Arelenne crept in the shadows of the far side of the forest, a slow smile spreading across her lovely face. She knew that it would be only a matter of time before Arthur came looking for his errant knight, and she would use the man's quality to her advantage.

She had paid a villager to find and deliver false news to her captain when full dark arrived, false news that told of Arelenne's running away into the wild north. She had been waiting an hour already since supper, perched as she was on a tree that gave her view of the heavy wooden gates.

Presently she spied Arthur's form atop his handsome steed, riding for the gate at a swift trot. With him were three others two knights that she could not recognize from afar as well as the man she had paid off.

Arelenne bit her lip, watching as Arthur motioned the guards to raise the gates, raising his voice when they refused to do so. The knight had not accounted for the fact that Arthur would bring his men, and she wavered suddenly when she realized that their following him would likewise mean their certain death.

Color rising in her face, Arelenne dropped down from the high branch and began her downward climb. She did not wish the death of her brothers in arms to pay for her pride, and would seek to rectify the situation immediately.

She could hear Arthur unsheathing Excalibur more than she saw him do so, and she made swiftly for the forest's edge. It was Percival and Tristan who accompanied her captain, she saw, and just as she opened her mouth to call to them a blade pressed upon her throat.

"Do not move," whispered a heavily accented voice behind her. "Or you will die."

"One of my knights has gone into the north and I must retrieve her," Arthur said, voice rising. "You will open this gate or I shall do it myself!"

The soldier lifted his chin. "The gates don't open after dark," he said. "Not for your knights, not for captains, and not even for the pope himself. And by the why, no one passed through my gate today, much less any of your precious girls."

Arthur unsheathed Excalibur in a swift motion, getting down from his horse and looming over the soldier. "Open. The gate," he said.

"No," said the soldier, standing his ground. "I won't let you endanger the whole of this territory for the sake of one girl!"

That statement drew Arthur up short, for he found that he had no reply for it. Tristan had meanwhile paid close attention to both soldier and villager, and he grabbed the latter by the scruff of his neck.

"You said he passed through the gate into the north," he said, slowly edging his hand toward his blade. "It seems you've been caught in your lie, my friend."

Both Percival and Arthur turned to the man at the same time, and the captain took him by the collar of his shirt. Tristan held his arms behind him, his grip vice like and painful. "What have you done with Arelenne," he asked, softly and dangerously.

Arthur's gaze was dark, and there was something quite terrible that shone in his eyes. "Speak," he said.

And trembling, the man told all he knew.