Arabian Knights

No worries. In fact, I have a feeling that I can include your characters

Kalilah

Just an hour later, I found myself at the market place, dressed in fine silk and carrying a basket with my right hand.

"Pretty jewelery, lots of pretty jewelery," The nearest stall holder called and, swayed by temptation, I took a look at his items. Most of the necklaces were cheap imitations but one of the rings - a small, silver circlet with a saphire in the centre - caught my attention and I tried it on before giving the owner a handful of coins in exchange.

Next, I approached the food stall and filled my basket with exotic fruits and a nice, fresh loaf of bread.

"A storm's coming," The owner warned. We both turned our eyes to the sky and I nodded in agreement.

"Time to go home I think."

"That sounds like a wise decision," He agreed and began to dismantle his stall. Across the market place, others were doing the same.

I hurried along the deserted, dusty streets and then paused when I saw two figures ahead. The wind was just starting to pick up and I'd already pulled my veil up so as to avoid getting sand in my mouth.

"Hello?" I called out and then paused when I realised that it was an English knight and his squire, neither of which seemed prepared for or aware of the oncoming storm. "There's a storm coming, you know. You should find shelter..."

*Thank you, Kitty!!!*

Jhadi, with a worried look on his face, turned and whistled, holding up his fist. Kalilah noticed that he was wearing rings outside his gloves and found it rather odd...

A red falcon, looking rather wind-tossed and her feathers caked with sand, landed heavily on Jahdi's fist and the boy hurriedly tied her tethers to his ring with one hand. The flacon's hooded head was darting about in a frenzy, making soft, nervous clacks at the storm.

Jordan turned to the stranger. "Thank you for warning us," he said. "Where can we find shelter?"

No problem =)

Kalilah

"You're in the wealthy section of town so the houses tend to be spaced out. Mine's probably the closest and you're welcome to stay with me but we must hurry," I set off again and picked up the hem of my dress so that I could run lightly through the sand. The knight seemed to be having some trouble; he kept sinking due to his heavy boots and armour and the squire was having some trouble controlling his bird.

"How much further?" The knight asked, scowling in distaste as he got a mouthful of sand and then raising his arm to shade his eyes from the torrent of the storn.

"Just down here, come on," I replied. I reached the outer gate of my father's estate and opened it, allowing the two men to go through before me. Once they were within the garden, I passed through the gate and bolted it closed behind me. "Come, this way," I instructed. The knight, who appeared to be learning that speaking without a veil was not a wise choice, nodded his head and followed me into the house.

"Kalilah!" My mother exclaimed as I entered. "I was getting worried. Who's this?"

"This is..." I hesitated when I realised that I did not know the knight's name.

"... Sir Jordan," He introduced himself, "And my squire Jhadi."

"Well don't just stand there. Come on, help us shut all the windows and bar the doors. I have a feeling this is going to be a rough storm," My mother darted off to the next room and I quickly turned and pulled all the locks across on the front door before hurrying into the kitchen to pull the shutters across the windows.

Jhadi coulnd't find a place to put Relda, so he pulled bits of dried meat from his pocket and started to feed her, gently stroking her sandy feathers. Her beak was open in shock, and her chest heaved with each breath. She had not flown in such conditions before.

Jordan hurried around with the two woman, trying to help in any way he could. When They decided everything was secure, THey sat at the table.

Jordan rubbed some sand from his eyes, and then he said, "Thank you for your hospitality," he said.

"It's not a problem, really," the woman who had helped them in the storm said.

"It seems I'm at a disadvantage," he said, trying to keep his dislike for that fact out of his voice. "What are your names?"

Kalilah

"My name is Kalilah, sir knight and this is my mother, Patil, and my father, Amin."

"A pleasure to meet you," My father, who had just entered through the east door, crossed the room and help out his hand. The knight took it somewhat reluctantly and was looking with poorly hidden distaste at my father's broad, welcoming smile.

"The pleasure is all mine sir," Jordan insisted but he did not expand on this. Instead, he turned to his squire and asked if the bird was looking any better.

"A little, my lord," Jhadi replied.

"Have you eaten?" My mother asked suddenly. "I shall prepare a meal. Show them to a room Kalilah and show them where they may wash."

"A room?" Jordan asked.

"Oh yes. Some storms can last for days," I explained. "Hopefully this one will be just a few hours but best to be sure."

Alla and Serra sat in the leaving room working on odds and ends of knitting and just being all around bored.

"Alla, I'm afraid that this storm wont be stoping for quiet a while, it is not slowing down in the least little bit." Serra sighed,

"It does not effect me, other then when it does my father might come after me. But until then I'm staying here anyway." Alla grinned, "THe only people it will effect in this house is the Knights, and I have no knowledge of their business anyway so it might not be of any trouble to them just as long as they get rest."

"Maybe," Serra seemed lost in thought though. Alla rolled her eyes and kept on knitting,

Nicholas

Warren took the first turn in the bathroom while I inspected the room for the sake of something to do. As soon as he was done, I hurried into the room and washed thoroughly. Quite some time later, feeling very refreshed, I dressed in my casual clothes and made my way downstairs.

When I entered the huge room to the left of the staircase, I found the two young ladies knitting and sewing. Both looked up as I walked over and stared in surprise.

"You look clean," Serra gasped.

"Thank you," I replied with a much more fluid bow than before. She blushed.

"I meant... I've not seen a knight without his armour before..."

"That's quite all right. Is Sir Warren not down?" As if conjured by my words, Warren entered the room and took a seat.

The next day the storm ended and the market thrived again. Nina couldn't resist the temptation to get out and about again.

Her father gave her some "fun money" to buy some enjoyables along with the gerocries.

"Thank you papa," she said as she left with her basket.

She ignored the many sales pitches as she wandered through town, she had intent for her spending money. She wanted that necklace.

When she arrived at the jewerly "booth" she spotted Serra.

"Serra!" she exclaimed, and walked over to her, "how are you today? Any interesting company last night?"

**I'll post again later and introduce the pirates then**

Alla


Alla looked up from her work,

"You must be more comfortable out of your armour." She smiled, her hands quickly knitting.

"Yes, Ma'am, it is sometimes hard to move in Armour." He said, he was looking around the room studying the windows and such.

"I bet, why are so many knights coming down here?" She asked, both knights seemed to shift their weight uneasily as if they didn't want to talk about it. Maybe they just didn't want to enrage the people they were staying with, Alla wasn't quiet sure.


*I guess the next morning*



Alla looked up as she saw Nina talking to Serra. Serra was talking quickly about the two Knights that had been staying at her place.

"Mama says that she is going to invite them to just stay with us until they have rested fully. You should've seen them, such handsome men." Serra exclaimed,

"Serra is just saying that because they made her blush." Alla grinned,

"My father said that your father was looking for you this morning." Nina said smiling,

"Not surprising, I wont marry Exal. My father wont allow that and so I am staying with Serra." Alla smiled, she looked past Nina and saw the two Knights walking down the market place. She looked the other way and saw Exal make a straight line towards her.

For a few moments there was dead silence in the entire market, which surprised Nina, it was usually a very loud place.

Then chaos broke out, none of them were sure about what was going on other than the running. They had no choice but to run as well.

Nina ducked around the crowd looking for Richard, she was sure she had seen him already.

After a while she caught up with him.

"Whats happening?" she asked, having to shout over the crowd.

"Pirates!" he said back, "run home, the knights will handle them."

Nina nodded and ran back into the crowd, but unable to get home.

She had to duck inside the same alley as she had the night before. But if she was followed this time, she was certian that no one would come to her rescue. All she had to do was pray that nobody found her.

Her prayers didn't come true.

She was carried off by two pirates who were laughing menicingly, when she struggled she was backhanded. Everything went black.

**You don't mind do you??? IF so I'll change it**


Alla raced holding her skirt up. Stupid dress, she hated them. She ran right into Exal.

"Let go of me so I can get out of here." She snapped at him.

"No," He had an evil look in his eye. Stupid man, she tried to kick him, but he just laughed. He waited until there were a few pirates coming towards him before he dropped her hard on teh ground and took off. Alla didn't have enough time to get up before she was grabbed by one of the pirates.

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT, EXAL!" She screamed at the top of her lungs praying she would be alive to repay him one day. SHe struggled to get free but there was no use. SHe saw the two knights fighting some of the pirates. Sir Nicholas looked her way and she started struggling again, maybe he could help her. But he over whelmed with pirates like all the other knights.

Richard fought for his life against the overwhelming odds. The pirates had them outnumbered five to one.

He stabbed a pirate and turned to see what else he could do. He caught sigh of something off in the distance and his eyes opened in shock and alarm.

"Nina!" he called, trying to push through the running mob towards her. He cursed as a panicked man ran into him, knocking back. He looked around frantically but saw no sign of Nina. He cursed colorfully.

"Richard!" he heard a shout behind him. Turning to look, he saw another knight, Sir Jordan, fighting with his squire against half a dozen scruffy pirates. Richard bit his lip and glanced back at where Nina disappeared. He sighed, cursed again, and ran to help his fellow knight. There would always be time to rescue Nina for surely the pirates would not kill or harm her in any way, but if a fellow knight died he was gone forever...

I'm not sure if you want to be saved or not so I shall try to leave that open...

Nicholas

I raised my sword and blocked an attack aimed for my head and then one from behind and two to the left. Four againts one was slightly better odds than what most of the other knights had and I was glad that I'd left my squire at the Arab lady's house. He would have been useless against these fighters and just another person to protect. That was when I heard a familiar voice -

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT, EXAL!" Alla screamed. I caught a glimpse of her just beyond the pirates surrounding me. I tightened my grip on my sword and the very next pirate who made an attempt to remove my head fell to the floor, dead. I thrust my weapon through the chest of a second and kicked a third aside when he tried to take advantage of the position. I barely had time to watch him fall and sink into the sand with a soft thud before the last was on me but without his partners, he was easy to cut down.

With a break in the fighting, I stared around for Alla and caught sight of her disapearing into the crowd with two pirates. I charged after her, cutting down the pirates who got in my way.

When Nina came round she didn't know where she was. At first she thought she was still in the alley but that thought was quickly dismissed when she realized she was sitting on wood instead of dirt. Where the hell was she?

"Nina!" Alla whispered loudly, "Nina! Can you hear me?!"

Nina grunted in responce, and opened her eyes. Instantly she started to panic, "Alla, where the hell are we?"

"Pirate ship," Alla replied, "Serra is unconcious still, and a few other women."

"I don't think they came into town for normal looting," Nina mused scornfully.

Kalilah

I woke with a nasty headache and for a moment was blissfully unaware of the morning's events but then they came flooding back to me and I stared around in fear. With a gasp, I found that I was in what appeared to be a large, wooden room but I'd been on a ship once and so I recognised this as being below deck on a pirate ship. When I attempted to stand, I found my wrists and ankles bound with a thick, rough cord of rope and as my eyes became accostomed to the dim light, I saw several other women.

"Hello?" I called tentatively.