Again, thanks to Elfvamp1-13-97, Morwen12 and KnightMaiden for their reviews (this sound familiar to anyone?). I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of fun writing this chapter!

Chapter 6

"Well let's see. If I win, you let me kiss you..."

"Bastard."

"That's not the sort of language a lady should use."

Akira raised her eyebrows, then unleashed a string of expletives at him, concerning his parentage, a few animals and the probable nature of his future descendants. Her choice of language was colorful, to say the least. None of it was the sort of language a lady should use. His face went pale several times.

"I don't even know what some of those words mean." Arthur commented when she had finished.

"I would be very surprised if you did." Gawain grinned. "Most civilized people don't use that kind of words."

Bors was having problems staying upright. "You curse very nicely, Kira!" He continued to chortle quietly. Nobody chose to comment on his use of her nickname.

"I've had several opportunities to practice. Roman's have very sensitive ears, and it's kind of fun to see how long they stay in the same room when I start swearing. I once cursed for a good ten minutes to a particularly stubborn Senator." She sighed." Happy days."

Lancelot had obviously recovered. "So are you going to fight me or not?"

"I suppose so, if only for the pleasure of seeing your face when you lose." She observed laconically.

He smirked. "My, aren't we confident?"

"One way or another I've never lost a fight. I don't plan to start now." She walked over to her horse and unsheathed her curved blade. "Let's get this over with."

Lancelot pulled his twin swords out of their sheaths on his back. "Very well."

The other knights quickly moved out of the space between them. The two circled each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Lancelot lunged suddenly. Akira danced out of the way and hit him hard on the hand with the flat of her blade. He straightened, surprised at her choice of tactic. She didn't seem like the type to defend only, and never attack. Her face split in a grin, almost as if she knew what he was thinking.

She slashed her sword down. Lancelot wasn't quite as agile as she was, but he managed to parry her stroke nonetheless. The fight began to get a little more serious.

Tristan watched with a cool detachment. The girl was good. A little rusty on style, but that was to be expected as she hadn't used her sword properly for several years. She seemed to be at least as good as Lancelot, but she made none of the mistakes that he did. She was a survivor.

Then, just as the knights were preparing to laugh themselves into stitches at Lancelot being beaten by a woman, Akira made a mistake. She lunged a fraction of a centimeter to far. Lancelot knocked her sword out of her hand and backed her up against a tree.

"I think I just won, my lady." He smirked again, moving his face closer to hers. "I believe you owe me a kiss."

Akira rolled her eyes and kneed him in the crotch. He doubled over and she sent him flying with a well aimed punch to the nose. The knights exploded into laughter.

"Never assume you've one a fight until your opponent surrenders, Sir knight." Akira chuckled. "Particularly if that opponent is me."

Lancelot glared at her. The rest of the knights, including Arthur, were speechless with laughter.

"Of course, you haven't surrendered yet." She looked at him with perfectly straight face. "We could carry on, if you'd like..."

Lancelot opened his mouth and began to form some of the worst swearwords any of them had ever heard.

"That's really not very nice, Lancelot. You should know better than to swear at a lady, it's very bad manners."

His eyebrows practically disappeared into his hair. "That's a little unfair, don't you think!"

"I'm a woman, Lancelot. I get to do all sorts of unfair things and you can't do anything about it because you're too chivalrous to object."

He stared at her helplessly.

She grinned and sat back down by Myrrah. "I'd like to get some sleep now, if that's all right with you." She said to the knights. They got themselves under control.

"Oh and Lancelot? If you come anywhere near me tonight, I'll remove your ability to bed a woman. Permanently."

With that she curled up and pulled her cloak over herself.

I enjoyed writing that chapter immensely! Please review and tell me if you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Carline