Chapter Text
Nel was sweating by the time they reached the river. She could practically feel it pouring down her back and every inch of her felt sticky and clammy.
When Keren called for a break, she wanted to collapse in relief. She almost did too, falling to her knees and reaching desperately for the water. Splashing it on her face and neck felt more amazing than anything else. Next to her, Will and Zahra did the same.
It wasn’t even the hottest part of the summer yet, but hiking and forcing their way through the overgrown trees and brush had taken far more effort than she’d ever thought it would. Luckily the river was refreshingly cold. It seemed to get faster and more out of control as it got deeper though, showing a fierce current.
“How much farther to the village?” Will asked after a moment.
“We’ve always appeared within an hour or two of the village before.” Buttle muttered. He took his hat off and dunked it in the edge of the river before putting it back on. He looked ridiculous with the water dripping on his shoulders like that, but Nel supposed they were all desperate for some respite from the heat. “No reason to assume differently now.”
“I can climb a tree, try to see the castle.” Lydia offered.
“Might as well.” Keren said.
She went to one of the tallest trees. The lowest branches were still high above her head, but Will gave her a boost and soon she was scurrying up it, as much at ease as a monkey or a squirrel would be.
“If the professor does end up being in the dungeons, exactly what’s the plan to get him out?” Zahra wondered while they waited.
“One thing at a time.” Keren shook his head, “We need to focus on getting to the prison first. We’ve had to fight a couple of Wargals on previous trips. It’s not easy. Right now the entire village is basically one big giant prison thanks to them.”
Toshak hefted up the battleaxe he’d brought, “I’m not worried about the fightin’ part. Let them come.”
Keren rolled his eyes, “You can’t fight the entire army by yourself.”
“Says who?”
Nel didn’t like the overconfident smirk he wore, but Lydia’s voice yelling down at them distracted them all.
“I see it! We’re a lot closer to the edge of the forest than we thought! The village is right there! I can see the castle too!”
“That’s great!”
“You all have got to see this!” she laughed, “The village is so much bigger than we thought!”
“Well we can’t expect every building to last for centuries.” Maajid joked.
“And the castle! Nellie! It’s gorgeous!” Lydia was continuing to yell, the joy in her voice obvious, “Nel, there’s no moat!”
“What?!”
“I swear! No moat!”
“But all of the-” Nel cut herself off, gaping in astonishment. That was why the map and model always looked off! It wasn’t that it was missing something, it was that they were trying to force it to accommodate a moat it had never been designed for! So many of the pieces clicked together and she was already rearranging the map in her head.
“Not that I don’t love a good historical discovery as much as the next guy.” Buttle huffed, glaring at them, “But we do have a time limit, alright? We should-”
A large shape tackled the man, moving so fast it was only a blur. There was a short scream, snarling, and then a horrifying ripping sound.
Zahra screamed, scrambling away as the shape tore itself into Buttle.
“Wargal! Move!” Keren cried, drawing his sword.
Will grabbed her arm, trying to drag her away, but Nel was frozen, staring at the beast. It turned, hunched over Buttle’s lifeless body, red eyes zeroed in on the rest of them. The Wargal was the size of a small bear, covered in thick fur with a long snout. Nel couldn’t decide if it looked more like a wolf or a bear or a pig. The only word that came to mind as she stood there paralyzed with fear was ‘monster’.
This was a true monster, straight from myths and legends. It was one thing to know that they might see a Wargal on this trip, it was another to actually have it happen, to see it stand up and roar and try to swipe at Keren.
“Nel!” Will yelled again, finally yanking her away, “We need to go, now!”
He pulled her behind him, racing after Maajid and Zahra.
“Ly-Lydia! She’s s-still in the t-t-tree!” Nel stammered out, her brain finally catching up and processing the situation. She didn’t know if she was stuttering from trying to run and yell at the same time or from fear and adrenaline, but that didn’t matter so much as the idea of one of her friends being cornered by those beasts.
“She’s safer than us right now!”
Another Wargal burst out from the trees in front of them, followed by knights in pure black plate. A lighting bolt insignia stood proudly on their armor and shields and they were yelling, running towards them and brandishing their swords.
Nel screamed, reeling backwards. Her foot hit something again. A tree root or a rock, she didn’t know, but for the second time since arriving in the past, Nel fell backwards.
Will reached desperately for her, calling her name, but it was no use. She hit the water with a large splash, instantly getting caught in the current. It pulled her away from her cousin, twisting her around and forcing her into the deeper waters in the middle of the river.
Will cursed, but he couldn’t go after her. Maajid, Zahra, and him all ran, trying to get back to Keren and Toshak, their surprise enemies on their heels.
They’d somehow killed the first Wargal, but more had appeared, along with more knights.
Keren and Toshak had gotten separated, a handful of enemies in between them.
They were both losing.
Toshak was worse off. A Wargal had bitten down on his shoulder, latching onto him. He cried out in pain, scrambling for something on his chest instead of trying to push the beast off.
Will realized what he was going to do a second too late.
“No! Toshak! Don’t! They’ll-”
There was a bright flash. Toshak was gone, as was the Wargal clinging to him and the three that had been standing nearby.
Maajid cursed, but his reaction was nothing compared to the knights around them who had seen the Skandian disappear. They yelled out, screaming about dark sorcery.
“Capture them! Now!”
Will ducked a swipe from one of their weapons, still trying to race to Keren.
Zahra stumbled, one of the knights lashing forward to wrap his hand in her hair and yank her back.
Maajid tried to help her, but was tackled by another Wargal. Only an order from one of the knights stopped the beast from killing him like they had Buttle.
They had no way out. Will knew that. They were surrounded and had no way to fight back. He looked up, seeing Lydia watching them with wide fearful eyes, still hidden away in those high tree branches.
He could only pray that she would stay hidden, stay safe.
That was his last thought before there was a sharp pain on the back of his head and he fell unconscious.
The water was freezing cold and the current freakishly strong. Nel struggled against it as hard as she could, desperate to get to the edge of the river, but with every second she fought, she was just pulled farther and farther away. Away from her friends, the town, the Wargals, Will.
She’d gotten to the surface a few times, enough to grab a hurried gulp of air, but that had seemed to be ages ago. Her lungs were burning now, screaming at her.
It was no use. Nel had never been a very strong swimmer to begin with, good enough for a pool or a water park, but nothing compared to a wild, raging river.
Something crashed into her, its rough texture scraping along her shoulder and tearing her sleeve away. It all caught and bunched around her wrist, holding her in place. Nel tugged at it furiously, trying to get free. It was keeping her stuck under the water, just out of reach of the surface.
She wanted to yell, to scream, to cry. The water pressing in on her from all sides seemed to get more intense with every passing second.
Something else came up behind her, seemingly reaching around her to tug at her sleeve. Nel’s eyes were clenched tight, but she tried to jerk away, flailing around frantically to get away. What was unmistakably a hand latched onto her wrist, finally freeing her arm and sleeve, pulling her up to the surface.
This was it. It had to be one of the knights. They’d seen her fall in and had come after her, saving her from drowning only to march her into town to give her to the Wargals or worse, Morgarath. Panic was flooding every one of her limbs, but there was nothing she could do.
They finally broke the surface, Nel coughed and sputtered, her lungs aching from the strain they’d just been through, gulping down air greedily.
“Hold on! We’re nearly to the edge!”
The hand had left her wrist, but an arm had snuck around her waist, holding her close as whoever had rescued her swam them to the river bank.
Nel wiped the water from her and brushed a few strands of wet hair from her face as her feet finally met solid ground again.
She coughed again, stumbling out of the water. Whoever had rescued her placed a hand on her back, trying to steady her and help her catch her breath.
It had the opposite effect, making her jump back in shock. Her limbs collided with theirs, her ankle somehow hooking around theirs, and in a record breaking feat of clumsiness, they both went down, rolling over each other and seemingly getting more entangled before stopping at the edge of the river.
Nel wanted to bury herself in embarrassment. This was the third time she’d fallen just since arriving in the past and now she’d literally taken someone down with her. Not just anyone either. Nope, her rescuer from guaranteed death by river. She didn’t even care if they were one of Morgarath’s knights at this point. She just wanted to close her eyes and pretend this was all a bad dream.
The person laying on top of her groaned, prompting her to finally accept that this wasn’t a dream and she needed to apologize for almost tossing them back into the river.
The man who had saved her had lifted his head just enough for her to see his face, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his head where he’d bumped it during their fall. His eyes flickered over to meet hers and they both froze.
Nel could’ve sworn that time itself had stopped. Nothing existed outside of the two of them.
The man above her was the most attractive man she’d ever seen. Every male model in a magazine, every actor her friends gushed about, every male heartthrob or athlete she’d ever heard of, he put them all to shame.
A sharp, defined jaw, a long nose that gave his face character, and eyes that never seemed to stop as he stared at her with the same stunned expression that she had. They were a warm brown color, lighter towards his pupils, inching towards amber. They were almost a chocolate or a coffee at the outer edges with practically golden flecks appearing at random in the rich colors. If Nel hadn’t been so close, she probably wouldn’t have seen such details. From farther away, all the hues probably would have blended together into a single shade that was just barely darker than the deep golden tan of his skin.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but seemingly couldn’t think of the words, watching her silently. Something pulled at her chest at the action, a feeling that reached out and stretched towards him before latching on, settling with a warmth in her heart. That feeling grew, spreading through her. A nervous fluttering in her stomach, a clammy feeling in her palms, goosebumps over her arms that had nothing to do with the chill of the river water, a flush on her cheeks, and an almost electric feeling everywhere she could feel him touching her.
Nel couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it. There was something about him, something so genuine, so sincere. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but the feeling just kept growing and growing. It made her want to-
Yells and thundering hooves broke them free from whatever reverie they’d been in. The man cursed in Arridan, rushing to stand up, yanking her with him as he bolted for the trees. He pulled her behind a relatively large one, holding her flush against him as he barely peeked around the tree trunk, watching as Morgarath’s knights galloped past, searching wildly and frantically. Nel tried to stop her blush as he did so, but she could still feel it rising, painting her face bright red. She ducked her head to hide it, holding onto him as tightly as he did her.
The knights were on the other side of the river, yelling back and forth. The man was mumbling rapidly to himself in Arridan. Nel listened, straining her ears. It was a prayer of some sort. His voice was so low that she could only catch every other word.
After a few tense minutes where Nel couldn’t hear the knights anymore, she risked speaking up, keeping her voice to a whisper just in case. “Do you think they’re gone?”
The man looked at her even more shocked than before, “You speak Arridan?”
She nodded, “M-My grandfather taught me.” Nel could’ve kicked herself for stuttering.
“That’s even more impressive. Very few Araluens speak more than Common. Who is your grandfather?”
Nel went to answer, but a whinny from across the river cut her off. He turned to glare in the direction of it.
“Tell me later. We have to leave, now, before they decide to try to cross.”
Without another word he turned and started delving deeper and deeper into the forest, tugging her with him. Nel tried to keep up as best she could, but the man was so tall that she had no hope of matching his gait unless she ran.
Her lungs were burning and her legs wanted to kill her by the time they finally slowed down, evidently far enough away to be considered safe, at least for the time being.
Nel panted, once again trying to catch her breath, as she leaned against a tree. The man looked around as if expecting more knights and Wargals to spring up out of nowhere again. When nothing happened, he turned back to eye her critically. Her heart was suddenly beating faster for a completely different reason.
He avoided her eyes, almost embarrassed, and gestured to her shoulder, “We…We should probably take care of that.”
Confused, Nel looked down and had to stifle an embarrassed squeak. In all the chaos she had forgotten that something had snagged on her shoulder and trapped her underwater. There was a nasty scrape along her shoulder and arm from it, although shock and adrenaline had kept the pain away so far. However, it wasn’t the wound that made her embarrassed, it was the tear in her dress.
Whatever had caught her underwater had torn her sleeve clean off and cut through the upper part of her dress. The tear went all the way to her waist, showing off the old fashioned corset that Mikkel Corp. had given her, in a poor attempt at a one shoulder dress that would not be in fashion for centuries.
Nel pulled her dress up, trying to find any form of coverage from it.
“If I may?” he asked.
Nel nodded, refusing to look at him. Being in the equivalent of only her bra in front of a man she just met, she didn’t trust herself to speak.
He was wearing a robe over his own shirt and pants (‘ Typical attire for Arridi due to coverage from the sun and to help in avoiding dehydration due to evaporation from the sweat through the skin.’ the historical voice in her head couldn’t help but point out. ‘The robe and headscarf have been replaced by modern styles over the centuries, but the purpose remains the same.’ ) and he took it off now, tearing the bottom off and into two long strips. Nel reluctantly let him pull her hands away so that he could wrap the makeshift bandages around her cut.
“I’m no doctor, but this should last until we can get you to one at least.” he said softly.
Nel mentally went through what the medical field would’ve looked like in this time period and the best course of action. Without thinking, she said, “Disinfect with alcohol and wrap in bandages sterilized in boiling water. Cover with a salve of herbs and honey if needed.”
He paused in his movements, raising an eyebrow at her, clearly impressed, “You’re a doctor?”
“N-Not a medical one.” she stammered, but instantly regretted it as he asked his next question.
“What other kind is there?”
“I-It’s, well, um-” her mind scrambled for an excuse. She was smart with books, not people, as Will often reminded her. She’d never been angrier at her cousin for being right than right now. “I-It’s a long story, but my mother was one. A doctor, I mean.”
“A medical one?” he smirked, going back to wrapping her arm.
“Yes.” Nel smiled shyly, “She was great too. Taught me a lot.”
“They why are you not also a doctor?”
“I didn’t love it like she did, but not for lack of trying. I really wanted to, I wanted to be just like her.”
He finished tying the cloth bandages and grabbed the remnants of his robe to put over her shoulders. Even with the bottom torn off, it fell to her knees. “And?”
“And she disagreed.” Nel said, “She didn’t want me to be like her. She wanted me to be like me.”
He smiled, showing off his almost brilliantly white teeth, “Your mother and mine would get along very well.”
Nel felt her own grin growing in response and she clutched his robe tighter around herself, “I’m Nellie. Well, Aranel, technically, but no one ever calls me that. Everyone calls me Nel or Nellie.” She knew she was rambling out of nervousness, but couldn’t seem to make herself stop. “Thank you for saving me.”
He didn’t seem to mind, raising his hand to his lips, his forehead, and back to his lips. ( We will eat, we will think, and we will talk. An old and traditional Arridi greeting that fell out of use two centuries ago. ) “My friends call me Sel. I’m glad I was close by to help. I almost didn’t see you at first and the log that caught you underneath was determined to keep you there. Araluen is a very dangerous place these days. How did you end up in the river?”
“I fell in when my friends and I got ambushed by those Wargals and knights. They came out of nowhere and I got carried downstream until you found me.”
“Then it was my fault that you fell in the river in the first place.” Sel said, shaking his head apologetically, “I was running from that scouting party and they must’ve caught your group’s scent instead.”
“You couldn’t have known.” she said quickly. “Is there any chance we can go back and save my friends?”
He was already shaking his head before she finished asking, “You’re hurt and I’m unarmed. We’d be caught or killed in seconds.”
“There has to be something we can do!” Nel insisted, feeling the panic rise again, “My brother was part of that group! We came here looking for my grandfather, we have to do something!”
“And we will, calm down.” he said patiently and evenly, placing his hands on her shoulders. The look in his eyes was firm and Nel felt her next protest die on her lips. “I never said we wouldn’t do anything, just that we can’t do anything right now. Luckily that scouting party is looking to capture, not kill. With some help, we might be able to rescue them.”
“Really?”
“Really.” he assured her, “I’ve got some friends in the area. If anyone can help, it’s them.”
Nel felt herself relax a little more as his words sunk in. He was right, they couldn’t take on a group of that size right now, they needed help.
Besides, if her grandfather was captured in the town, then Will and the others were in a better place to rescue him than she was right now. It was a small hope, but she clung to it with all of her might.
“We should get moving.” Sel said, bringing her out of her thoughts, “I’d feel safer putting some more distance between us and them.”
“Thanks for everything.” Nel whispered, following as Sel started to lead them through the forest again at a thankfully much slower speed.
“It’s no problem.”
They fell silent for a few minutes afterwards, each lost to their own thoughts. Nel couldn’t help but go over everything that had already happened. They’d been in the past for less than two hours and already things were far more complicated than they ever should have been.
Her one relief was knowing that they could always use their markers to escape if they had to and come back when they were more prepared.
Her hand went up absentmindedly at the thought. Then her eyes went wide. Her heart jumped to her throat and her panic returned for a third time, with vengeance.
Her marker was gone.