Chapter four
No mercy for what we are doing
No thought to even what we have done
We don't need to feel the sorrow
No remorse for the helpless one
Blood feeds the war machine
as it eats its way across the land
We don't need to feel the sorrow
No remorse is the one command
Only the strong survive
No one to save the weaker race
We are ready to kill all comers
Metallica - No Remorse
On the fifth day of their journey they encountered a heavy rain storm and as the rain came pouring down the grounds became more slippery and muddy, causing the men to ride slowly and more carefully on the foggy dawn of their final day of travel. Sometime during the day Sebastian was disappearing into the forest.
"What is he doing?" Lancelot had come to a stop next to Arthur.
"Don't stop, keep on riding." Antonio said as he raced on pass Arthur and Lancelot.
Before being able to respond to Antonio, a large group of Woads ran out of the forest. Each knight took out his weapon and prepared to fight. Tristran and Galahad where firing arrows towards the attacking Woads.
Something caught Tristran's eye as he was effectively shooting his arrows. To the shock of the Woads out of the forest Sebastian reappeared, also firing arrows at them. When Sebastian got nearer to the Woads, he leaped off his horse with a knife in his hand. Tristran turned his attention back to his own fight as he also closed in on the Woads.
As the number of Woads was falling and some started to retreat, Tristran looked around for Sebastian. He wondered whether he had survived, someone of his size should yield a bigger weapon than a knife. He found Sebastian engaged in a battle with two Woads. Tristran watched entranced, as Sebastian seemingly effortlessly danced his way around the Woads and sliced their throats efficiently.
Sebastian's attention was turned to a retreating Woad. With a speed and gracefulness that Tristran had never imagined Sebastian caught up with the Woad. Tristran noticed that before Sebastian cut the Woads throat he looked in the man's eye and waited, before slicing through the thin skin and turning for his next kill.
"Aren't you going to stop him?" Fabian was panting heavily as he ran towards Arthur.
"He'll stop when there aren't any left, won't he?" Arthur raised his eyebrows.
"No, he'll chase the ones that got away and then kill them." Fabian said leaning on his battle mace.
Arthur looked up to watch Sebastian disappear into the forest, chasing after the retreating Woads.
"Tristran get him." Arthur yelled at his scout.
"That went rather well." Antonio rode his horse up to Arthur, seemingly unharmed and not exhausted by the battle.
"No thanks to you. You weren't even here." Lancelot snapped at Antonio.
"Lancelot!" Arthur warned. He didn't need another fight.
Tristran followed Sebastian simply by following the trail of dead Woads. One of the fleeing Woads came running towards him with a scared look on his face. Tristran pulled his sword from its scabbard and stood in his way. The man fell just a few feet short of Tristran on the ground with an axe sticking in his back.
Looking up from the dead Woad, Tristran watched a blood covered Sebastian make his way over to retrieve his axe. After forcefully removing the axe, Sebastian looked up to the sky and mouthed something to the sky. It reminded Tristran of Arthur's prayers.
"Arthur wants us to return." Tristran said mounting his horse. Sebastian followed his lead and also mounted his horse.
"Did you see the way that boy moved, unbelievable." Bors had ridden up to Arthur as they continued their journey. Tristran would find them and otherwise they would have to ride to the fortress themselves.
"That is nothing special." Antonio remarked. "Now, Balthazar and Marcellus they have put up a decent fight, nothing in the line of that silly dancing of Sebastian's." Antonio's rush of words never stopping.
Arthur had observed each of his new knights during the battle, so that he could acess their values for the group.
Antonio had stayed at a distance and didn't come closer to the battle until it had some what died down, poking at already dead Woads with his lance and hiding behind his shield.
Marcellus had stormed right into the battlefield not hesitating for a moment. He had hacked his way through the Woads with his bearded axe.
Balthazar had been right next to Marcellus and had wielded his halberd expertly around him and Marcellus.
Fabian had stayed near to Dagonet, but proved to be equally lethal with his flanged battle mace. Within a year he will have developed the right amount of muscle to use his mace more forcefully.
Sebastian had been the one that amazed Arthur. He had come out of nowhere firing his arrows a precisely as Tristran. He also possessed the same grace and swiftness on the battlefield, but what amazed Arthur the most was the amount of physical touching between Sebastian and the Woads. For someone who wasn't fond of touching, he got awfully physical with the Woads.
Arthur was drawn from his ponderings when Tristran and Sebastian joined their ranks again.
"So where did the lad go." Bors smacked Sebastian on his back without thinking. Sebastian stiffened immediately and moved away from Bors.
"Bors!" Arthur warned.
"Oh yeah, right. Sorry lad, I kind of forgot." Bors yelled to Sebastian, who had dropped to the back of the group.
"He killed the fleeing Woads in the forest." Tristran spoke to Arthur.
"That's about ten men." Lancelot said in disbelief.
"Five with a single arrow, four had their throats cut and one got an axe in the back" Tristran summed up what he had come across in the forest.
"Looks like Cesario created himself a little killer." Lancelot whispered to Arthur.
"Assassin." Tristran corrected.
"Excuse me?" Lancelot looked confused. "Isn't that the same?"
"No, an assassin isn't seen by its target. All those Woads had no clue what they were up against." Tristran remembered the frightened look of the last Woad. "Sebastian is as comfortable as they are in their forests."
"Doesn't make him less of a killer." Lancelot mumbled as Tristran rode away to get his hawk back.
"Sebastian knows he isn't allowed to go after the Woads, you must punish him for that. Or he'll do it all the time." Antonio was again sticking his head where it didn't belong, nor was it wanted.
"And like I said before, I'm his commander and I'll take care of it." Arthur roared at Antonio. Arthur had enough of this little man's need to punish Sebastian. Perhaps he should punish Antonio.
Antonio had retreated back to Marcellus and Balthazar, apparently making some sort of plan for Sebastian's punishment.
They finally reached the fortress at twilight. Jols stood ready awaiting Arthur's orders. Arthur took his knights back to the fortress hall. Antonio was dense enough to take Lancelot's chair at the table. Lancelot grabbed the chair and pulled it away as Antonio started to sit down, causing Antonio to stumble backwards and landing on his ass.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?" Antonio roared at Lancelot; Marcellus and Balthazar standing behind Antonio.
"That's enough knights." Arthur slammed his fist on the round table.
"Each of the knights was given a chair at this table Antonio and that chair is Lancelot's." Jols explained.
"I will point out which chair I want you to take." Arthur said.
"Antonio you can sit next to me." Arthur pointed towards the chair on his right side, knowing that giving the man any other chair would cause mayhem.
"Balthazar you go next to Antonio and Marcellus can sit next to Balthazar and Dagonet." By placing them next to Dagonet, Arthur hoped to have made some sort of buffer between the knights. The three men quickly claimed their places at the round table.
"Fabian you can sit next to Gawain and Sebastian can sit next to you." Arthur hoped to get those two away from their three fellow knights, get them to open up a bit.
Fabian made his way over to the chair next to Gawain, with Sebastian following in his footsteps.
"Are you sure you don't mind?" Fabian asked Gawain as he pulled back his chair.
"No, nice to have someone next to me again." Gawain smiled at the boys.
Fabian also pulled back Sebastian's chair, as he proceeded to sit down.
"Sebastian don't be difficult, just sit down." Fabian whispered to the silent scout behind him.
"Don't bother Fabian. He thinks he's too good to sit at the same table as us." Antonio's voice rang loudly through the room.
"Sebastian you cannot stand every time we meet here." Arthur said and again motioned for Sebastian to sit down.
Sebastian looked around the room and his gaze fell on a small stool next to a window, not far away from Lancelot. He walked over and slowly sat down on it.
Jols ordered some of the servants to bring in some wine, which was handed to each knight in a cup.
"Welcome to my fortress, I hope your time here passes quickly and you'll live to see your freedom." Arthur stood up to toast to the new knights, the others followed his lead.
"Jols will show you to your new rooms which have been arranged for you, but first I suggest you go to the tavern to get something to eat." Arthur knew that his knights would be hungry.
"Tristran, Sebastian could you please stay behind for a little while." Arthur asked and both scouts nodded.
"Sebastian, Tristran is going to show you around the area and see what your skills are like a scout. You will also get the room next to Tristran which you'll be sharing with Fabian." Arthur waited for both scouts to nod in return.
"Further more I would like to talk to you after you had dinner Sebastian. Tristran will show you to my private chambers when you are finished at the tavern." Again both scouts nodded and left for the tavern.
Arthur looked up to the sky and wondered what God had thought by giving him these new knights, he got down on his knees and prayed for the lives of his new knights as well as the other knights.
Tristran found himself a nice and dark little corner in the tavern, Sebastian followed him and sat down in the same corner as Tristran. Bors however had other plans for the mute scout.
"Boy come here, Vanora will give you something decent to eat." Bors yelled as he discovered the scouts hiding place.
"VANORA. Vanora, my love is Sebastian. He needs to eat something and I promised the boy you would provide it." Bors dragged a pregnant Vanora towards Sebastian and Tristran.
"Tristran." Vanora greeted the silent scout. She also saw why Bors had yelled for food and after seeing the boy herself decided that Bors was right for once.
"Hello there, you must be Sebastian." Vanora smiled kindly at the boy. She felt uncomfortable under Sebastian's cold stare and looked at Tristran.
"He understands." Tristran grabbed one of the mugs of ale that Vanora had brought on her way over.
"You can drink this, try." Vanora put the other mug in front of Sebastian. "Wait right here I'll get you two something nice to eat."
Tristran observed as Sebastian eye-balled the mug, first by looking into it and than by smelling it. Sebastian eventually put one of his fingers into the ale tasted it. Sebastian pushed the mug away from him.
"It's not going to kill you." Tristran shoved the mug back to Sebastian.
Sebastian looked at Tristran and shoved the mug towards Tristran while pointing at him. Tristran took the mug and shook his head at Sebastian. Sebastian turned his attention back to the crowd in the tavern.
One of the wenches had spotted the pair of scouts in the dark corner. She inquired Vanora about the newcomer.
"So who is the young one next to Tristran.?" The wench asked.
"Leave him be Elenor, Bors says he doesn't like people." Vanora sighed as she filled two plates.
"Vanora let me take these to them; you're exhausted, go bother Bors." Elenor grabbed the plates from Vanora and was on her way before Vanora could protest.
"Well hello there." Elenor said as she put the plates in front of the two scouts.
"So who's your new friend Tristran?" Elenor asked as she sat on Tristran's lap.
"Why don't you go to Lancelot, he'll welcome the distraction." Tristran said as he pushed Elenor of his lap.
"Still frozen." Elenor looked agitated at Tristran and made her way over to Sebastian.
Sebastian quickly pulled his feet on his stool and put the plate on his knees, ignoring Elenor while he started to eat from the plate.
"Slow down cutie.." As Elenor grabbed as strand of hair from Sebastian, hell appeared to break lose.
Sebastian had pushed Elenor away from him with quite some force, Elenor landed near the feet of Marcellus who got up and marched towards Sebastian.
"That's no way to treat a woman." Marcellus roared.
Before Sebastian had time to respond Marcellus had grabbed the boy by the throat and was squeezing the air from his lungs.
"Where is Commander Atorius?" Marcellus asked Tristran.
"In his chambers." Tristran answered without blinking.
"Take me there. It's time that this piece of shit gets a good beating." Marcellus shook Sebastian to put more strength to his statement.
"He'll be dead before we arrive there." Tristran said as he took another swig from his mug.
Marcellus looked at Sebastian who had turned purple and had his eyes closed, clawing at Marcellus large biceps. Marcellus released just enough force from Sebastian throat for breathing.
"This way." Tristran got up and headed towards Arthur's private rooms.
"Enter." Arthur responded to the knocking on the door. Assuming that it was Tristran, he remained seated at his desk.
Marcellus barged in and smashed Sebastian with his face on Arthur's desk, nearly giving Arthur a heart attack. Marcellus then ripped the rope from Sebastian's pants and forced the boy on his knees. He tied Sebastian's hands on his back and put the rope around the boy's neck so that his face was to stay on the desk.
"I recommend severe public flogging." Marcellus said looking in Arthur's eye.
"I'll decide what happens to my men, and he will get the punishment he deserves." Arthur had gotten over his initial shock of the invasion of his private chamber. "I suggest you get back to the tavern to celebrate your arrival here. There is no need for you to stay here."
Marcellus swiftly left the room after Arthur's words.
"Tristran give me a hand." Arthur got over to Sebastian.
Tristran cut the ropes from Sebastian's hands and put the boy into Arthur chair. Sebastian's reflex was to get away from both men but since he was cornered he couldn't really go anywhere.
"Calm down Sebastian." Tristran said putting his hands on the boy's shoulders and pushing him back into the chair.
"As I said to Marcellus you will get the punishment you deserve." Arthur pulled another chair next to Sebastian.
"I don't believe that you did anything wrong, so there will be no punishment." Sebastian's head came up with moist eyes he looked at Arthur confused.
Finally some emotion. Both Arthur and Tristran thought.
"I however fear that your fellow knights will take it upon themselves to punish you if I don't. Therefore I will let Dagonet bind your back so that it would appear that you have received punishment." More confusion could be read on Sebastian's face, but he nodded to Arthur to continue.
"Fabian, Dagonet and Tristran will be the only ones to know about this. From tomorrow I want you to stay close to Dagonet or Tristran, keep out of sight for two weeks. I think that should do the trick." Arthur smiled to Sebastian, who looked less confused and nodded in agreement.
"Tristran get Dagonet here." Arthur said as he took some papers off his table and started to study them.
During the time it took Tristran to get Dagonet, Sebastian made no movement. Arthur had to look up from his papers from time to time just to make sure the boy was still there and breathing.
Dagonet had brought several bandages with him after Tristran explained him what was going on. He calmly approached Sebastian who was staring at Arthur.
"Sebastian I brought you your own clothes." Dagonet held up the items. The woman whom he ordered to clean them had done a great job, for on the shirt the beadworks and embroidery stood out from it again.
"Dagonet please bind his back and don't let him out of your sight when we are here at the fortress." Arthur said as he walked out of the room in order to celebrate with his new knights.
"Come." Dagonet said as he placed the bandages on Arthur's desk.
Sebastian shook his head and grabbed the bandages and clothes from the desk.
"You're going to bind yourself?" Dagonet inquired, getting Sebastian to nod.
"Alright, I'll show you to your room." Dagonet started to walk back towards the Sarmatian barrack.
Opening a door from across his own he walked in, surprised to find Fabian there with his head in a bucket retching.
"Fabian?" Dagonet asked concerned.
Fabian raised his hand to show he was okay, but didn't lift his head up. Dagonet walked to the small fireplace and started a fire, hoping to make the room a bit warmer.
"Sebastian?" Sebastian nodded in the door opening, still clutching his belongings.
"You'll be sharing your room with Fabian; he had brought your pack with him." Dagonet pointed towards one of the cots in the room.
Sebastian made his way over to his pack and looked inside appearing to check whether everything was still there.
"My room is across the hallway, to your left is Lancelot's room and to your right is Tristran's. If you need anything come to me or Tristran." Dagonet explained as he started to leave the room.
Sebastian nodded and grabbed a jug of water to fill the kettle on the fire with.
"Fabian are you sure that you are going to be alright?" Dagonet looked at the shivering figure on the left cot.
"Ale and wine don't fall good with me." Fabian managed to say.
Dagonet was relieved to see Sebastian put a blanket around Fabian and take out some herbs from his pack. He'll be alright. Dagonet smirked to himself.
Please let me know what you think, there is always room for improvement.