AN Conflict number one... R&R, please!

Unmasked

The next morning, the knights saddled up and prepared for their first task – they were to squash a British uprising west along Hadrian's Wall. Ryn had spent a good long time ensuring her disguise was flawless that day. The straps around her chest cut into her skin and made it hard to breathe, but to her, it was a small price to pay. She was certain she would not be discovered. Not today, anyway. She mounted her stallion and took her place among the knights.

Unfortunately, Ryn's certainty didn't take into account the split hoof of one of the soldier's horses. It bucked the instant its rider mounted and reared in the air in a panic. She was too close to avoid being struck by the animal and knocked from her own horse. Her tunic caught on the saddle and tore along the seam, revealing the padding she wore to disguise her shape. She rushed to untangle herself, but it was too late. The solider that came around to see what had happened noticed immediately.

"What are you hiding?" he demanded, tugging at the padding until it came loose and fell around her feet. "Give it to me," he said.

The soldier examined it, patting it over and then slicing it open with his knife. He tossed it at her feet and was about to say something when he actually took a good hard look at her. Even with her breasts strapped down, there was no mistaking the shape of her curves.

The man's face turned red with rage. He swiftly stepped toward her, made a cut in the top of her tunic and began to tear it open down the middle before Ryn even had a chance to react. In just about the same instant, two blades were at the man's throat. Lancelot's face was dark and dangerous. "Release her, or you die," he said, his voice hard and cold.

Ryn looked up to see that the knights had surrounded them, each with their weapon pointed directly at her tormentor.

"A woman cannot be a knight!" the man spat viciously.

"Why not?" Arthur wanted to know. "She has trained with us for three years. She is our best scout and a valuable part of this company. I see no reason why she cannot be a knight."

"Mark my words, God will curse you if you allow this woman to stay," the soldier hissed, angry eyes never leaving Ryn's face.

The Roman charged with mentoring Arthur spoke up. "What you say about her may be true, but she is a liability – one we cannot afford. You must send her away."

Arthur seemed to contemplate this advice. He looked at Ryn, eyes clear and uncompromising. She knew what he would say, and accepted it in her heart. She trusted him and that was all that mattered.

"Very well," Arthur said. "I will ask her to leave. Stand down," he instructed the knights.

They put away their weapons reluctantly and moved their horses to join Arthur. The soldier, however, decided this meant he was allowed to continue his abuse of Ryn. He attacked her again, grabbing violently at her tunic to tear it off her body. Ryn began to fight him off – she had grappled with bigger men than he – but discovered it wasn't necessary. The man's face contorted in pain and he fell to his knees in front of her, Lancelot's sword thrust deeply into his back. She stepped away and let the man fall the rest of the way to the ground as Lancelot's sword came, sucking and gurgling, out of his back.

Lancelot turned to look at Arthur. "I warned him," was all he said.

"You did," Arthur acknowledged. "Accompany Ryn to the forest. She knows her way from there."

Ryn pulled on a new tunic Galahad had given her and re-mounted her horse. Arthur walked his horse next to her. "I'm asking you to leave," he said quietly, "but don't be far away."

She nodded, understanding his intent completely. She was to function as she was trained – as scout for the knights, going ahead of them to make sure the way was safe and warning them of any danger before they encountered it. The only difference would be that she would have to be invisible not only to their enemies, but also to them.

She and Lancelot turned and rode hard for the forest. She wanted to be as far away from the hated Romans as she could get.

When they were a little ways inside the dense trees, they reigned in their horses to a halt.

"Will you be all right?" Lancelot asked her.

"Aye," she responded. "I'll never be far."

He nodded, all of him wanting to hold her again. "Be safe," he instructed instead, then turned his horse and rode back to join the company.

Ryn fought off the hot tears of humiliation and loneliness that threatened to distort her vision as she watched Lancelot ride off. "Focus, Ryn," she muttered to herself. Her horse tossed his head impatiently. "Aye. Let's go," she told him, urging him onto a precarious deer trail and through the woods.