A/N: Why howdy do there. Here's chapter 8. Hope it's better than the last one and is a little more interesting. Yes Kalyna had a temper tantrum. I apologise on her behalf, however I am 100% sure she regrets it more than me...(that'll teach her for running off with my story! :P) ;)
Thankyou very much to my three followers - you know who you are :) And also - to anybody who actually reads this fanfiction. PLEASE review! You will truly make my day :) and I do love constructive criticism because it helps me with my blind spots! (and there are a few of those) XD
So read on...and hopefully...enjoy! :)
(Translations at the bottom - As per usual ;))
VIII.
Three hours after leaving Caer-Legions it had started to rain. An hour later it continued to rain. Pour more like itKalyna thought sullenly as she shifted uncomfortably in her saddle. Her cloak was not doing a particularly good job of keeping the rain off her and had soaked through.
Kalyna sighed when she thought about how she'd just run out on everyone and regretted it. She realised she'd acted like a spoiled child having a temper tantrum. But everything had just happened so quickly, she just couldn't process it all. She had felt so trapped in Caer-Legions and needed time to clear her head. The way she had decided to go about 'clearing her head' she realised had been ridiculous. All those people who had been so nice to her did not deserve the treatment she had given them.
Kalyna knew she had overreacted. Run away from a trivial problem rather than face it. Anichka would have been ashamed of her. It was not the Sarmatian way to run out on a fight. That was pure cowardice and she had disgraced her ancestors memory. It was embarrassing, and her face burned with the realisation that she was going to have to turn around, apologise, and explain herself.
Fed up with being wet, Kalyna urged her mare off the road and into the trees, looking for a place that was dry enough to take some form of shelter from the storm. A large tree with a massive root system loomed in front of her and Kalyna could not believe her luck when she dismounted in front it.
When she touched the bark of the massive roots which had risen from the ground, she could practically feel the life thrumming through the veins of the tree. She untacked her horse and stowed the saddle and bags behind her, under another root. Kalyna tossed off her sopping cloak and quickly grabbed a change of clothes from the saddlebags. Thinking about how immensely glad that at least her bags were waterproof while she changed. Mostly dry and sheltered from the wind, she curled up thankfully under the roots of the great tree and let the steady beat of rain on leaves lull her to sleep.
• • •
The caravan passed through the valley, making its way slowly over the pot holes of the unkempt road. She could still recognise it, even 11 years later. Her home.
Anichka looked over at her with concern. ' Kalyna, Ty v poryadku?'
She nodded, staring at the mound ahead of them, the place where her house had once stood 'YA dobre maty' she whispered. In her mind she heard once again the steady beat of drums from long ago.
Thump...Thumpthump...Thump...Thumpthump
Kalyna woke with a start, almost hitting her head on the root above her in her panic. The drums were getting louder. They were no dream.
Kalyna scrambled to her feet, gathering her bags and saddle, throwing them over the horses rump behind the saddle. Her skin prickled. The drums had stopped. WHUMP. The arrow barely missed her face and embedded itself in her saddle. The horse reared in fright and bolted, her hands getting caught in the stirrup and releasing, sending her flying to the ground face first.
Groggily, Kalyna lifted her face from the ground and spat out dirt, her head spinning. As soon as she tried to get up she felt something sharp press against the back of her neck and she froze as a voice spoke out in a deep guttural voice.
'Don't move wench' it snarled, 'Or you will be dead before you can blink an eye.'
Cursing to herself Kalyna realised her bow, sword and most of her knives were in one of the saddlebags on the back of the horse. She could feel a thin line of blood trickle down her neck where the man pressed the blade and tore the skin.
Suddenly, she could feel the presence of more around her, but didn't dare look up. The people started talking in a language she was unfamiliar with. Woadsshe thought bitterly. Although when Arthur and Guinevere had married, a truce had been drawn up between the Brittons and the natives, Kalyna knew that there were several tribes scattered across the island that still held grudges against the people they saw as trespassers on their land. As the numbers of these tribes decreased, their resentment increased. And she knew all too well that an enemy bent on revenge and full of hate was a dangerous one.
'Up! Get up!' the man above her growled, his accent thick as he pressed the blade to her harder 'Move now!'
Kalyna gnashed her teeth in frustration. There was still some chance she could escape if she could just reach the small dagger she held in her boot, and distract the Woads. Climbing stiffly to her feet, Kalyna swore to herself that if she got out of this mess, she would never again walk around without weapons.
'Move!' came the command as soon as she stood, a large hand shoving her forward with such force that her neck cracked painfully.
Furious and heedless of the consequences, Kalyna turned on her tormentor with an unearthly shriek, just catching sight of a beard and black scraggily hair before she was backhanded across the face with such force that she crumpled to the ground. In all the beatings she had received, Kalyna had NEVER felt such power behind a blow. She struggled to stand, wanting to show the beast before her that she was not cowed by him, and the world spun for a moment, before stilling.
The sight she was met with was not a pleasant one. Six other Woad men stood behind the one that had struck her. The Woads glared at her with such hatred that Kalyna automatically took a step back. The look in the eyes of the one she presumed was the leader was murderous. He said something to the other men and suddenly two of them lunged at her with a leer. Ducking and pivoting, she eluded their grasp just to be struck down by a third.
Two of them grabbed her by either arm while the large nasty one sauntered towards her, taking her jaw in his filthy fingers, turning her face this way and that. Kalyna knew what he was doing, and spat in his face angrily 'Ne chipayte mene vy brudna svynya! I will kill you if you touch me'
The Woad wiped the spit from his eye slowly, baring her a menacing grin with no humor in it. 'You will pay for that whore, I will enjoy this' he snarled, ' and I will not be the one dead at the end of it. But first I will have a little fun with you. We all will.'
The men around him snickered at that, and more of them grabbed her. It was then that Kalyna really started to fight, kicking and clawing at her aggressors. She did not care if they killed her, just so long as none of them got their dirty hands on her first. The two holding at her arms grabbed her shirt sleeves, and a tearing sound reverberated throughout the clearing as the hems ripped and she was half exposed.
Suddenly, for some reason, one of the men backed off, all but shouting at the others in his language. Whatever he was saying stopped the other Woad's in their tracks, al of them turning their eyes to Kalyna's right arm. They were looking at her tattoo.
The lead one went around and grabbed her arm, gripping it so tightly that his meaty fingers left immediate bruises. He looked at her tattoo, and then her face, then back at her tattoo. Growling out an order to his men, the man dragged Kalyna over to a tree.
He gave her an evil grin as she tried to hold the threads of her shirt together, before grabbing the sleeve of her shirt and tearing off a piece, binding her hands together with the strip of fabric. And then much to Kalyna's surprise the Woad shoved her again and told her to get moving, this time off further into the woods.
The way the others kept talking in low voices to each other and casting furtive glances at her made Kalyna feel even more apprehensive as she walked further and further away.
• • •
They had been walking for several hours, and Kalyna had begun to have the sneaking suspicion that the Woads were leading her in circles, trying to tire her out. Suddenly they stopped, and Kalyna noticed for the first time, in the increasing shadow of the forest bark huts that all but blended with the trees.
The Woad men dragged her into the tiny encampment, towards the largest hut. She noticed as she passed the small number of women and children, only one to every eight men. There were a lot of men. She saw them appear out of the darkness as she passed, their eyes cold and calculating turning to wild as she passed and they saw her tattoo. Kalyna was terrified but she would not show it. She walked as tall and as proudly as she could with her clothes all but ripped to shreds.
The men stopped in front of the hut and tossed her to the ground in front of the opening flap. Quickly, Kalyna stood back on her feet, staring as the hut covering opened and a man came out.
He was small and mangy, and his beard and hair were matted and long. Kalyna automatically shrunk back from this man. He did not look physically intimidating, but she could feel the power that was emanating from him, and his eyes...His eyes were wild and feral, half crazed as they looked at her, and for the second time in two days, Kalyna was very, very afraid.
• • •
It had been three days since Kalyna had disappeared from Caer-Legions and Galahad was beginning to worry. He could not quite understand why she had decided to leave in the first place. Had it been something he had said? It couldn't have been because of Lancelot, everyone knew he never knew when to keep his mouth shut.
Arthur had decided upon his return, not to allow the knights to seek out Kalyna and return her, saying something about 'leaving her alone to give her time'. And so they had not followed her.
Gawain and Galahad had decided go on a hunt late the night before, and so, early the next morning, they saddled their horses and rode out to the forest. Everything was going well, they had just sighted a deer, readied themselves for the kill and were just about to make their move when the Stag;s head went up, hearing something, and bounded off.
She stumbled out in front of them after that. He had hardly recognised her. She was covered in blood, bruises and dirt, staggering around before collapsing on the ground as if dead. Kalyna.
Kalyna, dochka, Ty v poryadku?: Kalyna, daughter, you ok?
YA dobre maty: I am good mother
Ne chipayte mene vy brudna svynya!: Do not touch me you dirty pig!
FUN FACT: the tree Kalyna shelters under is a Western Redwood Cedar - they are GORGEOUS trees! :)
