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The tavern was quiet. Louisa was obviously still asleep, the villagers barricaded in their homes. Patting Lark, who seemed to think the arrival of all these people an exciting diversion from her usual solitary life, Llynya sat down on one of the benches and tucked her arms around her knees. She could not stop shaking, her body betraying the fear that she had tried so hard to conceal from Gawain and the knights. Every time she closed her eyes she felt the silky strength of the beast as it brushed against her, the harshness of it's breath against her neck. She could have died - by rights she should have died. She had been lucky that's all - Charlotte had been braver than she, Tristan and Lancelot far more skilled in battle and still casualties to Tauleas and his vengeance. Sighing, she tucked her head into her knees and tried not to fall apart.
"Llynya?" The low voice was comforting, but unwilling to raise her tear-stained face to her lover, she settled for laying her head against his shoulder.
"Shh, love," Gawain said quietly. "It's alright."
She sniffled and gave a half laugh. "Yes, things are simply wonderful."
He huffed with amusement and dropped a kiss onto her head. "You were brave, you did well." Scooping her up, he settled her onto his lap, kissing her gently, running his rough hands through her hair and resting his forehead against hers. "Of course if you ever do anything like that again I'll lock you in the stables."
She smiled a little at his words . Pulling away, she looked at him defiantly. "I don't think so."
"Wench." Shaking his head, he watched as she slid off his lap. "Where are you going?"
"The privy." Disguising her embarrassment as annoyance, she wrinkled her nose at him. "I'd rather you didn't accompany me if it's all the same to you."
"Wouldn't dream of it. Be careful, if anything…"
Llynya rolled her eyes and snorted with exasperation. "I think I'll manage, thank-you all the same."
She tried to hide her smile as she left the room and headed for the little privy. Unlike most houses Louisa had installed a little room beside the kitchen for her patrons to relieve themselves. It was basic but fairly clean, and a blessing given that it did not necessitate leaving the building. Washing her hands and drying them on the scraps of cloth left for such a purpose, Llynya almost hit Balan when she opened the door.
"Balan?" Kicking the door shut behind her, she looked at the half-witted man with concern. "Are you alright?"
He looked at her with troubled eyes, his head shaking almost against his will, dancing from foot to foot. "It's not me, it's Louisa. She went outside and she wont come in."
"Louisa?" Llynya looked in the direction Balan was pointing and felt her heart sink. "She's out there?"
Balan nodded, unwilling to meet her eyes.
"Alright." Running her hand through her hair nervously, she turned to the young man. "Go, get Gawain, or any of the other knights, I'll try and get her to come back in."
Balan nodded, his fingers clenching and unclenching, and Llynya felt the first prickle of unease. "Balan, why did she go out?"
"Gone to find Charlotte and David," he muttered. "She thinks they are out there, that they aren't dead.."
Llynya nodded and went to the doorway, searching for the tavern owner in the darkness. She couldn't see very far, but glancing back, Balan had vanished and she felt safe enough to step out into the meadow. The knights would be mere seconds behind her, and sliding to one side, she ducked behind the wooden fence that was used to tether horses, her eyes scanning the surroundings for Louisa.
The blow to her head was swift and unexpected: crashing onto the muddy ground, Llynya choked as the breath was knocked from her body. Struggling to her feet and grabbing onto the tethering rail, she looked in disbelief at the man who had struck her.
"I'm sorry Llynya," Balan said brokenly. "He said he'd hurt my ma, he said.."
She took a step backwards, suddenly frightened at the expression in the young man's eyes.
"Balan? Where's Louisa, what's going on?"
"The bar woman is asleep 'far as I can tell." The voice behind her was quiet but unfamiliar, and Llynya looked around slowly, only to be halted by the cold sting of a blade against her neck. "Was you that killed Rutila, was you that led my cat into that trap." The young man holding the sword was filthy and unkempt, his hair long and matted, a few days growth of beard stubbling his face and chin. Swallowing with difficulty, Llynya met his eyes and felt her heart plummet. His eyes were beautiful, the crystalline blue of a summer sky: bright in the darkness, unafraid and utterly devoid of pity.
"Tauleas," she whispered.
"I see Balan's been talking about me." Grabbing her arm, he kicked her legs out from under her, his free hand clamping over his mouth and cutting off her cry of pain. "Never could keep your mouth shut could you Balan."
"Tauleas, don't. Please…" Balan took a step forward, his hands outstretched beseechingly. "She's nice, she isn't one of them.."
"Shut up!" Tauleas yanked Llynya's head back, the blade pressing into the delicate skin of her throat. "Rutila's dead because of this little bitch. She's going to pay for it - no more running, no more hiding. This ends tonight."
"She's just a girl. Please Tauleas, she's just a girl.." Balan was sobbing openly now, and taking two steps forward, he grabbed his friend's shoulder. "I can't let you. I won't.."
"You were a good friend to Shona, I thank you for that," Tauleas said thoughtfully. Kicking Llynya savagely in the side, he flung her to the ground and sliced forward with his blade.
Struggling to her hands and knees, Llynya gasped for breath, her ribs heaving and ablaze with pain. When Balan fell to the floor beside her, she barely managed to muster a whimper as he blinked at her once, his final breath a choked gurgle, his throat almost severed. Scrambling back from the growing pool of blood, she found herself jerked to her feet by her hair.
"Murderer," she hissed with difficulty. "Coward…"
Tauleas backhanded her brutally and clamped his hand over her mouth to stop her from crying out. Dimly Llynya felt him return the blade to her throat, feeling the warm trickle of blood flow down between her collar bones and soak her dress. Her blood or Balan's? Her body was already consumed with agony and the question did not seem to matter.
"Murderer." Tauleas bent his head and nuzzled her cheek, holding her tight as she tried to squirm away. "Aye girl, I've killed. I've seen horror, I've seen death, and I've dealt it - I know what I am; ain't no place in heaven with the angels for me." He studied her face thoughtfully and gave her an almost tender smile. "I had an angel once, sweetest thing you ever saw. She was kindness and sweetness and everything that was good in this world. They let him kill her, they didn't care. String the bastard up and forget her, just like they forgot about my father, just like they forgot about the men they led to slaughter all those years ago." He sighed and kissed her hair. "They won't forget this, no-one will forget tonight."
His hand loosened from her mouth and Llynya took a deep breath of cold evening air. The knife was still against her throat, the blade cutting into her skin, and she knew that if she screamed then she would be dead long before anyone heeded her cry.
"Shona was innocent," she said softly, "but Balan said she was kind. Would she really want you to do this? Would she really want you to kill innocent people?"
"What do you know of things?" Tauleas snarled, tightening his grip. "You know nothing of her, or me. Justice will be done."
"Justice?" Tired and in pain as she was, Llynya remembered Charlotte, the misguided loyalty of Balan, and felt her anger rise. "You don't want justice," she spat, "you want revenge. What happened to you was horrible, what happened to Shona was horrible, but you're worse. You're worse than the people who did those things." Wrenching away from his hand, she fell to her knees and glared at him defiantly. " Go on, kill me. If you think that by spilling my blood you'll make things right then do it." She was breathing hard, her hair falling over her face and her eyes ablaze. "They can lay my body next to Charlotte's and the other innocent souls you slaughtered, and you'll still be here, suffering and alone. Dynadan betrayed the Romans because he had no choice. It was the Romans or the village - he had no choice."
Tauleas growled and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her to her feet and breathing hard, his face only inches from hers. "You lie, you.."
"I'm not lying," she spat. "I know I'll die here, I don't need to lie." Her eyes stung and she blinked back tears. "Don't you see what you've become?"
"It's for the best," he whispered. "Don't you see? It's all for the best." Briefly kissing her on the forehead, he yanked her head back and swung back his sword.
Llynya fell to the ground, her bruised body screaming at the impact, the breath knocked from her lungs. It shouldn't hurt should it? When the wound is mortal it isn't supposed to hurt is it? she thought faintly. Tentatively opening her eyes, she came face to face with Balan's blank gaze and yelped. Pushing herself up, she found herself unable to move her lower body and panicked. What had he done to her? Almost too afraid to look down, she froze as she saw the body of the young man collapsed upon her legs, an arrow deeply embedded in his back.
"Gods," she whispered, for a moment too shocked to do anything but stare at the dying Roman. He was still alive, his chest rising faintly, a bubble of blood bursting between his pale lips.
"Llynya." She looked around sharply, hardy daring to breathe. Tristan crouched behind her, his strange golden eyes gleaming in the darkness, one hand outstretched. "Can you walk?"
She nodded mutely, allowing him to pull her to her feet and trying not to wince. Tauleas's body rolled off her legs and she scrambled backwards when he started coughing.
"I…." She looked back at the body of Balan and swayed dizzily, the scout catching her and yelling for help.
Bursting through the doorway, several knights slid to a halt before the strange scene, Galahad and Dagonet circling the fallen bodies and watching the surrounding buildings warily.
"Llynya?" Gawain pushed past Arthur and gave a panicky look at Tristan. "Are you? Is she?"
"She'll be alright," the scout said quietly. Gently untangling Llynya's fingers from his hauberk, he nudged her towards the blond knight. "Go on girl, go to your man."
Llynya winced as Gawain pulled her against him, and struggled free from his embrace. Holding a hand to her side, she glanced back towards the fallen bodies.
"He's not dead, he killed Balan and he's not dead…"
"Alright." Careful not to hurt her, Gawain cupped her bruised cheek and nodded towards the tavern. "let's get you inside."
"No." Wriggling out of his embrace, she stumbled back to the fallen men. Balan was dead, but Tauleas watched her with opaque eyes, his breath coming in irregular gasps.
"Shona," he whispered.
"Llynya, don't." Gawain placed a hand on her shoulder and watched Tauleas warily
Llynya dropped to her knees, reaching out tentatively to touch the cheek of the dying man. "I'm sorry I'm not.." her voice trailed off.
"You should have seen her." Tauleas looked up blearily, the light already dying in his eyes. For a moment he raised himself into a sitting position and looked at her with a sweet sadness that was the only remaining echo of the boy he had once been. "You should have seen my Shona when she smiled." He fell backwards, the arrow forced even further into his body, his ribs rising and then hitching on the last breath he took.
Llynya looked at him with a strange mixture of pity, hatred and understanding. Leaning forward slowly, she brushed aside Gawain's hand and reached out towards the dead man. Closing his eyes, she muttered a brief prayer to her gods, ignoring the fact they would almost certainly been completely foreign to those that he worshipped.
"Go, " she whispered, " they are waiting for you."
Dizzily, she turned her attention to Balan, kissing his forehead and dimly hearing his mother scream behind her. Darkness was swift, merciful, and blessedly silent as she succumbed to exhaustion.
A/N Only a couple of chapters left to go! Quick update because the story won't leave me alone and it's a good excuse to avoid writing my dissertation lol.
Some pointless trivia that someone bored might find interesting.
The names I use are Celtic:
Rutila: reddish gold hair
Shona: lucky (although perhaps not in this fic!)
Tauleas: A big knight mentioned in Malory's "Mort d'Arthur" Apologies to purists, I just liked the name.
Llynya's name actually comes from a name mentioned in the Doomsday book. The name was passed down from Roman times in my little village. We still have the remains of the Roman village - although it's little more than the outline of a few foundations and some bits and pieces now. Most kids in the surrounding schools get dragged around it on school trips at one time or another. I find it interesting though, and miraculously the Roman road that was built hundreds of years ago still survives and is now a bridle path that I quite often ride my horse down. Sadly I'm yet to come across any knights yet though "smiles".