Chapter Twelve

A Story Time Picnic

They stared at each other for a moment, then Jaegar began to reach across to Selene. She couldn't move, she stood captivated by his eyes. But before he could touch her, he snatched back his hand with a hiss and looked down at the now glowing ward. In fact, all the wards glowed for a moment before fading.

Marie was the one who broke the silence.

"Please," she gestured to the bit of cloth on his side of the flag; "won't you sit down?"

Both Selene and Jaegar sat simultaneously and watched as Marie cut them all slices of bread and fished out another cup from the basket for milk. She placed the bread and milk in front of him, crossing the warded thread line without any problem.

"This was not part of our deal, Fräulein." He said.

Marie jumped and Selene gave her a quizzical look before turning back to Jaegar.

"What do you mean? All you said you wanted was for me to come and not run away. You didn't say anything about not bringing Marie."

"I don't care that you brought your friend, meine Süße ein, I mind that you've trapped me in this verdammt prison!"

'He seems to talk in German more when he's mad,' Selene thought.

"What do you mean prison?" she asked.

"That would be my doing," said Marie. "It's for our protection."

Jaegar opened his mouth, but Selene beat him to it.

"What the Hell?! Why didn't you tell me about this? Now you've made me break my promise to Jaegar!"

"Not really. Didn't you say you weren't going to run away? This isn't running, it's just giving you no reason to run."

Now Jaegar got his word in. "I gave my word, mein Wort! That I would never harm Selene. This ward is a pointless waste of time and space." He calmly stated in a low, dangerous voice and sipped from his cup.

Marie hid her anger and took a bite of bread.

Selene didn't know how they stayed so calm. Every nerve was on edge, just from his presence. She could smell his unique sent, could swear she felt the heat from his body. She kept her eyes away from his, knowing his would captivate her again. Every time he spoke German with that fluent accent, a small shiver twitched up her spine. She didn't know how much more of this she could take!

Jaegar and Marie exchanged glares over the cloth, continuing their spoken argument.

"If you mean no harm, horseman, than it should not bother you."

"It bothers me not to be trusted, Frau."

"What's wrong with English, horseman? Too civilized for your tastes?"

"You're beginning to vex me, e Hexe. That is not a wise idea."

"Why? Will you chop off my head like so many others before me?"

"Ich bin sicher, dass Ihr Körper es, Frau bevorzugen würde!"

Marie opened her mouth for a smart comeback, but Selene cut her off.

"That's enough!" she shouted, standing up. "You're both acting like children."

Selene moved and sat right on the line of thread, sitting half in and half out of the ward so that they were all facing each other.

"If either one of you insults the other once more, you are banished from the blanket. Understood?"

Marie hung her head and nodded. Jaegar met her angry stare with a cold, piercing one of his own.

"Don't give me any of that! We can always walk away and leave you trapped in here."

He let up on his stare and nodded.

"Good. Now, I'm here, holding up my end of our bargain. Now it's your turn."

"Ah yes, mein wenig ein wants some answers." His broad, wolfish smile returned. He leaned back on the blanket, head close to Selene's lap, legs crossed and hands behind his head.

"Ask your questions, Schatzi. I will not lie to you."

Marie gaped at his arrogance but Selene ignored them both.

"First of all, what have you been calling us?"

"I have called your friend Frau and e Hexe, 'Woman' and 'Witch'. You I have called many things. Schatzi, Treasure. Mein wenig ein, my little one. Meine Süße ein, my sweet one. I think that's about it, all I can remember anyway."

Selene blushed and avoided his gaze.

"Al- alright then. How about this one, who is this 'Luna' you kept mentioning? Did you really mean what you said to me?"

"Ja, every word. I told you, I'd never lie to you, Fräulein."

"What did you call me this time?"

"What, Fräulein? It means 'little woman' or 'Miss'."

Selene made the mistake of looking into those amused eyes of his and got caught again. His amusement soon grew heated and those terrifying eyes seemed to stare into her very soul.

"How about you just tell us your story, starting from the beginning?" Asked Marie, startling Selene out of it.

Jaegar glared at her, but Selene nodded. "Yea, tell us Jaegar. How did you meet Luna?"

"It's a long story, and this is not a very comfy setting for storytelling…"

"Make yourself at home, it's a large blanket." Said Selene.

"If you insist," He sat up and moved backwards a bit, toward Selene, then put his head down again, but this time in her lap.

Selene looked away from his eyes and saw Marie wide eyed and mouth gaping. Selene tried to hold it in, but she just had to laugh at her.

"Marie, you look just life a fish!" She laughed harder at Marie's indignant expression. Jaegar began to laugh too.

"Hey!" Selene stopped laughing long enough to smack her hand over his mouth. "No one can laugh at Marie but me."

Jaegar pulled her hand away from his face, a mildly humored expression on his face.

"Only you would dare, Selene. Anyone else and I'd take their hand. Remember that, Fräulein."

"Is that suppose to be a threat?"

"No, a complement." He closed his eyes lazily.

"Where to begin… I suppose it would start with me getting summoned by the Princes to go to battle against the new country, America. They sent me here and I won many a battle, taking many lives. Ah," he sighed. "Those were the days. Just Daredevil and me.

"Unfortunately, my troops seemed to think I was being too rough on them, so they mutinied. They claimed me a demon and filed my teeth into fangs so I would fit the part. My appearance didn't help matters, either. Especially my eyes, Luna would say." He opened his eyes and stared straight into Selene's.

"I wanted revenge. They betrayed my trust. So I joined the American army. They needed all the help they could get."

Jaegar continued, keeping his eyes locked with Selene's. She could swear she saw the story his voice recounted replay in his eyes.

"One night, we came to Sleepy Hollow to restock on the necessities. I entered the town with only two of my men, not wanting to make a scene. When we'd restocked, I came back to camp to find Daredevil gone and his groom trampled to death."

"What's a groom?" interrupted Selene.

"A groom is someone you hire to look after your horse."

"Oh, that makes sense. Sorry for interrupting."

Jaegar nodded, closed his eyes and began telling again. Selene almost wished he'd open his eyes again.

"I went off looking for him, leaving my head officer in charge. I followed his hoof prints until I came to a meadow. He was out there, but he was not alone. Standing a few feet away was Luna."

Jaegar opened his eyes again, but he wasn't looking at her. He was off in memories.

"I watched her slowly walk up to him. She looked so small compared to that huge horse. I walked up behind her and asked what she thought she was doing. She jumped and looked back at me and said she was catching the horse that she'd seen run from the camp.

"That was the reason I disguised her and took her on as my groom. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with her." He sighed. "But love is blind, and does not care if it rears its head in peace or war. We were together for two glorious, horribly short months."

A sort of sad, pained yet stern expression came over his face as he began the next part of his story. Selene longed to erase that feeling from his countenance.

"She bid me farewell one night I was setting out to battle. She made me swear I'd return, so I did; thinking nothing of it. That was the last time I saw her, and the last battle I ever rode off to. That afternoon a dozen Redcoats caught me alone. They shot Daredevil, mein glückloses Pferd. I tried to stay with him, I wanted to stay, but they were closing in on me. I ran.

"I had thought I eluded them in the forest. I stopped short when I found two children in my path, twin girls. I signaled them to be quiet, but one of the brats snapped a branch and as good as called the Redcoats to me. I turned my back on the girls and tried to fight them off, and I was holding my own for awhile. Then one of them got me in the stomach. I fell to my knees, knowing that would be the end of me. I tried to catch my breath kneeling on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of them grab my sword and the last thing I ever felt was a icy sharp pain on my neck and then nothing more.

I floated between worlds for who knows how long. At first the memory of love kept me aware, but then it became just a dream. I was slowly slipping away, but I swore I'd return to her. My promise kept me afloat. By the time I was finally pulled back from the border of death, I had forgotten why it was that I needed to return so badly. All I knew was I had to obey the one giving me orders. My blade had blood again, my horse was restored to me.

"My memories fully returned to me when I got my head back. The girl in the forest, she sold her soul to keep me here. I searched for Luna, but I had found that she had been exposed as a woman in the army. She was… was executed." His voice broke on the last word.

Selene gently stroked his hair, both comforting him and urging him to continue. He looked at her.

"I tried to cross over, to be with her, but a deal was a deal. That woman sold her soul to keep me here, and I would stay here whether or not she was."

He closed his eyes, but Selene could hear the pain in his voice.

"The first year I mourned her loss. After that I wandered the town, looking for signs of hope. I discovered she could be reborn as another, you can never know how happy that made me. I had so much hope. The first ten years I searched far and wide for her, but I had to keep within distance of my tree. I learned that early on. If I were ever caught in the sunlight, I'd be dragged back to it through Hell."

He closed his eyes again and shuddered.

"The next ten years I waited by Sleepy Hollow, too tired from my mad search. I figured you would come to me some day, after all, this world is big but I'd have forever to wait.

"After that, I'd all but given up hope. I figured you'd never come find me."

Jaegar stared up into her eyes, right into her soul. His expression was happier than it had been in any part of telling his tail.

Woot! Well there it is, chapter twelve. I got it out in a week! I'm proud of myself.

Squee: What for? It took you forever.

Hang her.

Squee: What?!

-A line of soldiers march out and hand a noose from a tree, then grab ahold of Squee.-

Till next time then all! Feed the author, leave rivews.

Nox