*Long Chapter*

-Keegan-

"There is no way she ran through those bushes. The thorns would've torn her to shreds." Jared breathed, suddenly appearing alongside Keegan. "There's no chance!"

"I know," Keegan mumbled in response", but she did."

Suddenly, Orla ran past them into the thicket. She hissed a parade of curses as she ran through the treacherous bushes. Their spiky thorns tearing her clothes, ripping both fabric and skin. Jared and Keegan watched completely dumbfounded while she jerked her arms up as she got stuck a couple of times. Keegan grimaced when he remembered the stinging pain the thorns would leave as they pierced his sister's skin.

"Orla! Have you lost your mind?!" Jared shouted after her. One of her middle fingers appeared in the air, clearly meant for him alone. "Your sister is insane." He sighed heavily while turning towards Keegan.

Jared's sand colored hair, wet from the rain, stuck to his face. Just like everybody else's. His grey eyes were big. They exuded utter bewilderment over Orla's decision to run after the girl. He genuinely looked like he thought she had lost her mind. 

"Aye, well... so am I apparently." Keegan said and went after his sister.

"You are seriously going after the girl as well?" Jared shouted after him as he made his way through the thicket.

"I am going after Orla!" Keegan shouted back. But it wasn't just Orla. They couldn't leave the girl alone in the woods. As much as he didn't want to admit it; his sister was right about that.

It didn't take long for before he caught up with his sister. Orla hadn't found the girl, when he saw her standing by the bush where they had found the girl earlier. She was rummaging through it as if the girl might be hiding within it. 

"Where do you think she could be?" Orla groaned when she sensed his presence. He could see she felt stupid for being caught looking through the bushes. Trying to salvage some of her pride, she rose and ignored the bush and him all together. 

"I don't know. She can be anywhere..." He shrugged his shoulder discouragingly. 

They searched for the girl for about half an hour until Keegan wanted to hit his head against a rock. He hadn't thought about looking for her footprints!

"Orla." He said with a gruff voice. "Look for footprints."

She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, and his. "Fuck... Didn't even think of that." She groaned. It made Keegan feel a little better that he wasn't alone in making this mistake, or feeling like a fool.

"I will go back to where we lost sight of her and look for her footprints there." He declared. Orla nodded and told him she would join him shortly.

It didn't take long until he found the girl's footprints just where the thicket ended. He threw his hands up - annoyed with himself for not thinking of this sooner - when he saw a perfect print of her  right foot. Followed by a print of her left foot, a trail lead him in a different direction than that leading to the bush she'd laid beneath. He followed the trail, studying the footprints. They took him deeper into the woods. She had managed to cover quite the distance. More than he'd expected she'd have had the energy for.

She shouldn't have the strength to run this far... Keegan thought to himself, astonished and impressed. After a moment, he noticed how deep the prints were, clearly caused by her panic and only wish to get as far away as fast as she could. She is scared to death. He felt bad when he remembered how terrified she had looked when those blue eyes had seen him for the first time. He hadn't been able to assure her that she was alright, or safe, before she had fallen to the ground and then run off.

Orla eventually caught up with Keegan, but she walked a bit behind him, looking for any other sign in the trail he might have missed. As he kept following the trail, he suddenly found a large marking in the mud. It looked large enough to have been made by the girl's body.

"She fell." He mumbled. Seeing where her feet had slipped in the mud. She had tried to get up again, several times judging by the pattern in the mud. She had clawed, in sheer panic, to get up from the muddy ground. Long, deep claw marks in the sodden mud gave away how desperately she'd been trying to pry herself up by her fingers.

It was surreal to follow someone like this, seeing their every move in the mud. It felt like he was hunting an animal. "She must be so scared." He sighed and felt so bad for the poor girl. She was all on her own in the woods,  terrified that he and his siblings were coming after her. For all she knew, they meant her harm. 

After a while, he finally arrived to what appeared to be the end of the trail. It stopped in front of an enormous old oak. Keegan examined the oak's trunk. Wondering if she had climbed it – naked.

"If you climbed that tree, naked and all torn up... I will be so impressed." He chuckled mirthlessly but with awe in his gaze as he tried to calculate which branches he would have chosen if he were the one to have gone up the old oak. A faint smirk crept up on his lips as he kept studying the tree.

"Why are you looking up?" Orla, having appeared out of thin air, asked. He flinched and wondered how she could sneak up on him like that, again. 

What does she mean? Why wouldn't I be looking up? 

She saw his confusion and showed him, with a flicker of her eyes, something by their feet. Keegan lowered his gaze.

Underneath the big oak there was a hole. Between its huge roots, right where the stem met the ground, there was an opening leading underground... What instantly caught Keegan's eye was that the footprints he had followed lead straight down into the hole.

"You have to be taking a piss..." He groaned. He put his palm over his mouth, pulled it downwards before he looked up at the trunk. "I would've gone up. But she went down there." Orla snickered, impressed by the girl's quick thinking. "What are you cackling for? You're the one who will have to go down there." He grunted, pointing with his whole hand at the hole. It immediately stopped his sister's snickering.

"Excuse me?" Orla scoffed insulted. He smirked back. "Why me?" Keegan raised his eyebrows and threw a meaningful stare at the size of the hole.

"Do you seriously think I can get down there?" He asked her. Orla's eyes grew dark instead of admitting he had a point. 

-The Girl-

They found me! Voices outside the hole argued while she tried to crawl further into the darkness that was her hiding place. Her limbs twitched in an urge to run for her life. But she was stuck beneath the biggest tree she could find. 

All she could do now was to sit tight and hope they didn't figure out that she was down here. Barely being able breathe from running so hard she waited with her eyes fixed on the entrance of the hole. She tried her best to stay quiet even though her chest rose and sunk violently, lungs actually hurting from the strenuous sprint. Not to mention her poor feet! She didn't have to look at them to know they were bleeding.

A man chuckled, followed by an annoyed girl's hiss. She kept her eyes fixed on the entrance of the hole, blinking frequently.

What is this place? She wondered, her eyes filling with tears. Where am I? Who were those people? Why did they look like they're the cast of a medieval movie? She recalled how the man who had carried her had been dressed. Mind on the brink of exploding with questions, she struggled to stay calm enough to remain silent.

She tried to think back on what had happened and whom had done this to her, but there was nothing. There was not even a sliver of a memory to tell her what had happened. The only thing she could sense or remember was fear. Why couldn't she remember anything?! It became significantly harder to stay on top of her panic when she couldn't remember a single thing before the moment she had looked up at that red haired man.

An anxious whimper slipped out of her. She slammed her hand over her mouth hoping they hadn't heard her. The voices stopped talking. Shit!

"Just get down there, Orla." The man said something in a language she didn't understand. Was it the same man who had carried her? The red haired one? 

Maybe they didn't hear me?

Suddenly, how both of them got on their knees, shortly after two faces appeared. Looking in at her. A loud whimper escaped her now and she crawled further into the hole. Hoping they wouldn't see her, even though there was little chance they would miss her.

The man looking at her was the one who had carried her. But who was the girl? She seemed familiar, like she had seen here before... She had! The girl staring her had been there when she  had woken up in the man's arms. They had red hair and green eyes, and... almost looked like they were related.

"Leave me alone!" She screamed. The glaring faces quickly disappeared.

"What do we do?" The man, voice deep and husky. If he hadn't chased after her here, she could swear that his voice was the most soothing she'd ever heard. It sounded like it could bring peace to the most hysterical soul. At the same time, it sent shivers of fear through her.

"I don't know." answered the girl. "But... that wasn't the common tongue, you heard that right?" 

"Aye, I heard." 

"She doesn't understand us. How are we supposed to get her to come with us?" The girl, sounding tired and eager to leave. "Don't look at me like that, Keegan. I  don't want to go down there! What if she kicks me too?"

"Then you will be prettier."

The girl sighing heavily and groaned. Then she started to trample the dirt at the opening. Over and over she stomped, causing the hole to widen and become bigger. Before she knew it, the red haired girl's face was staring down the hole again, green eyes searching. They were vigilant, like she was more than skeptical about crawling down into the hole than the girl was about leaving it.

"Give her your coat." The man spoke. An eyeroll, without turning around, was the girl's response.

"What? You don't want another look?" The girl said something that sounded snide in return.

"Fuck off, Orla." He said with a dark gruff voice.

Orla? He's said it twice now. Is that her name? A very strange name... She mimed the name to herself, feeling how it would take shape in her mouth if she would ever need to use it. I wonder what his name is...

-Keegan-

Orla climbed into the hole and judging from the soft tone in her voice, she was trying to comfort the girl while doing it. She whispered soothing words as she made her way down. Keegan looked around to see if Flynn and Jared had followed them. They were completely alone. There was complete silence for a moment. The only thing he could hear was the rain.

From nowhere, he heard a thud and his sister grunt loudly. He couldn't stop a laugh when Orla clambered out of the hole. The sight of her, with her hand on her jaw, dirt on her cheeks and hands and her hair a tangled mess was too much. She moved her jaw repeatedly from side to side, twitching in pain and gave him a very dark mean look.

"She's a kicker." He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. 

"Not another word." Orla warned and got on her feet. "She is not coming out of there. She kicked me when I tried to hand her my coat!" She brushed herself off while reciting her favorite curses.

Keegan pursed his lips to keep from laughing and threw a quick look at the hole again. To his surprise, a pair of breathtakingly blue eyes were watching him and his sister. Orla noticed that he wasn't paying her any attention and turned to see what he was looking at. The girl winced away as soon as Orla turned around.

"Dearie, you have to come out." She spoke softly even though she had just been kicked. It was very unlike Keegan's little sister to speak this softly at all.

However, it seemed to work. Slowly and very warily, the girl appeared again. Keegan couldn't keep from smiling as her beautiful eyes flickered between him and Orla. Somehow, her innocence was so amusing, and alluring. And deceitful! She had a mean kick. His chest was still a bit sore from earlier when he had been at the receiving end of her self defense. 

The blue eyes watched Orla with something that looked like remorse.

"I think she's sorry for kicking you..." He mumbled, still with a smile on his face. When Orla turned to face him, he rapidly wiped the smile off his face and put on an emotionless mask.

"Sorry or not, I'm not going after her again. You can go down there and nicely ask her to come out." Orla said, still with a soft voice but it wasn't for him. It was so the girl wouldn't sense that Orla was fuming mad. The fact that she wasn't speaking the common tongue was doubtlessly going to be a problem, but now it was an advantage. Because if she had understood what Orla was saying next, she would never come with them. "And if you don't, I will make sure to kick you – in the balls – myself." His sister enunciated the part concerning his jewels.

Keegan grimaced while he imagined the treatment which awaited him if he didn't got down there. He slipped out of his coat in a smooth motion and started stomping around the hole to make it even bigger than Orla had done. The girl whimpered. He stopped.

I probably shouldn't scare her more... He thought and got down on his knees. The poor soul had crawled as far in she could. Streams of tears running down her cheeks.

"She's crying." He stated.

"She woke up in a stranger's arms and has been chased down a hole. What did you expect?"

"Nothing, I just feel bad for her." He sighed and locked eyes with the girl. She sniffled wrapped her arms around her legs. He noticed how she winced every time he spoke.

"Go away." She sniffled some strange words out. He felt so bad for scaring her. "Please." 

"It's alright." He whispered and held his hand up. Palms facing her. She turned her face away and pressed herself into the wall of dirt next to her. "Hey..." He whispered and gently waved his hands to gain her attention. Reluctantly, she turned her head and met his gaze. Fear seeping from her whole being. "It's alright..." He repeated himself and tried to sound as calm and soothing as he could. The poor soul didn't seem to trust him one bit, which was quite reasonable since neither of them understood each other.

Keegan crawled into the hole and made sure to keep a close watch after legs flying his way. The hole was small and he understood why she had chosen it for protection. There was no way someone could sneak up on her here. Her hideout smelled of wet dirt but... safe. It was a place that clearly had been untouched for a while and it had most certainly been made by an animal.

Carefully, he tried to hand the girl his coat. He stopped instantly when she whimpered and pushed herself into the dirt wall again. One of the small and dainty hands clawed at the dirt wall.

She is desperate to get as far away from me as possible... His brows furrowed and gave her a worried look.

"Come now... It's going to get dark soon." He sighed quietly. "Please?"

"What's happening down there?" Orla called out."We don't have all day, Keegan!" 

The girl whimpered in terror. Keegan suppressed the urge to shout out of frustration. He didn't want scare the girl even more.

"It will go a lot faster if you'd stop shouting..." Keegan answered his sister through gritted teeth. His eyes randomly found the girl's legs. In the dark he managed to see stripes on her legs. Blood. "She's bleeding. Her legs are covered in blood."

"It's probably from the thorns. She must have ripped herself up pretty bad when she ran through the bushes!"

Keegan nodded and tried handing the girl his coat again. She didn't flinch this time and he smiled faintly in relief when no kicks were delivered.

"We won't hurt you." He whispered in a promise and tilted his head due to the lack of space in the hole. "Listen... I cannot leave you out here. Well, I can but my sister will choke the life out of me." He laughed quietly.

The girl stayed put, but she wasn't clawing at the dirt to get away anymore... The blue eyes were fixed on him, scrutinized him intensely. All of him. They wandered all over him and it took Keegan a moment to realize that maybe she was making sure he wasn't going to reach for her, or waiting for the perfect time to attack her. Was she warming up to the thought of coming with him? If so, he figured he needed to sit tight and let her come to him.

A long, long, moment later, Keegan's patience paid off. He witnessed her starting to relax. Her shoulders sunk and she lowered her fingers from the dirt wall - not clawing at it to get further away from him. He relaxed with her, but kept the coat to himself. Because her eyes were still vigilant, searching for any sudden movements. When her eyes suddenly locked onto his, he gently offered her his right hand and made sure to keep eye contact with her. So she would know he wouldn't hurt or jump her. Since she clearly didn't understand him, they had to rely strictly on body language.

Shockingly, the girl took his hand and let him carefully pull her closer. He moved slowly, not wanting to make a sudden movement that would earn him a kick or a set back. There wasn't enough sunlight for failure. 

When she was close enough, he failed to resist an urge to reach out and touch her. His index finger and thumb grabbed her chin gently. The big blue eyes studied him warily. Even in the dark they managed to grab a hold of him and he wasn't sure he liked what she was doing to him. It felt almost unnatural, the way she captured him and his mind. What he couldn't deny, was that she was truly beautiful despite being so roughed up and dirty.

"See. That wasn't so hard was it?" He chuckled when her eyes didn't let him out of sight.

Ten or fifthteen minutes after he had gotten into the hole, Keegan crawled out. Orla put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight onto her left leg, donning a smug smirk.

"Wasn't so easy now, was it?" She gloated with pouted lips. Keegan raised an eyebrow and directed his gaze to the hole. He straightened himself, held his left hand out above the hole and then turned to watch his little sister again. The moment the girl's hand grabbed his as she came out, Orla's jaws dropped. She quickly tried to save face by putting on an unimpressed mask.

The girl got on her feet hugging Keegan's coat close. He had managed to give it to her and had been spared a kick in return. It almost felt like a reward for his patience. His coat reached her knees, covering everything important. 

When the girl gave him a scared and stressed look, he took a step back and placed himself behind her to prevent her from crawling back down into the hole. "It's alright." He assured her.

The girl was shivering and took half a step closer to him - keeping an eye on Orla. His sister stood with a blank expression in her eyes.

"Shall we?" He asked his sister and shot off a smug smirk.

Orla rolled her eyes and started walking back to the others without waiting for either of them. The girl mumbled something which caught Keegan's attention. He noticed that she was still bleeding and got down on one knee next to her. She flinched and he realized his mistake; he had moved too fast. With his hands in the air he backed away, giving her the opportunity to sprint for the hole - even though he prayed she wouldn't. Maybe if he gave her the chance, she would see he truly meant her no harm.

"Forgive me." He breathed. "But you're bleeding..." He pointed at her blood covered legs. She looked down and seemed a bit surprised. Rotating her legs, she examined them as if she hadn't noticed at all that she was bleeding. 

Keegan tore a bit of fabric from the sleeve of his tunic and dried off the worst of the blood. A hiss of pain came from above. He shot her an apologetic look. The girl said something he didn't comprehend... but from the soft look on her face, he assumed she was thanking him.

As they were walking back to the others, she struggled with each step she took in the mud. It was hard to miss that she was in a lot of pain now that her panic had subsided. Keegan put his arms out for her. She stood with a questioning look on her face."I can carry you." He offered and tried to use his arms to gesticulate the action of carrying her. The blue eyes narrowed slightly for a second, but then she nodded.

Keegan felt his eyebrows shoot up. Dumbfounded that it had worked. Carefully but with ease, he picked her up. What surprised him even more was that she leaned her head against his chest and relaxed.

"You have got to be kidding me?!" Orla hissed sharply when Keegan walked out of the thicket for the second time today. "You got her out of the hole, in your coat and she fell asleep in your arms?"

Keegan shrugged his shoulders. It didn't matter how much he tried to not look smug – he still did.

Jared laughed and scratched the stubble on his chin. "Oh come on, Orla... You have to give it to him." Orla did no such thing. "Well, I am impressed." Jared chuckled and nudged Keegan's sister with his elbow. "I had almost lost hope when it came to you finding a lassie." He told Keegan and pumped his eyebrows twice. 

The hate of losing to her brother caused Orla to act out – violently – and the one closest was Jared. Keegan struggled to keep from laughing as Orla stomped Jared's left foot. She then smacked him over the back of his head. 

She really doesn't like to lose.

On the walk back to the village, the girl didn't wake up even though Jared and Flynn refused to shut up or lower their voices. They joked and laughed and discussed hunting. Keegan would normally have joined them, but his attention was elsewhere... and the only one who seemed to notice was his little sister. Orla caught him watching down at the girl, a bit longer than what was appropriate, several times.

"If the others can't look at her like that," she nodded at Flynn and Jared, "then neither can you." She spat.

"Shut up, Orla." Keegan replied. Pretending as if he hadn't just lost himself in the girl's face, again.

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Updated: 1st of April 2021

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Jenny