Chapter 5

The weather was getting colder as they moved through the mountain passes. It was a long ride the last few hours, night was falling soon and there was no way they'd be able to travel at night with the roads and the snow falling still and the chill in the air that would only grow colder, and the drums were still echoing off the mountainsides. It was nerve-rattling to them all. But they traveled as fast as they could. "Arthur, we can't all travel through the night. Not with the carts." She said, riding up to her brother's side after Lancelot had ridden off from him. The two men looked irritated.

"I know!" Arthur snapped, "Fall back in line, Arwen, we cannot leave an inch of the line open to the enemy." He scolded.

Shocked at him snapping at her, Arwen eased her horse back and returned to the side of the backline of the Caravan.

"Is the great Arthur not meeting your expectations?" Lancelot asked her with irritated sarcasm as he came back and around the side of the end of the caravan.

"Not now Lancelot, please." She said with a sigh of irritation.

Softly chuckling, Lancelot rode up closer to her, "Come now Arwen, I only jest." He said lightly. When she hadn't answered him, Lancelot sighed and looked at her with concern, "Arwen, please talk to me?" he asked her softly, almost pleading with her to say something to him. He couldn't bare it if she began to be silent towards him.

Looking at the man riding beside her, she sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just… I don't understand." She said with another sigh, looking into the forest beside her.

Lancelot smiled gently at her searching into the forest, likely not seeing the dangers those woods held for them all, she was likely seeing the beauty of it. Something knew he was certainly appreciating the view he had right now. Her long curling hair gently blew in the cold winter wind with the snow falling over them. "You've never seen him in the heat of the battle, Arwen. Your brother, as well as all of us, are different men when Battle is in suit." He told her, his charming voice was always a soother to women, it's what charmed his way through the years. The way his voice sounded, the way he used his words. His eyes. When she turned to look at him, Lancelot nearly lost his breath. Then he smiled. "Tristan surely is a lucky man, to have such a woman at his side." He admitted wishfully.

Smiling, Arwen looked ahead of them as they rode. "Or am I the lucky woman to know that I love him more than the very air in my lungs?" she asked him.

Smiling, Lancelot looked ahead of them alongside her, "Indeed, such a good question. I must say, I am full of envy, Arwen Castus." He said, returning his eyes upon her, smiling as the snow stuck to her curls. "To have someone look at me the way you look at Tristan, I know there'd be no chance for me, even if I did fight him for you."

"Who says you'd win if you did fight me?" Tristan said seriously, his horse moving around Lancelot and in between Arwen and his comrade. He found none of this funny as Lancelot began to chuckle and Arwen softly laughed, "I see nothing funny," he stated casually. Looking at Arwen, he smiled and took her hand, bringing it up to his lips, and kissing her knuckles. Seeing such a smile every day, he knew he was the lucky one. "I love you," he told her. The spark of life, fire, love, and desire that lit in her brown eyes and that smile of sheer happiness that grew across her lips warmed the coldest depths of his heart. It was dangerous to have her here, in danger, where he could feel his heart hammering in his chest when he needed to be ice.

Oh, how her heart soared up into the clouds upon hearing those words, "I love you also, Tristan." She whispered.

Dindan smiled looking back behind him as he rode alongside Bors, the two chuckling as Lancelot rode up towards them with a grin on his face and a shake of his head. "So, what is a Roman officer like you doing betraying Rome?" Lancelot asked the man carefully. He was making sure there were none of those Soldiers near them to hear the conversation. If no one knew he was on their side of things, then it was reckless to break that illusion.

Scuffing at the man, Dindan sighed, trying to not be offended at the man. "I am no Roman," Dindan said with a slight grumble. "I am a Sarmatian, they took me and others from our clans and forced us into strict training and torture when we refused to give up our gods, many were killed, but I lost faith in our gods sadly when I was very young before they came and took us. I am still under their foot. They still rule over me. Even when I wish to run them through. The lot of them." He said regrettably.

"Oh?" Lancelot said with a curious look on his face.

"Yes," he said as a matter of fact, but there was one fact that burned more than being under servitude to Rome. And that was the fact that his own brother hadn't even recognized him. Not even by name. "It's even sadder when your own brother looks at you and seems to not even know it was you. Not even your name." He said, holding back his heart ache at the knowledge of that fact.

Laughing, Bors looked at the man, "What kind of a brother would not recognize his own blood?" Bors asked, thinking the man was messing with them. Until he moved his horse on up at a faster pace to get a closer look at the man, he saw the hard, saddened look of betrayal as the man looked at him. "Dindan," Bors quested the man again, he wanted to know what the hell was up with this guy.

"That's a very good question, Bors. When you find the answer, do tell me. Brother." He said just a little bit coldly.

Now it was Lancelot's turn to sober. His chuckling grin fell as the man dressed in Roman uniform road up ahead of them, leaving Bors and himself to look at one another. "How the hell is that possible?" Lancelot said. Bors had gotten word years ago that his family and clan had been killed.

"Shut up and stay here," Bors said, ridding after Dindan. "Hey!" he shouted after the man, "What load of bullshit are you spittin' back there," he demanded.

Laughing at Bors riding after him, Dindan said scuffing at him with sad amusement, "I just told you I was your baby brother, and you call me a liar." He said with a sad chuckle. Looking to the side he had to take a double take at the man and his anger fell. "They didn't tell you anything, did they?" he asked, then scuffed for a whole different reason. "Our clan was wiped out Bors. Everyone except the orphans they took. A few years after we were taken the Roman went back, they fought, and they died. I only heard about it from a woman they had brought back, they were using her relentlessly, so I did her a favor and released her from her suffering of the Romans."

"You killed her?" Bors asked him, his eyes watering with anger, not with Dindan, but the Romans.

Looking at his brother he'd missed for so long, Dindan nodded. "Yes,"

Nodding, Bors looked ahead of him, "Good lad," he whispered and returned back to the line.

Seeing the look on Bors's face had Lancelot worried for him. "Bors,"

"Not now Lancelot, please," Bors said to him. He wanted to wallow in this pain.

Clamping his lips closed, Lancelot nodded to his friend and looked ahead of him as they rode on in silence.

They rode carefully throughout the night and stopped every few nights to rest themselves and the horses. Thankfully they'd traveled through the nights against all odds and without issues to Arwen's surprise. Today, as they rode, Arthur had sent Tristan ahead to find a place to rest for them a while ago. She had dismounted her horse a few minutes ago and walked slightly behind the cart holding the ill, the woman and the boy, and Lady Flucinia and Horton. Riding for so long was hurting, she'd never ridden her horse for so long. Dagonet had climbed down from the back of the cart and walked beside her and conversated with her, "Thank you, by the way," she told the man, looking up to him with a thankful smile.

"No reason to be thanking me, Arwen." He said with a smile, "You are as much our family as you are Arthur's,"

Smiling, she looked at the boy fast asleep in Flucinia's arms, the woman too was fast asleep. "How is he?"

"His fever has broken, he is still healing," Dagonet said looking down at her. She was so small, but he knew she was strong. So was her heart just as strong as she was to live with them and to have put up with them as much and for as long as she had. Like Vanora, putting up with all of them, especially Lancelot was a feat for sure. When the boy woke up he couldn't seem to find his voice as he looked around for Dagonet, it was the Woad woman who spoke to the boy. "Lucan," the woman whispered for him, getting his attention she pointed out towards Dagonet and Arwen, "He is right there. No fears," she said with a smile as the boy made his way carefully, holding his arm close to him in the sling it had been put in as he sat at the back end of the cart with a happy smile on his face. The boy had simply sat there, looking between Dagonet and Arwen, his smile growing before laughing as Dagonet began to laugh. "What? Think she's pretty?" Dagonet asked the boy, then laughed along with him when Lucan blushed his adorable child blush. It was the first smile they'd gotten from the boy in days of them after he was awake and no longer sleeping all day and night with a cold sweat.

"Is she your wife?" Lucan's light voice asked the man caring for him.

Laughing and finding that the most adorable, Dagonet wrapped an arm around Arwen as she laughed along with them, her arm around him as he ruffled Lucan's hair but shook his head a little, "No Lucan, she is not mine to claim, but she is your aunt, she'll be marrying Tristan," he said, hearing a horse coming up behind them. Seeing Arthur, he unwrapped his arm from around Arwen and climbed back into the cart with the boy and the women.

"Arwen, get on your horse," Arthur ordered her, grabbing the reigns of the horse from the side of the covered cart and waited for her to get onto the steed. She gave him a defiant stare but still did had he'd more or less demanded rather than requested. "I will not have you on your feet if we are attacked. If we are, you are to stay with the Caravan,"

"And leave you-"

"Stay with the Caravan, Arwen. Am I clear?" He repeated coldly.

Huffing at him, Arwen moved to ride ahead of him towards the front of the Caravan, but she was stopped by her brother grabbing her horse reigns. She gave him a hard look, the two siblings staring one another down. When he sat back on his horse, his spine straight, and released her horse. She had caved into his will and stayed by his side as they traveled for a while.

After some time, Guinevere smiled as she watched the two, studying the siblings closely. She knew who the woman was, however, from the way the man was treating her, she'd say he was behaving like a father or a demanding husband. She thought if she distracted him, maybe he'd turn his irritated behavior away from her. "My father told me great tales of you." She started. Getting both of their attention.

Fighting back irritation and the annoyance of what the Woads had to say about him, though he was honestly just a tad bit curious. "Really? And what did you hear?" he asked, trying to sound not so interested.

Smirking, her eyes drifted over to Arwen, "Fairy tales. The kind you hear about people so brave, so selfless, that they can't be real." She said, with a disappointed laugh, "Arthur and his knights." She said with a small mocking tone, "A leader both Briton and Roman. And yet you chose your allegiance to Rome. To those who take what does not belong to them. That same Rome that took your men from their homeland. Torturing and raping-"

"Listen, lady," Arthur snapped a bit, pulling his horse around to face her with a glare, the accusations she was accusing him of doing what Rome had done was disgusting to him. He'd never taken anyone from their lands, never rapped a woman, everything he and his men had, they'd earned. "Do not pretend you know anything about me or my men." He said sternly.

Trying to keep her composer, Guinevere raised her head from the wooden beam she'd been resting against, "How many Britons have you killed?" she asked curiously, though her question had come across as a bit hostile.

"As many as tried to kill me. It's the natural state of any man to want to live." Arthur retorted.

"Animals live! It's a natural state of any man to want to live free in their own country." She snapped in return. That, she noticed had eased him back, her eyes once again turned to Arwen, then back to Arthur and she smiled looking past him and around the snow-covered tops of the trees and mountains, "I belong to this land. Where do you belong, Arthur?"

"How's your hand?" Arthur asked her. He'd noticed her hands were holding the fur skin around her, to keep her warm.

Smiling at his sudden question, Guinevere smiled, "I'll live, I promise you." She said lightly. When he smiled, she felt her insides turn to mush. How could her enemy be so charming? While he had his views and hers of her own, she knew there was something about him that was… Alluring. "Is there nothing about my land that appeals to your heart? Your own father married a Briton. Even he must have found something to his liking." She said, wishing he'd give her an answer, but he'd ridden off. Leaving his sister with her by the cart. "I apologize, I angered him," she said calmly with a smile.

Smiling at the woman, Arwen nodded her head to the woman, "Sometimes he needs reminding of some things." Arwen said.

"Reminding of what?" Guinevere asked curiously.

"What Rome has done and what they are capable of," she said, watching ahead of her.

"You must take after your mother," Guinevere said with a smile.

Smiling at her compliment, Arwen looked out over the rolling mountainsides and the treetops, "And why do you say that?" she asked.

Smiling, she and Arwen shared a look, one that recognized the other as Clan. "You're beautiful," she said simply.

"Arwen," Tristan called, ridding up behind her.

She turned and looked over her shoulder to the man of her dreams and heart then smiled, "Tristan-"

"You are coming with me," he said plainly and rode past her.

Confused, she shared a look with Guinevere and rode after Tristan curiously. "What are we doing?" she asked him, her eyes following past her as they passed Arthur, thinking he'd yell after her. Yet her brother said nothing.

"Scouting, come, or I shall leave you behind." He said with a tone of boredom as he made his way further up ahead.

She said nothing as they rode, her eyes taking in the area as the rain started to come down with a mixture of snow. It gave her a foreboding feeling as they came down into a clearing. She looked around with worry, thinking they were looking for enemies until she heard Tristan grunting as he got off his horse and tied the reigns to a nearby branch. "Why travel on foot?" she asked him curiously.

"Too easily spotted on horseback, come on, or-"

"I know, I know, or you'll leave me here," she said to him with a smile and a soft sigh as she dismounted her horse, tying him to a sturdy bush, and followed after Tristan.

"All right, first lesson; what is the first thing we search for when tracking?" Tristan suddenly asked her as he slipped his bow from around him and into his hands.

A bit struck by his sudden question, Arwen stood straight and stared at him, stopping in her steps. "You are testing me," she stated. It was not a question.

Sighing, Tristan stopped and turned to her, "Yes, I am, now what is the first thing we look for?" he questioned again.

Blinking back her shock, Arwen sighed and looked around their surroundings, "Well, I take it we are looking for a place to rest for the night, um, make sure there is no vulnerability to floods where we rest unless the water had a place to go, also we want to be sure to not be to close to a slop or our camp is downhill,"

"Good, but you can do much better," he said returning to his slow steps as he looked around them.

Studying him, Arwen looked around them and almost laughed at herself. "Tristan, there's nowhere for the enemy to hide around here, unless they are invisible, and that I can assure you my darling, is impossible." She said with small amusement.

"To you, yes they are, to me, not so much." He said. He wasn't being arrogant, no, he simply had that strong of an eye. Even as a child, his eyes were as great as a Hawks.

Nodding, Arwen bit her lips to not continue that conversation. She knew his sight was magnificent, there was no question of that. "Okay then, make sure there's water not too far from the camp, easily attainable especially since we had ill, elderly, and children,"

"You can still do better, what of finding food?" Tristan asked her.

"Find tracks, make sure there are no predators around that could attack us, animal or human alike." She added.

"Good, getting better," Tristan said under a whisper as he knelt on the ground and looked at the snow as rain and snow fell over them. "And what of these?" he asked.

"Deer, wounded likely a while ago since there's no blood near these tracks. Look at them, it's either wounded or-"

"Ill or old, yes, good. Now, why is it possible it's more ill than wounded?" he asked her. Looking at her from his knelt position with a smirk on his lips.

Sighing, Arwen pulled the hood of the cloak over her head to keep the rain from pelting her, her long hair was already getting soaked rather quickly as she looked around. "No blood, could have been an old injury gotten infected then, or truly it is just old and with age comes a higher risk of illnesses." She stated, looking back at him and smiling at her. "What?"

Smiling, Tristan shook his head at her, "Nothing," he told her. Looking back ahead of them, his eyes spotting a deer in the distance. It was already dropped against the cold, wet earth with them. Sighing, Tristan looked around the area, snapped his fingers at her to get her attention then looked at her, seeing he had her attention, Tristan nodded his head towards the fallen dear. It was a female deer and she was breathing with difficulty. As they approached, Tristan slid his bow back over his shoulders and withdrew his knife from his boot. "Arwen, keep your eyes open, we are in the open," he told her, looking around the open layout as he knelt by the deer's side. She'd been attacked by wolves most likely. The torn wounds on her legs, side, belly, and neck said it all. they'd been trying to heal, which hinted why she had not left a trail of blood. But sometime during the course of her healing, her wounds had become infected. Tristan shushed her soothingly as he gently ran his rough hand over her side, trying to not touch the infections of her wound. She was too weak to even cry out as she closed her eyes. He felt her breathing tense and freeze with pain, even against his ghosted touch.

Arwen notched an arrow to her bow, keeping her eyes around them, her ears listening for any, she could hear Tristan shushing the deer, it must have been in so much pain she made no sound to cry. When she heard the rush of a blade running through flesh, she closed her eyes for a moment then snapped her eyes back open. There was no time for her to close her eyes. With Tristan's back to everything and his attention on the deer, she could not risk them being attacked by anyone or anything.

Sighing with regrets for the deer, Tristan stood. "Such a waste also. But there was nothing salvageable on her."

Lowering her bow and returning her arrow to her Quiver on her back, she looked up at Tristan with confusion, "Then why kill her?"

"She was suffering and there was no helping her either, frankly, you can't nurse a deer back to health when it is already on death's door. Allow nature to run its course, the animals will likely not touch her, but she will decay, like any human or animal body, like every planet, and bark from a tree. She will decay and become the earth herself. It's a cycle of life Arwen. Once you learn it, it stays with you and you never forget. No matter how cold-hearted a person is." He answered her, cupping her cheek in his hand. "Come, we must inform Arthur of the area, we need rest tonight."

Nodding, they headed back to their horses and returned to her brother, Tristan informing him of the area up ahead. "We'll keep going, for now, there is still plenty of day to travel," Arthur said. And they did not argue.

It was close to nightfall when they heard the drums once again, Arthur had called it a day then, "We'll take shelter there, Tristan," he said, looking to the man.

Nodding, Tristan looked to his falcon and brushed the back of his finger up along its neck, "You wanna go out again? Yeah," he said and let his falcon fly off his arm and into the air.

It hadn't taken long for the sun to go down, or for the camp to be set up, Arwen rested on the ground on the makeshift bed to rest, Tristan was still out there, likely keeping watch while they all rested. Some of the other Knights were even still on guard, Bors had not rested yet, and neither was Dindain. She had noticed that Bors and Dindan were spending a lot of time together, almost as if they were hiding a secret that they were unsure to tell anyone else. It made her wonder if they had known one another in the past before they had been taken from their clans. She had tossed and turned with discomfort for a while until she heard the scrapping of boots against the cold dirt and snow. Turning her head to look at the boots she found Dagonet kneeling by her bedside with Lucan, "Dagonet? Lucan? Is something wrong?" she asked, sitting up on her side and elbow.

Smiling, Dagonet sighed a bit with small embarrassment, but he figured he'd ask. Out of precaution. "Would you rather sleep with us?" he asked. "Tristan is out on patrol for the night, rather we know your safe in the night than wake up in the morning and you be gone or dead." He said.

Smiling at the man who she knew meant no romantics by his question, Arwen nodded. "Of course, the company is ideally warming, come on," she said, slipping out from the covers of the fur cloak and with Dagonet's help, they moved her things to Dagonet's little set up tent, and she and Lucan crawled in first, Dagonet covered the boy with his armor then he crawled up beside them, the two adults cradling the boy between them as Arwen draped the fur cloak over them all. It wasn't long before the three of them were fast asleep.

"Seize him!" Marius snarled and Dagonet was ripped from the bedding as the snow gently fell over their camp.

Startled awake, Lucan and Arwen sat up, "Dagonet-Ah! Release me!"

Fearful, Lucan had turned to grab the woman who had been asleep behind him, until she too had been grabbed and pulled from the bedding, "No! No-" then he too had been pulled from the bedding, a cold blade pressed against his throat and his mouth covered to keep him silent as he tried to struggle.

She struggled against the Roman soldier as he held her back, lynching her arm behind her back and holding her hair by her scalp. When the boy shouted, she panicked. "Lucan!" Sliding her foot back against the snow-covered ground and into the man's ankle, she fell to the ground with the man over top of her and they rolled while Dagonet had managed to get himself free and grabbed his sword, three Roman Soldiers armed and swords drawn and at the ready. However, they seemed a little hesitant to fight the man. Bringing her elbow up into the soldier's face once she had managed to get a little away from him after crawling out from under him against the ground. She knew that if she tried getting him anywhere with his armor it would be useless, and she would be the one getting hurt. When he shouted out in pain and fell back away from her, she got herself up to her feet and grabbed her twin swords and took a few steps towards Marius holding Lucan captive. It had felt like several minutes, but in reality, it had been less than three.

Seeing the two had gotten free and his one soldier already bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth after her attacking him in return, he pulled the boy's chin and head up, pressing the dagger flush against his throat, "I have the boy!" he shouted, his eyes dancing between the woman and the giant of the Samaritan knight, they looked ready to kill. But he wanted them dead and out of his way first. "Kill him!"

Flucinia stumbled out of the carriage where she'd slept at the noise going on outside, but as soon as her eyes fell upon her husband with the boy in his hold and the dagger against the child's throat, Flucinia panicked and rushed him, "No, don't! Let him go!"

Shoving his wife away from him and into the dirt, his son dropped by his mother's side and helped her up, protecting her from him if he needed to. "Kill him now!" But his victory hadn't lasted long as the sound of a whistling arrow soared through the air and embedded itself into Marius's chest, in response to the shock of the arrow piercing his chest, Marius had released the boy and Lucan rushed for Dagonet and hide back behind him and Arwen as she moved beside Dragonet and in front of him and small tent, they'd pitched last night.

Smirking at the woman as he walked out from behind her, Lancelot rested his twin blades rested over his shoulders and crossed behind him, "Your hands seem to be better." He stated. But Guinevere had said nothing and released another arrow into the ground at one of the soldier's feet.

"Artorius!" Bors shouted, ridding up behind the soldiers, tapping the side of his horse up against their backs, his brother had finally removed the Roman uniform, those he'd stayed in his trousers, boots, and a leather cover over his long-sleeved shirt. He'd left the armor against the tree before leaving that morning to help Tristan scout. They'd been on their way back to inform Arthur the Saxons were getting close.

"Do we have a problem? Huh?" Dindan said with a grumble, circling the soldiers, his sword pointed at the nearest Roman soldier.

"You disgrace the Roman Legions by siding with them," one spat at him. He's been rewarded by Dindan smacking him upside the head with the flat side of his blade against his helmet.

Walking out from the woods and into the campsite, Arthur took a moment to look around at the people there, the situation, and those involved. Who was with him and who was against him. "You have a choice. You help or you die." Arthur said casually. Hoping they'd choose to help them, the more numbers they had in case they were attacked by Saxons the better, but, if they had to, they'd kill these men to save themselves from dealing with them later on. "Put down your weapons," Arthur ordered. He didn't want to have to kill them. One death from their group was enough.

Dropping his sword, and that of his next two with him, he looked around at the others and became irritated when neither of them had dropped their swords, "Do it now!" He ordered with a scold. Thankfully, they dropped their swords quickly.

"Here!" Tristan called to them as he rode up on his horse, cross-bow in hand with a few men running after him on foot.

Turning to Tristan as he rode up to them, "How many did you kill?" Bors asked the man curiously They hadn't left him too long ago.

He looked at Bors, licking his dry lips. The cold was horrible on his mouth, always dry. "Four." He answered plainly.

"Not a bad start to the day!" Dindan laughed, it wasn't terrible at all. Though it meant that the Saxons were gaining on them. They needed to leave. Now.

Dropping the cross-bow to the ground, he sighed as he looked at Arthur, "Armor-piercing. They're close. We have no time."

Nodding, Arthur looked to Tristan and pointed to Dindan, "You two, ride ahead." He ordered. Grabbing his sister as she rushed past him to mount her own horse, he pulled her to a stop. "No, you stay with me and the others. I need you to help us protect these people." He told her. When she opened her mouth, Arthur looked away from her and held up his hand to silence her. Thankfully she held her tongue as he returned to looking at her brown eyes. "You are under my command being out here, Arwen. Not just as my sister, but as a Warrior. Do as ordered. It's why I've been so hard on you out here." He explained. "Now, what are your orders?" he questioned.

She held back her smile at his explanation and nodded, "Stay with you. Protect the people." She repeated.

Nodding, he kissed her brow. "Thank you, pack up, get on your horse, and find your station on the line." He said.

Arwen rode near the back, watching as her brother rode up to speak to Alecto, to give the young man his condolences of losing his father. But their conversation had not lasted long and her brother's horse had slowed to a stop. Reaching him, she stopped her horse beside him and looked at his face. He was filled with shock and turn oil. "Arthur?" she carefully called his name as he stared into what she'd say was nothing. "Arthur, are you alright?"

Woken from his shock, Arthur looked at his sister's worried-filled brown eyes and he felt his chest tighten with fear. Not for himself, but for her, for his Knights. "Rome," he started, stopping as his voice failed him for a moment.

Confused, Arwen looked him over, concerned for him, then over her shoulder towards Alecto looking at them from the carriage window with worry. Looking back to her brother, she looked at her brother as a few fell from his green eyes. Reaching out for him, she gently brushed a few of his tears from his face. When he took her tiny hand into his and clutched her hand in his, pressing her hand over his armored chest, over his heart. The cold metal of his armor. His behavior had her belly rolling with fear and her heart trembling with panic. As if large ice cubes dropped deep in her belly and freezing her insides over up to her heart. He was scaring her. What had Rome done to make him behave like this? "Arthur? What- what's happened?" She asked weakly. "Brother? You-you're scaring me," she admitted weakly. Her voice broke, almost ready to weep herself at his behavior.

"Arwen," Lancelot called for her, riding to her and Arthur. But the way Arthur looked and the fear he saw on Arwen had Lancelot looking around them and circling Arthur, looking for any wounds from the possible shock of being struck by an arrow possibly. But he was uninjured. "Arthur- Arwen, what the hell is going on?" he asked, pulling his horse to a stop beside Arthur. "Arthur?" Lancelot called for his friend with worry. But Arthur was unresponsive to him.

"He- I-I don't know. Lancelot, I-I swear, I-I just… Found him like this. Arthur?" She was on the brink of panic. Her brother was not responding. Was it his heart? "Brother?" she weakly pleaded.

His brown eyes dashing back and forth between the siblings, Lancelot reached out for his friend and grabbed his arm, gently shoving at him. "Arthur!" he snapped.

Snapping out of his daze of shock, he looked to his friend, then looked back to his sister. She was filled with fear. For him. He hadn't meant to scare her. Grabbing her face in hand, Arthur had to make sure she was real. His whole life had been a lie. The Rome he had been told of that existed. A Rome he was told was waiting for him, was all a lie! But his sister was real. That, he was blessed to know was true. His Knights were there. They too, he knew were real. "Rome has betrayed us long ago, Arwen. Germanus had Pelagius excommunicated, then they executed him. A year after he arrived in Rome. And we were left unaware of it all. He raised us- I… I no longer…" Truly, Arthur had no words. He was in pure shock. Now partially awake from his daze, Arthur released his sister and then rode ahead of her. Leaving her where she was with Lancelot.

Arwen felt limp, her limbs suddenly rippled with chilled ice as the words sank into her. She'd nearly fallen off her horse, but thanks to Lancelot, he'd quickly reached out for her and caught her, stabilizing her atop her horse for a moment before he climbed down from his horse.

Fearful for the woman he'd nearly not caught, Lancelot climbed down from his horse and pulled her off Augustus and helped her stand, then shook the woman just a little to wake her up. "Arwen? Come on woman, we do not have time for this." Lancelot snapped. But when her eyes snapped to him, the tears in her brown eyes had him sighing. "Look, I am sorry about Pelagius, he sounded like a great man from what you and Arthur told us about him, but you can mourn the man later." He said, grabbing her face in his hands with worry as he glanced around their surroundings. The Caravan was too far ahead of them as it was! "When we return to the Wall, you can mourn for him... Please. I need you here." He said, pleading with her.

Waking up to Lancelot shaking her and snapping at her to not fall apart right now, the way he'd pleaded with her to wake up and to mourn Pelagius later when home. She looked into his brown eyes and saw the same fear in him that she felt. Nodding to him, she grabbed his hands holding her face, "Promise?" she whispered.

Nodding to her, Lancelot kissed her brow, and helped her back onto Augustus's back then pulled himself back onto his horse, "Come, we've fallen behind." He said. And the two of them rode fast to catch up to the Caravan ahead of them.

She felt a small sudden amount of fear once they arrived at the frozen Lake. She didn't have a lot of good memories of Lakes. Looking to Arthur as they waited there, hoping, praying that there was a way around this lake, however, she knew better. They had no other way around the lake more than likely.

"Is there any other way?" Arthur asked. He disliked having to go over frozen lakes. Not a lot of good things could happen on frozen lakes. Especially if it was thawing. However, this Lake seemed as if it were frozen enough. But, when was a lake ever frozen enough?

"No. We have to cross the ice." Tristan said, looking at Arwen, he knew the last time she was near a body of water like this she'd fallen through. They'd been lucky to have found her and gotten her out. She'd been in their site one moment then gone the next. Arthur had tried going in after her, but with his wounded leg, there was no way they were going to let him. So, Tristan had gone in after her, truthfully, he'd been the only logical one, he was the only one who could swim anyways. They'd both been ill for weeks. Then she had asked him to teach her to swim. She'd been lucky he hadn't taken her then and there. She was fifteen and of age to be marrying as it was. She was eligible for marriage, sex, and childbearing the moment she had first bled at eleven years old. But Arthur would have been damned a thousand lift-times before he allowed a grown man to touch his baby sister. Arthur had caught them at the lake where she'd fallen through testing the waters, nothing inappropriate had happened, but Arthur had made it clear he was not to have private lessons with her. Tristan had told her he would no longer teach her after that. She'd been irritated at him, but he'd never told her why he'd done it. Maybe now he could tell her. Maybe.

Sighing as he looked across the frozen lake. Arthur nodded and walked across the lake with his knights a few hundred yards, to make sure it would hold them and their horses. They needed to see how strong this ice really was. So far it had held them just fine. Until he heard the ice groan and begin to strain and crack under the pressures so far out and he pulled his horse back carefully, "Get them all out of the carriages. Tell them to spread out." He ordered calmly. "Arwen,"

"I'm fine," she said, carefully dismounting Augustus. She was far from alright. Resting her face against her horse's neck, she breathed as calmly as she could. "Okay, we can do this,"

He had watched her dismounting her horse nervously, and he knew why she was so nervous. "Arwen," he called for her calmly. Wanting her to look at him.

She looked up and over across the ice to Tristan watching her, "I'm alright," she said as bravely as she could have to him, yet as he carefully walked his horse towards her, leaving the steed where he was just a few feet from her and approached her, he gently grabbed her chin and forced her to look up to him from her short stature.

He knew she was lying to him. He fully understood her fear of the water's depths, "Never lie to me, woman. I will fix this fear you have later. For now, we live." He told her and returned to his horse, carefully watching his footing as he moved them across the ice with the others. They had to go slow, unfortunately, otherwise, the entire ice cover would shatter and they'd all be lost to the lake. His eyes had glanced over to her every now and again, but mostly his attention was focused on the lake's edges surrounding them. It was the perfect trap from the land. Unfortunately, they had been found. Cornered. There was no turning back because there was no way around the lake, and if they turned back then they'd be running into the rest of the Saxon Army. "Shit,"

Hearing the drums, and the people suddenly beginning to panic and fear, Arthur turned around to his men with a sigh of defeat. They'd tried outrunning the Saxons, and it had failed. They had no choice. "Knights..."

Bors sighed as he walked his horse up towards Arthur and looked around them. They had no way out unless they turned around. But they'd be followed even then. "Well, I'm tired of running. And these Saxons are so close behind, my ass is hurtin'." He said plainly.

"Never liked looking over my shoulder anyway," Tristan said. And it was true. But as he glanced over to Arwen, the look of worry on her had his heart aching. He couldn't help but wonder why she was worrying. They'd either fall here together, or they'd lose some and win. As long as this divided group of Saxons were no longer on their trail, they were safe until they reached the wall.

"Be a pleasure to put an end to this racket," Gawain said with a sigh of annoyance. He really got tired of hearing those drums. It set his teeth on edge and he hated it. Couldn't sleep worth a damn anyways.

"And we'd finally get a look at the bastards," Galahad said, adding to the others. It was true. They've never had to fight a Saxon army before.

Walking up to Arthur, Dagonet headed for a line to hold. He wanted this done and over with. "Here. Now." He said. It was as straightforward as it was ever going to be. A man of few words he truly was.

Nodding, Arthur released a heavy breath. Finally, they could end this tiresome cycle of being hunted. "Jols!"

Hearing Arthur call for him, Jols moved to take action to get things ready for them. "You two, take the horses." He ordered to a few people nearest him and started gathering the rolls of arrows as the Knights moved to grab Axes or their extra weapons in case they happened to be in hand-to-hand combat.

"Ganis," Arthur called to the skinny man who'd shown true determination to be of service to his Soldier's ranks and knights. When the man came to him, Arthur moved forward with his idea of giving him an important task. "I need you to lead the people. The main Saxon army is inland, so if you track the coastline till you're well south of the wall, you'll be safe." He said. Giving the man direction to follow. He needed someone to lead the people to the Wall, to safety.

Worried, and wanting to fight, to prove himself to the great Commander of the Sarmatian Knights, he wanted to prove to them also. Dindan had agreed to train him, to track, to shoot the bow, and to wield a sword properly. And over the month of them traveling, he'd gotten good enough that the man had begun to praise him a few times. Ganis looked at the Commander then around to the others who were still setting their positions in a line. To stand their ground against their enemy. "But you're seven against 200?" he asked.

"Eight. You could use another bow." Guinevere said, walking past them.

"Make that nine," Dindan said, smiling at the Woad woman and winking at her, "Can't leave the lady here to protect the lot of you," he teased. Earing an amused smile from Guinevere.

"Ten," Arwen said, removing her bow from across her body.

"No!" several snapped at her. Not with anger, but with a sudden flood of panic. Even Guinevere had called with the same response.

Shocked and completely taken aback by this sudden outburst by just about all of them, including Guinevere, she looked to her brother, "What-"

"No," Arthur said again, this time, more sternly then turned to Ganis as the man handed him a bow and a full quiver of arrows. "Stay with the caravan, protect them,"

"I'd rather stay and fight." Ganis said, being upfront and honest with Arthur, "Please, let me prove myself-"

"You'll get your chance soon enough." Arthur said calmly to the man, looking to the soldiers standing near him, likely assuming they too would fight, he shook his head to them, "This man is now your captain. You do as he says. Am I understood?" he said sternly.

Nodding to the Commander, the Soldiers made it clear it was very much understood and returned to the carriages and carts of the elderly and ill, the few children the village had.

"Go," He told them all, "hurry," he told them. Looking to his sister he sighed and nodded his head to the Caravan, "Go, Arwen."

Oh, how badly she wanted to fight this, but she knew better. Looking to Guinevere the two nodded to one another as if they both understood what Arwen had rolling around in her mind.

"I never miss, Arwen." Guinevere told her.

Feeling better about this, Arwen nodded, gently squeezing Guinevere's arm, "Thank you, Guinevere." She told the woman then moved to follow after the Caravan.

Walking from his line, Tristan grabbed Arwen, stopping her from leaving, and kissed her once more. Wanting to feel this just one more time, if this moment was the last he saw her. But he knew it wouldn't be. But still, he wanted to kiss her. And he'd kissed her a bit roughly, with desire and determination, holding her close against him.

Her body was on fire, her lips burned to kiss him everywhere else. Her arms held him close to her body, not wishing to let him go as they kissed. His lips were perfect. And his tongue was hot as he slipped the organ into her mouth. Everywhere he touched her, she burned. Why did they have to be here? On the ice? Why couldn't they be back home, under a roof, or in a tent outside away from people so she could take his armor and clothes off him.

"Alright, Tristan, we get it," Gawain laughed with small amusement. It was very clear they wanted to have sex right there.

Smiling at the woman in the Sarmatian Knight's arms, Guinevere looked to the ice below her feet, as she softly cleared her throat. That had certainly been something to watch. "Well, at least we know neither of them are shy," she said, glancing over to Lancelot who chuckled, Arthur seemed to even be smiling, though his eyes were on his feet and moved ahead of them. The Saxons were coming. Watching the others helping one another gather the horses and to push the covered carts and the carriage off the lake and back onto land. "Arwen, you must leave now," Guinevere said, watching the Saxons coming around the edge of the Lake's curve.

"Right. Come on, then! Move on!" Ganis called to them all, helping the others as he could.

"I am able. I can fight." Alecto said. He would do his family honor proud. Undo the dishonor his father had caused them.

Smiling at the young man proudly, Arthur shook his head at the boy, "No. You must bear witness to all you have seen. There's one thing you must do, and that is to get back to Rome." He said. He would not risk losing the boy. Alecto was the main mission. If they lost him, then he and his knights would never be free of Rome and his sister would be condemned to death, as they all would be.

Arwen had forced herself to leave him, to let him go as she helped the people move the carts and carriage off the ice and watched from the edge of the cliffside from the land over the lake as the Saxon division that had been tracking them. She didn't like the feeling that was slowly rolling and coiling into her belly. But she forced herself to walk on, leaving the Lake as they followed her brother's directions to follow the coast.

The Soldiers had given neither her nor Ganis trouble, in fact, it was Ganis that was chatting her ear off as they traveled, asking her questions, even Alecto was asking her questions. And while she had answered the questions that she could, Arwen had grown tired of them and rode just a little way ahead of them to keep the path clear. She needed silence for just a moment, and they needed to keep their path as clear as possible. To make sure the enemy had not circled back from the division to block their path. Thankfully, that had not happened.

"Arwen!"

She heard not twenty minutes later as she rode back to the caravan. "Guinevere? What's happened?" she asked with worry, leaping from her horse and rushed to the woman running to her. She was covered in blood and she looked frantic.

"It's Dindan, he-he's injured, so is Dagonet," Guinevere said frantically. She didn't know what to do. Grabbing Arwen's hand, Guinevere rushed them to the back of the cart. A man was screaming in pain, the other very silent as he attempted to breathe. Seeing Lucan trying to crawl up into the cart to be with Dagonet, she quickly grabbed the boy. He did not need to see this. "No, Lucan, no. Guinevere, go, my horse, go, both of you. Now!" She ordered. And the two turned to Augustus, the horse hardly ever let her out of his site when they were not home, he was a good horse. Loyal. Never faltered. Handing Lucan up to Guinevere after the woman was on her steed, she took her fur cloak from her shoulders and handed it up to Guinevere. "For warmth, wrap yourselves in it, it is still warm."

"Father-"

Grabbing his leg to get his attention, Arwen looked up at the boy on her horse with Guinevere, "I will do what I can, Lucan, I will do what I can." She told the boy, weeping in Guinevere's arms with worry for the man who'd saved him. A man who'd watched over him as they traveled. Dagonet had been a father to him over the month they'd traveled. Making her way to the cart, the Knights all crowding inside to keep the men held down as they tried to help the screaming man in obvious pain, Arwen quickly stripped her armor from her body, Flucinia taking her armor from her, Ganis taking her weapons and she nodded her thanks to them and climbed into the cart, "What happened?"

"They broke the ice, they both took arrows, Dagonet took an axe to his leg, it was removed when he fell into the lake. I don't…. They both look severe to me Arwen, we do not know where to begin," Arthur said, stammering over his words as he and Bors held Dagonet down. The cart was running with blood. The fur on the floors of the cart was drenched in the crimson color.

She had to think fast. Where she needed to start. With who, and who could help her. "Okay, um…. Tristan, I need herbs-"

"We have none," Tristan told her, interrupting her thinking, his voice trembling just a little. Battle was always ugly, and losing a Knight, a brother in arms, was even more painful to suffer through.

Snapping her eyes up to him, she felt her body shiver. "What?"

"We have no herbs," he repeated again, pressing his hand against Dindan's gushing wound in his chest. "Guinevere looked, but the sacks were missing. Galahad even checked also, they are gone."

Her body chilled with dread as she looked at the two men. Swallowing her panic, she breathed as calmly as she could and moved to Dagonet, moving aside the cover Arthur had over him. They'd broken off the shafts of the arrows to get them out of their armor. Dagonet's leg was injured as well. And as her brother had said, it looked like an ax had been previously embedded in the front of his upper thigh that they'd taken cloth and tied closed. Covering the man, she moved to Dindan. And his silence made her fear for him, "Lancelot,"

"Don't look at me woman, I'm not a healer!" Lancelot snapped at her, his hands pressing into the cloth over Dindan's throat.

"Well, you are now, damn it!" She screamed back. Reaching across to him she grabbed Lancelot's arm, not wanting to move him from Dindan's side, "I was trying to tell you, you idiotic man, to keep the pressure to his throat, make sure you still feel a heartbeat. Gawain, I need you to go to the cooking cart, and get the herbs-"

"Those are cooking herbs, Arwen," Gawain said to her as if she didn't already know that!

Glaring at the man, she breathed as best she could and returned to Dagonet's side, "Grab the wine and Water skin as well. I'm going to need a needle, go to Flucinia-"

"I have things, Arwen I have, it all!" Flucinia called to her, rushing to the cart with fear in her eyes as she set a large bowl full of the things she'd needed and a sack of something. "The sack has a family mix of healing herbs. Make a paste, cover the wound after stitching-"

Reaching over to the woman as she continued to jog after the cart and helping her up inside, Arwen smiled at the woman. "You're helping me," she said. Looking around to the others who were simply there for support, but with them all in there now it was far too crowded. "Anyone not helping with the wounded out, now." She ordered coldly. They needed the space to work.