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Disclaimer: I own nothing save characters not appearing in King Arthur. This story is not meant to insult, impugn the dignity of, or otherwise cause difficulty for the reader. Flames will be used to heat my house, constructive comments will be welcomed and used to improve the story.
Author's Note: Thank you so much. And thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I am so sorry that it took me so long to update. Between work, life, my daughter, and everything else, I've been swamped. However, I promise to try harder not to leave my work so long.
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Anywhere's Better Than Cleveland
Chapter Twelve: Lash
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"Faith, you don't have to do this."
Faith looked up from fastening the shift that she would be wearing for the flogging. It was simple homespun cloth that would shred with difficulty. Though if the Romans used a whip with metal barbs at the end like she'd seen in that museum with Giles, all bets were off. "Um, Van, kinda do."
Vanora shook her head, arms hugging her own torso. "Plead your belly. Do what you must. We can appeal to Arthur when he returns."
Faith chuckled darkly, pulling on her cloak over the shift. Never before had anyone worked so hard to keep the slayer from paying for her actions. "Van, this won't be the first time I've ever taken a beating. At least this time it's for a reason that I can stomach."
Vanora stepped into the small room she'd given Faith. She cast her dark eyes around the space that her dark-haired friend occupied. There was not much to show that Faith even called this cell home. There was a small bundle of wildflowers on the sill of the window that Eight had given to Faith. The clothes that Vanora had gifted lay neatly folded on the small bureau. Other than that, however, Faith might never have lived in this room. "I am to blame."
Faith stilled, dark eyes searching. "Van, look at me. You are not to blame for any of this. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And as for the two guys I took care of? I'd do it again." She pulled the redhead into a hug. Pulling away, she offered a crooked smile. "Come on, I think I hear that Maxentius guy at the door."
Vanora offered a puzzled frown and started to shake her head. A quick bang of fist hitting wood stopped her. "How--?" she began.
Faith grinned. "Mad skills, sista. Mad skills. Come on."
The two women walked arm in arm through the tavern to the door and unlatched it. Maxentius Vorenus stood on the doorstep, watching Faith. "Vanora, there is no need for you to come watch. I will return her here when the flogging is complete."
Vanora shook her head stubbornly. "Sir, she did nothing wrong."
Maxentius Vorenus watched Faith's closed expression and turned to Vanora. "Lady, I understand. And if it were within my power, I would spare her. But the two men she assaulted have already gone to the fort's commander. We have no choice save in how harsh the punishment should be. I have already said ten lashes. It stands. Now, Faith?"
Faith Lehane stepped forward, offering a tiny smile. "Ya know, for a Roman, you ain't half bad."
A rueful smile was his answer as he led her from the tavern to the yard beyond. A post stood near the center of the yard, a ring attached to a spike driven deep into the wood.
"I will let you decide, lady, if you will be tied to that ring." He nodded to the ring, watching with curiosity as Faith's dark eyes inspected the wood.
Faith shot him a surprised look. "I can hold onto it."
Maxentius nodded and walked with her to the post, watching with guarded eyes as the slayer slipped her fingers around the ring above her head and waited, shoulders relaxed in preparation of the flogging.
Even though the sun was barely peeking over the fortress walls, a small crowd had assembled. At the fore, the two battered men who had demanded justice. However, the mood of the crowd was oddly funereal. Ordinarily there was laughing and jeering as the guilty awaited punishment. Perhaps it was the early hour. Perhaps it the fact that many of these men watching would be riding out the fortress gates to near certain death. Or perhaps it was because their commander would be doling out this punishment.
Maxentius took the whip from his second in command and weighed the grip in his palm. A quick glance at his second told him that the young Gascon would willingly take this responsibility from his commander. Not because Gaius was a particularly bloodthirsty soldier but because the blonde warrior knew his commander not to be.
The first crack of the whip through the air silenced any conversations. The steel-tipped leather snaked out, tracing a thin bloody trail over Faith's back as it cut through the shift. Her hands clenched around the ring above her head and the slayer let out a soft whoosh of air.
Maxentius drew back the whip, again slinging the vicious braid of leather across the ten paces to the pole and lancing a fresh line across her back.
The scene was made even odder by the fact that Faith did not scream. The only sign that she felt the blows were the flexing of her fingers around the iron ring that was in time to Maxentius drawing back the scourge.
Faith stared at the wood, memorizing each line and whorl. She wondered absently if it was oak. It was strong and stained with blood, turning the timber leopard-spotted.
Maxentius pulled back the whip after the tenth lash, coiling the leather around his fist as Gaius hurried towards the slayer. He watched Gaius uncoil Faith's fingers from the metal ring. Vanora, who had watched the scourging, hurried forward, pulling Faith from the Romans and back towards the safety of the tavern.
"Mount up, gentlemen," growled out Maxentius, glaring at the two soldiers who had forced his hand in punishing Faith. From the paling of their complexions, he was certain they understood the commander's intent.
Neither man would survive the Woads.
Of that Maxentius Vorenus would make certain.
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Buffy leaned back against the wall, watching as her watcher and friend pored over information emailed by Willow. She had given up on trying to make heads or tails of Willow's esoteric thought processes. Instead, she'd tasked herself with checking in with the reformulated Watcher Council and giving them a telephonic update. Now she contemplated the diet soda in hand. It was better than dealing with the headache forming in her head after talking to a bunch of Watchers.
"Ever wonder how they can make Coke Zero taste like real Coke?"
Giles looked up, hazel eyes bleary from reading the laptop screen. "I can honestly say I've never given it much thought, Buffy."
Buffy grinned. They'd survived so much. Angel. Spike. The Hellmouth. And they'd come out stronger together. "Well, Giles, it's always a good idea to ask these kinds of questions. You never know what horrible demonic plans may be formulated with the creation of fake sugar."
Rupert Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose, his glasses knocked slightly askew. "Have you been taking something?" he asked cautiously.
Buffy's eyes narrowed as she set the soda can on the bedside table. "Just for that, you have to buy me dinner. Come on, Bookman. Enough work."
Giles sighed, slowly rising from the bed where he'd been working. "Of course. And don't call me Bookman."
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Ylith stirred the concoction that the priest had put before her. It had the consistency of a thick gruel but it smelled of honey and cinnamon. The simple abundance of food in this time and place was enough to give Ylith pause.
Dressed in the strange clothes that James had gifted her, she'd accompanied the priest in his rounds in the poverty-stricken slum he was posted to. He had tried numerous languages and found that she could speak a few languages which weren't of the dead variety. She'd been introduced to many black-clad Irish widows as his distant cousin and had her cheeks pinched until her flesh was flushed as red as a rose.
The rumpled priest appeared in the doorway. The sun had barely risen and he was to speak a mass for the early morning parishioners.
"Why do you do it?" she asked, pushing away the now empty bowl of breakfast. It was amazing to not be hungry. "Bare ten people come to the church at all."
James shrugged and started towards the coffee maker. He'd stayed with the church despite its scandals. Made sure that he was never alone with any child, either boy or girl, and that he always had a parent or chaperone. It had been hard to be seen as a pedophile every time he wore his collar or professed his vocation, even though he'd never had any desire for any child. Hell, he thought with a growl, he'd been "reassigned" because he'd turned a priest into the police. "Ylith, I do it because I care about these people. And those ten people need this church."
Ylith nodded. There were far easier callings than the ones either had. "You've never desired a wife? A child?"
James sipped his coffee. "Yes. But it wasn't in the cards."
Ylith nodded again and stayed quiet. She could be patient.
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"Van! Drink!" bellowed Bors as he came into the tavern.
Faith looked up from the platters she was collecting, watching with dark eyes as the knights came into the tavern, escaping the cold of the night for the warmth of the tavern and its alcohol. She watched as Vanora strode towards her lover, her slap resounding in the night air before the redhead was pulled into a passionate kiss by Bors.
A sigh escaped her lips as she started towards the kitchen, wooden dishes precariously stacked.
"Envious?" came the quiet question from the scout.
Faith frowned. She hadn't noticed the scout moving so close. "Nope," she answered, moving towards the kitchens.
Tristan caught her arm lightly, bringing her to a halt. "Something happened."
Faith arched an eyebrow. "What might that be?" she asked sweetly.
Tristan slid his eyes to the worried expression on Vanora's face. "Something that has Vanora frightened."
Faith followed the scout's gaze. "Shit."
Tristan arched a brow. "What happened?"
Faith shrugged, wincing at the stripes which were healing still, though at a far quicker rate than a normal girl would heal and with no infection. "I hit a couple of Romans and got spanked." There, she decided, I've told the truth but I didn't say anything about Vanora. Yay me.
Tristan's jaw clenched. He had noticed that Faith moved with a carefulness indicative of injury. But punished? For attacking Romans? She was smarter than that. He met Dagonet's gaze where the giant was standing by the bar, glancing down at Faith. Any questions Dagonet may have had were ignored. "And you've seen a healer." It was not a question.
Faith winced. Dark ages medicine was not something she even wanted to consider. "No need."
"Tristan?"
Faith's eyes narrowed as she realized that she was cornered by the two knights. Bastards. "Hey, Dag."
Dagonet, the imperturbable, smiled down at the petite woman. His question, however, was directed to Tristan. "Is something wrong?"
Tristan nodded towards the slayer. Oh, Lancelot might not notice the wincing expression on Faith's face but Tristan had made the watching of Faith a near obsession. He knew the way that she moved when she was hunting monsters. And he knew when she was in pain. "She's been damaged. She'll need you to tend her."
Faith's jaw clenched as she turned to the scout. In her own time only Robin had either been brave enough or stupid enough to start acting like that. "I don't need tending--from either of you. So back off." She moved away from the two quietest knights towards the kitchen, back straight and head held high.
It wasn't until she set the platters on the table in the kitchen that she allowed herself a wince. Vanora had balked when her dark-haired serving girl had come back to work only a day after being scourged and it had meant that Faith had to be careful not to show that her back still pained her. Had she been home she could take it easy. Let the other slayers deal with the nasties while she licked her wounds.
But here she was it. The One. The Chosen. For the first time Faith was beginning to understand the loneliness of Buffy and the Slayers before her. Though, Buffy had had the Scoobies. And Faith had Vanora. It wasn't the same but it was right..
Dagonet watched Faith disappear into the kitchen before turning to his darker brother. "What did we miss?"
Tristan frowned. "I do not know. But I will find out."
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TBC...
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To My Wonderful Reviewers:
BleedingTwilight: Thank you! Your reviews are always brilliant (as is your writing, which I'm about to go back and read). You're right, those soldiers certainly do deserve whatever they get. Hey, eleven children? Bors has to be secure after all this time. And Bors would have killed Lancelot long ago if he thought there was anything to Lancelot's teasing. And thank you…it's nice to hear support when it comes to life kicking my butt. More is coming, I promise.
Samantha: Thanks! Yup, Faith can't win for losing, or maybe it's the other way around. More is coming. And we'll see all of the knights and their reactions to all of the events that have happened so far soon.
Aria DeLoncray: I couldn't resist some pain. And more is coming. Not pain, but more story.
XXxDaquirixXx: So glad that you're enjoying this buffy/KA crossover. I know that it's been done before and it's wonderful to get that kind of compliment. Here's more and more is coming. And thank you!
?: It said complete because I was an idiot and updated the wrong story. Thanks for letting me know. It is now corrected and continuing.
hazelelf1183: So glad that you're enjoying and I'm glad that it makes you want more. That makes me happy. No, you're not greedy at all. And I'll be better about updating, I promise. Wow! What a review! Thank you!
Saxongirl345: So glad that you enjoyed the update. And not sure how Tristan would take it. At least I didn't make them all watch.
HellCat's Punk: Thank you! Yeah, figured that Faith would not take that lying down. And I couldn't resist having a good Roman other than Arthur. And we'll get some Faith/Tristan action soon. I promise. And more is coming.
Amanda: Thank you. I promise that I'll try to update sooner next time. And thanks so much for your review!
Dark Goddess of Fiery Tempers: Wow! This is such a great response to my story. I think you're right--Faith would be the one who would most easily adapt to the world without modern conveniences. So glad that you're enjoying and I promise to keep this story going.
SharonH: Thank you! Here's more. And I'll try to do better about updating. I left this story far too long.
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