An Optimist's Dream in a Time of Darkness:
Chapter 8:
AN: I had received a review asking for ages of the knights so…
Arthur: 17
Lancelot: 19
Gawain: 18
Bors: 18
Tristan: 20
Galahad: 15
Dagonet: 20
Aislin: 15-16
I know it seems odd to have Arthur be only17 but in the beginning of the movie it was very noticeable that young Lancelot was older than young Arthur… at least I think it was so yeah… now to break it down… my story works with Aislin's age in 5 year increments. So after the next couple of chapters the story will speed up five years and she'll be about 20-21, and then the story will end once she is about 26 years of age… just to give you some guidelines so you can keep track of the knight's ages.
Now that that is out of the way… this is my absolute favorite chapter so far… ah it makes me so happy every time I read it… I hope you enjoy as much as I do.
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Her eyes lolled beneath their lids as she wrestled with night's dreams to awaken to day's life. As her eyes became exposed to the light she grimaced slightly but permitted them to continue seeking out the new dawn. At first she could only make out a black blob, but the longer she sat starring the more focused her vision became until she could see almost everything in her bedchamber. "Arthur!" After voicing her happiness a shock ran through her body causing her to press her hands to her head in pain. "Oh! They ring like bells! Arthur please make them stop!"
"Shh, Aislin. It is all right, here," Arthur rung out a moist cloth and patted his cousin's forehead with it. "This will pass within a few hours, until then you must relax." He turned to the young servant girl, whom so vigorously guarded the chamber door the night prior. "Water," the young woman nodded and left without so much as a word.
Aislin smiled up at her cousin forcing him to question himself, "what?"
"You will make a great husband someday. I envy the woman who shall have you as her protector and advisor." Arthur renewed the cloth by dipping it into the heated water basin. "I only hope that she deserves someone of your character."
"You speak as though we have never fought and that there is no problem pressing between us." He began patting her forehead again.
"I speak from my heart; for you have the will to choose your bride where I have not the privilege to choose my husband." She pulled his hand into hers, "I only mean to say that you have a future here, Arthur. You are the sworn leader of this Garrison, and you will make your parents proud, with or without me by your side."
"Cousin, you are my closest companion and my only blood relation still in existence. I would not loose you for the world, if I lost you what would I have left to remind me of my mother, of Pelagius?"
"Arthur you speak nonsense, you would have your memory. My matter is settled and there is nothing on it that we can argue."
"They are here."
"What?"
"I wasn't going to inform you until after you were feeling better, but seems how we are on the subject…"
"How? When? They're two days early!"
"The caravan arrived last evening. Grokus and a few of the legionaries greeted them at the gate and led them in secretly. They are said to be hidden in a dwelling within the village."
"But why? Why go through all the trouble?"
"To protect their interests."
"Me?" Aislin laughed blatantly, "what a foolish reason! Surely that is not all?"
"That is all that I know," he sighed in discontent.
"Based on what sources?"
"Me." Lancelot stood leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Forgive me, Lady, but he insisted upon entering and there was nothing I could say to dismiss him."
"That is fine, Keava, you may leave. Go spend some time outside in the gardens or take a walk, no need to be pent up in this villa if one does not need to be."
"Yes, Lady," she left as quietly as she had entered.
"So this is what your bed chamber looks like? I had hopped to visit it someday," he grinned shrewdly at her. "Just not under these circumstances, of course."
Before Arthur could protect his cousin's honor, Aislin swiped the vase that had been sitting peacefully on the bedside table and chucked it at him. The clay shattered against the wall and caused a mass hysteria of noise to ensue as it clattered to the floor. "I WANT HIM OUT! I WANT HIM TO LEAVE THIS VERY MOMENT! GET OUT!"
"You slag! How dare you throw a vase at me!"
"You self centered, egotistical, bastard! How dare you insult me in my own bedroom!" Aislin was sitting straight up in bed her fists clenched at her sides, ready to attack if need be.
Arthur had already been pushing Lancelot towards the door, trying his best to keep the two of them from waging their own war. "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU! Lancelot, out of the room! Aislin I will be back in within a few moments." With one last shove he pushed Lancelot out into the hall and slammed the door behind him.
Aislin dropped back down unto her pillow, "oh, my head. I shouldn't have shouted." At that precise moment the tapestry above her bed unhooked and floated down over her. It covered her entire bed completely as if it were a blanket. "This is just lovely…Damn!"
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"She was out of line-." Lancelot pointed at the shut door hoping that that reason alone put up a good argument.
Without so much as a word or warning, Arthur punched his companion in the jaw. "Don't ever speak to her like that again!"
Lancelot moved his jaw around as he recovered from the shock of the blow. As he raised his eyes to Arthur's level he glared, and then rammed him into the opposite wall shouting, "it was only a mere jest!"
The young Commander knocked his knight's feet out from under him sending him crashing to the floor. "She is obviously not the woman for you to jest with!"
"Ah, but she is not a woman yet, is she?" In one quick motion Lancelot had knocked Arthur over and pinned him to the floor.
"So your taste is for children now, is it?" The younger man flipped his comrade off of him and pinned his arm against his throat.
Lancelot raised his knee to Arthur's groin removing the excess weight from his body. "I said that I wished to have visited her room someday, that does not mean today." He grinned idiotically, "I can wait two more days."
At that point it had become an all out battle between the two men. Each boasting threats to make a rise out of the other. The wrestling match would have continued had Aislin not opened the door and threatened both of them.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Her voice carried down the length of the hallway. "If you both insist on carrying on this horrid display of manhood you either do it outside where everyone is a witness, or continue in here where I have a vase waiting for each of you."
She watched as they untangled themselves and stood up in all of their disheveled appearance. Aislin couldn't help but laugh at the sight of them, "I'm sorry, I truly am." She closed the door slightly hiding herself behind it as she tried to contain her giggles. She opened it once more, "Okay, good. Now, Lancelot I presume you came here for a specific reason, other than to harass the hell out of me?"
"Actually-." A swift elbowing to his ribs by Arthur changed his thoughts on what to say. "Yes, I wanted to inform Arthur, and yourself, that we have found the Roman family."
Aislin's mood changed instantly to that of diplomacy, as did Arthur's'. "Well then, take me to them."
"Perhaps you'd like to wear a decent pair of clothes over the night gown?" Lancelot inferred.
The young woman slammed the door closed, ignoring the last remark.
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"This way," Lancelot led them into the fortress hall. As they entered Arthur took in the sight of all of the knights and a few legionnaires.
The family had been seated at the opposite of the table with Grockus to their left, along with the legionnaires that greeted them the night prior. Aislin entered and immediately stopped in her tracks as she recognized the young man. Her mouth was parted as if to say something but her tongue would not permit speech.
"Cousin, is there something the matter?" Arthur tried to decipher her emotion but failed in vain.
"Him, it was him all this time." Her face became pale with disbelief and her eyes watered over with tears of disgrace.
Arthur followed her gaze and instantly understood what she had meant. "Men, would you excuse us for a few moments. My cousin and I wish to speak a few words with our visitors in private."
"No, there is nothing of which I have to say that cannot be stated in front of them." Aislin stepped forward, her voice a little shaky, "you, you were watching me this entire time? You have placed shame upon me!"
The older man jumped to his feet in defense, "My son and I have done no wrong! It is perfectly within our right to select an appropriate woman for marriage!"
"Your right? Your right to study me as if I were some… some unknown creature? I will not be treated as a philosopher's theory!"
"We have done no wrong in our conduct! You-."
"Yes," the young man stood, "I have watched you, I have shammed you. I have acted immorally in the face of God and I beg your forgiveness." Marcus turned from his chair and jogged around to the other side of the table to where Aislin stood. "God forgive me, but you are more wondrous than anything I have ever witnessed. You are so real, so true that you out of all the people in this place caught my attention." He grasped her hands within his and massaged them tenderly between his thumbs. "When I first saw you, I knew who you were, I knew you were the woman for me. You are not like other women. You, Lady Aislin, are unique in the sense that you do not stand for wrongs against you or wrongs against others, you are not silent but flamboyant and joyous, you are content with your life and the lives of your friends and are not afraid to face that which is inevitable."
"How can you have deduced all of this from one night?"
"I am a very good judge of character."
"Marcus! She is a Woad!" His father called from behind him, "I wasn't going to tell you but now that I see how she truly is, how she stands I could never bid you marry her. She is a heathen!"
"You will speak no such insult or slander against my cousin!" Arthur pulled his sword from the sheath and aimed it towards the Roman. "Back down."
Marcus ignored his father's cry and proceeded on. "Will you be my bride, Aislinarea Castus?"
"I-I hardly know you."
"What would you like to know about me?"
She smiled nervously as she searched for a way out of this situation. He was so passionate in his words and feelings that she became overwhelmed. She didn't even know how she felt anymore; all that had become constant in her thoughts was their kiss. Aislin remembered every detail perfectly; the warmth of him against her, the sensation of his lips pressed upon hers, and the satisfying feeling of security his arms had offered her. Could she love this man?
"Aislin it does not matter, what little you know of me now will grow with every minute we spend together. We have years to figure out each other's secrets. Come, and marry me."
"Marcus!" The old man shouted once more.
"Or we can stay here. We can live here, as long as your cousin should permit it, of course." His miraculous eyes met Arthur's for approval.
Aislin, still in shock over the entirety of the situation, stood completely motionless. A tear slid from her eye; is this truly what she wanted? Did she want to marry, to have sons and daughters, to live with her husband and worry about his life, his safety? Yes, he went out on a raid, but is going to return? Her children, would they become fatherless? Would she raise them on her own? Could she raise them on her own? Their marriage, would it be a marriage of love or duty, or both? Another tear fell from her eye.
Galahad stepped out of the line of Knights and spoke up somewhat tentatively. "Uh, she can't marry you!" He stood silent for a moment, pondering over his next few words while everyone starred at him uneasily. "She can't marry you… yet."
"Why?"
"Uh, because… because she already has two other suitors! Yes, that's it. She already has two other suitors."
"Who?"
"Hmmm…..erm. Ah! Tristan!"
Tristan dropped the wine goblet that was in his hand, his eyes wide from astonishment. He turned outwards and glared down the line at Galahad who merely shrugged his shoulders. Aislin, on the other hand, looked as if she was going to steal Arthur's sword and make a fine meal out of the young knight.
"And the other?"
Galahad scanned the room, can't say Arthur he's her cousin, nope not Dagonet – too quiet, not Bors – already has a lady friend, Lancelot? No, she'd surely kill me for that one. Ah Ha! "Gawain! Yes, Tristan and Gawain are her two other suitors."
"I see, well Grockus never informed me of any other suitors. But I don't mind a little friendly competition." He grinned at Aislin who smiled uneasily. "Perhaps we could compete for her hand?"
"Compete, how do you mean compete?" Gawain questioned, still very annoyed at the prospect of him being brought into this.
"Swords, shields? Arrows and bows? That sort?" Tristan posed, the foreigner nodded. "I'm in."
"Count me in as well." Gawain announced.
"Marcus, you can't be serious! You're challenging Knights?" The old man shouted once more.
"In a manner of speaking, yes." His gaze fell upon Aislin again, who had barely had the chance to adjust before she felt the familiar breathlessness of his kiss on her mouth. "I will win, for you." She watched from afar as he left the Fortress Hall with all the air of a Roman leader.
Arthur stood in just as much disbelief as his cousin, lost in a haze trying his best to find a way out. "Galahad," he began halfheartedly, "I believe there needs to be a few words exchanged between you and I before the end of tonight. Don't you agree?"
Galahad bit his lips and nodded before leaving, Arthur just behind him. Aislin stood in the center of the doorway watching as everyone dispersed from the most unusual meeting, doing her best to catch a glimmer of what might occur.
"This should prove to be most amusing, don't you agree?"
Aislin loathed the fact that it was always this man who would find her at these most stressing times. "If you consider amusing watching three men battle over my hand in marriage, two of which don't even wish to marry me or care for me in that aspect, then yes, it would be most amusing!" She released a deep breath, "how did I end up in this situation, Lancelot? I'm mean what good is this going to do me in twenty years?
"Well it may not do you any good, but you could be married."
She permitted herself to give a little chuckle at that prospect, "what is married life?"
"The same as a single life, just with a husband or wife that you now have to sneak around to get your pleasures."
The young woman lightly hit him in the arm, "you will never let anyone tie you down, will you?"
"Now that's an interesting prospect, I'll have to try that sometime." He blatantly laughed and was surprised to find Aislin laughing also. "No. By tied down, if you mean marriage, then no I will never let anyone tie me down. But that doesn't mean that love can escape me."
"Love? The great whore-hound can love?" Aislin jested boldly.
At first Lancelot just glared then managed to smile before he spoke up once more. "Yes, I'm actually very fond of the prospect of love. Fairy tale love, as your philosophers would state. It just seems so unlikely to feel in this time."
"We shouldn't have these conversations, you cause me to feel sympathetic towards you and I'm not sure that is a good idea."
"And pray tell, why is it not a good idea to feel sympathetic towards me?"
"Because women are of no consequence to you. They are merely play things for you to gain pleasure from."
"Ah, but you so quickly forget that I also give pleasure to them."
"See, sympathy is gone. No harm done after all."
"Ow, that hurt."
"I'd better be going."
"Where to?"
"Back to my bed chamber, where you will never step foot in again." Aislin headed out into the hall.
"Oh, but we could have such a great time in there." He stated as he followed her.
She turned, her dagger outstretched to his neck, "and I could kill you right here."
"Okay warning taken, I'll back off." Lancelot backed away and turned to head in the other direction. "But we really could have a great time, you know? You have no idea what you are missing!"
"I'd rather sleep with a corpse than with you!" She shouted after him as she sheathed the dagger back on her side.
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"Do you really intend to fight for her, Tristan?" Gawain stepped out of the villa and into the moon's full light.
"For her? I don't want to win her hand but neither does she want to win the Roman's." He replied simply as he watched his companion take a seat on the steps beside him.
"So it is a duty then?" He sighed miserably.
"Do you want to win her hand?" Tristan's eyes peered out from underneath his untidy locks starring at Gawain effortlessly.
"No," he paused, "and yes. One of the two of us must win for her to be free, which is fine, but then are we not obligated to complete the task?"
"Obligation comes to those who serve, you do not serve her so you are not obligated to her."
"Not serving her, then what do you call this competition Galahad has so clumsily gotten us into?"
"Practice," Tristan stated with a grin.
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The sun rose with a fire that tormented every stitch of Aislin's soul. She had been up since the dew had fallen, plainly watching everything that occurred just outside of her view. Her heart was troubled, for she had some interest in this man she barely knew, but at the same time was forced into her own responsibilities to herself. One could reckon that this was the event that would change the way Aislin lived simply because she would now have to live with her own decisions not just for Arthur's.
Her mind clamored with the possibilities of the day; who would win her hand, would she indeed have to marry? She did not want to marry; her heart was too free as it was to be tied down. Tied down, heh, is that not what Lancelot said? He would never be tied down by marriage, perhaps that is not such a bad choice after all? What am I saying? I'm agreeing with a pig headed buffoon! Aislin tossed her pillow across the room knocking her lute off of a marble stand, she watched as I splintered upon contact with the ground. "Wonderful! Just perfect! This day is certainly shaping up very nicely this morning! Argh!"
She moved over to her window, leaning her weight upon the sill as if to see just bellow her. Aislin watched anxiously as the three men who would fight for her began their practicing in the field just beyond her chamber. "I am not worthy of them."
AN: So yes… wonderful chapter eh? I loved it, thought it was brilliant… ha but that's just me. Tell me do you think: I made Lancelot a little too pushy? Or was it decent enough? Well I would greatly appreciate it if you would give me some feed back on this situation, thanks. The next chapter should be out at some point next weekend, okay? All right then… Ta!