Disclaimer: Don't own King Arthur but the original characters - themz be mine


Letting the melody rise up from her throat, Willow closed her eyes to distract herself from the now almost gawking expressions of the tavern patrons. Unused to singing in front of a crowd, besides the family, Willow felt distinctly vulnerable at that moment. But mentally shaking herself against her betraying thoughts she began to enjoy listening to the song and the music which the family was playing beside her and let it wrap completely around her consciousness. Opening her eyes, she turned her head towards Rhiannon and smiled at the woman's delighted expression, she returned Willow's smile widely, closed her eyes as well and revelled in the melody of the music. Willow twisted back around, placing her whistle to her lips and as she joined in with the tune and flicked her eyes out across the room. A more melodic and peaceful song than the previous music they had played that day and not considered one to dance to, she was content to sit and appreciated the audience from the table as she swayed her shoulders lightly to the music.

Many of the customers, who had been sat at tables farther away from the family had come closer to watch and now stood in a wide semi-circle, were enthralled by the melody. And gradually, as Willow began to sing for the second time, more joined the previously standing viewers until any other activities in the tavern had ceased and all attention was focused purely on the musicians and particularly on Willow as she sang. She glanced around, gaining some more confidence than she had had before due to the crowd's clear appreciation, Willow noted that the table in the far corner and its occupants had also been enticed by the family's music and had subsequently joined the listening crowd. She cast her eyes over the strange group again; but was caught by the same intense stare from the dark scruffy haired man from the square earlier. Intrigued by his intent look, Willow equally focused her contrasting blue eyes back into his rich brown. After a moment of a staring match, she traced her gaze back to rest of the tavern as she began to play her whistle for the final part of the tune. Nonetheless, the feel of the man's eyes still on her weighted heavier than all others in the tavern combined and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and a shiver run down her spine. As a result, the conclusion of the performance did not bring Willow any of the usual feelings of satisfaction she got, instead she felt restless underneath the man's scrutiny.

"That was incredible," the pretty red-head admired as she came over to the finished musicians, "when Dagonet, Galahad and Gawain told me about you lot, I never imagined that! You even got Tristan's praises and that's something always rare to come by."

"Thank you Vanora, that's very gracious of you," Rhiannon replied, already acquainted with the woman.

"Any chance you feel like playing another one? This place could use a good dance, although I'm not even sure if some of these old codgers even remember how to dance but it should be fun to shake them up a bit!" She asked laughing.

"I'm sorry but we're very tried and have been travelling for most of the day," Aiden answered politely as he watched Rowan try to suppress a large yawn.

"I don't mind!" Willow said hastily standing up. She still felt agitated after the previous song and knew that a rigorous jig always managed to calm and tire her out. "Aiden, if you don't mind playing the lute, I'll play 'Pressed for Time'," she offered.

"Are you sure you're up for it? You have already done a lot this evening," He quietly asked.

"I'll be fine, I think I still just have some unused energy to burn off," Willow responded, touched by his caring question so gave him a reassuring smile.

With a nod of his head, Aiden picked up his lute and positioned himself for their last song of the evening. Ysmay and Rhiannon, who had placed a sleepy Rowan on to her lap, remained seated and waited expectantly for Willow to perform one of her most energetic tunes. This time, Willow made her way into the centre of the semi-circle, cracking her knuckles in order to loosen her fingers and out of agitation. She counted in to Aiden to begin the song and on three, let the notes fly. She tapped her foot momentarily to the beat before promptly she began her usual dance around the space and zigzagged through the standing audience. The two men from the group, who had danced in the square earlier, immediately followed Willow's encouragement and dragged two of the watching bar maids into the space and led the dance. Seeing their actions, Willow skipped between the two couples and nodded to the two men, and was rewarded a winning smile from each as they swung their partners round to the music. With them leading the trend, she looped round to dance back through the audience to where the two men had been standing. As she weaved through the mysterious group, suddenly an arm slipped around her waist as she tried to dance past. Upon turning around, Willow was confronted with a devilish smirk from the older curly haired man, but with only a quick glance at his offending arm, Willow expertly spun out of the embrace, with obvious practice from other men who had thought to catch her in previous towns, and playfully circled behind the taller shaved headed man. The act gained a laugh from both shaved men and Vanora, while the man was left looking disgruntled.

'The flirt's obviously not used to rejection' Willow mused.

The exertion of the dancing had done its job and had finally begun to tire out Willow's muscles as she circled the tall man. Continuing forward, she thankfully came to the abrupt finish of the song, but she happened to conclude the jig face to face with the same dark brown eyes which she had felt on her for most of the evening. Up close she noticed that there were small specks of amber in them. But the realisation that she was so close to him; Willow could sense her cheeks blossom with heat which only fuelled her embarrassment further. Turning her head round, she noted that her family had begun to gather together their instruments while the crowd had finished dancing and applauded their show. Sending the man a curt nod, Willow spun on her heels and quickly headed over to her family, failing to catch the abrupt inquisitive look that crossed the man's face as she turned her head around. Walking to her family, Willow did catch Ysmay's wide eyes and her urgent whisper,

"Your shawls fallen down, I can see your flower!"

"Shit!" Willow muttered under her breath and hastily pulled the cloth back into place around her neck "was it obviously showing?" she whispered back.

"I don't think so," Ysmay gave a hesitant smile.

Turning round to face the crowd once she was standing next to Aiden again, Willow smiled and bowed to the applause that filled the room. Smiling up at the faces, she noticed a figure of a tall man leaning against the doorway at the back of the tavern. He was tall, clean shaven and looked almost Roman to her and she wondered how long he had been standing there.

"Arthur!"

The sudden call from her right made Willow's blood run cold as the group of foreigners also noticed the man.

"Glad to see that you are able to make time in your busy royal schedule to visit us humble knights," one of them joked to the man as he walked over to them.

"Well my dear Lancelot, we can't all spend our time drinking in here," he countered.

"Wanna bet?" the shorter bald man grinned into his cup.

Arthur laughed, "Ah, you, of course Bors, are the exception."

"So Arthur, is this a purely social visit? Or do you have some more arse numbly boring diplomatic thing we have to do?" Lancelot casually asked as his eyes followed a passing barmaid.

Arthur ignored Lancelot's question, "Knights I wanted to remind you of the important dinner in two nights time."

Lancelot grinned into his cup as he took a drink, "Arse numbingly boring it is."

"Do we have to be there?" the younger dark haired man asked, almost whining.

"Don't think you're getting out of it Galahad," the golden haired knight chuckled, giving his friend a heavy clap on the back.

"Thank you Gawain and yes Galahad, I want you all to be there as a show to the visiting dignitaries the united vision of this land we want to create. As my knights and my friends I had hoped you would be as willing to follow me into this dinner as loyally you do into battle," his eyes looked at each knight individually seriously but with a chuckle he added, "it should be easier for you anyway, you can just pay no attention and eat. I'm not so sure for myself; some of the nobles seem to be not so willing to join us as I had hoped and I'm not looking forward to those negotiations." He shook his head wearily.

"We shall be there and support you Arthur, no matter what," the tall man nodded to Arthur and patted his shoulder in a friendly and gentle gesture that his large hands looked to be incapable of doing.

"Thank you Dagonet," Arthur returned the gesture and looked across the table, "Tristan, a report on your scouting mission tomorrow morning if you would." The man in question, who Willow realised, was the owner of the brown eyes, merely nodded to Arthur and returned to cutting up the apple in his hands with a mean looking dagger.

'Oooooo fuck,' She mentally slapped herself as she watched them, 'well done Willow, you've just played twenty-first century music to the historical Dark Age King of Britain and the legendary Knights of the Round Table without realising and now have probably affected the future which you promised you wouldn't do, nice going! Of course those men are the knights you idiot; they look different from everyone else because they're from Sarmatia, how the hell did you not know that?' Bowing her head in shame at her own stupidity, Willow slowly turned around and faced the family and could have kissed Aiden for what he said next.

"Time for sleep I think," he sighed, as he cast a glance at the sleeping form of his son on his mother's lap. With only a nod to him, as her voice seemed stuck in her throat, Willow bent down and took hold of Rowan legs as Rhiannon gently placed him on to her back in order to carry him home.

"The idea of a soft and warm bed sounds like the best thing possible to me," Ysmay said through a large yawn. Glad that the family had not noticed the newcomer to the tavern and his conversation with the far table, Willow, when out of the tavern, released the breath she didn't even realise she had been holding and once at a safe distance away allowed herself a small smile.

'I've just seen King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Bet Mr Roberts would be jealous,' she smiled as she thought of her old history teacher as the family slowly made their way through the clear spring night to their small cottage.


"You should have arrived earlier Arthur, that family of musician's were pretty decent," Galahad said to his commander as Arthur sat down at table, having been persuaded by Lancelot to stay for a drink.

"I watched the end of the last song," he answered the young knight, "their music was certainly energetic."

"And that girl definitely knew how to move," Gawain commented with a grin, "what was it that she was playing? I've never seen that type of instrument before."

"Me neither, but it did make a good tune and that little lady sure knew a thing or two," Bors added, echoing Gawain's grin.

Lancelot snorted into his mug of ale as he took a drink, causing Bors to bark out a laugh.

"Don't be a bastard 'bout it! Just 'cause she knew how to handle you."

The rest of the knights joined in with Bors' laughing; it was a rare occurrence if a woman rebuffed Lancelot's advances. Even Tristan's usual impassive face showed the touch of a smile at Lancelot's rejection, some part of him was secretly glad of her snub of Lancelot. He realised it was the same small part that had kept his eyes locked on her when he had seen her perform both times. But with a mental shake he went back to his nearly finished apple and listening to the knight's conversation, dismissing the feeling as purely interest in the new musician's arrival at the fort.

"Maybe you're losing your skills," Galahad joked.

"Pup, I've got skills you couldn't even begin to imagine. Anyway why would I trouble myself with her when that would mean being unfaithful to my beautiful Vanora," his characteristic smirk back in place as he grabbed the barmaid round the waist, dragging her to his lap as she tried to refill their drinks. She just huffed and smacked the knight on his chest as she pushed herself away, giving a reassuring squeeze of Bors's shoulder and kiss on the head as she made her way back to the bar. Her touch ending the low growl her lover had been giving to Lancelot since he had grabbed Vanora.

"Careful woman!" Lancelot called after her, "you don't help my recovery by constantly hitting me," rubbing his chest where the arrow had almost pieced his heart.

"Then stop pushing and pulling me around!" She retorted loudly back over her shoulder from the rear of the tavern.

"Is your wound still ailing you?" Dagonet asked, worry creasing his brow.

"Nye Dagonet, just a tweak, there is no need to keep mothering. Both Tristan and I are now perfectly healthy thanks to your healing prowess although I'll never forgive you for half of the foul concoctions you forced down our throats," Dagonet's face showed a moment of chagrin before returning to its usual neutral position. The knights still felt blessed by either their gods or Arthur's for the fortune they had had with their injuries. Dagonet, following his heroic escapade on the ice against the Saxons, had been so cold that his heart rate had slowed down enough that they were able to successful stem his blood flow which had ultimately saved his life and then been able to warm him back up. Similarly, the wounds that Tristan and Lancelot had gained at the Battle of Badon Hill had all appeared fatal but were more superficial than they had first appeared though still had taken weeks to recover and caused Dagonet to uncharacteristically fuss over them though with the addition of some of Merlin's most skilled healers had probably been a large factor in all having successfully evaded almost certain death.

"Even the fearless scout still looks scared whenever he has to enter the healing rooms now," Lancelot continued. Tristan nodded in agreement as both knights, particularly him, had shown an aversion to entering the rooms following their long forced confinement by Dagonet.

"Do you think the family would be willing to play at the dinner for the guests?" Arthur wondered aloud to the table, bringing the conversation back to the musicians.

"Probably," Gawain offered, "being troubadours, they will be looking for work around the fort whenever they aren't busking."

"Better reserve them soon though, Terryn has decided he wants them here on a regular basic while they're staying at the fort," Vanora told Arthur as she came back to her favourite table and indicated to the landlord of tavern in his usual place on his personal stool at the bar, "thinks that they will bring more business with that pretty thing playing here. She was something, wasn't she, particularly that hair, besides Gawain I've never seen the like" she added as she looked critically at her own shorter red locks.

"At least hers looked washed," Galahad murmured as he took a drink but a swift slap to the back of his head from his so called dirty cousin shut him up.

"You are perfect my little flower!" Bors proclaimed as he pulled Vanora on to his lap and kissed her passionately, "I wouldn't change you for all the gold in Rome... well maybe not for all the silver at least," he then muttered jestingly to Dagonet, earning him also a smack from Vanora.

"You cheeky sod," she giggled.

"Her hair is the only other fair colour that I have seen in Britain for a while. I wonder if she is from Sarmatia. I don't think she is related to the family, their colouring is all dark while is she so fair, that's probably why she was initially wearing that head cloth. Maybe she's actually Saxon?" Gawain wondered out loud about the girl. He had only ever seen blonde hair in the knight's homeland and a few of the Saxons who the knights had fought but even then they had been few in number and he knew how much the light colour could easily be seen. The rest of the knights frowned as they thought about Gawain's assessment.

"Maybe she's a possible Saxon spy?" Galahad offered.

"Hmmm... perhaps," Arthur considered, his mind now beginning to question the girl's presence at the fort in relation to the timing with the important dinner in two days time but a snort from the barmaid brought him and the other knights out of their reverie.

"You think that that harmless girl could be a Saxon spy?" Vanora scoffed, "I think you all need to go and fight something and get it out of your system. You're all becoming paranoia. I spoke with the girl's parents and they are just humble troubadours who came here for work because of your wedding Arthur and now you're accusing them of being spies! Honestly!" she got up from Bors lap and left with the knights hearing her grumble all the way back to the bar, catching phrases like "men!" and "need to just kill something" as she walked away.

Arthur sighed heavily, "I guess Vanora has a point. We haven't had a Saxon attack in a while, only heard rumours, maybe we're just on edge now," he reasoned, "but just to make certain, Tristan can you follow the girl to make sure," he added quietly to the scout so that only the other surrounding knights could hear. Tristan nodded to his order but thought differently from his friends. To him, the girl wasn't Saxon but there was definitely something else about her that caught his attention, even beyond the strangely coloured tattoo she had on her neck that he had seen, and his order successfully provided a legitimate reason for him to find out. With the air of the conversation having taken a more sinister turn Arthur took his leave of his knights and, after nodding to Vanora who only gave him an abrupt wave back; still angry at the knight's unnecessary suspicions, made his way to his quarters for the night. The rest of the knights soon departed the tavern as well, having not been able to return to their previous jollity, as each contemplated the unfamiliar girl and her possible sinister purpose at the fort as they separated to their own rooms.


A/N: Sooooo, the knights have made their proper appearance. I hope that the characterisation is right; I'm really worried that I'll write them wrong and out of character.

Lolly: I happy you like the story and are appreciative of the music selection – but I should warn you, it's probably going to get a bit worse later on (some Disney may be finding its way into the story :S). Thanks for describing my music taste as interesting; I would personally say it's diversely odd and weird at times :) But I've always preferred the original Nina Simone version than the others like Michael Bublé or Muse.

Misssyl: Thank you so much for liking Willow! I've had serious panic at times as to whether she is too Mary Sue-ish, even going so far as to doing some quizzes online to find out if she was but they came back with varied result (I know – seriously nerdy) so that didn't help the worry, but that's a huge relief that she's liked. I'm happy you think the storyline is interesting and original. The number fics that there are now I think its becoming increasingly hard to be original without stepping on another stories toes, metaphorically speaking.

Homeric: Yep I liked writing Rowan's character, I hoped he did come across as a 9 year old boy; I have two older brothers so I could only base it a little on how we were when I was 9. Yeah I didn't want Willow to be a whiny character; she's meant to be quite pragmatic and very much of the mindset that when life gives you lemons — make lemonade. But there will be times when she can't help but think of her life before travelling back in time – I think if anyone was in that situation, some things you can't help but miss. I loved Lucan and Dagonet's relationship in the film, even if it was a brief one so had to include it. Hmmm, we'll have to see about the hair tips just for now, though that did make me chuckle imaging a camp Gawain having his hair brushed by Willow while talking about split-ends and shampoo — dark age shampoo of course.

Allison: Glad you like the story so far. I wanted her be found back in time by other people than the knights and a while before the battle of Badon Hill so she could have knowledge and experience of the time than just crashing straight in, though she does sometimes still manage to say the wrong thing or do something which wouldn't be expected in the Dark Ages. The hair situation should be interesting as it's not going to do her any favours. I thought that would be more realistic as I read somewhere that it wasn't until the Saxons settled in Britain and integrated with the existing population that us Brits got our blonde hair (sorry about the history lesson, I just found it really interesting). I loved Lucan and that cute mass of hair of his and I just had to have him come into the story earlier than the others.

Music:
The Corrs – 'Silver Strand'
Flook – 'Pressed For Time'

Chapter 5 will be up soon!

Cheers
Pitta x