Megan jumped at the sound of her own voice. Its gravelly baritone reverberated throughout the steel armor.
“Sire!”
Megan jumped again.
“Sire!” she turned towards the voice and saw a boy, he looked about her brother’s age, running towards her with a leather canteen in his hands.
“Sire, I’ve got the water. Shall we keep going then?”
“Uh,” she hesitantly took the canteen, “...sure.”
The boy smiled, took the horse’s reins, and started walking in the direction of the castle. Megan followed, figuring that playing along would be better than staying out in the middle of the countryside. Every step she took clinked and clanged, she hoped she wasn’t being too loud.
The two of them walked in silence, well, as silent as a full suit of metal armor will allow, while Megan tried to figure out what to say. She stared at the boy, he wasn’t much shorter than she was now, and he looked to have a slim but strong build beneath his loose tunic shirt. His shoulder length hair was an auburn color which seemed to shine red under the midday sun.
“What a blessing that the king summoned you, isn’t it?” The boy spoke up, startling Megan, who’d been deep in thought, once again.
“Huh? Oh! Uh... yes! What a blessing,” she replied, cringing at the sound of her booming voice.
“I know you hadn’t had work for a while, sire, so I’m really glad you still had me squire for you.”
‘Oh thank god,’ Megan thought with relief. The boy seemed competent enough that maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to follow his lead until she figured out what happened and how to get back home.
“Of course. You were always a good squire,” she lied.
He stopped.
“Are you feeling alright, sire?” he turned around and asked. Megan felt her heart stop. Had she said something wrong?
“You’ve never said anything like that to me before.”
Megan swallowed.
“Well- I just, I just felt that after being a squire for, um...”
“Six years, sire.”
“Of course, six years. I just felt that you... Well that you deserved some, uh, recognition for your... service.”
“Thank you... sire. That’s,” the squire turned back slowly, “that’s very kind of you.”
They resumed walking and Megan sighed in relief. He didn’t seem thoroughly convinced, but he’d at least stopped asking questions. It’d be better, Megan decided, that she keep her mouth shut until she had a better idea of who she was supposed to be.