Script belongs to King Arthur

Amazonian Support 16

The peasants under Marius' control looked at one another in fear as the curly hared Knight and woman bowed their heads and squeezed their fists. The common people knew that Arthur hadn't told them what he did to instill fear into them, so they'll pack and leave faster-he told them because it was the hard truth of their situation now

The Saxons were coming.

Arthur asked warily, "And the only way out is to the south?"

Theaia shook her head and replied, "East, there is a trail heading east across the mountain. It means we have to cross behind Saxon lines, but that's the one we should take."

The peasants close to the small group of warriors eyed one another nervously as more and more of the conversation came to them over the winds.

Tristan eyed all the gathered people over Arthur's shoulder and asked with a knowing tone in his voice, "Arthur, who are all of these people?"

Arthur eyed his scout with a come-on look as he answered, "They're coming with us."

Tristan shook his head and said neutrally as the peasants began to treble with fear, "Then we'll never make it."

Sarmatia, who had turned away from the men, watched the Roman mercenaries with growing hatred and disgust as the pushed and shoved a couple of weary looking men to pile on more and more bricks, "Come on, get back to work!"

"Back to work!"

"Move!"

"Move!"

"Move!"

Lancelot watched with a tiny burst of fear and desperation as Arthur turned as well and spied a rickety addition to the wondrous mansion.

"What is this?" he demanded hotly as he pulled Excalibur free from its sheath once more.

The mercenary took a deep breath to gather his courage and stated, "You cannot go in there."

Lancelot rolled his eyes at that and took a step closer to the Roman who eyed him and his twin blades nervously as he added with a tiny tremble in his voice, "No one goes in there. This place is forbidden."

Marius marched up to them and demanded hotly-it was obvious that he was angry at them for a lot of things, "What are you doing? Stop this!"

Areia shook her head and said from a top her warhorse, "Arthur, we have no time."

Galahad nodded in agreement as he added with a tiny bit of desperation in her voice, "Do you not hear the drums?"

Sarmatia rolled her eyes at them and tilted her head. Areia clearly understood what her commander was saying 'Do you really think Arthur's going to let this one go? Do you think that I will either?'

When she heard a sigh of resignation from her right, she turned and watched as Lancelot and Bors unsheathed their weapons and made ready to enter the dark foreboding place.

Arthur ignored the two easiest to anger and said commandingly to his most trusting Knight, "Dagonet."

Romana watched with proud eyes as her fancy unquestioningly swung down from his warhorse with his battle axe in hand, marched up to the door, and threw all his weight behind it to bring down the hastily built brick wall, "Agh! Agh!"

Arthur watched as his Knight tried to kick the oak wooden door open.

When that didn't work, he turned to the mercenary that Lancelot had backed into a wall and his sword, he demanded with a tiny smile of approval in Lancelot's direction, "Key."

Lancelot watched the Roman with barely hidden glee as his eyes jumped from his sword, to Arthur, to him, and jump around the three of them again once more when the Roman mumbled in a frightened tone, "It is locked."

The Roman cleared his throat uncomfortably as Tristan stepped into his line of sight upon his horse making the scene even more intimidating and added hastily, "From the inside."

Romana walked to Dagonet's side as the door opened with the strength of Dagonet's axe skills, and said as she stepped into the gloom, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Lancelot and Sarmatia each grabbed and mercenary and shoved them harshly through the door behind the blond haired second-n-command and said, "You, you... go!", "Move!"

Lancelot, who had grabbed a torch when he entered, blindingly thrust it behind him and said shortly because he was getting very frustrated very fast, "Gawain!"

As the group edged slowly down the dark corridor, they began to hear a strange echoing bounce all around them, "Exaudi orationem meam."

"Exaudi orationem meam"

"In nomine Dei Patris omnipotentiset in virtute Spiritus Sancti."

Then from the gloom, appeared a dirty, thinning man who demanded to a surprised Lancelot, Sarmatia, and Romana, "Who are these defilers of the Lord's temple?"

Lancelot, who had, had it up to his ears with talk of God and all his virtues, especially since he and the others now knew God to be a manifestation of the highly deluded Roman Church, pushed the atrocious man aside and cried out in disgust, "Out of the way."

As Arthur and Sarmatia came to his side, he cast his gaze about the room and nearly threw up. There along the walls were men and women-dead-men and women who were dressed in a little more than rags. Their bodies were in various stages of decomposition and the smell of the rotting flesh, blood, and other bodily fluids nearly overwhelmed him. When he thrust himself closer he saw a terrible sight. It was of a girl-child, barely seven years old-if that, hanging helplessly from the chains that were too short to let her stand, even precariously, on the dirty floor underneath her bloody feet.

Her eyes were wide and a vivid dark blue despite the fact that both her eyes were bruised and swollen.

As Sarmatia cried out in dismay and quickly swung her sword across the old, rusty chains, picked her up, and ran outside the horrendous place, Lancelot turned to Arthur and said horridly, "The work of your god. Is this how he answers your prayers?"

Arthur's answering wounded eyes made him feel a momentary jolt of guilt, but it passed quickly. Plus, even though it was mean of him, he couldn't help but feel vindicated because even though he hurt Arthur's feelings, he knew that Arthur finally saw what Rome and Rome's GOD truly were-nothing more than power hungry, blood-thirsty, morally corrupt men who felt like they owned everything and everyone.

As the priest tried to stop him from entering, Lancelot thrust his sword into the man and watched him fall dead-he felt no guilt whatsoever.

Arthur shook with barely concealed horror and anger-at himself, Lancelot, and Rome more importantly. He was angry at himself because he allowed himself to blindingly follow the will of GOD, whom he now knew to be the manifestation of greedy men as the real God was a lovely, warm-hearted woman. He was upset and angry at Lancelot for shoving it into his face and making him realize it, and he was raging mad at Rome for saying things like truth and justice and equality for all, and then Rome turns right around and stabs everyone and everything in the back.

He cleared his throat and said warily, "See if there's any still alive."

Then from behind them, from a well hidden doorway that lead into the mansion came a voice and another dirty, thin man "How dare you set foot in this holy place?"

That same man looked down when his foot hit something and gasped out as he pointed downward in righteous anger, "There was a man of God."

Lancelot rolled his eyes, took a step forward, placed his finger just under the priest's eyes and retorted angrily because he was angry about their mission, the situation, and now it seemed he was angry at the man too, "Not my god!"

Galahad and Areia, who had waded through the mass of people whilst they were fighting, opened a cage, reeled back in horror of the smell and he announced in a croaked, nasal tone as his hand was covering his nose, "This one's dead."

Gawain who was right behind Lancelot winced and said as an echo of drums reverberated throughout the tomb, "By this smell, they are all dead."

He pointed his axe at the priest and said threatening, "And you, you even move, you join him."

Dagonet, who had finally reached a cage as there were too many people within the tiny space, gasped out as he pulled out a tiny boy of seven or eight, "Arthur!"

The Knights spun around to see Dagonet had his finger up to the boy's face as he said, "You must not fear me."

Arthur watched with bland, disbelieving eyes as Romana snatched the boy from Dagonet's hands and spun out of the tomb as if the very demons of hell were after her.

Finally he shook himself out of his disbelief as Lancelot took a few steps deeper into the cell and bent down. He followed and blinked at what his friend found.

There in the dark, a pair of despairing amber eyes peered back at them both. Arthur stood up and swung Excalibur across the rusty lock. The gate swung down and clanged loudly in the room. Lancelot, who had taken Arthur's torch from him when he had risen, took a step back and allowed his friend to gently grab the woman.

With a heavy heart fully of pity and sadness for the tortured people and yet full of gladness because he was out of that damned place, Lancelot eyed Tristan meaningfully as he threw down his torch and listened to Arthur call out 'Water! Give me some water!'

Arthur watched with dark eyes as Ganis, the boy from before, appeared by his side with a bucket and ladle.

As he gave the water to the woman, he heard Horton say softly to Dagonet, who was behind him, "His arm is broken."

There was silence and Horton's voice came back softly since it was filled with horror and sadness, "And his family?"

Arthur didn't have to see Dagonet to know that his silent friend had shaken his head 'no'. No, the boy wouldn't have family-life wasn't that fair.

Tristan, who had remained patient upon his horse, looked down upon the woman and Arthur and said as he spied her colorful legs, "She's a Woad."

Arthur ignored him and said instead in a comforting voice, "I'm a Roman officer. You're safe now."

As the woman leaned even closer to him, he added even more gently, "You're safe."

Arthur was interrupted By Marius crying out in madness, "Stop what you are doing!"

Arthur gently placed the woman down into Marius' wife's arms and demanded as he picked up Excalibur, which Lancelot had thrust into the earth beside him as he had, had his hands full of the woman, "What is this madness?"

Marius threw up his hands and cried out in a voice that to the Roman lord seemed to answer everything, "They're all pagans here!"

Galahad, who was once again on top of his war horse piped back in an ugly tone, "So are we."

Marius' face grew red with rage and frustration as he continued on-ignoring Galahad's words, "They refuse to do the task God has set for them! They must die as an example!"

Arthur got into his face and replied angrily, "You mean they refused to be your serfs!"

Lancelot watched as Marius' face became confused as he said in an odd tone, "You are a Roman. You understand. And you are a Christian."

Then his beady eyes landed on the woman Arthur retrieved from the cell, and Marius' rage grew once more. Before Lancelot could stop him, he lunged at the two women and cried out in rage as his fist landed on his wife's pale cheek, "You! You kept her alive!"

Lancelot watched with a heavy heart as Arthur threw Marius off his wife, punched him in the face, broke his nose, and placed Excalibur at Marius' neck.

When Lancelot moved to guard his friend's back, the mercenaries, who seemed to finally grow a backbone, cried out, "My lord!"

Marius, from under Arthur's sword raised his hand and said, "No! No, stop!"

His eyes stared challengingly into Arthur's as he finished, "When we get to the wall you will be punished for this heresy."

Arthur's smirk wasn't a nice one as he leaned further down into Marius' personal space and whispered loudly enough for them all to hear, "Perhaps I should kill you now and seal my fate."