Reunion 8 part 2
The group, Habren noticed, was very silent like a whispering wind without the whispers to alert you it is coming. The only sound that could be heard was the clip-clop of the horses. Even though the forest canopy blocked most of the sky, Habren could see that the sun was now high above their heads-midday. She was going to open her mouth to inform the group of this, when she noticed, Arthur and her brother talking softly to one another. They were very close in fact. She was surprised by that-normally horses do NOT like to be in such close quarters to one another. She wanted to know what they were discussing, but when Arthur's green eyes wandered over her group she knew-they were discussing THEM.
She glanced around and noted that Gawain and Galahad were together and Bors and Dagonet too. That surprised her. Not that Gawain and Galahad were so close-they ARE brother's from the same tribe after all, but the Bear and the Horse Tribe weren't friends by any means and yet these two, the Princes of those very tribes, were as close as brothers. She blinked as Tristan floated into her line of sight and from there he seemed to flitter to and fro between the three pairs of friends and brothers. She shook her head and opened her mouth, but Bors beat her to it.
"Arthur! I'm hungry! Let's break for lunch!"
Habren watched as Arthur smiled at Bors' announcement and turned to look at the older Knight. She watched with wide eyes and Arthur chuckled and replied, "I was just waiting for you to tell us you were hungry Bors. You ARE the hungriest of us all, after all."
Habren was shocked to see the large Knight blush slightly as the other Knights laughed at his embarrassment.
She watched as Arthur looked about the group and said strongly, "We'll stop here."
As she dismounted, Atilla marched up to Arthur, got into his face, and demanded, "No! We should push on!"
She watched as Arthur's hand slid to his sword, which she learned was the famed Excalibur, and Lancelot's hands went above his head like he was stretching. But she knew that he was just reading himself for a confrontation-to protect Arthur, as his title demanded of him-nay his heart demanded of him. Reminded a nasty little voice in her head. She chose to ignore that voice though.
Arthur sighed as Atilla's strong body odor overcame his senses. He breathed in quickly and in short bursts from his mouth and replied intensely, "We are stopping here. If you are so eager to travel in the forest, which you know nothing of, go right ahead. I will not stop you. But, you'd best take along a lot of food…the native animals of the forest are carnivores-you know? Especially the Inish…they just LOVE fresh meat FRESH off the bone-RAW."
He smiled slightly as the older man slid away and glanced apprehensively and frightfully over his shoulders into the shadowy forest that surrounded them. Truthfully, they were only in the outer quadrant of the forest, but the forest was very dense, and the Sarmatians couldn't tell the difference either way. They actually only had twenty more minutes of travel through the forest before they reached the plains, but he and Lancelot wanted to torture his and the other Knights' wayward families a bit more, so he had decided to stop here for lunch.
As the Knights gathered all the foodstuffs from their saddlebags, Habren watched Lancelot and Arthur interact with one another. She, also, wasn't surprised when she felt a jolt of deep-seated jealousy roll through her body at the sight of her brother and his friend. Her brother was supposed to be HER protector, HER best friend, and HER caretaker. He had promised to return home, to her, so he could be all those things to her and more and he had lied to her. It just wasn't fair. What does this Arthur have that I do not?
She sighed. It really didn't matter though-at least not to him. She could tell that he was only humoring her. Her ties to Lancelot has long since been stretched to thin on his side for him to care for her any more than an one would care for estranged cousin, and that broke her heart.
As the Knights set out the food, she quickly wiped a lone tear from her cheek and joined her brother and Arthur and asked softly, "May we talk privately? This is important."
Lancelot looked into his sister's eyes deeply. He was stunned to see a few unshed tears in her large brown eyes, but ignored them for a minute. He glanced at Arthur and saw his friend's compassionate side trying to rear its noble head. He nodded and waved her ahead of him. He snorted with suppressed laughter as she gazed at him with a look that clearly said you've got to be kidding me…you go first!
The First Knight led his little sister and king into the forest a few paces from the campsite and asked; "Well, what's this about Habren?"
He watched her as his arms crossed over his chest. He tilted his head to the side to show that he was listening as she started, "First, I must apologize for how Atilla is acting. It is very dishonorable and I am dishonored by his actions. I shall strive to change this dishonor by learning all I can from you and your Knights while we are traveling together."
Lancelot's eyebrows shot straight into his curly hair at those words. His eyes narrowed as he thought that sounds like father's first words of diplomacy. What's she up to?
He continued to listen as she smoothly talked on, "But I'm afraid that I shall not have enough time to erase my dishonor or the dishonor of the Sarmatian tribes while we travel so quickly. I realize that the Wall is close by and I am not attempting to discourage your travel plans, but I will not be able to erase the dishonor in such a short amount of time. Please, allow me and the others to return to Camelot with you and yours so we can learn of your 'blood enlightenment' and erase the dishonor that encompasses our bitter souls."
She took a deep breath and continued, "We need to stay in Camelot and learn of the outside world, your majesty. Our people are slowly dying out because of our archaic beliefs. Our people need to see, to understand, that even though the children, our future, aren't pureblood Sarmatian, they are still worthy of the name and the prestige of being called Sarmatian. Your kingdom, Camelot, is a perfect place for them to learn! Most of your court is comprised of pureblood Sarmatians, halfblooded-Sarmatians, and non-Sarmatians, AND you are all living together in perfect harmony! Your children, both males and females, are able to learn the art of war, and you have found a way to blend the religions together to make everyone happy. We can learn much from you and your kingdom, King Arthur. Please, let us stay and learn from our brother's, let us learn about how to view the outside world around us."
Arthur looked at Lancelot. His First Knight wasn't very impressed by his sister's flowery attempt to persuade them into letting the Sarmatians stay. Neither was he to be honest. There was no way he was going to let men like Atilla and Tor anywhere near the children. He was sympathetic though, and he knew Lancelot was too.
Lancelot wanted to help his little sister and ultimately the tribe and people of his youth, but he wasn't about to place his children in danger just so the people of his past could possibly learn how the rest of the world worked together. He knew that the Sarmatian people were isolated because of where they had settled, but it wasn't impossible for them to branch out and meet other races. The problem was, the Sarmatians have only interacted with the Romans and allies of Rome, and so their overall experiences with other races were poor at the very best.
Arthur sighed, shook his head, and said softly and with sincere sorrow in his husky tone, "I am sorry, but you cannot return to Camelot. Atilla's supporters are too many and I won't risk the children just so your people, MIGHT, learn that those of half-blooded blood are just as good as those of pureblood blood and those of non-Sarmatian blood. I'm sorry."
As the two Knights turned to go back to the campsite, they were surprised to see Miskoc close by. Apparently he was close enough to hear since he said carefully with a clear vow in his tone, "If you let us stay so we can try to enlighten out people by learning from your Utopia, I vow on my blood to punish Atilla and any others for any dishonor they commit against you and yours."
The King of Briton and his First Knight were shocked to see that the old friend of Dagonet had sliced open his palm as he made his vow. Both men knew that by binding his oath in blood, he'd have no choice but to uphold his vow and were stunned. Miskoc would have to mettle out equal justice. If Atilla killed one of the children, one of Atilla's supporters, nay Atilla, himself, would die in retribution.
The other Knights were just as shocked. They had been keeping an eye on both their leaders, by habit mostly, and had gasped at the old Sarmatian's actions. The Knights of the Round Table glanced at one another in confusion as the group of four rejoined the main group. As Arthur turned slightly shocked eyes to Dagonet's friend he asked softly, "And what is the punishment for a high dishonor? As I'm sure that those are the ones that will be made if you are allowed to stay in Camelot?"
Ilona, who had been keeping close to her older brother all day so she could learn more about her sister-n-law, nephew, and niece, stepped up and made a few hand signs. Her right hand made to encircle an imaginary group of people, that same hand and hand shape (pointer finger) moved down to swipe at her left arm's elbow, and then both hands left and right, went up and down-palm down to palm up (left) and palm up to palm down (right). All the people that had been eating close by, so they could hear and follow the conversation, knew that she had signed The Sarmatian punishment is death. (NOTE these are REAL ASL signs!)
Before Arthur or Lancelot could refute the punishment that would be nettled out on their behalf, Dagonet and Bors entered the conversation from where they were seated, on large logs on the opposite side of the ring, and Bors exclaimed loudly and happily, "What for? The Inish have Atilla and Tor and tha' Pappy fellow, marked for death anyways! Why should we bother bringin' them back to Camelot?"
His very loud statement was followed by an unnerving stretch of silence. The Knights and Habren and Ilona glanced all around them and found that all the Sarmatians had heard Bors' exclamation of promised death and were looking about the forest clearing.
Their fear was palatable in the misty air and all the Knights smiled smugly to one another-their plan was working! Now all, Merlin, Merkin, and Duncan's men had to do was follow through with the scare and then their prank would be complete! It was too bad though that they wouldn't be in the forest when dusk fell and the Inish were supposed to come out and play though. They'd be camping near the edge of Bala Lake. Fortunately for the Knights and unfortunately for the visiting Sarmatians, the natural mists that rise at dusk will obscure the Sarmatians vision and Pappy, Tor, and Atilla will befall the powers of the Inish.
As the group ate in silence, Habren noticed that the same three groups from before made yet another appearance in the circle. She tilted her head and asked, "Why do you all group together in pairs and his Lordship Tristran sits alone? I noticed this earlier today, too."
Gawain looked at Lancelot's sister and saw that she was sincerely curious and answered back with an open smile, "When we were first conscripted to Rome's outlaying post, Briton, we arrived not knowing anything about this land. Our father's stories did not give the land justice and we found ourselves out of our element, as it were. In an effort to survive, we paired up. Since there were only fifty of us, and we had a LONG fifteen years ahead of us, we decided that in order to survive on this land, we needed to make as many friends as we possibly could. So, the tribal boundaries that had separated us on our journey to Briton melted away and we befriended those not of our tribe in the spirit of self-preservation. In the end, the friendships made in truce, became everything the word friendship truthfully means."
He watched as his little sister, Agrimpasa, cast Lancelot a coy look once again mixed with a look full of confusion as she asked, "Then how did you, Lancelot, manage to gain the friendship of a Roman, never mind the trust of your commanding officer? You were already paired off with another Sarmatian, right?"
Gawain watched as Lancelot opened his mouth to reply when his sister butted in once again with mock horror as her hands lightly slapped against her cheeks, "Don't tell me you let an innocent Sarmatian die just so you could earn the Roman's friendship?"
Gawain's face reddened in anger for his friend as he lunged to his feet and yelled into her face, "Shut your mouth you…snake-faced little barbarian whore!"
The entire group, Sarmatian and Briton both, froze as the words flew from the normally calm, easy-going, Knight's mouth.
Gawain's face reddened once again, only this time in embarrassment, as he added proudly, "Lancelot's partner, Yvain, died that very first year."
Galahad snorted, nodded, and added in a fake superior tone, "He thought that he could handle scouting the forests beyond the wall without Lancelot and with little in the way of armor or weapons, so he traveled light. He didn't have a chance. The Woads that had lived there were bloodthirsty and quickly over powered Yvain with their battle tactics. Where Romans fight up front and face-to-face, the Woads, at the time, fought using guerilla warfare. They hid in the woods and established traps all around the Wall's path through the forest. Yvain was caught long before we even left the wall to follow him. Luckily for us, Tristran wasn't like Yvain, and we found his dead body easily and avoided all the traps."
Lancelot glared at Agrimpasa and ended, "Arthur gained my trust that very first day. How he did that you don't need to know-just know that he did. Since I had saved us all from another fifty years of servitude (referenced to The Sun and Moon of House Lyon-chapter 3 or 4 I think), the other Knights seemed to want to follow my lead. I became lieutenant. With that rank came the responsibilities of lieutenant too. That meant that Arthur and I had to work in close quarters with one another for a long time. It was just easier to become best friends and brothers then too be constantly at each others necks and second guessing each other-which worked. Luckily for us we did work together because our teamwork has saved our arses many times."
Habren listened to the fight with wide eyes and open ears. It seemed like life had forced these rag-tagged bunches of princes to work together or die. With that in mind, she finally understood how the bonds of brotherhood between her brother and Arthur worked. She finally understood why her bond was overpowered by Arthur and Lancelot's bond to one another. It was simple-they just HAD too. If they hadn't, they would have died a long time ago, and probably would be cold and buried in the plains of Badon Hill with all the other Knights of Sarmatia that had lost their lives to the cold and unforgiving lands of the once Roman controlled territory.
Pappy, who was silently eating his share of hard travel bread, raw carrots, potatoes, and a jug of Briton mead, shivered as his eyes tried to pierce the dense, shadowy forest. He had been doing this all morning and was so nervous he had drunk all of his mead. He was parched, but refused to ask for more or ask for water. He felt jilted by Lancelot. He had waited for more than twenty years to wed his friend's sister, Habren, but he was refused on the grounds that he had been Lancelot's choice and Lancelot wasn't there to establish his power and control of the Lion Tribe, so Melean had been chose by Queen Ama to wed her eldest daughter. He was so angry. He has loved Habren for longer than he could remember, and had waited patiently for his chance to wed, Habren. When Lancelot refused to come home, Lancelot had ruined his chances of happiness.
He glanced once again into the dark, misty forest and shifted a bit closer to the circular pit in the center of the group. It wasn't that he was afraid of the beings in the forest, he'd just like to make it all the more harder for them to catch him-yeah right! I'm scared shtless of them!
He cleared his throat and asked, "How much longer until we're out of this forest?"
He clenched his jaw together as Lancelot smirked at him and answered, "We have about half and hour to an hour, why? You aren't scared, are you?"
"No…" he grounded out as he added, "I just wanted to know how much longer we had until we'd be free of the nasty ghosts. Since ghosts are bound to something, the forest, the faster we'd be away from them so they can't harm us."
He nearly bit his entire bottom lip off in rage as Lancelot and the other Knights laughed at his words. He felt the fear that had been stewing uncontrollably in his gut; threaten to move up his throat as Lancelot said eerily and the winds began to blow harshly across the group of Sarmatians, "The Inish aren't just bound to one place, my Sarmatian friend. They are free to wander the lands of Britannia as she is their mother and she loves to see them wander across her emerald lands having fun and playing with those who aren't welcome on her lands."
Pappy gulped and scooted away from his old friend, as Lancelot's brown eyes seemed to gain a strange gleam in them as he said those words and the sun started its waning path. It was like Lancelot had conjured the winds with Britannia's love. That was when he knew; Lancelot was not a Son of Sarmatia anymore, but a Child of Briton.
