Disclaimer: See first chapter.
The group of warriors followed the guide for about a half hour until he stopped. Ahead of them was a small forest. The guide looked back at the Knights then at Arthur.
"This is as far as I dare go." He said, his voice laced with the fear of death.
"You need not go any further then." Arthur replied to the guide.
The guide nodded and continued on with some information. "The Woads have set up a camp about 600 feet from the tree line. I know not how many there are. May the Gods be with you." he finished.
"And you as well." Arthur replied. The guide then turned his horse and rode passed the Knights back towards his village.
Arthur turned in his saddle and looked back at his Knights. "Knights" he said getting their attention. "The Woads may have seen us coming, so be prepared for an attack at any time." he finished, then turned back towards the woods. He drew his sword, Excalibur, and moved his horse forward.
Lancelot leaned in his saddle towards Caley. "I will try my best to stay close, as Arthur commanded. If we're separated try not to stray away from the others." he said as he drew one of his swords from the sheaths on his back. He looked over at her again, "Do not worry. You will be fine." he added as an afterthought.
Caley nodded at him and drew her own sword and held it tightly in her hand. She was scared. This was her first battle and could think of a little of what to expect, but that was in her imagination and she knew that reality would be much worse. She knew she was a good fighter, but never had she practiced too kill, where her life was on the line as well as others. She hoped she could do what was needed when the time came.
She turned and looked back at Tristan, who already had his sword in hand, and was resting it on his knee. He looked up at her and offered her a small smile.
'Good.' he thought to himself. "She keeps her fear and anxiousness off her face and keeps it in her eyes. A very good battle tactic. She smiled back to him slightly and he gave the tiniest nod, promising that he would try and stay close to her. She nodded back to him, understandably.
The group covered the rest of the ground that lead up to the tree line rather quickly. When they entered the forest they were completely silent. The only sound that could be heard was that of the horses hooves hitting the ground.
Caley scanned the trees looking for movement, but saw nothing. The forest was as still as could be. There were no animals running about or making noise. It was like the calm before the storm. She glanced to her left over at Lancelot who's features showed great concentration as he scanned the woods. Caley felt herself starting to shake and looked down at her hands that were trembling. Her heart was racing in her chest and she could hear it's beats in her ears. She was absolutely frightened.
In that instant, an arrow flew inches in front of Caley's face and imbedded itself into a tree beside Lancelot. She froze as she heard Tristan call out, "Woads!".
Caley managed to look in the direction that the arrow had come from and saw blue painted men wearing scraps of leather come running through the trees at them. Then heard them coming from the other side. They had become surrounded by Woads. She focused on those that were coming from her right and prepared for the fight that would ensue.
When the men got close to her they started throwing swings at her with their weapons. She parried and blocked every one and avoided the killing blows. Agama was turning around frantically showing her fright, and Caley tried her best to calm her with soothing words her language while trying to make sure that she wasn't going to get killed.
As best as her efforts were, Agama reared up from fright and Caley fell from her horse's back and landed hard on the ground. She was dazed for a couple of seconds and looked up as she saw a blade coming down straight for her. She rolled to her left narrowly missing it. That was when she realized her sword was not in her hand, having dropped it when she hit the ground. She quickly reached around to her back and pulled out the dagger Tristan had given her. The Woad swung again at her and she rolled again to avoid the attack.
Seeing that angered the Woad so he leaped on top of her and grabbed the front of her armor raising his sword ready to kill her. Caley looked up at the man's blue painted face and raised her hand that held the dagger and plunged it in the man's neck. His eyes became wide for a instant and his blood poured from the fatal wound that she delivered him, as his body went limp.
Caley still held him up slightly as the blood ran down her arms and onto her chest. She could feel that some of it had sprayed on her face. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the man's lifeless eyes as they stared at her. She had become paralyzed from the act of killing another human. She couldn't move or think. Just lay their and stare.
She suddenly felt the weight of the man lift off of her and there stood Lancelot looking down at her. He reached down and grabbed her arm hauling her up to her feet. He quickly pushed her sword that had fallen into her empty hand.
"Keep fighting Caley." he told her over the noise of the on going battle."You killed one, you can do it again." he then took on a Woad that had come up behind them and quickly decapitated him.
She stared at him wide-eyed. That was a side of Lancelot that she had never seen. She glanced around and saw the other Knight's fighting, all covered in blood that was not their own. Her eyes landed on Tristan and she saw him run his sword through a man's stomach and then let his body fall unceremoniously to the ground. He glanced up at her and she saw the blood that was on his face. He looked feral and wild. Blood lust evident in his eyes. She stared at him wide-eyed. That couldn't be the same Tristan that she had fallen in love with. He had turned into a killer.
'But I'm one now as well.' she thought to herself as she looked at Tristan.
His face suddenly changed. His eyes got wide and their was evidence of fear that spread acrossed his face. She saw it and realized she heard someone rushing up behind her. She quickly turned around and barely managed to block the sword that was coming down at her. She continued to block the Woad's attacks, but he had managed to graze his sword across her left forearm leaving a bleeding gash. Caley had cried out in pain at first, but then anger flooded through her and she slashed her sword across his chest and watched him fall to the ground dead.
She took on the all the attacker's that came her way. She let herself go and just kept moving to avoid being hit and delivering death to her enemies. The noise of the battle soon started to die down and Caley scanned the battlefield to see that the other Knights were still standing and Dagonet was cutting down the last Woad. She looked down at the bloodied bodies that lay around her feet and then at her hands that were covered in the blood of numerous Woads and her own.
The battle replayed in her mind and she saw the face of every man that she had killed. Their lifeless eyes looking up at her sent chills down her spine. She couldn't get over the feeling of taking another person's life. It felt so wrong, but she had to do it to survive. Her hands were still shaking from the adrenaline or fear she did not know. She let out a gasp and nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Caley?" she heard Arthur's gently tone ask.
She looked up at his face, that had some sprayed blood on it. His eyes held concern, the complete opposite of what she was sure that they showed moments ago. She just stared at him not knowing what to say.
"Are you wounded?" Arthur asked her. She shook her head no, very slowly. Arthur smiled at her. "You did well my Lady Knight."
She just continued to look at him, then felt herself become light headed and everything became black.
Arthur caught Caley in hisarms as she fainted, and gently lowered her to the ground. "Dagonet!" Arthur called for his healer.
At hearing Arthur's yell all the Knights looked to see Arthur kneeling on the ground next to Caley with Dagonet sprinting over.
Tristan felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach when he saw Caley laying on the ground. He quickly took off running over to his Commander, and the love of his life. When he reached them, along with the other Knights, Dagonet looked up at them.
"She will be fine." he said in his gentle voice. "She just has a small wound on her forearm. She must have passed out due to the shock of what she just went through."
Tristan felt a weight lift off of him when he said this. 'Don't always fear the worst immediately, Tristan.' he thought to himself.
"Your first kill is never easy." Gawain said as he looked down at Caley.
"We should get her back to the village. We'll leave tomorrow after she has had some rest." Arthur commanded looking at his Knights.
They rounded up their horses and Gawain helped lift Caley up onto Dagonet's horse so she was seated in front of them, much to Tristan's distaste. He rather of had her on his horse, but did not speak up. So he took it upon himself to lead her horse back to the village with him.
Caley had horrible nightmares of the battle she had just went through. The face's of the men she killed danced around in her head. Their screams and moan's of pain echoed in her ear's. She saw a Woad charging her and she was about to block when she felt pain shoot through her stomach.
Caley snapped open her eyes with a gasp and looked around frantically. She was breathing heavy and her hands were shaking.
"Caley?" she heard a voice from her right and she snapped her head to look at who had spoken. Gawain sat there with a concerned look on his face and sporting a shallow cut along his forehead.
That was when she realized that she was in a room, the same one she had stayed in when they were at the inn. She was laying in a bed covered up with a light blanket. The blood she had remembered that had been all over was now gone.
She looked back over at Gawain who was sitting in a wooden chair next to her bed. "Where are we?" she asked him quietly.
He smiled at her. "We're still at the village." he told her gently and then continued. "After the battle you fainted and Arthur wanted you to rest before we continued back to the Wall."
She nodded her head gently and then felt a throbbing that was coming from her left forearm. She looked down at her arm and saw a white bandage wrapped around the length of forearm with a few red spots of blood where she knew she had been cut.
"You got yourself a nice little cut. Dagonet cleaned and stitched it up for you. He said that it would heal fine, but may leave a scar." Gawain explained to her.
She looked over at him with a smile and glanced out the window and saw that it was dark. "Gawain, how long have I been out?" she asked quietly.
He thought for a minute before replying. "A while. Since about mid-day. We've all been taking turns sitting in here with you so when you woke up you wouldn't panic. Oh before I forget." he stood up and walked over to the window sill and picked something up. When he came back to his chair he handed the object to Caley. It was a bright green apple. "Tristan left that for you. Said you should eat something when you woke up."
"How is he? And the others?" She asked with concern laced in her voice that Gawain picked up on.
Gawain smiled. "They are all well. Just some scratches and bruises which we've been accustomed too these past few years." he told her and then paused as she took a bite out of her apple and let a smile grace her features. "Tristan actually left a few hours ago. He offered to stay with you throughout the entire night, but Arthur ordered him to get some rest. We can't have a tired scout looking out for us tomorrow."
Caley let the smile stay on her face as she imagined stubborn Tristan trying to fight Arthur in staying with her the whole night. She looked back over to Gawain. "No we can't have that now can we?" she said to him quietly. "If you want you can go to your room and rest. I should be ok for the rest of the night."
Gawain looked at her with concern on his face. "Are you sure? I can stay if you want." he offered, but she shook her head no. "All right. I could use the rest anyway." he stood up from his chair and made for the door, but stopped and looked at her. "Arthur wants to leave in the morning. We're going to meet in the tavern for breakfast and then leave. We'll come by and wake you up if you're still asleep for breakfast, ok?"
She nodded her head at him. "Thank you Gawain. Have a good night." she said to him.
"And you as well." Gawain said before leaving her in the room.
She sighed and looked at the apple in her hand. She finished it and then got comfortable in her bed once more. She rolled onto her side desperately wishing that Tristan was with her at the moment. She would have went down to his room and woken him up, but she loathed to disturb him and Jols in the early hours of the morning.
She sighed once more and closed her eyes. Figuring she should get some more sleep and hoping that the nightmares would go away.