Before you begin to read this I wish to clarify some things, first, the not recognizing at the beginning of chapter 2 was a flash back, second my disk corrupted the day I went to upload and I couldn't find the time to retype this until now, third, Range is Dagonet's older brother thus why he is here, and fourth, if you have any questions just reply and I'll address them in the last chapter. Thank you all soooooooo much for reading and being patient with me, I really appreciate it.
Before You Go…
Chapter 3
Tristan wondered into the village as the sun started coming up, the fog still swirling thickly around the wooden buildings. He stared at the house that was Douma's, watching the smoke rising from the chimney. He could almost see her as she had walked away, her arms wrapped around her and the tears beginning to stream down her face again.
He had spent the entire night walking through the woods and crying over things he didn't know had upset him and had fallen asleep somewhere around noon. It had taken him nearly an hour to find the village again. He blinked as he watched a carriage roll up to the house that had been erected for Arthur, a woman stepping out and walking to the door where she was promptly let in.
He gave it little thought and walked to the tree beside Douma's home, making sure her father wasn't nearby before he sat at it's base, staring up at her window. 'You should have told her.' He heard in his ear.
"I could not, she was too upset…" He tried to reason with himself, trying desperately to believe it.
'She returns your affections, why else would she have been so upset about not being able to wish you farewell?' The voice continued.
"She…" He couldn't find an excuse for himself. "You are right." He told the voice, "The very next time I see her, I'll take her in my arms and I will not release her until I have told her…"
'And you will not make excuses as to why you can not?'
"I swear it." He added quietly, still staring up at the window as he felt himself grow happier. "I swear it…" He stood again and started toward the stables, watching the door to the Knight's lodgings open as Range walked out.
He raised his massive arms over his head and stretched his entire body in one simple motion with an arch of the back. After a moment he noticed the other man walking down the street and grinned, "Tristan!" He called as he walked toward him, the smile he wore at all times affixed to his face again. "We thought we had lost you."
"I was asleep." Tristan said in the monotone he used with everyone in the village excepting Douma.
"Is that all?" Range asked with a grin as he walked beside him in the general direction of the stables. "And to think I was under the impression you were giving Douma a goodbye." He shrugged. "At the least, that is what Galahad thought when he could not find her yesterday."
"Watch your tongue or it will be removed." Tristan added calmly as they turned a corner. "She was in the castle."
"I meant nothing by it friend." He said, lacing his fingers behind his head as he walked, attracting the attention of several milkmaids walking past.
"Do you think I care what you meant?" He asked, looking straight ahead and ignoring the fact that the man was at least half a foot taller then himself.
"Yes." He said shortly. "I believe you care more then you let on, weather it is about your fellow knights or a certain blacksmith's daughter." He added with a grin.
"RANGE!" A voice from behind them called. Range turned around in time to see Dagonet before he was tackled and left lying on the ground trying to wrestle the younger man off as Lancelot took his place beside Tristan. "So, where have you been this past day?" He asked with a grin.
"Asleep." He repeated his earlier answer.
"Oh, alright." He said, forcing the grin away, "Now I understand that Galahad is slightly annoyed with the fact that he could find neither you nor Douma all day yesterday and he may wish to speak with y…"
"She is in the castle with a cousin getting supplies and orders for her father." He said shortly. "I have not seen her since she told me goodbye the night before last."
"Oh." He said, sincerely surprised by this fact. "You may wish to tell him that before he gets a' hold of some more ale." He added with a grin.
"It is none of his concern anyway." Tristan said, "He follows her like a lost dog seeking food and calls it love." He had not allowed his eyes to leave the path ahead of him and watched as the stables loomed into view out of the fog over the hill they were climbing. He was almost surprised at the fact that he was saying this, he had thought it for a very long time but had never mentioned it.
"It is the only love he knows." Lancelot replied, watching the other man as he walked, "Douma was, for some time, the only person in the village willing to speak to him. He believes she loves him back."
"Lancelot!" Range called, Dagonet slung across his shoulders as he walked up the hill, the smaller of the two brothers struggling in a futile attempt to get out of his grip. "What did I tell you about sending my brother to do your dirty work?"
"He is wrong." Tristan retorted as he continued to walk, leaving Lancelot to answer the calls from behind him.
He stroked the chest of the falcon he had caught the year before and smoothed his feathers down. "We are to do our job now." He said simply to the bird, "Make sure you tell me if you see anything."
He turned his horse as he heard footsteps and saw Arthur walking beside the woman that had come in the carriage that morning. She wore a black dress with a red panel on the front. The neck cut low around her bust and a black shawl around her head, casting a shadow over her face and blocking her features.
"Would you look at that…" Range said, leaning to one side on his horse to get a better look at the woman as she held the shawl tight around her head.
"Watch yourself." Dagonet said, grinning, "They might not like the idea of you staring at the Roman's wife when we reach his house."
"Do not worry little brother, I will do my looking before we reach the roman's house."
"And when they kill you?" Bors asked as he pulled his horse into check beside Range's white horse.
"Then Dagonet can finally have this ring of mine he's had his eye on for so long." He held up his hand and showed him a silver ring around his thumb.
Tristan watched her for a moment, 'I know you…' The voice in his mind said quietly.
"Now Tristan…" Range said, slapping him on the back, the bird flapping its wings and squawking, "It is not a good idea to be staring at a woman when you have one of your own already."
He glanced back at Galahad as he grimaced at the comment. "I am not staring, I am merely making sure I know who I am to be guarding."
"Of course you are." Galahad said angrily as he spurred his horse past the two older men.
He closed his eyes as they rode, allowing his mind to wash over with anything besides the trail before them. He remembered a song and felt himself begin to sing, "Land of bear and land of eagle, land that gave us birth and blessing, land that called us ever homewards, we will go home across the mountains…" He could hear himself grow louder but couldn't seem to stop it. "We will go home, we will go home, we will go home across the mountains, we will go home singing our song," He hummed a few bars, hoping the words would come back to him, "Hear our singing, hear our longing, we will go home across the mountains, we will go home, we will go home, we will go home across the mountains…"
"I know that song." Range's voice said in his ear as he pulled up beside him, "The barmaids sing it…" He looked at Tristan for confirmation of his theory.
"The women of that village have sung it for every generation of knights since the first." He said in the same monotone. "It was written by one of the first knights and he taught it to his wife before he died and she to their daughter, and her to hers." He answered. "Douma sang it once in the tavern."
"Ah, no wonder you know so much about it." He said with a grin.
"My mother used to sing it to me when I was a baby." He retorted.
"Oh…" For the first time since they had met in Sarmatia Tristan saw Range speechless. They rode for several minutes until Range suddenly stopped his horse. "Did you hear that?" He asked staring into the trees to the left.
"No." Tristan replied as simply as he could.
Range dismounted and disappeared into the trees for a few moments, vanishing with great ease for someone of his size. Tristan was always amazed by his innate ability to disappear into a group of trees with little to no thought regarding it.
As he reappeared Tristan raised an eyebrow, "Did you see anything?"
"No." he said, looking back over his shoulder at the trees. "I could have sworn…" He shrugged, "No use in waiting around here, whatever it is, it left."
He climbed back onto his horse and turned to his companion, "Now, how does that song go?"
