Thanks again to all the people who reviewed for the last chapter! I'm really surprised at how many reviews I've been getting!

Calliann- Thanks :D I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I try to update every one to two days…this story has lots more chapters to go .

Sarah- Dag, I think, is the only…normal knight. O.o

katemary77- Well, as long as you guys think I'm doing a good job, I guess I can live with that; but whenever you see me mess something up, DO NOW hesitate to tell me that I'm stupid.

Dw- Some of Vrena's story will be told in this chapter, though it won't be her who tells it.

Op- Don't worry, I will o.o

Tenshikoneko03- don't worry, Tirth isn't the village the knights are going to protect. But honestly…I watched the movie THREE times in one day, and read two versions of the script, and STILL can't find out what Marius' village is called

Vamsi- Thanks :D I'm glad you like my style as well as the story.

Mandamirra10- I tried hard to get their personalities right without making them too OC, which is hard for any writer. Thanks :D

Lovebuggy- Yea, made me feel a bit better :D

Peanutbutterme- Ah, sorry about that error! I'll go back and fix it right away. I often get confused with Galahad and Gareth sometimes, Gareth being Gawain's brother.

Story story!


Chapter 6: Experiences and Rescues

(revised)


A small raven-haired child paraded around the forest with her twin sibling, picking up what beautiful flowers they could find and bundling them into one large bouquet, tying the stems together with numerous colors of string.

They were about to amble farther out, but were called back.

"Vrena, Vejha, come back here!" The motherly figure called in their native tongue. (A/N: Vejha is pronounced 'vae-sha') It was time for them to cease their play time and begin their archery lessons.

Vejha groaned at the woman, but Vrena became excited and frivolous. She knew that her sister preferred the sword over the bow, but Vrena liked otherwise. Besides, the Blue Ghost warriors told them that the sword was dangerous for a child to learn at an early age such as theirs; they would have to wait until they were old enough to wield one without hurting themselves.

They scampered up to their watcher from the bottom of the hill were they had ventured. But as they had managed to retreat safely up half the hill, they could hear noises.

Loud shouts and yells filled the air from the other side of the hill, and they watched as their designated protector turned to see what was going on.

The lady was devastated at what she saw when she had turned her head.

Roman soldiers, nearly a hundred of them, she was not sure- sprung out of the woods into the unprepared Woad village. A surprise attack.

She watched as the children's mother, armed with a bow, ran up to the top of the hill; she grabbed her friends hands in worry, and from behind watched as shouts and cries emerged from homes and swords clashed with swords.

"Please Naeda, I beg you. Do not fight this battle. I only ask you one favor. Take my children and ride, Naeda; faster then you have ever ridden while in battle. Travel to the town of Marius, the towns' leader is my half sister. Tell her that I have died in battle and that I can trust no one with my children except her."

With that said, a large grey steed along with a small, pure-white foal was led up the hill by a younger woman, also ready for battle.

"Take my horse and Vrena's foal as well. It would break her heart if he was lost here." The mother of the two children then looked down at the blood now beginning to rest on the earth, and the many bodies of her dead friends and kin who lay with bleeding wounds.

Naeda looked to her friend, not believing that this was her end, the end of their tribe. Two Roman arrows flew past their heads, barely missing them. One landed on a tree, the other hit the woman who had brought up the horses- piercing right through her skill. Naeda gave her friend a quick hug and took the horses reigns.

"Your children will be safe, that I can promise you."

Before leaving, they both looked down on the village again, enraged by what they saw.

Some of the knights -whom they knew had been pulled from Sarmatia, the only place the Roman's had power over because of Sarmatia's small, low populated villages- were so young, no more then in their early teens.

"Filthy Romans think they can even get children to battle for them. Oh how I wish them all dead by their own swords. May you kill many, dear friend." Naeda hissed and watched as her friend ran down to her death, the traditional Woad screams and hollers roaring from her throat as she clashed with a few Roman soldiers, killing as many as she could.

Holding back tears, Naeda ran down the other side of the hill until she was with her friends children. Looking at their young faces, she imagined them being heaved away by Roman officers at that age, which would be coming soon, for they were both no older then eleven. This sent a wave of fury through her, as she ordered young Vrena to mount her half-grown steed…she was proud of how well the girl knew how to ride. She then pulled Vejha up with her on the grey beast.

She would keep her promise to Saelia, no matter what.

These children would be safe away from death by sunrise, for she would refuse to stop riding until then.


Arthur remembered distinctly the time as a child, when he had learned to hate Woads, besides when his mother had been killed by them.

It was one of their first missions as knights in training, and he –with the other Knights of the Round Table, though none of them knew it was to be then- awaited their orders to charge on an unprotected Woad village.

An earlier while before that, nearly a fourth of their men had been killed by wandering Woads, and then just ran off into the woods. It sickened him at how they thought they could act upon that.

But even though that was evident, he knew that this was not right. His gut was telling him that a fight was only fair if all men on both sides were ready for battle. Never the less, they attacked the village.

Glancing up top the top of a nearby hill, he saw three women overlooking the battle, one wielding a weapon and the other taking a large steed and a white foal from her, while one waited for one of them.

He pulled his bow out from under his arm and picked an arrow from its carrier; aiming it for them, then aiming a bit higher as he had been taught. Another boy, whose name he had learned was Tristan, did the same, but with more skill then him. Arthur's bowing proficiency was not as defined.

Both released their arrows. His, of course, missed one of their heads by a few inches, but Tristan's pierced one Woads head dead-on.

"You get the hang of it." Tristan said as he ran off, now unsheathing his Sarmatian sword, ready to find more kill.

Arthur only killed a few others that day.


The pain in Vrena's leg sprang up when one of Tirth's men threatened her to get off her horse before he threw her off. Such nice men.

Demounting herself from Arvin, she tried to place her good foot on the ground first, but miserably failed. She knew Dagonett was getting a bit livid with them roughing her around after he worked hard to patch her up.

All the knights then understood her plan as clear as day. She was only trying to keep them out of trouble with the Romans, in thanks for them letting her live.

"We must thank you men for capturing this fugitive before she could escape. If you desire it so, you may come and witness the execution. Agustius would not mind guests who are good to their land." The regiment leader spoke to the Knights of the Round Table. Little did he know, most of them had different views on the matter.

But an execution? Fugitive? This girl seemed nothing of the sort. She had just turned herself over in order to prevent them from being accused of helping her. And she obviously posed no hazard.

Each individual knight had been thinking about this in their own way, but Tristan and Arthur took their thoughts a step further.

Perhaps she was just another woman accused of being Woad or an enemy to the state, something that happens often here in Briton and Rome. Whatever the lady had did most likely was a mistake taken by the Church the wrong way.

If she had been guilty of whatever act she had committed, it would be obvious to them by now.

"We'd be glad to. May all my knights be invited?" Arthur replied to Tirth's regiment leader. The man nodded.

"Take her away, men. When we get back, tell Agustius that god has sent us victory!" He ordered to two of his foot soldiers.


Vrena didn't even bother to escape when two of the strong, idiotic men came over and grabbed her by each arm roughly, hitting her bruises. She let out a small whimper at the new pain.

"Oh stop your complaining wench, that didn't hurt." One of them spat at her.

She resisted growling at them. They had obviously not witnessed her beating two days before.

Taking one last glance at the knights, she gave them a serious look. She didn't know what they were planning when Arthur accepted the invitation to witness her burning…or hanging…or whatever Agustius had in store for her. She gave them a look that sent them a warning.

'Don't try and help, it's for your best!' she thought, hoping they would understand. Of course they won't, Vrena, you idiot!

'They can't hear you!' she shouted to herself, and flinched again when the Tirth soldiers squeezed her arms harder, almost crushing them.

"Do you have to squeeze so damn hard? I'm not going anywhere, for Christ sake!" She yelled at them, hoping they would at least loosen their grip a bit. But instead of loosening, they just held harder.

"And give you a chance to cast dark magic on us, you bloody witch? I think not." The other soldier who had been gripping her other arm retorted.

"Cast dark Magic? I can barely light a candle, and you expect that I can cast magic?" She laughed, despite all the pain of being pushed forward. She was pleased also, when she heard a snort of laughter come from Lancelot and Galahad who were not far behind, but quickly cleared their throats and stat up strait on their steeds when a few Tirth soldiers turned to glare at them.

"Oh, do not worry little lady, your sister had informed us all about you. She told us once that she caught you reading occult scriptures." Said the Regiment leader, as he rode up along side them.

Vrena would have laughed if she wasn't more shocked. Her sister really had accused her of all these things.

"Hah. I've only picked up a book or scripture about once in my life! And if I did happen to get my hands on that sort of material, it was probably something I borrowed from her. Whatever reason the townsmen have to fear me, I would like to know what the evidence is!" Vrena argued, limping her way towards the direction of Tirth, men from the regiment in front and behind her like she was a threat.

"Your sister informed our priest Agustius that you were plotting to rid him off and take charge of the town, and that was why you forced her to move here with you. She also told us that you have a habit of lying, so don't bother to fib your way out of this. You have been charged of heresy and murder." A man from behind them explained.

"Heresy and murder? No act of heresy have I yet committed, and I have not murdered a single soul!" She quarreled furiously.

"It is not our place to argue, now please silence yourself or we will do it for you."

Vrena did as she was told for once and shut her mouth.

They were almost to Tirth.


After listening to the woman's exchange with the roman soldier, they now knew almost everything but her name.

Tristan looked onward as they traveled with the regiment of soldiers towards Tirth. He then looked to the dark sky after hearing the screech of a hawk, and let a whistle emerge from his lips. A few of the Romans jumped as the bird, full from hunting, flew over their heads and landed on its masters fore arm.

Looking at his friend, an idea came to him. He wouldn't be able to fully plan it out until their lady friend was locked up before the decision on her death was decided…a common tradition with Romans to make things longer then they needed to be.

Looking at the size of the fleet that had cornered them, he knew that he could have easily taken out all of them on his own, and they could have run off to their originally destined town with no one knowing it was them.

That would have been the easy way, but Arthur, being a mix of roman AND rational, decided for them to take the long way. They all knew that if Arthur's plan worked, they could move on to the town of Marius knowing that they had saved a life that night.

None of them were that tired, anyway.


Nothing much else happened after Vrena had been shut up by her captors. Though she was awed at how the knight Tristan could command a hawk. She imagined it must have taken time for them to become close. The only animal she had ever bonded with was Arvin…however her steed was now being led by Lancelot. But then, better him then one of these dirty Romans. No offense to Arthur.

She let out a long breath as Tirth came into view, and she could see small fires and torches lighting up the vicinity. She saw a few people walking around, and one man looked at them as they came closer.

"They're back! They've returned with the witch!" He yelled and as new commotion stirred inside the town. Murmuring and talking could be heard now.

"Lock her up in one of the cells until Agustius gives us orders. Guard her and make sure she does not try to get out." A female's voice came from her left. She spun her head to the side to see none other then her sister.

"It seems I was too late to join the men and help detain you. It would have made my day." Vejha spoke triumphantly.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the knights pretending to be interested in the execution, and the only knight who would have remained emotionless seemed to be missing. But they headed off with the other soldiers of Tirth to get their spot at the viewing, despite the absence.

Unless this absence was planned.

Vrena looked around, now ignoring her sister's presence, searching for the missing Tristan, who was still nowhere to be seen. The two soldiers from earlier lead her in a different direction from the others who were heading to the fields. She was going to the cells. Wonderful.

She took note that as she was dragged in to the stone-like small fortress with about six barred cells, the men had forgotten to shut the door after walking out. This would only prove helpful, of course, if she hadn't been locked in a cell with no chance of escaping.

The idiots they were, she could easily reach her arm through the bars and grab the keys, if her wrists not been bound with thick ropes. Along with her feet. They would probably leave her like that, too. She would most likely be burned.

A pain in her chest formed as she knew her life would come to an end, and a tear traced down her cheek.


Tristan shifted off his horse and watched the two soldiers leave the cells. He had informed Arthur quickly to let him take care of the matter, and the Roman commander put his trust in him. The soldiers had not noticed his disappearance.

"You know what to do, ay? Don't you?" He whispered to his Hawk, and then let it sail into the direction of the cell guards. The woman's white horse was about to neigh loudly; Tristan quickly reached to pet its neck and shush it up.

And then he waited.


:D I'd like to thank you guys again for all the reviews on the last chapter. I was really happy, and decided to give you this chapter early as a reward! I've been working on it all day. :D

III Cari III