Chapter Two
Find me guilty of the life I feel within
And when I'm branded
This mark of shame
Should I look down disgraced
Or straight ahead
And know that you must blame
Metallica – Thorn within
"Speech" / thoughts
During the two day journey Sebastian didn't possess any rush to get to their destination. Upon reaching the gates of the village all the knights noticed a tension around Sebastian.
As Arthur explained to the guards who he was and what his business here was, they let him and his knights in. The guards however kept a wary eye on Sebastian, expecting him to attack them at any moment.
As they rode through the village they could hear the villagers whisper things and crossing themselves as if in fear that the devil himself was riding through their midst.
As they got closer to the more grandeur buildings the people grew more loud and even started to spit or throw things at Sebastian. Sebastian held his head high and proud, easily avoiding any object aimed for his head.
Sebastian stopped in front of one of the houses and pointed towards it as if to say that Arthur had to go in. Not knowing what Sebastian wanted Arthur didn't move.
At that point a young dark haired man walked out of the building, he looked from Sebastian towards Arthur. Then he walked over to the group of knights.
"Sebastian, you're back!" the young man said enthusiastically. Sebastian showed no sign of recognition.
"I apologize, you must be our new commander." The young man kneeled before Arthur and the other knights. "My name is Fabian, it will be a honour to serve you."
"It's nice to meet you Fabian, but you do not have to kneel before me." Arthur said to the young man who was still sitting on his knees.
"The other knights are inside if you will follow me I will lead you to them." Fabian said and started to make his way back towards the house from which he came.
After they had dismounted and made sure their horses where safe they followed Fabian. Arthur put Dagonet, Bors and Tristran on guard duty, while the others would come with him. Sebastian didn't make any moment indicating that he would accompany them.
"Sebastian you will come with me." Arthur remembered Benedict's words about forcing Sebastian. The look that Sebastian sent his new commander sent shivers up Arthur's spine. Arthur forced himself to stare coldly back to the silent man.
When Sebastian had dismounted they entered the house. The knights found themselves in a large room, richly decorated and very colourful, recognizing it as a brothel when a lady scarcely dressed made her way over to the knights.
She took one look at Sebastian and screamed someone's name. A very large man came running from one of the backrooms, he took one look at Sebastian and yelled:
"I told you once and I'll tell you again, YOU are not welcome here. We do not handle your people here." He grabbed Sebastian by the arm and dragged him to the front door, throwing him out of the building.
Dagonet, Bors and Tristran watched as Sebastian landed painfully on the steps of the house. Dagonet wanted to help Sebastian up, but he quickly got to his feet and mounted his horse riding out of the village. The three knights decided not to let Sebastian leave their sight, so Tristran went after him.
Tristran could have sworn he saw pain reflecting in Sebastian's eyes but as quick as the emotion showed it disappeared again. He found Sebastian sitting in a tree at the outskirts of the village.
As Arthur was being introduced to the other new knights he wondered why people reacted to Sebastian the way they did. He would soon find out that the former commander of the scout encouraged the behaviour of the townsfolk.
In one of the more private rooms he found the three older knights, they appeared to be in excellent health and about Bors's age. Fabian quickly stepped towards the one with the most golden decorations on him.
"Ah, Commander Castus. It's my pleasure to finally meet such a great man. My name is Antonio and these are my fellow knights Balthazar on my left, Marcellus on my right." Antonio spoke with a posh voice. Whatever Sarmatian blood he had was not visible anymore for he looked and acted every inch Roman.
While Arthur shook hands with all three men, Lancelot took his time to observe the men. Antonio was a short and skinny man, with greying brown hair and green eyes. He appeared conceited in Lancelot's eyes. Marcellus was a huge and muscular man, when speaking he was loud and forceful. He appeared to be a violent drunk and he treated the woman that was with him with great brutality. Balthazar's wasn't as tall as Marcellus but nearly as muscular. His head was shaven and he had cold blue eyes, his arms where covered with black markings. He appeared to possess aggressive nature.
Antonio invited Arthur and his knights to join him in his festivities. Although some of his knights wouldn't mind the female company, Arthur didn't think it wise to join.
"I wish to see your commander as soon as it is possible, I believe we still have quite a journey ahead of us." Arthur spoke to his new knights.
"You are absolutely right, Sir." Antonio said, but Arthur didn't believe him.
"Fabian make sure our horses and equipment are ready for leave within an hour." Marcellus pushed and order Fabian around, like he was his personal squire.
Fabian quickly got out of Marcellus reach and left the room. Arthur looked at Gawain and Galahad and asked them to help the young man.
"Do you think there will be much trouble on our journey?" Arthur inquired.
"Not really and what trouble we meet I assure you Sebastian knows how to handle it." Antonio said while stuffing his face with another piece of chicken.
Arthur looked at his knew knights who had returned to their previous entertainments. Arthur then looked at Lancelot who rolled his eyes at Arthur and pulled a dirty face.
Tristran had been watching Sebastian for quiet some time now and was sure the boy wouldn't leave. So he dismounted his horse and let it walk free nearby, he started to stretch his sore limbs. He received an arrow into his upper left leg not long ago; it still caused him certain amount of stiffness now and then. After he stretched his leg for sometime, he looked up to see Sebastian stare at him.
"Why don't you come down, nobody's going to hurt you." Tristran hoped the boy would come down and ride back into the village.
Sebastian climbed down from the tree but made no movement towards his own horse. He stood just a little away from Tristran still watching him. Tristran felt rather unnerved by this attention and that was odd to him. He never bothered about what people thought of him and did just as he pleased. There was however something about this boy that got the better of him.
After awhile of starring at each other Sebastian seemed to have enough of it and mounted his horse. Tristran followed his lead and together they rode to the gates of the village. Sebastian made no movement to go into the village, and Tristran could imagine why, so he waited for one of his fellow knights to show up.
After several hours Arthur and the rest of his comrades showed up outside the town and where headed towards their final destination. When it became too dark to continue riding Arthur asked Tristran to find them a suitable campsite.
"We could have just stayed in the town, it would have been far more comfortable." Antonio spoke out loudly, obviously not happy with his new arrangements for the night.
Marcellus and Balthazar grunted in agreement as they took in the campsite. Lancelot looked at Arthur with one of his smug smiles, as if to say: "I told you so."
As everybody settled in for the night Tristran's leg began to ache again. He had to ask Dagonet to look at it, for it seemed to be getting worse every passing day.
"Dag?" Tristan looked at his big friend.
"Your leg is still hurting?" Dagonet pointed at Tristran's left leg.
"Yes, will you look at it?" Tristran hoped that Dagonet could help him.
"Take off your pants." Dagonet said simply as he searched his saddlebags for his herbs and bandages.
Despite himself Tristran had to smile a bit at that request, if it would have any of the other knights he would have hit them.
"That looks rather nasty." Fabian said as he walked passed with firewood.
"Yes it does. Tristran, I am afraid that a piece of the arrow is still lodge in the leg and it has started an infection." Dagonet said as he finished examining the leg.
"You should let Sebastian look at it." Fabian suggested.
"He's skilled in healing? Dagonet inquired. He knew some things about healing but he wasn't a master at it.
"I have seen him heal wounds that most Roman healers would have given up on long ago. Shall I seek Sebastian?" Fabian asked.
"Getting another to look at it wouldn't make it any worse." Dagonet answered.
Fabian found Sebastian sitting in the darkness looking away from the campsite. Sebastian didn't even move as Fabian came closer, he suspected that Sebastian knew who was approaching him.
"Sebastian, could you look at one of the knights leg. They believe it is badly infected." Fabian asked as he walked around Sebastian so that he faced him.
Sebastian looked back at the campsite and particularly at his fellow knights. They appeared to be a sleep or in conversation with others, so he moved to follow Fabian.
Both Dagonet and Tristran watched as Sebastian approached. He pulled his pack from his back and pulled out a small pouch from it. Sebastian moved Tristran around so that the light of the campfire hit his leg completely. Sebastian put his hands on Tristran's leg, when he started to push the spot where the arrow hit Tristran grunted in pain.
Sebastian shook his head and opened the small pouch. He grabbed the kettle that was still in the fire and tossed the remains of diner out of it. He handed the kettle to Fabian and pointed towards the stream nearby. Fabian disappeared and Sebastian continued unpacking.
"Can I do something?" Dagonet asked.
Sebastian handed Dagonet a piece of linen, and lifted Tristran's leg. Dagonet quickly understood that the linen was for under Tristran's leg. Sebastian gestured to a pitcher that Antonio had brought and gestured to Tristran to drink it.
"No, I don't need it." Tristran said with a firm voice.
Sebastian shrugged his shoulders and pulled a knife from his waistband. He moved his hand over Tristran's leg, into the direction of the hairs. Making the hairs stand up, and making Tristran shiver. He watched as Sebastian shaved his leg wondering what that was about.
Fabian returned with a clean kettle filled with water. Sebastian put it on the fire waiting for it to boil. He then pulled the smallest knife Tristran had ever seen from the pouch and put it in the water as it boiled. Putting another piece of linen next to Tristran's leg, Sebastian pulled the kettle from the fire. He removed the small knife when the water had cooled down a bit and put it on the piece of linen.
He washed Tristran's leg, cleaned his own hands and grabbed the tiny knife. As he made a movement to cut Tristran stopped him.
"What exactly are you going to do?" Tristran looked at Sebastian.
Sebastian made a small cutting movement with the tiny knife and gestured that he would remove something from the wound.
"Don't you need a bigger knife?" Dagonet wondered, Sebastian just shook his head and looked at Tristran.
"Dag, hold my leg." Tristran nodded towards Sebastian.
Both men watched in awe as the tiny knife cut through the layers of Tristran's skin like it was made of butter. When Sebastian seemed satisfied with the cut he put the knife down and used a clean cloth to get the pus and blood from the wound. He put his fingers in the wound and found the piece of arrow that had remained in the leg. He thoroughly washed the wound and with tiny stitches sowed it back together.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Fabian said, almost whispering, to Tristran.
"It's bearable." Tristran had to admit that Sebastian's method was far less painful than those of the Roman healers. Tristran watched as Sebastian bandages his leg and disappear again from the campsite to sit somewhere in the darkness.
"Hey where is my pitcher?" came the sleepy voice of Antonio.
"Sebastian wanted to use…" Dagonet wasn't allowed to finish his answer.
Antonio was wide-awake and ordered Marcellus and Balthazar to find Sebastian. After half an hour of searching, both men came back without Sebastian.
"What is going on here?" Arthur wanted to know after Dagonet had informed him.
"That little thief went for my wine, he is to be punished." Antonio spoke harshly.
"I was informed that he wanted to use it for my scout, who is injured." Arthur explained hoping to clear up the situation.
"Oh, is that so." Antonio was obviously not convinced. "So that you know, that little bugger will steal anything, if you don't watch out."
The rest of the night passed rather quietly, Arthur released Tristran from his duties so that he could heal properly. The journey continued without further complications, Sebastian had taken over Tristran's tasks for the time being. They reached the outpost of commander Cesario within three days.
Instead of just some informal exchange of command, Cesario had organized a festival in honour of his retirement that evening. Arthur was to stay at Cesario's side all the time, and so would Antonio since he was Cesario's second in command. The rest of the knights where more or less ignored and left to themselves.
"I suppose we don't see Arthur for this evening, but shouldn't we at least check on him once in awhile?" Lancelot didn't like the fact that Arthur was being dragged away under strange circumstances.
"Since you so kindly suggest the idea, I believe it to be the perfect job for you!" Bors clapped Lancelot on his back and headed over tot the cantina of the barracks.
Gawain, Galahad and Dagonet cheerfully agreed that Lancelot, as second in command, should watch over Arthur, followed Bors.
"I could help you." Fabian always appeared to be helpful.
"No, you don't." Tristran pushed the boy towards the cantina.
"Sebastian what about you?" Lancelot turned to the only one left.
Before Sebastian could make any movement Balthazar and Marcellus marched towards him. Sebastian took several steps back, appearing to know what was going to happen.
Lancelot watched silently as Balthazar and Marcellus tried to corner Sebastian. Sebastian being smaller and more manoeuvrable than the two large men ran past them towards the cantina, which seemed to enrage them even more as they stormed after Sebastian.
Not wanting to miss what was about to happen, Lancelot quickly abandoned his plan to look for Arthur. He reached the cantina in time to watch Sebastian hit the ground hard after one of the Roman soldiers had tripped him. Balthazar proceeded to jump onto Sebastian back with his knees, then lifting Sebastian's head to smash it into the floor until Sebastian was unconscious.
"What are you doing to the poor boy?" Bors and the other knights were on their feet and headed over to help Sebastian.
"He's a thief, he stole something and is to be punished." Marcellus stood in front of the knights, as did Balthazar who stood up and kicked Sebastian again a couple of times.
"By whose orders?" Lancelot had a suspicion that these two brutes worked according to their own rules.
"Commander Cesario." Balthazar grinned evilly at Lancelot.
Marcellus grabbed Sebastian's legs and pulled the boy out of the cantina, Balthazar following closely.
"Someone should keep an eye out for Sebastian." Lancelot had turned towards the other knights.
"Has your mother instinct kicked in all of a sudden?" Bors joked.
"I'll go." Having said that Tristran carefully followed the to large knights. They seemed to keep to their word as they brought Sebastian to Commander Cesario's barrack.
"Ah, yes you did very good." Cesario praised the two knights and send them away.
"Antonio bring Sebastian into my private room and see to him." Cesario order the shorter man who was definitely having trouble lifting up Sebastian
"Artorius I believe its time for you to see more of my barracks and meet our fellow Romans." Cesario said when Antonio returned.
"Will you not accompany me?" Arthur asked.
"I will be a long shortly, but Sebastian broke some of our rules and needs to be punished." Cesario explained it like he hated to punish his knights.
"What, if you don't mind my asking, has Sebastian done?" Arthur wondered why everyone was after the young boy.
"I'm afraid that he stole some jewellery from one of the noble woman around here. Lady Phaedra, to be precise. You will be meeting here this evening." Again Cesario put on a great act and this time Arthur bought it. He would just ask Lady Phaedra about it. He wanted to know what he was getting into by taking Sebastian on as a knight.
Outside Tristran had made himself comfortable in a dark corner, from where he could see into Cesario's private room. Sebastian was starting to come around and tried to move, Antonio had bound the boy's hands on his back and his feet together.
Tristran watched as Sebastian bend down far enough to reach the ropes on his feet, within no time Sebastian had managed to pull his left foot free.
"Sneaky little bastard." Cesario spoke coldly and Sebastian seized all movement.
"Don't think I will let you get away. I will have my way with you one more time before I go." Cesario had grabbed Sebastian's hair and leaned closer to the boy. Cesario traced a path with his tongue across Sebastian's jaw line.
"How thoughtful of you to have taken a bath." Cesario sniffed at Sebastian's hair.
Tristran watched in disgust as he realized what the Commander had meant with his sentence. He had pulled his dagger, but knew he couldn't kill Cesario for it would be not only his death but also that of his fellow knights.
Tristran tried not to watch, but couldn't help looking. He was frantically searching for a plan to save Sebastian from that awful fate. He would need a distraction, so that Cesario would be called away from Sebastian. Tristran decide he couldn't do it alone and went in search of help.
As he walked back into the cantina he searched for the most sober fellow knights. Which at that point were Dagonet and Lancelot. As he quickly informed them what was about to happen to Sebastian they made their way back to Cesario's barrack.
"Surely you mistook the man. I mean he is Christian, wouldn't that count as a sin?" Lancelot couldn't grasp the situation.
Tristran put his hand over Lancelot's mouth in order for the man to shut up. He then motioned over to the window.
"You've got to breath sometime, all I have to do is keep your nose shut, and than you will open that pretty mouth of yours." Cesario stood in front of Sebastian, blocking the view of Sebastian, with his robes pulled up.
All three knights felt like throwing up. Tristran could barely retain Dagonet from bursting in the door and chopping the man's head off with his axe.
"No, stick with the plan." Lancelot whispered into Dagonet's ear. "Just don't hit me in the face." Lancelot added.
Dagonet lifted Lancelot and threw him to the front of Cesario's barrack. Both where putting up one hell of a false fight, they were loud enough to draw a crowd.
Tristran waited patiently for someone to get Cesario seeing that he was the Commanding Officer of this camp. Not after long, Antonio was knocking frantically at his Commander's door. Tristran waited for both men to turn away from the window. When that happened he moved below the window.
He looked in and saw Sebastian spitting on the floor and moving towards the window. Just when Tristran wanted to climb in Balthazar walked into the room, Tristran ducked onto the ground below the window.
"Stop squirming, it will only hurt a little bit, no make that a lot." Balthazar laughed evilly.
Tristran heard the punches Balthazar was throwing at Sebastian. He even thought that he heard some bones break.
"Enough." Cesario's voice bellowed loudly.
"But he's still fighting." Balthazar sounded like a pouting little kid.
"He's unconscious you idiot, leave!" Cesario was obviously not pleased about the situation. "And make sure I'm not bothered again!"
Tristran had moved back to his original position. He saw a very pissed Arthur stomp pass with Dagonet and Lancelot at his heels. They where in for trouble and in the state Arthur was in, Tristran knew that both men wouldn't be allowed their side of the story.
Ignoring the fate of Lancelot and Dagonet he focused on Sebastian again. Only to find Sebastian dumped forwards over the Commander's desk, his eyes shut tightly.
"Ah well unconscious or not I will have my satisfaction tonight. Although I much more prefer you kicking and fighting." Cesario spoke as he lifted his robes again.
Please let me know what you think.