Disclaimer: I do not own King Arthur or anything to do with it. I do, however, own the OC and the plot.

Plot: TristanxOC. As the Sarmatian knights take a rest after long months out in the wilderness, they come across a surprise in the woods. Ratings may change.

Tristan rolls over, onto his side, and draws in a deep breath of cold air. His eyes open and he looks straight at where the girl is sitting, backed up against the tree she is tied to. Her breath is coming out in white clouds, caused by the cold morning air. Noticing that the sun is just starting to peek through the shroud of trees, Tristan understands that the rest of the knights would still be sleeping soundly. He slowly gets into a crouching position, his clothing creaking and frost falling off of him and out of his hair. Pulling his cloak tighter around him to ward off the morning chill, Tristan makes his way cautiously over to the girl. As he approaches, she tries desperately to back into the tree behind her, to hide. On her face is solid evidence of the night before, a large bruise that colours her pale skin a dark purple. Wincing as he realises that he could have seriously injured her, but most of all that Arthur was going to chew him out, he reaches forwards tenderly.

The girl flinches, and Tristan freezes, eyes locked with hers. He nods his head slowly, then lightly brushes his fingers over the bruise, making her eye him warily. Drawing back his hand and burying himself further into his cloak, Tristan rocks on the balls of his feet.

"What's your name, girl?" The girl looks down to her bound hands, white-blonde hair falling to obstruct Tristan's view of her face. She shakes her head slowly in answer, and Tristan snorts, "No name? Just like a ghost…"

Getting up, Tristan looks towards the sky to see his hawk circling him. Holding out one hand, he whistles up into the frozen air, and the hawk sweeps down and lands on his arm. Drawing his arm towards him, he pats the birds head with one hand, then throws his hand in the air, the bird flying towards the tree line. Walking carefully towards Arthur, he lightly kicks him with one soft boot.

"It's time we left, Arthur." Arthur wakes immediately, and nods his head. Tristan smirks in amusement as he watches their leader stumble around in a half-doze, trying to get ready for the road. Systematically Tristan wakes the rest of the knights, each of them giving him sour expressions. They all get ready, saddling their horses and fixing their armour. Arthur looks towards Tristan, who is slowly making his way to the girl, and speaks up.

"Tristan, is that a bruise on her face?" Tristan stops in mid-step, ducking his head. He looks back towards Arthur and smiles sheepishly, causing the rest of the knights to either laugh or snort in amusement. All of the knights mount their horses, just as Tristan squats down and starts to untie the girl's hands.

"Come on, little Ghost. It's time to go." He helps the girl up, and effectively mounts her onto his horse. He mounts behind her, taking the reins. Wrapping his cloak around her, he tugs on the reins and all of the knights make their ways through the trees. Dagonet looks at him suspiciously.

"Ghost?" Tristan seems to ignore him for a few moments, staring at his bird in the sky with a child-like demeanour. Then he looks towards his fellow knight, hair over his eyes.

"She needs a name, Dag. We can't just call her…well, girl." He looks forwards at the road, then makes a grunt to signify that he is going to ride ahead. Kicking his horse in the flanks, he juts ahead of them and into a canter, holding Ghost close to him so that she doesn't fall off of the horse. Looking down at Ghost, he shrugs to himself, as he slowly eases his horse into a gallop. They all ride for the next hour, just until Hadrian's wall appears in their vision. Tristan halts his horse, knowing that rest is the best thing at the moment. He waits as the rest of the knights catch up, and looks over his shoulder towards Arthur.

"We're home." Tristan states to his leader, voice loud and clear. Arthur nods his head, and leads them down to the road leading up to the wall. Tristan trails behind, and looks towards Ghost as his horse walks easily. He leans down, lips brushing against her ear, "We're home." he breathes, soft and easy. Ghost looks up at him, and into his dark eyes. There she realises that he is just like her in one of many ways.

"You have no home…" she whispers, the first thing he had ever heard her say. He smirks slightly at how controlled her voice was, how smooth and fragile. Then he looks up at Hadrian's wall, rocking slowly to the steps of his horse.

"No…not anymore."

Review, please! Have I kept everyone in character? How do you like "Ghost", and how her name came to be? ;)

~ xoxo, Ryuu