Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, our school is dumb and made us go when every other school in the district had a snow day. Curse them.
SpectralLady- all is forgiven. Hakuna Matata ( did I actually just say that?).
Explanations
Damara stalked up the dark stairwell, tears blinding her vision. The loss of her comrades was overwhelming her, and she fought to control her urge to break down and sob right there on a roman stairwell. Roman, I tell you. She reached the top, her tears brimming her eyes. She swiped angrily at them, hating this weakness in front of the romans. Hana and Kiri reached the top of the stairs, tastefully ignoring her eyes. She knew that they were also having a hard time dealing with this, and that they were barely holding it in as well. But she was the one who was crying. She rubbed out the last of her tears, only leaving a little red around her eyes.
Arthur reached the top of the stairs. She looked at him, waiting.
He turned left and walked down a long, torch-lit corridor. "This way" he said, without turning.
The Sarmatians started to coming up the stairs, uncertain after the show of emotion down in the courtyard. Damara turned angrily and followed after Arthur, Hana and Kiri coming behind her.
In front of Damara, Arthur walked into a large hall, with a round table and a brazier in the center. She looked around as she walked in, liking the look of the inviting hall. She smirked at the round table, thinking how lords must feel when they visit.
The Sarmatians had filed into the hall at this time and taken their seats, leaving the girls standing awkwardly near the table. Arthur motioned for them to sit down. Damara glared at him for a second for daring to undermine her, then sat where he had motioned.
She sat stiffly, aware of the tension in the room caused by their presences.
"You need to clean and bind that" a voice said above her. She looked up. The man with the shaved head was looking down at her. He was carrying a basin full of water and several bandage cloths. She looked back up at his face. He didn't appear to be ill-wishing her, and he appeared sincere. He held them out to her.
"Take them. You've already lost fair amount of blood" he said quietly. She took them, nodding her thanks. He returned to his seat without a word, regarding her carefully. None of the knights made mention of this, although they all observed it.
She placed the basin and cloths carefully on the table, watching the water swirl as she set it down. She unfolded the cloths, revealing a long needle and thread for stitches. She grimaced slightly. She looked up.
All the knights were staring at her, even Arthur. The young one regarded her almost with curiosity and at the same time, distaste. The bald man and the one who had given her the cloths sat together, the bald man drinking as if this was a normal situation. The silent one hadn't changed at all, still calculating everything. The curly haired one sat near Arthur, obviously contemplating the three girls. The blond man was staring at her almost as impassively as the silent one was. She looked to Arthur.
He was watching her, considering her actions as she handled the water. He's waiting for a sign that I'm woad, Damara thought with a smile.
"Are you all just going to stare at us, or are you going to ask us any questions?" Damara asked with a slight smirk.
The young one looked taken aback. The curly haired one seemed the same, if slightly angered by her question.
"I will question you after you have attended to your wounds" Arthur said. The man only exhibited signs of almost detachment, completely above any situation.
Damara poured water over her upper arm, wincing slightly at the rush of warm water through her skin. She scrubbed thoroughly at the dried blood surrounding the affected site. She looked up.
"There's no need to wait so long. I can tell you what you want to know while I sew my arm up" Damara stated flatly. She had said "I" specifically so that Hana and Kiri could attend their own wounds while she explained their circumstances. She also had the cut on her chest, and her shoulder had started to ache slightly with all it's reclaimed actions in the past minutes.
"Alright. Who are you and why are you here?" he asked, without hesitation.
"Well, at least you're straightforward" Damara said, grinning slightly as she threaded the needle. Sighing, she looked at him. "Alright, I'll tell you what you want to know" she said, a tired edge cutting into her voice.
Gawain had been fascinated by the woman the moment she had taken her cloak off, and he had been hard pressed to keep this a secret from the other knights. If she was a woad, then it was trouble. He had carefully schooled his features so that as he observed her, it was only with a look that observed, instead of absorbing every feature of her face. She had bantered slightly with Arthur, a sadness emanating from her, filling the room.
"I am Damara" she said. Gawain's heart started to sing. It didn't sound like a woad name at all. This only led away from the bad!
"As I mentioned before, I, nor my companions, are woads" she stated simply, giving Arthur a look that said that he shouldn't judge her in the future, if he valued his life, that is.
"I did not catch your country when you spoke of it then" Arthur stated, making up for the lapse in conversation.
"They're Amazons, Arturius" came a deep voice from another side of the table. There, Tristan sat, unfazed by the fierce banter going back and forth, calmly peeling an apple with his knife. The knights were used to Tristan's interjections, and were completely used to it. The women, young girls really, stared at Tristan, except for Damara, who was now stitching up her wound, a slight grimace in her face.
"He speaks the truth" Damara said, recapturing the girls' attention.
"You have answered my first question. Not my second one" Arthur said, still patient.
"We are here on business of our own. It has nothing to do with you or your knights, let alone your precious Roman Empire. We mean no harm towards you or your knights either, and we don't wish that you would take it so. When we were captured by your romans, we were surprised and unarmed. But your men didn't stop to recognize that, did they?" she finished, her tone glacial.
Gawain was shocked at how quickly her voice had changed from explanatory to accusatory, bitterness deeply woven into her voice.
"Lady, if we knights took it that way, it is because when we met you, you had just fought most of the roman guard within the walls, and knocked them out. If you think that we could just accept you as peaceful and caring, then you must think that we are mad" Arthur stated it with conviction in his voice.
Damara had stopped in her ministrations to her arm. She was sitting stock-still, staring at Arthur with disbelief written all over her features. Then, her face changed, as if wiped clean. She leaned forward, towards Arthur. Gawain had the impression of a snake about to strike its prey. The cut on her chest came into view, and he had to swallow in order to control himself.
The blood had long since clotted, and was drying up around the wound. Gawain had been wondering since the girls cut themselves exactly why they had done such a barbaric thing.
Now, Damara was no longer speaking, she was hissing "did you not wonder why we did this? Why we cut ourselves, let our blood flow, and for a Roman! We did this because of the comrades that your soldiers killed, without warning. They were unarmed, unthreatening, and had given no instigation except for a stupid dog for the use of poison arrows! Did you think that maybe that was the reason my ladies came out fighting, after we had been tied up for hours, and me with a dislocated shoulder! Why don't you think of that!"
A huge silence filled the room. They looked furious; all of them, and Gawain didn't really fancy the idea of responding to Damara's outburst. Arthur had been prepared to respond to the beginning of it, but even he was shocked into silence.
Arthur was absorbing this information with a sadness, fury, and disappointment all together. Sadness that these women had experienced this at the hands of romans, fury that the romans had done this, and disappointment that good roman soldiers had been affected by the people of this country and their dealings.
Damara stared silently at the roman, willing him to deny it. She would kill him if he did, but she had wanted to kill a roman for a while now. She was surprised by the look of mixed emotions on his face. She had been expecting either denial or a "they were fulfilling their orders" line.
He looked at her slowly, seeming to have aged ten years in the past 30 seconds.
"I had no idea that roman soldiers attacked you without aggravation. I was told that you attacked the soldiers and that you were woads" Arthur's face was turning red with rage as he thought about the lies he had been fed and had accepted. "I had no understanding of the true events that took happened, or that the romans were the instigators of your sorrow" Arthur finished, enraged.
Damara looked back at him, just as tiredly, for she hadn't really been able to sleep in their prison, only blacking out when the pain from her shoulder became too much.
"I wish that I had known this before you ladies had come through the gates. We could have avoided many things with the truth of your situations" he stopped, looking at Damara intently. She could read his look from where she sat.
He asked her silently, what could I possibly do to help you for your pains?
Nothing, really, she answered back, in the same way. Unless, you can bring back the dead.
"I see" Arthur said, causing his knights to look at him with confusion. "Absolutely nothing?"
She shook her head. Then she stopped. Fuck this, she thought, I've heard of these men, I know their fighting reputations, and I still don't know where Ana is. They could help us.
She looked back at Arthur. He was trying to see what she was thinking. All of his knights, except for the tall and silent one, could obviously understand this silent conversation to a degree. The silent one understood the whole thing.
She stared at him. Then she motioned ever so slightly with her head towards the girls on either side of her.
Arthur looked at her, slight confusion clouding his face. It lifted after a short while, and he nodded with his understanding of her request.
She smiled slightly, liking the ability of this famed leader. Even if he was a roman. And not even filthy or lecherous at that.
Gawain looked at the whole situation with sadness and bitter outrage. The unfortunate fate of Damara's comrades was just more proof of the despicability of the Roman Empire. Another reason to want to get away.
He saw his commander looking at Damara with almost the same amount of expression he gave the knights. Almost like affection. Or sympathy.
Arthur bowed his head. He remained that way for a few seconds, thinking things over. Looking up, he stared directly at Damara.
"You can stay here until you have recovered. Then, if you and your comrades so wish, you may leave".
Damara nodded, close to falling asleep.
"Thank you".
Arthur nodded quickly, all business now. "of course. This is the least that can be done. Tristan, Dagonet, and Galahad, you can show the ladies to the rooms Jols has prepared for them".
They nodded, leading the ladies out.
As they left the great hall, Damara thought about the past hour. She had gone from a dirty, wounded prisoner to a guest of a great roman commander. Ah well, such was the life of royalty!
AN- sry I couldn't get this chapter up sooner, school sucks. I love cliffhangers! New chap, ASAP! Different twists, as I said, "haven't decided on pairings yet!"