Chapter 21
"Phillip aren't you sick of winter?" I asked one cold morning in the month of March.
"Yes Taryn, but as soon as the blistering heat comes, you will be saying the same about summer." He replied.
"Yes but I will not have to spend another winter on this Island, and neither will you." I said as we rode our horses down the streets of the fort.
"Taryn, why don't you come with me to Rome for a visit when this is all over?" He asked.
"I'm sorry Phillip, but I have no desire to see Rome." I replied firmly perplexed by his strange question.
"Even if it meant spending more time with me?" He continued to question me.
"Why don't you take Lena, I am sure she would love to go to Rome with you Phillip." I said with just a bit of malice remebering the night I had seen them leave the tavern together.
"Come on Taryn, you aren't still going to hold that over my head, it was a drunken mistake." He argued.
"I want to know why every man blames having a relationship with Lena on alcohol."
"Trust me she is a lot more pretty when you have had several tumbler fulls of beer." He said with a laugh.
"Whatever." I said turning my horse back toward home.
"You're jealous." He said bringing his horse up next to me.
"I am not jealous Phillip, why does everyone think I am jealous of her." I said.
"I don't know, maybe because you are secretly madly in love with me."
"Yeah right, in your dreams Phillip." I said finding the idea totally ridiculous. "We need to go back, I promised Gawain I would go hunting with him." I said changing the subject.
"Taryn, why are you always running off to be with him?" Phillip asked.
"I don't run off to be with him, we are just hunting." I replied.
"Really Taryn, you act as if you are in love with him." He said taking me completely off guard.
"Phillip, now that is just silly, Gawain and I are only friends." I insisted.
"You protest to much dear Taryn, I know what I see, when Gawain is around it is as if I don't even exist." He said no teasing or joking in his voice at all.
I sat there for a moment taking in what he had just said. He was right; I did practically ignore him when Gawain was around. I am not sure why, Phillip had proven to be just as good of friend as Gawain, if not more so.
"Phillip, I am sorry, I did not realize that I did that. Honestly Gawain is only my friend and I promise you, I will not put him before you again." I vowed. "So let us ride as long as you wish, and Gawain can wait." I said hoping Gawain would not be cross with me.
We finished our ride, and brought the horses back to the stables. I took my time grooming Black's long coat. I could not wait for it to be replaced with his sleek shinny summer coat.
"Taryn" I heard Phillip call from behind me.
"Yes Phillip." I answered.
"I wanted you to know that I wasn't joking earlier when, I asked you to come to Rome with me. Nor was I joking when I asked if you were secretly in love with me." He said his voice low.
"Phillip what do you mean?" I said not fully understanding his statement.
"What I mean Taryn, is do you think you could ever care for me more than a friend?" He said, and then surprised me by pulling me into his arms.
"Phillip, I, I don't know what to say." I said looking up at him confusion in my eyes.
"Just say you will think about it." He replied, and then shocked me even more by ending his statement with a kiss.
It was not filled with the passion and excitement like my last kiss with Gawain was, but it was sweet, and tender, and did not last nearly long enough. The kiss was ended by the sound of Black's stall door being roughly thrown open.
"What the bloody hell do you think your doing?" Gawain said storming into the stall.
"What does it look like to you Sir Knight?" Phillip answered back sharply, not happy at all with the tone of voice Gawain was using with him.
"I thought I had already showed you what happens when you take advantage of Taryn." Gawain said reminding him of the busted nose.
"I can assure you Gawain, this was entirely mutual." Phillip boasted. I just stood there looking like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Taryn is that so." Gawain asked.
It was not as if I had asked Phillip to kiss me, but he definitely did not force it on me, and I did enjoy it. I could not come up with an answer so I merely nodded my head.
I think I saw a brief flicker of disappointment flash in Gawain's eyes, but as soon as it was there, it was gone, replaced by a slightly sarcastic grin. "Well than, I guess I will leave you two alone, and be on my way." He said before turning and leaving the stall.
I turned to look at Phillip with pleading in my eyes.
"By all means Taryn go after him, you always do." He said and turned to leave me alone with my horse.
I didn't run after either of them. I would have liked to talk to both of them, but I refused to have to decide between them, so instead I went to visit Vanora.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Vanora, how did you know you were in love with Bors?" I questioned her after about an hour of mindless chatter.
She thought for a moment. "Well after giving birth to his sixth bastard child, who was the largest of them all I might add, I decided I guess this is love, because there was no other way in hell, that I would go through this time and time again if I didn't love him." She said with a grin.
I just gave her a bewildered look; her answer did absolutely nothing to help me at all. "So you are saying I am going to have to give birth to six children before I decide if I love a man or not?" I questioned.
"Ah, now the real reason you are here. You don't want to know about when Bors and I fell in love, you want to know how to tell if you are in love or not." She said as if she had seen the light.
"Okay you caught me, but if you tell anyone of this conversation Vanora, I swear I will never forgive you." I vowed.
She laughed out loud at this statement. "Vanora it is not funny. Sometimes I think you have been with Bors entirely to long." I said with a mock pout.
"Oh Taryn seriously, you will know when it hits you. You will think of nothing else but being with that person. You will be able to imagine the next 40 years of your life with them, and the thought will excite you. Then there are the physical signs, your heart pounding when they are near, your stomach doing those little flip flops, the blushing of your cheeks when he walks in the room. Although that doesn't count in your case, you blush at everything." She said with a smile.
"So your whole story about not knowing you loved Bors until your six child was a lie?"
"Yes Taryn, I was only teasing you, it was not until number 9 that I knew I loved him." She said bursting into laughter.
"Taryn, I promise you, you will know, and when you find him. You will not be able to see yourself with any other man but him for he will be the world to you." She said with a dreamy look on her face.
"Vanora I would have never guessed you to be such a romantic." I said to her standing to leave.
"Oh and Taryn, have any of the signs hit you yet?" She said with a hint of a smile.
"Not yet Vanora, but I promise you will be the first to know when they do." I said walking out the door.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Spring was finally here, and with it the promise of summer. The grass was turning green, the trees were budding, and it was so refreshing after the bleak cold winter. Arthur called us to the round table one still cool night for a meeting.
"Our supplies are dwindling down, and I am going to send a few of you into Sunderland to replenish them, I am expecting a shipment there from Rome, also I will need you to purchase some supplies from the locals. Those of you who won't be going will be riding to some villages on the north boarders, I have heard word of threats of Saxon invasion, and we will be going to gain whatever information can be found. Are there any questions?" He finished by looking around the room and giving the men a chance to speak.
"When did you hear of this possible Saxon threat?" Lancelot asked.
"Only this week, and what information I heard was not from a reliable source, which is the reason for the mission." He explained. "I will be leading the group going North, I am hoping we wont be gone to long. Lancelot you will lead the men going to Sunderland, you will be gone as long as it takes to get the supplies from Rome, I do not care who goes with who as long as its even numbers."
"Vanora would want to kill me for being gone to Sunderland for an unknown period of time; I pick hopefully brief trip with you Arthur." Bors said not afraid to speak up.
I would love to go to Sunderland; I was there a few days before following the knights to Hadrian's Wall. It was a bustling little town and much more interesting than fort life. I like Bors was not afraid to speak up either.
"Arthur do you think it would be possible for me to accompany the group going to Sunderland?" I asked hopefully.
"Taryn, I have no problem with that, only I need Tristan to go with me north to act as a scout, it is not all familiar territory, like the road to Sunderland." Arthur replied.
I looked disappointed knowing Tristan would not want me going without him, but Lancelot stood up for me.
"Taryn, I don't think anyone will have a problem with you going. You have made the trip quite fine by yourself before, so I am sure you would be fine with three knights to protect you." Lancelot offered.
"Well then I guess it is settled, Taryn you will go with Lancelot, unless anyone has any objections." Arthur said looking around the room, and stopping at Tristan. Who did not say a word. "That just leaves you needing two more knights."
"Since Galahad and Gawain are connected at the waist, they should probably both go with Lancelot, and Dag, you will have to come with the rest of the men." Bors said looking at Dagonet, and ignoring the looks of anger crossing the younger two's faces.
Arthur was right everything was settled we would leave the next morning, Arthur was never one to give us much time to prepare. Tristan's only words to me where to be careful, and to think before I act. It was funny he had known me for so short of time, but knew me so well.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next morning the two caravan's parted, both in different directions. Our caravan included the three knights, myself, two large wagons with a driver for each, and three Roman soldiers, one of which was Phillip.
My friendships with Phillip and Gawain had gotten past that one awkward day, and I continued to split my time between the two of them. I had decided I would not choose they were both my friends, and there was no reason I could not have them both in my life. I was just unsure how this trip would be having them both so close together.
I rode at the front of the caravan with the three knights. Phillip remained at the back with the other Romans. Even though the knights and Romans tolerated each other, it was an unwritten code that they did not socialize together, unless it involved fighting or gambling, and it always seemed one of those led to the other.
"So Taryn, what are you going to do out from under the watchful eye of Tristan?" Lancelot asked as we made our way through the soggy terrain.
"I don't know maybe get drunk, find me a village man to hook up with, or maybe you and I could get together Lancelot." I said with an evil grin.
"You incestuous little rat, I ought to take you off that horse and beat you now for even talking like that." Lancelot replied acting shocked by my statement.
"Lancelot, you are not my brother, you just like to pretend you are so you can boss me around." I said with a laugh.
"You aren't really serious are you Taryn?" Galahad asked.
"No Galahad she is only trying to get a rise out of Lancelot, do you really think our sweet little Taryn could do those things?" Gawain questioned.
"Gawain what do you know? Maybe I am serious." I said with a challenge in my eye.
"Taryn, you can play your games all you want, but I know you, and no you were not serious." Gawain replied confidently.
"Well Gawain, I guess we will see won't we?" I said this time there was no teasing in my voice at all.
AN: Okay sorry so short, but the plus side is, I am writing the next chapter tonight, I can't sleep, and will hopefully have it posted by morning or mid afternoon.
This Chapter and the next are for all you great reviewers who want more Gawain Phillip Taryn action. This chapter is kind off just setting the scene for the next chapter, but I thought this would be a good point to end this one off. Thanks again for all the reviews. I will have more Lena Taryn scenes, but am having trouble with Ideas that would fit Taryn, any ideas would be great. Irishfire, I am glad I did better explaining the necklace, it has meaning to come in later chapters. Tracy 131 I too was disappointed in the deaths in the movie, I mean come on kill off two of the most liked characters ruining all chances for a sequel, lol. I will try not to disappoint but some will die in my story, not telling who though, hehehe.