Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize. Short ad sweet.
Chapter 1
The stable smelt of fresh hay and horses. The sounds of horses could be heard outside the stable doors. A small girl of ten years old was washing the body of her four year old reddish-brown war horse. "Serina! Dry off and put Kalo up. The knights will be here soon. Go home and change your dress when you are finished." Jols, in charge of the Knights stable, said from a few stalls down. "Yes sir Uncle Jols." Serina said while drying off Kalo.
A half hour later Serina came running towards a gated off courtyard. After changing her soiled dress into a dark green linen dress, Serina pinned up her soft raven black lightly curled hair. Serina came to a stop by her Uncle in the courtyard as the Roman officers rode in followed by what she could guess was close to three dozen young men ranging from the ages of twelve to sixteen or seventeen years old.
Serina seen her friend Arthur Castus on the other side of the courtyard looking slightly nervous as she gave a small wave. Serina didn't know much about the new knights except that they were going to be there for the next fifteen years. After all the officers and the boys were in the courtyard and off their horses, the boys were introduced to Arthur and then shown to where their rooms were. Afterwards, Serina was dismissed by her Uncle and told to go help out and eat lunch at the tavern.
Upon entering the tavern Serina seen her friend, Vanora, cleaning off and wiping down a table. "Vanora! Vanora! Have you heard? The Sarmatians have just arrived. There were so many Vanora. And they're going to be here for the next fifteen years. Isn't it exciting?" Serina said excitedly while taking dishes from Vanora. Vanora, a tall, skinny redhead of fourteen, sighed and looked at Serina.
"You act as if they will be working inside the fort away from danger as we do. They will be trained to be Knights, Serina. They will be trained to fight and leave the fort to fight the dangers all of them will be here for fifteen years. If some of them are lucky, some of them will live long enough to gain their freedom and go back to their homes." Vanora said walking towards another table to clean.
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A year went by and Serina only knew a couple of the knights. Serina was out by the training watching the knights. A lot of the knights didn't care about making friends with an eleven year old girl.
Very few of the Sarmatians talked to anyone who wasn't one of their own. She sat on the fence of the training fields watching Galahad and Gawain sword fight.
Galahad was the youngest Sarmatian and only two years older than Serina. Gawain was only three years older than Serina and very friendly towards her. She looked over to her left a bit to see a dark haired boy only four years older than herself.
Lancelot was practicing with his twin blades on a dummy. Lancelot was nice to her and her told her of his sister back in Sarmatia and how she reminded him of her. Bors was a chubby boy about seven years older than her and was very loud but still kind to her.
Dagonet was a tall muscular boy of seventeen and knew a bit about medical herbs and occasionally taught her a thing or two when she wasn't tending to the horses in the Knights stable. The knight that fascinated her the most though was the boy who went by the name Tristan. He was very good with a sword, and getting better by the day, and a wonderful archer. Tristan was very quiet, anti-social, very good at blending into his surroundings, but was always with one of his fellow knights.
He didn't talk to her much and she didn't push him to.
Three years passed and much remained the same. They had lost many knights in the first four years but as time went on they lost fewer and fewer at a time. After each loss the knights would train more and more to help take their minds off the pain. Bors and Vanora were infatuated with each other, not that Vanora would admit it to others.
Galahad, Gawain, Bors, and Lancelot developed a strong liking for ale, which got them into trouble at times.
Dagonet, Tristan, and Arthur would go to the tavern and drink some but didn't get drunk often unless something was really troubling them.
Serina helped out at the tavern at night and more often than not was fighting off drunken hands but one of the knights was always there to help her if one of the officers didn't like being told no.
Serina was in the stables tending to some horses when she heard news of the knights return from their latest mission. She heard that there were a few who were cut down, but none that she was close with. It was near sunset when Serina was in the stable brushing down Kalo after a ride to the edge of the forest outside the fort walls. Serina heard someone walking in the stable and turned in the direction of the noise to see Tristan spot her with Kalo.
Tristan stopped in his tracks to look back at Serina. "Hello Tristan. I heard about the Knights that didn't make it back from the mission today. I'm sorry for the losses." Serina said looking at Tristan. At sixteen years old Tristan had shaggy dark brown hair, mysterious hazel eyes, and a lean muscular body. But the feature that drew her gaze every time was the tattoo markings on his cheekbones. Tristan didn't say anything, just kept starring.
"Is there something I can help you with, Tristan? It is unusual to see you in the stables unless it is to do with a mission." Serina said getting nervous. Sensing his masters uneasiness, Kalo began to snort and get restless. Turning her attention back to Kalo, Serina began to pet his face and began to softly hum. After calming the restless horse Serina looked up to see Tristan still starring at her. Serina placed Kalo back into his stall and turned to look at Tristan, still fighting nervousness.
"My horse was killed today o the battlefield. I was told to come pick out another horse, since there are spare horses here." Tristan finally said in a low, soft deep voice. Serina looked at him surprised he finally spoke of his reason for being in the stables. "I'm sorry to hear about your horse. I know you treated him well. Would you like to pick out your own horse, or would you like some help?" Serina asked softly. "You know these horses well. Which would you suggest?" Tristan answered after thinking the question over.
"This way." Serina said walking a couple of stalls away from Kalo's. Serina stopped in front of the stall of a temperamental grey spotted mare. "This is Sasa. She is prickly about the people she will allow near her but she protects the ones who she grows to love and has no problem with loud noises." Serina said feeding Sasa a carrot.
Tristan reached out his hand towards the horses face real slow while murmuring in Sarmatian to the mare.
Sasa kept eye contact with Tristan and perked her ears while listening and watching Tristan. Tristan put his hand against Sasa's nose so she could smell him and after a minute, nudged his hand to encourage him to pet her further. "Thank you for the suggestion. I think Sasa will do just fine to replace my old horse." Tristan said looking down at Serina into her sky blue eyes.
"Will I see you in here again? Now that you need to bond with Sasa more?" Serina asked sincerely hoping that the answer was yes. "Sometimes, perhaps. I will probably have her out in the fields riding her more often than staying in here where we can't do much bonding." Tristan said still looking at Serina. Not being able to take the intense stares anymore, Serina finally asked "Tristan, is there a reason you keep starring at me? I know you do not mean to but it is making me nervous."
Tristan stared at her for a moment and then she seen him move his gaze to her long, curly, raven hair, down to her slender body covered by a dark blue soft linen dress, all the way to her slipper covered feet and then back up again. He reached out slowly so as not to frighten her and pulled back with a straw of hay from her hair. "Just thinking about how Lancelot is going to have to answer to alot of swords if he ever tries to talk you into his bed like the other tavern wenches. You are pretty for your age and I am sure you will be even more beautiful as you grow." Tristan said.
"I will see you at the tavern tonight. Farewell, Serina." Tristan said turning and leaving the stables.
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That night the tavern was full and lively with drunken Knights, Roman officers, and fort villagers. Not too many people messed with her because she was so young and there were older more willing women to bed down with the drunken men.
Her little group of knights were in the tavern that night as well and she was bringing them a pitcher for refills. "Good evening, my good sirs." Serina said with a happy smile stopping at their table. "Serina! There you are! Take a break and sit with us a while." Galahad said with a tipsy grin. "Galahad, I have only been here for a short while. I can't take a break. Besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't possibly take a break. I think everyone in the whole fort is here tonight. Many cups to refill and plates of food to bring. Speaking of food, would anyone like a plate?" Serina said while refilling Dagonet's cup.
Gawain, Dagonet, and Lancelot agreed to a plate of food and she ran off to go get them. Serina walked back to the knights table and placed down three plates filled with bread, slices of cheese, and cold chicken. After putting a plate down in front of Lancelot, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap, locking her there. "Surely you can take a short break and come keep me company." Lancelot said with that charming grin that made all of the women fall in love with him. Serina, however, was immune.
"Now Lancelot. I know for a fact that you have already had Angelina keep you company all night last night and I believe I heard her mention that you offered to keep her company again tonight. I do not think that your bed will fit all thee of us." Serina said talking about a pretty young prostitute two years older than her.
"Ah, yes, well see now if you offered to keep me company I would gladly bar the door to keep Angelina out." Lancelot said not really meaning a word of what he said. "Alright, Lancelot, you had your fun. Now let poor Serina get back to work." Serina heard someone say from behind Lancelot. Looking up Serina seen Arthur walk up to the knights table.
"Arthur! It's lovely to see you! I feel I have not spoken to you in an age!" Serina said jumping off of Lancelot's lap and embracing him in a hug. "Dear Serina. Getting more beautiful by the day I see. Your little group of Knights will have quite a time protecting you from a lot of unwanted attention very soon." Arthur said smiling at her while pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
"Well then I guess I should learn how to protect myself, my dear friend, because then there will be no one to protect me from my little group of Knights, as you so call them." Serina said laughing and turning to return back to work. Two hours later Galahad and Gawain were thoroughly drunk and playing a knife game.
Dagonet had called it a night and went to his room with a skinny blonde girl. Bors was trailing after Vanora like a homeless puppy. Arthur had also called it a night and returned to his room alone. Lancelot was still drinking and playing a betting game with some other knights she didn't know so well. Serina looked around the tavern but didn't see Tristan anywhere.
She thought that maybe he had called it a night too and left until she spotted him a dimly lit corner close to the Knights table. Taking a deep breath, Serina filled a cup of ale, grabbed a plate and placed a small chunk of bread baked just that morning and a piece of cheese the size of her fist. She picked up the plate to leave when she seen a fresh green apple and decided to put that on the plate as well. She picked up the cup of ale and started walking towards Tristan.
She couldn't see his eyes from the dark corner, but she certainly felt them on her. Reaching the corner she stopped by Tristan's propped up feet and stood there in silence for a moment. "Umm, I know you didn't request any food or any ale but I thought you might like some. With you hiding out here in the dark, I thought that maybe the other tavern maids might have over looked you." Serina said still standing there with the sup and plate in hand while Tristan still kept his silent gaze on her.
After a minute or so of silence Tristan dropped his feet from the stool. Taking it as a sign of encouragement, Serina placed the plate on the stool and reached out to give Tristan the cup. Tristan reached out and grabbed the cup, and Serina's hand in the process. She didn't jerk her hand away and he didn't apologize, just kept looking her in the eyes.
Serina noticed that his hands were big for his age and that his hands were rough from handling weapons so much. She looked from his hand covering hers up to his eyes to still looking into hers. Looking into his beautiful hazel eyes made Serina's heartbeat speed up a little and caused her to breath a little faster than normal. "Are you okay, Serina?" Tristan asked in a low voice.
"Yes, of course!" Serina said quickly in a breathless voice. Tristan took the cup from Serina's fingers and leaned back into his chair. "Umm, I should get back to work. Enjoy your supper, Tristan!" Serina said still breathless and scurried off back towards the bar.
Six months went by and, since that incident with Tristan, every time Serina caught Tristan looking at her or her eyes caught Tristan's her heart would beat faster. Tristan spent more and more time in the stable or the stables field with Sasa.
Sometimes when she made sure no one, especially Tristan, was looking she would watch Tristan ride or fire arrows off the back of Sasa. As time went by Serina found herself seeking out Tristan with her eyes. More often then not when she found Tristan, he was looking at her, unless he was distracted and unaware of her being around.
Serina was currently in the forest outside Hadrian's Wall picking apples and some medical and cooking herbs. About two months ago Serina was out picking herbs when she found a wild apple tree and decided to pick apples from it every time she took a trip to the forest. Serina heard a small noise not far off to her right and went to go see what it was.
Serina looked into a small gathering of flowers and found the source of the noise. Serina looked at it and smiled as an idea occurred to her. She picked up the small object and walked back towards Kalo where she packed away her bags of herbs and apples, got up into the small astride saddle, and tucked the small object into some folds of the skirt of her dress and kicked Kalo into a soft trot. Serina was serving at the tavern that night and heard that Tristan's birthday was the next day from a very drunk Galahad. Alot of people didn't normally celebrate birthdays because most people either didn't care or were too poor.
The Knights would celebrate their birthdays the way they every night. At the tavern eating, drinking, gambling and throwing knives, and picking out a willing woman to warm their beds for the night. After her shift at the tavern Serina ran home to her Uncle Jols and went to her room to think of the perfect time to give Tristan his present. It was just after dawn when Serina got out of bed, dressed into a soft sapphire blue dress, pinned up the top half of her dark curly hair, and then headed towards the Knights stable to feed the horses and let them out into the field to exercise. Serina went about the rest of her day as she normally would. That night Serina was serving tables at the tavern and was currently refilling the cup of Lancelot, who had Angelina sitting on his lap, when she was pulled into the lap of Gawain.
"How have you been lately, Rina? We have barely seen hide nor hair of you in weeks now. Always spending time in the stables or our in the forest, which isn't safe for you to do alone, or you are skulking in the shadows somewhere. What have you been up to lately? not trying to cause mischief, are you?" Gawain said with a smile on his handsome face.
"Mischief? Me? Why, Gawain, I am as close to one of Arthur's angels as a woman gets." Serina said laughing at Gawain. "And I am in awe that you would even notice something so small as me skulking around in the shadows with all of the training you have done lately. Now let me up, you handsome charmer, I have work to do." Serina said while laughing.
Getting up from Gawain's lap, Serina walked towards the bar when she felt intense eyes on her. Serina turned in the direction of Tristan's dark corner to see his outline and only ever felt intense eyes on her when he looked at her. Serina walked to the bar to fix Tristan a cup of ale and a plate of food that consisted of bread, cheese, and an apple she picked from the forest the day before. Picking up the cup and plate, Serina left the bar to bring Tristan his meal.
Reaching the corner she placed the cup and plate on a small table she moved to the corner so he wouldn't have to move after she brought him his food. "Good evening,Tristan. I thought you might like your supper now." Serina said excited to see him there. "Thank you, Serina." Tristan said.
"Tristan, I have something I would like to show you later. After I'm done working, I mean. Do you mind waiting here for until then? Please?" Serina asked excited about showing him what she had hidden in the Knights stable but nervous that he would refuse her request.
"I suppose so. But I have to go scouting with a few of the other Knights in the morning, so don't take all night." Tristan said narrowing his eyes slightly at her. "Well someone is in a bit of a sour mood this evening. But it will not take up much of your time, I promise. And my shift is only a few more hours. I will bring you a small pitcher of ale while you wait for me." Serina said with a huff and walked away.
Serina finished her shift and was trying to control her mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness by soothing out the skirt of her dress. She looked at Tristan's corner to see it empty and became confused. She walked to the entrance of the tavern to see Tristan standing a few buildings away eating the apple she gave him. Serina couldn't help the big smile that appeared on her face. Serina grabbed a handful of her skirt and ran after Tristan.
"Tristan!" Serina called out when she was only a building away. Stopping in front of his out of breath, she still had that bug smile on her face, happy he hadn't left her. "I thought you had left without me." Serina said looking up at him. "You told me to wait for you. You said you had something to show me and it made me curious." Tristan said eating a bite of apple he had carved off. Grabbing his dagger out of his hand, Serina put it back into its sheath at his hip and grabbed his now free hand pulling him in the direction of the stables.
"Come on, then. This way." Serina said laughing. Somewhere along the way Tristan decided to rid himself of the half eaten apple and was following her with a funny look on his face. Serina had never forced a man to hold her hand before and her boldness caused her face to heat with a blush and her heartbeat sounded like the hooves of a running horse. They reached the stables and Serina still kept ahold of Tristan's hand, and he didn't pull away. Serina walked him towards the back of the stable where there were a few open stalls and then turned to him a couple of stalls from the end.
"Now, close your eyes. And no peeking" Serina said still smiling. Tristan looked as if he was going to say something until he could see the excitement written on her face and just let out a defeated sigh and closed his eyes. Serina grabbed his other hand and gently pulled him towards the last stall. Reaching the stall, Serina let go of Tristan's hands, much to her regret, made him face the open stall and told him to open his eyes. Tristan opened his eyes to see a small wooden crate sitting in the middle of the hay covered stall. Curious as to what was in the crate, Tristan walked up to it and looked inside. Inside the crate was a small baby bird in the middle of a man-made nest to keep it warm.
"It's a hawk." Tristan said with surprise looking back at Serina standing at the entrance to the stall looking nervous. "I found it yesterday while I was out in the forest. It fell out of it's nest and I heard it. I know enough about animals that if I had touched it the mother would have abandoned it. And if I had left it there something might have eaten it. I know you don't like people much and are alone alot so I thought you might like it to keep you company. Galahad told me that today was your birthday and I know you don't celebrate it so I thought that maybe you would accept it today since today is special." Serina said looking at the floor while fidgeting.
Although he had no use for a baby hawk that had barely started sprouting feathers, it effected him that she would think to give it to him. She said that he didn't really like people and she as right. He hate anyone Roman, other than Arthur, and disliked almost everyone else who wasn't Sarmatian.
Serina was one of the few people from this land that he did like. He didn't really show it but Serina intrigued him. He remembered seeing her when he was first brought to Hadrian's Wall, standing in the courtyard next to Jols in a dark green dress with her wild black curls pinned back. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen, even if she was three years younger than him. She was still the pretty but as time went by more and more he thought of her as beautiful instead of pretty.
At fifteen years old she reached to his shoulders in height, had a slender body, a nice round bottom he couldn't keep his eyes off of when she waked around in the tavern, a pair of lovely breasts that he imagined would fit nicely into his palms, when he allowed himself to think that way about her, a pretty heart shaped face, full pink lips, long curly raven black hair that fell at her waist when it wasn't pinned up, but it was her eyes that always caught his attention above any other feature of her body.
Beautiful almond shaped sky blue eyes. When in close proximity of him, Tristan always found himself starring deeply into her beautiful blue eyes. They told him so much about her and he had learned quite a bit about her over the past four and a half years of is service to Rome.
He learned that she loved her big, beautiful war horse, Kalo, she liked helping out in the stables when her Uncle allowed it, which she was rarely denied, she was a friendly person to everyone she met, she took pride in herself, she was exceptionally nice to his fellow Sarmatians, though many didn't hide their dislike for them, she took an interest in learning anything she could, she loved the outdoors, and she even had an interest in weapons, mostly archery, but she never asked anyone to teach her.
Probably because no one wanted to upset Arthur or Jols by doing so. Over the past six months though, Tristan noticed that she took an interest in him. It started after the night he covered her hand with his at the tavern. He had been sitting in his corner for hours watching her when he seen her look around the tavern and her eyes stopped in his general direction.
He watched her fill a cup and fix a plate of food. As what seem to be an afterthought, Tristan watched her put an apple of the plate and became confused. The tavern didn't normally serve apples with the supper plate, so why would she put one on the plate?
Unless it was her supper plate. But she grabbed the plate and the cup and began to walk towards him. To his surprise she walked right up to him and informed him that she thought he might be hungry since she hadn't seen any of the tavern maids bring him food or drink.
To be honest he had been hungry but hadn't been in the mood to talk to anyone to request any. He had dropped his feet so she could put the plate down and then he reached out for the cup, purposely putting his hand over hers to see what she would do. He made sure to keep his eyes on hers after he did it. He seen her pupils dilate slightly and her breathing increased a bit. She finally looked up into his eyes and he seen confusion there.
What the confusion was about he wasn't sure, but it had been there.
A couple of days later he noticed her starring at him alot. More often than not he would look her way to let her know she had been caught, but then there were the other times when he would let her think she had been sneaky enough not to get caught.
But after all these months, she finally caught him by surprise. He wondered why she would give it to him out of the small group of Sarmatian Knights that she had become close friends with. He wanted to ask the real reason as to why she would give it to him, but he had a feeling that not even she was really sure yet. He watched her stand there, nervous and fidgety, looking very intently at the floor.
At that moment he decided that she was the one person he never wanted to make nervous or frightened of him. At seventeen rumors were already starting that he had a taste for blood on the battlefield, and they were right. Unlike some of his fellow knights, he enjoyed killing when it called for it.
His scouting skills were getting better and better, as were his archery and sword skills. Alot of people thought of him as cold or unfeeling because he wasn't very social, but he just preferred to watch people instead of interact with them. He wasn't sure if the rumors had reached her ears yet, but at that moment he wanted to show only her the kind of person he didn't want other to see. He walked up to her, placed a finger under her chin, and lifted her face to make her look at him. She lifted her face parted lips and uncertain eyes.
Her pupils were dilated, her face flushed dark pink, and he could feel her rapid heartbeat with a stray finger h place at the base of her neck. He wanted to kiss her more than anything at that moment but he also wanted to make sure that he wasn't moving in on someone else's territory. He knew Lancelot only cared for her as a replacement for his sister back in Sarmatia, but he knew that Galahad a bit of a thing for her, as well as Gawain.
"I seen you and Gawain tonight. What were you two talking about?" Tristan asked. "He asked me what I had been up to lately since he hasn't really seen me around. I basically told him it was none of his business." Serina whispered. "Do you have feelings for any of the men you serve at the tavern each night?" Tristan finally decided to ask.
"I think I might. Although I am not sure how he feels about me. He doesn't talk to me much, unless i speak to him first. And even then, I do not always get an answer from him." Serina said looking less nervous and was looking him straight in the eyes now. "And how do you feel when he is around?" Tristan wanted to know.
He knew at this point that she was speaking of him, but he wanted to see how much she would admit to liking him. "My face gets warm sometimes. He makes me breath faster than I normally do, as if i had just run halfway home from the tavern. He also makes my heart beat faster, as if a horse was running wild through a field.
And then nervous because I do not know if he feels anything for me and I am afraid that if he becomes aware of my feelings for him and he feels nothing for me, then I am afraid he will distance himself from me. And I have worked hard to try to close that distance, Tristan." Serina said speaking normally now but looked as if she were looking for something in his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Serina spoke again. "Do you feel anything for me at all, Tristan?" she said looking deeply into his eyes for her answer. Tristan didn't speak. He placed one hand at the small of her back to pull her closer to him and slid his other hand into her hair and held her head as he placed a gentle kiss on her lips, unable to resist anymore.
Serina didn't move at first, to shocked into believing that Tristan was actually kissing her. Serina knew she felt something for Tristan, and she knew it was good, but as to the name of the feeling, she wasn't sure. After a minute of short, soft kisses, Tristan lifted his head and looked into Serina's eyes.
"Thank you for the hawk. I am sure it will be very nice company when I do not wish to be around people. But I hope that you would not mind being in my company when I do wish to be around people. I do not want you to be afraid of me. I know that some people are and that the older I get more and more probably will be frightened of me. But I never want you to be afraid of me. When I first got to this cursed fort, I seen nothing that I liked. Except for you. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I do not think I could bear it if the most beautiful thing I have seen on this cursed island were to look upon me with fear. Promise me that you will never fear me, Serina. I am willing to show you sides of myself I will show no others, if only you will promise me to never fear the man others will grow to fear." Tristan said cupping both hands around Serina's face.
Serina looked into Tristan's beautifully worried hazel eyes and whispered the words he wished to hear. "I promise to never fear the man that others shall grow to fear. I promise to never fear you, Tristan." Serina said bringing her hands up to cup Tristan's face and pulled him down to place a soft kiss onto Tristan's lips to seal the promise.