After Arthur had officially welcomed the Bishop, they headed toward the great hall. Bors couldn't wait to get this over with. There was a barrel of ale somewhere with his name written all over it and a woman who made him feel better about himself than anything or anyone else ever could.
Vanora ran up to Bors and slapped his face as hard as she could. She knew it was cruel, but she made sure Dag saw the kiss she exchanged with Bors. She thought eventually he would realize she loved another and move on. But for the past 10 years he had held steadfast with his feelings. She continued her line of thought after Bors had joined the others. She walked slowly toward the pub. They would all end up there before too long and they would be ready to drink and get rowdy as usual.
Dagonet would make some woman happy. He was kind, loyal, loving and true. But he wasn't honest. Not where affairs of the heart were concerned. Vanora had known from the beginning that he had feelings for her. She also saw that if she returned those feelings when she and Lancelot had split that she would be using him to fall back on. He deserved much more from a woman. She loved Dagonet, much the same way she loved all the knights, but she wasn't in love with him. She would never let him settle for less than he deserved. She had no doubt that if something happened to Bors, Dagonet would step in and things would go on as usual. It would be too easy to fall into the familiar and forget the heart of the only true friend she had ever had.
When she reached the pub she started dropping hints to some of the other girls that Dag was lonely. It didn't take long for them to plan how they would cheer him up. It never did. They all knew he would be the catch worth fighting for out of the whole lot of Arthur's Knights. Once again she tried to figure out why she couldn't fall for the right man. Her heart just didn't cooperate with her head. Her head always lost.
The knights started arriving one or two at a time after that and she never had time to think about Dag again and it was much later in the evening when she realized he wasn't there. He was always the last to arrive and the first to leave, at least that was the way it happened when she was working. The other girls told a different tale when she was not there. Sometimes she wondered if they were exaggerating. She had never seen him flirt like they claimed and she had known him for 15 years. The thought of him leaving with two women hanging on was just more than she could imagine!
"Where you been, Dag?" Slurred Bors. 'Not again,' thought Dag but he replied as usual, "In the stables." He didn't want to tell him he'd been sitting under a tree listening to Arthur argue with the Roman. He turned up his tankard and downed the ale in one gulp. It was going to be another long night watching him paw Vanora and knowing she enjoyed every minute of the flirting. He could see in her face that she truly loved the gruff old man. Sighing, he turned for another drink and ran into one of the other women who served drinks.
"Sorry," he apologized as he grabbed her around the waist to keep her from falling over. "No need to apologize, Dag, I'd like to run into you more often." She replied coyly. Dag looked down and found she was giving him the look she always did. 'Inviting' was the only way to describe it.
Just then Bors walked up. "If you want to run into Dag, you need to work in the stables." He laughed at the look on her face. Then he saw the look on Dag's face. He didn't understand why Dag looked angry about something. "What's wrong? You look like somebody spit in your ale." Just as Dag was trying to think of a suitable answer, he looked up and saw Arthur walk up to the edge of the group of people in the pub. Dagonet had been watching for him and dreading the reactions of his comrades. When the arguing started he decided to stop it early. "Rome has broken its word, we have the word of Arthur and that is enough." He turned to Arthur and finished, "I'll prepare." He walked away and saw that Tristan was following him. 'Good,' he thought, 'the others would soon follow suit.' "You coming?" he yelled at Bors.
"Of course I'm coming!" Bors answered. "Can't let you go by yourself, you'll get killed!" he yelled. Dagonet didn't stay to hear the rest. He was just relieved that his future would be postponed a few more days. He knew what he should do; he just couldn't see himself actually doing it. Only time would tell. If he had learned nothing else in his 30 odd years, he had learned patience. He had fifteen years worth of patience.
As always and as promised, they left just before the sun was completely over the horizon. The day promised rain before nightfall and Dagonet knew that rain made for some very unhappy men. Not that any of them were remotely happy to begin with. At times the air felt thick enough to cut with his sword. Luckily, they were riding too fast for anything to develop. Arthur wanted to get to the home of this Alecto as soon as possible so they could get back before anyone could be hurt.
Dagonet just wanted to ride as fast as possible and maybe leave his thoughts behind. So far, he hadn't had any luck, but it felt good to be out on his horse riding like the wind just the same. They came to a wooded area and Arthur decided it would be a good idea to camp for the night and work their way through the trees in the light of day. This was prime Woad territory and they didn't want to chance meeting a group of them in the darkness in unfamiliar surroundings.
As promised, the rain started with a vengeance just before darkness fell. They quickly found enough wood to start a small fire. The rain this time of year could be as cold as a mountain stream and none of them relished the idea of spending a night soaked to the skin and riding most of the next day that way. They were riding northeast and the air was quite a bit cooler than it was at the Wall. Dagonet looked up at the sky and thought it probably would be snowing at some point tomorrow afternoon. Sighing, he turned his attention back to the group sitting around the fire. Some of the usual banter was going on, not quite the usual banter, but everyone was trying to forget the night before. It seemed their luck was still holding.
The group had been riding a few hours when the rain slacked off and finally began falling as large flakes of snow. They all gathered their cloaks around them and rode on. A little after the sun had reached mid sky they reached a large group of stone buildings surrounding a much larger stone building. A stone fence taller any man went all the way around the whole thing. This must be the Roman Estate Arthur had mentioned. That meant they had finally reached their destination and could soon be heading back home.