Meridiana

The sun glinted upon the steel cuirass and pauldron, reflecting mirror-like from helm to plackart, all had been lovingly polished so the sun's glare would sear into the eyes of the knight's foes. This of course was exactly the intent of the Master at Arms when he made this suit; a suit of the finest Italian steel. It was also why the knight would allow only one of his squires to handle what he considered to be a most precious asset.

He stood with his sabatoned shod boot on the chest of the fallen thing and pulled on the broad blade that had been buried within its chest, just above the nipple. Rammed in with such force, it had pinned the demon to the ground; smashing through bone, sinew, organs and blood vessels, severing whatever amounted to life that the creature had; its paltry existence torn away in seconds, yet ending the suffering that this creature had bestowed on others for many years.

Casius wiped his blade clean of most of the dark ichor, upon the leathery wing that enfolded the demon's body, and then strode to his warhorse Mathius, "Well," Casius spoke, "let's get my blade properly cleaned of that monster's muck. I cannot stand to have it on there for a moment longer than needs be, for fear of it causing corruption." The horse whinnied in response, side stepping into its master. "Thank you boy, your praise is all that I require indeed."

He sheathed the long blade in its scabbard upon the saddle and turned back to the demon. He wanted to ensure that it was definitely dead and not attempting a ruse. He had been caught out once before, by an ancient demon's wiles and swore it would not happen again.

Grabbing it by the wing, he hauled it into the strong sunlight. "That will get to it, if nothing else eh Mathius?" The leathery wing was bat like and connected to the body of the creature at hip level. The hips were wide and womanly, the breasts large, firm and with swollen nipples and on any other body, would probably be considered as arousing; but not on this fell thing. It had no genitalia that he could discern and the face was difficult to sex too. A combination of male, female and animal features made up what could only be described as a poor parody of a human face. The legs looked feminine from the hip to the knee but beneath the knee took on a reptilian, scaled appearance and terminated into talon-like feet, fetid and sharp; clenched tightly now in death. As the strong sunlight glanced upon the carcass, it immediately broke down into charred ash and the wind carried it away like a new broom set to its task.

Casius now turned his attention to the girl who had been tied to the tree. He assumed that she was dead, her body unmoving, held in place by the crudely tied ropes. In truth she had probably been dead a while as these demons oft liked to play with their human prey, but that play would not last long before they got bored and killed their prisoner. He looked upon the woman, her long blonde hair fell across her chest in tangles; it had once been patiently styled by skilled hand-maidens; but now, on her limp hanging head it told only of her rough treatment at the hands of the creature.

He assumed that the demon had done his/her/its evil deed with her and that he was just too late to save her. For that he cursed himself for a fool; taking too long to despatch a creature that was far short of his match, rather than attending its victim. Those minutes might have saved her. Perhaps he was becoming too cautious he thought, or maybe patiently wise? Either way, he had not been in time. He was about to curse as he lifted the young girl's head but stopped when she murmured, "No, please noooo. Stop!"

The girl moved with difficulty trying to pull away from the knight. The rope pulled tight under her ample breasts. The material of her dress indicating to Casius that this girl was not of peasant stock, but appeared to be of landed gentry. Her bodice had been torn and one full ripe, rose petal white breast was fully exposed. The nipple looked red and angry, with a myriad of bite marks around it which had punctured the flesh, though not deeply. Her voluminous skirts had been torn asunder and revealed two long outstretched legs, pale white and silky smooth at the thigh, her stockings pushed down below her knees. These too showed the marks of teeth or claws.

He took out his dagger from the sheath that he had had purposefully made on the underside of his left vambrace, and quickly cut away the rope from the girl's waist. "NO, NO PLEASE!" she screamed, thinking that again she was being assaulted. "Calm yourself," Casius said in his pleasant low timbre. "You are now safe. I have killed the beast that assaulted you. Calm, please, for I mean you no harm." She appeared uncertain and continued to struggle, one eye nearly closed from her earlier torment, restricting her vision and the suns glare making it impossible for her to see Casius clearly.

"I am merely cutting the ropes around you, please be assured." The girl looked up into the reflection of her own face, the tears had left track marks in the dirt upon it and made her other eye look swollen and puffy too, or maybe the demon had beaten both sides of her face? Either way she was shocked at her appearance and turned quickly away.

Casius was so used to his mirrored helm that he had forgotten he was wearing it and reading the maidens reaction right, swiftly swept it from his head in a flurry of shining steel and long black shoulder length hair. "My Lady, please accept my apologies. I am Sir Casius Remington, Lord of the five Duchies, keeper of the Halls of Flames, Guardian of the Grail scrolls; protector of His Majesty and of the helpless and latterly," he had a wry smile, "Destroyer of demons." He stepped back and bowed low, as low as one could go in a full suit of battle armour. The leather strapping creaking as it coped with the movement. "And," he went on, "Your servant Lady."

The young lady finally relaxed as she looked into the piercing opaline eyes. His face was youthful with a myriad of small scars that rather than detracting from his handsomeness, seemed to enhance it. His square jaw and firm mouth were set in a wide smile that was both welcoming and warming to her, helping her to relax a little further. Casius strode over to Mathius and pulling out his silken cape from one of the saddle bags there, he strode back to the maiden and offering his hand, pulled her with seemingly no effort, to her bare feet. As he wrapped the cape about her shoulders, she suddenly became aware of her state of undress and turned from him. "Thank you. Thank you, Sir. I am undone it would seem?"

Once she had sorted out the cloak, she turned back to him, blushing furiously; her slightly swollen face looked regal and attractive, and would at any other time perhaps have interested the knight. But he was a stalwart professional and merely stated to her, "My Lady, I had not noticed, so concerned was I that you were not unduly harmed, or worse, dead. I can only apologise that I did not get to the creature sooner."

"Fear not Sir Knight", the lady said, pleased that the knight had lied about what he had seen of her, protecting her modesty and decorum. "It is not your fault that I was away from my home when I shouldn't have been. It was not your fault that I transgressed; defied my father and ran from the estate. I will tell you now though, that I will not be forced to marry someone that I do not love! And if you have come to take me back then I will run from you too!"

Casius was aware that shock could often induce in people an adverse reaction to their saviour. It also made them unable to think clearly and it appeared that this Lady was indeed suffering more than a little as she appeared to carry on with an argument she must have had with her father. "It is not right that I should marry someone just to tie our families together." She recovered a little and looking at the knight stated, "You cannot take me back!"

"Please, please remain at ease," Casius' voice immediately having the effect on the girl that his words implored. "I know not your father or his estate, nor do I know of your plight. Further, I would not accept the employ of anyone that wished to impose their will on others, for the scriptures to which I adhere forbid such things. Besides it breaks my personal code." Casius averted his gaze and spoke softly, "My Lady, perhaps you should tie my cape about you before you are undone again."

In her passionate plea, the young woman had let go of the frint of his cape and her large thrusting chest had pushed it open, fully exposing her naked alabaster breast and strangely erect nipple to him. "Oh," she said, looking down at herself in her annoyance, as she properly secured the fine silk about her. "I must apologise at my appearance. Is your abode near, for I would want to clean all traces of that creature from me?" She looked deeply; imploringly into his eyes. "But one thing I must know. I must have fainted from its attack and must ask whether you witnessed what the beast did to me. I beg you spare me no detail for I must know. Did the creature defile me; did it get beneath my skirts? I have to know for how can I possibly take a husband if I am not pure."

In truth Casius had not seen, as he had only caught up with the winged demon moments before despatching it and he was not aware of what passage of time had elapsed since the demon had the Lady under its control. However, he said what he knew she wanted to hear. "I despatched the thing before it had chance, my Lady. Besides it was neuter, the worse that the creature probably did was to expose and torment your breast." Strangely the girl thrilled at his spoken words; 'your breast'. She blushed for the third time in less than ten minutes, something she was unused to. Peculiar then that she should feel a strange sensation at the junction of her legs if the demon had not touched her there? Why then was there a burning sensation? "But my skirts are torn and my legs feel weak and sore with scratches?"

Casius offered his hand again and walked her to his horse. "Fear not, I got here just in time." He lifted her with ease into the saddle and grabbed the reins to walk the horse back the way he had come, towards his estates. The Lady looked comfortable upon the horse, riding side saddle and Mathius was bred too well not to behave himself, despite being used to one rider only. "We are but a few leagues from my home. I will take you there and my servants will bathe you and tend to your minor wounds, then you will join me for a small repast."

"You are gracious indeed my Lord saviour. And while it is not proper to be un-chaperoned, I am more than grateful and will indeed accompany you. I am the Lady Evelyn Claremont and my father's estates are to the south. I would prefer at this point however, not to tell you anything more about myself, I trust that you understand my reasoning and will press me not on the subject."

"As you will, my Lady, as you will. I would be pleased if you would call me Casius." He did not wait for a response and turned Mathius' head for the walk home. Even fully laden with armour, the walk home for Casius would be nothing more than a jaunt. His stamina was legendary about these parts, and for most of the South. He did not mention to the Lady Evelyn that he knew her father, as he had now won her confidence and did not want to cause her any further distress. He led Mathius into the sun of the vale, trying to avoid shadow as he thought this would remind the Lady of her torment.