Hiya people! Me (Jojo) and Billie made this over msn yesterday.
As you know Billie is on vacation in Belgium, and will probably be another week before you hear of her. The lucky girl is going to see DJ Tiesto! So not far! But hey.....
You are all probably wondering how I got this updated; well Billie gave me her password. She trusted me not to cause her trouble...to be honest I wouldn't dare to cause her trouble, the girl is freaking strong....
Freedom and Vengeance; Chapter two; Roman camp.
The very next day Arthur and his knight's road to the forest Merlin thought Vivian was staying in at this moment. Conveniently enough it was the same forest that was the strong hold of the rebellion, the home of Boudicca.
Short by the forest the Roman Empire had set up a camp; to try and keep the rebels away from the other villages, there actions where futile......very futile.....
The camp was under command of Titus Vibius, an experienced warlord.
The knights road to the gait of the camp; the camp was surrounded by a wall; it had two gaits one main entrance and a gait to escape if the camp was ever taken over.
"Who is it that stands there?!" A man called from one of the guard towers.
"The Pendragon! Tell you're lord his old friends wish to see him!" Arthur called; he was clearly delighted that he would see an old friend of his again. The other knights where pleased as well, Titus shared their love for drinking and feasting.
Immediately the gait opened, Titus was standing right in front of it with a smile plastered on his face. The knights immediately saw a very large scar on his right cheek, it wasn't there last time they saw him.
Titus was a man in his mid forty's, he was tall built but a bit cubby, his great skill in tactics made up for that though.
"Arthur and his legendary knights!" Titus said cheerfully letting the men ride inside of the camp.
"It's a gift of the lord to have such a loyal man on our side." Arthur said while dismounting, the other knights fallowed his lead.
"What brings you to this godforsaken place old friend?" Titus said beating on Arthur's back as a welcoming sign.
"We're looking for Boudicca." Lancelot said.
"Boudicca......" Titus repeated the name of the freedom fighter, his friendly face turned dark. "That bride of Satan."
"Ah you know her." Gawain smirked.
"Know her! That witch has been a pest!" Titus said turning red of anger.
"You have met her, in person I mean?" Arthur asked curiously. If the woman was able to enrage the calm and experienced Titus, she most be one hell of a fighter.
"Met her! That is putting it lightly! That hag gave me this little present!" Titus said pointing at the scar on his cheek.
"Seems like the lassie, needs to be put in her place. Nothing Bors can't handle." Bors said grinningly putting a hand on his axe.
"Do not say that Bors! There has been only one man foolish enough to say something like that in her hearing distance and when she was done with him he was a eunuch!" Titus said putting his hands on his face.
The knights flinched slightly, the image of being castrated by this freedom fighter wasn't a pretty thought.
"Do you know where we can find her?" Tristan asked; he wanted to meet and face this woman as soon as possible. He needed a new challenge.
"She pops up every now and than. That's the reason I'm so happy to see you I'm expecting an attack any minute now." The man said pulling out his sword.
"Great, the sooner we conquer her, the sooner we can go home." Lancelot said looking up to the sky.
"Don't you dare think she is a push over Lancelot, because she will surprise you." Titus said placing a hand on Lancelot's shoulder.
"Milord Titus!" A guard yelled. "Scouts!"
Titus singled the knights to fallow him, he lead them to the guard tower.
Arthur looked to the forest; a small group of men came running out of it. They ran forward and drew a line on the ground with there swords, after doing this they ran back into the forest.
"What was that about?" Lanval asked looking at the forest the men just ran into.
"A little trick they learned not to long ago." Titus started. "They discovered what the reach of our arrows was, so if they stay behind that line, our archers can not harm them."
"And you haft to come out of you're hiding." Galahad finished.
"Exactly." Titus mumbled.
"What kind of weapons do they have?" Tristan asked, because of the relatively Light-armed scouts he had started to wonder about how the other warriors where armed.
"I knew you would ask that Tristan." Titus grinned. "The front line has longbows, watch out for the tip it can easily spice you."
"Daggers?" Dinadan asked, just like his teacher he was wondering about what he was op against.
"Some, but most of them prefer knives." Titus answered. "All of them have swords, most are mid-length, and the ones who specialize in swords have long swords."
"Unusual." Gawain said frowning; the Woads almost never used long swords.
"The last line has on top of swords and knives, oak spears, about three meters in length." Titus said.
"And Boudicca?" Arthur asked; the only thing he could think of was Boudicca.
"Two handed sword of about one meter, knives, daggers and knuckle blades. Sometimes she handles a bow our stick." Titus said; he had studied her weapons for so long, he knew every single detail. "Watch out for her knives, they gave me my pretty scar." He added.
"What do you know of her technique?" Lancelot asked.
"What she lacks in power she compensates with her speed. She is beast like on the battle field, very aggressive." Titus said. "She takes trophies sometimes, if we insult her in a way."
"You found that out the hard way?" Galahad asked slightly grinning.
"Yes, we did." Titus said. "Don't ask." He added pointing at the smirking Lancelot.
"Milord's!" A guard shouted. "They're coming!" The man was pointing to the forest, the first line started to appear; they all knew there places, they where very organized. It didn't take long before the whole army was in place.
"Is this all she has?" Arthur asked observing the army; about fifty men and women.
"Not by a long shut, this is only a small part of her army." Titus said; you could see that he was wishing that her army had only counted fifty men.
"Who is this Boudicca? She dos fight, doesn't she?" Lancelot asked looking around trying to find a woman who could be this great freedom fighter.
"She will show up soon....they never start without her." Titus said closing his eyes.
And he was right, just after finishing his sentence a hors came galloping out of the woods, its rider was a tall woman; she had long earth coloured hair, piercing blue eyes: she wore a twisted torque of pure gold around her neck which showed that she was of noble birth. And she wore a tunic of many shads of browns and greens and breeches that where brown of colour.
When she arrived at the front line she jumped of her hors handing it to one of her captains. Now she grasped a spear, it struck fear into everyone who was watching her.
"My friends of the sword, today I am not a descended of noble ancestry, today I am as one of the people, who is avenging lost freedom, my scoured body, the outraged chastity of my cousins. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very person, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance! Let us fight now and achieve victory!" She shouted; Arthur noticed that she was gifted with a powerful voice that could easily scar off men who where weak of spirit.
"All of these men are afraid of that lass?" Bors said looking at the girl frowning. "Such, a young little thingy?"
"Do not let the exterior fool you Bors." Dinadan said. "From what I have heard she is a very cold hearted wench."
"Fun, I like putting wenches in their place." Lanval said with humour.
"Let's go have some fun." Gawain said pulling out a battle axe; a wicked grin formed on his face.
"Where is the brave Roman army?!" A voice called mockingly; it was Boudicca. "Will you not come and play with me?!"
"Let's show her who she is dealing with." Lancelot said.
"I take it you're ready to fight?" Titus said.
"I'm as ready as possible." Arthur said unsheathing Excalibur.
"Let's go play." The young Coalan said; it wasn't like him to be this eager to fight.
"I agree." Lancelot added a smirk formed on his face.
And they all knew; there would be a big fight.
T.B.C
Read and review will you?!
Learn more about Boudicca and an unexpected turn in the story! Stay tuned (always wanted to say that!) for more chapters of "Freedom and Vengeance."
(And yes we changed a few thingies! But we didn't think it would seem realistic if Arthur and the knights had to fight a woman in her forty's!)