Note: Thanks for the reviews! Here is another chapter. Sorry it is so stupid, the creativity well has a clog. Well read it, review it, and what ever else there is to do. Thanks.

Or Not

They rode up to the building. The gates were closed and heavily guarded. Villagers stopped their work to watch the new comers. The knights stopped at the gate and Arthur called, "Open the gates!"

A fat man peaked over the wall. "Go away!"

"I am Arthur Castus, sent by the Bishop Germanius…"

Before Arthur could finish what he was saying the gates opened and the fat man came down to greet them. "Arthur and his knights," he said as he walked towards them.

The knights exchanged looks that seem to say they thought the man an idiot and shook their heads. The man stopped before Arthur and reached to pet his horse but the horse pulled away. The man looked at the animal then turned his attention to Arthur. "I am Marius Honorius. It is an honor to meet these great knights of legend."

"We have come to evacuate you and your family," Arthur said bluntly.

Marius blinked and asked, "What?"

Arthur ignored his question and looked at the audience that at accumulated by the gate. "Which of you is Alecto?"

A thin-boned boy cried, "I am Alecto." Arthur inspected the boy. He was about sixteen, possibly seventeen of age and very pale. Unlike his father, he was thin and long-limbed. A woman stood next to him, his mother by the resemblance. He thought the boy was fortunate to take looks after his mother.

"Gather what you need, we leave as soon as possible," Arthur told Alecto who just stood there looking at him oddly.

"I will not leave!" Marius cried. "This land was given to my by the Pope."

"Well, you're about to give it to the Saxons," Lancelot murmured under his breath but Marius still heard the remark.

"What?"

"A vast army is heading your way. We were sent to evacuate you and bring you back safely to Hadrian's Wall where Bishop Germanuis waits for you to return to Rome with him," Arthur explained.

"I will not leave!" Marius cried.

Arthur looked at Marius, his patience wearing thin, and said bluntly, "You will go even if I have to drag you back myself. Now pack or else I will be true to my threat." There was a slight pause; Marius was absolutely insulted that Arthur dared speak to him in such a matter. After a few moments, Marius stalked back to through the gate and began to order his men to get the carriages ready.

Kida watched the silent battle between Arthur and the man, Marius. She was amazed at how Arthur handled it all. If it where her, she would have just tied to man to the back of her horse and dragged him back with no choice given. Within a few hours, the family was packed and Arthur was still in a rage. He had decided to take the villagers with them, which, she knew, most of the knights were against doing. She couldn't understand why Arthur would risk his life, their lives, to save a bunch of strangers.

They all did as they were told of course, and it took them another hour until they were already to leave. Tristan came and reported that they could not go back the way they came and said he found a trail heading east that could take them out. Kida watched them closely and thought that they were all doom, for what lay east of them was rough terrain and it would be very cold, making it even more difficult to travel with so many.

She noted that Tristan felt the same way, but he was not about to complain, it was not his way. All the knights were all so loyal to Arthur that they would have jumped through fire if he did. Such a quality was very amiable, and she felt that if nothing else could save them, the comradeship between the knights and their loyalty to Arthur could be the best chance they had.

Arthur noted two men working to seal off an opening. He rode immediately over to investigate. He had the wall knocked down and they went in to investigate. Once inside they were greeted by the sickening smell of rotting flesh. They followed a set of stairs down and came to a chamber full of machines and chains. A greasy man knelt before an altar, muttering the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

The knights watched Arthur enter the room. They looked at each other and shrugged. Arthur was playing hero again. Shaking their heads, Gawain, Dagonet, Lancelot, and Kida followed him in, leaving the others to watch the men outside. They went down the stairs and found Arthur glaring at a greasy man. "You defilers of the Lord's Temple!" the man spat.

They took in their surroundings. Kida's stomach lurched. They were in a torture chamber. The knights looked at each other and then immediately began to search for survivors.

Arthur looked into each cell, praying that there were some survivors. "IS there any alive?" Kida asked.

"From the smell, they all could be dead," Lancelot stated. "Arthur we can do nothing here, we should go before the Saxons overtake us."

Arthur ignored him as Kida snapped at him, "Leave? There might be people still alive, and all you want to do is leave to save your own skin?"

"Yes."

Kida shook her head and walked to the opposite side of the chamber. Arthur would have been hearten to hear Kida's argument, and even proud, but at the precise moment, he was preoccupied. He could have sworn he seen something move in one of the cells.

"Arthur!" Kida cried. "I found one!" She cut the chains and pulled the grate open. A woman was pulled out, she barely moved. She was handed over to Gawain who took her out. A few minutes later, Dagonet found a boy and he took him out. Arthur took one last look at the cell he stood in front of and turned to leave when he heard something move. Lancelot and Kida fell in behind him and peered into the cage. A woman peered back at them. Arthur swung his sword and opened the door. He pulled to woman out and they went out.

Outside, Arthur nodded at Horton, who was giving water to the knights' saved prisoners. The knights circled their companions and watched as they nursed their prisoners.

Kida inspected each of the saved victims, but she was sad that only three were found alive. When she came to Arthur's prisoner, she noted that she wore the war paint of a Woad. She looked familiar too. At the new that she was a Woad, the knights got a little skittish, but Arthur silenced them and demanded that a wagon be prepared for them.

Marius argued. "No, these are sinners and must be punished."

Lancelot turned to Arthur and muttered, "This is your god's mercy?"

Marius's wife, Fulcinia, edged her way to Arthur's side and took the woman's head into her lap and began to whisper to her reassuringly. At this sight, Marius exploded. "You, damnable woman, you kept them alive!" He backhanded Fulcinia and sent her flying across the ground. Alecto rushed to his mother's side and helped her up.

Kida winched as his hand met the lady's face and she strode up to him. "Stop this!" she yelled at him as he turned to hit his wife again.

Marius stopped, his arm raised above his head. "What did you say? How dare you contradict me!" He turned and let his arm fly at her. Kida was ready for this and dodged his attack. She turned and swung at him, striking him across the face, sending him falling flat on his behind. Marius sat there, stunned. No one had ever dared hit him before. "I will have your head for treason!"

Kida stood over him, fury written all across her face. "You dare raise your hand to another person; I swear you will not live to let your hand fall."

The knights looked at Kida shocked; they did not think she had it in her to do something like this. She had never openly attacked any Roman personages. Most of the knights found it rather hilarious and struggled to hide their laughter. Kida ignored them and concentrated hard on Marius. "Are we clear?" she asked, her voice clear and even, completely the opposite of what her face spoke of.

"You dare order me?" Marius sputtered. "I will have your hide once we reach Rome."

"It would be hard seeming one of us will not be seeing Rome," she replied coldly. Before Marius could ask what she meant, Kida turned around, her fists still clenched and her face still hard and mounted her horse and rode away.

Once Kida left, the other knights hurried and prepared a carriage for their new wards to ride in. The three people were loaded and Fulcinia rode with them, tending to their wounds the best she could. Arthur and his knights mounted and moved the train out. Marius was fuming and sulked in his carriage. Bors and Galahad had a great laugh at it, for they had thoroughly enjoyed witnessing such a pompous ass beat up by a girl, not that anyone but them knew that she was a girl.

Arthur was on the fence, trying to decide whether to praise or discourage his knights about the performance Kida gave. On one hand, he was grateful that Kida beat him to Marius for he would have done pretty much the same thing, just that Marius would probably have ended up dead instead of alive. He admired Kida for her self-control; for he knew that she could have killed them. He sensed that she felt the same way he did about finding the hidden torture chamber and wanted justice done to the one responsible for it. On the other hand, by this act, she would be condemned, probably executed once they made it back to Hadrian's Wall, for she still had three years left of service and they could do what ever they wanted with her.

Liam shook his head as he rode. His sister had just sealed her fate, she was doomed. If he didn't know better he would have been surprised, but he learned along time ago that Kida did a great many things that were unorthodox. He rode beside Gawain and Lancelot. "That was quite the show," Gawain remarked.

"Yes, what fueled it, I have no idea," Liam said.

"I know, surprised she didn't kill him on the spot," Gawain said.

Liam looked at Gawain. "What do you mean?"

"You know where we got our new wards?" Gawain asked.

"From the secret room," Liam replied.

"Yes, but the secret room was a torture chamber, there were many bodies there, and these three were the only ones left alive. They were prosecuted for they were not Christians and refused to bow down to the fat Roman."

Liam blinked and nodded his head. He understood know. Kida had always had a sense of justice that he never understood. In most things, she could ignore, but when it came to prosecution over differences she did not take them to well. He supposed it was probably from the fact that she had always been prosecuted back home from the day she was born for she was different. He kicked his horse ahead to find Kida, he figured that she would need to vent, and so he supposed he was the best person she could vent to.