Authors notes: Thank you for the reviews. Please its dissertation and exam time, please, please, please review and make my day so much brighter:-)
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Plautius heard the shouting and saw Jols leave the room they had dragged Lancelot into. The squire looked around and saw the Roman knelt by the body of Julio.
"How is he?" Jols said reaching him.
"Not good. How's Lancelot?"
"Not good either. He just found the mark."
Plautius nodded in understanding. He doubted that he would have reacted any differently to a similar discovery on himself.
"Any chance we could find the doctor?"
Jols shrugged. "Hopefully. I will go look but I don't quite know where he ended up."
The squire hurried away.
"Did we win?" Julio whispered. Plautius shook his head.
"Not even close. We are awaiting Arthur's arrival and hopefully some further reinforcements."
Julio sighed. "He will come…Lancelot."
"If he can."
"Lancelot?" Julio questioned studying the Roman soldier.
"I don't know. The woads gave him something that has him in agony, unable to sleep or even to lapse into unconsciousness. If he doesn't get help soon I fear that he may not survive."
"Dying." Julio choked out.
"I thought you disapproved of pessimism." Plautius stated as he continued to apply firm pressure on the wound. He had removed the arrow earlier and since then had been trying to stop it but it was not lessening. If Julio didn't get help the wound would more than likely kill him.
"Realism…"
"HA!" Plautius said. "If Lancelot was here he would scoff in your face. Romans and realism don't belong in the same sentence."
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Jols scrambled down the stone steps to the cellars. He had to clamber over the obstacles that had been deposited hastily to try and prevent the discovery of those within the underground rooms. Opening the doors he let out a yelp as something sharp grazed his skin.
"JOLS!" a voice exclaimed. "I am so sorry."
The squire turned to see one of the other squires holding his sword as if it were a poisonous snake. A small sliver of blood marred its polished surface.
"No harm done. Glad to see you are alert."
"Is it over? Did we win?"
"They have moved back into the trees to await Arthur. There were heavy casualties, most of the Romans are dead and the defences are breached."
The brief flash of relief when Jols said the woads had retreated quickly disappeared when he mentioned the casualties.
"If they have retreated why can't we leave?" a voice called from somewhere in the crowd of people who had now risen to their feet.
"Because as soon as they realise that people are in here they will come back and finish the job. They believe you escaped before the attack, Lancelot refused to give up your location when he was tortured and I will not let his suffering be in vain. If one of you sets foot out of here then you seal the fate for the rest of those hiding here."
"Why have you come then?" the squire who had almost stabbed him asked.
"We need the doctor."
"I thought you said they were dead. Why then do you need the doctor?" Another voice called.
"I didn't say they were dead. We have some seriously wounded people out there and I will not allow them to suffer without some aid. If the doctor has disappeared I will need any medical supplies you have."
At first no one moved and Jols growled in frustration. He understood they were afraid but these people had been injured defending them.
"Out of my way. Let me through." An authoritative voice demanded and to his great relief Jols saw the doctor elbowing his way through the crowd.
"Lead on Jols. I bet that Lancelot has ruined all the work I have done so far. If he has I am going to kill him."
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Lancelot stretched his hand out as far as his weakened body would allow but he still could not reach the knife. With a noise of frustration he withdrew it.
Gritting his teeth he attempted to pull his body towards it but his strength had finally failed him and he could do nothing but lay and pant.
"Damn it." His eyes caught sight of the mark and he let out an angry shout.
"Glad to see your not dead yet." A familiar voice exclaimed. The doctor appeared.
"How could Arthur's hell be any worse than this?" he muttered in response.
"That's gratitude for you. Seen as you are awake and definitely grumpy I will take it as a sign that you are not about to die and I will see to my other patients."
"Thanks." Lancelot replied sarcastically.
"Not a problem just keep that attitude up and the herbs will get increasingly fouler."
The doctor disappeared again and Lancelot muttered some curses as he once again reached for the knife. He would get this mark off him before anything else, even if he had to cut it off.
Just as his fingers grazed the object a hand reached out and pulled the knife away. Lancelot stared accusingly at Jols who glared right back at him.
"I'm guessing you didn't need that for any practical reason so I am not about to return it."
"I thought I told you to go away."
"You did and now I am back and there is no way that I am letting you cause anymore damage to yourself because Arthur will almost certainly kill me for it."
Lancelot closed his eyes feigning defeated acceptance but, he thought, I will get it off and no one is going to stop me.
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Arthur watched as Tristan returned with the other scouts. They hurried towards him and the two centurions joined them.
"Report." Arthur said simply.
"They are all within the trees as we suspected but they seem to be less than we anticipated. If we deploy our troops carefully we should be able to cause maximum confusion."
"Do we have a chance?" Pontius asked. Tristan shrugged.
"Depends"
"On what?" Licinius questioned.
"How many I kill."
Licinius's mouth dropped open in shock.
"Well I know you don't lack confidence." He said after a while.
Arthur chuckled. "That is something that they would never be accused of lacking."
Pontius joined in the chuckling.
"Have you divided your men?" Arthur said returning the conversation to the serious side. Both centurions nodded.
Arthur nodded and quickly outlined his plan. Within minutes the soldiers moved to their assigned places to await the darkness.
The three leaders remained in a group together.
"If this fails I want you to get everyone out of the fort." Arthur stated.
"Arthur if this fails none of us will be able to get to the fort." Pontius pointed out.
"No, it will not go that far. If the battle goes ill I will signal you. My knights and I will hold them for as long as possible."
"No." Licinius said. "We can not protect them as much as we would wish to. We are either victorious or we are defeated. There is no middle ground." Pontius said.
"I have sent messengers to other forts. If we hold out long enough then hopefully help will come." Licinius offered as a slight hope.
"Unless they can fly I do not think they will be in time." Pontius replied.
"Miracles can happen." Arthur pointed out.
"Now is as a good a time as any." Licinius said as he rose to his feet.
"I have to see to my men. I wish you both all the luck in the world and I shall see you for a drink when it is over." The centurion offered a salute and walked away. Pontius rose as well.
"I second that Arthur. We will be victorious."
"I hope you are right."
The two parted ways their hearts heavy with the thought of the upcoming battle and the suffering it would cause.
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