Forbidden

[blackrose]

<b>Forbidden</b>
By the Black Rose


AN: The title sucks, it's a rough draft, it sorely needs editing. I have no idea if any of the horseback riding stuff is remotely NOT-sucky (ran out of time to check with Morri, my source), the action needs to be gone over because I think it lacks drama, and oh yeah, the ending is abrupt.

But. Huzzah. I made it. *collapses*

I'll do an edit on it later....

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<b>Forbidden</b>

<i> "I only wish to be with you." Relena's voice trembled. Her hand cupped his cheek. Her fingers felt like fire against his skin?</i>

The full moon lit the sky. Cold, winter air bit his nose and the exposed skin of his neck. A snowflake drifted on the swift breeze. Heero took a deep breath. The castle's torches were all lit. Their flames flickered and smoked, outlining the formidable stone structure in the distance.
Guards patrolled the top and the base of the fortress. And though he couldn't see them, he knew their positions?

There would be three archers at the center turret. Six horseman directly beneath them at the main entrance. Another archer would be stationed at each corner of the roof. Two swordsman on foot would patrol below?.

<i> 'A small army surrounds it. My army. My men. I have trained them to fight, to kill for their king. Many days I have hoped I have done my job well.'

'But tonight?'</i>

His horse snorted. The animal's hooves tapped against the hard ground and Heero felt its muscles shift. The king's knight tightened his grip on the reins.

"What am I doing?"

Blue eyes stared up at him. Her lips grew closer as her fingers slid up his cheek to cradle the back of his head.

"I have been charged with your protection, your highness." He shifted his gaze to the ceiling. His heart galloped in his chest and he found it difficult to breathe.

"I know?I am more than that to you."

She drew closer?


His horse whinnied softly and took a step forward.

"Yes, it is almost time. You know we cannot leave too early or we will meet with both patrols instead of none."

<i> She stared at him from across the room. Her room?that was all too welcoming despite the fact he knew?

"I swore my oath to your kingdom, to your father many years ago."

"And still you do not answer me."

"I cannot say what you wish me to."

"I only wish you to say what you desire."

"And what point is there, your highness, in desiring what I cannot have?"</i>

His horse snorted and shook his head, jolting Heero from his memory. "You are nervous. Or perhaps you sense it from me."

His left hand released the reins. The knight patted the back of the animal's neck in long, soothing strokes.

"The Princess leaves at dawn," he said and thumped the horse twice with his gloved hand before returning it to grip the rein.

"But if everyone plays their part?."

The horse took another step forward. It whinnied again. "Anxious, are we?" He urged the animal forward. It walked a few paces and then picked up to a slow trot.

"We will be swift." He bent forward; the horse trotted faster.

He felt the muscles of the horse bunch and release. Bunch and release. The animal broke into a dead run.

"And I will not fail."

******************************************************
A sound like the door cracking open shattered the silence of the room. Relena jumped and turned her head to glance over her shoulder before realizing?

"It was just the fire." She took a deep breath. The princess frowned at the yule log in the fireplace, and then returned her attention to the small pile of things she had collected on top of a thin blanket. Two ivory combs, which had once belonged to her mother, an extra shift* for the journey ahead, a country dress borrowed from her maid, a few pieces of gold, pairs of stockings, and a tablet* which held a miniature of her mother.

"I think this is all I should dare." She folded the sides of the blanket over the top of her things and knotted the corners together. Relena picked up the sack, and moved towards the door of her room.

She turned to look back. Something glinted on top of her cabinet. The princess choked and dropped her makeshift knapsack. She grabbed for the object: a small, thick pewter ring with his name engraved on the inside. Relena turned it over in the palm of her hand before bringing it to her lips.

<i> "Relena, I am sure you are aware that your brother will inherit this throne after my death."

"Yes, father."

"Furthermore, you are not ignorant of the amount of responsibility that entails."

"No, father."

"And as your brother is still young, he will not be in a position to consider the situation of his younger sister while he is in the midst of these responsibilities."

"Father?"

"So, the task falls on me that even though you are still a bit young to be married, if I should leave your situation to your brother, I am afraid he will not have you married before you are thirty."

"But, I?"

"Do not interrupt me, child."

"Yes, sir."

"Within the month, you will be sent by carriage to the first prince of the kingdom of Aquitaine to the west."

"Father!"

"I will miss you, my daughter. But you will be well. You will be a queen, as you should be."</i>


"Perhaps?Perhaps if I had not met him, I would have made the prince of Aquitaine a good wife, a good queen. But, you erred father, and I would not wish it any other way. Your captain is as good a man as I have ever met ? and a thousand times as brave as any knight or soldier I have ever seen. I am only sorry that I must still part from you, my dear father, my dear brother." Relena placed the ring on the fourth finger of her left hand, and moved back to retrieve her sack.


<i> "It?it is not much, surely, compared to the fine jewels and?"

"And yet it is already the thing I will treasure most in this world."

"Relena?"

"Heero." She brought her hands up to cup his face. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his body. The knight bent forward, and gently traced her lips with his mouth.</i>


She swung open the door, stepped out into the corridor with the slick, slate tiles, glanced both ways and shut the heavy wood panel behind her. The princess pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. She grabbed the hem of her skirt in her left hand, and hugged the sack under her right arm.

The princess looked back one last time at the empty hallway, then began moving at a pace just short of running.


<i> "What would you say to me if I told you my father intends to?send me away?"

"Where?"

"To Aquitaine. The prince?He wishes alliance with our kingdom."

"Then you are to be his."

"No."

"Relena?"

"Heero, if you tell me I must go... Then, I will not argue. But, know that I?"

"It is my duty to tell you to go, your highness."

"That is not an answer."

"It is an answer. It may not be the answer you wish to hear."

"You say only that it is your duty to tell me so. You do not say the words 'you must go'."

"You must?"

She placed her hand to his mouth. "In all the time I have known you, I have asked you to say many things which you would not. Why, then, do you say the words I wish most not to hear from your lips? Why could you not say instead the ones I want to hear?"

"Which words are those, your highness?"

"Why can you not say that you love me?"</i>

****************************************************
The winter air bit at the exposed skin of his face and numbed his ears. Heero crouched low as the beast galloped at a fast clip through the field, destroying larger pieces of brush as horse and rider headed directly for the higher terrain along the castle's east wall. They flew low over the ground, the moon their only pursuer ? for the moment. The knight steered his animal up the sharp incline, spurring the horse as he started to slow.

"We still have a long way." As if he understood, the animal quickened his pace once again. They arrived at the top of the hill, the ground seeming to fall away behind them. There were only a few feet between it and the fortress wall ? a deep ravine cut betwixt the terrain and stone structure; a weak deterrent, always the weakest point in their army's defense. He yanked the reins and pulled the animal to a short stop.

"Breathe my friend." He patted the horse's neck with two dull thumps. The knight saw his breath puff like smoke in the air. He maneuvered the animal close to the ravine, allowing the horse to see the gap. "We have to cross that, and we do not have much time." The beast reared back and tossed its head. Heero tugged the reins. His horse jogged away from the ravine. At the other edge of the hill, they turned back. The knight spurred his horse once again. The charger took off, broke into a dead sprint; hooves struck the ground as the saddle rose and fell with each movement of the animal's hips. Heero hugged the charger's neck as the terrain fell away?

His horse snorted. The wind caught and whipped the animal's mane. The charger cleared the top of the stone wall. Starlight twinkled overhead in the dark winter sky. He felt the animal's neck tense an instant before the horse's hooves connected once more with the ground.

"Good boy." The charger continued at a gallop towards the castle.


<i> "You're hiring my ship for what purpose?"

"I am paying you to wait here, nothing more."

"Wait here for what?"

"At half past midnight, you will take me, my horse, and my companion across the channel to?"

"Your what?"

"Captain Maxwell."

"Sirrrr Yuy."

"I have paid you in full not to ask me any questions. You said you would do me this favor."

"If you plan to elope with the princess, just say so."

"The less you know, the less danger you will be facing. Just keep the boat docked here until you hear me give the signal. Then prepare to launch your vessel no matter what. I will be there."

"You have my word."</i>


The castle grew closer by leaps and bounds. He kept his posture low as the horse sprinted across the large expanse of ground, but it wouldn't be long?

The charger's hooves hit the cobblestone lane that led to and around the fortress. A loud clip-clop sound accompanied the change in terrain.


<i> "I will meet you? Whenever you wish it, I will be there. Wherever you tell me to go?"

"Meet me at the large oak along the path behind the castle at exactly midnight, Relena. I will come for you."</i>


He heard the shouting only a fraction of a second before the first shot was fired.

"A rider! A rider!"

Fire streaked across the sky. Heero urged the horse onward. Flaming arrows lit the night. But the archers' aim was too slow. The charger dodged.

"We must call the captain!"

<i> 'I am the captain, you fools.'</i>

Another barrage of arrows tore across the sky. Heero steered the animal off the path and drove on.

<i> 'I can make this?'</i>


<i> "Heero?Why can you not say that you love me?"

"Because, I?"

"Yes?"

"I fear, Relena, what it could do."

"I do not understand?"

"Relena. If I said those words. And you said?that you?loved me."

"I do love you."

"Then I fear we are both lost."</i>
*****************************************************
The princess rushed outside. She had to suck in a large breath at the shock of the cold winter wind, and turn away from its assault. Relena heard cries from the archers overhead. Streaks of fire lit the night sky.

"Heero?"

She picked up the edge of her skirt again and ran towards the cobblestone path ? and the large oak where they were supposed to meet. The ground felt uneven beneath her feet. She could hear the beat of horses' hooves against hard ground. One set clopped eagerly against the stone lane. The princess quickened her pace.

She stumbled, pitched forward, and caught herself before she ended up face down on the ground. Her knapsack tumbled from her grasp. The Princess picked herself up. The hoof beats sounded louder, closer. She searched the ground for her sack.

"Mother's combs?" She found the white linen pack, grabbed it and hiked her skirt up higher where she gripped it this time. Relena ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

Another burst of light. Arrows scorched the night. The shouting grew louder. Her father's guards were in hot pursuit. Would Heero even have enough time? Or would stopping to collect her get them both surrounded? Her foot tangled in something, and she tripped. Relena caught herself, slowed just long enough to regain her footing, then continued her journey. Air seemed like it was running out. The path was still a long way off.

"Stop him! Stop him! Where are the guardsmen?"

Clump clump clump! Clumpity clump! She tripped and fell. The tree was only a few feet away. She picked herself up. Breath?breathing. She couldn't?she felt like she couldn't go on.
Relena gasped for air. She stumbled forward another step.

"RELENA!"

The princess whirled around just as her knight rounded the corner in the path. She grabbed blindly in the direction of her fallen knapsack, found it and stepped again.

"STOP! STOP NOW BY ORDER OF THE KING!" Three of her father's guardsmen charged after Heero on horseback. The knight was still a good distance ahead. She leapt forward, her feet wobbled beneath her. The princess staggered the last few steps?

Her knight slowed. Relena bit her lip as he brought his horse to almost a dead stop. He leaned down and stretched a hand in her direction. No sooner had she taken it than they were moving forward. The knight's charger horse galloping at an impossibly quick speed. She clung to Heero's neck as soon as she got near enough to throw her arms around him. He pulled her into a sitting position around the base of the horse's neck, and leaned over her. The charger continued galloping as if it was completely unfazed?

"Stay low." The knight whispered close to her ear. Was it wrong of her to feel?something when danger was still so near?

They rounded another bend in the trail, taking the path into the heavily wooded area on the back of the castle grounds. All that lay on the other side was the channel, and then the Eastern kingdom?.

"Heero, not this way."

"Trust me."

They tore through the woods. The sounds of the castle grew further in the distance. The cold wind and air tore at?everything. Her hood had fallen from its place protecting her head?.

Heero rose up, brought two fingers of his right hand to his mouth. A loud whistle erupted into the night air. He repeated the sound. Arrows struck two trees on either side of the small path ? just ahead. The knight cursed and leaned over her again. Relena peeked her head up, peering into the distance? A boat!

But, the man, the captain of the boat had already pulled the anchor and the boat began to drift from the end of the pier.

"Heero?"

"Hold on?"

THUNK! THUD! Two more arrows burned into the path ahead. The horse sidestepped. They leapt! She felt Heero tense above her?

And then they stopped.

"Looks like you made it," an unfamiliar voice said.

Heero dismounted, and pulled Relena down from the horse to stand on the deck of a merchant sloop. The pier, behind him, seemed like it was miles away. Her father's guardsmen?

"Heero, are we?"

"Safe?"

"Free."

His mouth curved up into a smile. "Yes, your highness."

Relena sighed and leaned into his waiting embrace.


***************************************************
*shift = a woman's undergarment, also called a chemise

*tablet = the term circa 1500s for a woman's locket which would hold a miniature portrait

[Morrighan]

Yay for knight fics!!!

I didn't see anything wrong with the horseback riding....at least at first I didn't. Maybe I'll go back and look at it closely later.

*GLOMP*

[Andrea]

OH! You made it!! IT was so romantic! I loved their interaction, especially Heero's obvious weakness when he was around her.

*turns into goo* Lovely! SO romantic. *sighs*

[melrose_stormhaven]

Ohhh...so romantic...

[lildragonfly]

Ohhh...so romantic...

agreed, romantic is the word.

[Tsukamei]

Nicely done, if short. *applauds*