Chapter 8
The sun was just getting up, when Isabel climbed out of the wagon. She hadn't slept after the dream, which gave her a lot of reason to worry. She didn't exactly know would the attack happen, and if it would, when. She knew that only choice she had was to wait and look what was going to happen. She had no intetions to tell anyone about the dream, not yet anyway.
Isabel saw Dagonet and Galahad sitting by the camp fire and after a moment of hesitation she went towards them. The knights saw the blonde woman approaching and both of them jumped up.
"Is something wrong?" Dagonet asked.
"No." Isabel looked a little amazed.
"I just wondered, because you are up so early. Even Arthur sleeps still." Dagonet said.
"I just couldn't get sleep anymore." Isabel said.
Dagonet only nodded slightly. Then Isabel sat next to Galahad and two knights and the blonde woman sat in the silence each of them having different thoughts on their minds. The knights were thinking about the mysterious appearance of Isabel, when she was thinking about the dream she had. She thought that the attackers in her dream were woads, but somehow it felt strange that they would attack towards King Arthur and his knights. She had read that Merlin was commanding them and she had overheard Lancelot and Arthur talking about him. She knew that Merlin had been around a lot lately, though she hadn't seen him, but she had heard also other knights talking about the wizard. And somehow Isabel felt herself that Merlin was nearby, she just couldn't explain why.
When Tristan woke up, he found Isabel talking with Lancelot and Gawain. When he approached them, he heard all three laughing at something on that moment.
"Good morning. What is so funny?" He watched the blonde woman, who was almost bent down because she was laughing so hard.
"Nothing special..." Isabel managed to answer wiping her tears of laughter. "These two just told me about a funny accident."
"And it was what?"
"Bors poked you accidentally with his sword on the arm and you got so mad that you didn't let him tend it. Then he hit you and you were so dazed after it that he could make sure that you were alright. At the same time he was calling you by the different names..." She started to laugh again, when Tristan didn't look too amused.
"It wasn't funny at all." The scout snorted.
"Actually it was." Lancelot stated laughing as well.
"Don't be embarrased. Accidents do happen." Isabel grinned.
Tristan just shugged and went to his wagon, where he noticed that Isabel had kept the order of his stuff just like they were before, it was hard to even notice that someone else was sleeping there.
When the group was ready to leave, Isabel climbed to sit next to Tristan's wagon driver and she sat there in silence for couple of hours, until Bors rode by the wagon.
"Do you want to ride?"
"Sure. I'm a little numb already." Isabel answered smiling.
The wagon was stopped and Isabel got down. Bors helped her on the saddle and got himself next to the wagon driver. Isabel joined the other knights and when Tristan got back from scouting, he rode next to her.
"You really like riding." He commented.
"Yes, I do. In home I ride almost every day."
"And that can be seen. You can handle that mare very well."
"Thank you. But she is nice and easy horse to ride." Isabel said truthfully.
When Tristan went again to scout, Gareth appeared next to Isabel and she smiled a little. For her it seemed like Gareth didn't want to make Tristan mad, and avoided talking to her when the scout was present.
"Arthur said that we will reach our destination tomorrow." The blonde knight said.
"That sounds good." Isabel said. She didn't know exactly what the knights were supposed to do in the village, which was their destitation, but she hoped that they would soon be going to Camelot. She felt like she was supposed to be there for some reason which she didn't know.
Isabel and Gareth spoke for a moment and when the group got a short break and ate lunch, she gave Bors back his horse and when they continued their way, she got in to Tristan's wagon again. The group hadn't gotten far, and Tristan was just going back to scout, when Sir Kay yelled a warning and soon they saw several painted men appearing from the forrest. The knights were very soon engaged on fierce battle getting a hard resistance from the men which had attacked them.
Suddently Isabel heard loud yelling outside of the wagon and it didn't take for long, when she heard swords colliding together. She guessed that they had been ambushed. She sat silently in the wagon for few minutes. She got curious though, despite she knew that she lacked totally on fighing skills. She took a deep breath and peeked her head between the wagon covers just to see Tristan and other knights fighting against the men, which were heavily painted.
"Isabel, go back in there!" Tristan yelled when he noticed the blonde.
Isabel was just going to do that, but then she noticed that Gareth was is big trouble with two of the attackers just next to the wagon. It was just like in her dream two nights ago and she knew what would be outcome of his battle, if someone didn't help Gareth. She didn't hesitate, when she lunged from the wagon edge and landed on the back of the other attacker. She wrapped her arms around the man, who was so tall that she could hang on his back. Isabel had taken Gareth and both of the men with total surprise, but Gareth snapped out of it fast and before the attacker realized, his sword pierced his stomach. Isabel managed to hang on the mans back for a moment, but he was so strong that he managed to throw the blonde off, and then he turned to her making some kind of murmurring voices. Isabel was freezed by horror and she just lied on the ground without moving. She closed her eyes and waited the moment his sword would spear her, but it didn't happen, instead she heard the man letting out a yell and when she opened her eyes, she saw the man falling down towards her. She was out of the freeze and managed to roll on sideways so that the man didn't fall on top of her. She stood up fast and met Tristan's eyes few steps from her. He was holding a bow in his hand and Isabel guessed that it was his arrow, which stuck out of attackers back. Isabel nodded slightly to him, but she noticed that the scout didn't have a happy expression on his face, on the contrary his eyes were flaming. Isabel managed to get back to the wagon and just when she was getting in, someone grapped her by her long hair. She let out a gasp of pain and when she was pulled on the ground, she noticed that one of the biggest men she had ever seen was holding her.
She started to kick and scream and soon Gawain and Bors saw her being in trouble. Gawain pierced the man two times before she let Isabel go. The blonde didn't noticed it, because she was so scared and when she felt a pair of strong arms around her, she continued kicking and screaming.
"You're safe. I'm Bors." Isabel heard a raspy voice and realized that it was one of the knights who was holding her now.
The knights managed to put the attackers to flight without any looses on their own group, except one wagon driver, who had been shot with arrow and he had died instantly. Few of the knights had some cuts, but no one was seriously injured. When Isabel was sure that it was safe to join the knights, she climbed out of the wagon and went to Tristan, Galahad and Gawain, who were standing near by.
Tristan stood infront Isabel and she could see that his eyes were flaming of anger.
"I told you to go back to the wagon." He snapped.
"I know. But Gareth was in trouble and he needed help." Isabel tried to explain although she felt that it was useless.
"He is a skilled knight. He can take care of himself." Tristan said. "And we would helped him. You didn't have to do that."
"I know you would have. But it seemed like he needed help and you were so busy with other attackers, that I thought I should do something." Isabel realized that she had done stupid thing, she could have been killed herself, but the stubborn woman she was, she wasn't going to give up.
"You made the defending more difficult for us, because we had to look after you. You might have been killed. You should have stayed out of our way." Tristan said angrily.
"Tristan..." Gawain intervened, when he noticed the sudden change in Isabel's eyes. Isabel felt the anger rising, because she hated underestimating more than anything else. And she knew that she was right, she knew what would have happened.
"I did pretty well. Gareth would been killed, if I hadn't intervened." She snapped.
"You might been killed, not him. Your place isn't in battle. We are experienced and skilled knights all. We know what we are doing."
"I know I'm not skilled fighter, but it was just something I decided to do." Isabel said. "And nothing bad happened to me."
"You should have listened to me. Women's place isn't on the battle. Your place is..."
"My place is by the stove? Are you saying so?" Isabel interrupted Tristan angrily. She had quite a temper and now she had had enough. She thought that Tristan didn't know anything about her and the world she came from. Somewhere in her mind was a though that she was now in the world where everything was totally different, but she ignored it. She was too angry.
"I.. I'm not saying..." Tristan stammered a little, when she noticed that the woman was very angry.
"Sir Tristan is now in trouble." Galahad whispered to Gawain, who grinned as an answer.
"It did sound like you were saying so. You are such a moron! I just tried to help." Isabel yelled and turned on her heels. "You are all such a cavemen!"
Tristan, Galahad and Gawain watched after the blonde, when she marched towards Artur's wagon and got in.
"Did you understand what she said?" Gawain asked, because he had understood only few words of her last outburst.
"I didn't, but I got her meaning quite well." Galahad turned to Tristan grinning slightly. "You really know how to talk to a woman, don't you Sir Tristan?"