The Plan Part V: Revenge

When dark came again it was time for Keena to go ahead with her plan. She covered her body in mud to hide herself and left her horse at her little camp. She came up over the hill and slowly snuck her way down moving from tree to tree and rock to rock careful not to be seen. Luckily for her most of the guards were drunk and passed out. She was able to sneak into the camp by staying in the shadows behind the huts. She already knew which hut the bishop was staying in from watching them for the past day or so. She found a passed out guard, a young one who wasn't very big, and drug him into the shadows so that she could steal his armor and his weapons. She put his armor on to disguise herself and took his sword then entered the bishop's hut taking the guard with her.

She walked to the bed seeing the sleeping bishop and thinking of her cousin put the dagger just above his throat. Without even a second thought she pressed her hand over his nose and mouth to keep him from screaming and slit his throat. The blood splashed onto the armor like she wanted. Before he died she leaned down and whispered in his ear.

"That's for my cousin, and my people, may your god send you to hell."

Then she turned around and walked to the guard laying on the floor and put his armor back on him, put the dagger next to him. She took his sword and plunged it through his side where his armor was weak and put his hand on the handle to make it look like suicide. She snuck out of the hut again and ran back to her camp to get her horse and rode away. She had to get as far away by morning as possible.

When morning came she was still riding but she was exhausted and felt horrible. She pushed herself to get home as soon as possible, or at least tried to, but by midday her horse decided to stop. She didn't try to make him keep going; she set up camp in the trees and took a nap.

That day a messenger rode to Arthur at the wall.

"I have come to tell you that your assistance with the bishop is no longer needed, the bishop's been slain."

Arthur looked around at all the knights who seemed to not really care, they didn't say anything. "When?"

"Last night. It seems one of his own guards slit his throat then took his own life."

"Thank you." He said after a pause, and the boy left. He sat back down looking at the men. "Anyone else get the feeling that something is wrong with that story?"

"It's possible." Galahad said.

"Possible yes, probable, no. Why would a mere Roman guard kill a bishop?"

"You think someone set it up?" Galahad asked.

"I'm not sure."

Tristan sat there remembering the dream he had while in the cave behind the waterfall, and what she had told him, 'I had to do it.' He started to think maybe that's what she meant; she had to kill the bishop even though she was supposed to help them keep him alive somehow. But if she was able to make it look like a Roman rather than the woads, she still did her job, kept them out of trouble as well as her own people.

Keena didn't make it back until late that night, she slept most of the way leaning down on her horse, he knew the way home and he got her there through the rain. It wasn't a storm, just rain, but she was already ill and it didn't help no matter how hard it was.

"Oh my god, Niallan." She said looking out the window seeing her daughter passed out on her horse.

"What?" He asked walking over, he looked outside. "Keena ." he ran outside and took her off her horse and carried her inside.

"What happened?" she asked her husband following him to Keena's room where he laid her down on her bed.

"I don't know any more than you do."

"I find that hard to believe."

He sighed and stood facing her then leaned in to whisper in her ear, "she went after the bishop."

"What? By herself?"

"She had to, she knew what she was doing."

"What did she do?" Brienna asked walking in. "She killed the bishop didn't she?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Everyone's talking about, all day I've heard the bishop's dead, but the Romans believe it to be triage. I know my sister, she did it to save the knights the trouble and to save our people."

"She did it because he kidnapped your cousin."

"I should've known, Guinevere would have been here to see us."

"I knew she was gone, but I didn't know – "

"It's alright. Keena succeeded in her plan. When she's well again the two of you can return to the wall with no worries."

They each took care of her, she had a high fever, and was worse than she was when she left. She drifted in and out of sleep every few hours, her mother would give her some water and something to eat. But Keena wasn't planning on staying much longer. Brienna was alright now, and her job was done, she had no reason to stay. And she made it known to them.

"You're insane if you think your mother is going to let you leave again before you're well."

"I have no reason to stay, Brienna is well, and my job is done."

"You're just in a hurry to see him again."

"Of course, I'm sure he's worried about me and Galahad's probably worried about her."

"They can wait a couple more days."

"With the bishop out of the way, in a couple more days they could be on another mission. I need to see him before then."

"Do you want to die?"

"I'll be fine once I get there, they have healers and Tristan will take care of me. He's a good man father, he won't let anything happen to me."

"Alright, since Brienna will be with you I trust you to get there and then heal, do nothing but rest and get well again, you are pushing yourself too far young lady, do I make myself clear?" he said firmly.

"Yes."

"Good." He got up and then helped her up and helped her pack. He took her things to her horse and then got Brienna who was in the garden. "You and you're sister are leaving, get packed."

"What? She's still ill, too ill to travel."

"She can make it to the wall, and she refuses to stay, I'm not going to argue with her, she'll leave anyway. She has you with her if something goes wrong you can stop and rest to take care of her. She assured me that once she gets there they'll look after her."

"You mean Tristan? He'll definitely make sure she's better."

"If he's smart he will."

"Father, he will."

"Good." He walked back in the house. Brienna picked up her basket of food and followed. Once inside she set the basket down on the table for her mother and then went to her room to pack. As soon as Brienna was ready Keena was and they were outside on their horses.

"I'm trusting you, if something happens – "

"We know." Keena interrupted.

"I would hope so…now, let's just hope the weather's on your side."

"I'll be fine."

He sighed, she was so pale and sweaty from her fever as it is, not to mention her voice was different due to her sore throat and her stuffed sinuses. She couldn't stop coughing and sneezing, and it was only getting worse.

They finally said their goodbyes and he stood there watching until he couldn't see them anymore. They rode hard, using their horsemanship to get there as quickly as possible without exhausting the horses. Keena had a blanket wrapped around her to keep her warm due to her fever. Brienna stayed behind her to keep an eye on her. But, as usual the weather wasn't on their side and it started raining again when they thought they had it made, they were only a couple miles away. Luckily the horses had been walking for a while to cool off so they could run again so they started to trot and ran the last mile when the rain started to really come down. Jols saw them coming up the road when the guards opened the gates so he ran to the table to tell them the girls were coming and all the men who were there got up and ran to the gate. Galahad got there first, followed by Arthur, Bors, and Dagonet. He saw Keena when the horse stopped and she didn't look so good. He stopped her horse holding onto its reigns and looked up at her.

"Keena?"

She tossed the wet blanket off of her and leaned over coughing. Brienna got off and ran to his side. He hugged her happy to see her again. "Brienna, you're alright. What took you so long?"

"I'll explain later, help her."

They got her down and Galahad picked her up. "Tristan!" he called. Tristan finally got there and took Keena from Galahad. He carried her to her room and laid her down. Brienna and Galahad didn't follow, they just stood there holding onto each other happy to be together again.

He took one of her hands in his and rubbed it quickly to warm it with friction then felt her forehead and how warm she was. "What happened to you this time?"

"Tristan?"

"Sh…rest, you need to rest."

He started taking off her wet clothes which was a little difficult since she couldn't really move but he handled it, and this time he didn't have to worry about seeing something he hadn't before. So he got her dress off and got her under the covers then after making sure the door was locked he stripped down and got in with her pulling her against his own body to keep her warm. He looked down at her face and kissed her temple and her cheek then her neck and her shoulder. He heard her whisper his name again as she drifted to sleep.

He laid there with her all night, she didn't wake until well into the morning. When she did the first thing she noticed wasn't him, it was the fact that she had no clothes on. She would have panicked until she looked over and saw him sleeping, he couldn't hold it back anymore he eventually fell asleep. She rolled onto her side and noticed he also didn't have any clothes on. She didn't remember making love last night, she was far too ill for that and knew he wouldn't take advantage. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. But she had to pull back as a coughing fit started, so she laid back down on her back coughing. He woke back up, without saying a word he leaned over her to grab the water pitcher on the bedside table and poured some into a glass to give to her. She just smirked and leaned up to drink it. He only allowed her so much, making sure she didn't rush and choke, then he put it back.

"That's one hell of a cough you have there miss." He said teasingly leaning up on his elbow.

"You going to scold me like my parents for not taking care of myself so that I would get well again."

"No, I know you enough to know that I would be wasting my time."

"Good."

"But, you should have listened."

"I'm not dying Tristan, I'll be fine." She snuggled into him. "Now I have you to take care of me."

He smirked wrapping his arm around her and kissed her head. "But for how long?" he whispered.

She looked up at him questioningly.

"You know what I mean. We could be sent somewhere any day now…now that the bishop is dead." He said the last part like he knew something. She didn't say anything just rested her head back down. He sighed before asking, "Keena, what have you done?"

She shot up sitting. "Me? I haven't done a thing."

"Please don't lie to me. I don't know how I know, I just do." He takes her hands pulling her back down. "Listen, while you were gone I went to the waterfall again, and while I was there I had this…dream. You told me you had to do it. I didn't think anything of it at first until we got the word that the bishop had been killed by one of his own guards who then took his own life. Now, why would a Roman guard kill a bishop?"

"Tristan I – "

"Don't lie."

"I had to." She whispered.

He leaned over her, she was laying on her back looking up at him, and he cupped her cheek in his hand caressing it. "Why?"

"He was taking our people hostage to convert them and if they refused he killed them…he kidnapped my cousin."

He sighed and rested his head on her shoulder as she started to cry. He kissed her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear. "It'll be alright, I promise…sh." He hugged her close laying on his back again with her at his side. He kissed her forehead and caressed her back trying to calm her.

"I'm sorry." She whispered crying.

"It's alright."

After a few minutes she regained her composure and stopped crying. He made sure she ate some of the soup the healer brought and then went back to sleep.