AN: I want to thank Tracy 137 for looking over this chapter. She's a great writer so if you haven't read her stories I suggest you check them out.
Chapter 11:
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
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Helena slowly woke up, and looked around the now busy camp. The knights were packing there sacks onto their horses, while the villagers were finishing up their breakfast. She looked up to the sky to see that it was again a cloudy morning. She stood from her spot by the now dead fire and walked up the Athena, patting her nose softly. Helena noticed that she was saddled and ready to ride out.
"I figured you wouldn't be in the mood to saddle her your self, so I did it for you." She turned around and smiled up at Lancelot.
"Thank you." She wrapped her arm around his neck and hugged him. "You have been a wonderful friend, a wonderful brother to me." After a few seconds Lancelot pulled away and kissed the crown of her head.
"Anytime, sister," Helena laughed as he walked back over to his own horse. She was about to mount Athena when she heard yelling.
'I need a vacation,' she muttered to herself. Grabbing a dagger and dismounting, she made her way toward the commotion, Lancelot following closely behind her.
Marius was holding a dagger to Lucan's throat, a disgusting smirk crossing his lips. "Ah, Helena, you're just in time." Lucan was obviously terrified. Elain was still in the wagon, her brown eyes glossy from unshed tears.
At the same time Helena's dagger landed in his throat, an arrow hit his chest. Helena looked to her left to see Guinevere lowering her bow. "Nice shot, cousin." Helena grinned at Guinevere. Guinevere grinned back before shooting another arrow at one of Marius' mercenary's.
Suddenly Bors rode into camp, glaring at the mercenary's "Is there a problem?"
Arthur glared heatedly at the mercenary's "You have a choice. You help, or you die."
"Personally I would choose to help." Helena warned them. As they threw there weapons to the ground Jols picked them up and put them in the back of one of the wagons. Helena looked up to see Tristan riding into camp.
"How many did you kill?" Bors asked him.
"Four," He answered simply. He turned toward Arthur, dropping a crossbow at his feet. "Armor Piercing. They're close; we have no time." Arthur nodded and started giving everybody orders. Helena noticed Tristan holding his arm close to his chest. She sighed, grabbed a pack from Athena's saddle, and walked over to him.
"Come," she motioned for him to follow her back to the wagon. She heard him mumble something but follow her none the less. "Were you just going to wait till you passed out from loss of blood to say anything about your wound?"
He grunted something before sitting down on a pile of furs. "Bloody Scout," she mumbled. While she was taking things out of her pack she ordered Tristan to remove his tunic. When she looked back at him she couldn't help but stare at his well defined muscles. 'God Helena, you act as if you have never seen a man without his shirt on before,' she mentally scolded herself.
When her nerves were under control she went over to Tristan and gently began running her fingers over his wound. His muscles flexed and she heard him mumble something under his breath.
"Woman, will you just take the arrow out," he growled. Helena raised her eyebrows in surprise. This was the first time she had ever seen Tristan show emotion, it was definitely a shock. She crosses her arms over her chest and gave Tristan a look.
"You know, patience is a virtue." At the look he was giving her, Helena just rolled her eyes. Helena went behind him and placed one of her arms around his upper body, holding his injured shoulder down by his side. She could fill his bare skin through her thin tunic and instantly shivered.
"Are you cold?" His voice was low as he spoke. Helena took a deep breath. Why was being so close to him giving her a flutter feeling in her stomach? What was wrong with her? She openly flirted with him but it still didn't make sense why she was suddenly so nervous around him.
'Oh God, do I love him?' she wondered. 'No, love only causes pain,' another voice, the voice she usually listened to, told her. 'Shut up,' she mentally told herself. 'Great now I'm talking to myself.'.
She must have been out of it for a few minutes because the next thing she knew, Tristan was touching her arm that was still around him. She looked down to see Tristan staring at her, his brown eyes searching her own.
"No, I'm not cold. Are you ready?" Tristan nodded as she griped the arrow in his arm and pushed it out. His body tensed but he didn't make a sound. She quickly cleaned and bandaged his arm. "There's no use of stitching it because they'll probably come undone if you need to use your bow or sword." He nodded as he started putting his tunic back on. He jumped out of the wagon and turned his head back toward her.
"Thank you, Helena."
Helena smiled and nodded her head "You're welcome, Tristan."
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Helena was riding in between Lancelot and Gawain. "So what are you going to do now, since you know who you really are?" Gawain asked her curiously.
Helena hadn't really thought about it. There was no way that she was going back to Rome, she knew that for certain. She didn't know Guinevere or Merlin that well but they were the only family she had. "I'll probably stay here. This is were my father lived all his life and as far as I know my mom lived here for the last few years of her life."
"Where was your mother born?" Bors asked from behind her. The only thing Helena knew about her was that she was a princess of the Medjay. The only things she knew about the Medjay was that they have protected the Pharos of Egypt for over a hundred years. But, as far as she knew her mothers family was killed during the Saxon raid.
"Egypt, I think."
"You know, you could come back to Sarmatian with us." Lancelot told her. Helena turned her head and smiled gratefully at him.
"I really appreciate the offer but I think I'll stay here for a while. Get to know my family." The knights nodded as they continued there journey.
A couple hours later they came to the edge of a frozen lake. Helena wondered if there was a way to just go around the lake but she had a felling that it wasn't the case. She turned her head to the side to see Lancelot staring at Guinevere.
"Lancelot, it's not polite to stare." Lancelot quickly turned his head and tried to give her an innocent look.
"I wasn't staring. I have a crick in my neck and I was simply trying to relieve the pain." Helena grinned before hitting the back of Lancelot's neck rather hard.
"Is that better?" She was laughing while Lancelot was glaring at her.
"Oh, yes, much better," he replied sarcastically.
"Is there any other way? She heard Arthur and Tristan.
"No. We have to cross the ice." Arthur sighed and turned his head toward Jols. "Get everybody out of the wagons and tell them to spread out." Jols nodded and turned his hors back. The Knights and Helena dismounted and started walking slowly across the ice. Suddenly the horses started neighing and backing up as the ice make loud creaking noises. Helena and the knights tried to calm them down, gently patting there coats. Arthur sighed and turned around to face them.
"Knights," he said simply
"We'll I'm tired of running. And these Saxons are so close behind, my ass is hurting." Bors said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Never liked looking over my shoulder anyway." Helena turned her gaze toward Tristan. After a few minutes she sighed and ran her hands over her face. She had a bad feeling about this. Grabbing her bow and arrows out of one of the packs that was strung over Athena's back. She spotted Guinevere and Arthur talking, both obviously annoyed at each other.
"I give it two days before they're sharing the same bed." Helena had stopped directly behind Gawain and Galahad. They turned and grinned.
"Is that a bet?" Galahad asked her. Helena smiled and shook both of there hands. She moved further down the line and stopped between Lancelot and Tristan. Helena started messing with the bow, making sure the string wasn't too tight or loose. She looked up to see Guinevere standing on the other side of Lancelot. The Saxons came around the corner, opposite of the Knights, Helena, and Guinevere.
"You look frightened," Lancelot told Guinevere, a look of amusement crossing his face. He was grinning madly while Guinevere stared ahead, a slight glare etched over her face. "That's a large number of lonely men out there." Helena bit her bottom lip hard, trying to keep from laughing.
"Don't worry; I won't let them rape you."
'Don't laugh, don't laugh,' Helena told herself silently. She heard Lancelot mumble about the women he was forced to keep company with.
The Saxon's suddenly let an arrow fly threw the air. It skidded across the ice and stopped in the middle of the ice.
"I think there waiting for an invitation," Arthur nodded at Tristan and Bors.
"We're far out of range," Guinevere protested. Arthur ignored her as Tristan loaded three arrows on his bow and Bors loaded one. Helena loaded four onto her bow and let them fly with Tristan's and Bors's. The eight arrows flew through the air and hit there targets. Helena loaded another arrow, ignoring there surprised stares.
"Aim for the wings of the ranks. Make them cluster." Arthur ordered them. Once half of there arrows were gone, and Arthur realized that the ice wasn't going to break he ordered them all to prepare for combat. Helena dropped her bow and grabbed her sword. Suddenly Dagonet ran out onto the ice, axe in his hands.
"Dag!" Bors screamed. Helena dropped her sword and grabbed for her daggers. She threw them directly at the men with cross bows in their hands. She killed three of them with her daggers before grabbing her bow and launching four at a time.
It didn't take long before she was out of arrows. Dagonet had been able to doge the arrow thus far but he was starting to weaken. Helena took a deep breath before grabbing the shield at Lancelot's feet and running out onto the ice. She heard somebody yell her name but choose to ignore it. By the time she reached Dagonet he had already been hit by an arrow. She stood in front of him, blocking the arrows with the shield.
After that her mind seemed to go blank. She remembered feeling cold and a horrific pain in her left shoulder. After that she completely blacked out.