Female Stories The Squire ***NOTE:this story is a continuation to The Knight in the male stories section. You do not have to have read this story to understand this one, thought it may help a bit.*** They left the barn and village a few days later when the storm had passed. The snows continued, but they weren't as much a threat as to keep them back from their important journey. The squire had seen them through the worst of it, and tended to them as needed for days until the storm had settled and the company was well enough to continue. Now, the squire shivered, pulling her cloak closer around her. Lady Elizabeth then sniffed and rubbed her nose with her free hand. She looked up at her master atop his horse. He looked so noble, so regal, so different from only a few days before when he'd been ill, shivering and sneezing without control like the rest of them. Elizabeth alone had tended to him, taken care of him- and now she was paying the price. "Acchhh!" she gave a muffled sneeze into the arm of her cloak. She looked up to see if Sir Peter had noticed, which he hadn't; she hoped he never would. Elizabeth had watched her master come down with a cold, and from the way she already felt she knew she'd caught his from him, but she had to go on serving him as he needed her. "We'll have to camp out in the open tonight. We'll need a strong fire," she heard Sir Peter say to her. Lady Elizabeth sniffed and held back her sneezes. "Aye, Sir Peter. I'll find some dry wood we can burn." The snow was about a foot and a half deep, and dry hard would be near to impossible to find, but she knew she had to try for his sake. It was her job. The company halted and Sir Reginald announced, "Set up camp early this night and head off at dawn the next morn!" They all knew it to be best, and Lady Elizabeth was glad of a change from walking through the snow all day. "Achoo! Achoo!" she sneezed, burying her face in her handkerchief and trying to keep herself quiet so as not to be noticed. "Lady Elizabeth?" Sir Peter asked, dismounting on his own. "Are you alright?" She blew her nose and nodded. "Aye, I'm well, thank you. Yourself, Sir?" He looked at her with suspicious eyes. "You're not coming down with a cold are you?" She shook her head. "Nay, Sir Peter. No need to worry over me." He nodded. "Then take up my supplies and-" "Achoo! AhhCHOO!" Sighing, "You are ill, aren't you?" he asked, taking the bags from her and looking on her with pity. "Nay, I'mmahhhchoo! I'm fine ahCHOOO!" He felt her forehead with his hand and she jumped back at his touch, not wanting him to discover the truth. "I tell you I am fiiiaachoo! ACHOO! fine!" "You've caught a cold, Lady Elizabeth. I don't want you trying to deny it." Elizabeth nodded woefully and sneezed into her handkerchief, the cold air around her stinging her runny nose and making her shiver. He took off his cloak and wrapped it around his sneezing squire. "There, Squire. We'll switch roles for a while, aye? I take care of you for a while." Elizabeth was sneezing too much to make her protest known. "Fine, then." There was a fallen tree on the edge of the clearing, just a ways off from the others, so he cleared it off for her and helped her sit, pushing away snow to make a spot for their own fire. Elizabeth sat awkwardly, wanting him to make her feel better but feeling strange to be taken care of by her master. She snuffled and blew her nose as she tried to keep from sneezing and calling further attention to herself. It was all in vein. There was something in her nose tickling hard, "Ah... Ahh... Achoo! Achoo!" and making her sneeze so much she could barely catch her breath in between. "ACHOO! AchOOOOO! Ahh... AHH... AHHHHCCHHOOOO!" "Bless you," Sir Peter said politely as he rubbed two sticks together for the fire. He looked up at her, seeing her as he'd never before. She was a beautiful young woman with short brown hair, dazzling green eyes, and was now caught in a sneezing attack brought on by a cold he, himself, had given her. When she sneezed, she made a regular sound, and let it out clearly. They were perfectly rounded, and just the kind of sneezes he would have expected from her. Her eyes closed at each sneeze, and opened for a few moments before they closed again for the next one. Her nose twitched but her nostrils hardly flailed when she sneezed, for the release was from both her stuffed up nose and her mouth. "Poor thing," he mumbled softly for his own ears, though she heard as well. "I'm not that achoo! bad achy! off, Sir Peter," she said, sneezing hard. "Of course not," he said, reaching up and stroking her forehead and back the way she had done him days before. "I just know what you're going through now." She nodded. "And I, you, *sniff* Sir Peter." Before either could say another word, Sir Reginald was there, looking down on them both. "How are you this eve, Sir Peter? Better than a while ago, I daresay?" The knight nodded. "Oh, I. I'm feeling quite well. 'Tis my squire who needs a bit of care this night, Sir Reginald." Sir Reginald turned to Lady Elizabeth, looked at her briefly, then turned back to Sir Peter. "Should I have my own squire attend to her for you?" Sir Peter seemed to think it over a moment before answering, "Nay, I am competent. After all, she did the same to me only yesterday and the days before. And you, as well, if I remember correctly." Appeased, Sir Reginald wished Lady Elizabeth good health, and left to help build the campfire. Sir Peter tended to his squire the rest of the night, comforting her as she sneezed her perfect-sounding sneezes and shivered with mild fever. And when it was time for sleep, she shared his cloak as they huddled underneath, the snow falling lightly overhead. Lady Elizabeth slept only a short while that night, most of it filled with great sneezing fits that she could not control that kept her master up with her, much to her displeasure. She wanted to serve him, but this time she knew she couldn't. And with feelings of inadequacy, she slept beside him, sneezing and rubbing at her runny nose. * * * She shivered and sneezed, and then looked up at Sir Peter. He smiled down at her. "So, are you coming up or not?" Lady Elizabeth was puzzled. Surely he didn't mean on his horse with him. "You mean ride achoo! with you?" at his nod, she exclaimed in disbelief, Sir!" He held his hand out and hesitantly she took it, boosting herself into the saddle with help from her foot in the stirrup. She sat in front of him, with both their cloaks wrapped around her in as much warmth as the cold morning could allow. She held her handkerchief over her nose and mouth, sneezing into it every few moments. Her master reached around her for the reins, his arms pressing up against her sides, keeping her safely there. "Rest, Lady Elizabeth. We'll be to the caves before you even know it." Tired and weak, she leaned backward, resting up against him. "Thank you, Sir Peter," she snuffled, closing her eyes. Whispering, he answered, "Tis my job now, Squire." He commanded his horse to the middle of the caravan of travellers. * * * "Lady Elizabeth," the whisper drifted into her ears. "Squire? We're arrived, now. Time to wake." Lady Elizabeth came to groggily, her eyes coming to focus on the concerned face of her master. "Hello, Lady Elizabeth. How are you feeling?" "Better. Yourself?" He stood and looked around. "I'm fine, Squire. We need to go on foot from now on." Suddenly she remembered their mission and where they must be, and she sprang to her feet. "The dragon caves!" she hissed. "You mean we made it?" He nodded. "Aye, we did. We covered a lot of ground with most of the men riding and the others, more healthy, jogging beside." The company continued through the caves on foot, silently searching the dragon they'd come to defeat, hoping in their wildest hopes that they find it before it found them. Either way, the went silently. After twenty minutes or so, Lady Elizabeth began to regret waking up at all. "Sir Peter!" she whispered to him. He kept his eyes straight ahead on the trail and waved to quiet her. "But Sir P-peter!" she called again in distress. He stopped and turned around. "Hush! What do you want me for, Squire?" "I... I... ahh... ahh-" her finger was below her nose and she was struggling to keep the sneezes in. "Ahh... Ahhh..." "Lady Elizabeth, not now! Not here! Please!" he pleaded, searching his pockets for a handkerchief that he realized he had used, himself, days before. "I... I... Iiiaahh-ahh-AHH-" she held it off well, her nose violently twitching, the feeling caught in her, never to go away. "I can't help it Sir ahh... ahhh... Sir Peaahh... ahh... AHH-" this time it was too strong to hold it back andy longer. "Choo!" she sneezed it out into her cloak sleeve, muffling the sound only minutely. "Ahhchoo! AhchooAchooAchoo!" she could feel them all staring at her but she couldn't help it, and nether had they been able to days before when they'd had the sneezes. "I'm sorraahhh... ahhchoo! Sorry, everyone. Achoo!" she managed. He patted her on the back. "It's all right, Lady Elizabeth. They know you can't help it." "No," Sir Reginald's voice piped in. "But we can. She should have stayed behind, Sir Peter. Why didn't you listen to me? You're going to get us all killed letting her give our place away to the beast!" Sir Peter turned and stood between his continuously sneezing squire and the only other knight in the party with his rank of superiority. "Where I go, she goes. She's my squire, in case her function escaped your little eyes." He protested his side. "I'm only looking out for the good of the party-" "And I as well, for I am a good knight and will not fight if I must stay behind with my squire. Is that understood, Reginald?" Sir Reginald nodded and started to open his mouth when a loud sound was heard. This time, it wasn't Lady Elizabeth's "Ahchoo!"s that they heard; it was the sound of enormous footsteps. It was the dragon. The knights, some in armor, most not, went to action, the squires taking up their master's swords and shields then grabbing swords and spears of their own, should their masters fail. Sir Reginald and Sir Peter were at the front, so much as Lady Elizabeth could see, fighting what parts of the dragon came closest to them. As they watched and fought, a great cloud of dust was raised, encircling the men and bringing on sneezes to all who unwillingly inhaled it. Lady Elizabeth, certain that it was her sneezes that had gotten them into that mess, was especially effected by the dust, sneezing quickly in a great fit, one after another after another. "AhChoo! AhCHOO! AhChoo! AhCHOO! AhhhCHOOO!" Above the sounds of her sneezes, and those of the men about her, she could make out yells and clangs, and knew they must be fighting; she just couldn't tell the winner. She imagined the worse. Suddenly she felt an enormous sneeze, one bigger than any she'd ever experienced before. It would not be suppressed and continued to build for a few long moments before exploding out of her with a force she had never before known. "AAAAAHHHHHHHCCCCHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!" There was the sound of a great roar and she knew that when if was all over, it was either them or the dragon. She hoped it wasn't the dragon. When at last the noise stopped and the dust settled, the dragon lay dead on the floor of the cave. Sir Reginald limped forward, his sword broken in half, his leg broken in several places. The brave Sir Peter suffered from little, as Lady Elizabeth had discovered when she saw and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around him. "I didn't think *sniff* you'd make it!" she said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry I put you in that position. I... ah... ahchoo! Sorry." He smiled and put his arms around her, too. "What will I do with you, Squire?" "'Tis all in the line of duty, Sir," she answered, rubbing her tickly nose with one hand, keeping her other arm around him. The Knight gave her a squeeze. "And I wouldn't want it any other way." ***I finished writing this at 3am; it is subject to change***