Chapter 2
Then we started on our way to goodness, knows where I took this time to make sure my hair was still covering my neck completely, I heard a horse trot past Arthur and I and looked up to see the tattooed knight pass us he rode out of sight and along the pathway we were on, he appeared again about ten minutes later his hawk sat silently on his arm. "anything Tristan?" he shook his head indicating the path was safe for now, his horse fell into an easy trot beside Arthurs and the knights behind us began talking amongst themselves.
We had been traveling for hours when I had finally had enough i swung my leg round the back end of the horse and lightly dropped to the forest floor Arthur looked down at me from his horse. "Alright?" I nodded my head lightly. I walked round the horse so i was walking between Tristan and Arthur. When a voice called from behind "Don't like horses then?" i smirked "I like horses, hate riding" there was laughter from behind me and i smiled lightly. "and yet you mount a horse like you have been riding all your life." I looked at him before saying "not all my life, most of my life" "where are you from girl?" a voice boomed from behind me and i turned and started walking backwards and looked to find the owner of the voice and saw a man with long red hair and beard. "Does it matter?" I questioned. "Well it does, you could be a woad for all we know" i raised my eyebrows, "do I look like a woad to you?" "no but we need to know for sure, if you let us take a closer look at you I'm sure we could establish where you are from" I looked up at Lancelot and gritted my teeth. I turned back around and walked forwards once again "so where are you from" a voice questioned again. I closed my eyes and sighed but continued walking, i opened my eyes before replying "I was born at Vistula River" everyone went silent. "You are Sarmatian?" "I don't know what i am anymore." Tristan pushed his horse to a trot and he disappeared as he scouted ahead again. "how did you end up here?" "enough questions" i replied. I looked up to Arthur, "Do you mind?" "not at all" I jumped onto the horse and sat back once more. A few hours later and it was mid day by now and it had started to rain i swore quietly under my breath, my white shirt although comfortable and durable was not so great in the rain as it went see through. Arthur must have heard my curse because he turned his head and asked "are you ok" "uh yes, it's just, it's just, well my shirt" he turned and looked, his eyes trailing over the wet see through fabric. He quickly averted his eyes when he saw the problem "huh ok" he took his cloak off and handed it back to me and i wrapped it around my body making myself decent. "thank you" He nodded and I saw the back of his neck turn pink, I chuckled lightly and jumped from the horse and resumed walking between the horses of Arthur and Tristan, I was getting tiered of holding the cloak up though so i stood still and started to deal with the problem, so removed the rope from around my waist and wrapped the clock tightly around my body and secured it with the rope. I had folded it over once before attaching it so it wasn't to long, by the time i had finished i was stood in between the other knights on their horses. "You ok there?" the red headed one asked me. "fine" i was walking at the same pace as their horses meaning I was walking between the majority of the knights. "don't like to talk about home then?" Lancelot asked me. "I said I was born there not that it was my home, there is a big difference" "no there isn't" Lancelot spoke. "yes there is." "So what's the difference then" the red headed knight asked. "Home's where your family is, and my family aren't there" "where are they?" "dead" silence. After a few moments another question was thrown in my direction. "how?" the large bold knight asked. "my eldest brother was taken to be trained as a knight when i was eight after that my mother died giving birth to my little sister when i was nine, my father took my sister and I as far North as he could, said it would be easier to feed us, then he was killed by woads when i was 10, i got by on scraps but that wasn't going to help my sister so I gave her to a family in the village we were in they couldn't afford to feed me as well then when I fourteen the village was raided, i watched them kill my sister and the family who took her in she was just four years old , I have been on my own since then." they were all looking at me. "what was your brothers name?" "Percival." They all looked at one another uncomfortably I didn't have time to think about that though as Arthur called back to us all. "WOADS" Lancelot looked up and asked "we riding through?" Arthur nodded. Lancelot offered me his hand as Arthur had done earlier, I again ignored his hand and swung myself up into the saddle behind him, and gripped the saddle just behind me. I bent my knees into the horse to keep my balance steady, "you sure your not Sarmatian?" Lancelot asked turning to me with a smirk across his face. I rolled my eyes as he gave a gentle kick into the horses sides and soon we were galloping at a high speed my hair flying around me. I heard the woads battle cry's on either side of us as we rode through and then i felt a sharp pain in my leg on the right. I hissed quietly, and gripped the saddle tighter, after five minutes or so we slowed and then stopped. "Everyone ok?" Arthur called "got a scratch from one of those arrows" "sure you'll survive Gawaine?" Lancelot called over to the red headed man. Everyone started laughing except me as i was looking to my right leg which now had an arrow sticking out of it, I groaned and shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. "ok?" Lancelot asked me. "Fine" I replied. I snapped the arrow in my leg and swore as i watched a thick trickle of blood run down my leg. Lancelot looked back at what i was doing "Damn" he dismounted and said to Arthur "leg" "where" Arthur asked. "Not me her" he tethered his horse to the tree and I jumped down my leg gave out as i landed and i fell to the floor. I grabbed the broken arrow and pulled it from my leg biting my lip to stop any noise levying my lips, more blood began to come from my leg and I applied pressure to the wound. I was picked up by Arthur and he sat me down on a large boulder "Im not some damsel in distress you know" I said glaring at him "humour me" he replied. I kept pressure on the wound when the one of the large men came over and knelt by my leg. "can you move your hands, i need to get a look at the wound" i moved my hand and more blood oozed out. "you bleed a lot don't you" i nodded. "Always have, ever since i was young" Tristan walked up to us and knelt down beside the man. "what do you need Dag?" the man i now knew to be called Dag told him a list of different herbs and plants he needed. Tristan nodded before disappearing for about five minutes and then coming back his hands full of everything Dag had asked for. He placed everything he had collected on the boulder beside me and then went to walk away,"oi gonna need another pair of hands" Tristan walked back looking uncomfortable. "right your gonna get a little bit messy" Tristan nodded. Dag cut the right leg of my leather trousers away and i felt oddly vulnerable, he then told Tristan to apply as much pressures as he could to the area around the wound which meant Tristan had to get a tight grip on my thigh, tristan looked slightly uncomfortable as he gripped my lower thigh tightly between his hands, "right this is going to hurt" Dag warned, i nodded and gritted my teeth. He whipped the blood away and then began to pack the plants into the wound, i didn't make a sound as he did his work, i was used to staying quiet, being out here for four years you learn to be quiet or you die. Eventually he finished packing the wound and i let out a long breath Tristan was told to continue holding my leg to help the blood to clot around the packing. He did as he was told, then i noticed his hands were completely covered in my blood. Soon there was dry blood all around the packing and Dag told Tristan to release the pressure slowly which he did before lowering my leg gently to the ground and then releasing my leg. "It's probably going to be to painful to walk on for a while", he turned and started doing something to his saddle bag and i levered myself onto my feet and stood on one leg for a moment before gently testing my leg out "so i wouldn't walk or put to much pressure on it for a while" I put full pressure on the leg and a sharp pain shot up my leg but i used it anyway and took a very shaky step then another then another. The Arthur and the knights began to laugh as Dag turned around and frowned at me, "she's more stubborn than Lancelot when he wants a women" everyone started laughing even more at that. Everyone remounted their horses. I ended up sharing with Gawaine.
We eventually arrived at their destination the wall. I looked up at the huge wall and the building built into it and the building surrounding it, as we rode up the huge doors were thrown open and we rode through into the heart of the wall.
