So sorry this has been so long in coming. Life has been so crazy (including the fact that I'm planning my sister's wedding, if you only knew her you would know how clueless she is when it comes to the details of planning a wedding :-D )!

Chapter 5

  Aquila wanted to run.  Her first instincts were to flee from the room
and the castle.  Yet her legs were frozen as her lungs emanated high
 pitched vibrations through the otherwise cold, still air.  The scene
before her...it was nothing but pure horror.

  What could have taken place in this room half a century ago to
 have left such devastation?  There just five feet in front of her lay
the skeleton of a human body.  A long sword stuck out of it is rib
 cage, the clothing that had once clothed it had deteriorated so
 much that, were it not for the brass badge, it would have been
 impossible to recognize it as a royal guard.  Two feet to the right
 another skeleton of a guard lay lifeless, the wood floor
 underneath both skeletons stained with what could only
have been blood.  

  She had come in on the far end of the ballroom.  When
 her feet finally were able to move they plodded forward in
 between the two skeletons.  There were various other
skeletons sprinkled around the room, the clothing only hinting
 at wealth now, after the years of deterioration.  One was lying
 at the foot of a door as if they had tried to get out but had not
 been able to make it.  

  Aquila trudged on as the scene unfolded in what had to have
 been sheer terror the few minutes it took whoever to accomplish.  
Dark stains splattered the floor.  Her pace slowed as she reached
 the podium.  There were four skeletons laying here in close
 proximity.  The two on the right were smaller than the two on the
left.  The two women's dresses were not quite as deteriorated as
 they had obviously been the thick, gorgeous dresses accustomed
 to women of stature.  The two men’s clothing, though, were much
 like the others.  The man on the far left had something intertwined
 in his fingers.  

  Aquila stepped closer and knelt.  The skull was crushed which
had to have been the cause of his death as there was no obvious
 knife or sword markings.  She frowned.  It was a chain necklace
 with a cross pendant on it like that of what priests might wear.  
Why was he holding it?  She turned to the other three skeletons
and bit her lower lip. 

  The first man had a knife in his chest and the woman next to him
had a knife in her stomach.  The other woman's head was in an
odd position.  Whoever had killed her had grabbed her around
the neck and broke it, for when she nudged it with her foot, it
 rolled away.  There were no necklaces or jewelry on any of the
 other skeletons lying there, or a crown, but Aquila knew instantly
 that they could only have been Alverdine Portchi, Sark Thatcher,
and their attendants.  One question that remained in Aquila's head
was, why was the male attendant holding the priest's pendant?

  Aquila pulled the chain free of the skeleton's fingers and studied
 it carefully.  The clasp had been broken.  It was possible that in
the struggle, the attendant had grabbed hold of the priest's pendant
 and it had broken free of his neck.  But where was the priest?
 There were various other skeletons around the room but the
one that caught her attention the most was the one that had tried
 to escape.

  Aquila walked over to the skeleton that lay at the foot of the
door.  His clothing had been black and could have been the
cloth that a priest was accustomed to wearing.  Her mouth
dropped slightly as she noticed the blood stains around him. 
They were not just stains of a puddle of blood.  This man had
lived long enough to write in his own blood.

  Aquila squatted on her heels to look closer at the writing.  
Aloud she read, “This day, the eighteenth day of September,
 in the year of our Lord 1244, the High King of Lucia, Sark
Thatcher, was executed by—”

  Wait a second, Aquila thought.  1244?  That was just over
twenty years after the wedding was to have taken place.  
Why had the journal stopped twenty years before?  The writing
 said nothing of Alverdine.  He had died before he could finish
 writing whatever it was he was trying to say.

  Aquila sighed.  What a terrible ending.  Still so many
questions lurked in her mind.

  Aquila rose and was headed back for the door that she
came out when she noticed that one of the doors was slightly
open and blood-stained footprints led up to the door.  Had
 someone tried to get out and succeeded?  Maybe it was
Alverdine.  She opened the door and followed the footprints
 out the door, down the hall, and down a second servant’s
 staircase.  Was this one of the servants themselves that had
acquired an injury in the struggle?

  Whoever it was had escaped for they led out the front door
and dissipated down the grand stair case.  Aquila pulled the
 large door shut and returned to the kitchen.  She was hungry
 but after the scene she had seen, she did not feel up to eating.

                                                             **********

  “Braedoch is no longer home to you...you will depart
alone...terrible consequences will follow...I am warning
 you now...you have three days!”

  Aquila sat up suddenly, her breath coming in heavy quick
gasps.  She closed her eyes as she pulled her long black hair
 out of her face and over one shoulder.  After a few seconds
she stood up and walked to the one window that looked over
 the rocky expanse that led to the ocean.  

  She stepped onto the crate she had carefully placed under
 the window and folded her arms over the window ledge.  
She could see the stars clearly but no moon.  It was on these
 nights that the last time she had seen her siblings would come
 to haunt her.  What had happened to them after that?  Letters
 had been the only way they had been able to keep up even
 though they had been expressly forbidden to contact each
other.  Yet even letters were far and few what with the time
that the birds had to take getting from one to the other.

  Aquila turned from the window.  She would never be able
 to get to sleep tonight.  Her bare feet quickly padded down
 the hard floor down six flights of dark stairs and through the
 back hallway to the kitchen.  A back door opened to the
 small ledge she used as a pathway down the side of the mountain.

  Something that only she knew, was that halfway down where
 there seemed to be a little cubbyhole full of bushes, was that
 it was a small hallway into a cavern where a spring trickled
 out of the rocks and down a deep expanse of blackness.  
There, she followed a small ledge down the steep cavern to
 the bottom where the water collected in a little pool until it
got too high for the pool and then it flowed over a thin rocky
 riverbed down to the ocean.

  She uncovered the lilac soap she had made just three days
 before as she stepped down into the pool.  It was not too
deep but deep enough for her to take a bath in it.  It beat
carrying buckets and buckets of water up the side of the
mountain to boil and then carry by the bucket full to her tub.
 Usually by then the water was cold and made for a miserable
bath.

  She had washed her body and was about to get out when she
 heard something.  All movements stopped and she held her breath
  She did not fear being seen unless she made too much noise.

  This part of the pool was also hidden in the mountain but there
was an opening only big enough for a small horse to get through
 that she now watched intently.

  There it went again...and again...and again.  It sounded like the
 slow steady clopping of a riderless horse.  Still, she must wait.

  If it was not riderless, who was the rider?  Had he somehow
discovered her hideout, seen her go into the cavern, and this was
 an attempt to lure her out, and to test her strength, her ability to
fight him off?  Or was he injured and unconscious, allowing the
 horse complete freedom?

  After several minutes and no new sound, Aquila gracefully
stepped out of the pool and quickly pulled her robe over her
 head.  The amusement some would find over worrying about
being exposed to a horse was lost on Aquila as something in her
 was not quite sure it was alone.

  She shivered as her clothes soaked the cold water from her
body, making it miserable to be out in the chilly night air.  This
horse was not starting out on good footing.

  Aquila moved as quiet as a mouse to the cave entrance.  It was
 this ability that allowed her to walk up on a deer unnoticed, and
 it was this ability that she thanked Deus for as she pushed down
 the urge to gasp when she saw far below what looked to be a
 lifeless body hanging over the side of the horse.

  There was not much light due to no moon but her eyes worked
excellently in the dark and could tell her visitor was a man.  Deus,
 why a man?

  Still, with caution etched in every step, she climbed down the side
 of the mountain and approached the smelly motionless visitor.  
When no sign of threatening movements came, she placed two fingers
 under his jaw and put her ear to his face.  His breathing was shallow
 but his heart was strong.  This worried her.

  If he had been dead, she could have buried him and sold his horse
 and tackle.  Now that he was alive, she could not let him die, but
neither did she feel comfortable nursing a complete stranger in her
home.  After all, if her nursing worked, he would wake up and gradually
 regain his strength.  At the same moment this thought crossed her mind,
 something wet and sticky ran down the hand she held under his jaw.  
The smell!  It was fresh blood.

  Alarm slammed through her small body.  It had happened within the
hour.  Who did it?  Where were they now?

  Aquila took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  Questions, questions,
 and more questions.  They would get her nowhere without a conscious
 body to answer them.  Besides, she did not want to stand there any
 longer then she had to in risk of getting spotted by his attacker.  The
 question of whether it was a human attacker or something else would
 have to be determined later.

                                                                            ********

  Aquila's foot slipped for the umpteenth time and she paused to catch
 her breath.  Both pathways were too narrow to risk using the horse to
 ferry her visitor up the mountain.  The ledge up the cavern was too steep
 for her to attempt with him in tow.  Now she wondered if she would be
 able to make it up at all.

  For once, Aquila had misjudged everything...almost.  First thing, she
had underestimated her visitor's size.  And she had overestimated her
own size and abilities.  Her guest had to be 6'0 at least and there was
no doubt in her mind all his weight lay in his broad shoulders and rather
 muscular body.  All of that against her 4'11” 60 pound body, she was
having a grand old time.

  For all the animals and the rare humans she crossed paths with she
always gave a name.  She was fighting the urge to give this one a name.
  Creating an attachment to this large and unwelcome stranger was the
 last thing she needed.

  I am so glad he is unconscious, or otherwise this would be a rather
 awkward task, she thought, her eyes going to the sky.  I suppose if her
 were conscious he could climb on his own.

  Since beginning her struggle up the mountain, clouds had somehow
managed to produce and reproduce until they opened up and laid their
 wrath on her.  As if her robe had not been wet enough, she was soaked
 to the bone and her robe was pasted to her body with a mix of rain and
 mud from literally scooting on her side up the mountain.

  The one good thing this rain was good for was to help clean the
wound in his back.  She had torn her robe from the knees down off
 and with it had successfully stopped the bleeding, once she had
 found the source.

  Aquila looked up at where they were headed and gave a determined
 sigh.  With her left arm she pulled him up farther onto her body and
 with her right arm and legs, began dragging them up the ledge.  A
couple of times her hand or feet slipped and she was sure they were
 about to plummet down the side of the mountain, but just as
daybreak hit, Aquila reached home.

  She was so exhausted that she stopped for a moment to enjoy the
 warmth.  Until she realized the warmth was coming from a sticky
 red mess that was now all over her and her guest!

  Aquila growled.  “How could this have happened to me?”

  Within the next half hour, Aquila managed to get him into the kitchen
 on a rug she had been intending to throw out and stop the bleeding.
  Yet she knew that his wound would need cleaning and that would
need water.

  Getting water meant going back down the mountain with an empty
bucket and returning with a once-full bucket of water that would have
 inevitably sloshed out to a half-full bucket of water which meant six
or seven more trips down the mountain...and back up.

  She had attempted to get water from the spring, but the buckets lip
was too thick to fit in between the rock wall and the spring itself.  
Waiting for it to fill up by what little made it into the bucket would
take twice the amount of time it would take her to make one trip
 down and back up and not worth her time.

  Aquila grabbed the bucket and opened the back door.  Leo had
 just come home from his monthly rendezvous and was just making
his landing.

  Aquila smiled.  “Old faithful Leo.  I do not suppose you would tell
me where you have been going, huh?”

  For five months now he had been disappearing one week a month. 
“Do you have a friend?” Aquila teased.

  Leo seemed distressed and Aquila frowned.  He snorted and hissed
 and shook his head.  Suddenly it dawned on her.  He did not like the
 smell of fresh blood.

  Aquila held up the empty bucket.  “I need some water to clean up
with, Leo.  Want to help me?”

  Leo was a smart dragon and caught her drift rather quickly.  He
 lowered himself onto his belly and spread his wings out.

  Aquila climbed atop his back.  “Good boy.”

  Leo lifted his head and wings and rose to his feet.  It was only seconds
before they were in the air.  Aquila watched the rocks turn into water.  
“Leo!  I need—“

  Before she could finish her sentence, Leo rolled to the side dropping her
 into the cold water.  Aquila surfaced and wanted to let Leo have it but all
she could do was laugh.  Leo must have thought her intentions were to take
 a bath and presumed upon himself to accomplish the task.

  Leo came swooping down and grabbed her by the arms.  Aquila managed
 to catch hold of the sinking bucket and pull it up with her.

  Aquila closed her eyes as Leo took a directly vertical shot up the side
 of the mountain leaving her in between him and the rock wall.  Seconds
 later she felt her feet touch ground and opened her eyes to see the still
wide-open door.

  “Show off,” Aquila said.

  She looked down at the bucket to find a rather full bucket of water. 
Hurrying inside she poured the bucket into the gigantic cauldron and
started a fire.  “Dumb me should have had this fire going before I went
 for water,” she grumbled.

  Once the fire was going good, Leo took her for three more rounds.  
Aquila hoped it would be enough for the morning.

  Once the water had boiled for a solid ten minutes, she took a towel
 to grab the cauldron.

  The cauldron alone weighed 50 pounds and due to her size she could
not move it alone for very long when it was cold, but hot and full of
boiling water was impossible.

  Remembering different techniques from her older brothers and sisters,
 she had created a sturdy cast iron rod over the fire that she could use to
 hang the pot on.  It was also movable so that she could pull it off of the
 fire.  Even with this, it was a trick.

  With the cauldron now off of the fire, Aquila went to check on her patient.
  The current bandage was holding up.  She put her hand to his forehead to
 test for fever.  He was warmer than usual and would need to be watched,
but it was not currently life threatening.

  She was about to open his eyelids to check his eyes when they voluntarily
 opened.  Aquila jumped and screamed.  She had not prepared herself for
 when he would actually wake up.

  He moved his arm and his sleeve brushed against her bare knee reminding
 her that she was completely unprepared for a conscious male guest.  
Aquila jumped to her feet and fled the room.  As hurt as he was, he had
made it this far, and he would hold on long enough for her to throw on
another robe.

  She was back in a flash, but when she came into the room, she found
him trying to sit up.  “No, no, you fool!” she nearly screamed.  “I just got
 your bleeding to stop for the second time, and I did not get you all the
way up here to have you bleed to death!”

  When he continued to try and sit up, Aquila attempted to push him back.
  The instant her hand touched his shoulder, he moved and grabbed her
wrist.

  Aquila gasped, surprised with the strength he held her with after all the
 blood he had lost, yet she could tell he was seeing everything in a blur
and was not able to intelligently ascertain the situation.  Still, there were
many different reasons to fear an injured and disoriented man, especially
 one his size.

  Aquila was searching for something to say when he released her arm
 and fell back onto the rug.  Aquila winced.  “Let’s not get a concussion
 on top of everything, all right?”

  Aquila tried to roll him onto his stomach but with no luck.  It seemed
all her strength had left her.  All the sleep she had not had that night and
 all the energy spent trying to get him this far suddenly caught up with her.
  She could not even get off the floor to climb the six flights of stairs to the
 safety of her own room.  Aquila crawled two feet away and fell asleep.

                                                                            *******

  Aquila and Wren laughed.  Years had torn them apart but now they
 were together.  Nothing could separate them now, walking hand in
 hand in the open field. The wind tugged at Aquila's hair until it was
 flowing gently in the breeze behind her.

  Aquila did not want to wake up, but something was tickling her cheek.
 Not tickling...a brushing sort of feeling.

  Aquila's eyes flew open and for a moment she was frozen in surprise.  
Trouble had managed to sit up and move around to her face.  His right
 hand was caught in her hair that had obviously been brushed back,
 because she distinctly remembered falling asleep with half of it over her
shoulder.  His left was frozen over her cheek.

  Did I just call him Trouble?  Aquila wanted to hit herself over the head.
  She had given him a name.

  Aquila looked up at him and blinked.  He was looking at her...but was
 that pity?  Aquila inwardly frowned.  She was reading him wrong.  What
 would he pity her for?

  She lifted her head and he pulled his hand out of her hair.  “Who are you?”

  Aquila was completely awake now.  He had just said something.  His
 voice—it was unnervingly deep.  “Aquila—who are you?”

  He just looked at her and said nothing.  Aquila frowned.  “I think I shall
 call you Trouble, for that is all you have been to me since I found you.”

  “Suits me,” he casually assented.

  Aquila stood and opened the door slightly.  It was mid-afternoon.  She
 rolled her eyes when her stomach let her know what time it thought it was.
  Suddenly Aquila remembered the task that she had set out to do before
 she fell asleep.  “We have got to get your wound cleaned out. Lay on your
 stomach.”

  Trouble moved to the old rug and settled down.  “Seems like a nice rug. 
Hate to mess it up.”

  “Ick!  I was tossing it out the door when you showed up,” Aquila wrinkled
 her nose.

  Aquila retrieved strips of cloth, rags, and a salve that she had remembered
Sam using on many an animals' cuts.  There was not anything toxic in it
 except for the smell, and the gray pasty mixture seemed to work on
everything.  She always kept some around for any little scrape she might
acquire.

  Aquila cut away the shirt that had pasted itself to his back with his blood
and immediately had to look away.  She would not be eating anything
anytime soon.  After carefully cleaning the surrounding area, she took a
deep breath and started working on the wound itself.  “So...what
 happened?”

  “I was ambushed by two thugs.  I resisted and they thrust a spear
through my back,” Trouble growled.

  When the wound was thoroughly cleaned, she liberally applied the
 salve.  Bandaging it took only seconds and when she was through she
 sat back and surveyed her work.

  Sam had been a great caregiver to many a hurt animal and even his
 own brothers and sisters on the occasion that one of them cut or injured
 themselves.  She had watched every time and now silently thanked
 Sam for being so patient with her many questions.

  It was not long, though, before Aquila discovered the cause of all his
weight.  The wound was in his lower back leaving his thick, wide,
 muscular shoulders unmarred aside from the thick scar that ran diagonally
 from his left shoulder to the bottom of his right side.  Why did it seem
 as if he was smaller with his shirt on then when it was off?

  Suddenly she realized Trouble was looking at her curiously from over
his shoulder.  She pulled her hair over her shoulder and turned away to
 hide her red face.

  Focus, you numb skull!  Your objective is to get him on his feet
and out the door as soon as possible, she scolded herself.

  Aquila busied herself gathering up all the dirty rags into a bundle until
she was sure she had recovered.  Then deciding to allow him to use the
 cook's quarters she opened the door leading to it.

  Trouble had not done much moving around since he awoke which
 caused Aquila concern.  It was possible he had lost too much blood
and had no energy to move.  Aquila grabbed the rug, and after several
 minutes of hard labor, managed to drag him next to the bed.  She looked
 from him to the bed for a few seconds as if looking at them would
 magically make it happen.

  Finally she tried pulling him from above but she could not clear an inch.
 Trouble raised a brow and Aquila frowned.  He should try lifting
someone four times his size if he thinks it is so easy.

  Getting onto the floor, she pushed his shoulders up and after some time
 she managed to lift his chest onto the back of her shoulders.  Trying as
 hard as she could to get her feet underneath her, she heaved and pushed
 and breathed as hard as she could with no luck.

  Turning around she grabbed him around the chest and tried to stand
 that way.  He made no attempt to place his feet on the floor and thus
 his dead weight against her caused her to stumble backwards and fall.

  Sandwiched in between the floor and Trouble, the wind was knocked
 out of her and she could not breathe for several agonizing seconds.  
When she could breathe again, she sighed.  “Trouble, you are impossible!”

  Trouble sat up a little and chuckled.  “Would you like some help?”

  Aquila's mouth dropped.  “You mean you can actually do something
 and you just let me go to all that work for nothing?”

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “You—” Unable to come up with the words, she clamped her mouth
shut.  Despite her anger, Aquila helped Trouble into the bed.  Seeing his
 strength gave her hope for a quick recovery.

  It was not to be.