lindalee4: I had my Beta take a look at this chap so don't complain about this one okay? And girl (?) You don't know me so don't dare judge me. And if I don't write I have my reasons! Like a BOY!
Dazzler420 Thank you.
scruffybunny Oooo thanks!
Mustang GalBig thank you!
Julie : Don't know yet!
NiankoThank you!
ChiaraStormOMG! I'm blushing here!
Beatriz: Yeah! And that stuff really happened! She is inspired on a woman I read a book about.
Keylala: Its my temper that makes me react.
The Langolier: I already gave you an explanation on the review page....
MonDieu666 Don't worry it will not happen again (you know; the me yelling at reviewer; however it did make me feel good....)
Gabi LHey Gabi, thanks for reviewing!
Tool of a Higher Power: Between the endless blabbing of criticism, I did find something I thought I needed to explain; Women in that time did swear! But yes it was a sin, but than you needed to go confess; and afterwards say a few prayers. I know this because I go to a catholic school (there still nuns in my school and they told me.) And with the plenty bad me if I'm wrong but you count me to them?
My friend Lars is trying to make me say that yours is worse but I think I shouldn't seeing I didn't even take the time to read it. And I probably will never take the time seeing that my friend says its no good. And I don't need tips from you; got it?! But I can't help but feel a little sorry for you, because of the criticism my friend Lars gave you.
Sweet A.KOkay....
kicksomeclover : 16! I'm turning sixteen! So be as harsh as you want; don't give, don't care!
And scratching story's moment of weaknesses! And my died friend was my dead dog; the day I posted that it was exactly one month since she died. I just to make story's for her during thunder storms; And I don't think she would find it disrespectfully how you so sweetly put it.
And I mean this in the least offensive way; What I do is non of you're business because you don't know me, and you are nothing like me!
Arthiel 18-08Thank you girl! (if you're not a girl I'm sooooo sorry!)
Power of wisdom: Lars my dear silly moron! Thanks for the support!
DevonshirelassThanks, appreciate it a lot!
So with out further ramblings here it is chapter three!
Nobody; chapter three; Knights? What in anyone's name?
The next two days at the home of Marcus Honorius dragged by with Betha wanting run away. But Felicity knew if Betha ran, she wouldn't wouldn't be back and was able to deter her.
On the third day of her internment something peculiar happened. Knights arrived, seven strange men...Betha keep herself out of sight but her ears to the ground.
"I am Arthur Castus of Hadrian's Wall. Open the gates!" A man in Roman armour said. Betha knew that name,but from where?
"Ah welcome knights! I am Marcus Honorius. What is it you need?" Marcus Honorius said walking towards them.
"Which one of you is Alecto?" Arthur asked.
"What business does he have with my intended?" Betha thought bitterly.
"I am." Alecto answered. Fuliciana stood next to him, they walked down to where the Roman and his men gathered.
"I am Alecto's father. What do you need?" Marcus Honorius asked.
"An army of Saxons is heading this way. I have been sent to evacuate you and your family." Arthur said a little uneasy.
"Saxons? I have heard Father and grandfather speak of them, but what do they seek here?" This was all making her very curious.
"That is impossible. All our possessions are here. Rome will send an army." Marcus said motioning to his villa.
"Why send an army? They have us." Arthur said annoyed.
"Assertive, arrogant, bastard. Why would they be better than an army? Seven men? That's not even a good cavalry." She thought looking over the men.
"We cannot. It is impossible!" Marcus said, perplexed.
"My men cannot go home unless we return you to the Wall. You will be coming with us even if I have to tie you to the back of my horse and drag you all the way to Rome. My lord." Arthur said dangerously.
"How dare you?" Betha said walking with her head high, showing her proud features. She looked queenly, ten years of etiquette lessons do that to a girl.
"And who are you?" Arthur said with a sigh.
"I'm lady Betha daughter of lord Clarence." Betha said with pride, her face however did not budge.
"Lord Clarence son of Lord Conrad?" Arthur asked with surprise written on his face.
"Aye." Betha said still with an emotionless face. "And I will not be tied to a horse and dragged of by any of you. Is that understood?"
"O gods I hate speaking like this." Betha thought.
"I have no intention of doing such a thing to you lady Betha." Arthur said with a look of irritation.
"I would hope so for the sake of you and you're men." Betha said, her face was unreadable. "And lord Marcus listen to this man, I wish not to witness your bickering."
"Now that is settled, we leave in the morning. Lady my men are hungry." Arthur said addressing Fuliciana.
Fuliciana touched her husbands arm awaiting his approval. He nodded and she hurried off to the villa.
"There is something eerie with the way Fuliciana behaves around her husband."
Marcus Honorius looked as if he thought his authority was undermined. And he decided to let his serfs know that he was still in charge.
"Get back to work! All of you!" He shouted. It was only natural that all of them had stopped working to look at this Arthur Castus. Several of Marius' guards started to push serfs roughly.
Betha looked at the scene with distaste, it was horrid to her how Marcus treated his serfs, as if they where lower than a thief.
Marcus walked away in the direction of his villa. He had such an arrogant walk.
Betha looked at the knights who were overwhelmed with questions.
"Are you from Rome?" One serf asked grabbing a older, fatter knight's tunic.
"From hell." He answered flatly.
"Why do they all look so dismal when Rome comes up?" She wondered, she was confused by the way these knights acted.
Betha watched the serfs and Alecto follow Arthur over to where a man was chained.
"I haven't noticed that." She followed to the place where they stood, yet kept her distance.
"Who is this man?" Arthur asked looking at the old man. There where stripes running down his back, he probably had a flagellation.
"He's our village elder. He defied our master. He asked for more rations for us and the master had him chained here. I have been dragging up the earth the whole winter and I haven't got any food." A thin serf replied.
"I will be married into such a family? Did my father know of this?" She was truly shocked by this thought.
"You're from Rome. You're a man of God! Tell us; is it true that some men are born to be slaves?" The serf asked. Betha saw something change in Arthur's face. There was a look of hatred.
"How can people be treated like this?" She would marry that man's son? "What if that Alecto turns out like him? I don't think I would be able to coop with that."
"I tell you now; Marcus Honorius is not a man of God. You were all free from your first breath!" Arthur said pulling out his sword. It shone in the light of the sun, that shone so little. He cut the man's chains.
"Somebody help this man!"
An older woman ran from the crowd that had gathered and tended to the old man.
Betha looked at Alecto his face held admiration.
"This will cause a rebellion, not that I blame these people. They have obviously been neglected."
Not long after, Fuliciana walked out with food for the knights. And offered them a place to rest.
"Its best I take my leave as well." Betha thought walking away from the yard. She needed to speak with Felicity.
Felicity was, as always waiting in Betha's chambers.
"Felicity do you know the name Arthur Castus?"
"I believe I have heard you're father speak of him." Felicity said.
"Well he just arrived with the message that Saxons are on the way." Betha stated, settling on her bed.
"Saxons?" Felicity said with fear in her clear grey eyes.
"Aye, they are here to take us to some wall. Hadrian's Wall I believe." Betha commented pensively. "He knows my grandfather."
"That is possible Betha, you're grandfather's teachings to knights are legendary." Felicity said taking up some needlework.
"What do you know of this Arthur?" Betha asked Felicity with a curious undertone.
"His father was Uther Pendragon, and his mother a Britton." Felicity said dully as if it was nothing interesting.
"And his knights?" Betha pressed for as much information as possible.
"Sarmatian's, horse lords. They all must commit to fifteen years in the service of the Roman Empire." Felicity said, paying more attention to the needlework than the converstaion.
"Only fifteen years." Betha snorted. "I shall spend my whole life in service of Rome."
"You stop you're complaining. You have been whining for two days know. Go to bed." Felicity said strictly. She hated being strict with Betha, but sometimes the girl needed to be silenced.
"Fine." Betha said shortly. "Goodnight." She kicked of her shoes and went to bed.
"Even Felicity is trying to control me. Why was I born a girl? I would have been better off being a boy."
Betha awakened at first light and stepped outside to watch the knights pack up some of Marcus' belongings. She was surprised to see that they weren't as old as they appeared. She saw a dark haired knight ride up to his comrades.
"Common Betha, lets hear what the man has to say."
"Saxons. Heading this way. They'll be here before nightfall." The dark haired knight said, he had a rather killer look to him and she bet he wasn't an easy one to predict.
"So he's a scout. Explains the hawk."
"How many?" Arthur asked troubled.
"An entire army. One to the north and one to the south." The scout said his face betrayed no emotion.
"I bet he didn't need to go to etiquette school to learn that. But a whole army of Saxons,...and only seven of them? Those aren't good odds."
"Where do we go? South?" Arthur asked, very limited with his options.
"East. There is a path through the mountains to the East The scout said.
"Arthur sure has a lot of trust in his men. I don't know what it is but there is something mysterious to this scout." Betha thought. She enjoyed to analyze the human psyche.
The packing continued with great haste. Betha heard the sound of drums. She also noticed monks walling up the small wooden shed adjacent to the villa. There were guards overseeing their work. Arthur seemed to notice it again and walked over to Betha.
"Do you know what that is, lady Betha?" He asked her with a frown on his face.
"I sincerely have no idea." Betha answered truthfully. She had no idea what was in that shed.
Arthur walked over to the shed but the guards blocked his way.
"What is this?" Arthur asked suspiciously.
"That's what I want to know." Betha thought following his lead.
The knights all motioned their horses to where Arthur stood.
"You cannot enter!" A monk said trying to draw their attention, yet all their gazes were fixed on the shed.
"Dagonet." Arthur said motioning towards a giant of a man, Betha flinched at the sight of him.
He dismounted and picked up his grand battle axe and started to hack down the stone wall. In only a few swings the wall was reduced to a pile of rubble. The door behind it however was locked.
"What could be so important and unmovable?." Betha thought, her curiosity growing with the minute.
"Key." Arthur said to the guards.
"It's locked. From the inside." A large rather stupid looking guard said.
The big giant named Dagonet kicked the door in. He and Arthur followed by two others entered the room. Betha, unable to contain herself, walked in as well.
The smell in the room went throw her, it was awful, it smelled like death.
"Who are these defilers of the Lord's temple?" A foul looking priest said.
Betha looked around, dead body's everywhere.
"This is no temple this is a Tomb." She said engrossed.
"This is the work of your God?" A curly haired knight said to Arthur.
Betha unconsciously looked around, she really didn't wish to see this, but a part of her needed to see this.
"This is no place for a lady." The curly haired knight said to Betha, he could not hide the hatred in his voice.
"What did I ever do to him?"
"Youhave no say over me, lord knight." Betha returned defensively.
He shrugged and turned around to examine yet another dead body.
"This one is dead." He said.
"By the smell of it, they are all dead." A long haired blond knight said with disgust.
"I think I'm going to be sick. Who would do such a thing? My father wanted me to marry into this family? The Saxons can't be crueller than Marcus Honorius."
"How dare you try and-"One monk said to the curly haired knight, but he was cut short. He was killed in a flash by the knight.
Betha flinched, but made no sound.
"He killed him with out a second thought, I know he might have disserved it but still. To take a life with out any sine of emotion." Betha thought looking at the curly haired knight. She didn't even try to hide her disgust.
"One move and you'll join him." The blond long haired knight said pointing his sword towards a priest.
Betha witnessed the giant Dagonet grab a small boy by the shoulders.
"You must not fear me." He said softly, the boy seemed to believe him. Dagonet lifted him out of his cell and held him in his huge arms.
Arthur pulled a woman out of a cell. The victims were carried outside by the knights. Betha followed not really knowing what to think.
"Give me some water!" Arthur shouted once they stepped outside. A man immediately gave him and Dagonet water for the woman and boy. Betha stood aside and watched the scene.
"She's a Woad." The scout said to the other bald knight, he was looking at the woman that was carried out the dungeon by Arthur.
"You should not judge people by the way they look. If everyone who saw you did that, they would have all ran into the nearest wood screaming." Betha said before she realized it.
"That wasn't the smartest thing I ever did, was it?"
The scout just gave her a quick glare and the bald knight gave her a look of amusement.
"Stop what you are doing!" Marcus Honorius said rushing forward. "These are pagans!"
"So are we." A knight said, he was younger than the others.
His wife immediately rushed forward to help Arthur with the Woad woman. Betha noticed that Felicity was with them as well. She rushed to help the small boy.
"You mean they wouldn't be your serfs!" Arthur yelled at the man.
"You! You are a Roman! And Christian! You should understand!" Marius yelled back after this he turned around to his wife. "And you, you kept them alive!" He pushed her to the ground. Betha ran towards her and helped her up, when she looked back up she saw Arthur hit Marius, before anybody realised he had his sword against Marius his neck.
"Stop!" The Roman said to his guards who had started forward. "You will be punished for this heresy when you return to the Wall."
"Then perhaps I should kill you and seal my fate now!" He looked like he had just lost his last nerve.
"I was willing to die with them." The crazed priest said deliriously. "Yes it was God's will that these sinners be sacrificed. Only then could their souls be saved."
"Then I will do his will. Wall them back up!" Arthur shouted.
The scout seemed to want to say something but Arthur cut him of.
"I said wall them back up!" He shouted.
Betha gave Felicity a look that said. "What's wrong with these people."
"Lady." A voice said from behind Betha.
"Yes, lord knight." Betha said to the curly haired knight, who had just killed a priest.
"Lancelot she had nothing to do with it." Arthur Castus said walking up to them.
"Then what is her business here?" The knight Lancelot said aggressively.
"I was here to marry, Alecto, but as soon as my father finds out about this disgusting behavior the wedding will be off." Betha said cool and collected. She gave Lancelot a look of hate.
"Fine then." He murmured walking off.
"Ignore him lady, do you know how to ride horse?" Arthur asked politely.
"I have a horse in the stables." Betha said, her father had taught her to ride horse, it was something not many fathers did. Betha was even allowed to hunt with them, not that she killed animals she just enjoyed the exercise.
"And your maid?" He asked.
"She can not, and she is not my maid, she is my friend." Betha said with confidence.
"Then she will ride in the carriage. And you will ride with me and my men. Understood?" Arthur asked seriously.
"Understood."
T.B.C.