I Saw A Godess

By Lost Ranger

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Lancelot hung his head in weariness. Guinevere had been sick for days. Vanora promised him she would live. It was just a touch of the flu.

Vanora ban Lancelot from sleeping in the bed, leaving him to sleep in an uncomfortable chair for the past three days.

Galahad, Gawain, Bors, six of Bors and Vanora's elven children, Guinevere and Lancelot's son Mordred, Lucan, and even Arthur himself had it.

Seemed the only ones that weren't sick around here were Lancelot, Vanora, and Lancelot and Guinevere's daughter.

She was playing on the floor next to Lancelot's feet. "Father," she said in her sweet four-year-old voice. Lancelot snapped up to attention.

"Yes, Aislinn," he said looking down at the little girl. She was the image of her mother, except she had black hair that curled at the ends. It was always in her dark eyes.

"How did you and mother meet? Was it ro-romatic?" she said climbing on his lap and playing with his talisman.

"Romantic?" he asked at her miss pronunciation.

"Yeah, romantic," she said. No doubt she had been listening to Bors and Vanora's eldest daughter's stories of brave knights and damsels in distress.

"No, hardly," he said "But Mother can tell a better story than I."

"No, your the bestest," she said.

"Really?" he asked. "Fine. I'll have to start at the beginning. A very long time ago the Roman empire was expanding, taking every land for themselves. One nation fought back. It was the powerful Sarmations. There was a huge battle. When the smoke cleared on the battlefield, the only Sarmations left were the powerful cavalry. Do you know which ones the cavalry are?"

"The ones on horses?" she said.

"Yes," he nodded. "Impressed with the men's horse skills, the Roman's spared their lives. They made an agreement. Their lives for service. They had to serve the empire as knights as did their sons and their sons and so on. I was such a son. So was Arthur, Gawain, Galahad, and Bors."
"And Tristran and Dagonet," she added.

"Yes, them too," he said making himself more comfortable. "We were led be Arthur, having many adventures. Then we got a final adventure, or so we thought. We were to accompany the Bishop's Carriage back to Hadrian's Wall. I never really liked the bishop and couldn't give a care if he died or not, but he had something important. Our discharge papers. The papers that gave us our freedom."

"Why?" she asked.

"Ah...the infamous question why. Well, Aisy, I don't know why?" he said. "I though everything was going well until a bunch of woads attacked. Arthur gave the command and we all charged out. After a big fight we saved the bishop."

"Did you get hurt?" she asked fearful.

"Only a few bruises and scratches." he said.

"Okay," she said relieved.

"When we got back to Hadrian's Wall we had a huge feast. We were all celebrating our final day of service, when the mean ole pope gave us a final order before we could receive our freedom. We had to rescue a Roman family," he said thinking back to the day.

"Were they mean?" she asked.

"Who?" Lancelot inquired.

"The family. You said they were Roman. Arthur's the only nice Roman. Mother says that's because he's part Briton. Is Mordred Roman?" she asked about her seven-year-old older brother.

"No, why would you say that?" he laughed.

"Because he's mean and won't let me play with him," she said.

"You'll get closer when you two get older. And boys will be boys," he said.

"If you say so," she said.

"On with the story," Lancelot said. "We arrived at the estate about a day later. The Saxons were marching towards us from all sides and the woads were there. We were becoming fearful. Arthur was getting ready to leave but marched towards a dark building. He had Dagonet beat in the door to it. We started walking down into the darkness. The smell was horrendous. It was unimaginably awful."

"Were there monsters?" she asked.

"In a way yes," he said. "We continued down the stairs. I thought they were all dead. Dagonet gave Arthur and the rest of us some hope when he found Lucan. Finally, I squatted down next to one cage. In it I saw a goddess. More beautiful than a goddess really."

"Then you rescued her and fell in love and married her," Aislinn said.

"It didn't exactly happen like that," he said.

"What happened next then?" she asked.

"There was only one way out and we had about fifty or so people with us. The odds were against us, as always. Your mother and Lucan were very sick and could barely walk. And Gods forbid the family to walk. We were moving very slow. We got to a lake thick with ice. We sent the family and all the other people a different way. Your mother stayed though. They were firing at us and we fired back. Hope was almost lost. Dagonet rushed out with his mighty axe and started to break the ice." He heard her breath catch up in excitement.

"That's how Dagonet died. He was very heroic," he said sadly.

"Then what happened?" Aislinn asked.

"We moved towards Hadrian's Wall. and that's when the Saxon's came. Everyone except Arthur was preparing to leave for Sarmatia. We-"

"You didn't leave him by himself did you?!" she exclaimed panicked.

"No, we didn't. We went back to fight side by side with him. Your mother fought in that battle too," he said.

"Really? Did she fight good?" she asked.

"Yes, very good in fact. She was one of the best," he said.

"Then when did you rescue her?" Aislinn asked.

"Well, one of the mean Saxon commanders was hurting her. So, I got on my horse and rode up the battlefield towards them. He was about to kill him when I charged in," Lancelot said.

"Then you kissed her and married her," Aislinn said. He eyes drooped a bit , then more, till they were almost closed. Lancelot took this opportunity for rest. He leaned back with her rocking her slightly.

"Father, was Mordred an accident," Aislinn asked thinking about what her mother told her about accidents.

"Mordred was a disaster," Lancelot said.

"Oh okay," she said closing her eyes and soon falling asleep. Lancelot did the same.

THE END