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Llynya did not remember falling asleep, nor did she remember being carried back to the small house that had been provided as her quarters. Struggling reluctantly from slumber, she focussed on the high beamed ceiling and tried to work out where she was.
"Llynya?" The low voice beside her was startling, and she scrambled upright, entangling herself in the bedclothes and blinking blearily at the figure sat upon the end of the bed.
"Gawain." She brushed her hair from her eyes and gave a half smile. "I suppose it was you that brought me back here."
"It was that or leave you in the tavern, and that didn't seem particularly gallant." He watched as Llynya swung her legs over the bed and adjusted her shift. A shadow crossed her expression for a moment, and he knew that she was thinking about Charlotte.
"Are they going to bury Char…" her voice trailed off. "I mean will there be a funeral for her?"
A couple of local lads buried her this morning," Gawain said quietly. "I'll show you where if you like."
Llynya took a moment to digest this information. She wished that she had managed to stay awake to see Charlotte laid to rest, but at the same time it was a relief that her body did not lie lonely and unburied in Louisa's tavern. Nodding, she slid off the bed and padded to the corner of the room. Her rumpled dress lay upon the chair in the corner, and she pulled it over her head, ignoring the sticky griminess of her skin. Washing would have to wait until later, for, she realised with a pang, there would be no blonde haired girl with a wicked smile bringing water this morning.
Gawain was already dressed; from the weariness in his eyes he had slept little. Llynya crossed the room and took his hand, running her fingers over his rough palm and tracing the lines that could have been read by far wiser women than she. Looking up at him, she kissed the rough skin and didn't say anything, but let him pull her onto his lap, resting her head upon his shoulder and sighing as he rubbed small circles against her back.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry about Charlotte."
"Wasn't your fault," she muttered against his neck. "Blame Tauleas, blame Dynadan."
"Bors and I were supposed to be on watch." He gripped Llynya around the waist and pushed her back a little so that she faced him. Her dark eyes bright with worry and her lip caught between her teeth. "We saw nothing. Nothing. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes then I would think it a ghost."
"What are you going to do?" she asked, her fingers tracing his jaw. "Does Arthur have a plan?"
The blond knight shrugged. "Arthur is a brilliant tactician, but this isn't an army we are facing. Lancelot and Tristan nearly died the last time we faced the beast, and I've never seen them defeated before. We need to change our tactics if we are to defeat this evil."
"You'll find a way," Llynya said solemnly. "I have faith in you and your brothers."
"Faith." Gawain looked sorrowful for a moment. "It is a long time since I have had faith in anything but my axe and my commander." He kissed Llynya gently. "I thought that by bringing you here I was giving you a better life: I was wrong."
Llynya frowned and concentrated on the lock of his hair that she had wound around her fingers. "How were you to know what would happen? You could have left me with Tom long ago - there is no need to apologise."
"You think I would have left you alone?" Gawain tipped her chin up so that her eyes met his.
She studied him for a moment. "You left before, I came back into your life against your wishes. I could not blame you for being angry."
"Angry?" Gawain said incredulously, "surprised, thankful, yes; but never angry. I thought I was doing what was best for you when I left you. If I had had any idea…." he ran a hand over her tousled hair. "I made a mistake. I won't make it again."
"What do you mean?" Llynya looked at him in confusion.
"Come back to Hadrian's wall with me. Stay with me."
"I…" she slid off his lap and blinked. She loved Gawain; loved the smell of him, the feel of him, the humour in his eyes and the kindness in his heart, but to go to the wall? That was an alien world, a Roman world - how on earth would she fit in? What would she do there? The knights were often sent away on various missions; could she really endure a lifetime of waiting for him to return to her?
"Can I think about it?" she stammered. "I wasn't expecting this…"
He looked a little disheartened, but nodded. "Take as much time as you need, or as long as it takes to kill the beast anyway."
Getting to his feet he kissed her on the cheek. "We had better make our way to the tavern, most of the villagers are lying low, but I'd rather you stayed with me and the others. I imagine Louisa would be glad of the company as well."
Louisa. Llynya suddenly felt guilty at not thinking of the tavern owner sooner. She had already lost her son to the beast, and now Charlotte, whom she was obviously fond of, had also been taken from her. Goodness only knew what sort of a state she was in.
"you are right, we should go." Making a half-hearted attempt to tidy her hair, she gave up and let it hang loose; her appearance was the least of her worries after all. Slipping past Gawain, she waited as he closed the door behind them, and set off towards the tavern.
The sun was high , and Llynya blinked at the incongruous blue sky and bright sunlight. She had obviously slept longer than she had realised. Picking her way over the muddy divots that traversed the street, Llynya looked around cautiously. The village was quiet, although here and there the occasional person flitted, carrying water from the well or hefting a couple of logs into their houses. They nodded politely at the girl and the knight, but did not tarry; Charlotte's death was obviously common knowledge, and no-one dared to spend much time out in the open. Llynya glanced at Gawain and hurried her pace a little. She did not doubt that the knight would protect her if trouble arose, but she would be much happier when they were safely back indoors.
Pushing open the tavern door, Gawain gestured for her to go inside.
Bors grunted in acknowledgement as she passed, and Llynya gave a half-curtsey in reply. The big man was slumped against the wall and sharpening one of his blades with a whetstone. The other knights either sitting on the rough benches or leaning over a table that seemed to have some sort of plan or drawing inscribed upon it in charcoal. Smiling shyly as the knights looked around at her intrusion, she made her way over to the fire where Louisa sat slumped in a worn armchair.
"Louisa?" She touched the older woman's shoulder gently, wincing as she saw the depth of sorrow in the tavern owner's eyes. Louisa patted her hand absently and returned her attention to the fire. Stepping backwards, Llynya glanced around. Dynadan sat on a bench close to the knights. He seemed to have aged overnight; the air of quiet authority was gone, his posture defeated and his expression blank. Beside him sat Balan, fast asleep, his head resting upon the shoulder of a small worried looking woman that Llynya vaguely recognised as being his mother.
Her stomach rumbled insistently, and Llynya headed towards the kitchen. She had not eaten since the day before, and it seemed unlikely that the knights had been fed. Checking the cupboards she found a couple of loaves that seemed fairly fresh and carefully sliced them, wiping the plates as best she could. From the squarking coming from the chicken coop behind the tavern the birds had not been fed yet. If she was lucky then there would be eggs to be collected, she thought to herself; although she would have to ask someone to accompany her - the thought of coming face to face with either the beast or Tauleas was not particularly enticing. Grabbing the little wicker basket that Louisa used to gather the produce of her flock and tucking a half filled bag of grain into it, Llynya made her way back to her companions. Gawain, Arthur, Tom and Dagonet were conversing around the main table, and she hesitated a moment, unwilling to interrupt them.
"Llynya?" The voice beside her made her jump, and she turned to see Lancelot sitting beside the door. Physically he looked much better: the dark eyes were clear, and although he was sitting a little stiffly, at least he was up and moving around. His expression told a different story however, and she wondered just how hard Charlotte's death had affected him.
"Sir," Llynya gave a muddled half nod-half curtsey . "I hope that you are feeling better."
"I'm fine." He nodded at the basket she carried. "Where are you off to?"
"Oh." She looked down, a little flustered, "I was going to feed the chickens, I thought I should ask someone to come with me."
"Very sensible." The dark knight got to his feet with a wince, "can't have you wandering about on your own, especially after what happened to…" his voice trailed off, and Llynya shot him a covert glance. His eyes seemed to darken further, and noticing her scrutiny he raised an eyebrow and settled his features back into his usual slightly sardonic expression. "Shall we?" he gestured to the door with exaggerated politeness.
"Are you sure?" Llynya asked hesitantly, "You're hurt, I don't want to…"
Lancelot huffed a sigh that he barely managed to prevent turning into a wince. Reaching out he took her elbow firmly, pushing her back towards the kitchen. "I have you to protect me Llynya, after witnessing your spectacular battle prowess against the woads, I am in no doubt that we will be quite safe."
Llynya wrinkled her nose in mock annoyance, but let the subject drop. If Lancelot wanted to mask his feelings with humour then she was inclined to let him do so - after all hadn't she done her very best to run from the memories of her village?
It was only a short walk to the chicken runs, although Lancelot was slightly breathless when they reached them. Glancing at him surreptitiously, Llynya prayed that he would not fall, and wondered if he would let her help him if she did. There was no sign of the beast; indeed save for the chickens and the old mare that was tethered nearby, there was no sign of life at all. Unlatching the gate and tossing the grain to the birds, Llynya stepped carefully through the scurrying chickens to the hen houses, deftly plucking two dozen eggs from the straw and avoiding the outraged squawking of the elderly cockerel.
"Done?" Lancelot watched as she carefully latched the gate behind her and showed him the fruits of her expedition.
"Good hens," Llynya smiled, glad to have something neutral to talk about for once. "I expect that you'd be glad of a decent breakfast, it must have been a while since you last ate anything."
Lancelot shrugged, wincing as pain shot down his injured shoulder. "Aye, I could eat."
Smiling as he gestured for her to enter the tavern first, she made her way to the kitchen and dragged out the heavy metal skillet, one eye always alert to anything that might move outside the tiny window.
Breakfast was devoured swiftly and gratefully by the knights, ignored by Dynadan and Louisa, and accepted with tentative thanks by Balin and his mother. Llynya curled onto a bench a little back from the knights and listened to their plans. From time to time Gawain would glance back at her and smile, occasionally getting up on the pretext of checking that nothing was happening outside and running a hand over her shoulder as he passed. There were still lookouts from the village posted in several places, but since the death of Charlotte and the two sentries, everyone was on edge, and few people ventured outside.
Lark had been the recipient of several crusts of bread by knights beguiled by her liquid eyes and pitiful expression, and Llynya had been hard pressed not to laugh when the usually rough Bors had slipped her a piece of bread after checking that no-one was looking. Now she lay curled at Llynya's feet, her paws twitching as she chased rabbits in her dreams. Llynya was grateful of her presence as she rested her chin on her hand and watched the knights argue and debate various plans. Strategy after strategy was discussed and discarded: a pit - too obvious, and impossible to disguise if Tauleas was watching the village. A hunt too dangerous - the horses were unpredictable around the beast, and it was not territory that they were familiar with. As recent events had shown, the hunters could all too easily turn into the hunted. Reasoning with Tauleas seemed pointless, for as Balin agreed sadly, the man was no longer interested in peace. Louisa had spoken up at that, her dim eyes finally regaining a little of their usual life.
"Conviction can devour a man's heart and turn him into a beast," Louisa said quietly. "He is not a man anymore, he cares not for those he destroys."
"A thirst for justice," Galahad said slowly.
Arthur shook his head, "revenge."
Tristan had nodded at that, his hawk stretching her wings and rattling the bells on her jesses. He had let Llynya stroke the bird when she had given him his breakfast and tentatively offered yesterdays bacon rinds as a meal for his companion. The bird was haughty and beautiful, and inwardly she had smiled at how similar the man and his pet were in both attitude and demeanour. Llynya watched the beautiful animal preen it's feathers and managed to drag her attention back to the discussion.
"It might work," Tom said slowly, "but there is no room for error."
"Agreed." Arthur ran a hand through his tousled hair and sighed. "The only problem is getting it into position. We need something for it to go for, we need…"
"Bait." Llynya said quietly, she could see the plan inscribed upon the worn table, had heard enough to know what they were planning. "It won't go for Dynadan : Tauleas wants him to suffer, and I don't think he wants Balin dead. It's already tried to attack me once, use me."
"Llynya, no!" Gawain got up swiftly and looked at his commander. "Arthur, tell her…"
But Arthur's eyes were fixed on the young woman who sat frightened but defiant across from him.
"Do you know what you are saying Llynya?" he asked quietly.
"Yes." She nodded, not daring to look at Gawain. Squaring her shoulders she gave a half smile, "she was my friend."
Arthur nodded in understanding, "then it is settled, tomorrow we fight."
A/N Thanks very much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter - I value all your opinions. Please feed the author lol