A Miracle for Love (Caesar Drisdall from The White Knights Chronicles)

Chapter 3

After walking the trail for a long way, Katelyn and Caesar had yet to encounter any beasts or wildlife, which Caesar had commented was unusual. He told her that ever since the purple mist had struck Greede, even the wildlife around the city had been acting unusual. Caesar told her, "With the plague sweeping through Greede, I am worried that it could affect the wildlife too. But, I am happy about the wildlife being absent today. It has helped us a good deal because we are walking at almost double the speed we normally would. We are getting pretty close to the sand maze. I hope that we can set up camp right before we enter it. Then, I can teach you some basic self-defense moves. In case we do see any monsters, you will need to be prepared." Katelyn nodded and said, "I'm good as long as you are. I want to make this trip as short as possible." The two continued to joke and banter with each other as they continued walking, and Caesar asked Katelyn questions about her life in her world. She told him about how she worked in the medical field where she was from and that she was going to school to be a doctor. She also told him that she never had time for a life other than schooling or work. "I'm starting to think I had a heart attack and died in my sleep and ended up here after all the stress," she joked with him, but kind of felt like it could be the truth. She had been staying up late almost every night, pouring herself into memorizing all of her notes to ace her classes. She also worked more than forty hours each week, which added a lot of stress onto her already full plate.

As the sun began to set, Caesar opted that they begin to set up camp, claiming they traveled a good distance for their first day. He began to set up a tent and light a fire as Katelyn sat on a large log. The sight in front of her reminded her of one of the memories she had of Kara and Caesar, so she decided to ask him about it. "So, the memory of you and Kara by the fire... what happened that caused her to hold a sword to your neck?" He looked up at her and then back at the fire he was tending and said, "It was when I found out she was the Black Knight. I had a suspicion before but didn't know until that moment. I decided to confront her about it, and she had me on the ground in seconds. I told her that I wouldn't fight her and that she could kill me if she wanted. She didn't hurt me, only threatened. I told her that day that all my Dragonsight saw in her was a friend."

Katelyn laughed a little at that and said, "I'm sorry, but she held a sword to your neck and you saw her as a friend?" "She would have never acted on her threats." "Okay, whatever you say. Can we practice sparring?" "Sure," he replied, "But don't be mad when I whoop your butt." "Don't worry, I'm sure I can take you on," Katelyn replied with a glint of mischief in her eyes. They both prepared to fight and got into their battle stances. Caesar started to swing, and Katelyn dodged each hit perfectly. Caesar got closer to her until Katelyn sneakily dodged a hit and then struck him with a kick to his legs, landing him on his back. She crawled on top of him and held her sword to his neck and said, "I win." Caesar laughed at her as she put her sword down and told her, "You just made a mistake. A good lesson to learn from this is to never let your guard down in the presence of your enemy," as he flipped himself on top of Katelyn and started to tickle her sides relentlessly. She shrieked and squealed with laughter and then finally cried, "Okay, you win!!!! You win!!!! Please stop!" Then, he did. After the tickling stopped, Katelyn looked at the position of their bodies and how close Caesar's face was to hers.

In the heat of the moment, Katelyn leaned towards him, closing the gap and placed a kiss on his lips. He seemed surprised at first but then started to move his lips against hers. The kiss was hesitant at first on both sides, but then slowly gained passion. The two continued to kiss while Caesar picked up Katelyn from the ground and placed her on the log that she had been sitting on before. He then sat beside her, facing her and slowly brought his face back to hers, savoring the kiss as if it were the last kiss he would ever receive. He slowly traced her bottom lip with his tongue, making her whimper and grant him access to the inside of her mouth, their tongues dancing in sync. Katelyn didn't know where to put her hands, but she went from running her fingers through his hair, to his shoulders, and down to his partially exposed chest. Caesar kept his hands locked around her waist, holding her against him. After a few more minutes of the two making out, Caesar and Katelyn pulled away from the kiss. They looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, their foreheads resting together and their breathing heavy. "I'm sorry," Caesar whispered to her, "I got a bit carried away." Katelyn let out a small laugh and said, "I was the one who started it." Then they just both laughed together, and Caesar asked, "So what does this make us?" "Well," Katelyn said, "We could be friends that sometimes make out with each other." She looked into his eyes, wishing that she could fully read his expressions, before slowly placing one last soft kiss against his lips and pulling away.

She turned towards the fire that was still burning a few feet away from them and asked, "So, who is keeping watch tonight?" "I will," he said, "after we eat you can get some sleep and then keep watch in the early morning while I get a little shut eye." With that, Caesar started to pull out some smoked meats from his bag, along with what looked like nuts from Katelyn's world. He said, "I know it's not much, but if we make good timing tomorrow, we can probably make it to Albana and have a nice meal and sleep at an inn." Katelyn said, "It's fine. I don't mind. We are blessed to have this food in front of us." He offered the bag to her, and she took out one of the strips of smoked meat and started to munch on it while he did the same.

After having their fill of the food, Katelyn and Caesar just sat by the fire, enjoying the quiet. Caesar sat on the ground in front of the log while she sat on the log next to him. "You should probably get some sleep, so you aren't tired in a few hours," he said to her. She replied, "I don't know if I can sleep on my own." So, he said, "You don't have to sleep in the tent if you don't want. Come here." He raised his arm as she slowly lowered herself onto the ground with him and leaned her head against his chest. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She felt content just resting like that and started to drift off to the crackling sounds of the fire. She felt a small kiss placed onto her forehead as she drifted off to sleep in Caesar's arms.

As Katelyn fell asleep against him, Caesar recalled the kiss that they had shared. The passion that he felt between the two of them had been something that neither he nor Kara had shared before her death. This passion was all consuming, and even though he had just met her, he felt like his soul knew Katelyn's in a way that he had never felt with anyone else. But deep down he didn't want him or Katelyn to end up hurt because she was from another world, she looked exactly like Kara in his world, and he knew that Kara's death and her appearance were no coincidence. It seemed that even though Kara died, the universe needed someone to take her place to make things right. Katelyn had experienced some of his memories with Kara, which meant that their souls were connected somehow. He stared into the fire and contemplated sharing his life with someone other than Kara for the first time in a long time. Though he would always miss her, he knew that it was time to move on and make the change that he needed in his life.