Chapter 4
It was several hours before we reached the wall. I was able to get some much needed rest, for I knew I would have more explaining to do when we reached the wall. I felt the wagon begin to slow, I could hear sounds of people bustling about, but still I did not feel like getting up, my arm was still hurting. Then we stopped finally we were here. It took several minutes for someone to come and check on me. It was Arthur.
"Taryn" Arthur called. "How are you feeling?"
"I am better, are we here?" I asked.
"Yes we are here, I will have someone show you to a room, and then I will send Dagonet in to take a look at your arm." Arthur answered.
"That is fine, but first I need to look after my horse" I said as I was stepping down from the wagon.
"Your horse is being taken care of, all you need to do is rest." Arthur said
I was really getting tired of being told what to do, but he was trying to be kind. I looked around, my horse nor my long lost father was anywhere to be found.
"This is Jols, Arthur was saying, he will show you to your room."
I followed the man, we went down a street, and came to a large stone building. "This is where the Knights stay" Jols said. I hear you are Tristan's daughter, and there just happens to be an empty room right next to his." He said, leading me through the door and down a long hall with many doors.
He opened a door to a rather spacious looking room, with a large bed. "I hope this will work for you." The room was great, better than anything I had ever stayed in, but I was not quite happy with the location.
"No, this room will not do at all" I heard myself saying, the thought of being that close to him day after day, night after night was to much. "Is there anything else?"
"Well there is a smaller room, at the other end of the hall, between Gawain, and Lancelot's room, but I am sure that is not what Arthur had in mind." He said hesitantly.
"That will be perfect, I quickly said, "Lead the way." The room was much smaller, the bed was smaller, there was only a chair not a couch, but it was cozy enough for me, and was still nicer than anything I had in Sarmatia. Plus location was everything, it was almost as far away from my father's room as I could possibly get.
"Well Lady Taryn, if this will work I will have your things brought in." Jols said.
"It will work, and Jols please call me Taryn, I am no lady, just a girl. Thank you for your help, you have been most kind." I replied
"You are welcome, but you are wrong. If you are a daughter of Tristan's you are more than just a girl, and you deserve respect from everyone you meet." He said as he walked out the door.
That was odd, I am not quite sure what he meant, but I like him, I think he will be a man to befriend. A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. "That was fast", I thought out loud thinking that Jols had returned already. I opened the door to not find Jols, but one of the largest men I have seen. He did not frighten me however, because with one look at his face I could see the goodness within him.
"Hello, I am Dagonet. I am told you have some injuries I need to look at." He said.
"Just a near useless arm, and the cut on my head." I bitterly replied, "All thanks to my new found father."
"Tristan did this to you?" He asked.
"Yes he did, what a welcoming, nothing like saying hi daughter, nice to meet you, let me knock you off your horse and break your, arm." I sarcastically spat out.
He looked at me carefully, studying me, as if he was processing what I was telling him. "Let me see your arm." He said. I turned my left arm toward him to give him a better look. He softly ran his hands up my arms. "Hmm" he said. "Hmm what" I said back to him.
"Well it does not seem broken, just out of place, we can fix this easily, and your forehead is also going to need stitches." He told me.
"Isn't that great he did not "break" my arm just "dislocated" it". I angrily replied.
Why of all times was I now letting my temper start to surface, and with this man, who was only trying to help me, I would not know, but it was coming.
"So you are saying Tristan grabbed your arm, and pulled it out of socket, and struck you on your head to make you bleed." Dagonet asked.
"Well, no" I stuttered, what was this man getting at. "But he might have well have" I yelled back at him. "He made me fall from my horse."
"Oh so he pushed you from your horse." He said.
"Ughhh . NO he did not push me from my horse, he was chasing me, firing arrows at me, and as I turned to look behind me, I hit a branch that knocked me from my horse." "There are you happy, now you know the whole story, but still it is his fault, he was chasing me." I shouted this man was starting to drive me crazy, maybe my arm could just stay that way.
"Why was he chasing you?" He asked.
"What does it matter?" I said back.
"Well, being a healer, when I am treating an injury, I need to know the whole story of how it occurred." He calmly stated.
"He thought I was a spying on them, and intended harm to the Knights." I muttered.
"Tristan, is our scout, that is his job, it sounds to me like he was doing his job." He said this as he left the room.
Now I knew what he was getting at. He was trying to make me see it was no ones fault but my own. He was right, I am not stupid, just temporarily blinded by girlish fantasies. I had traveled all this way to meet this man, and this was not the way I had imagined it, and I was pouting. Yes, Tristan was definitely doing his job, he did not know I was his daughter, when he was chasing me or shooting his arrows, but still somewhere in my girlish heart, I thought he should have known.
Another knock sounded on my door, this time they did not wait for me to answer. Dagonet walked in followed by Gawain, and Lancelot.
"We need to fix your arm now, before it is harder to get back into place." He explained to me. "You need to lie down on the bed." "Gawain here take the sheet." Dagonet said. Gawain then took the sheet, and wrapped it behind me making sort of a sling and holding both ends, at my right side. Somehow I got the feeling they had done this before.
Lancelot then placed a hand on my uninjured shoulder, and the other slightly above my left breast. I looked up quickly to find that gleam in his eye, but surprisingly all I saw was compassion.
"This is going to hurt" Lancelot said. I nodded, I knew it would not be pleasant, but I would not cry. These men had seen me cry quite enough to day, and if I had to bite my own lip off, I would not cry. Dagonet then removed my injured arm with a sling.
"One, two, three" he said. On three, Gawain pulled to the right, Lancelot kept my upper body pinned to the bed, and Dagonet, gave a swift upward pull to my left arm, and with a loud pop my arm was back where it should be. The pain was excruciating, but lasted only seconds, the moment it was back the pain lessened to almost none.
I stared at them, "Well that was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be." I said to them.
"Yes easy for you," laughed Lancelot "we did all the work." The humor was back.
"Oh, Lancelot it is not like you have ever ran from having your hands on a lady." Gawain teased back.
"Yes you know me well." He said with a twinkle in his eyes. I was now seeing him for what he was, not the perverted man I thought he was, but just a big tease. I liked him.
"Come with us to go get something to eat" Gawain said. "I know you must be starving." He was very right even then my stomach began to growl. "Lead the way gentleman, my belly awaits." With that we left.
Note: Okay I wrote both of these chapters at the same time so have not seen reviews from chapter three to know what I should fix. I hope the spacing is better now. To the reviewer who did not think my Taryn was believable I hope I did a little better. But I am not sure I totally agree with you. All women born in the same time period are not the same. You could not classify all women that are alive right now as having the same type of personalitly. Just like we can not say all woman born in the 400 AD are going to all be bold and brassy. I just think that is how young writers tend to make them. Who knows maybe I am wrong. Thanks all for reading. If it is horrible and I should stop, let me know!