A/N: Sorry for the long wait, you guys, I've been really busy, but I enjoyed writing this chapter SO much! I love all the drama and the cliff hanger at the end is the best! Lol. Again, thanks so much to al the readers, AND reviewers, especially the reviewers cuz I'm writing this for you guys! There's only like…three chapters left, so hang in there with me. Can you believe I've been writing this story almost a year? Lol, I know lately I've been slow, but that's cuz I'm really busy. I should update again sooner this time though, but you must understand, that even though it's summer, I have a job and class, so I have little time to write anymore. Enjoy this chapter, and please REVIEW!

-Modesty

Chapter Nineteen: Briac's Revenge

Adima couldn't shut out the sounds- the battle cries, screams of lament, death, and torture. She could smell death; it smelled of freshly spilled blood. She flinched even as she cut the throat of a Saxon, blood spurting across the bridge of her nose and cheek.

She looked up to the grave-tinted sky, a coarse, harsh grey, heavy with defeat and darkening clouds. Glancing around her, Adima could see men and women falling to their knees onto the bloodstained earth, the very solid, rock, and puddle of blood that they were fighting for.

Why did the Saxons come? Adima questioned through gritted teeth. What life could they bring to this place? This is our land; it always will be, as it was from the beginning.

She could not contain her fury at this moment, and like an unstoppable machine, cut through Saxon hide and armor without a second thought. She knew she would regret the bloodshed in time, but now was not the moment to lament the dead, especially the Saxons.

She could feel it. Blood trickled like a tiny waterfall down her left side. Closing her hand around the cut, she grimaced. Her hair clung to the sides of her face with sweat. When she lifted her palm, it was stained red, but Adima looked away, trying to ignore the pain. She saw Gawain fighting with an axe to her right, and up ahead, on the side of a hill, she caught sight of Talso. She grinned. Revenge is sweet, friend, she thought. I'm glad you could have it.

Tristan glanced around for Adima, but couldn't find her in the midst of battle. He was not given the opportunity to look more than three seconds when he was approached by a pair of Saxons. Both stood before him, swords at the ready, grinning with the thought of killing each other.

Tristan wet his lips and eyed his enemies. They were large, much taller than he, and appeared to be brothers for they both looked similar. Tristan tightened his grip on the sword he held and readied his stance, widening his legs and shoulders.

As the first Saxon came at him, he shouted a fierce battle cry and swung at Tristan as he passed him, but Tristan swerved at the last second and brought the curved sword down onto his enemy, leaving him as the Saxon fell, mortally wounded, to the earth.

Almost a second after the first Saxon had attacked, the second brother made his attempt. As he swung at Tristan, the knight ducked and drew a knife from his belt, aiming and firing at the Saxon; the blade hit its mark in the center of the Saxon's overgrown belly. Tristan stood up straight, and quickly found more Saxons to kill.

Cerdic calmly strode about the bloody battlefield, stepping over ash covered bodies with not a second glance. He swung his long sword from side to side as he made his way from one Woad to the other. As one spitfire woman came running at him, he simply raised his blade and as she came close enough to him, and was about to swing, he unexpectedly lunged forward, thrusting his blade into her. With a gasp of pain, she fell to the ground with no more breath in her.

Tristan was watching from afar. The battle, he noticed, was moving further away from him and the Saxon Lord. As the Saxon stepped closer to Tristan, the two stared each other straight in the eyes, and knew their battle was with each other.

One step. Another. With every step on the blood drenched ground that Tristan took, he drew ever closer to his enemy, and with every step came the feeling of an unnamable hatred, a deliberate longing to kill, to bleed the blonde haired man of his life. Something over Tristan at that moment that he could not tame if he'd tried. It was true hatred, pure hatred, something he knew he'd never felt before. The lust for death was one thing, but the love of it, was completely another.

"Dayn, look to Adima!" Guinevere shouted over the roar of the battle.

Dayn, a warrior who fought with the Woads, looked up as he heard Guinevere's call. She was pointing towards her sister who was fighting off several Saxons with two other Woad women. Adima was struggling, and the wound from her side was not merciful.

Guinevere could see the mark of blood growing on Adima's side, and she could tell her sister was in pain. As the Saxon soldier stepped forward, thrusting his blade at Adima, the Woad fell to the ground, tripping over a stone when she had attempted to duck.

Adima shut her eyes, preparing for the blow. I am not afraid of death, she reminded herself, frantically. But instead of the blade falling upon her, a body did instead. Guinevere smiled a quick thank you at Dayn who had thrown a knife directly into the Saxon's ribs.

Adima grunted with pain as the Saxon's heavy form fell onto her. She struggled to lift herself up, but she was too weak to shake him off. His head, which had fallen onto her neck, was shaking lightly as she struggled to move him off of her, and his jaw hung loose. Adima took in a whiff of his breath and grunted at the stench.

"Get off!" she yelled as she gripped his shoulders and tried to force him off her.

Suddenly, she felt him move, but it was not of her doing. The Saxon growled as his large brown eyes thrust open. Staring the horrified Woad right in the eye he grinned slyly.

Before Adima could move her head, his lips were on hers. Though he could feel his time was waning, the thought of death brought no insecurities to the bleeding Saxon. He gripped Adima by the neck to stop her head from moving side to side furiously.

"No!" she screamed, wriggling her body and head in an attempt to get away from him.

"Stop moving!" he shouted, hoarsely.

Cerdic's eyes were calm, but Tristan could see a fire burning deep inside them. The Saxon saw the same fire in Tristan's eyes. "Let's be quick," he growled with a smile. "I've still got Arthur to kill."

The fire grew in Tristan's already wild eyes, and Cerdic knew it. With a grin, he continued. "And then that'll be the last of you…"

Tristan knew he had to be patient, wait for the opportune moment, steady himself before the strike, but he couldn't keep it in, the fire was burning so brightly now. He lunged forward, but Cerdic easily blocked his blow.

Tristan backed away, angered by his flawed strike, and continued walking slightly around Cerdic as the Saxon held his gaze with that never fading grin of his, the kind that tore into the soul.

Briac laid on the ground, spitting up blood, a scowl upon his face. He took his hand and wiped the blood from his mouth, glancing around him. He'd just been knocked down by a Saxon's blade, but he was still alive. It was a blow to the stomach, and a deafening pain crawled through him.

As his eyes began to wander across the battlefield, he caught sight of someone he had wished to meet again. Tristan. The knight seemed to be squaring off with a Saxon. Briac grinned, one last time as he turned to his right. A crossbow and two arrows lay beside him.

Tristan and Cerdic both made strikes this time. Only on this strike, Tristan aimed better, his sword cutting slightly into he Saxon's armor. Cerdic grimaced, surprised, but never glanced down at the wound, and tried to ignore it. The two backed off each other again, and made a third strike, and this time, continued to fight. Cerdic lashed out his sword, mirroring the wound that Tristan had given him.

Briac, with all the strength left in his body, aimed the crossbow. He had not used one before, and did know how, but he had watched several Saxons using it, and understood enough. As he took his last breath, Briac let the arrow sail through the sky.

A/N: I promise, the next update will be in about a week or less because I wrote the chapter already, and I've started a War of the Worlds fic, so be an alert for that in the Miscellaneous Movies section coming soon. I'm almost done with this story! Please review to tell me you're still here! Thanks so much!