Disclaimer… I don't own king arthur…
Chiefhow- I hate those vibes! Haha
Nora17- Hell yeah there's gonna be Tristan!
Sugar-Skyline- Sorry! I didn't even notice! It won't be like that for long!
I wish I could say the years passed quickly, but I can't. Four painfully boring years passed in Gaul. At seventeen I was skilled with a sword, a bow, spear, dagger, axe, and wrestling. Galina had proven to be quite formidable with her small axe and knife as had Branwain with her crowbill. We had been in one battle in four years, and I had taken full advantage of it. In the short skirmish I had engaged and killed twelve men. After that the Romans stayed away from us and Bela treated me with a new respect. There was one thing we were short on though. Real experience. There was no camping, no scouting, no… no reality. It was truly a hell for us. After Balin and Lionel left and I realized there it was just us, I took back part of myself. The world I lived in did not have room a girl who wore her heart on her sleeve. The only good thing that came from our stay in Gaul, aside from our skills, was the bond that developed between Galina, Branwain and I. Galina, at twenty was thin and willowy with a Grecian face. Her almost gold hair was long and wavy and her warm brown eyes were far-seeing. There was something otherworldly and soothing about her. I loved her without truly ever understanding why she was the way she was, and I knew she felt the same about me. Branwain however was the only one who could bring me out of my withdrawn state. Her loud and brassy ways could always bring a smile to my face. For four years we could find few things worth living for. Each other and the future. For me the future held more battles, more honor. To Galina it held romance and happiness and to Branwain, it was home and glory.
I could not stand another pointless day in Gaul. And pointless is what it was. There was nothing more we could learn there. I was going to confront Bela about being shipped to Britain. Anyone else would have already been sent and I knew it.
"I can't do this anymore." Galina said lifelessly. Branwain nodded and downed her cup of wine.
"I have to get out of here lest I go into a blind rage and wake up to find dead Romans everywhere." I said dramatically. Galina smiled.
"Could you take me out while you're at it?" Branwain asked half seriously. I snorted. I looked up as a couple of fresh recruits were ushered into the mess hall. That hardened my resolution and I stood up.
"I'm going to speak to Bela." And with that I walked to the Sarmatian captain's quarters. I didn't bother knocking, and he gave me a surprised look as I barged into his room.
"We should have been sent to Britain last summer and you damn well know it." I said abruptly. He gave me a sour look and straightened up from where he was glancing over some papers.
"You think you are ready for Britain?" He said as if he wasn't really paying attention but I knew he was measuring every word I said.
"What more can we gain here? We've got to get out of here and you know it. I don't know how you can stand it." I said plainly. I was usually respectful and kept my opinions to myself, but I had made up my mind.
"Maybe you're ready, but what about the other two?" He asked while looking me in the eye. I looked past those flinty gray chips and saw that he was worried about us. I was angry that he would try and force me to ask him to put my friends in danger.
"We cannot stay here forever." I said. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"Do you know how many boys I've sent to their deaths?" He asked me wearily. I said nothing. He had a duty, no matter how painful it was. "I had a daughter once. She was a fighter like you three. I took her to Britain with me and I watched her die with an arrow through her heart. It's a horrible thing, to see someone you love die. One minute we were laughing and talking and the next she was on the ground with a great hole in her chest. We should have been more alert, but love makes you weak. Remember that Isolde." I could say nothing. I was too surprised that this stony man was letting me into this part of his history. "It's a dangerous land girl. The Roman emperor himself had a wall built to keep away the woads. They call it part of Rome, but it hasn't even been truly conquered. Even if you can deal with those who live there, the entire island is surrounded by enemies."
"I'll send you there, in the morning if you like, but don't let those two do anything stupid." He said and once again he was my dry humored commander. It was a dismissal and I recognized. I bowed my head slightly and left.
"We're going to Britain in the morning." I said as I walked past my companions.
"Wh-what?" Branwain sputtered. I knew she had heard me so I continued to the barracks and began to prepare.
Bela was good to his word and the next morning we were mounting our horses and ready to head for the coast. Bela saluted us and walked up to my horse. He looked into my face and nodded. I looked at the cloth wrapped thing he handed me and tilted my head thoughtfully. It was the second time in my life that I had been handed a sword on the brink something new. I drew it out of its plain leather sheath and admired it. It resembled a Greek machaira. I traced my finger down the forward curving blade. It was a deadly blade and I had knew it would shear through the thickest of armor.. I didn't ask who it had belonged to, I didn't need to. I nodded and gave him a small smile. He patted my leg and walked back inside the walls. The Romans who would be taking us to Britain motioned for us to catch up and we obliged.
That night we camped in a forest near the coast. The next day we would board a ship and sail to Britain. I laid on the forest floor and looked up through the tree tops to the starry night.
"What will it be like?" Branwain asked.
"How am I supposed to know?" I said with my mind on other things.
"You know everything…" She said and I could tell she was about to fall asleep. Bela had seen to it that I had an education, but I didn't know everything. My thoughts were disrupted as I heard Galina's hacking cough. She had started coughing more and more often over the past few weeks and I was beginning to feel alarmed.
"Has your cough still not passed?" I asked her. She took a rugged breath and sighed.
"It's gone; I just had something in my throat." She said calmly and I swallowed her lie. We said nothing else until morning.
Once we were off the godforsaken ship, we set off immediately to our new home. Luguvalium. It was a large settlement not far from Hadrian 's wall. Our journey lasted a fortnight, but we barely noticed. I had never seen so much damn green in all my life. It was vibrant and the very land seemed to pulse with life. Britain, like my own homeland, would never fully be Roman. Stone circles and ancient shrines dotted the land. We rode past fields of wheat being tended to by men and women with coarse tunics and shaggy hair. We pass fortresses and Caers and villages. There were some thriving cities, but mostly there were just forests and small towns. There were Roman villas too. I passed their high walls and wondered why a Roman would want to live in this pagan land. When we reached Luguvalium we were all glowing with happiness. We had begun a new part of our life. Luguvalium was a large fortress that was no longer of much importance after the building of the Roman wall. It was used to station men and their families and it was a place of trade. We were sent to our new barracks and settled in. I didn't mind the stares that we received. They would get used to having three Sarmatian women fighting along side them soon enough.
"Welcome to Luguvalium." A man with a Roman accent said stepping in front of us. He was a Roman by his attire. He looked to be in his early forties and was very fit. He had a kind yet stern face.
"I am your new commander, Marcus Junius. So. You are the three Amazon women we have heard of?" He said with a smile. I was completely taken aback. I had expected an arrogant Roman, not a kind one.
"We're Sarmatian." Galina said not knowing what else to say.
"What our orders sir?" I said ignoring Galina. I wanted to know what we would be doing.
"If you were Roman, you would be trained for service at the wall or you would stay here and settle local disputes. Rarely do we get the chance to train Sarmatians though! In your case you will be assigned to cavalry. You will be sent to put down local rebellions and to defend coastal cities from Irish raiders." He said the last part with a bit of annoyance, as if just thinking of the Irish put him in a foul mood. "Occasionally you may be sent to reinforce the Sarmatian knights at the wall. Their leader, Artorius Castus, rarely calls on us though. We had a few Sarmatians some years ago, but he claimed them for his own force."
Artorius Castus. It was a name I had heard several times in Gaul. Bela spoke of him with great respect. He was Roman, Britain, and Sarmatian all at once. The knights he commanded were legendry. We occasionally heard of their exploits in Gaul, but some of the stories were so ridiculous I wondered if there was any truth to them. There was something extraordinary about Britain, but I was certain there were no giant fire-breathing lizards… Junius must have seen the look in our faces, for he quickly said:
"Don't get your hopes up girls. He rarely does, and even then he only takes the best there is." He said sagely. If I hadn't already been devoted to warfare, those words would have inspired me. Our conversation was interrupted as a imperious young man with golden hair stepped into our circle.
"Marcus Junius, I-" He stopped and stared at us as if he expected us to bow our way out of the room. He looked at us with a haughty expression and I knew he would cause trouble for us. I looked him straight in the eye until he looked away. Weak people could not hold a stare. "Who are these barbarians?"
I must say, I was very proud of Branwain for not strangling him with the gold threaded tunica he wore. I myself was tempted to smash his pretty face. If I had not already hated him, I would have thought he was handsome. His noble, almost pretty features showed generations of fine breeding. His hair looked like it was made of gold and his long-lashed eyes were the same color as the sky. Oh I hated him.
"Scato, be respectful. This is Aulus Scato. His father owns most of the surrounding land and Scato here is being trained to be a governor. I made a mental note to leave Britain the moment Scato came within reach of power. "These are our new Sarmatian knights." I nearly jumped at being referred to as a knight.
"Galina." She said with a passive look.
"Branwain." My cousin said with a slight edge.
"Isolde." I finished indifferently. Aulus Scato looked at each of us and I saw his lips peel back with distaste. He turned back to Junius and they began to discuss Roman cavalry.
The next few days were strange. For the past four years each day of our lives had been carefully outlined and supervised. A soldier could go to the training yard when ever he felt like it and train with any weapon he wished. We were no longer in training; we would only have to fight when there was a battle or skirmish. The first call to arms was two months after our arrival. A group of marauders had been robbing near by villages and killing those who resisted. The cavalry, myself included, was to divide into two groups along with the auxiliary and ambush the offending thieves. We waited all night for the raiders in the shadow of a steep hole. Just before the sun began to light the hazy sky, we heard what sounded like a battle cry. In an instant we were armed and charging at the village. Most of the thirty or so marauders were mounted on mangy horses and poorly armored. They carried axes, spears and swords and were all together unimpressive. I drew the machaira Bela had given me and smiled happily. Now would be a good chance to see how well I could handle it. I had sharpened it and practiced with it religiously for the past few weeks and was eager to let it spill blood.
I rode up to the conflict and notched an arrow on my Sarmatian bow. I let it go with a twang and heard the satisfying thud as it lodged into the man's eye. Two more arrows and I dismounted my horse. I dodged the first, sloppy hack from a hairy man and I quickly swung the blade to his helmeted head. It slid through the metal and practically cleaved his head in two. I smiled fondly at the blade and twisted my sword and body in an arc to leave a deep gash in the man who had been sneaking up behind me. The first light of dawn was creeping over us as I killed my eighth man. I withdrew my mother's sword from his belly and looked around. I had kept an eye out for Branwain and Galina during the fighting and I knew them to be quite capable. None of the cavalry was hurt, but we had lost about half of the fifteen foot soldiers. We loaded our dead back into a cart and went back to the fort.
Junius and Scato were waiting for us when returned. Junius looked pleasantly surprised to see us unharmed and Scato looked even more surprised to see the blood we were splashed with. I gave him a chilling smile and walked past him. After we had cleaned our weapons and bodies we sat down in our shared room and looked at each other. Galina studied my contented face and raised an eyebrow.
"If you were anyone else I would call you a savage." She said emphatically. "I want a dress."
I looked at her. She was wispy looking, but pretty none the less. None of the three of us had worn a dress in years. I closed my eyes and shrugged. I pictured dresses in my mind, but I couldn't imagine wearing one in front of Scato or any of the men. Not here. When I did get a dress however, it would be a red one. I flinched as Galina let out a painful sounding cough. I wondered if she knew she was dying.
Several months later we were in the market browsing the wares. We had been quite pleased to discover that we actually received salaries. Small salaries, but salaries nonetheless. I was happy to have any money, no matter how diminutive the amount, to myself. Galina planned on buying the fabric for her dress; while Branwain bought was saving hers for god knows what. I however, was looking for a shield. I had seen shields of every shape and size, but I hadn't found what I was looking for yet.
"You shouldn't be buying a shield. You should be buying a dress." Galina said and I was alarmed at how much she sounded like my mother.
"I for one agree with Galina." Branwain added. "It's the only money you have, and you're spending it on another weapon."
It was unfair really. I had never bought a weapon before. They had all been given to me.
"You should buy something beautiful." Galina said fingering some gold brooches. I smiled to myself.
"This will be beautiful." I said softly.
"I meant something feminine. I'm no different than you and I still want to wear a dress." She said in her tranquil yet exasperated voice.
"As you should. You'll look nice in that color." I said seeing the olive colored material she kept glancing at.
"It's too expensive-What do you mean I would look good in a dress? Have you looked in a mirror since we left home?" I was taken aback. I actually hadn't looked in a mirror. I thought of my face. Stubborn chin, small full mouth, pointy noise, black blue eyes, brown hair, and none too pale skin. What could have changed? Branwain rolled her eyes and dragged me over to a set of old bronze mirrors. I looked at the face staring back at me. I was almost eighteen and my face had become more womanly, as had my figure.
"You know tunics don't make you seem manly. A dress would just look nicer. Why don't you let me make you a dress?" Galina said hugging my shoulders. What was this?
"Next thing I buy will be fabric." I promised them. But I was getting my shield if it was the last damn thing I did. I tugged Branwain's hair affectionately and walked off to find my shield. Several more minutes and I had looked through all the shields. A saw a man looking at me oddly and he walked up. His thick leather apron marked him as a blacksmith.
"What you looking for, maid?" He asked me. His ginger colored hair reminded me of fire.
"I need a good shield." I said, not elaborating on the subject. He looked at me as if I was touched in the head.
"Girl, you're surrounded by fine shields."
"I need a certain shield… I had an idea I would like to try." I said apologetically and began to leave.
"An idea eh? What's this idea then?" He said and crossed his arms.
"I needed a shield about the length of my arm. Round and well made of course, but I was going to cut out a few chunks and add blades." He seemed baffled by the description so I grabbed a shield and began to show him. "See, if you cut out two small arcs on the side, no bigger than your hand, and not too deep. Not deep at all in fact. And if you could somehow sharpen the edges or even insert a blade on the edge…When you swung it like this-" I slowly swung the shield towards his neck. "You could turn it into a weapon."
He looked impressed by my description and stuck out his hand.
"Llyr." I shook his hand.
"How much do you want for it?" I asked realizing he would make it.
"How much can you pay me?" He asked and I smiled.
For the next few weeks I spent an hour every day with Llyr working on my shield. He showed me the way he made each layer of wood, leather, and metal. He was kind and generous with me. My shield would have cost more had he not liked me, but he claimed it was an investment. If it did well, he could sell more and make his fortune. I accepted this and we made changes to the design as we went on. One day I walked into his smithy to find him beating a multitude of designs into the metal.
"What is that?" I asked pointing to a quickly forming figure in the middle of all the swirls and lines.
"It's a griffin. A great winged beast." He said not taking his eyes off his masterpiece. I knew what a griffin was. What puzzled me was why he was putting it on my shield.
"Llyr, why are you beating the beast who guards treasure into my shield? Shouldn't it be something more…fierce?" I asked raising an eyebrow at it. It was fierce though. Its eye was wide and staring and its extended claws were large. He didn't answer as he finished, and I could only watch as he finished. By the time it was done, he had so skillfully wrought it that you could only see the griffin in the design if you looked for it.
"You're protecting this island. Some would call that treasure." He said as he looked me in the eye before going back to work.
"Now get out of here while I finish. Hard to work with you pestering me all day. Come get it tomorrow." He said gruffly and I left with a strange weight on my shoulders. I had never really thought about Britain as someone else's homeland. I shook off the feeling and walked back to the fort.
One thing I loved about Luguvalium was the new areas of warfare I could explore. Aside from being able to develop my own method of fighting, I was learning to track and scout. Junius's own personal scout, Galeron, had immediately begun taking us on scouting trips. Galina, who had excellent eyesight, could see the slightest movement in the trees. Branwain however was hopeless. She could barely manage to go undetected herself, much less find anyone else. My eyesight was good, but as good as Galina's. To make up for it, Galeron taught me to read the land. How to look for ways through a mountain range, how to find one's way out of a forest, how to tell where someone had ridden or slept… For the first time in a while, I was happy. In Gaul I had only existed. The only blights on our good fortune were Scato and the cough that tore at Galina.
"Stupid little scab…" Branwain ranted manically as we returned to our room. Scato, the scab she was referring to, had tripped her and made her spill the wine she was carrying all over herself. To add insult to injury, he had taunted her about her clumsiness. I personally attributed my tolerance to Scato. If I could live two years in the same fort with him without pushing him off the fortress walls, I could stand anything.
"Don't worry, he'll be squealing for mummy tonight." Galina said grimly. I looked at her curiously. She had found an interest in herbs and brews. "I put something in his wine. He'll be puking his insides out tonight."
I gave her an admiring look. She tried to look victorious but ended up laughing. Her peals of laughter were replaced by rasping. She quickly held a cloth up to her mouth while she coughed and I saw the blood spray it. Branwain, as usual, noticed nothing and I wondered how she didn't. A simple cough didn't last for over two years.
Some nights Galina skipped dinner and stayed in our room. When we came back, the room had a familiar burnt smell to it and Galina would smile and stare at the ceiling. I was annoyed that it took me several days to figure out what it was. One morning as we were getting ready, I strode over to her Roman styled bed and reached under the mattress. She tried to stop me, but I whipped away with the large satchel before she could do anything. Branwain gave me a bewildered look as I sniffed the bag. I stuck my hand in and pulled out a handful of seeds.
"Seed." I said and passed the bag to Branwain. She stared at the bag and I watched the realization of what it was dawn on her face. She looked over to our hearth and looked at the flat stone sitting by it. We both looked at Galina. She had been using the seeds for weeks.
"Where did you get this?" Branwain snapped. I realized she had noticed Galina's growing weakness and cough. The seeds, which had been used by our people for countless generations, couldn't be healthy for Galina. I guessed she had put a blanket in front of the door to trap the fumes as she threw the seeds on the fire hot stone. That explained her serene face and balmy attitude.
"It keeps me from hurting…" She in a frail voice and I saw that she was close to tears. She looked at me and straightened up. I saw her shoulders go up and she blinked her eyes several times. "I'm dying. It helped me forget."
I felt Branwain sit down on the floor next to me. I couldn't imagine what those words must have cost Galina. For myself, hearing those words from her lips made something in me crack. I practically bounded across the room and embraced her. She broke down and began sobbing in my arms. I realized how much I loved her right then, but I couldn't put it into words. Branwain joined us and I never wanted to imagine life without my cousin and our friend.
Okkkk! I'm still trying to get the stupid quick edit thing to work… No luck… I know that Luguvalium was a Roman/Britain settlement near the wall and I know some basic facts, but for the most part I made up stuff to fit my story. The seeds in the story are actually cannabis as the Scythians used cannabis seeds to…relax I guess. Look it up if you don't believe me! Galina's disease is actually a real disease too!
