The warm wind on her face felt good as her stallion ran along the outer line of the land. Felicity slowed her horse to let it rest from all the galloping it had to do to get this far from the castle. Felicity loved these trials. The trees were so tall that they looked like they were touching the sky. She noticed that her horse's nose had become alert and was twitching. She knew that sign well. Felicity loosened the reins and let her horse pick its way off the trail to a stream which it had apparently smelled. As her horse lowered its head to drink, Felicity approvingly looked at her beautiful surroundings. The sun had just set so everything had a warm glow on it. A warm breeze caressed her face and she closed her eyes in happiness. She inhaled deeply to catch it's warmth, but instead, she recived a scent that made her eyes fly open and look in the direction of the wind. The scent was nothing like she had ever smelled before. It was sweet, like when the kitchen smelled like when it was full of desserts or when the when she went walking through the garden when the flowers were in full bloom. But it also smelled like something that she could not place. A second breeze blew across her and she almost eagerly sniffed the air, hoping to catch, the delicious scent once again. She was rewarded only with the scent of the trees that surrounded her. As her horse lifted its head from the quiet stream, Felicity suddenly relized how dark it had become. Rembering Grace's warning, she turned her horse around and headed back to the trail, thinking that she was probably in for an earful of scolding from Grace. She rembered how long the ride out to the forest was and figured that by the time she got back to the castle everyone would be fast asleep. She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the horse and rider approach her from behind. Her eyes widened when she heard an evil laughter behind her. Wheeling her horse around, she let out a terrified scream when she relized that she was suddenly not alone. It was too dark to see the rider, but she could see the richly colored fabric of his garments that hinted that he could possibly be one of her suitors.

"Good evening sir." Felicity said in a shaky voice.

"Good evening Princess." The man said slowly.

He dismounted and approached her horse. Her horse, sensing the danger in the man, began backing away from the approaching man. The man quickly grabbed the bridle of the horse to stop it from backing away. She screamed as the man suddenly grabbed her and pulled her off her horse. The man was only as tall as herself, so he did not have to bend down at all when the the man pressed his cold lips against hers. She squirmed in his arms to get away from him. He broke the kiss only to slap her across the face. He threw her to the muddy ground and covered her body with his. He covered her mouth with his hand to muffle her cry of terror when she pitifully tried to throw him her, but all she accomplished was getting slapped again. She screamed when he tore her dress open to expose her breasts to the night.

"I just want to see them." the man said in a threating tone of voice. "You can't tell me that someone with your beauty never had a man before."

She began to cry as he covered a nipple with his mouth. He straightened and began to throw her skirts up, laughing insanely. Felicity cried out for help to whoever would show her mercy. Little did she know that her prayer would soon be answered. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his hand slide up her leg. She drew in a deep breath to try to calm herself for the upcoming horror, and as she did, she was assulted with the sweet smell that she encountered at the stream. Her eyes flew open as she felt her attacker being lifted from her. The trees blocked the moonlight so she could not see what was happening, but her ears gave her all the information she needed. She heard the cries of pain from her attackers mouth and took advantage of the time to make her escape. As she crawled to where her faithful horse stood, she lisitened to her attackers screams of pain, wondering if it was a man or animal that had saved her, but at the moment, it really did not matter. As she weakly climbed onto the back of her horse and tried to keep her dress together, her mind raced with thoughts of where she should go. She could not go home because her attacker and whatever had saved her was blocking that trail. She turned her hores away from the fight and headed back to the stream.

As she approacked the quiet, secluded spot. She slid off her horse only to crumple to the ground in a small heap, sobbing. She shuttered uncontrollably as the terror of the moment settled within her as if she had swallowed a bucket of cold water. She crawled over to the clear water and looked down at her blurred reflection. The side of her face where he had slapped her was stinging, swollen, and beginning to bruise. Her dress and cloak were beyond repair as they had been damaged to large scraps of fabric. The man and her dress getting caught on sticks had done that. The breast where the man had apparently bit her was painful, bleeding slightly from the teeth marks, and already starting to bruise. Felicity slowly looked around to make sure she was alone, cupped one of her small hands in the cool water, then held the water to her aching breast. She softly whimpered as the water enveloped her injured breast. As she lowered her hand for more water, she felt a familiar breeze gently caress her. She inhaled its heavenly scent as it calmed her. She heard her horse whinny softly. She turned her head to see if her horse was all right. Instead of seeing her horse, she saw a large leg and foot.

Screaming, she scooted from the leg and unceremoniously bumped her rear against a rock. Holding her dress together as best she could, she looked at the man who had possibly just scared her more than she already was. Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat as she looked at the man before her. He was, by far, the biggest man she had ever seen. She wondered if this man was also one of her suitors, but figured that he couldn't be because all of her suitors were always dressed in colorful clothing. This man was dressed in all dark clothes, almost blending in perfectly with the dark night, but she was able to make out of some of his features. The man wore a black vest, cloak, and pants that appeared to be made out of leather and not of the fine silks of her suitors. His boots were also made of leather, neatly laced and reached halfway up his calf. She could see the muscles that the vest revealed. He was much stronger than anyone in her Father's army. He had long dark hair, almost as dark as his clothes. She could only see half of his lower face because of the darkness, but in the dim moonlight she could see two lips that were pulled into a frown. He slowly approached her. She quickly backed away.

"Please... leave me alone... sir." she croaked.

"I cannot. You are injured." The man said in a deep voice as he continued toward her.

She kept backing away until she bumped into a trunk of a tree. She watched, wide-eyed and trembling, as the man drew nearer. He kneeled down in front of her and extended his large hand toward her.

"Please allow me to help you." He said quietly.

Before she could reply, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her closer to the stream bank. She somehow managed to suppress the scream that threatened to come. He gently set her on the mossy ground before settling down beside her. She cringed as he reached for her face, but allowed him to cup her chin in his palm and turn her face toward him. She watched as he dipped his large hand in the water. She kept her eyes averted and didn't see him raise his hand in order to place it on her bruised and cut face. She jerked as she felt his hand on her face and tried to pull away, but stopped as she felt his fingers tighten their grip on her chin. She looked into the darkness where she supossed his eyes were and felt hot tears begin to well up in her eyes.

She gasped as she felt her salty tears run down her dirty face and singe her cuts and scrapes, but froze as she felt his strong fingers brush her tears away. She drew in another shaky breath and yelped in pain as sparks of pain shot from the tip of her breast and scattered throughout her. She saw him lower his head to view the rest of her damaged, bruised body. Not wanting this stranger to see her, she tried to cover herself with her hands.

"Please sir," she whispered. "Please... leave me alone."

The man slowly raised himself from the ground, continuing to look at her and not saying a word. She looked away from him and into the moonlit water. She again felt her breeze rush towards her and she inhaled its soothing scent. She closed her eyes as the breeze's warmth flowed through her beaten body, giving her some comfort.

She was snapped from her moment of peace as she felt him lift her from the ground to stand on her shaky legs. As he brought her closer to himself, she feared that this man was going to attack her as well and tried to fight to get away from him as best as her tired body would allow her. Ignoring her weak blows that rained on his chest and shoulders, he untied his huge cloak and wrapped it around her, effectly pinning her arms to the sides of her body. He quickly tucked the edge of the cloak in to protect her from the upcoming night's cold.