Author's Note: This is a short story that I had to write as a class assignment... and I particularly like the first half of it so I'm just going to post the whole thing up here. ^_^ Keep in mind this is midieval times in Europe somewhere. And Le Cinq Chevalier means "The Five Knights".. I think, lol.

I have a face-shot of Lorraine as well as one for Marcella... perhaps one day I'll scan them and link them here or something =^^=

Le Cinq Chevalier

"Their First Quest"

It had been a pleasantly normal day, you know the sort where nothing interesting happens and you finally get the chance to just relax. So far Marcella Lunae had yet to pick a fight with a single person. Not that she enjoyed fighting random people; random being the keyword in that sentence, because the people she fought weren't random at all. She was openly discriminated against everywhere she went because she was a female knight, and a good one at that. So naturally, at the moody age of twenty-four she often felt that she needed to defend her name. So everywhere she traveled shed would have to prove her strength to many prejudiced men. But today, she had no time to use her trusty sword-which she lovingly called 'Unreliable'. Today she had a meeting with the King and Queen of England, Edan and Karelia, and unfortunately she was running a bit late due to her horse; Idler, who refused to get up. Not that Idler was much lazier than Marcella herself was.

"As you know you've all been gathered--" The door slammed shut behind Marcella as she entered, causing a loud echoing bang to fill the room; interrupting the King.

She kneeled on one knee pleading forgiveness, "I'm sorry milord! I was . helping to feed the poor, sir."

"Oh, a noble knight I see." King Edan said with a fond smile, "At any rate, I'm glad you were able to make it at all. Come closer so you're in line with the others," he said motioning towards the other four who were in the room, "don't be such a stranger." Marcella did as she was told and slinked in somewhat nervously within the group noticing only one other female among the four. "My daughter was kidnapped by the evil magician Ambrose, you were sent here to rescue her." The King announced, and with this came a sob from the Queen as she sniffled and cried pathetically for her daughter, Princess Cassandra who was only twelve years old.

King Edan patted his wife on the back awkwardly trying to console her, "You will leave today. Is anyone unclear on what they must do?"

One of the male knights, Marius, spoke up, "Pardon me your greatness, but where would we find Ambrose's castle?"

There was a loud clang of deafening silence.

".Somewhere in this general area." He answered.

"Area as ?" Darius, who was Marius's twin brother, asked.

"Area as in world." replied the King.

There was a long drawn out awkward silence before the only male knight left stood up to speak loudly and clearly, "We will find your daughter! And we will bring her back alive!" Sir Cyril 'the brave' said.

Lorraine, the other female knight nodded and stood as well, "Oui! We will bring back your daughter alive, or mon name is not Lorraine le'Jeune." Lorraine's voice held a thick French accent.

There was a lengthy pause as everyone stared at Lorraine before the Queen Karelia blew her nose in a royal handkerchief and commented, "Lorraine, isn't your surname le'Siene?"

Lorraine's eyes darted across the room and she cleared her throat, ", have many names by which I am called?" she asked nervously.

"Well go then! You brave women! Your reward will be greater if you bring her back sooner!"

And they were off, they walked calmly out the throne room with their heads held once the great oaken double-doors closed behind them havoc ensued as each knight pushed and shoved each other through the halls trying to get to where their horses were before their opponent.

"I'll be the first to find her!" cried Cyril as he ran in front of the group only to be tackled by Marius who shouted, "No! My brother and I will be the firsts!"

So this left Darius, Marcella, and Lorraine in the race.

"Firsts isn't a correct word you imbecile!" Lorraine called behind her to Marius, and because of that Darius pushed her into a different hallway. Marcella stuck her tongue out at Darius and threw one of her iron gloves at him; which hit his head and caused him to lose his balance. He fell and Marcella cried, "Victory!" as she charged at the door, ready to push it open by force when they were pulled open by a visiting Lord from another country and she stumbled out of the building face first into a pile of what she hoped was mud.

And thus the other four knights joined her and they all agreed reluctantly to help one another to find the princess.

As they were all riding their horses in a southern direction, Darius spoke and asked, "What should we call ourselves?" it was completely random, but any topic was welcome warmly at this time.

"The Great Cyril and His Band of Miscrits." Cyril announced earning a rough push off his horse by Marcella.

"How about the Group of Strong Men?"

Marcella and Lorraine glared at Marius.

"Ah, non."

"Do I look like a man!?"

Lorraine, quick to forgive Marius's inanity, replied, "Perhaps we should stop arguing and just call ourselves le Cinq Chevalier, oui?"

"The Knight Sank?" Marius asked- the only French words he knew of were: chevalier (knight), non, and oui.

"No, it means the Five Knights." Cyril explained, he had spent a year in France and knew these things. How he had managed to get back on his horse and catch up to the group in time to hear their discussion goes unanswered to this very day.

There was a chorus of "Oh"s and finally they agreed to keep the uncreative title.

***

After what seemed to be a half hour riding they stopped in a nearby forest to get some rest and perhaps eat a little something. They all sat either on the floor or on a large rock and spoke to one another as they went about their business.

"So, how are the kids?" Cyril asked Marcella.

Marcella stared at him, "I don't have any. I've never been married before- it ties one down. And what made you think I would have children? If I did I wouldn't be a knight anymore."

" I figured you may have one-seeing your waist size and all."

Marcella twitched and resisted to throw her favorite, and only weapon at him. "Are you implying that I'm fat?"

" at all! , a bit 'rounder' than most women of your age?"

"And exactly how old do you think I am!?" she yelled. "Um, no more than thirty-six?"

Marcella gasped and could have either fainted or killed him, "Th-Thirty- six!?"

"Well how old are you then?"

"She's only twenty-four!" Lorraine said, fearing for Cyril's health.

"Oh! I mean, you don't look a day older than twenty, what's your secret Marcella?" Cyril asked, ready to run away.

Marcella suddenly sat down, her anger spent as she sniffled, "Do I really look that bad? I absolutely hate the fact that I'm aging faster than everyone-so I may as well die sooner toooooo!" the to, was rather drawn out because she began to sob. "You don't see Reva or Caroline looking as old as me!" she blubbered.

Lorraine patted her shoulders consolingly, "There, 'll be all right. Don't listen to Cyril, he's just a man." Lorraine said, and with the desire to change the subject she asked, "Who are Reva and Caroline?"

"My sisters!" was the quick reply. Marcella wiped her nose harshly with her teal-colored handkerchief, turning the once-pale nose to a rosy shade of pink. "They're both married and have children-don't do anything with their time at all! Just spend it with their children." she sobbed, "and they're often told they look so young, and so-so-so-so-so happy." The last word came out as a squeak, because she had barely managed to say it without her voice quavering.

Lorraine looked to the others for help, feeling as if she'd only made matters worse. Now instead of an angry Marcella they had a sad one.

"What about your parents?" Darius asked.

"My mom's a good woman!" she said, banging her hand on the trunk of a tree, seeming almost drunk in a manor, "Her name is Elisabeth, she's a God- fearing woman and takes care of my every need! She's caring and she looks over my poor sick daddy Jasper. she's becoming involved in politics now though, you my father's sick she's the only one there who can run the Castle Eltsa; which is my home."

"What's your home like?"

"It's it's awful difficult to play hide n' seek in it. it's three 's old and covered in green vines," she sniffed, calming down a bit as she continued, "There's water surrounding it-but the water isn't too close to the castle. My mother was always afraid my older sisters and I would drown or something. There's a courtyard, a large 's very beautiful. And my room's very pretty and warm," sniff, "and I have a brachet named Fifi."

"Um, that we've spent far too much time than necessary talking about your past.I say we move on." Cyril said.

"You! You're just saying that because you want to let this whole thing blow over! But from now on my children and I will have a vendetta against you and yours!"

Silence.

"You said you didn't have kids." Cyril pointed out.

"Argh! I don't! I'm talking future-ish!" she yelled, angry once more.

Before the subject could be dragged on anymore a wise, mysterious voice rang out upon the clearing. "You are seeking Ambrose." The voice belonged to an old blind hermit who magically appeared among the group of knights. Lorraine screamed girlishly at the apparition and Cyril almost choked on his loaf of bread.

"Yes! Yes we are! How did you know?" Darius asked excitedly as Marcella was the first to notice the hermit's blindness and pointed it out to Marius, who was closest to her.

"My name is Kian. And I know how to find what you are seeking."

Marius walked over to Kian and waved his hand in front of Kian's face.

"Stop that!" Kian said looking annoyed.

"Stop what?" Marius asked, putting his free hand over his mouth to make it seem like he was further away.

Kian sighed in exasperation, "Despite the ill manners of your friend I will still take you to it."

"It?" The knights asked in unison.

"The tunnel to Ambrose's lair." Once showing them the way, Kian vanished eliciting another high-pitched scream from Lorraine, while Cyril "the lion heart" fainted.

***

Inside the tunnel Cyril finally awoke when he was dragged across the rocky area of the dark tunnel. "Ow! Mommy I told you I don't HAVE jousting lessons today because of the lovely weather!" Marcella snorted and began laughing, the others followed suit but were quickly quieted by a loud, tremulous roar.

They turned to come face-to-giant, red, angry face of a dragon.

"Meep!" Cyril cried and ran behind Marcella.

"It was sent by Ambrose!" cried Darius as he unsheathed his sword.

"How do you know?" Marcella asked, struggling to pull out her sword with Cyril clinging pitifully onto her right arm.

"Simple. Look at it's collar."

Lorraine gasped, "Oui! Oui! Look, its collar reads: 'Ambrose's pet who is being used but doesn't know it because it can't read it's own collar'! thing, Monsieur Ambrose must be very, very cruel indeed to write something like that." The dragon, which shall be called Draggy, blinked at hearing what the collar said. Draggy howled in sadness and rushed passed the knights, out of the tunnel still howling and trying to get the collar off.

"Did it really say all that?" Marcella asked, a bit put out at not getting to slay the evil Draggy.

"Non, of course not Madame Marcella. But I was testing the theory the says all dragons are emotional and easy to make cry."

"That was a bit mean though, Lorraine." Marius said, "Poor thing looked really hurt."

"Well enough dawdling! Come now! We have a princess to rescue." Marcella announced and the five rushed down the tunnel, their morale Marius tripped on a nonexistent pebble and dented his armor.

***

The five knights made it into Ambrose's castle and rushed up to the top floor expecting to find him there. Unfortunately he wasn't so they were forced to run back down and into the easily spotted secret basement.

"Ambrose! Return Princess Cassandra or we'll." Marcella began as they approached the evil magician.

"I surrender."

They blinked and looked at each other confused. "Eh?"

"I surrender." Ambrose repeated.

"Well that was easy." Marius said scratching the back of his head.

Ambrose chanted a spell, "Tel Meht Llaf Esuaceb Fo Rieht Ekatsim."

With that the knights fell through the floor and into the dungeons.

***

"It's your fault we're here." Complained Cyril, "all of you. Because you trusted the bad guy."

"Oh just shut up Cyril! If you hadn't come we wouldn't have to listen to your constant NAGGING! And you're not HALF the knight I thought you were going to be!" Marcella said haughtily.

"Well what would you know? You're just a girl." Cyril growled.

"Excusez moi!?" Lorraine shouted angrily, "If we are nothing but girls than you are nothing but a garcon! A little boy, incapable of making his own decisions!"

And this began a fistfight between Cyril and the two females.

Marius sat on the floor, drawing help messages on the ground with a stick, hoping someday someone would find them and rescue them all. Though he didn't really grasp the concept that if someone were to actually read the message on the ground, they too would be stuck inside.

"There's a ladder over there." Darius pointed out.

The bickering didn't stop.

"Ladder!"

There was still too much shouting.

"Avast me mateys! A ladder!"

They turned to stare at Darius with confused looks.

"Did you just say 'mateys'?" Marcella asked, was that some sort of common slang nowadays?

"No. I said, LADDER. There's a ladder over there if you hadn't noticed."

"Oh." they all said in perfect unison.

"Cyril should go up first since he's so brave." Marcella suggested with a smirk.

"I'm not afraid." Cyril said walking towards the ladder, "But, uh, Darius saw it first so it should only be fair that he gets to go up first."

So Darius went up with no qualms, followed by Marcella, Lorraine, Marius, and Cyril: in that exact order.

They climbed up into a room, decorated in all sorts of pinks. And at the windowsill sat a sobbing Cassandra. "Who are you all? Have you come to rescue me?" she asked standing excitedly as she saw them.

"Rescue?" asked Marcella looking around at the rich decorations, "are you sure you want to be rescued, your highness?"

"And why didn't you just climb out the window?" asked Darius, "We're on the floor closest to the ground."

"What would be the fun in that?" Cassandra asked before sniffling, "and it's hard to jump out in a dress."

"At any rate let us return you to your kingdom, princess." Cyril said, and thus jumped through the open window. "I'll catch you Cassie." Cassandra blinked at the nickname, shrugged, and jumped out the window. The knights inside shook their heads, embarrassed to be associated with Cyril when they heard a thud and Cassandra's, "OW!!"

Marius, Darius, and Lorraine jumped out while Marcella grabbed an apple from the platter of food and put it in her mouth before heading to the window. She had one foot out when Ambrose rushed in. "En garde!" he cried, waving a sword around with a bad form.

"é!" Marcella replied, seeing as she didn't know what either meant.

She took a bite from her apple and threw it at Ambrose. The apple hit him in the eye, and he fled from the room crying dramatically.

The "apple (in) of his eye" would later become a remembered tale in history. Though the meaning of it would be somewhat altered.

Marcella jumped out the window and met up with the other knights, and together they rode to the Royal Castle.

***

Cassandra ran to her parent's open arms, sobbing with her mother as the King simply patted both on the back awkwardly.

Le Cinq Chevalier were given wealth and were made famous throughout all foreign lands, many tales were told of them and every single person-- whether young or old knew their names.

"I guess this is . goodbye." Marius and Darius said in accord.

"Even though we only met today I think of you all fondly." Marcella said.

"Let's all promise to meet again one day?" Cyril suggested.

"I'd like to say my greatest virtue is my Word. I never lie." Marcella said.

They all shook each other's hands, and all of them but Marcella had their free hands behind their backs crossing their fingers.

"Au revoir!" Lorraine waved and rode away on her white horse- Brownie. Marius and Darius followed after her, than Cyril left. Before Marcella left for home, she was asked to stay and be a part of the King's Royal Knights. She agreed and henceforth sat at the head of the table where all knights were seated.

Oh and...Ambrose was last seen pleading forgiveness from the angered Draggy.

"Their Second Quest: The Story of Marcella and Lorraine"

It had been more than five months since Marcella had been initiated into the Table of Knights. And she had learned that pride would be her downfall- so she had gone off and spent two months living in a monastery to try to rid her body of her greatest, evil fault, pride. And she had found out that that was the one thing that was hardest to get rid of. And for the passed five months she had done nothing but think of a way to make everything better. Through her dealing with war and such political things like that she had learned that things were very corrupted, and by her time spent in the monastery she had figured that corruption must be stopped at all cost. So that had been her hobby for the past half year. Finding a way to get women involved in choices, and not have men rule every choice his subjects made. Queen Karelia was one of her best supporters.

Marcella rubbed her eyes tiredly, but HOW would she do it? When she went to meetings with the king it was the second best knight who was asked to talk- because of gender. She may as well face it now, if women didn't all rebel at once then no one would ever appreciate them. Perhaps if they just stopped working on anything all together? Stopped cooking, cleaning, fighting, everything. Hah! She'd like to see the male population live for just one week without women. The only trouble was not only was Queen Karelia her best supporter, she was the only one who actually counted. There weren't any strong female figures at the time. was that one person. What was her name?

Lorraine le'Jeune?

Or was it le'Siene?

Either way she'd send her squire out at once to retrieve her. She didn't care how long it would take.

"Squire!!"

Cyril walked into the room, "You know this really isn't funny."

"Don't address me so familiarly, squire." Marcella said with a grin, "now, squire, I want you to go and retrieve Lorraine for me. You remember her don't you? The French -"

"Madame Marcella! You called for me?" Lorraine asked waltzing into the room.

Marcella blinked, "Lorraine? How did you get here so quickly?"

Lorraine tilted her head to the side, "Whatever do you mean Marcella? I rode my horse."

"From France?"

".Non, not quite."

"Well where were you then?"

"Visiting the twins."

"Oh? And how are they?"

"They're . Darius is married to a very friendly woman named .. Claudia I believe. Yes, well as I was saying. you summoned me?"

"Yes, I did. however did you know that though? My squire didn't even send the message!"

"Squire?" Lorraine asked, "Ohohoho! Cyril is your squire now? That is better than the news of Darius's child to be born in one month."

"So Darius is to be a father? That's nice. Now, Lorraine I called you here so we could embark on a dangerous journey to establish that women are just as strong as men. Some stronger in fact."

"So what's the quest?"

"We are to slay a dragon."

"That is far too simple."

"'ll find a holy object."

"It's been done."

Silence.

".well do YOU have any suggestions?"

"Well, in fact I do. I say we go to find the 'Serpent Jewel' in southern Egypt. Rumors are crawling all over it, it's said to be the most dangerous task ever to be heard of. I think we're just the people to do it."

"Right! Let's be off then." Cyril said, happy to be on a journey again.

Marcella stared at him, "Cyril I fear this is far too dangerous to you, and to our cause. So you're just going to have to stay put this time."

Cyril frowned, ".I hate you."

"Hate is such a strong word..." Marcella answered. "Come on, Lorraine. We're off to Egypt then."

***

"How ever did we manage to get here that fast, Lorraine?" Marcella asked looking around, seeing the sand dunes. "Are you sure our horses will be all right in this weather?" she asked, immediately feeling the temperature difference.

"Dismount!" Lorraine instructed, "The horses won't be able to follow us anyway. Go on my palomino, ride off!" she said and the horse ran off to the north, back towards England.

Marcella followed suit and as the two horses: Idler and Brownie, passed the horizon Marcella asked, "Are you sure they'll be okay in getting there?"

"They'll be fine, I assure you." Lorraine said, she pulled out a parchment of paper, "This is the map that we're going to need. See those two pyramids?"

"Yes."

"See the sand dunes to the left of them?"

"Yes."

"See how the sun is positioned now?"

"Yes." Marcella said, annoyed at how Lorraine wasn't getting to the point.

"We have to wait until it's just barely beginning to set. Then, the door will be visible as a glint of shininess in-between the first sand dune to the left of the right pyramid."

"So all we have to do is wait here for about an hour and a half?"

"Oui."

"What are we going to do until then?"

"I do not know. How about a game?"

"Game?"

***

"Paper."

"Scissors."

"Rock!"

"Ack! You win yet again, I must say I'm not good at this game. I've never even played before." Marcella said sadly as she lowered her fist; which was used to represent Rock.

"Oui! Now you must tell me a secret." Lorraine said, clapping to herself after lifting her other fingers so her hands didn't form 'Scissors' anymore.

"But first- exactly how does Scissors beat Rock?" Marcella asked.

"Well, you don't think PAPER could beat Rock do you?" Lorraine asked, scoffing. Though she knew well enough that she was just a little cheater. By now they had both taken off their armor and were clothed in their normal garments. Which consisted of a long-sleeve shirt embroidered with flowers. And loose fitting pants. Marcella wore green and blue, while Lorraine wore pink and gray.

"Look! The sun it's setting!"

"You're just trying to get out of telling me your secret."

"N-No really, look!"

"I won't fall for it!"

The sky darkened, and reddish hues filled the sky. ".Perhaps it is setting."

"Look! The door!"

"Quick before it's too late!" They both picked up their discarded armor and ran to the door. They made it just in time and swung it open without thinking twice. An invisible figure grabbed them and pulled them inside, the door slammed shut behind them.

"Well this isn't good." Lorraine said into the darkness and Marcella nodded in agreement.

"How will we get our armor on?"

"Brave you each answer three questions correctly I will give you the Serpent Jewel. but if you do not, you will suffer for all eternity." A mysterious voice said, quietly.

"That voice! It sounds familiar."

"It is I, Kian."

"Kian?" they asked in unison, "It sounds familiar." Marcella said unsurely.

".The blind man that helped you find Ambrose's lair."

"Oh yes." They said knowingly.

"What are your three questions? I am not afraid." Lorraine said.

"What is your name?"

"Is that your first question?" Lorraine asked.

"I'm the one who asks things. What is your name?" Marcella prayed Lorraine would tell the whole truth. "My name is Lorraine Tempiery."

"What?" Marcella asked, "Tempiery??"

"I've gotten married-didn't I tell you?" Lorraine asked, before Kian cleared his throat rudely interrupting the bonding moment that could've been done when they were outside in the harsh desert heat.

"The next question. what is your quest?"

"To retrieve the Serpent Jewel, and gain respect for the female population of all the world."

"A noble cause." Kian said, "your final question. would you stop and ask directions if you were lost?"

"Of course I would."

"You pass. Stay where you are. Marcella, it's down to you." Marcella gulped, she hated being put in the needed her dearest baby blanket with her was her prized possession.

"What is your name?" "Marcella Lunae." She answered, nervously.

She absolutely hated this! She'd rather have just had to fight something. Winning made her happiest, losing saddest lest it was a fair loss, and being interrogated made her scared and angry.

"What is your quest?"

"To retrieve the Serpent Jewel and gain respect for every upright, loving female in every nation regardless of class, skin color, or wealth."

"Your final question. you are in one cage, and your best friend in of you are to die in one day by the cruelest forms of torture. There are two buttons in your cage, one will kill you, and the other will kill your friend. You can only choose one button to press, would it be nobler to kill yourself and let your friend live that one extra day; or to kill your friend and commit murder?"

Marcella's gray eyes widened, how was she to answer that? There was no answer! It was impossible to get correct or incorrect! "I.'t press any button." She answered nervously.

"Why?"

"No, wait. I . would press the button to kill my friend."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! do take the utmost amount of loyalty and love for my friend. Because I could easily have killed myself, and selfishly save myself the in choosing to kill my friend I'd have saved him or her from the most horrible of deaths-and that to me is far more precious than anything else. Selfless love. I do not see why I didn't see it before! Yes! That is my answer!"

"Well, I'm glad you chose that. Not because of your choice but because of your choice of words." Kian said with a kind smile, "you may have you jewel and you both may go."

"Really?" Marcella asked blinking, "That's it?"

There was a nod from the blind hermit as he handed her a heavy, glowing green orb, which consequently would help in gaining respect for women everywhere.

"That was so sweet of you." Lorraine sniffed as they exited the room.

"What was?" Marcella asked blinking confusedly.

"The whole 'Selfless love' really moved me. I will fight for your cause if need be, Marcella. We will make everyone respect all women! Women will respect women, men will respect women, they will respect each other!" she sniffed.

Marcella smiled, " will start a revolution."

Lorraine nodded and smiled, "Oui, it shall be done. or my name is not Lorraine le'. non, if my name is not Lorraine Tempiery."

Marcella grinned from ear to ear before she paused and looked around her at the desert, which was now only lightened by the pale moonlight that hung high overhead. The temperature had dropped dramatically and Marcella shivered and both girls put their heavy metal armor on.

"Hey Lorraine?"

"Oui, Madame Marcella?"

".I don't mean to ruin our little moment but uh."

"Oui.?" Lorraine asked, raising an eyebrow and moving her hands telling Marcella that the moment was ruined already and it'd be best to say what she wanted to now.

".How do we get back to England?"

Fin.

And thus ended the beginning of the deeds they would soon accomplish together.

Marcella later visited Fifi; whom she had missed greatly during her journeys.