A/N: 'Bout time, yeah I know. It's been a HUGE gap and I'm sorry, but yes, there was little I could do about it recently. Life gets in the way sometimes, as we all know. But it's done, and edited, and posted! :D Woohoo!

Thank you so much Druid Archer, Dark Alana, Gwilwillith, alien.94, brandibuckeye, bored-now0809 and Lady of Sign for reviewing! There is no better encouragement! (:

As always, thanks to my wonderful BETA princesspomegranate xx

Enjoy! Remember to leave a comment at the end! ^^

. : Chapter 7: Day One : .

The weather matched the mood of the group exactly. It was miserable. The clouds were black with the threat of a storm and I could've sworn that the wind had ice in it.

It was quiet too, only the rustle of the grass and snorts and sighs of the horses could be heard. The Roman's spoke to each other in hushed voices that were instantly carried away on the wind. Not that I was particularly interested in what they were saying anyway.

No one had suspected me. Or if anyone had, they hadn't said anything. Yet.

But I was so tense I flinched at every human-made noise.

Dag rode beside me like a looming body guard, his keen eyes gauging all the other boys and soldiers. My pride wanted to tell him to stop it, that I was fine and could take care of myself. But my sense knew otherwise. My boy-voice wasn't something I had been able to perfect, so a lot of talking was out of the question, and probably always would be. I needed Dag now more than ever, whether my pride liked it or not.

There were about thirty other boys, all of varying age. Some looked older than Dag, some looked younger than me. I was glad now that Uncle and Papa had made Keal stay inside.

I hadn't expected them to look like this. Some of them would have been lucky to be nine summers! They looked scared and hollow. And not all had horses, some were doubling; the rest, walking.

I felt my temper building and clenched my reins until my knuckles were as white as snow. There shouldn't be children that young here!

"Calm down," Dag ordered me softly, he spoke without moving his lips.

Where the hell had he learned to do that? And, more importantly, why hadn't he taught me?

I glared at him and hissed under my breath, "Someone should gut them in their sleep."

My brother gave me a deadly look, "Behave, or you'll be killed before we leave our homeland."

I continued to fume, but held my tongue, knowing that causing trouble this early would not bode well at all. Damn Dag and his damn sense.

The other boys didn't seem to talk, though I guessed they did in hushed whispers. They watched Dag and I, but didn't approach. It was going to be long fifteen years if this was going to be normal.

oOo

We travelled until dusk, and then the Romans had us set up camp. I was half tempted to point out that the moon was full, so we would have been able to travel easily at night. But one look at the other boys, especially the ones on foot, had me holding my tongue again. They were exhausted, they needed rest.

"They probably didn't have the same upbringing as we did," Dag told me softly as we unsaddled Tama and Belenus. I hadn't said anything, but he'd still known.

"Well… why not?" I asked impatiently.

We were far enough away from the others that I doubted they'd pick up my voice as being feminine, but I kept it as low and rough as I could anyway.

Dag shrugged as he set his saddle down, "Maybe their fathers wished to spare them for as long as possible."

I levelled him with a steady gaze, "Our father's wished us to live."

"They also put us through hell," he joked lightly, then grew serious again. "But yes, they do."

I looked around at the camp, my eyes landing on a young dark headed boy- mayhap eight summers old. He was sitting on the ground next to a fire, his knees pulled up to his chest. Even from here I could see the tears in his eyes.

"They are hardly older then Keal," I murmured.

Two blonde headed boys, so obviously brothers, hovered close to the youngest one. The eldest was probably my age, a bit older maybe, the younger nine or ten.

"Uncle was right to make him hide."

"I know," Dag said, laying a hand on my shoulder. "None of them should be here. Neither should you."

I snorted, "You know I am meant for this. Even Caelan stopped denying it."

I paused, "We won't forget them, will we?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No, you won't forget, Mali."

"Rogue," I corrected, and grinned wolfishly.

"Suits me, doesn't it?"

"I'm ashamed to say that yes, it does," he attempted to ruffle my hair, but I leapt back, scowling at him. "But you will always be little warrior to me."

I poked my tongue out at him, "I'm supposed to be scary, remember?"

"You won't have to work hard at that. Remun still has nightmares about you beating him up," Dag shook his head. "I can't believe you almost broke his arm."

"Well, he shouldn't have been talking about Caelan like that, should he? Stupid git."

"I wonder if anyone will be game to marry your sisters."

I snorted again, "No more game than they will be to marry yours. You look like you could snap necks, and you haven't finished growing yet!"

Pink tinged his cheeks and I smirked. Dag really wasn't meant to be a man of war. He might've had the stature of three men, but it didn't match his personality. Perhaps it was like finding a warrior in a girl.

"Don't be bashful," I whispered as we made our way towards the growing fires.

I didn't know what to do, I felt awkward and hyper aware, so I merely let my brother lead the way. Dag ignored me and approached the fire with the young fair and dark headed boys and their older, blonde guardian.

I steeled myself and took a breath. Dag, it seemed, was going to start making friends already. Brilliant. I could've gone off on my own, but all the other boys were in small groups close together, and I didn't want to look anymore out of place than I probably already did.

Then again…I looked around at all the other faces. I probably didn't look out of place at all.

"Hello," Dag greeted the three, but I only half paid attention. My eyes had found a boy I'd missed before.

I couldn't quite tell how old he was, with his dark hair hanging across his face- like mine did. He wasn't alone, but he wasn't with anyone either. He was hanging close to two others. One was huge, taller and broader than even Dag, and probably as old or older. The other was a few years younger, with bright hazel eyes and short, shaggy dark brown hair.

The first boy, with the hair hiding his face, was scanning the rest of the group. Watchful; seeing things that the rest of us missed.

I ducked my head before his eyes could get to us. I would have to be wary of him. Papa had warned me about the boys that would become the scouts. Scouts saw things nobody else did.

"I'm Gawain," the oldest blonde said, his blue eyes assessing Dag and myself carefully.

He had positioned himself slightly in front of the other two, protective without being overbearing.

"This is my little brother Gareth, and our cousin, Galahad."

I raised an eyebrow. Three G's, and all related. Parents could be amusing things.

"How old are you?" Dag inquired.

He smiled reassuringly at the frightened youngsters, and I knew then that he was going to brother as many of the younger boys as he could. He was such a softy.

He'd probably end up with all the dogs in the post to.

I rolled my eyes.

Gawain scowled, but not at us, "I'm thirteen. They're nine and seven."

"Seven?" I tilted my head at Galahad.

He was undoubtedly the youngest of us all. Too young. My eyes flicked to the Roman's fire, and narrowed.

The look Gawain gave me was calculating, but he nodded curtly, "He's the only boy out of six. They're not supposed to take any younger than ten, Pa said. He was spittin'. You?"

"Sixteen," Dag said simply, then with one hand gestured to me. "Eleven. Where are you from?"

"South. We're Alans. Been travelling for… two weeks now, I think."

"It should only be another two before we reach the coast," Dag said. "Where did your fathers serve?"

"Britain, yours?"

"The same."

What is it with boys and short answers? Or is it that women just talk too much? Men seemed to be able to exchange ten words and have completed a whole conversation.

I just wouldn't talk at all. That would be easier.

"We'll probably serve together, then," Gawain said, he looked at me again. "Did you say your name was Rogue?"

I avoided pointing out that I didn't say so, but nodded anyway.

Dag swooped in to save me and clapped a hand on my shoulder, "Trust me, it suits him."

The three boys stared at me, young Galahad now looking a bit more frightened then before.

"Really?" Gareth piped up, curiously. "Why?"

I chewed on my lip, unsure. Obviously, not talking for the next fifteen plus years wasn't going to be an option, so, I'd have to find some way of appeasing them and not giving myself away.

"Piss him off, and you'll find out," Dag chuckled.

I think he was relieved to be talking about something he was familiar with again.

If it was at all possible, Galahad got paler.

I glared at my brother, and said in as rough a voice as possible. "Stop helping."

oOo

The night was cold, but luckily there wasn't much wind, otherwise I doubted we'd have been spaced apart so much.

Dag and I had stuck with the trio, Dag having earned Gawain's trust when he had helped with sores on young Galahad's feet. And I just seemed to have been accepted.

"That's Tristan," Gawain said to me when he caught me eyeing the wild looking boy whilst he wasn't looking. "He's Aorsi. Scary bastard."

I nearly groaned. The Aorsi were said to be the best scouts, something to do with living in the sparse forests of the west that backed onto the mountains, and being taught to track their food through the wilderness since birth.

Papa said their scout had been Aorsi, and I was betting now that Tristan was the old scout's son, and would've been trained by his father.

"He doesn't talk to anyone but Kay and Agravaine, the two with him, and his horse. He glares at the Romans and does most of the hunting," Gawain continued, raising an eyebrow at me. "Sounding like you."

I looked away from Tristan's fire and back to ours, shrugging. Dag was entertaining Gareth and Galahad, telling them some ridiculous story that Uncle had once told us.

"Why don't you talk?" Gawain pushed.

He was sitting beside me, keeping me a little ways from his young charges.

"Easier." I murmured, the lower I spoke, the better it worked I'd found. "I won't hurt them, you know."

The blonde boy's cheeks coloured a bit, but he coughed to cover it up, "I'm all they've got, now."

They're all I've got. Was the unspoken additive. He didn't have to say it, I knew the feeling.

I shook my head, and gestured across to the fire to Dag. He was well into the story now, waving his arms around to emphasise whatever part he was up to. He looked a lot like Uncle Darian then, though I know he will never be as playful.

"Got Dag."

"He's a healer too?" Gawain enquired, watching them too, like an attentive parent instead of a brother.

It seemed odd to look at the boys now, and think that soon we will be all each other has. It won't be one or two, it'll be all of us. Yet, I didn't know any of their names or what they were like.

"Yes. A good one. Been training since he was little."

He nodded, "You?"

"Only battle," I muttered, flicking the end of a stick into the centre of the fire. "Since I was six. You been trained?"

"Got three years. Gareth and Galahad know a bit, but not much. Not enough to survive," he added it bitterly. "Pa says the Roman's train us, but they do a shit job."

I nodded. That didn't surprise me.

"What about the rest of them?"

Gawain shrugged, looking around at the other fires. "Some of them, I think. Don't know how much or in what. We're keeping pretty much to ourselves at the moment."

I nodded, suddenly more unsure of our futures then I had been before.

oOo

We were riding again not long after dawn. I learnt from Gawain that we had to be ready to leave before the Romans; and that we had to wait for them to decide they were ready.

I wasn't in a good mood, but kept it under wraps. Dag's reoccurring glances reminding me to bite my tongue.

Our new friends, as it seemed they were to be, rode with us. Or us with them. I didn't know, and I was in too sour a mood to give a damn which it was. Gareth rode behind Dag, as Galahad had promptly refused to be parted from his older cousin. It only made me crankier every time I looked at the frightened little boy.

I wondered vaguely if this was the sort of feeling I would get in battle. My fingers itching to curl around the smooth hilt of my sword, body tense for the first attack… No, that was wrong. I shouldn't be tense, I should be alert but relaxed. The lessons flooded to me all at once and my mood lightened as I gave myself something other to do then stew silently.

The movements, like steps to a dance, had to flow naturally, like water in a stream. The weapon was not a separate object, but a part of myself. The opponent, never to be underestimated, for appearances were deceiving. As I should know all too well.

"You look better," Dag commented to me. "I thought you were going to slit someone's throat."

I glared at him through dark locks as the younger two hid their faces, "The only throats I'll be slitting are Romans' and yours, if you don't shut up."

He looked confused and Gawain actually grinned, though he was quick to correct it. "What'd I do?"

I inclined my head to the boys, "You're scaring them. They think I'm going to get them."

Dag looked over his shoulder at Gareth and made an 'o' shape with his mouth. But any reply he might've had was cut off by a new voice.

"I wouldn't be talking about slitting any throats if I was you."

The five of us stared at the boy who had ridden up to come level with me, apparently without me noticing. He was huge, at least another hands width broader across the shoulders then Dag. It was difficult to tell how much taller he was, given that he was sitting on a big bay stallion, but I suspected him to be taller than my brother also. With brown hair cut close to his head and bright intelligent green eyes, I remembered Gawain had called him Kay.

I raised an eyebrow, trying not to feel intimidated by this towering wall that dwarfed us all, and stayed quiet. You could probably loose little Galahad in his shadow…

I looked at Dag instead. Arching both eyebrows in a clear message that I wasn't going to talk to this Goliath, and he was his problem.

I thought about pulling Tama in between Dag and Gawain for extra protection, but decided against appearing like a coward. But, the guy was huge… if he even sat on me, I'd be finding out if we really did come back as horses a whole lot sooner.

Dag rolled his eyes at me and looked back at the looming giant, who hadn't left, and explained, "No one's going to be slitting anything. Rogue's just in a pissy mood."

Kay raised a lone eyebrow, "Rogue?"

I nearly groaned, realising this was going to be the reaction I got. I nodded anyway, even raised a hand in a half-hearted greeting.

Internally I berated myself for behaving like an idiot. Rogue wasn't supposed to be scared of anyone, even if anyone was six plus feet tall. Dag was tall, and he was about as scary as Galahad.

"Interesting name," Kay commented offhandedly. "I'm Kay."

I nodded again, tempted to tell him I already knew who he was, courtesy of the blonde chatterbox.

"Dagonet," Dag supplied. "How long have you been here?"

Oh, gods, not this conversation again.

"Nearing three weeks. My friend and I are Arosi. I'd advise you not to piss off the Romans just yet," he shot me a grin.

"Leave it until we reach our posts. It's harder for them to tell who did it then."

Dag chuckled, "Don't encourage him. I'm supposed to be making sure he lives through his service."

I scowled at him, "I'm not going to get myself killed."

"Just flogged," he said, looking at me imploringly.

I continued to scowl, "I'll shoot you again."

"Shoot him?" Gawain echoed disbelievingly. "I thought you were cousins!"

"We are," Dag muttered. "It was an accident, the first time."

"Hey! There's only been a first time, so far. And who was trying to shoot me a couple of weeks ago?" I bit my tongue, smacking myself mentally for talking so much.

Dag just grinned in triumph, "Glad you've stopped sulking."

"I don't sulk," I mumbled, contemplating if I could kick him without accidentally kicking Gareth to.

"Stop scheming."

I gave him an innocent look, "Don't know what you're talking about."

Maybe if I grabbed the kid and then pushed him off his horse…

He snorted, and then said to the others, "When he gets that look, it usually means trouble for someone."

"Yeah, you," I grinned cheekily. "Count your lucky stars Gareth is riding with you and I don't like hurting anyone under ten."

"I imagined you nearly biting my finger off when I was nine then did I?" he asked dryly, and the others snickered.

"I was four. What morals do four year olds have? Besides, taught you not to tease me, didn't it?"

Kay gave a deep, rumbling laugh, "You're going to be trouble, aren't you? You and Bors will probably get along well."

I blinked, "Who?"

oOo

As it turned out, Bors and I would not get along well.

He turned out to be a burly fifteen year old, and, I'm deeply ashamed to say, a Roxolani. He had a vicious temper, a lewd sense of humour, and a pain in the arse personality in general. He could fight apparently. And, as I suspected, was only one of the few of us who could. He specialised mainly in hand-to-hand, throwing his weight around and talking his opponent to death.

At the same time he managed to strike both the overwhelming urge to impale him on something sharp, and the need to run very quickly in the opposite direction.

"You can't be serious!" I hissed in a low tone to Dag and Gawain as the pair literally dragged me towards the fire.

There was only one tonight, well, only one of ours. Apparently it was high time we all got to know each other in the older boys' opinions.

Dag had tried to get me to come willingly, and I gotten so far, but then I'd observed the carry on for a moment and turned tail. So, my traitorous brother had gone and fetched Gawain, and now they were both going to be killed in their sleep.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Calm down, you have to get to know them some time. You can't avoid them for the next fifteen years," Gawain tried to reason, then added in a teasing voice. "We won't let them eat you."

I gave him a withering glare which he boldly took and even ignored.

"Everything will be fine," Dag promised me.

The pair set me back on my feet but kept a hold of each of my arms once we came into the light. I'd run back to the horses and tried hiding. Obviously, they have better night vision then I'd given them credit for. They led me to their places in the circle and sat me down between them. Least I try and escape again.

How was I supposed to keep my secret if I had to be with them all the time!

"Caught 'im, eh?" the base of my panic, Bors, asked in a tone I was afraid was normal.

Like he was afraid the Gods wouldn't hear him.

"He only went to the horses," Dag assured them, silently saying that I wasn't, and would never, desert.

There were exactly thirty-six boys, not including me, and we still had one village to go before we were taken to the coast, where we would be split up and boated to either Rome or Britain, if Gawain- our never ending source of information- was to be believed.

"Not the social type, eh?" another asked in a much quieter tone than Bors.

I wasn't sure what his name was. Gawain and Kay had rattled off a few more names, but had neglected to point out which name belonged to which boy.

The one who spoke was older than me, but I wasn't sure if he would have been as old as Dag. He had long dark brown hair, pulled back in a tie, and matching dark brown eyes.

"You ain't got no enemies here, kid," he assured me with a friendly smile.

I snuck a glance at the watchful one, Tristan, where he sat sharpening a knife. Maybe not enemies, so much as threats.

Dag clapped me on the shoulder reassuringly. I knew what he was saying, and I knew it made sense. We had to make friends with these boys. I had to trust them with my life. There was no room for squabbles. We were together now, for the next however many years, and there wasn't a thing we could do about it.

Couldn't blame me for being cautious though. I had so much more to lose then they did.

A/N: Well, there we go. This one did take me a while to write. Found it a bit tricky actually. The next is proving to be the same-when I'm finding the time to give it, which is proving even harder.

I will be away for four days again, from tomorrow night. More work. Which is good, 'cause I need the money (don't we all? Lol) But it does prove inconvenient as it eats up so much of my time.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a comment before you go! I love hearing what you thought!

Lots 'a love,

~Meg xx