Welcome to Gaia! ::

Johan suddenly had a pretty lady in his arms.

This was new.

He struggled not to drop her while frantically looking to see what had scared her so. A low clucking filled the cottage, and the miscreant fluttered to the tabletop in a burst of feathers.

A chicken.

While Johan might have been tempted to laugh, he remembered fighting a 100 foot tall chicken a day earlier. He also didn't wish to hurt Riley's feelings. She was obviously terrified.

"It's a chicken." he assured her. "Would you like me to set you down?"

To the others, he considered what they'd said about someone being here.

"Well, considering the noise I made when we first arrived, they'd have to be deaf not to know we're here." he said with some chagrin. "So either no one is here right now, or if they are here, they're not showing themselves."

"Perhaps there's something in or around the cottage to tell us who. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? We could search." he suggested.

It did not take long for Riley to realize that not only had she just jumped into another man's arms, but she was still there, feeling the warmth of his body pressed against her, and his hands on her, and she was in the air and she couldn't run or cringe or get away-

Riley was slowly turning to stone with every second he held her, and that just made her heavier to carry. Coupled with the heavy prayer beads still around her waist, it would be almost impossible to keep her in his arms for long. Her hands had wrapped around his neck automatically, and now they were freezing up, horrified by how intimate it all felt.

Her entire body was shaking, trembling as if it was moments away from collapsing into itself. But out of the terror, she managed to find the courage to let out a whisper in one exhale, a tiny little peep of a sound.

"Yes please."

Feeling Riley literally tremble in his arms, Johan wondered at how badly the chicken had scared her. Did she have a fear of chickens?

He glared at the others as they made jests about the chicken, and attempted to carry Riley away from the table. The chicken, which had been perched contentedly on the table, took notice, and followed.

"I'll put you down just as soon as I get this chicken to leave you alone." he promised Riley. He was really struggling to walk normally, determined as he was not to let on how heavy Riley was. He'd never have guessed it from looking at her! Did she have rocks in that dress somewhere?

He'd made a complete circle of the cottage, and the chicken was still following him. Johan attempted to shoo the chicken away with a foot, and nearly toppled over.

He was just going to have to be quick! Turning to put himself between Riley and the chicken, he set her down in a seat by the table, tried not to groan in relief, and then turned and snatched up the chicken. He carried the belligerent fowl to the other side of the cottage, where he examined the walls, floor, and furniture, looking for anything unusual.

"We are not Knights of the Silver Chicken." he protested, a little worried at how enthusiastic Bradley and Doctor seemed to be about it.

She didn't understand why he continued to carry her around, and her face was turning a blooming shade of red, coupled with the fact that she'd stopped breathing at some point, which meant it would be turning purple any minute. When he finally put her down, her arms disentangled from his neck and wrapped around the chair, hugging it like it was a lifeline and crying into the wood.

She spent a few moments like that, while he got rid of the chicken, until she finally was able to calm down enough to wipe the tears from her eyes and actually understand what the other two were trying to say.

In a stunning twist, the first words out of Riley's mouth after her breakdown, were a very soft, but almost interested-

"We should name it." She gestured with her chin, towards the chicken. "If it's to be our new order mas.. cot."

Her words stumbled in the end when Johan began to return towards her, and her face bloomed red all over again, though it hadn't yet recovered from the first time. She wasn't going to be able to look at him without blushing and choking up, now.

[Zar]

Zar arrived to the cottage a little later than the others, looking wild, wide eyed and with half the forest in his hair. He was about to ask if anyone present had seen a lazy chap with lots of black hair and a scruffy little beard when he froze in the doorway looking directly at the chicken.

"Oh good." he said, echoing Sammy's sentiment. "Someone brought a snack."

He edged into the room and a little nearer the chicken. "Is there anywhere to cook it?"

[Enter]

He still had no clear idea or plan as he his feet did their best to keep him from stumbling over the uneven stones before he crashed through a door and out into the world beyond the castle. At one point Matthias had thought he would never see the world outside again, that he would die there at the castle defending it. Now he was escaping it. No, he would return at some point, someone had to something had to be done. It had all gone so wrong, everything was falling apart and soon they were sure to wiped from existence.

A voice yelled, someone on the ramparts had seen him as an arrow whizzed passed him burying itself in a tree. Their footsteps echoed as they ran down the hall, he could hear the as they made their way out of the castle as someone yelled orders of watch direction they were to move in. Quickening his pace Matthias started to run even more as the voices seemed to scatter behind him they were following, it was a desperate attempt to keep all of them there. The whole castle itself was almost like a prison at this rate, under control the Great Knights left.

Breath was growing ragged as Matthias kept running, the voices fading farther and farther into the distances. Soon they were no longer heard, but he kept running even as his knees wanted to scream in pain as he was pretty sure he was going to die from lack of breath. A few more minutes and he stumbled out of the forest and into a small clearing, only to land face first into the ground. Rolling over he gathered up some air before looking around and seeing the cottage. It didn’t look as if it was inhabited currently, or as if the occupant had left recently and other knights from the castle had gathered but it didn’t matter. Matthias got to his feet and headed straight for water, guzzling down a cup full before turning to see who else had arrived.

[Zar]

Zar's attention switched to the kid almost automatically and he found himself wondering if they'd be delicious too before his brain switched track to the appropriate gear.

"Hey. hey. Kid." he said, as calmingly as he could. "We aren't dangerous." It was a bit of a lie, but whatever. "Do you have anything to eat in here? Other than the chicken."

Okay. Now Johan didn't know what to make of Riley. With a sign of defeat he put the chicken down, who immediately legged it over to Riley.

"Chicken Knights it is." he conceded with a sigh. He was not naming the chicken, though!

They were soon joined by other escapees. Johan was glad to see that others had managed to avoid being put in the dungeons. He hoped to fill them in on what he'd heard as well, but, understandably, most were interested in recovering from their run, and finding some food. Their 'mascot' seemed the main candidate.

And then a child. Johan stared in amazement at the lad as the obscenely beautiful Knight with the silver hair calmed him down. A boy of his years alone in the Forest?

"We are Knights from Camelot." he answered, trying to school his expression into something less likely to frighten the child further. "Is this your cottage? We apologize for entering uninvited. We were looking for shelter."