The Maiden Who Fell Through Time

CHAPTER 12: "A Burial & An Oath"

After half a day's ride we had arrived at the burnt-out ruins of my former village. We had ridden all through the night and it was early morning now. There was a rolling fog over the fields leading into the village, and it made the atmosphere of the place look most unsettling. The village had a forlorn kind of look to it and it radiated feelings of loneliness and death.

We were greeted at the entrance of the small village by a few villagers and a young monk by the name of Osferth- who I had been told had ridden ahead in order to guide the other villagers that had been also taken captive home. Several of the captives I had found out had ultimately decided to leave; effectively deciding to take the risk and venture across the border deeper into Wessex, with the hope of carving out a new life and finding more safety further away from the borders of East Anglia. Several of the rescued villagers however, had decided to stay and rebuild. Those villagers with the help of young Osferth had already begun clearing the rubble and had already started to build up temporary structures that could serve as shelters.

I respected the resilience of these people to rebuild, to fight for their homes...to fight for normalcy...but I also equally respected those who had made the tough decision to leave in order to start over and make a new life from scratch. This would be a decision that I would soon need to make myself...and it was a decision I was starting to believe that I wouldn't be entirely prepared to make.

The young monk (or Baby Monk as I heard Finan refer to him as) stood outside nervously fidgeting as we drew nearer on horseback.

"Osferth." Uhtred greeted him, quickly dismounting his horse and pulling the small monk into a brotherly sort of hug.

"Milord." The monk seemed surprised by the sudden contact and stiffened, before Uhtred ultimately pulled him away somewhere to discuss some sort of important matter.

The other men began to dismount their horses in kind, and Finan promptly hopped off of his. The Celt had given me no warning though, so it was rather jarring since my arms were still wrapped around his waist...the sudden departure of what I had previously been holding onto nearly sent me spiraling forward onto the horse.

Finan stood there below me with a hand outstretched and a cheeky snide little smirk (one that I really really wish I could just slap off of his ridiculously handsome bearded face).

"Milady..." He said- hand outstretched to help me from the horse.

"It's Wren. And I am more than capable of getting off of a horse by myself you know."

His cheeky little smile widens, and he motions for me to lead the way and show him that I can in fact dismount the horse solo.

I huff, taking up the challenge that this smug faced man has seemingly posed- and with effortless grace hop off of the horse onto the ground below.

Well...at least in my mind it was graceful...in reality it was far from it.

What had begun as an effortless and graceful descent down from my mounted position atop the horse, had ended with my right foot twisting somehow and getting tangled up the wrong way in the stirrup...making what should have been a quite simple and quite easy descent down onto the ground below into an instance of embarrassing catastrophe.

My foot having been caught, had meant that I had stumbled forward into the arms of the shit-grinning Celt.

"Aye, definitely can see 'ya capability there lass." He says sarcastically with a smug little grin.

I glare at the man and quickly remove myself from his arms. I feel hot and my face is flushed red with the embarrassment of it all.

The worse part of it all besides Finan's smug grin and snide sarcasm and jokes was the fact that the embrace of his arms had been so infuriatingly secure and comforting...his body had been warm and enclosing...and his smell had been musky but sweet. It was all in all an experience that was mortifying and humiliating and one that I was increasingly angry at myself for deriving physical pleasure from.