A Mark of Metal

Chapter 5

Genevieve's POV

After being bandaged up and fed soup, I wrap the giant fur coat around me and lay silently near the makeshift horse stable. The only place in this entire campsite where I was near no man, and felt the safest to lay unconscious for hours. But as I was trying to close my eyes, I couldn't shake the fearful face the cloaked man had when he was talking to muscle man.

I wondered what scared him...The pregnancy? I swear to God, that if he's gone around telling people I'm 'pregnant', I'm going to kill him.

Drifting off to sleep, wondering what else could've made him so shocked.

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Waking up suddenly by the sun blaring onto my face, I open my eyes to see muscle man staring down at me, holding the fur coat I covered myself with.

"Morning." He announces down to me with raised brows, his fist on his hip.

I groan rubbing my eyes, rolling over to see the men assembling their armour over their tunics.

The muscular man adorned in his metal and chain armour looks away and says something. Someone then hands him a plate of, presumably food.

As the blur from my eyes cleared, I saw the man clearly for the first time, as he was not wearing his helmet. I note his strong jaw and pointed large nose, giving him an almost angelic look. His shaggy and loosely curled hair perfectly framing his masculine face, making me truly see the beauty of this man.

Heaven....?

I push myself off the ground and sit myself in an upright position.

After the man had received the plate he puts his attention back onto me, and hands me the plate, before speaking once again.

"Restore your energy, we have a long journey ahead." He ended his short conversation by plopping the coat over my head, noticing that I was straining to see him under the sun's blare.

I look down at the plate, and pray it wasn't the rancid soup from yesterday. But to my surprise it was a block of cheese, bread and a knife. Nutritious.

Ignoring my ignorance of war and foodly complaints, I eat the food that was handed to me, knowing that I might not eat again in a long while.

As I was cutting up the cheese and placing it upon the thick bread, I took the time to watch the men before me. I never knew much about knights and medieval life, as the romantic era had always plagued my interest, yet nevertheless these men fascinated me. Seeing them dress up with many more layers for protection than the modern day, I wondered how they could dress themselves in so much metal and keep themselves upright.

Feeling it weird to continue to look at these men, I shifted my focus to finishing my breakfast.

Just as I was finishing, I had noted how quickly the men packed up their camp, it was impressive. As I take hours to even decide what to wear.

But not before long I was once again placed on top of a horse with a man I didn't know. But I felt a little different, because I now knew that what was under the helmet, it was a dutiful and without question, a beautiful man.

A rosy blush was placed on my face at the thought that the same man was holding the horse's reins around my body, capturing my upper-body between his arms, and sitting so close that I could feel his warm breath on my neck.

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After hours of travelling, and taking small breaks every now and again, I had finally started to see signs that I wasn't doomed to travel uncomfortably on a horse for the rest of my life. In the distance of the now farm lands we were on, I saw what seemed to be a massive kingdom. With a decorated castle sitting on the kingdom's highest point.

Is that where we're heading to? Looks a little like Disneyland.

Man this afterlife is just getting more and more confusing.

As we neared closer to the large kingdom, I look down at my arm and run my hand along the neatly placed bandage. Afterlife? Feels a little too real.. I question myself, feeling the intricate weaves of the bandage.

Soon enough we had arrived at the massive wooden gates of the kingdom, and I gape at the large infrastructure before me.

Ignoring the conversation the man behind me has with the guards, I stare at the sight before me. Amazed beyond belief, knowing that no mind of mine could create such a realistic and intricate image.

As the gate opens and the metal frame inside is drawn up, the horse once again moves. I look at the faces of the common people as we pass through the rock and mud filled street. They all were focused on the men, looking at them in amazement, shock and excitement. As if they knew exactly who these men were, and the duty they had just fulfilled.

Suddenly realising the amount of eyes drawn to us, and to the man behind me especially, I cower further into the fur coat I was given. But the man paid no mind, as he simply kept his chest out in pride and continued his journey through the old town.

As we made our way through the town and up a slope, the man's breath comes to my ear as he begins to speak. "Now, you are to introduce yourself as my chambermaid. Introducing yourself in any other way, may get yourself killed." He spoke gently in my ear, as if I had other intentions. Saying it in a way that made it seem as if this was the only way to ensure my survival.

Killed? What's so bad about me?

As the slope came to a more level ground, another wall with a gate laid before us, telling me that we were now outside the large castle that I had seen on the way here.

Looking up to the gate I had noted the sheer number of guards posted. Informing me that whoever resided in this castle was either very important or very paranoid. And I knew that from the point I entered those gates, I would have to put on the best acting performance of my life.