mistake giving him another chance. People like Will never changed, all they were interested in was themselves and what they could get out of other people.
“Oh, and finally,” said Anne, pressing home her point, “There’s the small matter of me being totally and utterly in love with Katherine.”
Will let out a bark of a laugh. “In love?” he repeated incredulously, “Don’t make me laugh! Now I could show you some real loving,” he suggested, stroking her arm.
Anne swiftly batted his hand away. “Don’t touch me!” she spat, just about managing to restrain herself from punching him in the face. “Can’t you get it through your thick skull - I love Katherine. I want to be with Katherine. I don’t want you or anyone else. And even if I weren’t with Katherine, I still wouldn’t want to be with you if you were the last man in England!”
She could see the muscles in Will’s jaw jumping where he was grinding his teeth together.
“So, if that’s all,” Anne continued, “You can take your present and shove it!”
She thrust the box back into his hands and turned on her heel to go.
“I wanted to give you one last chance,” she heard Will mutter behind her, “But you’ll regret this.”
She swung her head back round, “I don’t think so,” she scoffed disdainfully before turning back for the trees and leaving him standing there alone.
………..
Anne stomped into her hut, banging the door noisily closed behind her. Pacing across the floor, she opened and closed her fists a few times to fight down the anger within her. She couldn’t believe the nerve of Will, trying it on like that. And more fool her for allowing herself to be drawn in, however briefly. Flopping down onto the bed, she drove her fists into the covers a few times to expel the last of her rage. Will was just lucky she hadn’t used his face rather than the blankets to express her annoyance. Eventually she lay back onto the bed, trying to take a few deep breaths and calm herself.
As she lay there her eyes fell on the pagan book, still by the bedside where she had left it that morning. Sitting up again, she picked it up. Anne considered that she wasn’t really in the mood for any intense study right now, yet she needed something to distract her and the book seemed as good a choice as anything.
Crossing her legs, Anne closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply from the pit of her stomach to calm the last of her angry thoughts. When she felt sufficiently at ease she opened up the book at the first page. Though she had given some of the text a cursory glance earlier, she hadn’t actually read any of it properly since she’d got somewhat sidetracked by Katherine’s presence.
The words of the book were intricately presented, having been painstakingly written by hand, probably over a period of years. They were in an ancient pagan language, one that few people could understand these days, and to most normal people they would have just appeared as a pretty, but meaningless jumble. However, Anne had been taught the language by her parents and, though she hadn’t utilised the skill for some years, she found that she could still read the text with ease. Her parents had always said she had a natural ability, not only with reading but with many other aspects of paganism too. She knew they had been grooming her, nurturing that natural power, guiding her in the right way to use it. Unfortunately that had all been cut short when they were murdered, leaving her with no one to turn to for help. So she had just tried to forget about her abilities, though they were always there, simmering away under the surface.
Concentrating on the words once again, Anne found herself being drawn into the text, which was describing the founding principles of paganism. As she turned another page the words seemed to flicker before her, and she blinked a few times against the disconcerting effect. She didn’t think she had been reading long enough to strain her eyes. Looking down at the page again she saw with amazement that the words really did seem to be moving. She stared at the ink at it swirled round the page in hypnotic patterns. The dancing words were beginning to make her dizzy, yet she seemed unable to tear her eyes away. She felt them beginning to droop. She was so tired. Maybe if she just shut them for a moment…
Anne suddenly jolted upright. However, rather than sitting on her bed, she found herself in the middle of a vast grassy plain, stretching out as far as the eye could see. A warm breeze fluttered across her cheek and the faint smell of spring flowers was distinct, carried on the wind.
Clambering to her feet and casting her eyes around for any sign of life, Anne realised that she remembered the place – it was the spirit plane. She had been there once before, when Bronwyn had kidnapped Katherine. That time Anne had meditated with the express purpose of reaching the plane, but she was at a loss to know how she had got there this time. All she had been doing was reading the book, with those odd, shifting words.
“I see you made it at last.”
Anne swung round to see Bronwyn standing behind her. The other woman’s long black hair billowed out in the soft breeze, while her piercing green eyes regarded Anne evenly.
“You!” spat Anne angrily, glaring at her, “You brought me here?”
“Indirectly, yes,” confirmed Bronwyn with her sly, insidious smile creeping across her face. “I was beginning to think you were never going to pick up that book,” she added taking a few steps closer to Anne.
“That came from you?” asked Anne, surprised.
“Indeed it did. It wasn’t very hard arranging for my little minion to pass it on to you at the abbey, in the guise of it having come from the monks.” Bronwyn had come to stand directly in front of Anne now, her eyes studying the young woman and making her decidedly uncomfortable. “But you certainly have kept me waiting since then,” she remarked, reaching out to touch Anne’s cheek.
Anne maintained an even stare, resisting the urge to shiver at the cold touch as Bronwyn held her fingers there. While Bronwyn merely stared enigmatically, revealing little, Anne was secretly trying to reach out and touch the real world with her mind, see if she could find some way out of the spirit realm and back to her body. The connection was elusive however, and she realised she would have to play along for now. Finally the other woman dropped her hand.
“What do you want, Bronwyn?” demanded Anne, keeping her eyes fixed balefully on the witch.
The nasty smile twitched at Bronwyn’s crimson lips once more, but she didn’t answer, seemingly content to taunt Anne with her silence.
“You’ve obviously been waiting for me for some reason,” continued Anne, “Though I can’t imagine why you think I’m going to help you whatever it is you want.”
“And who said I needed you to be a willing participant?” commented Bronwyn, stepping round Anne as she spoke. “Of course that would be preferable, but I learnt to my cost last time that you have those silly loyalties to that woman. I don’t know what you see in her, she has no concept of the greatness that would be available to you if you would just forget all those qualms about hurting the insignificant masses and allow yourself to embrace it. It’s a shame because if you’d just let go and join me, we could do great things together.”
“Evil things more like,” shot back Anne, Bronwyn having came before her once more. “You’re not going to be able to say anything to convince me to join you, so why don’t you just get on with it and tell me what you want.”
Bronwyn’s smile was gone now. “Fine,” she said through narrow lips, “Have it your way.”
She moved away from Anne, swinging round sharply in the grass after a few steps. “After our last encounter I found my own body rather damaged, too severely wounded for me to be able to recover in fact,” she explained, “I’ve been managing to hold on, but I knew that sooner or later I would need to find a way to shift my consciousness elsewhere, into a healthy form. But not just anyone would do, of course, I needed someone with the necessary mystical abilities to sustain me, especially for what I have planned.”
“You needed me,” deduced Anne.
“Yes, and your body. Your potential is amazing; you’ve barely touched on it. And who better than me to make use of that. With your innate abilities available to me, I shall have no problem completing my task.”
“And what task might that be?”
“All in good time,” replied Bronwyn with a slight tilt of the head, “We will be spending a fair amount of time together and they’ll be plenty of time for explanations.”
Anne let out an incredulous laugh. “Like I’m going to spend time with you. You’re obviously delusional.”
Bronwyn swept towards Anne again, her hand hovering before Anne’s face as she made to grab her. “You think you can resist me?” she said, closing her fingers into a threatening fist, “I already managed to draw you here using the spell hidden within the book. What makes you think you’ll be able to stop me doing whatever else I want? Though you may have the potential to be powerful, you’ve chosen not to explore those abilities. Lucky for me; unlucky for you.”
Suddenly Bronwyn smacked Anne across the jaw, sending her tumbling to the ground. Anne could only have had her eyes closed for a second but when she opened them she was back in her dim hut, lying on her bed, the pagan book discarded at her side. She wondered if it had all been some sort of dream. Making to bring her hand up to her head to rub her temple, she got a sudden shock when it didn’t respond. Panic swept through her as she realised she couldn’t move any of her other limbs or any other parts of her body for that matter. She was just lying there staring at the ceiling, unable to do anything else.
Of course you can’t do anything, came Bronwyn’s voice, seemingly directly inside her head, I’m in charge now.
What are you talking about, where are you? Thought Anne, since she found she couldn’t speak out loud.
I’m here in your mind with you replied Bronwyn.
Don’t be ridiculous, that’s impossible, I’m hallucinating
or something.
Ridiculous is it?
How about this then?
Suddenly Anne found herself getting up of the bed, only she wasn’t controlling her actions in the slightest. It was highly disconcerting just watching her own hands reaching out and picking up the book off the bed.
How?
Now Bronwyn was laughing inside her mind, cackling evilly.
What have you done to me?
I told you I needed your body, so I’ve just
transferred my consciousness in here with yours, via the spirit realm, which
you were so kind as to come and visit.
No, it can’t be true, I’m dreaming, this is some sort of
nightmare.
Not exactly, but it soon will be!
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Chapter 6
Anne watched helplessly as she left the hut, unsure where Bronwyn was taking her.
I’m going to meet Katherine of course, Bronwyn
noted, answering Anne’s unspoken question, Just as you arranged earlier.
You can read my thoughts. You know my memories? Asked a stunned Anne.
Not all of them, only the ones that are bubbling near
the surface. You seem to be doing quite
a good job of hiding the others from me.
Though I’m sure I’ll be able to get to those in time too, when you
realise the futility of resisting.
I’ll resist you to my dying breath! Stated Anne vehemently, If my mind is all I have left then I’m going to protect that with all the willpower I have. I’m not giving in. Somehow I’ll find a way to reverse what you’ve done to me.
There is no way to reverse this. Accept your fate; we’re as one now
No, you wouldn’t tell me even if there was a way, reasoned Anne
Believe what you want, but sooner or later you’ll have
to accept the truth. Resist for now if
you want, I like a challenge.
Anne didn’t reply, concentrating instead on shielding her thoughts from Bronwyn. How she wished now that she had explored her mystical abilities sooner, so she might have known how to defend herself properly against such an attack. Her opposition to Bronwyn was more bravado than anything else – she had no idea how she might force Bronwyn from her mind and regain control.
Anne remained a passenger in her own body as she crossed the outlaw camp, heading in the direction of the spot near the edge of the forest where she had indeed arranged to meet Katherine on her way back from the manor. Anne’s growing uneasiness at least proved to her that she still had the capacity to feel things, independent of Bronwyn; that maybe there was still hope of escaping this somehow.
Nothing more to say? taunted Bronwyn as they went, just when I was enjoying the conversation too.
I have nothing else to say to you
But you were so keen to know all about my plans
before. I’ll just keep them to myself
then shall I?
Anne resisted the temptation to respond. Bronwyn just laughed.
Oh, well, you’ll find out soon enough anyway - in ten
days time to be precise, on the day of the lunar eclipse.
Anne wondered what the significance of the eclipse was, but wasn’t about to ask now. She kept adamantly silent as Bronwyn reached the rendezvous point, casting Anne’s eyes around a few times in search of Katherine. As soon as the older woman stepped through the trees and spotted who she naturally assumed was Anne, she smiled and started wandering over. Anne desperately wanted to call out to Katherine, warn her that all was not as it seemed. However, no matter how hard she tried she was trapped, a mere spectator to the unravelling events.
She felt a mounting apprehension as Katherine approached, afraid of what Bronwyn might do. It was no secret that Bronwyn viewed Katherine with a mixture of hate and disdain. Anne could feel those emotions now, surprised to find that the ability to sense the thoughts and feelings of the other consciousness inhabiting the body extended both ways. To confound her fears, Anne realised Bronwyn was making her smile in return to Katherine’s continued grin. Just as she wondered exactly what Bronwyn was intending, she realised with horror that Katherine was closing in to kiss her.
No