Her bruised and battered body erupted with shards of pain with every unsteady step that she struggled to take while her grip threatened to slackened along with her rapidly failing strength.

Urging the woman in her arms to not slip from life itself, she pushed antagonizing pain aside and tightened her hold around the limp form. The nearly unconscious woman's face was ghastly pale and her ebony tresses were plastered against her skin over a thin film of cold sweat. 

Clenching her jaw and hence resolve, the wounded knight refused to give in to her body’s clamoring need to stop and rest. She was determined to continue until she reached the sanctuary she was so familiar with. The gates leading into her kingdom stood just beyond the forest and she knew she could make it there as long as she did not drop from sheer exhaustion. 

She had been sent to visit various lands under strict instructions by her newly crowned Queen to obtain the respective rulers’ assurance to remain neutral in the ongoing war her country was presently engaged in. Unfortunately her last destination had turned out to be a trap, orchestrated by a less powerful continent which had always been jealous of their thriving economy. Asked to shed her amour in demonstration of her friendly intention, she was alas ambushed from the moment she stepped inside to meet their ruler.

The 'king' turned out to be an assassin in disguise and she was despicably impaled with a short dagger at arm's length. An army of men banishing broad swords proceeded to burst into the room in the following seconds and launched a deadly attack from all sides. Fighting her way to the exit, she barely managed to retrieve her weapon previously left with the soldier standing guard outside.

Knocking him well across the hallway with a perfectly executed blow, she unsheathed her gleaming sword and went about cutting down any soldier who dared halt her escape. Wresting control of a horse which was being led back to the stables and riding away from the castle before its heavy iron gates crashed down, she did so by paying a high price. 

Covered with multiple injuries and on the verge of falling from her horse as the stallion galloped swiftly through the forest, fate had brought her straight into the path of a frail maiden who was being harassed by a trio of men. Though she had successfully rescued the woman from the brutal attack she was receiving, she was too late in preventing her delicate neck from being griped in a viselike hold and her fragile body from being flung to the ground. 

“We thought you were dead!” 

A voice exclaimed through the mist and echoed against the grating of wood on stone as the gate slowly rose up. Ignoring the comment of the teenage guard who offered to take over the human cargo, she persisted in wanting to carry the now motionless woman into the compound. 

The blood oozing from a dozen wounds on her body had reached an almost crucial level and her vision blurred as darkness danced at the edge of her sight. Her legs wobbled, forcing her to her knees and the impact jarred the deep gash in her thigh. She gasped at the searing pain shooting throughout her entire body as a pair of hands reached out for the woman she held protectively in her arms.

"No." 

She breathed out weakly, pulling her closer whilst blinking off a sudden surge of dizziness. 

“You can't even hold yourself up. Let me take her.” 

Shifting her gaze from the unconscious face to look up into her best friend's eyes, she whispered. 

“I can't, or she’ll die.” 

The knight had arrived seconds before with a lady in toil. Raking her fingers through her hair in exasperation, she watched as the kneeling soldier refused to sever her physical connection with the raven haired woman resting in her arms. 

"Do you trust me?" 

Although she could not see her face as her eyes were in the process of shutting completely, she recognized from her soft voice and gentle tone that the one speaking was the fiancée of her young Queen. Tilting her face upwards at the person she had been secretly in love with since the first time she laid eyes on her, the injured woman murmured a reply. 

“With my life." 

"Then let me ease her pain." 

Proceeding to pry her stiff fingers loose, she motioned to the noblewoman standing beside her to assist with the casualty. Nodding in affirmation, she bent down and waited for her friend to pass the barely breathing victim over.

Releasing her hold on her with a grateful sigh, she finally succumbed to the intense pain, allowing it to engulf her wholly. The last thing she remembered was the object of her affection touching her sweat drenched brow with her slender fingertips. 

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The title is not exactly creative but it's the best I can come up with at the moment. I'm open to suggestions? ^^; 

Anyone wants to maybe try guessing who are the characters who have appeared thus far?