Chapter Nine
After watching the arrows soar over the wall, Meg and the knights rode down the hill to get ready for the first wave of Saxons. Stopping on a small incline, Meg got off her horse to attach specially made boots for Angel. The knights, confused, watch her put these strange boots on her horse. Meg looked up after putting the last boot on and saw the knights looking curious.
"What? Have you never seen boots like these before?" She asked them.
All the knights and Arthur look toward Tristan, apparently he knew more about such things than them. Tristan shook his head and asked what they did for the horse. Smiling an evil smile, Meg bent over and lifted one of Angel's hoofs to show the men a boot with about six nails on the bottom.
"Angel here is a marvelous battle horse. Before I left, I had these boots made for her to help me in battle. Whenever she lifts her front hooves, the nails can do more harm than just her hooves alone. When she kicks her hooves backwards, she can easily kill a man because the nails pierce through the skin and cause more damage. I'm sure that when this battle is over, you will be wanting some of your own for your horses, and when that happens, I'll be sure to give you my boot as a design for yours." After saying this Meg got back on Angel in time to see the first of the Saxons come in the gates.
The Saxons came charging in through the gates. They stopped running when they realized that no one was there to fight. They looked around until someone finally yelled out. "There. On the hill." All the Saxons came walking in beating their shields, making as much ruckus as they could. When all of them got past the gates, the heavy doors slowly closed behind them with a loud bang.
The knights and Meg waited until they heard the sound of arrows flying through the air. Due to the smoke coming from the burning pits on Badon Hill, the Saxons didn't know the arrows were coming until it was too late. After the arrows did their job, the eight horsemen charged the cowering group of Saxons. Several Saxons were killed with the first attack. As the last of the knights rode through, the Woads sent another rain of arrows on the unsuspecting army. This tactic worked until all but one Saxon were killed. The last Saxon escaped through the gates and the knights and Meg got ready for the next wave of attack from the Saxons.
While they waited for the rest of the Saxons, the knights and Meg cleaned the weapons they had used on the first assault. Meg, having finished her cleaning, looked towards the top of the hill and watched as Merlin walked to the top where Meg could see him with about four catapults and several Woads pushing them into position. Waving to Merlin, Meg then looked towards the woods were her Riders and Guinevere were waiting for their time to fight. Smiling and raising her hand in greeting towards Gwen, Meg turned her attention back on the knights. Looking at Dagonet and Bors, she would not have believed that they were the two most lovable people she knew. Looking past them, she saw Gawain and Galahad cracking jokes at the unfortunate Saxon's behalf. Lancelot and Arthur were sitting next to each other just looking over the field of dead people, waiting for the larger army. Finally she looked beside her to see Tristan.
He had been watching her as she looked at the other knights, waiting for his turn for her attention. Smiling a small smile for her, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the lips and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Smiling at him, she took his hand in hers and held it on her lap, wanting to savor his touch as much as she could. Because she knew what could possibly happen during the battle, and she didn't want her worst fear to come true.
As the sounds of the army drew closer, Arthur instructed them to ride to a spot that the Saxons couldn't see them. From their hiding spot, the horsemen could see the larger army file through the gates and then slow down so the leader could give the orders on what to do. The leader did just as Arthur and Merlin had planned. He sent part of his army towards the left flank and to their deaths. The minute those Saxons walked past the small ditch that ran through the hill, the Woads let loose flaming arrows towards them. Seeing the flying balls of flames, the Saxons stopped walking and lifted their shields, not sensing that in doing so, they really put themselves in more danger; because as soon as the first arrow hit the ditch, it went up in a glorious sight of fire, killing and maiming many of the Saxons. Before the Saxons realized what happened, Gwen, her Woad army, and half of Meg's Riders came running out of the trees. Seeing the enemy, the Saxons started running towards the Woads and the two collided in a loud crash of shields and metal and bodies. The battle had begun.
Meanwhile, the main army was looking for Arthur and his knights. Upon seeing the fiery ditch the leader got mad. Just as he was taking another step, Merlin let loose a couple of flaming balls from the catapults. Sending them flying towards the army, and killing many as the ball rolled through the lines of men.
After the last flaming ball landed, Arthur gave the signal to ride towards the army. As the horsemen rode hard to fight, the rest of the Woads and Meg's Riders joined them. The two armies, if it were, collided with a mighty sound of metal hitting metal and many screams from the wounded men and Woad women.
Galloping head on into the battle, Meg lost sight of the knights. She was able to stay on Angel longer than she had expected, of course it helped that Angel was doing her job in protecting her mistress. It finally got to the point where Meg had to get off of Angel, but her horse stayed by her side, still protecting her from any attack. Meg took out the matching sword from her back and started to slice and dice her way through the Saxons. Many of them had thought that she would be easy to kill, those were the ones that didn't last long under her assault. Meg managed to get through half of the army before she looked around to see where any of the knights were.
As she watched, she saw Dagonet and Bors fighting back to back, protecting each other from any attack to their backs. Galahad seemed to be faring quite well, only a few scratches here and there. Arthur was fighting his way towards Gawain, who had an arrow in his left shoulder. Having reached Gawain, Arthur stopped a Saxon from cutting him down. Meg looked harder to find Tristan. Finding him fighting the Saxon leader put a fear in Meg's heart that she had never felt before. Deciding to help her lover, Meg jumped onto Angel's back and tore across the battle field, killing Saxons as she went.
Meg got to the fighting pair just as the leader hit Tristan on the back of the head, making him stumble to the ground and grabbing the back of his head. As the leader went to attack him again, Meg stepped between the men and faced off with the leader, hoping to occupy the man so Arthur could get there in time to kill him.
"Ahhh, I was wondering if you would have the guts to fight me yourself, my feisty whore." The Saxon leader said while smiling evilly.
"I just came to make sure you got too tired to fight Arthur. You know, make it easier to kill you. Besides, I already told you that I'm no one's whore, not even yours. I will prove it to you if I have to." Meg replied getting into her fighting stance, and throwing off the leader with getting both of her swords ready to fight him.
Meg waited with patience for the leader to make the first move in their little fight. She didn't have to wait long. The leader came charging towards her thinking that he could fight her with brute force. Meg waited until he was a step away from her before twirling out of the way of the rampaging bull. Laughing under her breathe, Meg tighten her grip on her handles and waited again for him to make his move. Turning around, the leader looked at Meg, who was casually waiting for him, trying to figure out how she got behind him.
He ran at her again and this time she didn't move, she just blocked his sword with one of hers. When she pushed his sword away, she came across with her other one to give him a slice on the cheek. Stepping back, the leader felt his cheek with his fingers. Drawing his hand away from his face, he looked at his fingers to see blood on them. Enraged by this slip of a woman, he started to fight her with more force than was necessary. Meg kept blocking the attacks, praying that Arthur would hurry up and get to her before she had to kill this man.
Just as she finished saying her little prayer, Arthur showed up to join the fight. Smiling at him, Meg inclined her head towards the leader and took off across the field. Hopping onto Angel's back, Meg looked for Gwen and Lancelot. Seeing both of them on the other side of the fiery ditch, Meg watched as the bald headed Saxon kill the Rider she had on Lancelot.
Urging Angel on, Meg rode her across the fire to land almost beside Gwen. Getting off the horse's back, Meg looked at Gwen and acknowledged her. Telling Gwen with a look to go fight somewhere else, Meg walked towards Lancelot and the bald Saxon. She watched as Lancelot made the Saxon fall down then turned to fight a Saxon coming from behind him.
Just as she was upon the Saxon, he rolled a dead Saxon over to find a crossbow under the body. As he was raising up to fire the arrow, Meg tapped him on the back with her sword. The Saxon turned around to see the business end of a sword at his throat, daring him to think about shooting the arrow. He dropped the cross bow and raised his hands up in a non threatening manner.
Smirking, Meg kicked a sword towards him and nodded to him to pick it up. He bent over to pick the sword up, keeping his eye on her the whole time. When he had the weapon, Meg got into her fighting stance. The Saxon ran at her like his leader had. Meg stepped out of harms way the same way as before, only she tapped this Saxon's butt when he past her to irritate him. It worked too, because when he turned around, he charged her again without realizing the risk he was putting himself in.
Meg stopped his attack with one of her swords and sliced his side open with the other one. He stepped back in shock. He touched his side and watched as his hand came back with blood. Seeing his own blood, he started towards her again with fire in his eyes. He could not believe this woman was fighting him and winning.
Meg waited until the right moment; she wanted to tire this Saxon out before she killed him. Some would say that she was toying with him, she would agree with them. She smiled as she watched him start to falter in his fighting; she waited until he left himself open to make her move. A few short moves later, she saw him let his side become unguarded and took that one slip up of his and slid her sword into the opening. Shocked, the Saxon looked down to see one of her swords sticking out of his chest. He looked up at her and tried to knock the other sword out of her hand, but he didn't have the strength left to put much effort into it. Meg easily slipped her other sword into his chest right where his heart was then sliced downward to open his chest wide open.
The Saxon slide to his knees and then toppled over onto his side as Gwen and Lancelot came running over. Meg looked up from the Saxon's body to see that the rest of the army had been decimated while she had fought him. Gwen looked at the Saxon on the ground and then to her friend. Shaking her head, Gwen hugged Meg with the ferociousness of a girl who had seen too many of her friends die that day.
Meg hugged Gwen back and looked towards Lancelot to see him looking at her with a new respect. Smiling, Meg walked over to him and hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek. She looked over the battle field to see Arthur standing next to a sitting scout. Breathing a sigh in relief, Meg whistled for Angel.
Mounting her horse, she rode over to Arthur and Tristan. Stopping next to them, Meg looked at Tristan, "I believe we have a bet to settle." And she reached down to help him onto the back of her horse. Grinning, he mounted behind her and they rode out of the gates towards the large tree.
What they saw there had them laughing and shaking their heads. There on the ground underneath the tree, was the body of the traitor with two arrows in his body, one in his chest, and the other in his head. Getting down from Angel, Meg tied a rope to the man's ankle and mounted again, tying the other end of the rope to her saddle, Meg and Tristan rode back to Arthur and the other knights.
As they rode up to the men, the knights looked at the body and started to laugh, full body laughs. Smiling, Meg untied the body and left it for the burial they were going to have in the coming days, even a traitor needed a proper burial.
