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

Chapter 4

A few hours later, Katelyn awoke to the ground shaking and loud roaring noises coming from nearby. She looked around and noticed that Caesar was no longer beside her. She then realized that he was nowhere in sight. She stood and grabbed her sword, heading towards the noises that she heard. What she saw upon finding out the source of noises was beyond her wildest imagination. There was a large yellowish colored dragon and a large knight in red armor with large wings fighting it. It looked like the knight had the upper hand. The large dragon fell over on its side, and a last blow was struck by the knight before he leant on one knee and started to glow. When the glow stopped, Caesar stood in the knight's place.

Caesar started to walk back towards their little camp when he saw Katelyn standing there with wide eyes. He realized that he had told her the story of what happened in the past, but not about the sheer power that the knights possessed in battle. He also realized that the dragon was the first monster she had seen. He slowly walked up to Katelyn and noticed that she was shaking. He pulled her into his arms then picked her up bridal style and carried her the rest of the way towards the camp. When they finally made it back to the camp, Caesar carried Katelyn into the tent and held her in his arms, petting her hair. He decided to soothe her by talking to her in a low voice as not to frighten her any further. "I'm sorry to have woken you. We must have been too close to the dragon's lair, and it came charging towards our camp. I didn't want you to get hurt so I led it to the clearing and fought it. You see, I have the power of the dragon knight, one of the knights I was telling you about. I can transform into its form when I need to for protection. Not all the monsters are that size, but you will get used to it. I'm sorry that that was the first monster you had to encounter."

Katelyn finally stopped shaking and seemed to come out of the daze she was in. She then responded, "Sorry... it's just that the dragon was huge. I didn't realize that monsters... like that could even exist... much less be that big and scary. You seemed to have handled it well yourself though." Caesar said, "It's alright. Most of the monsters you will see are much smaller. There are other monsters of that size, but I won't let them hurt you." She nodded against his chest and seemed calmer than she had after seeing Caesar battle the dragon. "Now, how about we both get a little shut eye until dawn? We have a long road ahead of us tomorrow and I'm hoping we make it to Albana by nightfall." Katelyn whispered a quick, "Okay," before laying down on top of one of the sleeping sacks. She pulled one of the blankets Caesar had left over her body, but then realized she was missing the warmth of Caesar's body against hers with the cool night air. So, she asked him in a small voice, "Can you move your sleep sack closer to me, please?" He obliged, missing the feeling of her against him as well and moved his sleep sack against the edge of hers. Then, he pulled her close and covered him and Katelyn with her blanket.

He laid next to her made and sure that she fell asleep peacefully next to him. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe next to him. He knew that the next day would be a long one and that they only had about three hours left until morning, but he didn't wake her to get sleep earlier because he knew she wasn't prepared for battle yet. He hadn't seen any other monsters besides the dragon, so he hoped that they wouldn't have any other encounters before morning. He knew that he needed sleep to make the long trek the next day, so he decided to go ahead and sleep while it was safe. Before sleeping, he made sure his spear and her sword weren't further than arms reach in case of any other disturbances.

A few hours later, Caesar awoke to the sound of the tent that him and Katelyn were in unzipping. He was very surprised when he saw the face that peeked in. "I thought I recognized this tent," the intruder said. The intruder also happened to be Yulie. "Hey, what are you doing here? Is the whole crew here?" "Well, if by the crew, you mean me, Leonard, and Eldore, then yes. We were coming to find you," she said. Then she noticed the figuring curled under the blanket with him and gasped, then shouted, "Wait a minute, is that who I think it is lying beside you?" "No," he replied. "You won't believe the last couple of days we've had, but I'll explain after I wake her up. Give us a few minutes." With that, Yulie went back outside the tent and started talking to Eldore and Leonard at a very fast pace. Caesar slowly shook Katelyn and whispered, "We have visitors, Katelyn. I need you to wake up." She slowly blinked open her eyes and looked around, just noticing that it was morning. "Good morning. You said we have visitors?" "Yes," he replied starting to stand and hold out his hand. "I'd like you to meet a few of my friends who apparently were also looking for me." With that, Katelyn took his hand and exited the tent. He whispered to her before they fully exited, "Stay behind me until I introduce you, okay?" She whispered a quick okay back to him and did as he said, holding onto his shoulder with her left hand, her right hand on her sword that she had wrapped back onto her waist.

Caesar walked out of the tent and started with, "Hey Leonard, Eldore, long time no see. So, I have someone new I need to introduce you all to. She looks like someone we used to know, but I promise that she is someone different and I will explain why in a minute." They all looked on as Caesar slowly moved to the side and revealed Katelyn from behind him. Before she could even blink, the young man with reddish brown hair that she assumed was Leonard, pulled his sword out, and the girl who she assumed was Yulie, had drawn her bow and had it aimed at her. The older man who she assumed was Eldore just looked at her with squinted eyes as if trying to decipher the pieces of a puzzle. Caesar jumped back in front of her quickly and said, "Hey, guys, listen. She isn't Kara. Her name is Katelyn and she's not from here. Can you all please give her a chance and listen before making assumptions?" With that, she heard a sword being put into its sheath and the sound of arrows knocking together. Then, Caesar moved aside again, but this time grasped her hand and pulled her over towards the firepit from the night before.

He walked over towards the firepit and started the fire again, then took a seat on the ground, sitting next to where Katelyn had sat down. "So, Leonard, Yulie, Eldore," he spoke nodding towards each of them, "this is Katelyn. Somehow, she body swapped and ended up here from a different universe. I know what you are thinking, she looks exactly like Kara, but she's not." "Hello everyone," Katelyn finally spoke from beside him, "My name is Katelyn. You see, one minute I was in my bed and the next I was in Greede. I don't know how I was transported here and into the body I am in now, but I must have been sent here for a reason. I don't know if it's to help you all in your mission, but I really want to help however I can. I don't even know what happened to my body or how to get home, but I'm hoping with all the allies I heard that you all have that we can figure out exactly what's going on here." After her introduction, Eldore spoke up and said, "Well, if Caesar trusts you, then I do too, so welcome to the team. Hopefully we can all get some answers about the problems we are facing that brought us all to this point in time and are the reason for our visit."