"Your master isn't worried about taking someone close to the King? I believe that would be a death sentence." William said calmly to Sedric's men, who were slowly cornering Mahnu and the two knights.

Just as Mahnu said, it hadn’t taken long for the Sedric’s men to come into sight. One came from the direction Jaclyn had travelled in and the other came out to the other side, making things difficult.

With Mahnu’s quick orders, to get everyone else besides the three of them, out of the way, the servants seem to have it lucky…They had not been touched and it showed the two’s men’s clear goal…

William was completely on guard, glad that he only had one to worry about. If the servants had been here too, it would have made his job harder.

"No one will know." Was all one of the men said in return.

"The King is coming." Mahnu said. She did not show happiness but at the same time, she did not show that she was worried…

Deep down, she hoped she would at least be able to hit one of them!

…She was still angry!

One of them scoffed, "They hadn't left when we did, which was quite some time after you. I doubt your words!"

Mahnu smiled, "You can doubt my words all you like but the fact remains."

"So, where is he then!? Is he perhaps...Invisible?" The other person laughed along with him.

William looked at Mahnu, but she quickly said, "Don't take your eyes of them!"

In that small moment, they charged with their swords and they clashed into the knights. Mahnu watched but stepped back, cursing because her Godly strength was gone.

One of the men stabbed the new knight in the arm and then continued, charging straight at her. Mahnu sneered and picked up some dirt, throwing it into his face.

He yelled out fiercely and wiped at his eyes.

Mahnu patiently waited for his next move, so that she could intervene. Having lived a long time, her stance was rarely offensive as she didn’t want to kill anyone. Yet, being defensive was still a good procedure to take when fighting, especially when she could use some of their moves against them.

"Mahnu!" William yelled, still holding the other man off.

"I'm fine, just focus!" Mahnu yelled, not even glancing in William's direction. Side stepping a fist coming at her, she noticed he was trying to knock her out in any way. They were mostly all deathly blows that she had to avoid.

His thoughts connected to hers, and she could see Sedric telling them, 'She's a God. Knock her out completely!'

Oh, how she wished she was a God at this very moment!

But she couldn’t think more as she dodged yet another attack.

Seeing that his fist wasn’t enough, the men brought out his sword and started to get serious. He had not thought that this missy had known any type of Martial Arts and had thought it easy to get her knocked out…

As the men swung his sword, Mahnu was focused completely on the fight at hand. She dodged but felt like these fast movements were not easy. She had not trained daily as a God, but now…She realized that as a human, she should have done some training.

Feeling slightly winded now, she stopped one of his attacks by holding his arm, yet he was strong, making her nearly get hit by his other hand, that was fisted to hit her in the stomach.

Anger brewed inside of her and Mahnu growled, feeling that strange and new protective feeling come across her once again.

Having turned to get away from his fist, she then pulled at his arm and kneed him into the groin, but he moved back, pulling out his hand from her grasp.

Mahnu bit her lip, just one wrong move, that was all it would take. Just now he had aimed at her stomach, and she realized that she not only had to dodge for her, but the child within her as well.

She couldn't keep dodging though, as he kept his attacks and she saw his next move and took advantage of it by ducking and swinging her legs around to trip him.

With a thump, the men fell on his back and the sword sounded out it’s hit to the ground.

Taking up this moment, to get rid of some of her anger, she raised her foot and slammed it down onto his groin, making him yell out to the pain.

Seeing him squirm around, holding onto his manhood, Mahnu breathed in deeply, satisfied.

That felt better!

"Mahnu!"

Finally, she thought, as she watched Sedric’s man continue to squirm in front of her, Richard is here!

Just as Mahnu stepped back, she saw the other man come charging at her. William was chasing after him, yet was still too far away. Mahnu knew though, that she didn’t have to do anything…

The King intervened and kicked the one chasing his woman to the ground. "You dare try to take my woman!"

Mahnu let out a small laugh to the King's words and watched as Sedric's men were caught. They looked at the King with disbelieving eyes, they knew they were in some serious trouble now…

The problem was, they were in quite a bit of pain and that seemed to make them somewhat forget their predicament for the time being.

One could hardly move, as he was still in pain to Mahnu’s attack…The other had been kicked from a horse, hardly able to breath for a near minute afterwards!

The King got off his horse and went towards Mahnu, "Mahnu! Are you alright?"

Finally able to catch her breath, she smiled at King Richard and found herself falling into his arms.

Uh?

Mahnu felt weird, "It's so different fighting...When you're a human."

She felt faint, yet not understanding why, and said, "I'm okay. I'm not hurt."

Hearing voices fade around her, Mahnu was unable to stay conscious.

Having been stressed and worried, angry and focused…She had relaxed as soon as Richard was by her side and suddenly…

Not only was fighting difficult, she started to also see that sometimes getting all worked up and then being relaxed seems to be too much!

Being a human…Is difficult!

Jaclyn was there too now, checking over her condition. Seeing the last minute of two of the fight, Jaclyn could not think it through at the moment, as her job required her to make sure that Mahnu was alright.

"Is she okay?" The King asked, very worried that Mahnu may have been hurt or…

Jaclyn smiled, "Yes. But she should rest."

"Mmm." It was like the sleeping Mahnu was agreeing to this, as this passed through her lips.

The King picked her up and headed for the carriage.

"What did she mean just now, Your Majesty?"

King Richard looked at his beloved, then at Jaclyn, "I will leave you in her hands."

Then he went inside the carriage.

For a moment, Jaclyn just stood there taking in his words.

So…If she wanted to find out, it seemed that Mahnu would have to tell her…Or did he mean something else then? That he trusted her?

“Get the doctor in here and let’s go! We’re returning back to Bena!”

The King’s yell was heard to just about everyone hovering around. Scrambling back to their horses and whatnot, the entourage continued shortly after, but this time, back on the road that they had travelled on earlier.

***

Orders were given and the expanded entourage started back for Bena.

Arresting Sedric was made a degree and his two men were gagged, roped and tied to the carriage, forced to walk the whole way back to Bena. They already knew of their fate of getting beheaded and had fallen into despair. One still felt pain to what Mahnu did, while the other felt slightly winded still. Having stumbled often and even fallen and been dragged upon the ground once or twice, they no longer looked like the men that had stopped them earlier…

The King was inside the carriage with Mahnu on his lap and, on his request, with Jaclyn.

They had been silent for some time and Mahnu was still sleeping soundly, in a slightly dishevelled state. Having travelled and then fought, her hair had nearly come out of it’s hold on top of her head.

King Richard had wanted to clean her yet didn’t have to heart to wake her. He tried to tighten what held Mahnu’s hair together but found it difficult because she was in his lap.

He could only sigh, thinking that he just had to wait until they get back to Bena, before he can clean her up himself!

Jaclyn watched as the King moved a strand of Mahnu's hair. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but how did the two of you meet?"

The King chuckled, still looking at Mahnu. "The very first time we met, she ran around feeding everyone in Anddin, but she disappeared before I could talk to her. The second time I found her in a tree in Havlish and she tried to run away, like a scared little rabbit...She saved my life..."

"Saved your life? Your Majesty?" Jaclyn asked, stunned to hear such a thing.

"Yes! Ah, she stopped the poison dart with her own arm. She also caught the assassin! Truly...I worried about her after she disappeared again." When he looked at Mahnu, Jaclyn saw how gentle his eyes looked and started to truly believe that perhaps Mahnu really did have something the King could fall in love with.

…If it were true, and the King was indebted to Mahnu for saving his life, it was probably understandable. But…A woman…Saving a man’s life?

Jaclyn looked at Mahnu in astonishment.

She saw a little of the fight earlier and Mahnu was able to handle herself...Poison? "Getting poisoned at any stage, makes life of that person harder. Did things change for her after that? Your Majesty?"

Mostly, Jaclyn was just asking about the poison, especially since Mahnu was pregnant now. Poison, if it were still inside Mahnu’s body, could have a high chance of harming the child as well!

Even though she was sure that she found no poison, when having checked Mahnu’s pulse, she wanted to know of this potential danger!

She decided to take a better attention the next time she was to check Mahnu’s pulse.

"It's fine.” The King stated, letting out a little chuckle, “It wouldn't have done anything to her then. She would have been poison free within the day."

He wished he had known that back then though! How he had worried about her!

"How…How is that possible? Did she already know of what antidote to use and have it with her?" Jaclyn wanted to believe the King’s words, but she couldn’t help but question things, just in case…

"She was the antidote!"

The King laughed after what he had just said and looked at Jaclyn. "She saved me a second time, by catching an arrow!"

King Richard rather liked talking about his beloved, he found himself excited and wanting to speak more! Sadly, for him, Jaclyn was put into a state of shock and didn’t respond to him straight away.

How could she believe that? It is unheard of!

Jaclyn’s thoughts were a bit of a mess, but King Richard hid his grin, before continuing, "The third time I saw her, was ten years after the second. She was sad because a child died...Uh, she ended up following me to Conrella. Of course, she disappeared...But I found out later that she was following my every step the whole time! That's when she stopped the arrow and started to talk to me."

Mahnu seems like she's had a tough life, and she must be older then I had originally thought…Jaclyn wondered if the King would know Mahnu's age but thought against asking as it would be rude.

"We were together for a little while, but she left me." The King’s voice this time wasn’t as enthusiastic, it held a bit of anger and he looked like he was pouting.

A King pouting…Because she left him?

"A consort was able to leave you, Your Majesty?" Jaclyn asked, thoroughly confused.

The King sighed, "She wasn't officially my consort, she still isn't. But she had something to find out and I believe I was distracting her.” The King sighed, then looked like he started to reminisce, “After that, it got worse! It was…Really bad."

Two years without her…

Jaclyn wanted to know how or what could have happened? Was this all part of the 'secret', that Mahnu was talking about? How were they able to be together, when she wasn't a consort? How did she follow the King around?

Deciding against asking all these questions, Jaclyn stayed silent, after checking Mahnu's pulse and forehead again.

And even though Jaclyn payed more attention, she found no traces of poison within the pulse that she read…

After that, nothing was said…

They continued to travel to Bena in silence, one curious and troubled, while the other was thankful and looking down at the woman in his arms.

***