Chapter 13: Cruel to Be Kind

Taira stopped to a halt as her companion's words hit her, "am I that… simple to read?" she asked, studying his face. There was a dreary sigh to her voice as if she already knew the answer to her own question herself.

"You've been silent ever since Sir Percival mentioned it" He responded with a slow nod as he saw the hidden fear within her eyes, "It says much about what you're feeling…"

She sighed heavily and looked away, shaking her head as she did. "I don't know what to do…" she was at a loss as she began to walk onwards again, "I know nothing of this prophecy except for what Percival told us…" she stopped walking as trails of thoughts came to her mind, speaking them aloud. "so does that make every move I've ever made governed by this speaking? Or is now every move I make is influenced by it?" she shook her head in despair, confused by her own philosophical speaking.

Sabre nodded as he listened to her thoughts, trying to understand what she was saying, "Yes… I know what you mean. It does fear me what role any one of us play in this" he scratched his chin as his own thoughts began to circle within his mind, he drew a deep breath and looked ahead to plains of Avalon. "But if all is fated, there isn't exactly much that can be done. All we can do is keep going… hope this mess can be stopped."

Taira couldn't help but agree with what he was saying and set of again along their chosen path as it wined down the slopping mountain passage. The rocky underfoot would begin to turn into soft grass as they finally edged their way into the short grassed meadows and out into the plains itself. She scanned the area, looking around. All she could see was green fields… and more fields… the sky its deathly purple hung overhead but otherwise the area wasn't affected by the dark plague which seemed to have consumed the rest of the kingdom. Seeing enough, Taira finally spoke up, "what do we do from here on out…?" the same dreary sigh could still be heard in her voice.

Sabre picked up on this again and rolled his eyes subtly underneath his cloaked hood, "Are you truly that fearful that everything you do is controlled?" "I don't know any other Sabre!" the response was quick and sharp. Taira seemed a little startled at her own outburst, "y-you forget I'm a Princess, as independent as I may appear, the majority of my life has been controlled for me!"

"That is not my point Princess…" he spoke, his voice trailing of with a sinister tone as he brandished his whip. Manipulating the large jewelled end, it coiled around the new shining hilt of the sword that hung at Taira's waist. Binding it tightly, he gave a swift flick of his wrist, drawing the blade easily from its sheath and caught it in his free hand. Taira turned suddenly as her sword was taken from her. A gasp escaping her mouth as she watched as Sabre now held the sharp blade edge to his own throat. The cold touch of metal brushing against his own bare skin. "what are you doing?" she asked dumbfounded at his gesture

"What are you going to do Princess?" his tone questioned as the blade stayed pressed to his neck, "What if I feel like throwing it all away? What are you going to do?" The blade pressed closer, nicking at the soft hairs on his neck.

She shook her head frantically, at a loss to what his demonstration was trying to prove, "You fool! Are you just going to throw this all away? Everything you've worked so hard to protect?" she took a step towards him, holding her hands up to try and take hold of the hilt to pull the sword away, "throw the only person away who truly trusts you!"

An eerie smile crept onto his face, "then why don't you just try and stop me? After all… What can YOU do if this is supposedly just part of the 'Grand Plan'?" He jumped away from her, as he did his whip hand flicked sharply. The long whip coiled and lashed at Taira's feet making her jump with a cry. There was now a distance between the two… Taira watched Sabre closely as he kept the blade rested against his neck. Slowly she took another step forward, despite his look on everything she had grown quite attached to his company and didn't want a life disposed of so foolishly. "don't… don't do this Sabre…." she kept edging her way slowly towards him to decrease the distance between them. As she got closer she suddenly charged at him to make a move to swipe the sword! "don't do this!"

Sabre watched as she took a charge, staying still before simply sidestepping out her way and watched her go past. As he did, he threw the sword to the ground, meeting her gaze as she skidded to a stop and turned to look at him. Both stood for a moment silently… taking in the look in one another's eyes at what had just happened. Sabre nodded and picked the sword up, "There's your proof…" he spoke as he slowly walked towards her, taking her hand and handing her the sword back, "You say each and everything you do is controlled by this 'prophecy'… yet you go out of your way to stop me taking my own life in potentially the most unexpected turn of this quest…" he nodded, meeting her gaze again, "Explain that Princess…"

Taira broke their gaze momentarily and glanced down at her sword. Taking a deep breath as she searched her mind for an answer, she returned the sword back to its scabbard, "y-yeah well… what you did was unexpected… and well… I doubt this prophecy has every little detail in context… yeah…" she finally looked up to meet his gaze again.

"Precisely! All I'm saying is that you have the power to make your own decisions and not be forced to succumb to the will of something that may not even affect you…" he looked at her for a moment, his gaze beginning to soften, "come on, let's stop this nonsense now and carry on"

Taira could feel herself do nothing but sigh as she agreed with him, the two putting the drama with the sword behind them and carried on walking through the grassy plains. 'He's right…. To an extent I guess…' she thought to herself, occasionally glancing to Sabre but hurriedly looked away as he looked back. She hardly wanted to admit her thoughts to him though, from previous experiences she knew there would be gloating. Sabre saw her look but didn't question it, instead he carried on walking, looking at the scenery again. "The land is certainly… beautiful…" he remarked, trying to start up a lighter conversation then previous, "Even more so if the sky wasn't a horrendous shade…" he looked to her to get her attention, "we need to come back here once the skies recover"

"w-we do?" she asked, a little in shock. Not at the prospect of returning, but the fact he had said 'we' implying the both of them. Since meeting the man, she was always under the impression he had wanted nothing to do with the crown or those outside his home. That once they had stopped what was happening they would leave their separate ways. So the idea of retuning back to this place with him had taken her back. She looked to him with a puzzled frown on her face.

He carried on looking around at the scenery and not her as he replied, "I do have a bit of a passion for the earth's natural beauty. I'm sure your time in my home would be enough to tell you that. And I saw your admiration for the reefs I have helped to grow."

A smile dawned on her face as she thought back to the oasis and the reefs she had briefly seen when her head as ducked under the water, "they were beautiful indeed…" she laughed softly as the reefs reminded her of home, "you must come visit my family's garden.. That's if the chance ever arises.. My Grandmother called it her 'treasure'. If it's not destroyed.. Well I'm sure you'd like it."

It was Sabre's turn to chuckle now as a smirk dawned on his face, "I think you're starting to know me too well!" she joined in with his laughter and nudged him playfully in the side with her elbow, "well guess I'm not the only one who's simple to read! Underneath that big cloak of yours your quite the softy, aren't ya?" He shook his head, still laughing at her comment. Seeing the two were alone now and had been for sometime, he pulled back his hooded robe to revel his dark face. Sabre looked at her properly now, smiling down into her amber coloured eyes.

She smiled back, looking into his dark eyes, before nudging him again sharply, "heh first time I've seen you smile properly!" she laughed teasingly, walking of ahead, "kinda creepy if you ask me"

"I'll stop smiling then if that will make you less scared" he joked back following after her, rubbing his side where he had been nudged. "meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?" she asked, looking over her should back at him, "ha! Scared of you? Never!" she smirked. Sabre shook his head, catching her up to walk by her side. He laughed to himself again, seeing she had finally lightened up from the earlier drama.

"so….." Sabre finally whistled as the two had calmed themselves down, "Did Percival say how far we needed to go?" Taira drew a sigh as she recovered from her laughing and thought back to what the old knight had told them, eventually shaking her head with loss, "she didn't say where we were to go…" she scratched her chin in thought, "except there were some ruins where she believed the 'Once Great Gawain' to be…"

"But this place is huge!" Sabre protested, "It'll be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!"

"I know… I know.." he was right, there was nothing for miles around which stuck out, only reams and reams of gassy meadows…. The purple sky still overhead blocking out anything in the sky which have guided them… "We'll just have to keep walking I guess…"