DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sailor Moon.

The word had reached Serena's cell. Darien was on the way!
She consciously fingered the long braid that had long since
become ratty and mangled. She took it down, combing through her
hair as she did so. It would be a day before they reached the
castle, and night fall was rapidly approaching. Without warning,
a soldier burst into her room. He looked about thirty. "What do
you want?" She grasped her hair in a ponytail behind her back.
She was no Lady(at least not on Earth), but it was still an
improper and supposedly intimate guesture. She did
NOT want to be anywhere NEAR intimate with these guys. A plan
formulated in her mind. "I have orders to hold you somewhere
more.....inescapable." Serena raised her eyebrows. "Oh really?"
The soldier nodded and motioned to her shackles. "I'll have to
remove those, of course." Serena didn't try to hide a
mischievous grin. "Go right ahead." He smiled at her.
Lord, does he think he's attractive? Serena held out her arms.
The soldier fumbled at the keys and dropped them to the floor.
He bent down to pick them up. Without warning, Serena clasped
her hands and came down hard on the back of the guard's head. He
dropped like a bag of potatoes. He bent down next to the body
and picked up the keys.
*****************************************************************
Serena crept along the dark corridor, careful to stay in the
shadows. She adjusted the borrowed helmet and borrowed tunic
over her trousers. The tunic was so big that in disguised her
unmistakable female figure. The broadsword at her side gave her
a bit more confidence too. She had streaked dirt on her face and
kept the helmet low so to disguise her girlish face. She had
tuck her hair into the back of her tunic and had wrapped the rest
around her waist under the tunic. She walked out of the castle,
unnoticed. She was a knight. No one messed with her. She made
her way to the woods. She made herself a bed at the edge under
some well-hidden ferns. She slept soundly.
*****************************************************************
Dawn. They've reached the castle. Darien's troops are in
the wood surrounding it. The Enemy knows they are here. Darien
and the others attack any minute now. No one is in the commons
area. A few soldiers on the tower walkways can be seen, but they
know better. The men are in hiding, and as soon as they have
made the battle cry, they will pour out of the open gates to
greet them. The Enemy probably have archers too. Darien watches
the Capitan, waiting for the signal. Barendieu lifts his hands
high. Sean is right beside me. I sense him tensing up. I give
him an encouraging smile. For both of us, actually. Down.
Darien joins in the chorus of shouts streaming from their fellow
fighters. They rush forward, having been poised for attack since
the beginning. They rushed to the castle walls, some men in the
back carrying tall ladders. Darien glances up. Lots of arrow
points look back at him. "Heads up, men! Arrows! Sheilds up!"
Darien raised his shield as an example for everyone to follow.
The open gates were suddenly seething with enemy soldiers. The
ground was still muddy, but not as muddy as the last battle.
They had managed to save some of their horses. They fought their
way through to the wall. Darien was farthest from it, for he had
moved to the back when the fighting began so he could watch over
his men and bark out orders. The scene was grotesque. When it
seemed they might succeed in getting up the wall, Darien saw a
black wave of something envelope the battle zone. The men were
blown back. Enemy and French alike. They soldier righted
themselves and continued the onslaught, but his people were
getting fried! Literally. Green beams of energy lance through
the air, attacking his men. The Enemy was using some sort of
energy to fight. Darien dodged a beam just in time, but int he
process, tripped over a body and fell to his knees in the mud.
The fighting raged around him. Green light danced around him,
one singeing his arm. She howled in pain, but drew his sword and
fought off attackers. Thrust. Parry. Block. Kill. An arrow
pierced through an opening in his armor and through his chain
mail. He was going to get beaten. He was backed up against a
tree. His attacker laughed cruelly. Darien had already lost a
lot of blood. He would die anyway. Darien guess the man thought
he would black out any moment. I hope's they soldier would not
strike him when he was dead, he slumped to the ground, lying as
still as possible. He thought he heard the man stomp away,
laughing. But he didn't have time to open his eyes to check
because he felt a pair of arms drag him deeper into the woods.
By then he had already lost consciousness for real.
*****************************************************************
Serena stared in shock and horror as she observed the black
energy and green rays slice through the air and kill everything
in sight. It was a massacre. On their part. She spotted Darien
next to a tree. A man is getting ready to strike him with his
broadsword. Serena held her breath, though she ached to scream
out his name. Suddenly he slumped forward. Oh lord! He can't be
dead! It's not fair! His attacker walked away to join the fight.
She crept over to Darien and lifted his arms and dragged him into
the wood. Serena realized she wouldn't get anywhere this way. She
hoisted him up over her shoulder. She tried not to stagger with
he awkward burden on her shoulders. She ran into the forest.
She spotted a small stream. She can't hear the fighting right
now. She laid Darien on the hard earth. She gasped at the sight
of the arrow, and checked his breathing. It was ragged and uneven
and growing fainter. "Oh goodness! Darien! Hang on for me!
Please!" She examined him and trembled witht he realization of
what she has to do. "Forgive me, Darien." Thanks to the Lord he
was unconscious. This would hurt. She lifted him up slightly.
The arrow had gone all the way through. Using her teeth to take
off her gloves, she winced as the took hold of the bloody arrow
tip. Making it as quick as possible, she broke off the tip. She
put it in her purse strapped to her belt. Maybe it would be
useful. She set him back down. Slowly, she inched the arrow out
of the front. His blood was flowing freely now. She tore off a
piece of her own hosen and wrapped the wound tightly. She
hesitated before placing her hand on the wound and let her
healing power go to work. It wouldn't heal completely, because
Darien would be suspicious knowing he had been hit by an arrow
and finding no wound. But this would ease some of the agonizing
pain he would feel when he awoke. She leaned him over the creek
bed and let the icy water rush over the wound, numbing it a bit
more. Then she made a little bed of ferns again. And placed hi
on it. When he recovered they would find their way back. She
smiled at the peaceful expression on his face. The battle had
been lost, but the war wasn't over. She would have to find
someway to beat Queen Beryl.


*************Like it? A bit graphic compared to my other
chapters, but this isn't over yet!!! E-mail me! Luv yall!
~Jordan~