Chapter Five

Beleth had never seen Arthur so mad as when he came out of that stone hut on Marius Honorius's property. The only time that he had ever gotten close was when she was ten and ran away. He later explained that he wasn't angry but he feared for her life with the Woad attacks.

Beleth had just set the little boys arm when she reined her horse in beside Galahad and Gawain's. While Gawain eyed the forest, Galahad looked at Beleth. She had a large red mark on her left cheek that resembled a hand print.

"Are you alright?" Beleth looked at him, she looked furious.

"No. That Woad woman had displaced fingers. I tried to set them for her and she hit me!" Galahad couldn't help but snicker. Beleth gave him a sharp look that made him swallow his laughter. "It isn't funny, this hurts a lot."

"Look at it this way," Galahad and Beleth both looked at Gawain. He looked at Beleth, "This was your first close encounter with a Woad." Beleth made a face.

"That's rather pathetic." She answered scowling. Gawain looked at her before saying:

"Yes it is." He burst into gails of laughter, Galahad soon joined him. Their rolling laughter made Beleth laugh as well.

As she sat in the snow looking at Gawain who was fast a sleep leaning against his saddle. There was a small fire burning between them.

Beleth leant against her saddle and listened to the people from Marius Honorius's estate talk quietly around her. It must feel strange to be free after living in captivity for so long. Beleth was thankful she never stood risk of that. Her attention was drawn back to reality when Galahad sat down beside her.

"Hello," She said smiling at him as he slumped to the ground.

"Hello," he replied. Her attention was drawn to his bare legs just lying in the snow.

"How can you stand that?" Galahad looked at her.

"What?"

"Having bare legs in such cold weather," He thought about it for a moment.

"Just used to it I suppose."

"Ahh," They sank into an uncomfortable silence. Beleth wished she had something witty to say or clever, but nothing came to mind, that happened a lot when she was around Galahad.

"Can I get you something to eat?" Galahad offered.

"Oh, no thank you, if I never eat another piece of bread or meat it will be far too soon." Snacking daily on increasingly stale bread was getting tiring and the thought of forcing down some more made Beleth nauseous. Her attention went back to Galahad when she noticed he was wearing a huge grin. "What?"

"Wait here." Galahad stood up and walked away into the woods. Beleth sat back. She looked around. The knights had decided it would be a good idea for them to spread the people out in three main groups. Bors was with the first, Dagonet, Arthur, Lancelot in the main one, and Gawain and Galahad in the last. Tristan was out scouting.

She sat for a while before she started to worry. She turned to scan the forest to see if she could see Galahad and he was right behind her. He jumped over the saddle before throwing him self on the ground beside her. He had an enormous grin on his face.

"What?" She said chuckling too her self. He pulled a large red apple from behind his back. An enormous smile swept across Beleth's face. "Where on Earth did you get this?"

Galahad continued to smile at her reaction. "There was an apple tree on the edge of the camp." He handed it to her. She smiled at him, took the apple and threw her arms around Galahad's neck. He was so stunned he couldn't speak.

"You're my hero!" She pulled back realizing what she had just done. Galahad was staring at her with an unreadable expression. She stared back at him then instantly putting her grin back on her face. She looked at the apple and bit into it. They sat and she ate in silence for a few moments. "Here."

She signaled for Galahad to take the apple, Galahad looked at the half eaten apple. "No you eat it."

"Oh come on, it won't be the same if I have no one to enjoy it with!" She smiled at him looking right in his eyes. Galahad smiled took her wrist holding it steady and took a bit of the apple. Chewing he smiled at her. "Good?" He nodded.

She smiled at him, she was starting to wish the campaign would never end.

Beleth slowly woke up but refused to open her eyes. It felt like she was back at the settlement, and it took her a few minutes to realize she wasn't. In fact she was still in the woods with all the people from Marius Honorius's estate. She opened her eyes and looked down at her self. She realized why she was warm.

Not only did she have her cloak over her, not to mention the small blanket that Gawain had found for her but she also had a thick woolen cloak over her. She glanced around. Gawain was still fast asleep leaning against his saddle, with his cloak wrapped tightly around himself. She looked over the fire to see Galahad leaning against a tree with no cloak on shivering with ever in take of breath. He was fast asleep.

When she saw him her breath was taken away. He had given her his cloak even though she was covered, not warm but covered from the slowly falling snow. Beleth quietly got up picking up the blanket and Galahad's cloak off the snow covered ground and slowly made her away around the fire.

Gawain snorted in his sleep and she stopped dead. Once she was certain Gawain was still asleep she continued her tiny trek. Once she reached Galahad's side she pulled his own cloak over him. He shivered once and then continued to sleep. She very carefully settled in beside him resting her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his. She pulled the extra blanket over them both.

As she was dosing, she thought over many things. Maybe Galahad did care about her. Covering her up with his cloak might have been a sign of affection. How was she to know? She could speak perfect Egyptian but she didn't know the first thing about life's real problems.