The pace of the caravan had picked up since Tristan had announced the closeness of the Saxons. The peasants had been living a hard life under Marius' rule, but they seemed to understand that their very lives depended on getting to the wall as soon as possible. Dagonet and the other Knights took formation around the caravan in case they encountered any trouble with he, Lancelot and Arthur taking turns riding beside the wagon with Guinnevere, Lucan, Fulcinia and Alecto inside.
Lucan had warmed up to Dag quite easily, especially since Dag had protected him so fiercely. Each time Dag rode near the wagon the boy would get as close to the openings between the branches that made up the sides of the wagon as he could. When Dag smiled at him his face lit up and he seemed like a normal child instead of one that had watched his mother slowly starve to death. How anyone could treat a small boy so cruelly in the name of some god was beyond the comprehension of a man like Dagonet. A man that believed you only treated someone badly when they did something to deserve it, and then you only kill them, not torture them to death. Marius was a man from a "civilized" society. But as a man he was a total mystery to Dag.
This line of thought brought him back to Fulcinia. How could a woman with such a kind heart love a sadistic man like Marius? He only thought on this for a short time before he decided to just come right out and ask her. He could think on this for the rest of his life and never uncover the truth.
Dag rode up to where Arthur and Tristan were talking. The other knights rode up one by one to hear what was in front of them. Tristan was telling Arthur that they had to cross a frozen lake. "No, we have to cross the ice." Tristan was finishing. Arthur turned back to Jols and said, "Get them out of the carriages. Tell them all to spread out." Jols took off as fast as he could on the snow covered trail and the knights dismounted preparing to walk out onto the ice.
One by one the men gingerly stepped out onto the frozen water. Dagonet took a couple of short steps and felt the ice groan under his feet. He looked around at the others and took another step. The ice seemed to be thick enough to hold their weight, at least for the time being, he wasn't so sure how it would be further out, but he would follow Arthur until Arthur decided they shouldn't go any further.
When they had only reached about half way, they heard the Saxon drums. Everyone stopped for a moment, then took another step forward. Arthur then turned his horse around and faced the rest of the knights. "Knights?" was all he said. The others one by one gave their answer and they prepared to make a stand against an army of Saxons. None of them had good feelings about the outcome, but they would fight.
When the Saxons rounded the curve and stepped onto the ice they found a line of seven men and one woman standing ready with arrows nocked. If it had been any other group of eight it would have been laughable. But Dagonet knew the Saxons had heard all the legends of Arthur and his Sarmatian knights. The tales spoke of knights that had never lost a battle, almost to the point of being magical. The knights were not surprised to see the Saxon leader stop and take a few moments to size up the situation. For no other reason that to surmise how these eight people could possibly stop the grand Saxon army.
One Saxon came to the front of the line and fired a single arrow at Arthur and the others. The arrow came up a few feet short and slid uselessly across the ice. Arthur ordered Tristan and Bors to fire an answering shot at he enemy as an invitation. Tristan shot four and Bors shot one, each arrow hitting its mark and felling five of the Saxons. This taunt brought the desired effect and the Saxons advanced toward the knights. As the army advanced the knights and Guinnevere released arrow after arrow toward the outside edges, hoping to make them cluster toward the center. If Arthur's plan worked, the ice would start to crack and the army would retreat. Even better, the ice would break dropping the Saxons into a cold, watery grave.
Long before they reached the crucial spot where their archers would be within range with their armor piercing arrows, Dagonet realized the ice would not break in time. As soon as Arthur gave the command to back up and prepare for combat he grabbed his axe and ran toward the advancing army. When he was out of range of the knights, he started hacking at the frozen lake with all his might. The ice was much thicker than they had at first thought because his first couple of swings barely chipped at the ice. He mustered a little more leverage and swung a third time. This time he saw the cracks begin to run back toward the Saxons. They began to yell to each other and he swung again with even more force. The ice began to break into huge slabs and the weight of the men standing on them caused them to tilt, dropping men into the icy water.
The leader of the Saxons was now physically pushing his archers to the front so they could shoot at Dagonet. One finally got lucky and an arrow hit Dag in his left shoulder. The pain almost made him drop his axe, but he gritted his teeth and swung one final blow. The ice broke up even more, but this time the cracks were running back toward his friends. When another arrow hit him in the side, he fell to his knees and forward into a hole in the ice. He went under and began fighting his way back to the top. He felt someone grab his shoulders and pull him out onto the ice. He was being dragged toward the knights but he was so cold. He felt another pair of hands grab him and they were moving swifter now but the arrows were flying past them one after the other. The last thing Dag remembered before he passed out was Bors telling him to "hang in there".