Disclaimer: I don't own King Arthur, except Luana, and she's pretty okay to own.
Chapter 04: Meeting Destiny
Sorry for the late update, I was having a writers block, also, my Beta reader wasn't online so don't look at the mistakes, R&R please, reviews make me smile and I cannot lie
Luana sits in the garden of the larger mansion and sighs. She doesn't know what to do and honestly, there isn't much to do around the village. The roman soldiers are extra careful around her, making sure that, if they did hurt the villagers, that Luana wasn't around.
She knew about it, but decided not to do anything, it would only anger Marius, and that was the last thing she wanted. She straightens her clothes and walks up to the village where the farmers were working with the soldiers looking over them.
Lately, she hasn't been calling the two adults 'mother' and 'father'. But just by their names. Her memories are finally coming back and she knows that this isn't her birthplace. That the two of them, aren't her real parents.
The gates close in front of her when she sees 7 horses coming closer to the mansion. Behind her, Marius comes closer. She pulls her hair out of the ponytail and made sure it's hanging in front of her round face. Marius doesn't see her as she runs up to the wall where Fulcinia and Alecto stand, looking over the village.
She doesn't hear the conversation between Marius and the commander of the knights, who she thinks to be called Arthur. Her eyes focused on the black haired knight behind him. She looks at the rest of the knights. Her eyes rest on the last knight.
Sandy brown hair with small braids. A bird sits on his shoulder and misty eyes, like he's hiding something. The tattoos on his face were triangles in a dark blue color, fitting perfectly with his brown skin, tainted by all the battles.
"Who is Alecto?" The line interrupts her thoughts as she shakes her head and turns her attention back to Arthur and Marius.
"I am Alecto."
Arthur nods and his eyes stay on Luana. She looks in his deep green eyes but looks way when she follows Alecto to Marius.
"You do know that he's going to freak when he sees you dressed like that?"
"Like I care about his reaction."
Alecto nods and stands next to his father. Luana notices Arthur grasping his sword tight in his hand. His eyes fall on her again, so do the eyes of the two knights she has noticed earlier. She looks at them again, one by one and notices that the last knight was avoiding her eyes. She smiles softly, he seemed familiar.
"This is my sister, Lady Luana." Alecto introduces her to the knights.
Arthur's eyes widen briefly. She looks familiar but now that he knows her name, he's sure of it. Nothing is said between them. Luana doesn't smile and the knights look shocked. She feels the gaze of Marius upon her clothes and knows that he's angry with her, but that it isn't wise to break the silence that fills the air.
Tristan jumps from his horse, slowly, he walks towards Luana. She takes a step back, but not in fear. He reaches out for her face, saying nothing. He just looks in her eyes and misses the sparkle in them.
"Tristan, you alright?" Gawain asks, breaking the cold silence in the air
Tristan smiles at Lancelot, saying nothing. Lancelot looks at Luana in awe but keeps his mouth. Arthur looks at the two knights and then back at the girl he thought dead. Luana looks confused at the knight in front of her. But slowly, she begins to recognize the knight. The braids, the dark eyes, the brown hair.
"I'm sorry." Luana softly whispers, only letting Tristan hear it.
"For what?" He asks
Luana looks at him and then back at Lancelot. The dark curls and the dark eyes, how could she forget that face? She sees him every time she closes her eyes. She turns towards Arthur and smiles softly. He dismounts his horse and walks up to her, enclosing her in a hug that he had longed to do since she disappeared.
"I don't remember much, only glimpses. I remember some things, small things."
Arthur smiles softly and nods. Alecto and his family look strangely at the behavior of the knights when Luana appeared in front of them. Alecto smiles, knowing that the knights have a connection with her past.
Luana smiles softly when she felt the arms of Arthur wrap around her tiny frame. She looks in his deep brown eyes and knows that he had been worried about her, fearing she might not be alive anymore. Her memories are still foggy, but fragments come back by seeing every knight.
Small things, like a sweet moment, a funny moment, a loving moment. Marius looks at the knights inventively. They are distracted, but Arthur isn't. He sees the man hanging on a wooden frame; bleeding from the severe wounds the soldiers have given him.
His sword glisters in the sun as Arthur walks rapidly to the man. He breaks the man free from his chains. He falls on the ground, Luana looks around, the villagers look at Arthur, then at the village elder en then at Luana. She felt a hand upon her shoulder as she looks at Lancelot who stands behind her, smiling.
"How did you get here?" He softly asks her.
"I don't know, I don't remember much from the time before I woke up here."
Lancelot nods, "We'll help you."
Luana looks at the dark-haired knight. Lancelot watches her; the sparkle has disappeared from her eyes. He wondered if she could still fight like she used to. He looks at Arthur who is talking to the villagers. Tristan looks at Luana's clothes. The black clothes are completely her style, he smiles softly.
Marius looks at Luana and drags her away from Lancelot by her wrist. Luana glares at Marius and Lancelot, Tristan and the rest of the knights look angry at the roman. Marius pulls Luana closer to him. She protests but Marius holds her too tight for her to do anything.
"What do you think you are wearing girl?" He whispers furious in her ear while she struggles to break free from his grasp that holds her tight to his chest. She looks at Tristan who is glaring at Marius for holding her like that.
"Let go of me!" Luana spats angry, the grasp on her wrist begins to hurt but she ignores the sharp pain forming under the hand of Marius. Arthur raises his sword towards Maruis' neck. Luana looks at the glistering metal of the mighty sword and takes a deep breath.
"You release her now and start packing your things to leave for Hadrian's Wall, even if I have to tie you to my horse and drag you all the way there." Arthur glares at Marius who slowly releases her. Luana pulls her wrist out of his weakened grasp and rubs it soothingly, hoping that it won't bruise.
"My lady, my knights are hungry." Arthur turns to Fulcinia who looks at Marius in question. He nods and she leaves quickly, not wanting to anger the roman commander even more. Arthur lowers his sword and nods to Dagonet who begins to look at Luana's wrist.
"Is he always like that?"
"Mostly when he's angered, in other words, mostly with me." Luana manages a weak smile.
Dagonet bandages her small wrist and looks in her eyes. "Good to have you back."
"Luana, you better wear something else if you don't want to anger him some more." Alecto finally speaks after all the events that happened before his eyes. Luana looks at him and nods softly. She looks at the knights once more before walking inside.
Lancelot looks at her retreating form and smiles; they had finally found their sister-in-arms. Luana walks in the larger mansion, she wants to return to the knights as soon as possible, her dress is simple, just for traveling, the skirt is long, and the top is long sleeved. The fabric is light and dark green, her favourite colour.
She looks at herself in the mirror and begins to pin up her hair when a soft breeze touches her face. She watches the knights assemble everything they might need for the journey. Marius shouts to the guards to hurry up and finish their job and Luana frowns.
Arthur walks away from her sight and she quickly stands up when she hears commotion outside. She runs towards the knights upon their horses and looks at Arthur who's glaring at two roman soldiers with his sword raised.
"What's going on?"
Arthur looks angry at the two soldiers who look afraid of the roman commander. Dagonet breaks down the badly cemented wall of stones, revealing a wooden door. Luana frowns, she wasn't allowed to enter this small part of the mansion and she began to wonder what's behind that door.
"Open the door!" Arthur commands angry
"The door is locked…from the inside."
Luana rolled her eyes and looks at Lancelot.
"Arthur, we have no time." Lancelot protests,
"Do you not hear the drums?" Galahad asks
Arthur doesn't listen to the protests of the other knights, he nods to Dagonet. The door breaks open with just a few pushes from Dagonet. Arthur enters the small house first, grabbing a torch on the way. Lancelot and Luana follow swiftly.
" How dare you set foot in this holy place!" One of the monks grabs Lancelot by his collar. Lancelot stabs the obnoxious monk in the stomach, the body falls on the ground, Lancelot glares at the dead body and then at the other monk."There was a man of God."
"Not my god!"
" This one's dead." Dagonet states, looking sad.
"By the smell, they are all dead. And you. You even move, you join him" Gawain points at the dead monk on the ground.
Luana looks around in horror, the smell of rotten corpses invades her mind and senses. She looks at Lancelot with sad eyes. Lancelot hugs her briefly before opening another cage. Luana watches the other knights and her eyes widen when she sees Dagonet saving a young boy.
"Lucan!" Luana runs towards the boy who's eyes are half open, the boy looks at her and softly whispers "Lu?" before falling into an unconscious state. Dagonet and Luana quickly walk outside with the young boy.
"You know him?"
"I took care of him when his parents were to busy working. Poor boy, his arm is broken."
"Stop what you are doing!" Marius approaches Arthur, yelling like a mad man. Luana tears her gaze away from Lucan and glares at Marius.
"What is this madness?" Arthur asks angry, his eyes set on Marius
"They are all Pagans here!" Marius answers furious
"So are we." Galahad speaks in the conversation.
"They refuse to do the task God has set for them! They must die as an example!"
Luana walks to the side of the young woman Arthur brought out of the dungeon, glaring at Marius for saying that. Arthur glares at him and replies angry "You mean they refused to be your serfs!"
"You are a Roman. You understand. And you are a Christian! " Marius' eyes widen in shock
"You! You kept them alive!" Marius' points at Luana and slaps her across the face when she stands up next to Arthur.
Arthur immediately retaliates by punching Marius in the face, knocking him over to the muddy ground. Arthur grabs Excalibur and points it at Marius' neck, the guards come closer but Lancelot draws his swords to stop them.
"When we get to the Wall, you will be punished for this heresy." Marius threatens Arthur who looks calmer then before. Arthur sternly grabs Marius by his collar, replying " Perhaps I should kill you now and seal my fate."
Luana guides the villagers to the carriages that are prepared for them. Arthur is making sure everything is going according to plan. Tristan approaches Luana silently, before he's completely behind her, she turns around, smiling softly at him.
"Hear you were attacked by the roman."
"Attacked is a strong word Tristan, and it wasn't the first time."
"You alright?"
"O'course I am, why wouldn't I be?"
Tristan nods and hugs her before leaving again. She looks around and sees her horse standing at the carriage of the knights. She walks towards it and pat it on the head. Smiling through the small tears that have appeared in her eyes.
"She always rides with us, but after you disappeared, she became tame."
"It's a shame really" Luana smirks
Jols smiles and unties the horse. "Think you can ride her again?"
"Not in those clothes." Lancelot answers for Jols
"Thank you Lancelot, I pretty well know I can't ride her in these clothes."
Lancelot grins and looks surprised when Luana uses a knife to cut her skirt at the side. She smiles cocky at him and he smirks back. She lost her leather uniform when she disappeared. Luana thanks Jols for taking care of her horse and leads it away, while talking with Lancelot.
Alecto watches Luana with open eyes. He knows she's not his sister, but he can't help feeling brotherly feelings towards the girl, after living with her for three years. He walks towards her and still looks shocked.
"What did you do to your skirt, you have a death wish?"
"Not immediately Alecto, and you don't need to worry for me, not anymore that is."
"I'll always worry for you Lu', just don't let dad see you."
Lancelot looks at Alecto walking away from them both. He looks at Luana who's smiling brightly before she walks towards the other knights with Lancelot following.
at the part where Marius slaps Luana, it's because he thinks that Luana knows what was happening down there, to bad for her she did not...I couldn't get that in the text, sorry ;)
MJLS
