Tristan caught up with Lancelot. "Don't be rash, close your eyes, and let your heart feel her. She is safe for now. I think she is in pain, but not overmuch." Lancelot watched the man close his eyes and cock his head as if listening to something no one else could hear. At first he felt impatient at the interruption, then remembering what Laney had said to him, he did as Tristan bid. He couldn't feel anything for a few minutes, then suddenly he knew he felt her life force, her spirit all around him. She was not in danger, she was alive. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Tristan. "How did you know?" he asked. "Since the day at the stream, I have known if she was happy or sad, hurt or angry. I don't know how, but I know the feelings are real." Tristan lowered his head and Lancelot shook his head.
Tristan looked up at Lancelot, "Let's go to the tavern and find the others. As soon as we have our papers, we will find her. All of us." Lancelot hesitated for only a moment. He had asked them for help in keeping her safe, now he would wait and accept that help. As long as he could feel her life, he would not ask them to give up their freedom to help him. They walked toward the tavern in silence. Lancelot reveled in the feel of Laney's spirit in his mind. He willed her to feel his presence as he did hers. 'I'm coming my Darling, just hold on.' He thought as he followed the scout as if he had no will of his own.
The knights did not take Arthur's news well. Some were even contemplating not following their leader. Lancelot was livid. He couldn't take the time it would take to go north to bring this Roman back. He needed to find Laney. Arthur argued with him, trying to make him see the need to do as they were bid. What good would a life with Laney be if he were in some Roman prison, unable to be with her. As soon as they brought the Roman family back to safety, they would take their papers and find Laney, if she hadn't returned by then. Lancelot finally gave in to Arthur, but he told him before he stormed off, "If anything happens to her I will hold you responsible. You should just let me go to her."
Arthur watched the retreating back of his best friend. Then he raised his head and prayed aloud, "God, please do not take away the woman he loves. He has great need of her, as do we all." He then went to prepare for the trip they would take before the sun was over the horizon. The feeling of doom would not lift as he worked, so he headed toward his chambers. He doubted he would actually sleep, but maybe he could relax his mind until the feeling left him.
The sound of voices woke her from her sleep. At first she thought it was Lancelot's voice she heard, then telling herself she had been dreaming, she tried to move and found her body had gone to sleep. She tried to move, but the muscles wouldn't respond. Moaning, she again heard the voices. This time they were closer and she knew it was Lancelot. He was shouting at someone. Laney opened her mouth to shout for him but no sound came out. Her mouth was so dry. Tears were welling up in her eyes. Lancelot was so close and she couldn't let him know where she was!
Suddenly the small grate that was chained over her cell fell open and Lancelot peered inside. "Arthur, it's Laney!" he shouted as he knelt down to pull her out. Arthur came running over and knelt down to help Lancelot. Laney was crying both from happiness and the pains when she moved. Once she was out of her cell, Lancelot picked her up and held her to his chest. "Oh, Laney, how did you come to be in here?" His voice held both concern and relief that he had found her. Arthur interrupted before she had a chance to say anything. "Let's get her outside." They headed toward the entrance and Laney got Lancelot's attention, "No!" she croaked.
"Why, what's the matter?" he asked as he stopped walking. "Guinnevere." Was all she could get out, she needed something to drink. "Arthur! Laney says there is someone else still alive down here!" Lancelot shouted to Arthur. He told Lancelot to take Laney outside and he would look for the other person. Once they were outside and the others saw he was carrying Laney, they began to dismount and head over to help him. Just as he was about to call out for water, Arthur came out carrying another woman and yelled for someone to bring water. Surprisingly enough it was Horton, the Bishop's secretary that brought water and gave it first to Arthur and then to Lancelot and Dagonet.
Laney was so thirsty that she tried to gulp and choked on the water. After a bit of coughing, she grabbed Lancelot's tunic and held on, "Oh, Lance, I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I would die there." She began sobbing, this time from relief that Lancelot had indeed found her in time. He mistook her tears, and began to try and soothe them away. "No, you don't understand, I wasn't afraid of dying, I just didn't want to die while carrying our child." The tears had stopped and her desperate tone made him hold her back to look at her face. "Laney, you are safe now. Where were you going? Why couldn't you wait for me?"
"Lance, I have to be here, this is part of my fate." She slowly looked at his eyes. Once he was sure she had calmed down, he began to check her for injuries. She flinched whenever he touched her back and arms, so he raised her tunic and growled in anger. "Who did this to you?" Laney was frightened at the look on his face. "It's not as bad as it looks. I bruise easily." She knew he really wasn't concerned with the severity of her bruises, just the fact that she had them at all. She tried to smile, but she figured it came off pitiful instead of reassuring. Lancelot made to stand up and walk away just as Marius came striding up, "Stop! What are you doing?" Before Lancelot could reach him, Arthur had knocked him down and was standing over him, holding his sword to Marius' throat.
Laney hated the man for what he did to people, but she did not want to see Arthur kill him. He deserved to see the people he had tortured and the families of the ones he had killed be free from his rule. He deserved to lose everything he had held close. Then he would have paid for his sins against all these people. "Arthur, stop! He doesn't deserve such an easy release." She didn't think he had heard her until he raised up and stepped away from the Roman. She saw that the other knights were standing between Marius and the injured people. Tristan had his sword pulled and was holding it up in warning. Bors had his fists up, waiting for someone to start something. Gawain and Gallahad just stood with their hands falling beside them, but she could see the way they clinched and unclenched their fists.
A wagon drove up and she was placed inside with Guinnevere and a small boy. Dagonet would tend their wounds and keep watch over them until they arrived at the fort. After she had been settled down on the furs, Lancelot stood to leave the wagon. She knew he wanted to confront Marius, if for no other reason to find out who had done damage to her. She also knew she had to stop him. "Lancelot, don't leave me yet." She pleaded. He hesitated for a moment, then lowered himself to sit beside her. "I won't, if you wish me to stay. But, you know the time will come. This is only postponing what I must do." He had no anger in his tone, only resignation. She nodded that she understood, but she secretly hoped he would calm down if given the time and would just let it go. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly, before she could stop, she fell asleep.
When Lancelot felt the hold on his hand slacken, he knew she had fallen asleep. He gently pulled his hand from hers and stood up. Dagonet moved so he could move past him and reach the entrance. He wanted nothing more than to beat the truth out of one of the Romans, or all of them if that was what it took to get the truth. He jumped from the moving wagon and untied his horse. Mounting, he turned and rode toward the front where he knew Arthur would be. He was going to talk to Marius, but he would seek Arthur's counsel first.
He found Arthur sitting to the side of the caravan, watching the wagons and people on foot pass by. His face looked calm, but Lancelot could see that his eyes were troubled. Arthur looked up as Lancelot stopped beside him. "Laney has been beaten. She needs to get back to the fort." He watched Arthur's shocked expression at his news. "Did she say who did it to her?" He asked through clenched teeth. Lancelot shook his head. "She said it didn't matter. Maybe not to her, but to me it is important. I want to beat the one responsible."
Arthur watched him for a moment. "Don't worry friend, whoever was responsible will pay dearly, that I can promise you. But until we reach the safety of the fort, we cannot take the time to fight a war with the mercenaries that Marius has working for him. When we reach the fort, this war will be welcome." Lancelot nodded, then added, "We're not going to make it with all these people. We should take the family, especially the boy and ride back as quickly as possible. Marius deserves what the Saxons will do to him." Arthur nodded his agreement, then said, "But we will not let these people die after all they have suffered." Lancelot knew his friend was right, but he still didn't want to feel anything for the inhabitants of this island. He suddenly remembered that Arthur was only half-Roman, "Is this Rome's quest, or Arthur's?" he didn't mean for his tone to be so sarcastic, but he saw that he had upset his leader.
Arthur just looked at him with a anguished look. "Lancelot, you were right, the Rome I believe in isn't the real Rome. After all the things I saw at Marius' estate, there isn't any way even I could believe it otherwise." Lancelot looked at him, then he turned and rode back to the wagon where Laney was. He didn't go back inside, Dag would let him know if she needed him. He just rode beside the wagon and thought about the way things had turned out. Arthur's words made him feel sorry that he had not believed in anything these last years. Now he had Laney in his life and he knew he had missed a lot by not believing in anything other than what he could see or kill.
He remembered how everything had come crashing down when he thought he'd lost Laney. He shook his head. He should just be thankful that he had found her alive. He should be able to forget the circumstances, but he was having a hard time unclenching his jaw each time he thought about what someone had done to her. She deserved no such treatment and he would not accept it without repercussions.