Gabrieal had never felt this way in his life.
He had always been independent. His own person. He looked out for himself, and didn't worry about anyone else. That was the way it was, and that was the way it was always going to be.
Then why was he finding himself almost wishing that Arthur and Lancelot wouldn't follow through with their plans?
"S'yer Sarmatian, eh?"
Gabrieal instantly snapped to attention. Here he was, standing before the leader of the Saxons-the fearless Cerdic whom Arthur loathed. It gave him grim satisfaction to stand before this powerful man.
"Yes."
"And you know information about Arthur?"
"Yes." Gabrieal thought it best not to say too much.
"Well. Tell me some of it."
This puzzled Gabrieal. He was expecting another grunting answer-which seemed to be Cerdic's favorite way of speaking.
When Gabrieal hesitated, Cerdic seemed to grow more angry.
"Well? You say you have information I would want to know; but what good is it to me if you will not tell me?"
"Arthur and his knights ride for your camp sundown tonight. They mean to finnish you off, before you can find them first." Gabrieal answered quickly.
Cerdic sat back in his seat, mouth chewing around some kind of bread. His beady blue eyes studied Gabrieal intently, and the Sarmatian had to work hard not to squirm under the penetrating gaze.
"If I said I believed you..." Cerdic started after a few minutes, apparently feeling no need to hurry. And why should he? Gabrieal mused. He had all the time he wanted, no one would dare go against him.
"...Would you be willing to fight...?"
Gabrieal almost laughed-what an outrageous question! "Of course!" He would fight. He'd been fighting all his life.
Cerdic did not react to Gabrieal reply. He only turned to another Saxon to his right.
"Raewald. Send him with Cynric. Have 'em meet Arthur half way. They shouldn't need any more men than they already have."
The other Saxon nodded, grabbing Gabrieal's shirt.
"Yer comin' with me."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
"Arthur I have a bad feeling about this."
The Roman commander didn't slow his trotting pace, and neither did the knights galloping, stretching behind him in a long, snaking line.
But Tristan did not mind talking at the quick pace. It did not matter as long as he got his point across.
"Why?" Arthur replied, distractedly.
"What if Gabrieal knew of our plan? Could he not tell the Saxons we were coming?"
"Tristan," said Arthur bracingly. "I do not think Gabrieal knew as much as you give him credit for."
But the Sarmatian was not convinced, and dropped back to ride next to Lancelot with a frown on his face.
"I can't believe he would do this." Lancelot muttered angrily, looking ahead past Arthur. Lancelot's dark eyes were narrowed dangerously, and though he rode as skillfully as ever, his back was stiff and his hands were clamped into tight fists. Tristan sighed.
"Talking about it does nothing." Said Tristan wisely, looking sideways at Lancelot.
"Neither does riding straight into a trap." Lancelot responded, and Tristan rose his eyebrows. Lancelot chuckled darkly upon seeing the other knight's reaction. "I know as well as you do that Gabrieal knew we were coming."
"Why not tell Arthur?" Tristan softly suggested, scanning the skies.
Lancelot waved it off. "He knows too. I think sometimes he uses battle as a way to vent. He is angry with Gabrieal. We all are. So he rides to fight against the source of his anger and gets us into another mess."
Tristan focused on the path in front of him. "I do not think Arthur would risk his knights' lives to vent his own feelings."
"Maybe not." Answered Lancelot, his voice tense. "But all the same, he plans an ambush he knows is expected. How do you explain that?"
"I would think you of all people would know, Lancelot."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
"Sundown."
Gabrieal nearly rolled his eyes. He could see that. With his standing position next to Cerdic's son Cynric, Gabrieal had the distinct impression that the Saxon thought him to be blind, deaf, and incredibly idiotic.
"Perhaps you care to explain why your friends aren't here." Cynric said airily. Gabrieal liked him better than his father, but he was still a Saxon, meaning the Sarmatian could not trust him. Not yet.
"They aren't my friends." Gabrieal muttered.
"You rode with them for years, did you not?"
"Doesn't mean I wanted to."
Cynric chuckled lowly. "Ah, that's right. You're a Sarmatian slave. A knight to the Roman government until at which time your freedom is granted."
Gabrieal was silent.
"Do you not want your freedom? Surely you aren't that impatient. You only have six more years. Why betray them now?"
Gabrieal fought with himself not to loose control. Stay calm, he told himself. And for once, he obeyed.
"It is...complicated..." He answered.
Cynric grinned again. "I see."
"Captain!"
Cynric looked up sharply. "What is it?"
The Saxon called Raewald panted quickly. "The Roman, sir! He has come!"
And Gabrieal suddenly wished he was blind, and deaf, and too idiotic to understand what could happen next.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The two armies met almost directly after Cynric was informed of Arthur's entrance. Sword clashed against sword and arrows pierced through the air-Filling the woods with merciless whistling sounds.
Galahad fought beside Gawain with a will that he was sure could topple any tree. Maybe it was his age, but Galahad could scarcely believe Gabrieal's betrayal! How dare he! And to choose the Saxons over the Romans? Galahad himself disliked Rome and its leaders, but he would never choose the primitive malice of the Saxons!
But still he fought.
Gawain was angry with Gabrieal, but he was at the same time quite relieved to be rid of the nuisance. Gawain wanted only to end the pathetic life of the other Sarmatian, and forget he ever existed. The only thing that troubled Gawain, was the way Lancelot seemed to be taking it.
Bors and Dagonet fought near each other as always. Bors didn't much care about Gabrieal. He had always found the younger knight to be a whining scamp who was the social reject of the knights. The fact that Gabrieal had betrayed them didn't exactly weigh heavily on Bors's mind. They just had to finish him off tonight was all. In truth, Dagonet much agreed with Bors. He personally did not want much to do with Gabrieal, but he had always tried to be at least decent towards him. Dagonet figured that people like Gabrieal were everywhere, and the world would be better if they simply gave them their space.
Arthur fought by Lancelot, swinging his heavy sword down upon the Saxons with an even heavier heart. He felt a bit guilty that he had let this happen. As a commander, was he not entitled to treating each knight with respect and dignity? He certainly had not given Gabrieal either of those things. And now it seemed that Gabrieal would die tonight. Whether by his sword or the swords of his knights-it did not seem to matter much.
Tristan stood aside from the other knights. He shot his arrows effortlessly as usual, a calm look of contentment on his face. Inside, Tristan knew that Gabrieal would not find the acceptance he so wanted with the Saxons. True, he would not find it with his fellow Sarmatians and Arthur, but Gabrieal had been wrong to leave them. Sometimes Tristan felt a great rift between himself and the other knights, but he was used to it. He did not want their acceptance, only their respect. And perhaps friendship. But Tristan knew that Gabrieal was not like him. Gabrieal wanted something else, something more.
And so the battle raged on. The sixteen remaining knights and their Roman commander against the mighty Saxon army.
It was midnight when the smoke finally cleared.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Gawain was out of breath, but he stood up as quickly as he could, yanking his ax out of the head of a Saxon. Shaking his head of his weariness, he hurried to find Arthur and the others. He found them scattered about, Bors and Dagonet, Tristan and (his heart relaxed somewhat) Galahad.
"Did you see him?" Bors asked him as soon as Gawain ambled over.
"Who?"
"Gabrieal!" Galahad said, faking exasperation. "None of us did. We don't think he fought."
"Bloody coward." Bors grunted.
"Were you looking for him the entire battle?" Tristan asked lightly, examining his bow as if they weren't standing over hundreds of dead bodies.
"And how was I supposed to do that and fight at the same time?" Bors retorted.
"Maybe you missed him, then." Tristan shrugged.
Bors rolled his eyes.
"Where's Arthur?" Dagnonet asked.
"And Lancelot." Gawain noticed, frowning.
The rest of the knights followed them in search of the others, hoping to any God that they would not find them among the bodies.
"There's Arthur!" Galahad shouted suddenly.
The knights sprinted towards their commander, who knelt on the ground. He never looked their way, but his voice was anxious and urgent.
"Arthur! What is it?" Bors exclaimed coming to a stop.
But Gawain knew. Lancelot lay on the ground, his eyes open, but glazed and clouded. His breathes were shallow and quick.
"It's Lancelot!" Arthur cried. "Tristan-it was an arrow, I pulled it out, but I fear it was poisoned..."
Tristan pushed past his fellow knights and knelt next to Arthur and Lancelot. His eyes scanned the bleeding wound on Lancelot's shoulder rapidly.
"Too soon to tell." He murmured. "We need to get him back to the wall."
Arthur nodded, and with Dagonet's help he lifted Lancelot onto Arthur's horse. Mounting quickly, Arthur shouted orders for his knights to follow him as fast as they could ride safely.
Gawain obeyed instantly, fearing for Lancelot's life. He quickly found his horse not far away, and mounted effortlessly. Looking around for Galahad, he grew alert when he did not see him.
"Galahad!" Gawain warned loudly. How dare he hold them all up!
And that's when he saw him.
Two figures at the edge of the forest.
The moonlight illuminated the faces. The one who held the weapon, the hunter. And the one who could not run, the hunted.
The knights gasped audibly, even Arthur turned to look in his worried haste.
But Gawain knew how it would end. Galahad was the hunter.
But sometimes the hunted still wins.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-TBC-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Sorry for the wait! Thanks for all the nice reviews! New chapter posted either tomorrow or the next day!