Ava — Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Percy heard a female scream, then an "oomf", and then a small crash. He ran through the trees, convinced that his friend had been attacked. He reached the small clearing and found Astor on his ass, hands covering his broken nose, and the strange woman standing tall over him. She looked angry and more than willing to protect herself. He almost fell over laughing.

"Id's nop punny." Astor said, nasally, manually trying to put his nose back in place. He sat in the dirt, almost ignoring the woman standing over him.

Percy stifled his laughter in his elbow, and between gasps said, "Now-- you do look-- like I did-- when you broke my nose.-- Sitting on your ass,-- just like I was..." He finally gave up and roared with laughter.

"It's really not that funny, Percy." Astor said from the dirt, his voice returning to normal as his instant healing kicked in and the blood stopped flowing, the bone and cartilage knitting back together.

"You aren't seeing it from my perspective." Finally, gasping air like a fish out of water, he wiped tears from his eyes. He made a sweeping bow in Ava's direction and said, "My dear lady. My name is Percy, and my poleaxed friend on the ground there is Astor." He paused to let the name sink in. Any woman from this land would know the king by name, if not by sight. She didn't register the name. His eyes flicked over to Astor who had clearly clocked the same lack of reaction. He continued with a big smile. "I assure you, dear lady, whatever happened, I'm more than certain that he deserved it!"

"Percy!" Astor scolded him, in mock horror. "This poor woman is going to have the most awful opinion of me and we don't even know her name yet."

Ava stood her ground even though the two men were clearly not trying to threaten her. When she had opened her eyes, the tall one had been inches from her face. His dark hair catching the morning sun and his eyes... they were a beautiful blue that contrasted with his dark curls. It intrigued her. Then years of self-defense training kicked in and the heel of her hand was lashing out to palm strike his nose into his brain, before it had even checked in with her brain. She connected with his nose with a sickening crunch of bone and cartilage.

She jumped up immediately and stood on the balls of her feet, waiting to see what the man, currently sitting on his ass in the dirt, holding his nose, blood streaming through his hands, would do next. What he did next was... swear? She looked down at him, fists balled and waited.

A crash came from behind the man on the ground, and another man appeared. Her breath caught in her throat. The man walking her way had dark red hair. He was shorter than she was. He walked in a self-assured way. Gem?

No. As he stepped into the clearing, she saw her mistake instantly. He couldn't have been more different from the man on the ground if he tried. Where Gem had been 5 foot 2, this man was also shorter than her own 5 foot 6. Not much though, maybe 5 foot 4? While Gem had beautiful, short, red curls, this man walked into the sunlight and she saw his hair wasn't dark. This man's hair was straight, long, and a more strawberry blond, rather than the dark russet color of Gem's hair. It was longer than Gem kept his, too. His hair was pulled back in a braid at the base of his head, that almost reached his belt. Like Gem, he had a soft jawline and rounded cheeks. Unlike Gem, though, he was muscled in a far more noticeable way. His shoulders were wider than Gem's and his biceps were far less soft.

Percy looked like nothing less than some depictions of Hercules she had seen, if not for that hair. His skin was even a little olive-toned. The kind of skin that still looks tanned in the middle of winter. Gem had always been pale. The poor boy couldn't tan. Every time he tried, he burned, and she had to apply aloe.

The man stopped in his tracks, and his face went red. He slapped his whole arm over his mouth to stop his laughter.

"Id's nop punny." The man on the ground insisted. She couldn't see any humor in the situation, either.

The new man, who was stifling his laughter between gasps, said, "Now-- you do look-- like I did-- when you broke my nose.-- Sitting on your ass,-- just like I was..." He finally gave up and roared with laughter.

Ava felt quite confused. These men either didn't think she was a threat, or didn't believe they were giving her a reason to be afraid. Her posture started to loosen as the new arrival almost doubled over with laughter. She watched the man on the ground start wiping at his nose. Her instinct was to turn and run, but she was lost and didn't have any idea of where to run to.

These men were dressed like someone going to the Ren Faire, and she could hear what sounded like horses in the woods behind the men.

"It's really not that funny, Percy." His voice had returned to normal again, and when she focused on his nose, she watched it unbreak, and the blood stop flowing. Her jaw dropped, and she took a step back. That simply was not possible. Her hip twinged and begged for relief, but she ignored it, not wanting to show weakness in front of two people who could outnumber and hurt her.

The newcomer, --Percy?--looking like he couldn't breathe, said, "You aren't seeing it from my perspective." He turned to Ava, who tensed again, waiting. Instead of attacking her, though, he bowed and began introductions, though he exchanged a look with his companion when he introduced him that made her hackles rise. They were already hiding something from her. With the last line about Astor deserving it, Astor looked at his friend and scolded him. Then those blue eyes fell on her as he stood up.

Stood up. No. Unfolded was closer to the truth. He rose from the ground, bowed, and reached for her hand, lifting it and kissing it before she could snatch it back. Something in those eyes. She couldn't name it. She could feel herself falling into his gaze. Almost like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, she knew in an instant, her life was never going to be the same.

"My name, as my annoying friend here has mentioned, is Astor. May I ask your name, my lady?" He said, rising to his full height.

"A--Ava." She stumbled on her own name, blushing and looking down and away, the same way her most cherished pets at the clubs would. Dimure. That certainly wasn't a word anyone had tried to use to describe her. But here she was, eyes downcast, color on her cheeks, and her hands itching to clasp behind her back. And his blue eyes never left her face. She was keenly aware she was disheveled and probably was covered in dirt and leaves. She started plucking the leaves from off her front as she squirmed under his gaze.

Percy stood behind and to the right of Astor, so he saw her reaction to the magics. Ava and Astor's eyes met, and Percy could almost tangibly see the bond lock into place. He almost heard an audible click. Then she blushed and looked away, plucking leaves off her pants--the woman wore pants--and brushing dirt off her nicely rounded behind. Oh boy. The king was truly bonded now, and the magics were already at work. He really hoped this would not go badly. The entire kingdom and his future depended on this going just right...

To say Astor stood over her was inaccurate. Loomed. He loomed. Dark hair in his face and blue eyes shining. He wanted to touch her. To brush her hair off her cheek, but he got the distinct impression that any action like that would be met with hostility. Instead, he took a step back, putting space between them. Finally, he addressed her.

"We were riding by last night and saw your campfire. I investigated and grew concerned for your safety, so we camped nearby and waited for you to rise. I was about to wake you when, well--" he gestured to his nose and bloody shirtfront. "This happened. Do you mind if I ask what you are doing sleeping in the woods?"

She fidgeted with her clothes, seeming to want to make a better impression than she currently was. She didn't react to his name. Perhaps she was not from the area.

Ava was grateful for the distance he had put between them. His proximity was almost smothering her train of thought, and his eyes on her made her heart race. This reaction was simply not normal for her. Hormones running the show. No. She blinked her eyes, trying to clear her vision. She wasn't sure how much to tell him. In fiction, information like this was very useful and could be traded for power. Since she didn't even have one coin from this realm to her name, she needed every upper hand she could get. Since they had bowed, she attempted a curtsy.

"Honestly, my lord, I am completely lost. I'm quite new to this land and only arrived yesterday. I'm honestly not sure how I got here. I walked for most of yesterday and foraged for my dinner. My father taught me to survive in the wilderness and I made a small shelter and fire to make it through the night. Perhaps you could point me in the direction of a town where they might take pity on a poor, unfortunate soul?" She had held the curtsy the whole time she spoke. Unfortunately, her hip chose that exact moment to twitch, almost depositing her at their feet.

Percy watched her as she spoke. Her words were believable enough, if not for a few things that were wrong. First was her outfit. Women simply did not wear pants, and absolutely didn't wear them that skin-tight. The fabric was also quite strange. It appeared to stretch over her curves. Second was the curtsy. It was stiff, totally unlike someone who had been performing the gesture her whole life. Third, and this was most damning, was her accent. Percy had done diplomatic missions to all the nearby kingdoms. He could recognize an accent from any of them and hers was nothing like any of theirs. Then her leg twitched while she was deep in her curtsy and she almost hit the ground.

Percy jumped past Astor, grabbing her elbow, and steadying her against his body, his arm snaking around her waist. He looked up into her dark brown eyes and saw something in them. Like she recognized him from somewhere.

"Are you well, my lady?" He said, concerned. She didn't seem all that stable. Looking into her eyes, the woods swam around him. Astor vanished. The forest vanished. Nothing existed except those eyes on his. Pools of darkness he could feel himself drowning in.

Finally, the world stopped spinning and he helped her balance on her own two feet, before taking a step back, next to Astor.

"Astor and I are headed to the capitol and happen to have a spare horse you could ride. It isn't a full day's ride from here. If you would please allow us to escort you?" He gestured through the trees toward where their campsite was. "If you wouldn't mind, lady, we have not broken our fast, and you appear to need a good hot meal. Please allow us to invite you to our fire and share our food with you."

Astor stood like a tree, rooted to the spot by those eyes, the ones that were focusing on anything but him. Right now she looked next to him, to Percy, listening to his offer. A small smile graced her lips and she nodded, gratefully. He thought that at the mention of food, her stomach growled loudly. It was charming. This woman stood there, dressed in the most inappropriate clothing, not a copper to her name, genuinely grateful for a shared meal.

"If you will give me a moment to gather my things, I think I would be most grateful for your hospitality." She said, turning to bend down and retrieve the blanket she had been lying on. No, it was a cloak and-- oh! He and Percy both looked at each other and then at the sky, the trees, anything other than the woman who had just presented her hindquarters to them as she bent at the waist to retrieve her things. Her backside was wide and the pants stretched over it like it was intentionally showing it off. It was indecent. It was lude. It was so amazingly sexy. Looking over at his friend, he saw Percy blush almost crimson. He had always blushed around the girls in the tavern when they showed a little too much cleavage. It would normally have been very funny, but Astor was too focused on what was making Percy blush, not the fact that he was blushing.

She stood up and the spell on the two men was broken. Both looked at each other, silently agreeing on what they had just seen. His jealousy spiked, knowing Percy had seen her like that. When she straightened, she had a large bag over one shoulder and a cane in her hand.

He took a moment to watch her move as she passed him, thanking Percy as they walked back to his and Percy's campsite. She was taller than most of the odious ladies of the court, even if he did still tower over her. Scanning her from behind, her outline wasn't what he was usually attracted to. She had a lovely hourglass figure that made him want to reach out and squeeze her rounded hip, just to see if the flesh would spring back. Those hips were very distracting. She moved them as though she was inviting his gaze. Even her limp was drawing his eye.

Women in his lands simply did not move that way. Not outside the bedroom, anyway. That made her either a brazen hussy, or a foreigner. He was starting to believe it was the latter. She clearly wasn't self-conscious about what she was wearing. The heeled (riding?) boots were completely impractical. The heel was only about two inches and far thicker than the way the fashion dictated in his kingdom. How had she even managed to walk the distance she claimed in them? Any woman of the court would have sat down and refused to go any farther than a few feet. And the cane. It had the wear of a well-used aid, not a prop. She was clearly muscled. Nothing about her made sense. He took a few steps and started kicking dirt over her small fire, scattering her "bedding" and covering their footprints.

As he listened to her small talk with Percy, he realized that her voice was deeper than expected. It was husky and low, and it did something to his brain. Made him want to sit and listen to her. So he did. When they got to the campsite, he busied himself with preparing a hearty breakfast of salted chipped beef, potatoes, and oats with some honey in them. He tended the fire and listened to her as she and Percy exchanged basic personal information. He drank in the sound of her voice, to the exclusion of her actual words, till he realized there had been a silence and the other two were looking at him, waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?" He asked, blushing and turning his head away.

Ava walked with the strange young man who reminded her of Gem. His eyes were the same emerald green. The same shade that had slowly become her favorite color over the last decade. Something had happened when she had looked into those eyes. Something she had felt the day she met Gem. A tugging in the center of her being. But then their eye contact had broken and he had stepped back. It had been so brief, she could almost believe she had imagined it.

"Where are you from, my lady, if I might be so bold?" Percy asked as he offered to take her heavy bag from her. She let him, the way she would have allowed Gem to perform little tasks to feel useful.

"Glen Ellyn." She responded automatically, realizing a moment too late that she had said too much. It didn't matter, though. He had clearly never heard of the Northwestern Suburbs. Or Chicago. Or the USA. Oh boy. She was a long way from home indeed.

"Glen Ellyn..." he said, rolling it around on his tongue as they reached the camp. "I'm not sure I've heard of that kingdom. Which direction is that from here?"

"I truly have no clue, sir. I feel like I was scooped up from my world and deposited in a different one." Shit. She had said too much again. But how would she get help getting home to her treatments if she didn't trust someone? Maybe she could try trusting these gentlemen and see if they tried to use her. They already had acted with honor when she bent over in front of them. She had been testing them. Seeing how they would react. They had averted their gazes, even if they had lingered a little longer than typically tolerated in the clubs. That was fine. They were men... well known for their inability to control their urges. That's why they came to her, and she would control it for them. NO! She needed to stop thinking like a Dom. This was not an appropriate time. Those eyes were distracting her.

She sat on a log by their fire while Astor busied himself tidying their camp, tending the fire, and cooking breakfast for three. There was a stretch of silence before Percy answered her.

"The Great Magics do many strange things, lady. What do you think, Astor? Any idea how she could have been transported from a land so far away that even WE have never heard of it? Astor? Astor!"

Astor jumped when he realized Percy had something to him. Quickly, he processed what was just said to him. Magic. Wait, Glen Ellyn? Where the hell was that? He looked up from the pan he was stirring, into those pools of darkest brown, and ducked his head again.

"Yes, the Magics. Probably them. I'd be a fool to pretend I knew anything about why they do anything." He murmured, getting some tin plates from his pack and dishing up the food. He handed it out and sat across the fire from the two, still content to watch and learn.

"Thank you, sir." She said with a small blush and looking up at him through her lashes in the most charming way. He wondered if she practiced that look; she was that good at it.

"It's nothing. I was cooking anyway." He said, not even sure why. She had said thank you. All he had to do was say you're welcome. Why was he so tongue-tied around her right now?

She started eating with gusto. That was good to see. All these women at court tried to pretend food never touched their lips. This woman had a healthy appetite. He watched the way she held herself. Her posture was very good, though she had clearly never worn a corset a day in her life. He was also realized she looked comfortable. Something these women of high society never managed to convey. Being at peace with their surroundings. Like she was meant to be here, now. His eyes feasted on her till his stomach growled, and he started eating, his food almost cold already; Percy almost finished.

Percy looked up when he finished eating and noticed that Astor wasn't done yet. That man rarely tasted his food anymore; he ate so fast. He was always stealing meals between meetings and trade negotiations. Today, however, he ate slowly, looking lost in thought. That was fine. Percy would handle things.

"My Lady, I hate to rush you this morning, but if we do not head out soon, we will be past dark when we reach the castle. I assure you, I have no wish for another night on the ground, and I'm sure you would like to see the healer and a soft bed. Maybe a hot bath?" Percy said to her. The idea of a hot bath made her groan and close her eyes for a moment, her head falling back for a moment. A hot bath. It sounded like heaven. Lowering her chin, she smiled.

"That is music to my ears. A bath. You could lure me into a trap with a warm bath, hot food, and a soft bed..." she said, looking at them. They were both staring at her in the most peculiar fashion. She thought both of their eyes would pop out of their heads. Had these two never seen a woman before?

She stood, looking for what she could do to help with the dishes breakfast had made. When the two men had picked their jaws off the ground, they both jumped up, grabbing things out of her hands and refused to allow her to help with anything. Well, at least they had manners. She turned to the direction she had heard the horses in and gathered her bags. She had not been riding in years, even if she had run a stable for a few events.

"Here, my Lady. Let me help you." Percy came running up and took everything but her cane from her, moving over to a horse that was.... No. There was no way that horse was for her. The gelding was easily 18 hands if not 20, and if she wasn't mistaken, the color was almost identical to her own hair. The mane and tail were long and glossy. This horse was WELL cared for.

Looking around, she could pick out which of the remaining two horses belonged to which man. One was a light strawberry red color, complementing Percy's hair in a striking way. It was shorter than her gelding, and she was almost sure it was a mare. The stallion standing apart from the other two had the feel of a well-trained warhorse, jet black, and it towered over the other two horses. Its ears swiveled at every sound from the woods, and Ava had no illusions that if she tried to touch it, she would probably get bitten. He was beautiful and tall, just like his owner. Hair, mane, and tail were all black as a raven, and braided, matching Astor's warrior braids. It was her turn to have her jaw drop as Astor walked up from behind her and headed to his horse to start strapping camping gear on the larger beast.

Finally closing her mouth, she looked up at the saddle that Percy was tightening on the horse meant for her. She bit her lip, looking a bit ashamed. She just realized that her hip was in no shape to get her up on that horse. She looked around, seeing if she could find a log to help her up. After Percy had tightened her saddle, he moved over to his horse, putting on the tack and saddling it.

Since her left hip was the problem, she tried to put her right foot in the stirrup and swing her left leg over the back of the horse, but she couldn't get her leg high enough, and every time she tried, the horse moved, and she had to start over. She was starting to feel frustrated with herself when a soft hand touched her elbow. It was Percy, blushing, and looking at the ground.

"May I please help, my Lady?" He asked, making a stirrup with his hands and gesturing at her right foot with it. She smiled at him, seeing her loyal Gem again, just for a moment. She almost patted his bowed head.

Instead, she placed both hands on the pommel and her right foot in his hands. As she went to swing her leg over, her hip twinged again, and she lost her balance, almost falling on her face. She might have actually done so if Percy hadn't caught her.

Percy had gotten her horse harnessed and saddled and then moved to his own horse to do the same. He was feeling something and he couldn't explain it. This was NOT how things were supposed to go. She was Astor's intended, not Percy's. Why did she keep looking at him like she knew him? Like she saw inside him. She said he reminded her of someone she knew, but it didn't explain the reactions of his mind and body when he looked up at her. He didn't even like tall women, let alone ones with so much meat on their bones, but her? She was different. She looked down at him and made him want to kneel at her feet.

He continued putting on his horse's tack as he watched her trying to get on her horse. He really should have tied it up for her. Astor was still tying up his saddle bags and wasn't paying any noticeable attention over the back of his stallion. Finally, Percy finished tightening his saddle and tied the reins to a nearby branch. Walking over to her, he touched her elbow, blushing at the forward nature of touching her bare skin, and asked her, "May I please help, my Lady?"

Putting his hands together, he tried to give her a stable place to mount from, looking everywhere but at her. She placed her foot in his hands and as she went to swing up into the saddle, something happened, her balance shifted too far forward, and she was suddenly falling onto him from above.

His arms instantly went around her waist, instinct being to keep her from hurting herself. He grabbed the stirrup and kept her weight from pulling him down with her, so he ended with one hand keeping them upright and the other around her, keeping her from hitting the ground by inches. His muscles screamed at him that he had not stretched for this specific task. Slowly he pulled her up and into his arms, looking down at her for the first time, as she got her feet back under her. She looked up and again, the world spun.

The spinning continued when she was lifted bodily from his arms.

Astor watched their silly antics until he saw her slip and come crashing down on Percy. He was moving before he had decided he should. Three long strides took him to her and he wrapped his huge hands around her waist, and lifted her from his friend's arms, gently setting her on the horse without her realizing what had happened until he was striding back to his own horse, muttering over his shoulder, "You could have just asked for help..."