Chapter 5: Tristan

Approaching hoofbeats caused Arthur to look up from Marius's limp corpse on the snow, a patch of blood seeping from below his lifeless body. He immediately drew his sword, as did his men, trying to determine the source of the sounds. He relaxed and lowered Excalibur when Tristan emerged from the trees, his usually serene face stained by a bleeding nose.

"How many did you kill?" shouted Bors almost playfully.

"Four."

The scout flung a pair of daggers and a shield engraved with Saxon symbols on the white ground, along with a wooden crossbow, meeting Arthur's eye.

"Armour-piercing, we leave now," he said hoarsely.

Arthur nodded. Enough words were said. He gave Guinevere a reassuring glance before turning around, preparing to give out instructions to the people when Tristan's voice stopped him.

"Arthur, I have a captive."

He frowned. The last thing they needed was an extra burden. He trusted his scout's judgment though, and he watched with as much patience as he could muster as Tristan dismounted his horse, lifting a woman from the saddle. He roughly shoved her in front of him, holding her hands behind her back. The first thing that struck Arthur was her piercing blue eyes, which boldly held his gaze.

"She laid in ambush," said Tristan. "I killed her companions."

Arthur stared at the young woman, whose pale face was framed by waves of blonde hair. "A Saxon?"

Tristan shook his head. "A Briton."

The commander furrowed his brow. So they had a traitor as a captive.

"Put her in the cart," he said and walked away.

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The cart waggled and creaked as it made its way forward laboriously in the deep snow, led by a single horse and driven by one of the Sarmatian knights. It was an ancient heirloom of one of the British peasants. It stank of hay, dead animals and anything farmers left in carts to rot. It was covered by a dirty rug on the top to shield the interior from the severe cold outside, and another acted as a flap-door. The wooden interior was cold and hard, but dry nonetheless. It was far from comfortable, though it was certainly better than tramping in the snow.

Abigail hunched in a filthy corner at the back of the cart. She was exhausted, and feeling rather faint from the blood loss of her wound on her upper right arm. It did not feel like a deep gash, and she hoped it had stopped bleeding. She had not had the chance to examine it yet, since her tunic was thick and she had difficulty taking it off.

A boy laid sound asleep near the flap, his frail body draped in thick cloaks. His head fell to his left, swaying to the movement of the cart. His soft brown hair covered his eyes, and his mouth was slightly open, snoring softly.

Abigail could not remember the last time she had slept in that manner. As the Saxon army's scout, she was constantly on the move. It seemed to her that Cerdic was not even aware of the fact that she was human, and that humans needed sleep. She had no choice but to nap while on horseback, or while the Saxons massacred the villages they came upon. The latter was a rarer case, considering the fact that massacres were noisy and disturbing.

And that it was her people who were being killed.

Strangely, nightmares seldom haunted her. Maybe it was because she was never asleep long enough for nightmares to come to her.

Now, all she wanted to do was to close her eyes and let sleep hurl her into sweet oblivion. Every jolt of the cart felt like the soothing rock of a cradle, every creak of the wheels sounded like a lullaby, and the very warmth of the cart seemed to weigh heavily on her eyelids.

Just when she thought she could resist no more, the flap of the cart was pushed open. Freezing air sliced at her face, instantly restoring awareness in her. The Sarmatian scout came in, bending his tall frame so that he could make his way over to her.

He crouched down beside her, and the two locked eyes for a moment, with her glaring at him, and him, well, she could not see his eyes. She assumed he was glaring at her too. He broke the connection first, glancing at the belt she had tied on her arm in hopes of stopping blood loss. Then he spoke, in a low, but far from gentle tone.

"Dagonet will tend to your wound," he said.

As if on cue, the driver of the cart entered, carrying a water bottle and a bundle of healing materials in the other. Abigail glowered at him, but he ignored her stare and reached out for her right arm.

She shrunk away, both from mistrust and defiance, glaring so hard that her brows trembled from the force she exerted on them.

"I must see to it, it might get infected," said Dagonet kindly.

Her expression softened ever so slightly, then, eyeing at him skeptically, she nodded. Dagonet moved closer to her, and removed her belt. Abigail immediately felt blood rushing back to her arm.

"I'll have to tear open your sleeve," said Dagonet, glancing at her for consent.

She nodded. And he easily tore the thick fabric apart. She grimaced from the force, and again when she saw her wound.

It was a bloody mess. The bleeding had stopped, and dry blood crusted the gash. It was already showing signs of infection, and Dagonet got to work quickly. He wet a clean rag, grasped her arm, and wiped the cloth over her torn skin.

She nearly gasped from the pain, but bit the insides of her mouth and managed to stay silent. Abigail shot a glare at the scout, hoping to make him feel guilty for wounding her. But he watched Dagonet work, never moving his gaze away from her arm.

"You injured the lady?" asked Dagonet as he wet another rag with a small smile.

"She tried to kill me," he replied tonelessly.

Dagonet raised an eyebrow. He continued to wash the wound until all the dried blood had been done away with. He then took half a bulb of garlic from a pocket and rubbed it on the cut. It stung greatly, and Abigail squeezed her eyes shut, digging her fingernails into her arm to reduce the pain.

Her wound felt as if it were on fire when Dagonet finally wrapped it in clean bandages. After cleaning up the mess of bandages and cloths, he nodded to her, then went to kneel beside the child. He wrapped the cloaks more closely around the boy, then stroked his cheek tenderly, before returning to his seat outside.

After a few moments of silence, the Sarmatian slid to sit on the cold wood, propping up his long legs.

"My commander wishes to question you," he said without turning to her.

She did not reply. She simply continued to stare at him, mostly in disdain, but with curiosity as well. He sat a decent distance from her, close enough for her to see the braids in his hair. She had noticed them before. In fact, they were the first thing she spotted when she first laid eye on him. She had silently studied them while sitting behind him in the saddle, trying so hard to stop bumping against his back. Braids normally struck her as a feminine thing, but, strangely, they somehow matched him.

His eyes were once again hidden behind those braids, so dark and mysterious. Her eyes drifted along the ridge of his nose, which had been snapped back into place, with a bruise sitting on the tip. Then she turned her focus to his limbs, long and slender, with more agility and strength than one would imagine, which had so effortlessly trapped her beneath him a few hours ago; then to his sword, a saber, rather, its deadly blade hidden in its battered sheath.

Her hand instinctively reached up to her bandaged wound. It was then she realized that her right arm was exposed to the cold now that her sleeve had been ripped open, and she immediately wrapped her cape tightly around her shoulders.

The flap was swept aside, and Arthur stepped in.

Abigail stared at him in both awe and detestation. Arthur-Artorious- the knight she had heard so much about in bedtime stories since she was a child; Arthur, the man whose sword and mercy she was under.

The scout acknowledged his commander's presence with a nod, and the Roman returned it. He knelt down a safe distance from her, and studied her. Abigail returned the gesture, trying hard to keep the evident fascination out of her eyes.

Arthur was a tall man, of medium build, his face grave and imposing, etched with fatigue. She stared at his sword, Excalibur, in sheer amazement. She had never seen a weapon so magnificent and extravagantly ornamented with carvings of pagan gods, dragons and other mystical creatures. It looked- it was majestic, and seemed to glow in the dull of the cart, and it took her much difficulty to remove her gaze from this piece of wonder.

"What is your name?" Arthur asked in a quiet voice, full of authority.

Abigail glared at him in reply. He waited patiently for an answer, but when it became clear that she had no intention whatsoever to respond, he moved on.

"Are you a Briton?"

No response. Not even a twitch of the lip. Her eyes turned to stare straight ahead of her, through him.

"If you will tell me of the Saxons' plans, I will take you under my wing," said Arthur almost soothingly now.

A fire seemed to spring from her heart. She tossed him a fierce glare, hurt and anger plain in her wide blue eyes.

"I may be a traitor, but I have honour," she growled through gritted teeth in a dangerous voice.

That did it. Nodding, Arthur got up. He made his way to the flap, but stopped midway and turned back to her. He handed her a bundle wrapped in cloth, which she snatched rudely out of his hands without thinking. He left the cart without another word.

The Sarmatian scout got up also, not even bothering to look at her.

"Wait."

He stopped, and twisted around to her, his left arm extended to support himself from falling on the joggling cart. His braids covered his face, but she could imagine his impassive face.

"What is your name?"

For a second, Abigail thought he would not reply.

Then, he replied in the quiet voice of his, "Tristan."

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Hello! I haven't updated for a few days, and it's time I did so :) I hope you liked this chapter, it isn't a very significant one, but at least she now knows his name. Thanks for the eleven beautiful comments for the last chapter! That really took me by surprise, thanks so much! I love reading your ideas :D

Kasora: Lol, stalker! xD Just kidding. Hehe, I don't have msn, so I really don't have any idea how you lurk on it ;) Aww, thank you for your compliments! I haven't been described as "brilliant" before -huggles- Ah yes, summer is unpleasant. I'm glad autumn's coming in HK! Yes, yes, you can call me an Aussie, I guess ;) Thank you for your luck! But I lost anyway. Sigh. Yeah, but that leaves more time to reading, writing, riding and tennis. So it's good in a way. I hope you liked this chapter! Update HYD soon :D

Nilmelwen: Thank you! I'm glad you like the intensity! I think I add more depth to this story than I do in others. I think more from my characters' point of view, and try to convey their feelings through words. I know I can add much more depth to my characters, and I'm trying to dig deeper every time. I hope you'll see improvement in my writing ;) And I'm glad you think the ending was "brilliant"! That really was a big compliment. Thank you!

K-Neptune: Thanks! I hope you liked the chapter!

KnightMaiden: Lol! Now you've got me obsessed with him too! Thanks for reviewing!

Phantom666: Cool name! Thanks for reviewing, I hope you liked my update :)

BilliJoe is effin sexy0: Exactly what I was thinking buddy! Getting pinned down under him, think of that -blushes- Aww, I'm glad you love Abigail! Yes, she is tough. She has no choice but to be what she is now, including the traitor part. Sigh. She is doubtful of herself too. I won't tell you too much right now, I promise I'll right more about her emotions in future chapters. Lol! I'd love Tristan to snog her right there and then, but sorry, it just isn't the time with the Saxons right up their arses lol! I hop eyou liked this chapter!

Mandamirra10: I'm glad you think it's well-written, Amanda! Thanks for reviewing!

Eshlyn Kar: Thank you! I hope you liked this update!

Andysprettylady: Lol, you said you wanted her to escape with the Romans, silly xD And now she is… in a way lol. I hope you liked the update!

BornWithAFever: I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reviewing!

Wings As Eagles: I'm glad you like my portrayal of him! I try very hard to keep him cold and calm as he is, though it is difficult. I want to see him smiling and all that so much, you see ;) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I'll try to update asap, I'm really looking forward to reading your reviews:D