The tale of William Wallace

What.
The.
Fuck?!

At first Willow thought her ears were not working, because what that guy yelled in the street sounded like one of those cheap horror movies where random people get slaughtered and cut into pieces, but then she saw how a couple of men stripped another man naked -–seriously, in public???- and bound him to a horse.
Were they serious?!
Willow just stared, unable to trust her own eyes, but then it was getting too gross to take a closer look. Shockingly, the audience seemed quite interested in this whole thing, many even cheered, which was absolutely sick.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Willow turned to the side. “This ain’t happening!”

“I’m afraid it is, I learned about it in history class”, Leo replied.

If Willow wasn’t so freaked out about the naked guy being dragged by a horse through town, she would be freaked out about Grumpy’s history knowledge- that was kind of scary. And he said they were in the year 1305…so she could stop hoping that she would find a Starbucks anywhere near. Damn!

“You okay?”, Leo asked while he watched Willow grow paler by the second.

“Am I okay? Well…let’s see…” She paused for a moment. “No! I am freaking not okay! We landed in the fucking 14th century and are about to witness how a man is hanged, cut into pieces, castrated and beheaded, and the worst is, this ain’t no fucking horror movie! This is…God, why are people so disgusting!” She took a deep breath. “You know, if we’re stuck in the past, why couldn’t we at least be stuck in a time a little bit more pleasant? I don’t know, Jane Austen’s time maybe. Not that I like balls and tea parties, but I definitely prefer that to seeing this execution crap.”
Willow slowly began to understand that Leo had been right from the beginning; this was a dangerous time, and she would only attract danger with her behaviour. She let out a deep sigh.
“So, I guess we can’t just magically jump into the scene , rescue the guy and change history, right?”

“We do nothing, unless you want to die the same way.” Leo said calmly, keeping an eye on the crowed. “William Wallace was a bad guy he deserves what he gets.”

Leo was nervous Willow was attracting too much attention. The authorities were just about to hang William. “Come on let’s go, we need to get some supplies and equipment. And you look like you prefer not to watch the execution.”

Leo took her by the shoulder and led her away from the crowed. “Tell me do you have any gold jewellery need money.”

Willow hesitated for a moment. She barely wore jewellery in general, so she knew that she didn’t have anything to give away…until she remembered her mother’s bracelet, the only piece of jewellery she always wore. Willow’s eyes wandered to her wrist. It was actually quite valuable, a family heirloom that had been passed on from generations. Willow’s mother had been a lot like her, more the tomboy kind of girl who, when she was a kid, preferred to play outside with the boys rather than sitting inside and having tea parties with stuffed animals, so naturally her mom didn’t wear much jewellery back then, but she had loved that bracelet, and after she died, Willow’s father passed it on to her. This bracelet was something Willow would always connect to her mother whom she hadn’t even really known since Willow was very young when she died.

Leo had followed her glance and now spotted the bracelet around her wrist. “That should work.”

“No.” She pulled the sleeve over her arm.

“Willow, don’t be stubborn. We need at least a bit of money for food and clothes. Do you want to starve or freeze to death?”

“No, but there must be another way to get money.”

“Well, yeah, if you’re willing to work your charms on men…”

Willow gasped. “Are you suggesting I should become a hooker?”

“No, I was just answering your question what other ways there are to get money”, he replied dryly. “And honestly, we don’t have much choice other than selling that bracelet.”

She bit her lip. He was right, they needed to get money somehow, and she would most certainly not sell her body, and he would probably not rob anyone- oh, there was an idea- or maybe not. Willow knew her mother wouldn’t have wanted her daughter to die sometime in the 14th century because she refused to sell that bracelet. She took a deep breath. “Fine, you win.”

Leo looked at her. “I’m sorry I wish I had any other idea but I don’t. Who gave it to you?”

“My mother no big deal. I’ll sell it okay. So where do we go now to sell it? The jewellery store?” Willow asked impatient.

“You really didn’t listen in history class did you? There are no jewellery stores in the 14th century. We have to find the Jews.”

“Why are you religious?”

“No they deal with money. Come on we don’t need to see how they castrate him unless you are interested in it.”

“No not really.”

“Good so move along we need to sell your bracelet.” Leo put his hand on Willow’s back and led her through the narrow streets. He never let her out of her site. She had a pretty face and the other men saw that too. Leo didn’t feel better until they reached the Jewish neighbourhood. He felt a little saver here. “Excuse me how much would you give us for this bracelet?”

“Oh that is a beautiful piece. Are you sure you want to sell it?” The man asked examining the bracelet.

“Yes unfortunately we do. So how much?”

“I’ll give you a pound because you really look like you need it.” The man looked at Leo and to Leo’s own surprise the Jew smiled for a brief second at Willow.

“Deal.” Leo offer the Jew his right hand and the Jew took it.

“One pound?” Willow looked from Leo to the Jew, and back to Leo. “Seriously?”

Leo shot her a warning glance, signalising her to be quiet, but as always she had a hard time being quiet, especially since she just gave away something that had meant a lot to her. She had no idea about foreign currencies, but she was pretty sure that one pound was not much at all.
“Ehm…I’m sorry…” Willow ignored Leo and turned back to the Jew. “See, I don’t doubt that you know your…eh…business, but I’m pretty sure that bracelet is worth more than just-“

“Willow!” Leo interrupted her and grabbed her arm, then he bent down to hiss something at her that the other man couldn’t understand. “The currency here is different, not to mention that we’re in the 14th century, so one pound may not sound a lot to you but it’s enough to get us some food and clothes.”

She bit her lip, trying not to make any sarcastic remark, but she was aware that Leo knew about those things more than she did, so she had to trust him.
While the two men closed the deal and Leo got the money, she crossed her arms and turned away. Everything about the past annoyed her right now. Not only did they stumble right into a time where people were hanged and quartered, but she just gave away something very important and didn’t even get anything equally valuable back.

“Okay, let’s buy a few things”, Leo said as he turned around.

Willow took a deep breath. “Leo?”

“Hm?”

“Are we going to get back somehow?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know.”

Leo looked at Willow, there was a hidden sadness in his eyes. “I wish I would have another answer for you but I don’t… Come on we got to get the supplies and food. Or you freeze to death in the next night.”

Leo put his hand on Willow’s back to make sure he always knew where she was. On the market they found the fabric booth and got some simple clothes for himself and also when Willow didn’t look he bought her a simple and still practical dress. And of course two pouches, in one of them he stuffed clothes and gave it to Willow and then they went further over the market to get food, like bread, cheese, dried meet and some stockfish. Also some cups and a pot and two plates. He also got a knife and some flour. And of course two water bottles.

“Okay we got everything let’s go, we are too much of in the center of the attention. We still have some shilling left maybe we can find a guest house for the night. I guess you would prefer that to the woods. We just can’t do it all the time until we found a way of an income.”

Leo suddenly pulled Willow in a dark small alley. “Unless… I never asked if you do want to stay together. I don’t mind I can protect you unless you don’t need my protection. I guess I’m not the type of person you want to spend a lot of time. But you are a nice person, you never shut up but still okay.” Leo fell silent, his face was hidden in the shadow otherwise Willow might would have seen a certain sadness in his eyes, but he has lost the roughness in his voice well at least a little bit.

Willow didn’t have the best people skills and she most certainly didn’t always know what was going on inside of peoples’ head regarding feelings, but she could tell there was something about Leo far beyond his rough and cold appearance. And he said she was nice- which really surprised her, because she thought she annoyed the hell out of him. Well, she probably did, but obviously in a way that didn’t want him to run away and leave her alone. It actually seemed quite the opposite; when he said he thought she would probably not want to stay with him any longer he did seem kind of…sad? She probably just imagined it, but it had seemed like he didn’t want them to go separate ways. She definitely thought the same, since he was the only thing left from the 21st century, and maybe the only way to find back home again. She didn’t want to be alone in a time and among people she didn’t know at all, and if it wasn’t for Leo’s history knowledge, they would have been screwed, so she relied on him in a way. Willow was realistic enough to know that she had no chance of surviving if she was left on her own, and besides, she didn’t actually mind Leo’s company that much…well, yeah, he was definitely the total opposite of her and his silence drove her crazy, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Not at all.

“Sure, we can…eh…stick together or something”, Willow said. She didn’t really see his face since they were still in that dark alley. “And it would be good if we could stay the night in a hotel or something…”

“Inn.”

“Hm?”

“There are no hotels.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
She wished she could go into a hotel that actually had a shower and a real bathroom, but unfortunately there was no such thing, and she hated it. She longed so much for a shower, and she refused to take a bath naked in a cold river somewhere. And shampoo…oh, how much she missed real shampoo. This all just sucked- but at least she wasn’t on her own.

“Okay, let’s go, there is an Inn at the end of the street.” Leo put his hand on Willow’s back and led her down the street. It was a very small in and rather filthy looking form the outside.

“There we go. Stay close and don’t say to much they don’t like it when women talk.” Leo kept her close.

“Good afternoon, may I help you?” The Inn keeper asked them.

“Yes we would like one room.” Leo said looking grim at the Inn keeper, a creepy old looking man. He looked questioning at Leo and then at Willow.

“This is my wife...”

Suddenly everything went blurry and out of focus around Leo, he grabbed Willow’s arm tight maybe a little too tight but he didn’t want to lose her. He reappeared…

First of all; that Inn was crappy. It was not only the fact that it was extremely small, it was also filthy and disgusting and gross. And that Inn Keeper…she didn’t have words to describe that person, he was just too…gross. Just like the Inn they were about to stay at. And then Leo ordered one room. Awesome. She was so looking forward to share a room with…whoa, what? He just called her his wife? What in the-
She didn’t have time to finish her thought, because at the same time everything went blurry and she reappeared…