The blood coming from Frey's neck started to drip down his shoulders and on to Una. She was trying to gait Gwen gently across the grassy lands, avoiding every hard bump she could.

"I'm so sorry! Hang in there, Frey. We're going to fix you up soon! I promise!" Una said.

"You...sound...worried," Frey said with labored breathing and was still able to muster a small smile.

Una and Frey had passed the dyke long ago, and a few moments prior, Frey woke up. Now they are following a path Una spotted in hopes that it would lead to a village. Una was a very skilled healer herself, but she lacks the tools she needs to clean and suture Frey's wounds. He has a crushed windpipe, broken ribs, a broken middle finger. Both of his ears, eyes, and nose were bleeding. There was a large sword gash in his shoulder when they pushed him to the ground.

"We're almost there!" Una insisted as Gwen hit a bump and Frey grimaced in pain.

He was latched on to Unalike an infant. His hands were weakly grasped to her cloak, and his head was laid on her breast. He trembled and shook from both fear and blood loss. A lock of hair was missing next to his damaged shoulder when he was stabbed down. Una felt like she was with Selene again, trying to get her help, but who could she run to in this forest?

"Yvar...where...is he?" Frey begged.

Una was glad he was asking questions, even though it was painful to hear. It meant he was still alive. The sweet sound of bloody lips forming sentences was reassuring.

"Forget him. We need to get you help, Frey. You're hurt pretty badly."

"haha, really?" Frey coughed.

"Ahh!" He winced in pain.

"Try not to do that! You will only hurt your ribs!" Una pleaded.

Frey looked up at Una as they stopped on top of a large hill. Una looked down to meet his face, speckled with red dots from strangulation and the sclera of his eyes are red as rubies. He looked at Una with a strange look, the look for help for being scared. Una had seen this many times on the battlefield. If she didn't hurry, she was going to lose Frey.

"Frey, I see a town in the distance! Try to stay awake, please!" Una begged him.

He would not take his eyes off of her. He was fading.

"Frey, what's wrong!" Una cried as he coughed and blood spewed across her chest, and Frey fell back limp.

"Frey!" Una screamed.

Una pulled him close and clicked Gwen into a heavy gallop down the hill. Gwen was not used to this, so Una had little control of the reins. She was holding Frey in one arm, and in the other, she had the reins.

"The woods, Gwen!" Una shouted.

Gwen swerved right and flew out of the tall grasses and into the dark of the woods ahead of them by a divine miracle.

"Good girl, keep going. We mustn't stop! Please, Gwen, Frey's hurt!" Una cried to her as Gwen heaved and pawed across the soft moss of the woods.

Suddenly she felt her body fly forward. She was able to catch Frey and swivel him on top of her so he wouldn't hit the ground. Una felt her shoulders skid and collide into a log as her leg became lodged into a large branch and twisted. An immense pain struck through her neck like a bolt of lightning. Frey was limp, laying on her stomach, unconscious.

"Gods!" Una cried.

She looked back and saw the two horses snorting and pawing at the ground. Between them was a large maple. The tree was shaking, and dead leaves were shaken off from the branches around them. Una can see now that the reins attached to Gwen's saddle had become wrapped across the tree, separating the horses and flinging her off with Frey when they couldn't move further.

"No, no, no!" Una cried out, gently pulling up Frey's pale hair to reveal the blood slowly seeping out of his mouth on her stomach.

"Frey, don't you do this to me, not now!" She cried, sitting up, disregarding her sprained leg ankle.

She pulled her leg away, a jolt of pain coming through again. She tried to stand up but found it very difficult with her ankle. She was able to balance, and she picked Frey up by his collar and began to drag him across the ground. She could see the path in the woods, so far away, but Frey had to live.

"Come on!" Una screeched as she tried to pull him across the log.

"Gwen!" Una cried out to her horse but had become even more twisted in the fallen branches and trees.

"Gods, please help me!" Una cried out.

"Please, whatever I have done, don't allow Frey to die! He is innocent! Let me die instead, let him live!" Una pleaded as she collapsed on her knees and cried in her hands, letting go of Frey.

It was as if Cernunnos, the God of the wild, had come to save her in her lament.

"Are you alright!?" A melodic voice rang out in the distance.

"Please, help me!" Una cried out, looking around from where the voice called.

"I see you. I'm coming, hold on!" The voice reassured us it grew louder.

"Thank you!" Una cried in relief.

She knew she could move no further. She physically could not move. Her ankle was twisted, and it would be impossible to drag Frey through the woods.

"A lady!" Una heard a voice behind her.

She turned around and was met by a boy's gaze, no older than ten, who was peering down at them. His face went pale, and the soft curls of his dark hair bounced in the light wind of the forest. You could hear a pin drop. The boy was terrified.

"My friend is hurt. Could you get some help for me please, young man?" Una asked softly as she tried to turn.

"None to worry, I will fetch my eldest sister!" He assured her.

"Wait!" Una cried.

"I promise, I'm coming back!" The boy said and sprinted off.

As the boy ran away, Una felt tears begin to swelter in her eyes. She couldn't believe it. She had been saved. She and Frey both were going to make it. She said a silent prayer and thanked the Gods for their hand in saving them.

"Me, lady!?" Una could hear someone quickly approaching.

"Me, lady!" A sweet-sounding voice came behind Una.

Una turned around and met the round dark blue eyes of a young woman standing next to her.

"It's him. He's going to die if his wounds are not sealed!" Una urged her.

"I shall tend to him, none to worry!" She assured Una.

"Please take him and go. I cannot walk, but do not wait on me. I am fine!" Una insisted.

The girl looked around as if she didn't know what to do.

"He is very light so that you can drag him easily," Una said as she tried to stand up.

"No, miss, you mustn't! Take your boots off, and I'll come back for you." She assured Una.

"Thank you...err." Una hesitated.

"Llewelyn, miss." She smiled and looked over at Frey.

The girl walked over to him and was able to drag him by his tunic and cloak. Una watched as she was able to slide him over the logs and branches. She could hear the whinny of a horse nearby. She knew all would be alright.

"Sion, watch her!" The girl said, carrying off Frey through the wood.

The boy came trotting over to Una, his eyes wide as Una unlaced her books to reveal her leg.

"What happened to ye?" He asked, crouching down.

He looked at Una's ankle, already beginning to swell at the joint.

"Our horses got tangled around a tree, and we fell. The boy was already badly injured." Una looked up at the boy, staring at her ankle.

"How'd you come by that?" Sion asked.

"It got lodged in the fork of a branch when I skid across the ground, and I twisted it," Una said, rubbing it.

"Ouch!" Una hissed.

"Why are you here?" The boy said bluntly.

Una looked up at the Sion, his light brown eyes dancing in the sparse light of the treetops.

"Oh, my friend who got hurt. We were going to go see his father, that blasted king!" Una said as she jerked her other boot off of her foot.

"His father is a king?" The boy said excitedly.

"Yes, but he's a mean king. I'm dropping him off and leaving." Una laughed as she examined her foot.

"But Gareth is so nice. He is coming to see us tonight!" The boy said, looking sad.

Una looked over at the boy and then saw his clothes. They were not tattered or torn, nor was their dirt on them. Who was this child, Una thought to herself?

"Who is coming to see you?" Una asked.

"Gareth." He stated, sitting crisscross on the dirt.

"Who is Gareth, your king?" Una asked.

She knew of no such king.

"Well, he's not the King yet. He will be soon. He says his father is dying." The boy said honestly.

"What kingdom does he hail from?" Una asked, rubbing her ankle joint in pain.

"Wessex," Sion said, pulling up patches of moss with his hands.

"Wessex? This is Mercia!" Una laughed but regretted it as she felt a surge of pain come through her leg.

"Nay, me lady. This is Wessex." He assured Una.

Una turned her head and peered around.

"Wessex?" Una said, confused.

How did they cross into Wessex? There were no borders or gates of any kind? There's no way, Una thought. How far south did Una go? The dyke pass was only half an hour's ride south, and then you head up north again. Maybe that is what happened, Una was so concentrated on Frey she was only looking for help, not her destination. She had gone off the map and into Wessex.

"And what kingdom do you hail from, me lady?" Sion asked.

Una watched as his long dark curls waved gently in the wind. She could hear the birds in the distance happily chirping. She was still in shock that she had made it into Wessex, but how?

"A place called Snowdon, in the mountains northwest of here," Una mumbled.

"Why'd you come down here then?" The boy laughed.

"The...king," Una said, distracted.

"The king, did you know he's my uncle!" The boy declared.

Una snapped her head over, too hard that it seized up her body again in pain from her hitting it hard.

"He's your uncle?" Una said, even more confused.

What sorcery did the Gods bestow upon Una to be confronted by the princes of Wessex?

"Yes, he's my uncle, so you better be nice to me. I didn't have to help, but that's what future kings do. And that is what Gareth told me too!" He said proudly and placed his hands on his hips.

Una decided to play along, and she smiled and bowed.

"Well, it is such an honor to be in the presence of the future grand king of Wessex! I hope you are kind to all your people like this." Una said.

The boy laughed and nodded.

"Not always. I just felt like being nice because Gareth is coming to see me today! I want to tell him I saved a damsel in distress!" He boasted.

"Is that so? Well then, here is your reward for your bravery, young Sion, future king of Wessex." Una declared as she took off her gold cloak pin and handed it to him.

"Wow, thank you, lady..." He paused.

"Una," Una stated.

"Is this gold?" He asked with a bright smile.

"Yes."

"Where did you get this? Did you steal it from your queen?" The boy said.

"How'd you know it came from a queen?" Una asked.

"If I'm going to be a king one day, I have to know about all of the kingdoms around me. There is the queen who lives in Snowdon." He declared.

The sun traced over the faint freckles across his nose. The forest was growing darker.

"What do you know about that queen?" Una asked with a grin, trying to distract herself away from the pain.

"She's a monster!" The boy said with wide eyes.

Una instantly sulked. Is this how people perceived her?

"Oh, she's an angry beast then," Una said back.

"No, she's a demon!" He insisted.

Una was taken back further.

"A demon?" Una squirmed.

"No, what was it that he said?" The boy said, thinking to himself.

"Ah, the King says she's a damsel."

Una couldn't figure out which was more insulting, being helpless or ruthless.

"King Idris said that one day he would save her from the mountains she is trapped in." He said proudly.

"Oh, is that so?" Una laughed.

She couldn't help but be humored that Idris said this to Sion. Here she thought he was kind because the Mercians cut trade routes. She had only met him a few times, on the battlefield, to help aid his army against the pesky Mercians who were pushing the borders southward. It appears he has regained much of his land back, if not more, now that she is in Wessex apparently.

"Wow, she's trapped, did you say?" Una laughed.

"Yes, King Idris says she is. She needs someone to save her!" He urged Una.

To be knowledgeable about Snowdon, Sion is not well informed that the Queen, Una, had taken part in many battles to help his uncle.

"I'd say she's fine, Sion. She doesn't like to get out often because it is tough to move past the mountains."

"How would you know?" The boy said, squinting his eyes.

"Well." Una laughed, putting her hand on her collarbone.

"I know her personally," Una said with her chin up in the air before she felt a pain in her neck again.

"You do!" The boy sounded excited.

"That's how I got that pin. I didn't steal it." Una said with a grin.

"Wow, what else did she give you!" Sion said with joy.

"Many things, once I heal up, I will show you all of them. My favorite is this." Una said as she pulled out a bronze hairpin from her bunched-up hair.

She held it out to Sion, and he grabbed it, studying it closely.

"There's a dragon on it!" The boy sounded excited.

"Have you ever seen a dragon?" The boy asked.

"Many!" Una said with a laugh.

The boy smiled brightly and laughed too.

"Tell me more!" He urged her.

Suddenly Una heard a branch snap behind her.

"That will have to wait till later, Sion." A voice said, not Llewelyn's.

"Gareth!" The boy said and jumped up and ran behind Una.

Una slowly turned, as to not hurt her neck again.

"I see you have made a new friend." The man said, crouching down.

"Yes, did you know she's seen a dragon!" He said to Gareth.

"Ha-ha is that so. Well, I was sent to help her. Now run along and play, but don't wander past the woods. You know the boundaries of your lands." He said.

"Aww!" Sion said disappointedly.

Una tried her best to stretch her neck up to look, but she couldn't.

"Now then." She heard the voice behind her.

She watched as a tall figure with wavy black hair and a dark green cloak emerged in front of her. He turned to the side and bent down, looking at Una's ankle. Una looked at him from his side. She froze. He was even more gorgeous than Darren, and when he turned his head to look at Una, her heart almost came up her throat. He had a delicately angled face of ivory that contrasted with long dark hair. The rays of the sun shined through the trees above and revealed his dark eyes to be hazel with a glow like fiery embers. Una was so absorbed in how handsome he was she didn't realize that he was speaking to her.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Oh, sorry!" Una said, embarrassed.

"It's swollen pretty bad. Should you like me to carry you to your horse?" He asked.

Una felt her cheeks flush as she peered around, anywhere than his eyes of molten gold.

"Oh, I am much too heavy! If you could bring me my horse, horses, I mean, that would do me a great service!" Una said nervously.

She was stunned by him. He was the most beautiful man Una had ever seen, and the way he spoke sounded like the way the wealthiest kinds of butter taste. The Gods have definitely blessed her this day.

"If you insist." He smiled and sat up, and walked away from her sight.

Una could not see where he was going, but she knew where her thoughts were going. Was this really the son of Idris? Indeed, he was the son of the beautiful raven named Branwen, the Goddess. Una sits and wonders why this Gareth was put on her path, or maybe even it was Una who was put on Gareth's path.