Authors notes: - Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews. They are much appreciated. I hope you enjoy this!! Happy Holidays!
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Tristan watched as the bay stallion staggered into view, it stumbled falling to its knees and Tristan smiled tightly as it snorted in what appeared to be annoyance. The horse struggled to its feet and stood with all four legs splayed like it was trying to keep its balance on ice. Hurrying down the stairs leading to the battlements Tristan quickly moved onto the plain in front of the fort. By the time he reached the horse it was moving forward barely a leg at a time. Upon seeing Tristan it raised its head and nickered a greeting.
"Hello to you to." The scout answered as he smoothed his hand along the arched neck that despite the exhaustion and wounds still looked magnificent. Moving swiftly Tristan loosened the girth and the horse breathed out long and loud.
"That's better is it not." He whispered leading the horse onwards towards the fort. Infinitely patient the scout matched the exhausted horse's pace. A squire came out to collect the animal but Tristan waved him away, he would see to the brave horse himself.
The inside of the stables brought an exhale of breath from the horse as if sighing in relief. The squire had sent for the vet who entered shortly after them. With a manner as brusque as the doctor he approached the pair.
"You are almost as bad as your master Scimitar." He said with a pat of the neck.
"Gruel." He stated and Tristan paused in the un - tacking to glance at the vet.
"Make him a warm gruel and then rub him down." Tristan frowned and continued to remove the bridle. The man said no more realising that Tristan only followed one Roman's orders. He moved to study the arrow wound. Scimitar had lost a lot of blood and it left a dark sticky path down its leg. The arrow itself was still firmly lodged deep within the flesh. This was going to be a problem especially if part of it broke off. They needed to get Scimitar on his side to give a degree of stability to the operation, the only down side would be whether the bay stallion could rise again. Once a horse was down in his experience they rarely got up. He did not want that to happen for Lancelot would kill him if another of his horses died.
"We need to get him on his side." He stated. Tristan nodded and moved Scimitar into enough space to lie down. He had seen Lancelot prompt the horse to fall to its knees but he didn't know if the horse would do the same for him. Repeating the movements on the bay the horse just turned its head and regarded him with an expression of bemusement, snorting as if laughing the horse dropped to its knees and then lay down. Kneeling next to its head Tristan soothed the horse. Two squires appeared and moved to aid the vet.
A few minutes later Scimitar squealed in pain and kicked out.
"I think you should look at this." The vet said. Tristan turned to see the vet handing him the arrow.
"Its Roman." With a final pat Tristan left the stable with the bloody arrow shaft.
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The doctor placed his hand on Lancelot's forehead and smiled in satisfaction. No fever as of yet and it looked as though he had gotten to the wound quick enough to prevent infection. Now the only problem would be keeping the knight in bed. His leg was badly bruised and he would not be able to walk for at least a couple of days, even then it would be with a limp. The concussion would probably be better by tomorrow although he feared for his orderlies safety as they had to wake him up every few hours to check that he hadn't suffered any serious damage. Perhaps he could get one of the knights to do it. With strict instructions on how to monitor the knight he left to head to the main hall.
As he entered the attention of the knights focused upon him. Arthur rose to his feet.
"How is he?" the Roman asked.
"He will be fine. The concussion is not as serious as I first thought although he will have to be woken every few hours."
Bors laughed loudly.
"Who has the misfortune of that job?"
"Volunteering?" the doctor asked pointedly and the knight promptly shut up. Turning his attention back to Arthur he continued.
"His leg is badly bruised and he will need to stay in bed for a couple of days."
At Arthur's disbelieving look the doctor shrugged.
"Well as long as we can manage. I will sedate him if necessary."
Arthur knew the doctor would carry out that threat, he had done it before. Before anything could be said Tristan appeared and dropped an arrow on the table in front of Arthur. Puzzled he picked it up and then looked at Tristan for conformation. Tristan glanced at the rest of the knights and Arthur nodded.
"So Lancelot will be well then?"
The doctor nodded.
"Good." Bors announced. "Vanora is waiting. Let's go." Galahad immediately followed Bors out of the room. Gawain and Dagonet had both seen Tristan drop the arrow and were looking at them with curious expressions. Arthur shook his head and indicated that they should go; he would talk to them later.
"If that is all I will get back to my patient?" the doctor said.
"Thank you." Arthur acknowledged. Gawain and Dagonet left with him. As soon as the doors shut Arthur turned to Tristan.
"Where did you get this?" he asked already having formed a good opinion of where it had come from.
"Lancelot's horse."
With a furious expression Arthur slammed the arrow back on to the table.
"Is there any chance that the woads could have been using Roman arrows?" he asked.
"There is always a first time."
Arthur sighed and dropped into the chair suddenly exhausted.
"So how does a Roman arrow find its way into the horse of a knight?"
"A rogue Roman unit?" Tristan wondered
With a sigh Arthur groaned.
"There were reports of a cavalry unit going missing. It was thought that they had been the victims of an ambush but absolutely no trace of their unit, horses, weapons, bodies has been found, nothing. I didn't think much of it, I thought the woads may have taken them all and were going to taunt us at a later point. Now I am not so sure."
"If they mutinied why would they attack us?" Tristan mused considering the options. "Maybe they have formed an alliance with the woads?"
Arthur again sighed. "Go join the men and I will sort this out. I shall go and talk to the legionary centurion. If there is a rogue unit we will have to find them and take them out. This is the last thing we need as winter takes hold."
Tristan nodded. "Tell Lancelot his horse should live."
"He will be pleased to here that." With a nod the scout left. Arthur closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Picking up the arrow he left the hall and headed for the centurion's quarters.
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