Katemary77- Not all of how Vrena got the way she did has been revealed yet, so don't worry, you're probably not the only one confused! Her secrets will be revealed in later chapters, once she learns to trust the knights, mainly Tristan, though their relationship will start out…rocky...
(Anonymous) Dw- me + writing fan fiction equals evilfluffygoodness.
(anonymous) Me- Don't worry, I'll be uploading this document soon, I hope…
tenshikoneko03- Yes, yes, I know, that was a horrible cliffy. I originally was going to have them at least see Vrena, but decided to let your minds wander until I felt like updating, just for the hell of it :D
Verteri Lunum- Glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing :)
Lovebuggy- XD Tristan the carpet man…
Alright, on with the story!
Chapter 4: Meetings
(revised)
Vrena could hear the other two pairs of feet cease moving and only one was heading closer now, no more then a few feet away from the tree, she could tell.
They would find her.
She would die.
Arvin would die.
But before she could think of any more horrid things that could happen…
She fainted.
Tristan waited a few seconds, then began to move forward again. He made it to the side of the horse, and at first saw nothing; but then a hooded figure came into view. At first glance he thought the person was dead, but with the hood covering the face, he couldn't tell.
He looked again to the snowy-white horse, then back to the stranger. Watching the individual's body movements closely, he recognized a breathing pattern.
They were alive, but certainly not awake.
But then he noticed it.
There was a small puddle of blood staining the grass, and he moved around the side of the tree to face the character. Getting a better look, he saw a fairly large wound on the person's leg, stretching almost from knee to foot, bleeding a great deal.
He now recognized the figure as a woman, because few men wore long dress skirts. The skirt and underskirt had been pulled up to the knee, so the woman obviously knew about her injury and had fainted.
Seeing the scrutinizing look on their expressionless scout sent Lancelot and Arthur a few steps forward, but Tristan again dismissed them with a glare. Arthur and Lancelot halted, and waited impatiently for Tristan's order to move forward. Naturally, he didn't make the decisions, but they knew Tristan well enough to leave him be.
The horse let out a sharp neigh and swished its long white tail. Tristan moved down to examine the strangers wound, which would need to be tended to quickly. Nothing Dagonett couldn't handle.
He signaled the other knights to come over.
The first thing Vrena noticed as she slowly came out of unconsciousness was that she was alive.
That or she was dead already, in the afterlife. Problem was she couldn't see anything. Her vision was blurred thanks to her recent black-out, and there was a sharp pain in her leg.
open wound, she remembered.
She was still too tired to move her limbs, so remained there without movement. She would wait for her senses to kick back in. She wondered how long she had been out…had Arthur and his knights left? Was she safe?
Her question was answered with a 'swish' against her leg, which she recognized as a tail, likely belonging to Arvin. That was right…her horse had come out of nowhere, and she could have sworn the knights would have killed the lot of them…but she was still alive?
She heard a neigh, another sign she was alive. She could hear and feel, but the blurry vision remained. She could see blotches of greens and browns from the safety of her hood.
A noise came from in front of her, and she began to panic. Arvin was not in front of her. She could sense his warmth. But there was also someone in front of her. Her natural panic began to kick in, and her vision came back.
First she looked down. Her wound was still bleeding. She had only been out for a split second. Damn it all!
Then she adjusted her eyes upward, only to be greeted by the one thing she had feared would be there.
One of the knights. But he wasn't focused on her, he was watching Arvin who had just finished letting out his neighs and tail swishes.
Thinking of no other way to react, she quickly looked up.
It was the knight from earlier! The serious one who's eyes penetrated the forest like ice. Vrena sucked in air, and saw that the man had swung his head around, sensing her movement…
But he was too slow, Vrena had already let loose her shriek of horror and kicked him square in the face, almost knocking him over, but he planted his hand to the earth and held himself up.
Only after that, Vrena realized what she had just done.
Not only had she kicked him with her bad leg and opened her would even more, she had just kicked a Sarmatian knight in the face.
But the fact that she had just settled her fate right there was a bit smaller than the fact that her leg was now gushing blood and throbbing painfully, and she could feel her muscles tighten as she flinched and grabbed it, letting out a cry of pain.
If she didn't die by a knights sword, she was about to die of blood loss.
But then, who knew which one came first. At the moment, a sword not belonging to the man she had booted was aimed at her head, and her leg was gushing blood like a waterfall. Why did everything have to happen to her?
The last thing she heard was a neigh from Arvin, just before she blacked out for the second time that day.
All seven of the men watched as the cloaked woman's body fell limp as it had been before, and then took a glance at Tristan, who was now pushing himself off the ground. One hand was on his face, just under his right eye where the female had –with wonderful accuracy, considering Tristan had no time or plan to dodge it- kicked him.
"Bloody hell." Galahad said as he looked at Tristan, who was now applying pressure to a cut that had formed on his face where the heel of the boot had landed. But Tristan did not look upset or shocked, simply the way he always looked.
Though everyone knew he was a tad irritated…it wasn't every day you got kicked by a woman, unless it was a Woad...or you were Lancelot.
"Hell I'm not sure of, but bloody is correct." Tristan simply put, pointing to the girl.
No, not to the girl…her leg.
Arthur made his way over to the woman's side and looked at her wound, still bleeding. He knew that she needed help or she would die, but so would a whole village if they didn't make camp further on.
"She needs to be helped." Dagonett said urgently as he looked down at the blood staining the ground with worry. Though a fearless knight in battle, Dagonett was the kindest of them, and was also their skilled healer.
"Dag, we can' afford to waste time!" Bors warned his friend.
Then they all turned to Tristan again.
Of course, they relied on him for his excellent traveling knowledge and wisdom of pathways and the sort. No reason not to turn to the man who had just been kicked by an injured woman. No reason…
For one of the few times they remember ever seeing Tristan emotional, they all watched as he sighed, thinking out a plan. After looking over possible paths and time limits, he spoke.
"There is a different path that will lead us to the town faster. Though nothing has been heard from it in a long time, it is likely still Woad territory. We can camp here, ride fast tomorrow morning and still make it."
The other knights frowned at their only option, because deep down none of them wanted to just abandon the lady here to bleed to death, with her horse awaiting her to awaken. And they knew they would regret it if they didn't help her, even though she had attacked Tristan.
Arthur fought an inward battle with himself, then came up with a decision which he hoped he would not regret.
"We shall camp here, and then take the shorter route in the morning." Arthur said with a frown on his face. The other knights still had the worried looks on their faces from hours ago, and knew that they were risking danger by doing this.
But then, they had risked danger for fifteen years together. And they were still here.
With this one of the only good thoughts in their minds, the other five set up a makeshift camp while Dagonett shifted through his packed medicines, and Tristan brought over the injured lady from her spot behind the tree and quickly made a fire, letting the warmth sail over his chilled body.
"Just remove her cloak, that should be good. Besides, we haven't gotten to lay eyes on the face of our staler of journeys." Dagonett joked lightly as he gave his instruction to the scout.
"Staller of journeys? Is that what we shall name her, then?" Lancelot joined into the tease.
"I think kicker of scouts works fine as well." Galahad smiled, enjoying the feeling of refreshing laughter after a day from hell. The others laughed as well, except Tristan, who stared irritably at Galahad as the scout undid the three buttons on the woman's hooded cloak and laid it out flat on the ground, placing her limp body on top of it.
Those within eyesight of the peculiar woman took the time to look at the large gash under her left eye that still had crusted blood around it, and many other cuts on her pale face; surrounding her face were long, wavy black tresses that were tinted with blood here and there…she had obviously not been treated for her injuries at all.
This made them feel a bit better about decided to help her. They knew from personal experience that injuries of such were painful, and she had probably suffered a great deal.
Tristan looked at the woman's neck and saw a bit of a blood stain from her shirt, which meant that more damage possibly lay underneath.
"There's more" Tristan spoke as he showed Dagonett the blood on the white collar of the undershirt.
Dagonett continued to look distressed, all humor gone from him.
"Take it all off, then."…
Tristan gave him an odd look.
"I'll do it." Lancelot willingly volunteered, his head shot up as if on queue.
"At your own risk, Lancelot," Galahad spoke as he unlatched his bow from his horse's saddle. He would obviously be left with hunting duties since Tristan was occupied.
"Or we'll be calling her kicker of knights as well." Lancelot just smirked and cocked an eyebrow at this.
"Well, I'm working here. Someone has to do it." Dagonett pointed out as he looked at the others.
Silence.
"I've got a wife, wouldn't be to happy with me if she found out I was undressin' other lasses." Bors excused himself.
Lancelot simply sighed with disappointment.
"Be back in a few minutes." Galahad slipped away into the forest to hunt their dinner.
"I need to go find a stream, get some water for us." Gawain said and followed Galahad.
That left Tristan, Arthur, and the white horse that seemed to have followed them. There was a long pause as the three last men, excluding the horse, glanced at one another in silence.
Dagonett sighed.
Followed by more silence.
"...Do I need to flip a coin?"
I have to go to a softball clinic tomorrow for about five hours, so despite how quick I am at updating, I probably wont get to the next chapter until late tomorrow night or Monday, sorry guys :(
I'll try to update soon so you know who ends up undressing Vrena…
