Camreyn-End? Never!
Blue Eyes At Night-Yes…its sad. Everybody has got Galahad whipped.
Kungfuchick- Exactly…
Dw-don't know… sometimes I think its getting boring but apparently yall don't!
Medea Smyke- Yeah I need to work on that… I'm so awful at all this punctuation crap. Not to mention that just ignores my indentations… I'll work on the paragraph thing… I just get carried away!
My eyes snapped open. I was in a tent. A familiar smelling tent. Dirt, horses, family. Another smell pervaded my senses. Meat. I was starving I noted. I tested my shoulder, moving it slightly. The pain screamed through my veins. It had been reset though. I slide a hand to the side of my torso and felt the wound. It had been cleaned and dressed well. It caused me only a slight amount of discomfort. My legs and back ached from riding for months, but hunger gave me the strength to stand up. The glint of firelight on deep, endless blue green eyes startled me. Mordred was huddled at the end of my bed watching me. I knelt next to him.
"How long?" I asked.
"A few hours. They are feasting." He said and I realized that he felt out of place amongst all these Sarmatians. I held out a hand.
"Come on. You hungry?" He nodded and the old fey like observance appeared on his face again. We stepped into the night and firelight. Everyone looked up and smiled grandly. My parents stood up and walked over to me. My father embraced me gently.
"I have missed you Isolde." He said. It felt good to hear him say my name.
"Papay." I whispered. He passed me to my mother who cried quietly into my hair for a moment. She stepped back and looked at me with tears in her loving brown eyes. There was pride shining in them too.
"You are so beautiful." She said proudly. I smiled. She ran a worn hand over my face. It amazed me that no matter how rough the hands were, a mother's touch seemed as gentle and soothing as if they were silk. My father looked to Mordred who was standing silently with his hand wrapped in my fresh tunic.
"Is he yours?" My father asked while patting the boy's dark head.
"No. His mother asked me to take him with me." I tried not to think of the suspicion that had occurred to me back at the wall and what it would mean if it were true.
"Galina? Branwain?" My mother asked sadly. She knew the answer already and her face fell. I walked back into the tent and looked for my things. They were at the foot of my parents' bed. I knelt by them and took out Galina's sword and Branwain's crowbill. I had left my cousin's sword in Britain with her body. She would want her grave to be marked like her fellow knights. I walked back outside and found my uncle first. I knelt as his feet and held up Branwain's weapon.
"This belonged to Branwain." I said quietly. I prayed he would not ask me how she died. I did not think I could tell them the truth. Thankfully, he nodded and gripped the weapon. My aunt began to weep as Arghil tried to comfort her. No one seemed surprised…I walked over to Galina's parents next. They knew what was coming. Her father pressed the blade against his forehead and prayed. Her mother was not there I noticed. I knew she had passed on.
"Galina bore a son before she died." I said after a moment. The man looked at me and then to Mordred. I shook my head. "He is in Britain, with his father, Lancelot."
He nodded and smiled gratefully at me. I stood back up and went to sit with my family. It was not so much a feast to celebrate my return, as it was to celebrate Sarmatia itself. We would survive no matter what. My brother sat next to me on the thick blanket and squeezed my hand. Another girl sat next to him. She had soft brown hair and a pair of big black eyes. She held a small child in her arms who looked to be around two. I looked questioningly at Marhaus.
"Sister, this is my wife, Euxil and our son Amnartes." He said gesturing towards them. I smiled.
"Would you like to hold him?" Euxil asked while holding her son out to me. I held him with my good arm. He cooed at me and I looked at his pretty black eyes. I wondered if any of my brother's children would have our blue black eyes. They had been a trait of our father's line for generations. Mordred looked at the babe with curiosity and then dismissed him as being of no interest. I handed my nephew back to my new sister-in-law and turned towards large bowls of food in front of me. I had not had Sarmatian food in years and I was starving. Thick meat stew and huge mounds of cheese. I piled every food I could see on my plate and devoted myself to shoving copious amounts into my mouth. I looked over to see Mordred staring doubtfully at the fermented mare's milk.
"Try it. 'S good." I said through a mouthful of beans. Wanting to please me, he tried it. He looked queasy afterwards and I laughed. I gave him a piece of honeycomb to make up for it and he loosened up a bit.
"Would you like to continue you sword lessons tomorrow?" I asked the boy.
"Yes." He said trying to mask his excitement. I ruffled his dark hair and piled more stew on his plate. I knew he had not eaten a hot meal in weeks.
"Your mother and I will make a place for you and the boy to sleep." My father said. Several old friends and family members had come to sit by me long enough to greet me. I was getting tired and full.
"So Isolde!" Arghil said. "Why didn't you bring a husband back with you from the isle?"
"Haha yes! When can I expect a nephew of my own?" Marhaus asked laughing. It seemed the entire world was trying to elbow me into marrying and having children.
"Hm maybe soon." I said lying through my teeth. I was surrounded by my entire family and I didn't feel like being badgered. Mordred looked at me for a moment and then his face went blank again.
"Ah! I want a granddaughter this time! I would like to see another little Isolde running around again." My mother said with a wishful expression.
"Perhaps one day…" I said deciding it was best to destroy any illusions they had of me staying forever. "But I cannot stay here forever. I must return to Arthur in a few weeks."
"The Roman?" My cousin said as if I was stupid. "Isolde, we are your home."
I looked at him. I looked at my entire family. They were my home. But so were the knights. Arthur was my king, my leader. I needed to be there to help raise Geraint. I had a promise to keep… And Modron, Kaherdin and Guinevere had just entered my life. I wanted to know them and be with them more. No. Sarmatia was only part of me. Britain was another part. The last part of me was a part all to myself. It belonged to no land or person.
"This is my home. And Britain is my home. I will not live with out either one. I refuse to." I said firmly. Marhaus put a hand on Arghil shoulder to prevent any further argument.
"Well knight, explain your wounds." Marhaus said lightening the mood.
"Thieves, at the kurgans to the west." I said massaging my sore shoulder.
"How many?" Euxil asked with interest.
"Just eight, but there could be more nearby. The bastards have no shame." I said thinking of the desecration of the kurgans of our forefathers.
"Eight! No wonder you look like Kolaksay ran over you." My father said wryly. The corners of my mouth flipped upwards. My mother tsked and touched my hair.
"You'll need to bath, and then I'll see what I can do with this hair of yours." She said.
"It'll just get ripped and wind torn again." I said though I really didn't mind.
"What am I going to do with you…All men must find wives, and all women must find husbands. How are you going to find a husband if your covered in dirt and blood and you hair is covering your face?" My mother said while hopelessly trying to run her fingers through my hair. Her fingers didn't get very far.
"You can attack me tomorrow Api." I said wearily.
"Tomorrow we will find the bodies of the men you killed. We'll return the gold to the Kurgans." My father said with authority. All the men and young women nodded.
"Goodnight Papay." I said kissing my father on the cheek. I said good bye to everyone else and the Mordred went to my parent's hut. I found my thick, old pallet and set it up. I took off my boots and belt and laid down. Mordred crawled under the blanket with me and I yawned.
"Welcome to Sarmatia Mordred." I said sleepily. His face was turned upwards towards the tent roof.
"It's nice here. Free." He said with his young voice. I smiled.
"No place is free. But this is my home." I said and then I slept.
In the morning I left Mordred sleeping on my bed. The poor child had not slept on anything but hard ground in two months.
"Good morning." I said to my mother as I sat with her, Euxil and Arghil in front of a small fire. Arghil chucked me a piece of dried meat and my mother handed me slice of sweet tasting cheese. I ate them with relish and looked at their faces.
"Before you leave, daughter, I am making you another tunic." My mother said in a voice that left me no room for argument. She eyed my raggedy blue tunic again. "On second thought, I think I'll make you three."
"As you wish Api." I said finishing my cheese. I hadn't been pampered in years and the only pretty thing I owned was the burgundy dress at the bottom of my saddle bag.
"And a dress. If you are going to go back to your island, you are going to look like a Sarmatian." She added. Euxil nodded.
"We must make her a coat." Euxil said as she stared at my form, mentally measuring and fitting. I eyed Arghil with pleading eyes.
"Come, we should ride out to the kurgans." He said rescuing me. I stood up quickly and ducked back into my family's tent. Mordred was still sleeping peacefully, so I quietly grabbed Pata and my bow. I mad my way back to the makeshift pen where we kept our animals. Kolaksay was grazing contentedly and I was forced to stop and watch him. He was a magnificent animal… But he was nearing his seventeenth year and I had given him a hard life.
"I remember when I gave him to you." My father said as he stood next to me. I was twenty-one, yet as soon as I reach my family, I feel like I am thirteen again. "You were so tiny on his back."
"I fear I've worn him out…" I said wearily. I was worn out. I had lived a hard life for over eight years and I was suddenly faced with the realization that I was going to have to face the next part of my life without my old companion. No matter what land I was called to, Kolaksay was Sarmatian. He deserved the freedom he was offered on the steppes. I looked at the endless plains and tried to imagine what it must look like through his eyes…Heaven. Perhaps, as the legend goes, my horse was a fallen knight. If he had died away from home, who was I to keep him from it in his second life? "I'm going to need a new horse."
The words felt like the final blow to my spirit. The last part of the old Isolde had floated off in the wind that blew around me as soon as I opened my mouth.
"You can take Scosin." My father said pointing towards a pale grey horse. His mane was a tumble of dark and white hair and he looked up when my father said his name. "He's a gelding. 'Bout five years old."
"Thank you father." I said as I held my hand out for the beast to sniff. He smelled my palm for a moment and then licked it. My father said nothing for a moment. He put a huge, worn hand on the back of my head and let his shoulders relax a bit.
"In a few years, you can come back and get a horse sired off Kolaksay." He said as a way of comfort. I smiled at the thought of have a son of Kolaksay for my mount.
"We'll see Papay." I said scratching Scosin behind the ear. I didn't like to look at my new horse as merely a temporary replacement. After a moment we saddled our horses. Father gave me a new saddle as he threw my old one to the side. I looked fondly at the discarded saddle. I had lived in that saddle… Bled in it…Nearly died it in… I raised an eyebrow. Perhaps a new saddle was best. The new one, well my brother's old one, was fairly handsome, being decorated with a bit of green felt. The green would blend in nicely with the land in Britain.
Arghil, Marhaus, my uncle Colais, and my father's old companion Oponis accompanied us to the bodies of the men who had attacked Mordred and me. We found the bodies, untouched except by scavengers birds, a few miles away from the settlement. The eight bodies were scattered some ways away from the kurgans. We gathered all the gold we could find with the bodies to put back into the graves.
"Dogs." Arghil said as he went through the saddlebags of on man. Their bags were weighed down with gold. I swore as I reached the Kurgans. The careless thieves, in their greed and ignorance, had so sloppily broken into the Kurgans, that the graves had collapsed for the most part.
"How are we supposed to return the gold?" Marhaus asked.
"We don't." Arghil said looking on disgustedly.
"Sacrilege." Colais hissed. Arghil nodded in agreement with his father.
"Well, it's not Sarmatian." Oponis said as she examined a gold plaque. "It's Scythian."
The Scythians were our ancestors too. We couldn't just abandon the graves.
"We'll have to ask the shaman." Oponis said after a moment. My father nodded and turned his horse around.
"First, we'll burn the dead." He said and dismounted.
Erdim and Lipixios banished everyone from the holy tent for the rest of the day. Erdim, the priestess and shaman of our tribe, was busy consulting the fire with charcoal and bones. Lipixios would be praying to the gods and offering a sacrifice. We weren't sure what exactly to do with the kurgan's and the gold. We couldn't abandon the broken tombs of the Scyths to the elements, and their was no way of getting the gold back to the dead inside the tombs. We went about our business for the rest of the day. That night, Erdim and Lipixios would have an answer for us.
"Isolde, stay still." My mother said in a callous voice as she raked a comb through my wet hair. Mordred had been exiled from our tent and was being taught how to make a bow with the other men. I longed to be with him. Unfortunately, was being held hostage in our tent by my mother, Oponis and Euxil. Oponis was a battle hardened veteran, and even she agreed that I need to be cleaned up.
"I'm not that ugly-" I protested as the comb ripped through my hair. My mother raised the dagger and cut yet another knot from my hair. I sighed…My hair had just started to be one length before the trip. I would have wisps flying everywhere now…
"Stay still or you'll crack the paste." Euxil said as she dug at my fingernails and toenails with a stick. All three women were hard working Sarmatian women, yet they acted as though they were trying to rescue me from a hideous cocoon of dirt and hair. I was covered from head to toe in cedar paste. I had been washed, but the paste would rid me off any excess hair and skin. I would glow and smell quite nicely.
"Go ahead and peel it off girl." Oponis ordered Euxil. Peel my ass! She broke it off in chunks… I was forced to put all my energy towards not flinching as my arm hairs and such were ripped out with the cursed paste. My eyes were stinging painfully by the time she finished.
"Ow." I said simply. My mother had finished with my hair and Oponis quickly pinched at my eyebrows with two sharpened twigs.
"We'll need to fix this." My mother said touching the faded horse on my leg.
"What's this?" Oponis asked noticing the black marks on my neck. "This is fresh."
My mother eyed it with curiosity.
"One of the knights gave it to me." I said as lightly as I could. It was useless trying to lie to a mother.
"You let a man brand you." She said touching it. Oh gods… I was alarmed to find her, not angry, but gleeful.
"No mother." I said calmly.
"What is his name?" She demanded. Euxil eyed me with interest while Oponis looked on with a wry smile.
"My friend? His name is Tristan."
"Friend? Ha!" My mother exclaimed. Her dark eyes widened. "Oh Isolde… He's your lover isn't he?"
I would rather have faced an entire army of Saxons by myself at that moment.
"You're blushing." Oponis said.
"Well, you'll be marrying him of course?" My mother asked hopefully.
I swallowed.
"We…It isn't like that api." I said, struggling to find the words. The three women waited for an explanation.
"Do you like him?" My mother asked.
"Yes."
"Then what is the problem?"
"Mother!"
My mother eventually gave up on the subject of marriage and ran an expert eye over my body.
"I'll have the first tunic made in a fortnight." She said as I dressed. Marhaus popped his head into the tent.
"Erdim is ready." He said. I pulled my boots on and hurried out of the tent.
We gathered in the holy tent. There was not enough room so the young ones were shunted outside. I kept Mordred by my side however.
"What is to be done?" My father asked the shaman. Erdim's grey hair seemed to float in the orange light. Lipixios looked tired as he stood next to the priestess. His robes hung on him limply as he waited for her to announce their solution.
"The graves of our ancestors cannot be abandoned." Erdim said finally. "Tomorrow, Lipixios and I will do what we can to set the graves right. The gold is to go to the tribe."
Well isn't that convenient. I raised an eyebrow and Erdim caught my eye. She smiled as if she knew that I was thinking.
"Each family will sacrifice a deer to the dead before they receive their share." She added. Well, that would work. It would take a good hunt to find so many deer. The tribe still received the better end of the deal. The gold from one of the kurgans would have been enough to go around. But the gold from seven kurgans would give each family enough to buy new tents and at least four horses. There was immediate shuffling in the crowd. That was a good deal of gold. "The family of Angunsl with have the first pick."
My father perked up at his name.
"After all," Lipixios said finally speaking. "It was his daughter who brought the desecrators to justice."
There was a murmur of agreement. They would all get gold. Why not let their cousin and his brood have first picks? Lipixios dumped all the gold onto the dusty ground in front of the fire. Erdim motioned for my family to come forward. I nearly snorted. I had killed eight men and my tribe was being rewarded by the gods. We knelt in front of the gold under Erdim and Lipixios. There was little animosity or greed in our tribe, so no one worried we would take more of our share. I fingered a small gold square that would have adorned the tunic of a king or queen. While Euxil and my mother shuffled through the gold and my father and brother examined an ivory dagger, I absentmindedly picked at a few trinkets. I saw a fist sized gold plaque with a wolf attacking a stag and I decided to take it for my own. Next I saw a small crown garnished with blue glass. It would make a nice present for Guinevere since I missed her wedding. A thin, ornate neck plate caught my eye and I grabbed it. A pair of dangling ear pieces and an ivory comb and I began to stand up. As an after thought I picked up a gold ring. The ring was in the shape of intertwining antlers. I smiled as I thought of Tristan. The ring reminded me of him somehow.
That night as I laid on my pallet I couldn't sleep. Mordred's quiet, even breathing made me jealous of his sleep. My mind felt like the choppy sea I had crossed to leave Britain. The words of my family and friends swirled through my mind. I kept thinking of the herb woman back at the wall. She was right I had come to realize. All these years I had thought that I needed to choose between being a wife or mother and being a knight. Who's to say I could do it all? If I found the right man, I wouldn't need to settle down. And I could raise my children like a true nomad. My children could grow up loving Sarmatia and serving Arthur. I could spend the rest of my days however I pleased. But did I want children? I thought of Geraint's sweet face and how much I enjoyed Mordred's company. The boy looked up to me. It was nice to watch him discover things about life…Like the way he had taken to sword play. And Euxil and Marhaus seemed to be in love with their son. I did my best to empty my head and let sleep overcome me.
Sooo ….tired….
