Chapter two - Glimpse into the Past.
Sofia sat on her bed, knees pulled up to her chest. How could she possibly explain to Arthur and his knights that the reason she was at that battle was because she was supposed to kill them. Of course, she didn't want to kill them, but they would never understand. They would kill her, she was sure of it. No, I will not tell them, I would have to tell them my whole past and I just can't talk about it. There was one thing Sofia did not want to talk about, and that was her past. She had done horrible things and she hated herself for it.
She jumped when there was a knock at her door. She got up and slowly opened the door. A tall, rather handsome knight stood before her, a small grin on his face.
"I'm Lancelot, we met in the Great hall" he said. She shook her head,
"Yes, I remember you" she opened her door, inviting him in but he shook his head.
"Actually, I hoped you would like a tour" he said. Sofia smiled at his thoughtfulness,
"Oh, yes that would be lovely" she said. She shut the door behind her and walked with him.
"So, have you lived here long?" she asked, trying to make conversation before he asked her something she didn't want to answer.
"14 years now, one more to go" he said, a large smile stretching across his face. Sofia looked up in confusion,
"You're moving then?" she asked, wondering what he was counting down to.
"You can say that. I am from Sarmatia. All of us knights are. We have been forced to serve the Roman Empire as knights for 15 years as a result of a battle that was fought long ago" he told her. She nodded, remembering hearing something about that a long time ago.
"I am from Sarmatia as well" she told him. I haven't been there in years, but it used to be my home she thought. Lancelot looked down at her in shock,
"Really! Something in common, I am beginning to like you more already" he chuckled. They walked by the tavern and saw the rest of the knights eating and drinking.
"Lancelot!" called Galahad, waving in the air at them.
"Come on, they are all curious about you" said Lancelot putting his arm around her. She panicked without really thinking about it and ducked under his arm quickly, pushing it away from her as she did. He looked at her in surprise and quickly dropped his arm. The rest of the knights watched in confusion as the girl blushed.
"I, I am so sorry, please excuse me!" she said and she hurried off to her room. Lancelot joined the rest of the men and they talked about the strange young woman.
Back in her room, Sofia cursed herself He wasn't going to hurt you! If you continue to act in strange ways, they will have more questions to ask! She paced her room, both embarrassed and angry at her actions. She wondered what the men thought of her. She wondered if it would be better if she just snuck away in the middle of the night so she didn't have to face them and their questions. I could always just tell, parts of my past. They don't need to know the whole thing, and then maybe they will stop asking when they think they know everything she thought. She picked out the parts of her history she wanted to share, and made it into a believable story. That night, after dinner, Sofia decided she would gather the knights in the Great Hall and answer their questions.
Once everyone was seated in the same places they had been before, Sofia cleared her throat.
"I know that ever since my arrival here, you have all had questions for me, so I thought if I told you about my past, you would have all you needed to know and my actions wouldn't be so strange to you". The knights looked at each other and Sofia looked at Arthur, who nodded for her to go on.
She cleared her throat again and began.
"I am from Sarmatia" she started, getting the smiles she had expected when she revealed her birth place.
"But I have not been there in quite some time, because the Saxons burnt down my village. I managed to escape, and I spent the next 2 years running around the Roman Empire undetected, unsure where to go. I eventually made my way here to Britain, where I felt hopeful of finding a place to live at Hadrian's Wall. But my hopes did not last long, for I was captured by Saxons. I was their slave for months, receiving beatings almost daily." She paused and looked at the expressions on everyone's face.
"The reason you found me in the battle field was because the Saxons forced me to fight when they realized they were outnumbered. They would take anyone they could get and force them to fight, even a young slave."
The knights now understood why she seemed to be so frightened around them, and Lancelot recalled her reaction when he touched her, and he felt bad for scaring her. Arthur turned to face her,
"I am truly sorry for what you have been through, you are welcome to stay here as long as you would like" he said, offering her a gentle smile. She smiled in return and glanced at all the other men, who were nodding in agreement.
"Thank you very much."
