We Fall Like Rain

Here We Go Again

----Kalen----

Location: Taunton, Somerset, England.
Date: 1142

Darkness. That's all he saw, all he felt as they fell... somewhere.
There was a whooshing sound in his ears and he began to feel dizzy, but he didn't feel like he was moving.

Finally, he touched the ground. It didn't hurt, it didn't even feel like they hit it at speed, they were just there, that's all he knew.
He slowly opened his eyes to daylight even though he could have sworn it was nighttime a moment ago.

He sat up, feeling a shooting pain in his head, and looked around. He was right next to Charlie, who was currently unconscious.

"Charlie" He said shaking her lightly.
It took a moment for her to open her eyes and sit up, holding her head in her hands as her eyes adjusted to the new surroundings.

"What the bloody hell was that?" She asked, her hands muffling her voice.

"Not entirely sure." He said, looking around more closely now.

They were in, what appeared to be, a graveyard. It was pretty empty but the graves were fairly new.
He took a look for the dates on the one beside them. It read; 'Æthelberht þæm eorl'. No other words or numbers were there, just a swirl pattern covering the cross-shaped headstone.

"Maggie!? Lia!?" He began to call. He thought maybe they were separated, until he saw ahead of badly bleached dirty blonde hair on the other side of the field and let out a sigh of relief.

He ran to Maggie, who had almost fully come to.
"Are we home?" She asked suddenly sharp and alert.
"I don't think so."
"Where're the others?"
"I woke up with Charlie, I'm sure they'll be around here somewhere."
"We can't afford to lose each other again." She said with a tinge of regret and guilt in her voice. He stared at her then nodded. He knew how badly it affected them all. They had only just found each other again a few hours ago. They couldn't repeat it all again.

Just when he was about to start his search for Nikita and Thalia, some leaves cracked behind him and he turned to see a dishevelled Niki dragging an unconscious Thalia behind her.
"Anytime you wanna help, guys." She projected towards them all. "Where in all nine levels of hell are we, anyway?"

"No clue." Kalen sighed as he lifted Lia into his arms and placed her gently in front of Maggie, placing Lia's head in her lap.

Maggie swept the hair from Thalias face and felt her head.
"She's really hot, guys."
"What?" Charlie asked, walking towards the group. It was the first time she'd spoken since they rescued her from the Vikings. "Check her for injuries. God knows what she might have caught in that camp."

"You mean, you weren't together?" Maggie asked as the checked over Thalia for any open wound.

"Not all the time. We weren't exactly guests of honour." Niki stated rather bluntly.

Maggie could find no visible signs of injury and put it down to something she ingested.
"If it was contagious, one of us would most definitely have it by now, especially you two." She glanced at Niki and Charlie.

She sighed. As Niki said, "We need to get her to a hospital, fast."

"Do you see any around here? We don't even know where 'here' is, or when."

Kalen picked Lia up. "We need shelter, the next best thing." He headed to the church, across the cemetery, behind a low stone wall. It's windows were big and rounded and its stain glass was faded slightly.
They opened the door and set her down on a pew.

"How can I be of assistance-" a voice called from a backroom as they made their way to the front. "Oh dear lord, whatever happened?" It was a monk who asked the question. He looked middle-aged but had rather kind eyes.

"Please help, our friend is ill and we don't know why." Maggie pleaded.

The Monk glanced at each one of them, then went straight to Thalia.
"Yes, I think we may be able to help. Bring her this way."
He left towards the back room again.

The room was rather empty, with only a small desk by a window at the back. There was another door to the left which opened up into a long corridor with numerous rooms on each side.
He walked through the furthest door to the right and pointed to a small bed in the corner.
Kalen gently placed Thalia down on the bed and stepped away as a nun graced through the door holding a bowl of, what looked like, porridge and a wooden cup of water.

"Thank you" Maggie said, backing away so they could tend to Lia.
The monk left the woman with them. Kalen stood by the bottom of the bed as Charlie sat on a chair in the corner. Maggie and Niki stood waiting outside the door of the already crowded room.

Thalia opened her eyes about an hour later, confused and light-headed.
"Where are we?" She said, sitting up, still shaking and pale.
Kalen immediately went to her side, propping a pillow up.

"A monastery, or church. Not a hundred percent sure."
"What happened to Emma?"
"We don't know that either."
"Oh..."
"Here, drink this." He handed her a cup of brown liquid."
"What's this?"
Charlie spoke up from the chair when Kalen shrugged, her eyes were partially closed.
"It's Willow bark tea. It's a very old version of Aspirin... Or so Maggie says."

Thalia nodded and gingerly took a few sips of the tea.
"What do we do now?" She asked, setting down the cup.
"I have no idea." Kalen responded. "But you just focus on getting better. We'll figure out the rest later."
She nodded and leaned back into her pillow and closed her eyes.

Kalen didn't leave her side, not even when they were given their own rooms for the night. He couldn't sleep anyway, so he decided he'd sit down beside her, and stay a little while.
He vowed to himself he'd never leave Thalia, he'd protect her the best he could, even back home. He wouldn't let her stay at her parents ever again. He'd let her move in with him, if she liked, just until she found student accommodation.
He always thought Thalia was too good of a person, to come from a family so horrible and cruel.
He often wondered if she was his long lost twin, they were always so in tune with each other.

He finally rested his head on the bed next to him and fell to sleep holding her hand.