an unknown arthurian tale

A young woman had decided early that morning, that she needed to go hunting for more food, with just her and her mother to feed, while her father was traveling. She had long, thick, golden brown hair pulled back off her face with a golden wire, and as always she was dressed as a man with chainmail and an overshirt her father had brought back with him from his yearly trip in beautiful blue print with a golden celtic knot stitched in middle of the front of the shirt and blue print pantalongs. 1

She had gone across the mountain which shelters the village and had taken the northern path to her favorite hunting grounds. She had caught a deer early in the afternoon and she was heading back home about to break for lunch, when she could hear swords clashing in the distance, her horses ears twitched, and she began to surge forward as the noise of battle grew. As they broke through the tree line, she saw a man hit in the temple, she let out her fierces battle call as the man began to topple from the blow, as the call reached the opponnents ears, he fled. The man had fallen from his saddle before she could assist him, as she dismounted from her mare, the injured mans horse tried to bite her, as he tried to protect his fallen rider from this new threat. 2

"Sir, can you hear me? ... Sir?" 3

The man starts to move around and he grunts as the pain begins to hit him in waves. Once again she tries to call out to him,4

"Sir, can you hear me?"5

She heard him grunt once in understanding and replied,6

"Sir, your horse wont let me near enough to help you."7

He grunts a few times before she hears, 8

"Yffae, back boy."9

Yffae snaps one last time at her in warning and backs far enough away that he can see what she is doing to his rider, but close enough to attack her if she was to threaten his rider. As she gets closer, she sees the grusome gash, that she knows she needs to apply a poutlice to soon.10

"Sir, i am going to have to remove your helm, it is applying too much presure on your right temple where the rock dented it."11

Taking his grunt as understanding, she slowly begins to remove his helm as she gets the last piece from hs head he passes out. She takes a good look at the wound and cleans away the blood, after she estimated the damage done, she began to unsaddle both horses. Using both horse blankets, she tried to make the man as comfortable as possible. Then she began to led her horse to a near by stream hoping Yffae followed her mare. She picketed both horses close to the stream and in a good grazing area. She knelt down by the water taking off her overshirt and chainmail, cupped some water in her hands and splashed her face. Glancing back at the sleeping man and surrounding area, she takes off her undershirt and soaks it in the water, and wrings out as much of the water as possible before she puts it back on, it clings to every curve of her body. She gets up and collects a few handfulls of fallen leaves, and looks in her pack for her spare linen and a length of twine, and goes back to the edge of the stream, she begins to put a mixture of mud and leaves into the linen. When she finishes putting enough in the linen she ties the edges together with twine,12

she gets up and heads back to the fallen rider. She puts the poutlice on the right side of his face, which will have to do until she can get him to her mother's side for proper care. After she had adjusted it just right, she began collecting fire wood to warm up their lunch of bread and cheese, and it would also help dry her shirt quicker. As she had the fire burning good, he began to toss and turn, so she walked oer to him and knelt. She put her hand across his forehead to check for fever, when his eye opened, and she tried to take her hand away but she wasn't quick enough because he grabed her arm,13

"whats your name, lad? mine is Sir Aldwulf."14

"I go by Red, do you know who it was sir who attached you, my lord?"15

"I am afraid not, but by the tattoo's on the face it leads me to believe it was a pict."16

She leaned over towards the fire, giving Aldwulf a good look at her curves, she grabs the warming lunch, as she feels a strong hand around her other arm. She looks at back at him startled,17

"your not a lad after all."18

She put the food down and started to reach for her sword, as he saw her responce, he let go of her and said,19

"lass, i am sworn to king arthur's round table to protect the weak from the very thought that has you grabbing for you sword now. I wont let any harm come to you lass, I pledge to you my life as a brother for saving my life."20

"Is it true then, what the bards say about king arthur being a just king?"21

"aye lass, why is it you are out here all by yourself dressed as a lad?"22

"my name is Elenfled, but my father, Wictred, gave me the nickname red when i was a child because of my quick temper in a battle. I am out here all alone because i am both the best hunter and warrior in my village, and i was on my way home when I heard your battle. Here, eat this, maybe afterwards you will feel strong enough to reach my home. My mother, Anicia, is our village healer. I only had time to learn the basics, when it came round to learning how to weld a weapon." 23

"How come you are hunting by yourself?"24

"My father goes on a trip somewhere about this time every year since i can remember."25

"He has never told you where he goes lass?"26

"no"27

For a while they sit in comfortable silence, as they finish their meal.28

"If you feeling well enough, i will go fetch the horses."29

"Aye lass, I am surprised Yffae let you take him from my side."30

She chuckled softly, bringing a warm sensation in his body,31

"yffae has a thing for my warhorse, he followed me and Annes to the stream." 32

He began to laugh, setting off butterflies in the pit of her stomach, she turned away from him quickly so he wouldn't see her blush. She dashed off towards the stream where she had left the horses to graze. She brought back the horses when she had her emotions under control, and began to put their saddles back on,33

"do you think you can ride by yourself, my lord?"34

"please call me, Aldwulf, and i dont think so im getting dizzy just sitting here." 35

She continued even though she could feel him watching her every move, as she finished she noticed he was putting out the fire,36

"well when you feel ready to try and get on, we can start on our way."37

At her words he turns towards her, as she is putting on her chainmail and overshirt, he says,38

"if you dont mind giving me a hand up, it would be most appriciated."39

"Of course, Aldwulf."40

She helped him up into the saddle, and watched him closely as she let go,41

"my world is spining."42

She began to giggle, as she climbed into the saddle infront of him,43

"lean on me Aldwulf, i dont break easily, i learned that the hard way when i was a kid."44

He chuckled softly against her right check as he wraped himself around her, and she tried desperately not to react to having a man so close to her. 45