"Speech" / thoughts
Chapter Nine
Take a look to the sky just before you die
It is the last time he will
Blackened roar massive roar fills the crumbling sky
Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry
Stranger now, are his eyes, to this mystery
He hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be
Now they see, what will be, blinded eyes to see
Metallica – for whom the Bell Tolls
Later that day the knights gather in the House of Healing. Gawain walks up to Tristran who hands him the box that contained their papers and Gawain puts Dagonet's paper back inside while Tristran holds the box. Gawain takes the box from Tristran and gives it to Lucan who is sitting next to Dagonet's cot.
"Take this for my old friend." Gawain says to Lucan, who is keeping a brave face.
"We have been able to remove the arrows completely, but he has lost a lot of blood," the Roman healer explains to Arthur, Arthur nods in return. All but Bors leave the room; he falls down to the other side of the cot, taking a long drink from a clay pitcher.
Lancelot watches Guinevere follow Arthur towards the cemetery, but she doesn't look back at him. Lancelot retreats to his chamber and starts packing for the journey that lies ahead of them, he's certain that Dagonet will not make it through the night. He already looked dead to him.
After checking on Sebastian, who is peacefully asleep on the cot next to Dagonet, Tristan returns to his chambers. In his bare room he sat down on his cot and looks at his things. He carefully starts wrapping up his weapons so that they wouldn't be damaged on the journey back to Sarmatia. A knock on his door brings him back from his daydreaming.
"Who is it?"
There comes no answer. Tristran grabs one of his daggers and asks again. This time the door slowly opened to let in a cloaked figure. Noticing the limp of the figure Tristran realizes that it was Sebastian. Not wanting to deal with Sebastian right now, irritated he asks: "What do you want?" without looking up from his packing.
"You," came a soft voice.
"What?"
Tristan lifts his head to see whether he had heard what he had heard. As he looked into Sebastian's eyes he saw the same fire and passion the he had seen at the lake not that long ago. Sebastian's pupils where so dilated his eyes appeared to be completely black.
"What!"
Tristran's confusion dissipated when Sebastian dropped the cloak he had been wearing, underneath is Sebastian is naked. Tristran stares in disbelief, blinking several times, his mind telling him that his eyes are deceiving him.
Another knock on his door startled Tristran who was still staring at Sebastian, whom had picked up his cloak again and moved away from the door in fright. Tristran opens the door and find Gawain and Galahad standing in front of his door:
"Tristran, you must come to the wall," Gawain said before walking to the next door.
As Tristran turns around to look at Sebastian, he sees Sebastian climb out of the window. Tristran's sprint towards the window, but is too late. From his window he watches Sebastian mount his horse.
"Sebastian!" Tristran yells down.
Sebastian looks up at him. It is too dark for Tristran to read the expression on Sebastian's face. He watches as Sebastian rides away from the wall and into the nearby forest until Tristran cannot see him anymore.
Tristran makes his way to the wall where he finds Galahad, Gawain, Bors and Lancelot looking over the wall. Then he notices the fires of the Saxon camps. Arthur comes running up the steps and looks at Lancelot before noticing the fires. He looks around at his knights, and then at the serfs below.
"Knights. My journey with you must end here. May God go with you." After inclining his head he leaves. The knights watch him leave, Lancelot and Guinevere looking at each other for a moment, then Lancelot runs after Arthur.
The next day a caravan of wagons start to move away from the fortress. Dagonet and Lucan are in one of the wagons, the remaining knights are riding next to it on their horses. None of them could find Sebastian this morning; Tristran explained that Sebastian has already left the fortress.
Arthur stands on a nearby hill. Fully armed, he watches the caravan of Romans and his knights leave. Around him people are wandering about the fields pouring down oil and stacking hay. He watches Bors gallop towards the bottom of his hill giving him a salute. In full tradition Arthur answers the salute. With tears in his eyes he watches the knights ride on.
Silently the knights ride past Hadrian's Wall. At the sound of the Saxon drums, Bors' horse is the first to neigh, quickly followed by the other horses.
"Whoa," Bors softly whispers to his horse.
The other knights attempt to calm their steeds. The horses turn around back to the wall. As they shush and stroke their horses they listen to the pounding of the Saxon drums.
Lancelot looks at his fellow knights.
"Hey. You're free." Tristran clicks his tongue and raises his arm to let his hawk fly off.
Bors looks back to the wagons containing his children as they wave sadly towards him. Lancelot nods and looks at Gawain who nods back. Looking towards the sky there is a small smile upon his lips, soon all the other knights start to smile. Quickly they arm themselves and ride towards the hill.
Arthur smiles at Lancelot as his horse stops next to him, the other knights join them on the hill. Arthur smiles to each of them, as each of them is bearing a Roman standard. At Arthur's orders the gate below slowly opens, they wait for the response of the Saxon leader.
"Knights. The gift of freedom is yours by right." Arthur speaks as a small section of the Saxon army is moving towards them. "But the home we seek resides not in some distant land. It's in us! And in our actions on this day!"
The shouting of the Saxon's grow louder and louder.
"If this be our destiny, then so be it. But let history remember that as free men, we chose to make it so." Arthur draws Excalibur, the knights respond with their battle call.
The knights stab their standards into the ground. Tristran, who has spotted the traitorous scout in the tree, draws his bow and knocks an arrow. Slowly looking for his aim across the horizon, he takes the aim and shoots the British scout that is sitting in the tree.
The knights gallop off leaving their standards fluttering on the hill. As they see the Saxons look around in confusion, the knights move closer, barely visible behind the fire and the smoke.
At the signal, Guinevere and the Woads start firing arrows towards the Saxons who turn towards the immediate danger. The knights attack the Saxon line. When the Woads stop firing, they slice through the Saxon lines and disappear again into the smoke. When they have killed them all the gates of the wall are opened again and they push out one mortally wounded Saxon who crawls towards his leader.
The Saxon leader gives the signal to attack. On a hill overlooking the battlefield, Merlin, the leader of the Woads steps forward followed by Sebastian who is surveying the on goings.
As the Saxon army steps through the gates, once again no one is inside. On the hillside the knights look at the Saxons gathering around. From another side of the battle, Guinevere waits for the signal from Merlin, who is watching the Saxons.
As the Saxon army is divided again, Merlin gives the signal for the flaming catapults. The Woads shower the Saxons with fiery arrows, and then they charge into the battle against one part of the Saxon army. The knights ride down from the other side and attack the Saxons.
Very fast the knights are either knocked off of their horses or have willingly dismounted them, each of them being absorbed into the battlefield.
Guinevere is heading towards the Saxon she had seen on the ice. Lancelot is keeping an eye out for Guinevere. Arthur is looking for the Saxon leader, but Tristran has found him before Arthur.
Certain of his own abilities, Tristran squares off with the Saxon leader, but to his surprise the Saxon's sword is meeting his equally.
Merlin looks down at the battlefield then at Sebastian, they nod to each other like they have met many times before. Merlin helps Sebastian back on his horse and Sebastian rides down to the battlefield circling the around the large mass of people shooting the Saxons with his bow.
Guinevere is having trouble killing the Saxon from the lake. Lancelot fights his way towards her and prevents the Saxon from killing Guinevere.
The Saxon leader realizes that he has met his match and that this fight could be deadly for him. He pulls out a knife and stabs Tristran in the ribs with it. Tristran takes a step back from the Saxon and puts a hand to the wound, looking for the first time at his own blood on his palm.
The fight between Tristran and the Saxon turns bad. Tristran realizes he in danger when he feels the sword slash his leg, unable to stand he falls to the ground. As he falls the blade slashes Tristran's face. As Tristran crawls away from the Saxon, the Saxon follows him kicking the sword back to him. Tristran picks it up and tries to fight him with one hand.
Arthur sees the Saxon leader fighting with Tristran, and heads over to help. Almost helplessly he watches the Saxon stab Tristran in the chest with a dagger, making Tristran fall down again. Arthur is fighting his way through the dense mass of Saxons so that he can reach Tristran in time. The Saxon leader picks up Tristran's sword as he jabs his own in the ground.
Sebastian watches as the Saxon leader looks around for Arthur who is fighting nearby. Sebastian notices the Saxon leader walking towards somebody. He rides to closer to the battlefield, risking falling of his horse, to see who it is. Sebastian tries to get a good aim as he sees the Saxon pull Tristran up by his hair.As Tristran stabs the Saxon leader in his thigh, an arrow lodges itself into the Saxon's arm, causing him to drop both the sword and Tristran.
With his eyes closed, and his heart pounding in his brain, Tristran waits for the final blow that doesn't come. Opening his eyes, he looks up at the sky see his hawk and Sebastian's falcon fly past.
Arthur has reached the Saxon leader, taking over the fight
Lancelot is about to kill the Saxon before him when another Saxon jumps in on his fight. After killing them, he sees Guinevere fighting her way towards him. Lancelot turns to see an arrow flying at him from the Saxon's crossbow. Just before it pierces his armour, Guinevere drags him down, resulting in the arrow getting stuck in his left arm. He grabs one of his short swords and tosses it towards the Saxon, where it lands in his chest.
As the Saxon leader wounds Arthur in his leg, Arthur falls not far from Tristran to the ground. Arthur patiently waits for the leader to approach. When the Saxon is in reach, Arthur strikes at him, only wounding him. Again, the Saxon leader slices Arthur on his legs, and he goes down again. The Saxon leader, thinking he has won, walks towards Arthur. At the last moment, Arthur stabs the leader then stands up to turn around, slicing Excalibur across the Saxon's chest.
"Arthur…," the Saxon whispers.
Arthur grabs the Saxon's hair as he had done to Tristran. Arthur jabs Excalibur into the leader's chest and not until the Saxon is dead does he pull his sword out of the body.
Guinevere watches as Lancelot and the Saxon crawl towards each other. Lancelot manages to overpower the Saxon and kill him with his other short sword. He then falls back on the ground, gasping for air.
Arthur sees that Guinevere is kneeling near Lancelot's body; his biggest fear has come alive. He runs over to the pair and falls on his knees, tossing his helmet aside.
"It was my life to be taken! Not his! Never his!" Arthur yells at the sky.
"You and your God," Lancelot mumbles.
Arthur stares in shock down and sees the man smirk at him. He lifts Lancelot up and hugs him.
"Careful," Lancelot hisses as Arthur touches his shoulder.
Bors and Gawain carry over Tristran, followed by Galahad and Sebastian who is still on his horse.
"What are you waiting for, bring them to the healers."Guinevere looks at the knights standing on the battlefield.
"Bors, Gawain you will take Tristran to the healers. Sebastian go with them, treat Tristran the best you can," says Arthur takes hold of the situation. "Galahad will you bring back the caravan?"
Galahad nods and mounts his horse and rides towards the caravan.
"Lancelot, do you think you can walk?" Arthur inquires.
"I might have to lean on a second person." Lancelot's eyes turn towards Guinevere.
A week has past since the battle at Badon Hill. Today is the day that the Britons get a new king. Although Arthur had wanted to wait for all his knights to be present on his wedding day, Merlin had pressed the matter, knowing that more Saxons will be coming soon.
"Nervous?" Lancelot rides up towards Arthur as they arrive at the seaside for the ceremony.
"I think I would rather face another army of Saxons," Arthur admits.
A lot of Britons have come to witness the crowning and wedding of Arthur. Benedict and his family have come to pay their respects to Arthur. Sebastian is standing near them, Bors and his entire family is there, Vanora hoping that this will give Bors an idea about his own wedding. Galahad and Gawain stand not far away from Benedict and his family talking with the elder children. Tristran and Dagonet are still in the house of healing, too sick to come. Dagonet has regained consciousness, but is still very weak. Tristran is in and out of consciousness from the pain his wounds cause him.
Arthur turns his attention back to Merlin and Guinevere, watching as Merlin holds out a goblet and walks towards them. He hands the goblet to Guinevere, who drinks from it before passing it to Arthur. As Arthur drinks from it he solemnly looks at Guinevere.
"Arthur. Guinevere. Our people are one…as you are," Merlin declares as the pair kisses one another.
Later that evening, back at the fortress, the festivities have begun. The newlyweds are nowhere to be seen, but that doesn't stop the people from having fun. Lancelot, Gawain and Galahad are sitting at a table with Benedict's daughters, Helena and Ophelia, as their father and mother are dancing in the tavern.
"How embarrassing." Lancelot hears Helena mumbled to her sister.
"Is that a signal for me to ask you for a dance?" Lancelot moves closer towards the blond woman.
"No, I was not signalling towards you, but to him." Helena points at Gawain and then drags him towards the middle of the tavern.
Ophelia watches the pair, but before Lancelot can ask her for a dance she leans towards him. "I think she was signalling you."
Lancelot looks back to the dancing pair and finds Helena staring at him before looking back at Gawain.
"Lovely lady would you like to dance with me?" Bors bows before Ophelia.
"What about Vanora?" She looks at the red haired woman watching them.
"Who do you think sent me?" Bors smiles at Ophelia.
"Does that mean I can dance with Vanora?" Lancelot teases Bors.
"Bors why don't you dance with Vanora, and I'll dance with Lancelot?" Ophelia suggest as Bors glares at Lancelot with pure venom.
"What about me?" Galahad pouts.
"Maybe you can dance with Olivia?" Ophelia points at her younger sister.
The festivities lasted until the sun came back up the next day. As people started to find their ways back to their own beds, silence came back to the fortress.
On his cot Tristran woke up again from the pain. A soft hand on his cheek forces him to open his eyes.
"Sebastian?"
Tristran feels fingers against his lips to silence him. The fingers are removed and replaced by a mug, weariness forces Tristran to fall back into a deep and healing sleep.
"Sebastian?" Dagonet carefully moves on his cot, trying not to wake up Lucan who has crawled into his arms.
Sebastian nods to Dagonet continuing to poor fresh water in a bowl.
"I know that you can speak, Sebastian."
Again Sebastian only nods; Dagonet has to smile as Sebastian only nods again.
Sebastian moves next to the cot and carefully removes Lucan from Dagonet's arms without waking the boy up, putting the boy on the small cot next to Dagonet's.
"I'll change the bandages," Sebastian says slowly without a trace of a foreign accent.
Dagonet silently follows Sebastian's movements as he checks over the wounds.
"They heal slowly," Sebastian informs Dagonet.
"It is not your fault, it will heal eventually. I'm already glad that you kept me alive." Dagonet looks at Lucan lying on the cot next to him. "He is a good boy."
"What of Tristran?" Dagonet had heard the stories about the battle.
Sebastian's eyes filled with tears and he quickly looks away.
"You care for him?" Dagonet had suspected that something was going on since the night he sent Tristran after Sebastian.
"Yes." Sebastian turned away from Dagonet and started to clean up.
"Does he know?" Dagonet slowly sat upright on his cot.
"Maybe." Sebastian moved closer as Dagonet carefully moved his legs on the ledge of the bed.
"Dizzy?" Sebastian kept his attention focused on Dagonet's face.
"No. We'll have to make him better so that he will know." Dagonet stretched his long legs and with the aid of Sebastian made a few steps around his room. The lack of movement over the last couple of weeks and the pain made Dagonet's first trip around the room a short one.
"Tomorrow I will see Tristran," Dagonet spoke just before Sebastian left the room.
"Too soon," Sebastian said, looking worried.
"Never too soon to let someone know you care for them," Dagonet said determined.
"I meant for you," Sebastian said before vanishing from the room again.
Galahad found himself waking up in the haystack sandwiched by two people. As he turned to his left his face was being buried in a big mass of curly blond hair. Quickly recognizing the hair that was Gagarin's, he moved away. His back connected with another body that pulled him closer, someone was snuggling up to him.
"Lancelot let go of me!" Galahad yelled into Lancelot's ear.
"Shut up, head hurts." Lancelot pushed Galahad's face back into the haystack.
Being awoken by the yelling of Lancelot and Galahad, Gawain carefully opened his eyes. He had definitely drunk far too much last night. Trying to remember how he ended up in a haystack with Galahad and Lancelot proved difficult. He sat up slowly and looked at his surroundings, just because the Woads were at peace with Arthur didn't mean he was safe everywhere.
As Gawain focused he heard light foot steps moving at the other side of the haystack. He crawled into an attack position and awaited the arrival of the person from the other side. The first thing he saw coming into view was the end of a bow, and thinking that he was under attack he jumped on the person carrying the bow.
"Really Gawain, I thought you liked my sister," Helena whispered in his ear.
Gawain looked down at the person he was lying on. Turning red he jumped back to his feet and helped Ophelia to her feet.
"Sorry, I…"
"Gawain shut up." Lancelot sound pissed.
"Not a morning person?"
Lancelot opened his eyes as he heard Helena's voice, only to be met with a bucket of cold water falling over his face.
"Helena, Ophelia, come inside."
Both women ran back towards their home as their mother yelled for them. Their father walked over to the haystack to see if the knights needed anything.
"Quiet the party," Benedict said as he saw the three knights laying in one of his haystacks. "It was ever so thoughtful of you to escort my daughters back here, but there was no need for you to stay here." He smiled as the knights got to their feet; he remembered what it felt like to be that young.
"Yes, it was very kind of you to lend us your comfortable haystack and the nicely refreshing bucket of water." Lancelot removed the bucket from his head and gave it back to Benedict.
"Did we come here on horse?" Galahad wondered, as he couldn't see his horse around anywhere.
"No you rode in the cart with the girls." Benedict was wondering whether the knights would walk back or ask him for horses. He stood there quietly waiting for the knights to pull their clothing back in order, looking unsure of whether they could borrow some horse from Benedict.
"Luckily for you I have three horses that need to go to the fortress, it would save me the trip."
"That would be very kind of you," Gawain said, relieved that he didn't have to walk back.
Back at the fortress the three knights joined Bors in the tavern for a late breakfast. After that they went to see how Dagonet and Tristran were doing. They found Dagonet awake and in a better state than the last time they saw him.
"Dag I thought we lost you for sure." Bors smacked Dagonet on the shoulder. "I could sing for joy."
"No, please don't," Galahad complained. He was still suffering from the effects of last night.
"What of Tristran?" Lancelot knew that Dagonet had been informed after the scout's condition.
"Not good. If my guardian let's me I will visit him tomorrow." Dagonet pointed to Sebastian who was standing in the door opening, shaking his head.
"Can we see him?" Gawain inquired.
With a small nod Sebastian motioned them to follow him into Tristran's room.
The four knights got a small shock seeing the state that Tristran was in. He looked pale, sweaty and on the verge of death.
"You sure he's not dead yet?" Bors wasn't too sure about it, noticing the shallow, slow breaths Tristran was taking.
Sebastian walked over to Tristran and touched his skin, causing Tristran to turn his head.
"If you need anything, I mean anything, let Dagonet know." Lancelot carefully indicated to the other knights that it was time to go. With a nod to Sebastian they left the room.
"Sebastian?" Tristran had woken at the touch, he tries to open his eyes but they feel too heavy.
"Shh, you must sleep," Sebastian tells him wiping a cold wet cloth over Tristran's forehead.
"What is your name?" Tristran has been meaning to ask that for sometime.
"Anovaoo'o," Sebastian tells him, causing Tristran to knit his brows together.
"What does is mean?" Tristran has never heard such a name.
"A girl beautiful." Tristran hears before sleep catches up with him, he then feels a body slide into bed with him.
A/N: Sorry for the long periode between updating, hope you enjoyed it any way.