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Gawain swallowed with difficulty, his mouth suddenly dry.

"Where's Llynya?" None of the villagers met his eyes, and he felt his stomach cramp with fear.

A dark haired woman shouldered her way to the front of the small crowd and met his panicked gaze with solemn brown eyes. "She and Charlotte were in the tavern when the beast attacked, they did not make it out in time."

"You mean…" Gawain took a step backwards, but was steadied by Arthur's hand on his arm.

"Did you actually see it attack them?" The Roman asked, "is there anywhere else that they could have run to?"

Dynadan put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, but his eyes were bright with fear for his daughter. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the gathered knights. "This is the safest place in the village - the place where we all run to. It is possible that they found somewhere else, but…" his voice trailed off, the improbability of such a thing unspoken but all too clear.

Arthur gripped Gawain's arm and looked at the man's ashen face. "There is still hope. Nothing is certain." The blond man nodded silently, stepping back to let the people exit the pit.

"Where's Tom?" Tristan watched the people scramble up the slope with hooded eyes. "Was he with the girls?"

"No." A big red-haired man shook his head. "He took that lurcher of his off hunting this afternoon. As far as I know he hasn't come back yet."

"Perhaps he saw something," Galahad said thoughtfully. Glancing over at Arthur, the other alternative hung heavy in the air. Perhaps the beast had seen him.

"Bors, Dagonet, Galahad, you stay here. We don't know if the village is secure yet, keep everyone in the barn and await our return. Tristan, I need you to find Tom. Search the forest, but if you come across anything unusual then come straight back - do not tackle it on your own." Tristan grunted at this, obviously a little disappointed at such clear orders, but exited the barn like a shadow without another word.

"Gawain?" The younger man turned and reached for his axe, Lancelot falling into step beside Arthur. Bors clapped the blond on the shoulder reassuringly as they exited the barn, but watched his fellow knights leave with a heavy heart. Things did not look good for Llynya and Charlotte, and for once he was glad that Vanora was so far away from him.

The horses tethered to the pig pen snorted as they passed, however aside from that the village was deathly silent. Suppressing the urge to start yelling Llynya's name and kicking in every door that might be sheltering her, Gawain clenched his teeth and stayed silent. The beast might still be lurking in the shadows - they needed to be able to hear its approach if it was.

The three knights approached the tavern warily, weapons ready and muscles tensed. The open door clunked softly against the wall in the faint breeze, but nothing else disturbed the peace. Holding up his hand to indicate caution, Arthur nodded to Lancelot who slunk to the other side of the building and peered around the side. At the shake of his head, Arthur indicated for Gawain to draw up beside him, and they both entered the tavern cautiously. The room was a wreckage of upturned tables and smashed pitchers, testament to the panic that had gripped the patrons. No blood, thought Gawain with a surge of hope, only to feel it wither and die when he saw the ruined back door lying on the floor in the kitchen. Deep slashes were scored in the weathered wood, and judging from the way that the bolt had been wrenched from the lock, whatever had forced it's way in had been extremely powerful. What chance would she have had against something like that? Taking a deep breath he steadied himself against the kitchen wall, dimly recognising Lancelot's comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Gawain?"

For a moment he thought the shout was a figment of his imagination, but it was soon joined by a relieved cry of "hey, up here," by a voice he recognised as belonging to Charlotte.

Looking up startled, the knights watched as part of the roof was tugged away to reveal a trapdoor, two frightened faces peering down at the men below.

"Llynya?" Gawain asked softly, grinning stupidly as she laughed and held out a hand to be helped down. Pulling her out her hiding place he hugged her tightly, breathing in the smell of her hair, and crushing her against his armour. At her muffled "ow," he released her and looked at her worriedly. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened?"

Llynya rubbed her injured shoulder and gave a half laugh of amused relief. "I'm fine, at least I am now."

Smiling shyly, she kissed him eagerly when he bent his head to hers, holding on tight to his broad shoulders and feeling the panic drain from her.

"Excuse me. When you two have quite finished, I'd rather like to get down," Charlotte said peevishly from the attic. "My father is probably out of his mind with worry by now."

"By all means lady." Lancelot offered up his hands to her, and after giving him a distrustful look, she let herself be lifted down.

"Gods that was close," She said, sagging against the kitchen table. "I really thought we'd had it there. My whole life flashed before my eyes," she paused. "It was really boring."

Llynya snorted with shaky laughter, and even Gawain raised a smile and shook his head in disbelief.

"Lady? What happened here, what did you see?" Arthur tipped the girl's head up with a big hand when she blushed and made to curtsey. "You need not bow to me, we are here to help you, but we must know what we are facing."

"It was a … a…" Charlotte looked over at Llynya helplessly. "It was big. Bigger than a wolf or boar."

"Definitely not a dog," Llynya agreed. "The way it moved was almost, well cat - like."

"You think the village is being terrorised by an overgrown house cat?" Lancelot gave a smirk. "All we have to do is set Lark on it and the problem is solved."

"You didn't see it," Charlotte snapped. "That was no house cat. It was a great big, fierce…. Thing." She finished lamely.

"My apologies lady, I did not mean to cause offence," Lancelot replied smoothly, giving a rakish smile to the girl beside him. "We will solve this mystery, you have our word on that."

Gawain looked at Arthur and rolled his eyes, and even the stoic commander had to bite back a smile. Even at times like this Lancelot was totally incorrigible.

"Good." Charlotte said haughtily, although Llynya could not help noticing that she was blushing slightly.

Together they left the tavern, Gawain gripping Llynya's arm in one hand and his axe in the other, Charlotte sticking reluctantly close to Lancelot - obviously still intimidated by the Roman officer that led the way. Nothing stirred in the empty houses, nothing leapt from the shadows to attack them. A couple of piglets squealed as they chased each other around their pen, but of the beast there was no sign.

"Looks like it's gone," Lancelot remarked. "The livestock seemed to have settled down at any rate."

"We shouldn't assume anything," Arthur replied. "We take the girls back to the others and then we'll make a full patrol. I'm not sending anyone out until we're sure."

"You're sending us out," Gawain pointed out ruefully.

"What's the matter Gawain? Scared of a little kitty cat?" Lancelot said jokingly, "just chuck it a ball of yarn and you can make your escape."

Charlotte scowled. "I've already told you it isn't a…"

"Charlotte!" Her retort was cut off by the joyful yell that came from the barn. Charging from the barn, Dynaden raced over to them and swept his daughter into his arms. "Oh Gods I was so worried, I thought…"

"It's alright, I'm alright." Extracting herself from her father's embrace, Charlotte gave a wobbly smile and tried to pretend that she wasn't crying. "We were lucky. Is everyone else safe?"

Dynadan looked at Llynya apologetically. "Tom is missing." As he saw her eyes widen in shock, he hastened to comfort her. "He went out hunting before the beast came, chances are that he's wandering the forest with that dog of his."

"Lark, her name is Lark," Llynya said numbly. "We can't leave him out there, not with that thing roaming around. I have to find him, I have to…"

"You have to stay safe." Gawain said firmly, his blue eyes solemn as he hugged her to him. "Tristan's out there looking for him as we speak, and nothing escapes that deadly bastard. He'll find him, don't worry."

Llynya nodded mutely, and took strength from the conviction of his words and his solid bulk beside her. Tom had saved her life, Tom had only come here because of her - if anything had happened to him….

Ushering the two girls into the barn, Gawain let Llynya go with another kiss and a promise to return soon and followed Arthur, Lancelot and Bors back into the village. Charlotte was met with a melee of hugs and relieved whispers once her father had relinquished her, and feeling a little out of place and more than a little alone, Llynya stood awkwardly at the edge of the crowd. A big hand on her shoulder made her jump, and turning she found herself looking up at Dagonet's scarred face.

"Are you alright Llynya?" he asked kindly. Despite his intimidating appearance there was warmth in his eyes and genuine concern in his voice. "We were worried."

"I'm fine thank you." Llynya smiled at the big man, grateful for his thoughtfulness. "Lucky that Charlotte was with me. That's one more person who's saved my life - I'm running up blood debts faster than Lark catches rabbits."

"I don't think any of them mind." He gave a rare smile, "for someone so hopeless at fighting, you certainly have a talent for survival."

"It's luck that's all." She narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance. "Anyway, I'm not completely hopeless at fighting - I sliced that Woad pretty badly remember?"

"Was that the Woad that would have beheaded you had Bors not stepped in."

Llynya wrinkled her nose. "Point taken, I'm hopeless at fighting. Are you on guard duty?"

"Yes, someone has to keep an eye on this lot, just in case the others miss something."

"I'll keep you company if you like - two pairs of eyes are better than one." At his sceptical look she laughed. "It's alright, if there's any danger I'll find something to cower behind - I'll leave the fighting to you and the others."

"Very well." Moving to the entrance of the barn they stood in companionable silence, scanning the surroundings for any sign of danger.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The knights searched the village carefully, but aside from a few strange paw-prints and the scratches on the tavern door, there was nothing to be found.

"I think it's gone." Galahad looked at the surrounding countryside thoughtfully, "it could have gone anywhere."

"Exactly." Bors ran a hand over his rough head and sighed. "Not exactly going to be easy to defend this place is it? Can't you get the Romans to knock up another wall down here Arthur?"

Arthur gave a faint smile but his eyes were troubled. "The girls described a big cat-like creature. That is not something that I have ever heard of dwelling in these lands."

"Yeah, well they were scared weren't they? Difficult to know what they saw." Bors shrugged and squinted towards the forest. "Speaking of fierce creatures, here comes Tristan."

The dark knight crossed the meadow at a slow canter, and with a collective feeling of relief the knights watched Tom lope out of the trees behind him, Lark bounding at his side.

Tristan pulled up his horse and looked at Arthur. "No sign of any beast, or Woads for that matter. Tom has something you'll want to hear though." Sliding off his horse he waited for the hunter to catch up to the group.

"Tom, it's good to see that you're safe," Arthur said. "Tristan said that you have information."

"Aye, but I'm not sure what good it'll be - not sure if I believe it myself." Tom took a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "What I saw, what I'm sure I saw shouldn't be here. It doesn't make any sense."

"Are you going to tell us or should we guess?" asked Lancelot, ignoring Arthur's warning look.

Tom looked at the knight irritably before continuing. "I've only ever seen one once before, and that was back in Rome, a long time ago. Big cats, they used them in the gladiatorial arenas sometimes; Tigers I think they are called. Very big, very fierce - my father took me to the games in the colosseum when I was a boy, I never forgot it. Men ripped to pieces for the amusement of the crowd."

"But this isn't Rome, we don't have any such thing here." Gawain looked at Tom in confusion. "If you are right then how did it get here, and why?"

"Don't ask me lad, I'm just telling you what I saw, and If I'm right then that village is in a hell of a lot of trouble."

Arthur looked at Tom thoughtfully. "I have heard of the creature of which you speak, but have never seen one. Would it be big enough to drag a full grown man up into the forest?"

"Yes, and without much effort. Make no mistake, these are dangerous animals - true predators, and in this place they could vanish into the forest before you even knew they had been there."

"What of the man with the whistle though? Dynadan said that before the beast struck they heard a whistle. How could someone control a creature like that?" Galahad asked in puzzlement, "surely it would attack him too."

Arthur sighed wearily, "it's up to us to find out and stop them. The village is as secure as it can be at the moment, we will have to discuss this with the people." Turning back towards the barn they made their way cautiously down the main street, their minds whirling with questions.

A/N Chapter thirteen - unlucky for some lol! Gold stars to everyone who guessed the identity of the beast. Let me know what you think if you are inclined to do so : )