"Harley wait for me!" Maggie called as she ran along the well worn path in the woods. Her eyes set on the taunt form of her friend. Her long mahogany hair flying out behind her. A smile stretching across her face.

"Come on slow poke I can't be slowing down the whole time. I need speed." The fiery red head drawled.

"I was just looking at some flowers. Their so pretty this time of year. " she shrugged.

"You would be the one person to just daydream herself off a cliff side. " Harley quipped.

"And you are the only woman I know that has more balls than brains" she shot back receiving a playful shove for her trouble.

"Well well lippy today are we?" She laughed.

"I learned it from the best" Maggie trailed off as she went to stare at something else that caught her attention.

Harley rolled her eyes at the girls lack of an attention span. Maggie was always partially here and partially away in her day dreams. It rarely caused any problems but it did give her a certain odd charm. The dreamy quality of those green eyes.

Maggie's softness dulled a lot of the hard edges and quick temper that she possessed. Maggie drew people to her. Unlike her who put them off and dear old Eliza that froze them to death. The trio made quite an odd mix of friends. It surprisingly worked for them to be so different though.

She glanced back noticing that the girl was no where in sight. After slowing down for a while and then stopping to wait she pulled out her water bottle and drank. Patience wasn't a virtue but who was she to rain on her friends parade?

**********************************

Breath filled his lungs light simmered behind his eyes as he woke from a dream. Dead. He should be dead. His dream had whispered otherwise. He gasped and sat up in a lightning fast move.

Another time...
Another place...
Another chance....

He wasn't alone he realized as he finished surveying his body for the arrows that he remembered piercing him. He studied the small open space beside the stream. Two more familiar bodies were sat up gazing about with him. Dillios and Astinos.

"Where in gods name are we?" He finally asked.

"I don't know. " Dillios stood brushing off the lead litter that clung to his damp skin.

"I was dead but the dream..." Astinos trailed off.

"Reborn again in a future time and place. Another chance" Dillios intoned the words they had all heard.

"Surely it will all make sense after we gain our bearings" Astinos said standing and offering a hand to him.

"Yes if we gain our bearings" he said.
The mighty creak of a broken branch echoed from atop the brush covered ridge. Soft murmurs could be heard.

"Ready yourselves" Dillios ordered.

************************************
She gazed at the beautiful purple flowers that grew just beyond the path on the ridge line. She picked a few weaving them into a bracelet.

'Whenever a Greek maiden would pick flowers in a myth something bad always happens' the piece of research entered her mind and made her smile wryly.

"Luckily this isn't a myth. " she said.

As she sat crouched gazing at the May apples and the pawpaw fruit littering the ground to see if there were any other pretty blossoms to find a movement in front of her made her eyes rise to see a doe and her fawn. They moved as gracefully as ghosts up the hillside.

'Phantoms of the forest' she often called them.

Oh how she wished she had her camera. She stood slowly wanting a better look when suddenly the doe and dawn were in motion leaping straight toward her. She cried out and backed away from the deer that leaped right past her. Though her ankles caught on the fallen log and she tumbled backwards down the hillside.

Miraculously she missed any trees and rocks but her landing was hard as she barreled into something softer than a rock or a tree. Still solid though. It still hurt like hell though. Her long locks blinded her face as she whipped them away and came face to face with a mans crotch. A naked crotch.

She looked up into a startled discontent face and back down at the ... Thing laying there. She did what any woman would do she screamed crawling backwards.

"The gods do have some mercy. A nymph landing right between your legs. What are the chances" another man laughed.

She looked away as she noticed both were naked. " where are your clothes!" She motioned to their lack of dress.

"Where's your skin?" The cocky one asked

"Laconian wit doesn't suit you" she shot back. Recognizing Eliza's favorite form of humor. His eyebrows rose and he made to reply but another man appeared.

"She could tell us where we are" The three looked at each other and then at her.

"Grab her" she turned and ran.

When confronted with three naked possibly hostile men off the beaten path in the forest what do you do? She did the one thing she knew would save her.

"Harley!" She screamed her voice echoing through the holler. A a hand came across her mouth and a strong arm locked across her ribs. Her screams were muffled as she was pressed against a completely muscled chest.

Fear seized her as she kicked her legs out at the approaching older man. He caught them easily and held them still. Her nails dug into the arm imprisoning her but he seemed immune to it. They walked her back towards their original spot. She was disappointed to see she really hadn't gone more than ten feet away before she was caught. It added fuel to the flame in her struggle.

"Calm yourself woman!" The arrogant man growled as he came within view of her.

She ceased her struggles knowing that it was pointless. And maybe they might just be stupid enough to let her legs go.

"If I let your legs go and he releases your mouth will you tell us the things we need to know?" She glared at him.

"We mean no harm to you girl" he said as if in answer to her suspicions.

She nodded finally. Her legs were released. "Scream and I will break your neck" hot breath caressed her ear menacingly but she nodded in understanding regardlessly.

"Who are you people?" She attempted to regain her balance the man tensed and relaxed as she did. She would need it. If only the arrogant one would move just a bit closer to the older one.

"I'm Dillios this is stelios and astinos is the one holding you. We are soilders and unfortunately we are lost" their physics were definitely military standard.

"How close are we to Sparta?" He asked

"Sparta. The city state? A few thousand years late and an ocean away. Your in the United States the lovely state of Virginia " she said

"A few thousand years?" Stelios said as if it was impossible.

"Yeah it 2014 and it's illegal to hold a person against their will and manhandle a woman. " she tugged at the arm that had tightened at her revelation. "Sexual harassment is serious you know"

"Who says that doesn't come later?" Stelios shot off.

She glared at him, Laconian wit, best thing to do is glare heatedly and walk away. She was getting to the walk away part.

"Question: why are all of you naked and what the pile of red cloth over there? Couldn't you put it on? You guys sure don't know how to make a girl feel comfortable!" She whined

"Astinos the mouth" stelios glared at her and she felt the warm calloused hand cover her mouth once more.

The two moved closer and closer as they whispered to one another. She was ready. Shifting slightly she felt the arm tighten just like she wanted. Then she was off her feet kicking them in the crotch. They fell with growled curses and grunts. Her head immediately slammed back into her attackers mouth.

His grip loosened and she wriggled her way out and brought her knee nicely up into his manly area. She was running afterwards. If the men were what she reckoned them to be her little hits wouldn't keep them down for very long.

The sound of leafs crunching underfoot and rotted logs cracking she panicked. She didn't dare glance back. She could almost feel them gaining on her.

"Harley!" She screamed just as she passed a large oak tree. She felt something fly just over her head and slam into her pursuer.

She slowed to turn but a hand pulled her onward. The red hair made her panic ease away only slightly.

"What did you do?!" Harley yelled at her.

"I fell down a hill and landed literally into them. They are crazy. Asking about Sparta and naked and Laconian wit. Crazy. " she gasped out.

"Stop rambling and run." She admonished.

Everything afterwards was like a train wreck happening in slow motion. Being tackled in mock football games was absolutely different that being tackled by men wanting to stop you at all costs.

The full speed and weight of muscles bone and flesh crashing into them knocked the breath out of her. Then there's skidding on the ground with the heavy weight on top of you. Harley cried out in pain while she barely managed to groan.

"So much for picking flowers and nothing bad happening. " she groaned as she was pulled up and shoved into a tree trunk.