Amazonian Support 9
When things settled down once more, Lancelot turned to Sarmatia and raised an eyebrow. She smiled and nodded. He returned the nod and spun to Arthur, who was still standing in front of him muttering to himself about the church and how Jesus was a woman. He snorted and took a hold of his friend's armored arm. He shook his head though, he and Sarmatia had a connection that awed him and frightened him. It was somewhat creepy how she and he understood one another-almost like he and Arthur understand one another-with only small gestures.
When Arthur's green eyes met his brown ones, he said soothingly, "Arthur, why don't you and I go and talk privately. The others can handle the clean up. Sarmatia, will you join us?"
The other Knights and the Amazon Princesses turned to the three leaders of their group and each raised an eyebrow at one another. Sarmatia's lips tilted up in a small smile as she nodded and joined the two men.
As she reached Arthur's other side, for Lancelot was standing to the right of his friend and commander, she said softly, "Come, let's go to Arthur's chambers, yes? We will have the privacy needed there-right?"
Arthur nodded in a distracted motion and she raised her eyes to Lancelot. He closed his eyes, sighed sadly, and shook his head. She understood immediately. Arthur had just had his entire life uprooted and turned topsy-turvy, and he wasn't handling it very well. This is going to be interesting. She though with a small frown as together, she and Lancelot, escorted the Roman Commander to his chambers with his arms wrapped securely around their shoulders.
After a few minutes, Lancelot stopped the group of three in front of an oak door decorated with a sword and dragons circling around it and said, "This is it!"
He glanced down at his friend and asked calmly, "Where's the key this time Arthur?"
His friend and captain, regained some of his strength, and said as he pointed to the third dragon behind the sword, "There."
Sarmatia watched curiously as Lancelot nodded and said as he placed his hand on the aforementioned dragon carving, "Here, take him for a minute."
When he was sure that Arthur was adequately held, he pushed in the dragon carving. He smiled when he heard a female gasp. It was an awing thing to see-Arthur's door. It was even better to see people's facing when they see how it worked. Arthur's door had four engraved keys fitted into his oak door. In which each of the four keys could be alternated between them whenever Arthur chose to mix them up. It worked like an ancient Egyptian tomb, and he was still in awe of the man who created it-Uther Castus, father of Arthur. The door was created so Uthur and those he trusted fully could enter and not have to worry about thieves, murderers, and annoying servants. Arthur used it for the same reasons.
As the dragon carving moved inward, the large, HEAVY oak door, swung open silently to reveal the innermost core of Arthur Castus.
Sarmatia was impressed. The room was Spartan in décor, but for some reason it fit in well with Arthur's personality. While what little decorations the room held were signs of Arthur's ownership, it was the walls of the room itself that took her breath away.
The walls, while stone like all the others of the wall, were marble instead of stone granite. On the left hand side of the room, there were two doors. They were also made of oak and she figured that they led to a bathroom and a wardrobe. She didn't bother to ask since it wasn't very important anyways. Above both doors, were flying dragons dyed emerald and sapphire that looped around one another in a dance of fate or a fight to the death. They were beautiful.
The wall in front of her was blank and was partially blocked by Arthur's king-sized bed. Fortunately, the tapestries more than made up for the blankness of the walls. There were two tapestries and they framed Arthur's bed perfectly in color and size. The one on the left was of a man dressed in Roman armor and wielding a large sword masterfully. The man was also astride a pure white stallion. The second tapestry was of Arthur and he too was dressed in Roman regalia, wielding the sword she knew to be Excalibur, and astride his own pure white stallion. Both tapestries were made from pure imported Chinese silk-she was properly impressed. Those must have cost Arthur A LOT of money!
The third wall had three windows cut into it and spaced equally apart on the twenty-feet long wall. The room was protected from the cool weather by colored glass that made a beautiful mosaic of colors and shapes. The first was of a morning sunrise, the second was of a man on a cross-God she supposed, and the third was of two men dressed in battle armor. She was somewhat amused to discover that one of the men looked like Arthur and the other, while his helmet was down, was recognizable because of the double bladed hilts peaking out over the man's shoulders and black cape.
As the two new friends, guided their king to his bed, Sarmatia commented, "I like the room. It fits in perfectly with what I know if Arthur."
Lancelot snorted in agreement and said, "Yes, but it's still to bloody Roman."
As the three leaders walked away, Tristan gazed about and was mildly shocked to hear Galahad take command and exclaim, "Well, you heard them, clean up duty, NOW!"
He watched curiously as Areia seemed to eye his youngest brother slyly and nod to herself about something she had been fighting with herself over.
He watched as she ran up to him lightly and whispered something in his ears. He had to chuckle a bit when Galahad's neck burned red. So, she wanted to do something naughty with Galahad-all the more power to her if she could give the pup some confidence when it concerned women.
He shrugged and said in a tone that made no promises, "I'll get started on the battlements. Those bows and ropes won't clean themselves."
Theaia raised an eyebrow and told Romana, "And I'll be in the stables cleaning the horses."
Romana rolled her eyes and nodded as Dagonet came up beside her. She gazed at him and asked softly not really expecting and answer, "Now how are we?"
Dagonet looked at her in a slightly warmer way and said gruffly, "We are allies."
She nodded.
It would have to do-for now.
As Sarmatia and Lancelot eyed one another, she sighed and said shortly, "Arthur, just because you now know God to be a woman, doesn't mean you have to rearrange your entire way of life! She's the God, the Lady, and the Goddess all in one. You can worship her as you've always done, and you don't have to worry about your 'immortal' soul."
Lancelot snorted as she said immortal because she had raised her hands and with the first two fingers of both hands had bent them twice in an attempt to make a point. Too bad Arthur wasn't looking at her-the entire point of her talk sailed right over his head.
Instead Arthur said, "How can I not? All my life I believe in God, now I find out that all I've been told is a lie! What else in my life is false? What else did I once deem truth but now I will see as false with my new eyes?"
Lancelot rolled his eyes heavenward and thought and here I thought things would be easier now that he wasn't so supportive of Rome!
He sighed and said, "Arthur, you are still the same man you were before this battle occurred. You are still Artorius Castus, Commander of Hadrian's Wall and my best friend. Does it really matter to you that God is a woman? Or is it the fact that Rome isn't what you dreamed it to be?"
Arthur glared at him and he watched his friend gnaw his teeth together in frustration. He nodded grimly and answered his own question, "You are disappointed that your dream of Rome is nothing but that-a simple dream."
Sarmatia sighed as she watched the two friends glare at one another. Arthur's glare was one of disappointment, anger, tiredness, and depression while Lancelot's glare was one of smugness, hope, cheer, and sadness. The last one shocked her, but she soon came to understand Lancelot's sadness. While he had explained to her about teasing Arthur endlessly about this faith in Rome and wanting Arthur to see the truth, he also didn't want to be the one to show Arthur the truth of this world. Lancelot didn't want to be the one to ruin Arthur's idealistic view of the world. She had a suspicion that somewhere, deep inside Lancelot heart and soul; he too wanted to believe in Arthur's optimistic, peaceful, non-bloody world. So, he remained silent and allowed his friend to believe and continue of with his unerring faith.
And now, they both were hurting and neither one of them would come to an understanding with the other.
She bit her lip and said strongly, "Okay now, you two listen up! We're are going to talk this through whether you want to or not!"
As Gawain picked up a shovel that had been laying around and headed out of the fort and into the bloody lands just beyond, he tilted his head to the side and waited patiently for Athena to reach his side. He didn't understand why she was walking closely behind-especially since she's an Amazon and as everyone knows-amazons DO NOT put themselves in submissive places-at all.
When she reached his side, he asked, "What is wrong with you?"
Athena glared at him slightly and she asked slowly as if he were a child, "Have you thought about what I said?"
Gawain's mouth pinched together as his annoyance grew. He had always hated it when people treated him like a child when he was ACTUALLY a child and he especially hated it now.
He sighed and relented if only to him self I had been acting childish before though so maybe I'd better apologize first.
He cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry about my behavior before, you were right, but it's still a hard thing to come to gripes with. And no, I've not yet decided on what to do."
Athena nodded and said as they started to dig a large enough whole to burn the dead bodies of their enemies, "I accept and I can wait for your answer."
As they dug in silence and as other Romans quickly joined them with shovels, he thought to himself with a quick glance her way why is she so interested in my choice to stay here or go home anyways?