My favorite chapter so far. Hope you all like it.

The next morning, Annabla and Lancelot woke at dawn. Neither knew that the other was awake. Lancelot rose in bed and walked to his balcony. As he stood upon the balcony, he took a deep breath. His cuts hurt him less and the morning dew relaxed him. He ran his fingers through his curly black hair and then thought of Annabla. Had he been too forward? Now she must truly hate me Lancelot thought.

Annabla POV

Annabla rose as soon as she woke and dressed. Today, she did not wear her normal womanly clothes. Today, she thought, I will train. Annabla went to her armoir and drew out a man's outfit. It was flexible yet fitting on Annabla. She stood at the mirror and braided her long hair. Annabla then reached beneath her bed and pulled out her sword in it's sheath with the black bag attached to it. Placing the sword upon her belt, Annabla looked peeked outside her door. No one seemed to be there, so Annabla walked outside. After ten minutes of wandering around, Annabla found her way to the stairs, then through the halls, all the way to where the stables were. I don't want anyone to see me. It would be odd to see a woman in a man's clothing fighting with no one. Annabla chuckled and looked inside the barn. After scanning the area twice over, she thought that inside would be less noticable than outside. To her knowledge, no one would be leaving or comming this morning. Thus, she had no need to fear of disturbance. Annabla closed the door tightly behind her then removed her sword from her belt. As she laid the sword on the ground, she disconected the black bag from the sheath. Something within the bag clanked as she untied the string. Annabla then pulled a pair of Sais. The Sais were completly black except for the tiny, red intricate roses and branches engraved and painted along the sharp end. There was a code written on the side as well. Annabla thought that the code was simply a design and thought no different of it. This is my weapon, thought Annabla as she felt the designs along the side. Annabla found a large piece of wood and dug it into the ground. It stood as tall as a man. Annabla backed away stood in a fighting stance. Annabla began to twirl the sais in her fingers, slowly, then faster and faster. Running forwards she stopped twirling, jumped, jabbed the sais twice into the air, then kicked. She did this combination again and again till she felt that she had perfected it. She then practiced back kicking and jabbing with her elbows then slicing with her sais.

Lancelot POV

Lancelot had gotten dressed and had grabbed a small but fufilling breakfast from Michael. I best check on my steed thought Lancelot and he walked down the stairs and outside. Lancelot was confronted by Arthur.

"Arthur. You are awake quite early today." said Lancelot greeting him.

"Yes my friend, I am." Arthur looked to Lancelot and Lancelot could read his expression clearly.

"Speak to me, not your God. What troubles you?" Lancelot said as he motioned for Arthur to sit with him upon the steps.

"Nothing Lancelot. I am having trouble sleeping. That is all." Arthur answered solemnly. "It has been busy latley."

"Yes, it has."

"Did you enjoy yourself last night? At dinner. I saw you with the princess." Arthur said with curiosity.

"I did acctually. A battle wound did however open up and I was forced to leave early." Lancelot said.

"Ah, but you are better now. You left with Annabla did you not? Has she some healing power over you? Perhaps some...pleasurable powers?" Arthur smiled jokingly at his friend.

"Do not be daft Arthur. I did not bed her. I do not make love to every beautiful woman I see." Lancelot said with a smile back to Arthur.

"You see her as beautiful?"

"Who wouldn't?"

"And you did not make love to her?" Arthur gave a suspicious but joking stare at Lancelot.

"No I did not." Lancelot said.

"I have the slightest feeling that she may have rejected you Lancelot. Did you kiss her?"

"She did not reject me. So what if I did not kiss her? Good things come to those who wait yes?" Lancelot said attempting to defend himself against his prying friend.

"Tis been a long time since you've been with a woman hasn't it." Arthur said.

"No..well maybe."

"It'll do wonders for your health Lancelot."

"And you speak of your Guinevere."

"Yes Lancelot. You best find yourself a lady."

"I've considered it." Lancelot thought of Guinevere. He would have loved to marry her. But that would break Arthur's heart. Lancelot valued his and Arthur's friendship immensly.

There was a long pause in the conversation until Arthur said: "Enough about women. What of the future Lancelot. Are you to return to your home? I remember you once telling me that when you became free, you would not even sleep. That you would gallop to your homeland immediatley."

"I know Arthur, but am I in any shape to take such a journey? I would Arthur. I really would. But I am not completley healthy yet. Also, I would never forgive myself if I missed my best friend's wedding."

"You are a true friend indeed."

"As are you."

"I must go inside and tend to my work. I must speak to that arsehole bishop. He needs to get his arse back to Rome." Arthur said as he stood to go inside. Arthur patted Lancelot's back and went inside.

Lancelot rose and walked towards the stables he could hear the clinking of metal against wood. What on Earth is that? Lancelot thought. He decreased his pace and walked towards the doors to the barn he stood at the door ready to burst in. When the noises stopped.

Annabla stopped her practice. Someone was listning to her. No one should be awake at this hour. she thought. Suddenly, the doors burst open. Without thinking, Annabla spun around and flung the sai from her right hand at the door. She then flung the sai from her left at the door a mere two seconds later.

"Holy shit," said Lancelot. The sais were on either side of his head implanted in the wood of the doors. The sais had barley missed his head by centimeters.

"Lancelot!" Annabla said surprised. "I thought you were someone else. A rebel maybe? Actually I don't know what I was thinking it was kind of an automatic reaction."

"What the..."

Annabla interuppted him and blurted out: "and what kind of a stupid bloke bursts into a barn at the crack of dawn? Lancelot really. Its quite rude."

"It is also rude to throw sharp objects at innocent people." Lancelot said back.

"Hardly innocent." Annabla said rolling her eyes at Lancelot. He was still stationed against the doors.

"What the hell are these?" Lancelot said looking from side to side.

"They're Sais." Annabla said to Lancelot as if he were a child.

"And 'sais' are...?"

"They're asian weapons. Able to pierce almost any armor. They're good weapons when going by foot or when riding."

"Why would a princess know how to use such weapons?"

"I'm not a typical princess."

"How did you come across these?" Lancelot said eyeing the patterns on the sai.

"A man visited our home once. He offered many weapons as a gift and gave these to me especially. My father had me trained. Out of no where he insisted that I learn. The man came once a month and taught me until I was fourteen."

"What was the man's name?"

"I never learnt his true name. I always called him teacher." Annabla stopped and Looked to Lancelot. Still standing between the Sais. "Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Maybe I wish to know more about you." Lancelot said. Annabla walked to where Lancelot stood. "You are wearing men's clothing." Lancelot said. Annabla was then face to face with Lancelot. She took one more step and their bodies were against each other. Annabla reached up and grabbed her Sais.

"No more questions Sir Lancelot." She said still against Lancelot. Her hands up by her Sais.

"That wasn't a question." Lancelot said. Annabla pulled the sais from the door and turned around. She walked to where her sword lay and began to put the Sais away. "No, don't put them away." Lancelot said.

"Why shouldn't I?" Annabla asked.

"Because," Lancelot said with a grin, "I challange you to a deul. My swords against your Sais."

"You're on. But are you entirely sure you can fight? Your cut was pretty deep last night." Annabla stood with her sais. Twirling them with anticipation.

"I thrive off of pain. I will be fine. It will be you who will be needing to take care." Lancelot took two short swords from the armory and took his stance. Annabla took hers. With a battle cry, Lancelot lunged at Annabla. She doged his attack and struck him with her elbow on his back. Grunting, Lancelot swung his left sword backwards it caught between Annabla's Sai's tongs. Lancelot forced the sword upwards causing the sai to fly off. As the sai flew upwards, Annabla spun and kicked Lancelot behind his knees. He fell to the ground and she caught her sai. Lancelot then tripped Annabla causing her to fall to the ground as well. Annabla jumped up as did Lancelot. Lancelot swung at Annabla and cut her arm.

"You cut me!" Annabla said with disbelief.

"All is fair in love and war." Lancelot replied.

"AHHHGHHH!" Annabla roared as she ran towards Lancelot. Their weapons collided and sparks flew from the weapons hitting together. Annabla fought with all her might but she still could not get through Lancelot's swords. Ducking low, she swung her foot out and tripped Lancelot. Stepping on his hand, she relieved him of his right sword. As she reached for the other one, Lancelot grabbed her legs and pulled her downwards. She grabbed onto his shoulders and the two were rolling around in the dust. Lancelot got the advantage and stradled Annabla. She was pinned to the ground. Unable to move. Lancelot grabbed her hands that were holding the Sais and pinned them above her head.

"You're good for a woman. I'll give you that." Said Lancelot to Annabla. She struggled to get up but Lancelot's body weight would not allow her to. "You know, you look beautiful when you fight."

"If I didn't know better," Annabla grunted, "I'd say you were trying to seduce me."

"What gave you that impression Annabla?" Lancelot said grinning even more.

"Well you are sitting on me." Annabla said pointedly.

"It's all part of the fight." Lancelot said.

"Are you sure it is not just a feeble attempt to get ontop of me?" Annabla said raising her eyebrows.

"Shut up." Lancelot said as he lowered his head and kissed Annabla. At first she was surprised but then she closed her eyes and fell for Lancelot. Lancelot broke the kiss and raised his head. "Does this mean I won then?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Arsehole." Annabla said simply as Lancelot lowered again to kiss her. Annabla turned her head as Lancelot kissed her neck and said: "I loathe you. Get off of me."

"Now you really don't want that." Lancelot said in between kisses.

"How do you know what I want?" Annabla asked while closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of Lancelot on top of her.

"I can tell." Lancelot said. He slowly let go of Annabla's hands and she dropped her Sais. Raising her hands to his face, she trailed her fingers over his cheeks then through his curly hair. Her hands rested upon his neck. Annabla wrapped her right leg around Lancelot's left. Lancelot moved from Annabla's lips to her neck kissing every inch of it. His hands moved up and down Annabla's sides. Lancelot's hands then traveled up into her shirt stroking the sides of her stomach. Annabla arched her back with want as he traveled towards her cleavage then back to her lips. Their tounges met once again. "Annabla," Lancelot murmured as he kissed her even more passionatley. Suddenly, in the midst of their kiss, the barn doors opened. Jols, the Knights' squire came in. Lancelot and Annabla broke apart immediatly and turned their heads to the door. The two were covered in dust, from the fight. Annabla's once braided hair had unravelled and was covered in dust as well. Jols took one look at the couple, rubbed his forehead and said:

"Well I guess I'll come back later if I'm inturupptin' somethin eh?"

"Jols..." Lancelot said as he got up.

"Don't worry Lancelot. My lips are sealed." Lancelot mouthed a silent thankyou as Jols closed the door and left. Annabla was had grabbed her equiptment and was walking to the back entrance to the barn.

"I had better go get cleaned up." she said.

"Wait..." Lancelot said, but when he turned around, Annabla was already gone.