Disclaimer: I don't own the story or movie of King Arthur. I do lay claim to Kaleigh and any other original characters inserted into this story. Any similarities with this story and any other are purely coincidence.

Author's Note: Sorry that this update has taken so long. I'm not even going to try to explain the many reasons why it's taken me so long to post. I'm just gonna say enjoy!

Chapter 14: The Trail and Reflections

The sound of gently falling rain was all that could be heard. It struck the trees, gathering and pooling high in the leaves. This sent periodic drenches down to the ground as the foliage collapsed under the weight of the water. A hooded figure emerged through the foliage atop a great black horse, both looking very bedraggled. The horses mane had clumped together and clung to everything it touched, including the rain slicked reins.

Kaleigh grumbled and with the hand not holding the reins pulled her cloak tighter around her as several more water droplets found their way to her already drenched skin. She couldn't feel her nose anymore from the cold, but she was fairly sure it was running as she sniffled miserably yet again. Not 15 minutes after finding Tristan's trail the rain had started and it was stilling going after nearly an hour. She had been soaked through before she could put on her cloak and wore it now only to keep out the frigid wind.

Kaleigh's eyes were kept strictly ahead of her, following the broken twigs that were now the only sign of Tristan's presence, Thagimasad's hoof prints long ago washed away in the rain.. Her hood slid to cover her face and she dejectedly pushed it back slightly. She had tried riding with it shielding her face but it had obscured to much of her vision. So now she rode along, blinking rapidly to keep the drops out of her eyes that fell from both the sky and her long lashes. The pieces of hair that had previously framed her face now clung to it in the streams of water that trickled down her face, undoubtedly mixing with her snot.

"Lovely." she growled. She pictured herself and despite the fact that she had never considered herself a vain person, she was relieved that there was no one there to see her in such a state.

As suddenly as the rain had started, it stopped. Kaleigh brushed back her hood and shrugged out of her cloak. She laughed as Valdeer gave a great shake, rocking her in the saddle and sending a spray of water up into her face. "Well thank you so much for that." she said with a grumble as she wiped her face dry. Yet the pat she gave Valdeer before she draped her cloak over his neck was one of extreme affection. The stallion had been her constant companion for three years and was perhaps the friend she valued the most, for he never complained or failed her in a time of need. She shook her head, clearing the water from her hair in a movement that resembled Valdeer's greatly. The stallion snorted and tossed his head making her chuckle again. The sounds of the forest quickly reached Kaleigh's ears, calming and soothing, as water continued to drip down periodically from the branches.

Moments later the sounds of the forest ceased almost instantly again and Kaleigh halted Valdeer at the sound of distant talking. She slipped silently from the saddle, gripping her sword tightly, and with a quiet command to stand, left the stallion. As she slid slowly through the brush the voices got louder and louder, until, peeking through a bush, she saw the end of a line of Saxons making their way south. Her teeth clenched together at the sight of the shaggy, dirty men. Her sword hand gripped her sword's hilt so tightly her knuckles turned white. Images from her nightmare came back to her, fueling her anger. She watched as the Saxon foot soldiers trudged on, several laughing and shoving at each other. Their laughing infuriated her as she remembered the similar laugh that frequently haunted her dreams, taunting and cold. She wanted nothing more than to leap through the bush and swipe them from the face of the earth. But more importantly she wanted to make them suffer. To die slowly, painfully, knowing that they were helpless. It was these thoughts that finally forced Kaleigh to push aside her anger. That she was capable of carrying out those thoughts scared her and she rocked back slightly, as if to put distance between herself and them. She scanned the line and saw that it continued on for some time. In order to see better she silently pulled herself up into a tree, climbing the branches higher and higher, grateful the trees grew so close together as she made her way from tree to tree, until she was at last able to see the head of the column. She guessed that there were around two hundred, which was way to small a number. The rest of the army must still be north, moving slowly, and this was the group sent to cut off their escape. The Woads had told her the truth. She climbed higher, until she could see the mountains in the distance to the east. It was their only chance.

Kaleigh climbed silently back down from the tree she was in and backtracked until she was back to Valdeer. The stallion whuffed slightly to her as she climbed back into the saddle. She hushed him with a soft word and urged him forward, continuing to follow Tristan's trail. She urged Valdeer on faster than before. She needed to find Tristan. There would be Saxon scout's throughout this area and the fact that she had only seen Tristan's trail leading farther south made her worry. She pulled Valdeer to a halt less than a minute later, the stallion's hooves sliding slightly in the mud as she saw jumbled hoof prints in the mud in front of her. A set of faint boot prints led away from the hooves and a deeper pair led back, the second obviously made after the rain. The foot prints lead toward where the Saxons made their slow trek south. The boot marks were fresh. She guessed that Tristan had stopped here sometime toward the end of the rain and made his way to observe the Saxons. He must have watched for a while because she could see by the marks on low branches, caused by Thagimasad's reins when Tristan had tied them, and the amount of scuffled hoof prints, the grey stallion had stood here for a while. When Tristan had remounted he had turned Thagimasad sharply, heading in a direction almost perpendicular to the one they had been taking, meaning he was returning to the villa. She turned Valdeer and urged him on after Tristan at a trot, which was as fast as she dared go, for fear of Valdeer tripping or her loosing the trail. Tristan had obviously been in far more of a hurry and Thagimasad's stride was elongated to that of a ground covering canter. Before long she reached the edge of an old, well-worn trail. She could see that Tristan had turned onto it and his chargers stride had lengthened into a gallop. She knew her horse was faster than his, so if she kept him to a hard gallop she would surely catch up to the scout quickly. She crouched low over Valdeer's neck and that was all the encouragement he needed as he leaped forward into a gallop. The wind whipped at her hair and dress, drying both. She almost laughed for the sheer joy of the feeling of her powerful stallion and her moving as one, effortlessly down the trail.

Tristan's trial was easy enough to follow, allowing her to keep one eye on the ground in front of her and another on the forest. To her surprise, several miles later, Tristan's tracks suddenly veered off to the right into the foliage. She sat back and Valdeer gathered his rump beneath himself, nearly sitting down as he slid to a halt. Her head snapped to the forest as her eyes searched for a reason why he would have gone off the trail. The tracks were so fresh she knew she must be behind him by seconds, so why had he gone off the trail. She could see or hear nothing beyond the still woods and Valdeers steady breathing. Valdeer began to prance beneath her, fighting for her to release his reins so he could turn around. She allowed him and his ears pricked in the direction they had just come. She tried to calm him with her voice and hands and when he stood still for a moment she could barely hear what he heard.

A horse was approaching. Straining, she could hear the soft cadence as it walked forward. The unseen horse snorted and Kaleigh jerked on her reins to keep Valdeer quiet and he finally obeyed, standing docile. She drew her bow and notching an arrow urged Valdeer off the trail with her knees, grateful, not for the first time, for the hours she had spent training him as he obeyed her. She watched where her horses ears pointed, knowing he could sense the other far better than she could. Thoughts of Saxon scouts being in the area set her on edge and she had to force her arms to stay steady as her anxiety built. Around the bend in the trail a rider suddenly appeared, bow drawn as well. She couldn't see him but he was obviously hostile so she released the arrow. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she recognized the grey charger. She cried out in shock and then relief when the figure managed to duck from her well aimed arrow. She quickly put her bow away and nudged Valdeer forward into the open. She held up her hands in obvious apology. Tristan had put away his bow immediately upon seeing her and now was riding stony faced towards her.

She bit her bottom lip, embarrassed, as he stopped next to her right side. "Tristan, I don't know what to say." she paused, at a loss for words, "I'm sorry I almost shot you."

"At least I know you can aim."

Kaleigh's mouth fell open in disbelief when she saw the small, brief smirk on his lips, "You just joked? You thought that was funny? I almost shot you!"

He shrugged, "But you didn't." His horse stepped sideways towards her and Tristan's leg bumped her own injured one. She grimaced and involuntarily reached out a hand to lay on her injury. He looked at her closely, "Your leg?"

Now she smirked, "Feels like someone took a sword to it. But I'll live."

He nodded and urged Thagimasad on down the trail.

Kaleigh remembered something and called after him, "Tristan?"

He stopped and waited as she turned Valdeer and came up next to him.

"Thank you for helping me back at the estate. You've saved my life twice, and I am indebted to you."

"You're welcome." he moved forward several steps before stopping and turning to look at her, "Why are you out here?"

"Arthur sent you off for stabbing a man, why shouldn't he send me off as well for killing one." she replied with a shrug.

Satisfied with her answer, Tristan moved off at a gallop and she followed closely behind. He thought back on the fight. He could vaguely remember seeing a dead Roman on the ground, but he had thought that had been someone else's doing. It never occurred to him that it had been her. She seemed to-. No, he realized he could see her killing someone. He had had a moment to observe her fighting and he had seen what she was capable of, even though it didn't look like she was thinking to hard. She had fought effortlessly, like it was her second nature. He thought back on the night previous when he had heard her telling her brother that she could defend herself. Though he had seen the calluses on her fingers, the mark of an archer, and seen firsthand how muscular and fit her body was, it still hadn't occurred to him that she was that good at it.

She confused him, though he'd never admit it. Most women he knew, that he remembered, had been frilly or delicate Romans. And the Britons were hardy and talked constantly, when they weren't trying to seduce some knight or other to their bed. He couldn't remember Sarmatia that clearly, it had been so long since he had been home that he couldn't remember what were memories and what were dreams. But he did remember that several of the girls in the village had been trained beside him while his father taught him the sword. He almost smiled, remembering his younger cousin and how she had always tried to mimic his every move. He imagined she would have turned out much like Kaleigh. But despite all that, there was something about Kaleigh different from every other woman. Like, despite the fact that wearing pants and such a tight, revealing tunic was considered completely unorthodox and had branded many women as charlatans or witches, she didn't seem to care.

He had to admit that she looked good in her tight pants, her body glistening with sweat, breath labored as she fought. Any other woman her age, even those who claimed to be boyish had always frowned upon such exertion in his experience. But she had enjoyed taking and giving punches without complaint. Even with that cut in her leg she didn't complain, and he knew from experience how much something like that could hurt. She had handled the pain well, even Galahad did not handle some of his injuries that well.

And now, here she was, galloping along behind him in a fancy dress and her hair and face done up like some of the tavern wenches. But on her the look was different, it added to her appearance yes, but at the same time made what she was capable of all the more impressive. Both sides fit her, the pants and the dress, but she was still deadly either way.

Who was she? One minute she was grave, the next acting like a young girl as she talked to the knights. Her changing personalities were irksome and if he hadn't heard for himself her intelligence he might have thought her crazy in the head. Instead, he was beginning to wonder if perhaps she was just hiding her true feelings behind a mask. 'If that was the case though, which one was the real her?' he wondered as he bent automatically as Thagimasad leapt over a log in the trail.

Tristan rode along, absorbed in his thoughts, though he kept one eye out for a sign of danger of any kind. His horse seemed to sense the urgency with which he needed to talk to Arthur and lengthened his stride more, a lather beginning to break out on his sweat slicked neck. The sound of the wind and the two horses hoof falls were all that Tristan heard as they raced their way down the wooded trail. When he broke from the trees the Roman Villa spread out before him, a large caravan of people loading and packing goods. An unease settled in his stomach instantly which was only interrupted when the sound of Kaleigh's horse stopped behind him. He slowed Thag enough to spin him around and cantered back to where she sat at the tree line, waiting for her to explain.

Meanwhile:

"Arthur sent you off for stabbing a man, why shouldn't he send me off as well for killing one." Kaleigh replied with a shrug.

She watched him turn and gallop off down the trail. Laying her heels to the sleek black sides Valdeer sprang forward eagerly, still fresh and anxious to go faster. She settled the stallion behind Tristan and held him at the steady pace.

Part of her could not believe that she had just spoken so nonchalantly about killing the Roman. Is this what she had come to? Not more than three years ago if someone had told her that she would speak thusly she would have laughed in their faces. She felt remorse and disappointment flooding her, glad that her mother was not alive to see the beast that her baby girl had turned into. Her mother would have been crushed to hear her, to see her, and to know that she had become a heartless killer.

She frowned at her thoughts. 'Heartless killer' was perhaps a little extreme, but that didn't mean she wasn't still disgusted with herself. Or with her moodiness. She was going to have to make some major changes and a whole hell of a lot more effort unless she wanted to tell them all that had transpired the last three years back home before it was time.

Kaleigh's thoughts made her sulky and with a slight physical shake of the head she brushed them away. Times like these were times for upbeat thoughts, that was the way to keep the spirit up. Except, upbeat hadn't been her thing for a while. It use to be, but now-- Well, she was making an effort right?

'Hmmm, upbeat, upbeat. What can I think about that's upbeat?' Tristan bent over in front of her as Thagimasad took a slight leap over a small log in the trail. 'Tristan has a great ass.' she stared dreamily before her eyes widened, 'WHOA!' her body tensed and Valdeers' stride hitched, forcing Kaleigh to relax so she didn't interfere with his movement, 'Where? What? Ok, think of another upbeat topic.'

'Like what?' asked the snide side of her brain.

'Anything!'

'Well, how about the possible upcoming battle?' it offered.

'Yes!' she grasped onto the idea, 'Think about all the fighting! Think about battle strategies. I have seen the knights fight now, how will I best compliment them if we must all fight.' She began to run a mental checklist of all the different knights and their fighting styles, purposely avoiding thinking of Tristan's. But, unbidden, the image of him effortlessly fighting and then the sensation of how she had felt wrapped up in his arms as he carried her edged into her mind. She relaxed into the remembered sensation, her focus straying. A bird shot out of the brush next to her and she squawked as she snapped her thoughts back to the presence, giving herself a mental head slap, 'Bad brain.' she scolded, trying to think of something that was completely foreign from the distracting knight in front of her and the feelings that were evoked as the unbidden images of him half naked and soaking wet earlier now came to mind. The harder she tried not to think of Tristan the more she did!

The snarl of a big cat erupted far in the distance and Kaleigh latched onto the thought, 'Yes! Animals are good things! I have to think about what I'm going to do about the rest of my herd. Where the hell am I going to keep 11 horses. Myla and Sarafin will be foaling within two months to boot! I can't expect the poor girls to keep on the move forever! Not to mention I've got Afsati I have to deal with now. So many things to think about now! Why do I always take in everything? I have to learn to say no.'

A hawk sounded up above, 'A hawk? Tristan has a hawk. It is Tristan's hawk. Damn bird!' she forced her mind from that subject as well, thinking instead on her situation with the Romans. Now, not only did the 'holy' man Germanius want her dead, the majority of the Romans she was helping escort now did as well.

'Well, gee, aren't you just popular lately?' the snide voice asked. 'At least if any of them trying anything you know you're brother will defend you.'

But that thought worried Kaleigh as well, because if any of the knights did anything to jeopardize their freedom for her, she would never forgive herself. She didn't want to think on the thought, but there was this pestering 'tapping' going on in her mind, reminding and annoying and adding to her worry.

But still there was more that had her worried. Like, as much as she was trying to avoid the topic, Tristan. The scout had saved her life twice now and yet she knew

that he did not trust her. Heck, she probably wouldn't trust her if she was him. She knew she would have to earn it from him but the man was so damn unemotional it was infuriating. 'Unless I shoot an arrow at him.' she reminded herself.

They broke from the cover of the trees and Kaleigh saw the Roman estate spread out before them once again. As she sat back Valdeer gathered his hunches beneath him and sat down into a stop, tossing his head impatiently. Tristan must have noticed she had stopped for he slowed and turned back to her.

"I promised Arthur I wouldn't come back until it was time to leave. I might cause more trouble if I do." Tristan didn't respond to her explanation, only turned back towards the estate. Kaleigh saw that he was about to take off and yelled out to him, "Tristan." He paused and glanced back at her, "If the Saxons are flanking us, which way will we go? East through the mountains?"

Now Tristan turned completely to face her, "How do you know about the passage east?"

She couldn't think of a believable explanation besides the Woads, and she was fairly sure that wasn't the explanation she should use if she wanted to earn their trust. "Are we, or aren't we."

Tristan's eyes seemed to pierce through her, trying to get a read on her. She could see the thinking going on behind his eyes. Curiosity was there, but also suspicion. The intensity of his gaze had her fighting to keep her gaze leveled to his and to keep her body from fidgeting nervously. She finally broke his gaze and stared off into the forest pretending to find the veins of the leaves on the trees absolutely fascinating.

She didn't look as she heard his horses hoof beats fade away. She sat there, mentally berating herself for not being able to hold his gaze. 'He's just a man. No reason to get nervous.' she scolded as her head sagged forward slightly to shake in disbelief.

'But his gaze makes you feel like he's looking into your soul. Let him look long enough and he'll see all the secrets you're trying so hard to hide right now.' another part reasoned.

"Stop getting so worked up." she muttered to herself, "It doesn't matter what his gaze is like, he can't read you any better than you can read him."

'Except for the fact he know you're nervous around him.'

"And I'm not nervous around him. In fact, I'm completely calm around him." 'Yeah right.'

"Oh, just, shut up!"

"You know, talking to yourself is a sign of mental illness."

Kaleigh glared as Palomides emerged on her left, "And did you know that sneaking up on a crazy person is a sure sign of stupidity."

As her hand tapped the hilt of her sword he laughed and held up his hands, "Point taken."

She looked at him suspiciously, "Didn't I tell you to go back to villa?" He nodded. "Then you're still out here because-?"

"I decided to wait for you. I had no reason to believe Arthur would believe me, and I knew Marius and his men would do everything they could to discredit me."

She sighed and looked to the estate. Tristan and Arthur were talking. Movement caught her eye and she shifted her gaze to the form of two mercenaries overseeing two men dressed in brown robes. They were covering up a opening in the estate wall, sealing it with stones.

"Look." she nodded in the direction of the four men. Palomides' gaze narrowed.

'Why would they take time to do that?' she mused, 'Unless-!'

"My God." Palomides whispered as he realized the implications of the sight at the same time as her.

Author's Note: Well, how was it? I have the next couple of chapters already written, but I don't know when I'll find time to load them on to fanfic. Soon though. As always, hope you enjoyed it and don't be shy about reviewing! PLEASE!