A/N: Alright! There should be about one chapter after this one (maybe two?) before we finish with Britain and move to Sarmatia! I for one am pretty excited about that!
Disclaimer: See chapter 1!
.*.*.*.*.*.
It was hours later when their suspicions were confirmed. Just as Cymbeline was ready to give up on the feeling that had been plaguing her since the day before, she caught a glimpse of movement in the distant tree line.
"Look!" she gasped, pointing at the forest beyond the wall.
"What did you see?" Bedivere asked, suddenly alert as he scanned the trees.
"I'm not sure," Cymbeline replied. "In case you hadn't noticed, it's a little dark out."
"Now's not the time, Cymbeline," Bedivere all-but growled.
"There's something in the trees," Cymbeline murmured, eyes fixed on the spot she had seen before. "I swear I saw—there!"
"I saw it too," Branwyr confirmed. "I'm not sure what it was, though."
"There," Dagonet pointed to a point in the trees that was closer to the fort. "There's something there too."
Bedivere squinted at the point Dagonet had indicated. "I still don't see anything."
Before anyone could say another word, the forest came to life with a thousand points of light. In the sudden illumination, they could see the vague forms of hundreds of vaguely human figures striding towards the wall. The knights were on their feet in an instant, gaping out at the army facing them.
Cymbeline was the first to snap into action. "Sound the alarm!" she bellowed at the wall below them. The nearest sentry stared up at her in confusion, but quickly hurried to follow her order. Moments later, loud bells rang out over the fort. They were followed by lights flaring up in many of the houses, as well as a sudden rush of people out onto the streets. Sounds of confusion soon reached the knights on the Wall.
"Dag," Cymbeline turned to the teenager. "I need you to go to the gate north and make sure it's sealed completely." Dagonet nodded and began sprinting along the wall in the direction of the gate. "Branwyr, you're in charge of the archers. You'll be our first line of defense against this. And I'll be sending the knights-in-training up to you; we'll need all the archers we can get, and there are enough people out there that we won't need to aim tremendously well."
Leaving Branwyr to organize the archers on the Wall, Cymbeline and Bedivere clambered down the ladder to the wall of the fort. "Cymbeline!" a heavily-accented voice called through the clamor of confusion from the streets and from the guards preparing to defend the fort.
"Go make sure the fort gates are shut," Cymbeline instructed Bedivere, who nodded and rushed off. "Ganis, hello. Sorry to wake you."
"What's going on?" the Breton demanded. "The sentries said you called for the alarm."
"We were right about Ysbadaddon," Cymbeline said, heading for the main stairway up to the wall. That was where she was most likely to meet the other knights and trainees, and she wanted to make sure they were organized and sent off quickly. "He's been planning revenge for us stealing away Leodegrance and Guinaelle. Or maybe this was his plan all along; to attack Camelot while Arthur was gone. Either way, there are hundreds—if not more—of his followers out there. Or at least I assume they belong to Ysbadaddon, Although, they could just as easily be Morgana's." Realizing that she was babbling, Cymbeline snapped her mouth shut and focused on getting to the stairwell.
"There's how many out there?" Ganis gaped, hurrying after the small woman.
"You're welcome to go up to the Wall and count them for yourself, if you'd like," Cymbeline snapped. "If you ask me, though, there are decidedly better things to do at the moment."
Unseen by Cymbeline, Ganis rolled his eyes, but he continued to follow the young woman towards the stairs. "Do we have a plan?" he asked, not really hoping for much.
"Don't die," Cymbeline shrugged, darting down the stairs to the small cluster of knights that stood out of the way of the fort's guards as they rushed for the Wall.
"Cymbeline!" Kei looked relieved as she materialized beside him. "Do you have any idea what's going on."
"As far as we know, Ysbadaddon is mounting that attack we've been so worried about," Cymbeline replied. "It looks like he's got a good few hundred men out there."
"So, what do you want us to do?" Dinadan asked.
"Who, me?" Cymbeline asked, startled. "Why me?"
"You were the first to spot them," Kei said, as though it were obvious. "Not to mention you're one of the few people pretty much everyone in the fort will listen to."
"Also, you've been a knight longer than any of us," Dinadan added.
Cymbeline opened her mouth to protest, but a fresh round of alarm bells cut her off. "Fine then," she nodded briskly. "All knights in training, head up to the Great Wall. Branwyr is up there, and I've left her in charge of the archers. You'll be joining them, so make sure you have bows and full quivers before you go up." The group of teenagers detached themselves from the knights and hurried off for the armory to fetch bows before climbing up to the Wall.
"Daniel and Dinadan," Cymbeline turned her attention to the brothers. "Dagonet has already gone to the gate to the north to make sure it's sealed properly. I want you two to join him. I'll be sending Bedivere along as well. Take bows and arrows with you too; you'll have to defend the gate to avoid a breach." The fair-haired brothers nodded and made for the armory just as the younglings exited it.
"Kei, I need your help organizing the defense of the fort," Cymbeline turned to the flame-haired Celt. "You and Ganis will be in charge of keeping it in case the Wall is breached."
"Where will you be?" Kei asked.
"I'll be going to the gate," Cymbeline replied. "We'll need all the help there that we can get in case it's breached."
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" Kei asked. "I could go to the gate. You have your children"—
"The defense of the fort itself is far more important than my children right now, as much as it may hurt me to admit it," Cymbeline interrupted. "Right now, I am trusting you to take care of this place and the people in it, including my children." She paused before continuing. "I am also trusting that, if anything were to happen to me, you will help to care for my children until their father returns."
"Of course," Kei drew himself up. "I would be honored to do so. Although, that is one honor I hope to never have."
Cymbeline smiled warmly up at him and clasped his forearm in thanks. "Go, find Ganis. Have him put anyone at all capable of a decent shot up on that Wall with Branwyr. If the Wall is breached through the gate, he'll need to pull half of them back to cover the fort, but otherwise, keep them on the Wall. We'll do better if we can take as many of them out as possible before they can get close. They're less likely to breach in that case. Keep a guard on the gates at all times, as well. If the Wall gate is breached, evacuate the people from this part of the fort towards the villa."
Kei nodded along as Cymbeline rattled off her instructions, waiting for her to take a breath. As soon as she did, he put his hands on her shoulders and stared down into her eyes. "Cymbeline, go. You have to organize the gate forces. Ganis and I can get things under control here."
"Right," the girl nodded firmly. With a final nod, she ducked out of Kei's grip and darted towards the armory. "Beds!" she called to her cousin, waving him over as he hurried over from the fort gates. "With me!"
"Fort gates are sealed," Bedivere reported, falling into step beside his cousin. "Where are we off to?"
"The Wall gate," Cymbeline replied. "Grab a bow and a full quiver and let's get going. I've left Kei and Ganis in charge here." The duo ducked into the armory and grabbed a pair of bows and quivers, then made back for the wall. "Cullwch!" Cymbeline called to the Welsh knight, spotting him heading for the stairs up to the wall.
"Sorry, I got here as fast as I could," Cullwch said, gasping for breath. "I went with Olwyn to fetch your children, and then Guinevere had me helping with the evacuation of the outer parts of the fort."
"No apology needed," Cymbeline replied. "Beds and I are heading for the Wall gate. Kei and Ganis are in charge of the fort and its defenses. Bran is overseeing the archers on this section of the wall. I want you to grab a detachment of archers and fill in the gap between the fort and the gate. We can't afford anything popping up where we're not watching us and giving us a nasty surprise."
Cullwch nodded and raced off to the armory for his bow and arrows. Cymbeline and Bedivere headed in the opposite direction, along with the stragglers to answer the alarm bells, making for the Wall.
.*.*.*.*.*.
At the massive gate set into Hadrian's Wall, Cymbeline found that Dagonet and Dinadan had actually done a rather good job at organizing their defenses. The few guardsmen that always manned the gate had secured it with Dagonet's help, and then had spread out on the nearby sections of the Wall, bows at the ready. Dinadan and Daniel had joined them. The only change Cymbeline made was to have Daniel—who was an honestly dismal shot—hand his bow off to Dagonet in favor of setting the youngest knight up as a sentry, watching the further stretch of the wall for any sign of a breach. "It may not be the most exciting or glorious job in the world, but if there's a breach that we don't see, it could cost the lives of a lot of people—us included." Daniel nodded his understanding, but was clearly still reluctant to head down the wall.
Cymbeline turned at the sound of footsteps approaching from the fort. Half a dozen men dressed in the uniform of the fort guards were coming up to them. "Ganis sent us, ma'am," one of them reported. "'e said there was no use clustering all our defenses right at the fort when the biggest danger was probably the gate. He said if you want more men, send one of us back, and he can offer another half dozen or so."
"We'll manage with who we have," Cymbeline said, looking around at the small band that had been set to guard the gate. The half dozen guards that were normally posted here were finishing up their own preparations, largely concerning heavy rocks to drop on anyone who thought to ram the gate, as well as bringing large pots of oil, set on complicated hinge-like scaffolds, to boil.
"If we are breached, we can blow the horn for help," Dinadan suggested, indicating the large horn that stood in place of alarm bells on the top of the gate.
"That's right," Cymbeline nodded. "But let's hope it doesn't come to that."
.*.*.*.*.*.
Before long, the torch-bearing army had come within bow's reach of the wall—and stopped. Cymbeline's eyes narrowed as she watched them. "What are they waiting for?" Dagonet asked.
Cymbeline glanced up at the boy. This would be his first true battle—he had been through many skirmishes with Woads in the woods, but those would hardly compare to what they were about to face. Not that she'd seen many battles either; there had been several assaults on the fort over the past five years since she'd come home with Gawain and Galahad, all by native chieftains who sought to depose the half-Roman king, but none of them had ever been anywhere near this scale.
"They could be waiting for a number of things," she forced herself to speak, hoping to calm her own nerves as well as those of the boy next to her. "They could be planning to make an initial assault with their bows and arrows. That wouldn't be a bad plan, except for that we have the cover of the battlements, so it's unlikely a volley would actually do a great deal of damage to our forces.
"They could also be planning to send out an envoy for negotiations. This would likely be Ysbadaddon himself, since we all know he's no coward, but could just as easily be some kind of representative. In return, we would send out our own envoy. However, since we know what Ysbadaddon wants—Arthur and Guinevere's abdication—and will in no way grant those terms, he may bypass this entirely."
"Arthur would never abdicate to a warlord like Ysbadaddon," Dagonet scoffed.
"Well, Ysbadaddon seems to hold out hope that he might," Cymbeline shrugged. "Anyways, any attempt to negotiate with Arthur himself is fruitless—and Ysbadaddon knows it—since Arthur isn't even on the island."
"So, what's the most likely option?" Dagonet asked.
"As I see it, there are two," Cymbeline replied. "Either they'll launch some sort of attack, whether that be a volley of arrows or a direct assault, or they'll send out a herald, either with terms or a challenge."
"That's four options," Bedivere spoke up from Cymbeline's other side.
"Shut up," Cymbeline rolled her eyes.
"Looks like they're opting for a third—or fifth—option," Dinadan said, pointing towards three figures striding out in front of the army.
If she squinted, Cymbeline could just make out two of the figures.
"Ysbadaddon and Nimue," Bedivere murmured.
"And I'd hazard a guess that's Morgana with them," Cymbeline nodded.
"Think they want to talk to Guinevere?" Dagonet asked.
"Probably," Cymbeline nodded. She frowned and cocked her head to the side as the figures drew to a halt. "…Or maybe not."
The figure they had identified as Morgana took another few steps forward and raised her arms to the sky. Her robes whipped around her as the wind picked up, carrying the sound of her voice—although the words themselves were unintelligible from the distance—back to the defenders of the wall.
"What's she doing?" one of the guards asked, his voice trembling.
"Trying to scare us," Cymbeline replied.
"Well, it's working," the guard gulped.
"They say that Morgana's a witch," another guard piped up.
"Maybe she's casting a spell," offered a third.
"There's no such thing as witches or magic," Cymbeline said firmly. "Morgana is just playing up her reputation to make us nervous. Don't let it work."