Alice could only hear the voices of her saviours at first.
The voice of a young woman cried out, "Alright guys, fun's over!" It was bright, full of energy, and a little rough. Alice then heard the clashing of metal, followed swiftly by the sound of two bodies falling to the ground. For a moment, she wasn't sure whether her captors had been defeated, or her potential rescuers had been.
Then, she heard that same voice again. "Alright! Now it's time to save the babe!"
A second voice said, "Hazel, I find that distasteful. The poor girl must be terrified--the last thing she needs is your lechery." This voice was deeper, more mature and considered, although Alice guessed it still belonged to a young woman.
"Hey, I'm not a lech! I would never treat a woman like that!"
"Whatever. We need to find her. The kidnappers must have hidden her somewhere..."
Hearing their voices get further away, Alice screamed through her gag, desperate to be found. Thankfully, she then heard footsteps getting closer, and the sound of a door opening.
"Kept her in the closet. Typical," the brighter voice commented. Before she knew it, Alice's hands were unbound. Her gag and blindfold were removed shortly thereafter, allowing her to see the faces of her saviours.
After blinking for a few seconds to adjust to the light, Alice saw two figures looking down at her. One was a short, slightly shabby-looking woman wearing an oversized peacoat and a wide grin on her face, while the other was a tall, dark-haired, stern-faced woman wearing steel plate armour. It was easy to figure which voice belonged to which person.
The taller of the two spoke first. In a gentle, measured tone, she said, "You're safe now. We're here to bring you back home." Crouching down and reaching out a hand, she asked, "Can you stand?"
Alice nodded weakly, taking Lancelot's hand. She took a deep breath and slowly stood up, her legs shaking slightly. She muttered out a "Thank you," but her voice was hoarse and her throat felt scratchy from all the screaming and crying she had done over the course of the kidnapping, not to mention the lack of water.
Seeing that her knees were wobbling, the taller woman offered her arm for Alice to brace herself against, which the girl was very grateful for. Alice felt warm and safe against her strong, muscular frame. As they made their way out of the kidnappers' lair, the taller woman said, "I'm Lancelot. This is Hazel."
Hazel, walking slightly ahead of both of them, turned back and gave a smile and a wave. Alice gave a small hum of acknowledgement, but didn't yet feel ready to speak. Once they got outside, there was a horse waiting for them. Lancelot grabbed a canteen from one of the horse's satchels and offered it to Alice. "Drink up."
Alice took the canteen and gulped down its entire volume greedily, not taking her mouth off of it until she was sure it was empty.
"Damn, they must've starved you!" Hazel exclaimed, in a manner Alice thought made her sound a bit stupid. "Come on, we'll get ya fed."
Hazel mounted the horse, and Lancelot helped Alice on as well.
"The journey might take a while--I doubt Bucephalus can hold all three of us, so we'll have to go at a walking pace."
"Or," Hazel suggested, "The girl and I could go on ahead without you. You'll be fine on your own."
"I do not trust you alone with her."
"What? Why not? What have I ever done to earn your distrust?"
"You don't want me to give you a list."
"Fine, fine. We'll go at a walking pace." Hazel said, lightly squeezing Bucephalus with her legs, coaxing him into a walk.
Finally feeling strong enough to speak, Alice said, "It's Alice. My name is Alice."
"Right. I knew that." Hazel said with undue confidence, clearly indicating that she did not, in fact, know that. Lancelot bit her tongue, knowing she couldn't critique Hazel for forgetting the girl's name when she herself had misremembered it as Alison.
"Thank you, regardless." Alice almost wanted to nuzzle into her rescuer's back, but given context from Lancelot, she wasn't sure she wanted to get too close to Hazel. She did, however, find herself looking down at the woman walking beside her. Lancelot was tall and handsome--undeniably feminine and graceful, but carrying herself with strength and confidence. Alice found herself thinking she wouldn't mind sharing a night with her.
"What is it, Alice?" Lancelot asked after noticing Alice's stare. "You're flushed--do you have a fever?"
While Alice quickly looked away in embarrassment and attempted to come up with an excuse, Hazel looked back at her and grinned. It was plain to see, just glancing at Alice's face, what was going on. "Oh, she's just got a crush on you, Lancy, nothing to worry about."
Alice was temporarily shocked into silence, the half-baked excuse she was forming in her head having been jettisoned off into the depths of the great sea.
"Stop embarrassing the poor girl." Lancelot chided.
"She doesn't need to be embarrassed! Like, half the girls we save develop crushes on you! It's perfectly normal."
"You only think that because your mind never left the gutter I saved you from."
"Hey! That's entirely--"
"Um," Alice spoke up, "it's true. I do think you're very dashing, Lancelot."
"Oh." Lancelot stopped in her tracks for a moment. "Well, that's perfectly alright. No need for you to be embarrassed." Alice could swear she saw a hint of red enter Lancelot's complexion.
Hazel grumbled. She wanted to make further jokes, and she especially wanted to make a rebuttal to that gutter comment, but she had a policy of never getting too much on Lancelot's nerves--if she pushed it too far, Lancelot was liable to blow up on her, and things usually got ugly from there. Hazel wanted to avoid that, even if she did love ribbing Lancelot.
Alice, after a few moments of silence, decided to ask, "So, Lancelot, are you a paladin? You look the part."
Lancelot sighed. "The armour often gets people confused. I thought removing the official regalia of a paladin would make it obvious, but no, I am not a paladin anymore."
