Chapter 3-Knights of the Round Table

The knights are just about to leave when the first arrow is fired and after only a moment of hesitation they race down the hill to aid the young ladies.

The girls faced the battle wearily, as though they'd seen them before but hadn't been apart of them. Their steps weren't those of hardened warriors, more like young trainees only used to sparring with their teachers. Unwilling to kill their opponents, but after Ash nearly lost her head to a large blue warrior they started dealing fatal blows.

As they join forces the bodies fall faster, quickly ridding the clearing of the enemy. They had almost brought it to even sides and as Lily removes her last opponents head from his shoulders, she takes her dagger from her side and flings it into the back of one of the two men fighting Gawain as he disposed of the other. Tam shoots two more arrows and cleans up two more, an action that makes the blue people outnumbered.

Ash has just pulled her sword out of one and whips around to face another when Lancelot slashes him from behind. "Oi!" she cries. "Get you own blue dude you freak. He was mine!"

Lancelot blinks at her as the last of the Woads retreat back to the trees. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" she snaps. "Tammy, he took my blue dude!" She sounds like a little child complaining that someone had taken her doll from her.

The brunette sighs, "I'm sure he'll regret it."

"Damn right he will…where's Lily?"

They all stop and watch as the two girls scan the battlefield now littered with bodies.

"Lily?" Galahad repeats, tasting the name on his tongue.

Tam nods. "The other girl."

He nods; that was obvious and not what he had meant.

"There," Tristan gestures with his head, and they all follow his gaze.

Lily is out of talking distance from them, with her head buried in Bells neck. She strokes the mare lovingly, smears of red are visible on the white mare and Lily's sword is covered it in.

"Lil…" Ash whispers and makes her way to her, stepping over the bodies at her feet like they aren't there. Tam follows her clicking Bolt forward and the knights slowly trail behind.

Ash is quiet until she reaches her; Bells stands protectively with her mistress, bending her neck around to nuzzle her as the red head approaches. Lily seems to understand and holds up her hand and all the people behind her stop.

She turns and to their surprise there are no tears in her beautiful eyes; her face is passive, unreadable, and has blood on it. "I was checking Bells," she murmurs, nodding at the blood on her mare.

"And she is well?" Galahad asks softly, drawing her attention to him. Something stirs in him as her gaze falls on him and she nods.

"It's not ours," she adds hastily as she looks back at her friends. Only then does the other notice the blood that also covers her arms and hands.

"If they weren't already dead, I'd kill them," Ash declares then wheels around and thrusts a finger under Lancelot's nose. "Speaking of which, he was my blue dude you asshole!"

"Ash, please, they were helping," Lily replies soothingly, putting a steady hand on her friends arm. "That's a good thing; there's no need to kill him."

Withdrawing her hand but not her glare, Lancelot releases the breath he had been holding. "You're lucky I listen to her," she snaps and clasps her hand around Lily's.

She is beautiful. Hell they are all beautiful, but there is something about her that the usual ladies man finds intriguing.

Her eyes are most unusual, but so are Lily's. Perhaps it is her obvious and shameless dislike for him. And he is sure he had done nothing to make her feel like she does.

"We've been rude," the brunette says sweetly, an apologetic smile on her fair features. "I'm Tamara, this is Ashley and Liliana. Thank you for your help."

Ash grimaces at the use of her full name. "And if any of you call me Ashley, I'll turn you into girls."

The knights chuckle but one look at her glare quietens them down.

"Ash please," Tam says, her voice firm.

Grumbling to herself, the red head wraps her arm around Lily and pulls the girl closer to her in a comforting and protective manner, the white mare comes up behind them and nudges her mistress. Lily reaches up an arm and wraps it around the mare's neck as the elegant beast rests her head lightly on her shoulder.

They all look to Tam. Seemingly, it is her job to now decide what they are to do.

Tristan studies the mare and the girl. She seems so innocent now. Her friends are still on the alert— he sees the awareness in their eyes— the thoughts and danger still there. However, Lily's shows traces of panic, like she is trying to hide it but it is slowly making its way to the surface. Then it dawns on the scout; it is their first time killing. The way that they had fought so well, no emotion shown on the battlefield, the fact had escaped him until now.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Arthur asks, bringing him from his thoughts and all eyes land on the commander and Tam.

She shakes her head. "We're….very new to the area."

"You can accompany us back to the wall if you'd like," he offers.

Tam nods and looks to her friends.

Ash's glare is as hard as ever and her eyes narrows in suspicion and mistrust, while Lily stay emotionless. "Tammy, have you lost your marbles? You want to go with a bunch of strange, dirty, crazy males? I thought you were the sensible one!" she snaps and glares at the knights again.

"What's your problem?" Lancelot snaps, taking offense to her words and folding his arms across his chest.

"You, you are my problem. You lot are trying to tell us that you're the Arthur and his famous knights of the round table, seriously do we have gullible or dumb written on our foreheads?" she returns.

"Ash," Lily whispers and the red head turns to face her, her crimson eyes immediately softening. "We were just attacked, don't you see? Can't you see the blood? Don't you remember what you just did?" Panic is starting to seep into her voice and tears creep into her eyes. She looks back at her bloodied hands and whispers so softly they are unsure whether it had been her or the wind. "We killed people."

"I'm sorry," Ash whispers pulling her into a hug. "It'll be ok, I promise."

"You're really Arthur then," Tam asks, the tone in her voice clearly meaning no lies.

"Yes."

She sighs, "Oh my God."

"How is that possible?" Ash hisses.

Tam glares at her, "How am I supposed to know? But you can stop calling them hippy freaks now. Thanks."

She rolls her eyes. "Right, cause cave boys are soooo much better then hippy freaks."

"Boys?" Lancelot scoffs. "I'm no boy."

Now she scoffs, "Ego much? And all males are boys until they prove otherwise."

Lily laughs lightly, drawing the attention back to herself and she immediately shuts up, trying to shrink away from their gazes and slinking back to Bells' side. The mare obligingly turns her head to hide her mistress further.

Tam clears her throat, "Ashley, behave yourself."

The red head shot one last glare at Lancelot and mutters darkly to herself as she goes to find her horse.

Lancelot watches her go, and Gawain grins after her. "Lively little thing."

Tam gives him a tired smile, "She's always like that."

"Where are you headed?" Arthur asks, wiping his sword and putting it back in its sheath.

Lily ducks her head under Bells neck to watch as Tam pauses for a moment before shrugging. "Haven't got a clue."

"You're new to the area then," Lancelot raises an eyebrow. Today has not been an ordinary day: finding three stunningly beautiful female travellers that fight as well as the knights themselves, they do not act like Ladies, are obviously lost and not one has fallen at his feet.

Yes, it has been a strange day.

Again, Tam pauses, choosing her next words carefully; she isn't yet sure herself of what had happened to them. "Yes, very, very new."

Arthur frowns, "What are you doing in Britain?"

This time the brunette has no answer to offer him so Ash pipes up, always happy to fill the void. "Haven't got a bloody clue, we just kind of…woke up here. We've been here for approximately a day...maybe." She is clutching the reins of her chestnut stallion who is dancing lightly on the spot.

The knights blink at her.

"What?" Galahad asks. These women are not making sense to him at all. Again his eyes flick to the blonde who is still timidly hiding near her horse. He watches as she glances at Dag then at Tristan quickly and closes her eyes, taking several deep calming breaths. She looks at them with a longing and intense sadness he doesn't understand; none of them had ever met before.

Ash snorts, "Are you deaf? You heard what I said."

Tam shakes her head in exasperation and a smile ghosts across Lily's face. Ash is annoyed, she is herself, and it is a comfort to Lily to have something around her that is the same.

Galahad sees the light smile and smiles himself; she has a beautiful smile.

"We know as much as you do," Tam reasons, silently willing her friend to shut up. "Please don't push it, she'll snap and then Lil and I will have to stitch you all back together."

The knights look to Ash with unwavering eyes, until she gives them all a wicked grin, a glint in her eyes. Perhaps she may just…..Arthur looks back to Tam expectantly. "You know medicine?"

She nods and Lily appears from behind Bells. "We both have taken courses in it, I'm the more internal side of it, colds, flues, fevers…things like that, I took an extra course in herbal remedies and setting broken limbs. Lily covers the flesh wounds; I don't do well with blood sometimes."

"Explains why you didn't get off your horse or bloody your sword," Lancelot states.

"Come back to the fort with us, if you have no where else to go." Arthur offers, smiling at the girls reassuringly.

Tam returns his smile whole-heartedly and Lily a bit shyly. "Thank you. We'll take you up on that."

Ash chokes, "We will?"

She gets a hard look. "Yes, we will."

She blinks, "Oh fantastic, let's just ride off with a bunch of ancient fairy tale characters we don't know, to a place we don't know! What happened to 'don't trust strangers'? I thought you were the smart one?"

Again, she gets a dry look and several snickers from the knights. "I am the smart one," Tam replies. "That's why we're going with the men who know the way, so we don't get lost and freeze to death."

With that, she turns Bolt and marches him past her friend and Lily follows her, giving Ash a squeeze on the hand as she leads Bells past. The red head stares after her sisters and turns back to the knights who have yet to move. "Any of you lay one freaking finger on either of them or myself and I'll make sushi out of ya's and force feed you to the blue dudes, got it?"

Lancelot smirks at her. "Milady if I may…"

She glares at him and interrupts. "Look Percy…"

"Lancelot," he corrects.

"Look Percy," she continues as if she hadn't heard him. He changes his charming smirk to a glare. "I don't like you. Stay out of my way and don't speak unless spoken to." She hisses crankily and spins on her heel and follows her friends, Arrow trailing along behind her obediently.

"That's a first," Bors laughs. "Percy."

"Hurry up. If you're gonna lead the way, lead the bloody way already!" she shouts louder the necessary over her shoulder before mounting Arrow.

"Perhaps we should leave her here…" Galahad ventures slowly, Lancelot nodding in agreement still annoyed by the female's obvious lack of interest in him, all of them for that matter. The others glare viciously at them. "Okay, okay…" He quickly amends, holding up his hands in surrender. "Only joking."

Gawain snorts, cuffing him up the back of his head. "Don't let the little girl scare you, pup." The others laugh and shake their heads, going back to their own horses.

"So, which way?" Tam asks after they had all mounted and are ready to leave. She steals a quick glance at Lily who is twisting her fingers in Bells mane nervously. She stands on the outside of them; Ash had placed herself and Arrow protectively between her friend and their new companions. She sighs. The quicker they get away the better.

"That way," Arthur points out across the hill where they had met. "We're about a day from the wall; we will camp tonight and arrive late morning."

"Camp?" Ash echoes as they set off. She rides next to Tam and Arthur but back a little, in the best position to shield Lily from other's eyes.

"Yes, Tristan will find a suitable spot." The great commander nods to his scout who urges his horse into a canter and eventually disappears from their sight.

"Fantastic," Ash mumbles dryly, patting Arrow's neck. The stallion snorts in reply.

"Is it true there is a round table?" Tam asks excitedly and Ash suppresses a groan. How she can even be thinking of history lessons at a time like this, she doesn't know.

"Yes it's true." Arthur replies cautiously.

"Tell me my lady." Lancelot begins, riding up to Arthur's other side. "How do you know of the table?"

"We have heard many stories of you, where we come from, there are books on you, lessons…" She smiles at them.

Ash rolls her eyes. "Yeah, another history lesson I fell asleep in."

Lily giggles a little and earns herself a grin in reply.

"Is there now?" Lancelot says, a cocky smile covering his features.

Tam nods. This is more her area, history, one of her favourite subjects in school. If this is what they think it is and they are truly in the presence on the King Arthur; all the myths and legends could be set straight.

"It's incredible, that we're here, physically impossible. Where we come from, you are all just part of a story, and there are many versions. No one really knows if there was such a man as yourself and your knights. It was a legend to us."

"Well, if this is real and not some sick joke, then we can safely say that they're real, don't you think Tammy?" Ash points out, producing her ruby dagger and twirling it in her hand. "I can always check if you'd like…"

"You don't say, and put that thing away," Tam replies, throwing her a glare.

She pouts, "Spoil sport."

"So we're legends are we?" Lancelot pushes.

"Now look what you've done Tam, inflated his ego ten fold." Ash smirks at the curly haired knight. "I'll have to make a mental note to deflate it."

She is ignored. "Yes, your legends. It's unknown in some stories whether you were good or not Sir Lancelot." Tam pauses and smirks slightly at him.

"Oh." He frowns. "How so?"

"Well, in some it is said that you were constantly jealous of Arthur and often tried to kill him to take the throne, steel Excalibur, fight over the woman you both loved…"

The look on his face is almost too much for Ash who burst out laughing and even Lily cracks a smile and a giggle.

"But in others you are the best of friends and loyal to each other." Tam finished, smiling reassuringly at him.

The knights are all looking at them slightly confused. Tam clears her throat, suddenly nervous. "Their just stories, like I said, where we come from no one knows for sure."

They nod. "So where is this place you come from? To here so many different stories of us yet not know if we are truly real?" Gawain asks.

"Very, very, very, very, very, long way from here. A place that none of you will ever know and never understand. You wouldn't even believe us if we told you, so we'll just leave it at foreigners." Ash replies and Lily looks down again.

The blonde knight leaves it there, sensing it was a touchy subject for the girls. They ride in relative silence then; Arthur and Tam discuss the tales the girls had heard of them, as well as political views and religion. He is happy to find that she is a Christian while the other two are not.

Occasionally, one of the other knights would try to begin a conversation with Lily who remains silent and seems determined not to look at any of them. Finally, after a rather deadly glare from Ash, it sinks in that they are to leave her alone.

Finally, Tristan appears ahead of them, and they kick their horses to catch up to him.

"How did you go?" Arthur asks the scout.

"The area is clear, and there's a small clearing in the trees not far ahead, on the side of a hill. It should give us the best shelter," was his monotonous reply. As he scanned the faces of his brothers-in-arms and their new companions his gaze stops on Lily, who quickly drops her eyes and squeezes them shut. Sighing to himself they set off again.

Arthur and Tam picking up their prior conversation as if they hadn't been interrupted. When they get to the clearing, which is well sheltered and just up the slope of a hill as Tristan had said, Ash leaps from her horse and glares at Lancelot. She had gotten bored of Arthur and Tam's educational sounding talk and had taken to arguing with the second in command instead. Evidently annoying everyone else.

Even Lily had left her friends side and pulled back to ride with Gawain and Galahad. Right now, Ash looks as if she will kill him at any moment. Her hand is gripping the hilt of her curved blade, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

Fortunately, the others had long since tuned them out and didn't know what he'd done to piss her off so much.

"Of all the places we had to end up, and all the fricking people in the fricking world, we had to be stuck with the biggest playboy of this century and the next," she snarls.

They look at her stunned. They aren't used to such language coming from a lady.

Lily rides past her friend and dismounts. "Leave him Ash. He can't help it."

She spins to face her. "Oh, he'll help it alright, when I cut out his tongue and feed it to the birds. We'll see how well he can talk then. I'll teach him."

That said, she stalks to the other side of the bare open space to a cluster of trees. "C'mon, Arrow, ya stupid horse," she calls back. The stallion trots to her obediently, taking no insult to her tone or her words.

Lily watches in amusement as the red head lays a hand on the chestnut's nose and slowly runs it up, speaking to him softly. She openly laughs when she realises what Ash is telling him.

The knights look up from their untacking and smile ever so slightly, Tam feels a weight lifted from her conscious at the sweet sound.

"What's funny?" Galahad asks coming up beside her.

She looks up at him, a smile still on her face. "Ash is telling Arrow that the next trick she's going to teach him is to eat people."

He chuckles, "Horses don't eat meat."

She looks back at her friend and shakes her head. Moving around Galahad, she starts to remove Bells' saddle. "I'll let you tell her that."

He quickly shakes his head. "No, thank you."

She laughs again, saddle and cloth in her arms as she goes to put them with the other saddles leaning against the trees. The cloth slips from the top but before it can touch the ground a hand shoots out and grabs it.

Startled, Lily looks at the hand's owner and jumps. Tristan holds the cloth out to her, his eyes and most of his face hidden by his hair.

Her breath catches in her throat as she hastily moves the saddle to one arm and gingerly takes the offered cloth from him. She drops her eyes immediately as tears prick the corners. "T-Thank you." And with that she turns from him completely.

He looks after her, a slight frown hidden by his hair. He doesn't understand his confusion at her behaviour. Most people give him a wide birth, and he is just fine with that but with this girl…Somehow he doesn't want her to do that. He finds himself not wanting her to think he is a monster.

"It's not what you think," a soft voice from behind him says.

He turns in mild surprise to face Tam. Her long hair is still in its tie and is hanging over her shoulder. Her bright green eyes regarding him with a caring smile.

He tilts his head at her, and she takes this as a sign to continue.

"She's not scared of you. Not really."

"With all due respect lady, she does not look at me, and when she does all I see is sadness and fear," he replies gruffly.

Tam shakes her head. "She does not fear you anymore then she fears any of the others; you and Dagonet resemble someone she used to know. She's scared of the memories you're stirring."

He nods slowly and turns back to watch her.

Galahad had gone to her and is assisting with taking off Bells' bridle and hanging it in the tree. He says something to her and she smiles and shakes her head. The youngest knight immediately looks pleased with himself at being able to make her smile.

Tristan shakes his head at the sudden urge to protect her deep in his stomach. He looks back to Tam, but she has moved off to talk to Arthur and Dag about something. Tristan notices Dag's deep look of concentration directed toward Lily and Galahad as well.

The scout sighs. Perhaps his brother is feeling the same as him, something else that does not make sense. Tam had said that the two knights look like someone Lily used to know…Maybe that is the link.

The fire crackles and hisses as the rabbit meat is held over it to cook. The girls and knights are sitting around it, talking idly, watching as Gawain prepares the food.

Lily is sitting between Tam and Ash, her knees pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. She still refuses to look at Dag or Tristan. Her avoidance is easy to see and has the two men puzzled, though Tristan doesn't let it show.

Ash is eyeing the 'meal' as Gawain hands the meat around. Tam accepts it with a smile and Lily politely declines, saying she isn't hungry, and— after a quick discussion— they let her be. When it comes to Ash however…

"No thanks, I'll starve."

Tam rolls her eyes. "It won't kill you." She takes a bite, chews and swallows to prove it.

Ash shakes her head. "Not eating it, don't care." She jumps up and darts over to her saddlebag, rummaging around in it before coming back, a chocolate bar in hand. "This is food, that is…well, whatever that is."

"That is no good for you," Tam replies matter-of-factly.

Lily reaches over, breaks the top off, and places the dark stuff in her mouth. "Maybe not, but it tastes good."

"And it looks better than that," Ash adds slumping back where she had been sitting.

"What is it?" Bors asks and they realise that the men had probably never even seen chocolate before.

"Chocolate," Ash replies cautiously. She has a feeling she might have to give them some. "Female food only, it gives boys high squeaky voices."

Lily snorts and almost chokes on her own while Tam glares at her. "It's like…a sweet," the brunette tries to explain it. "It's... Well, Ash give them some will ya?"

She gapes at her. "What?" she shrieks. "No way, it's mine!"

"Oh please, you sound like a three year old. Just give them some so they know what it tastes like. It won't hurt you," Tam scolds.

"There's no way I'm—" She is cut off as Lily snatches the bar out of her hands and chucks it to Arthur, who catches it.

"I'm not in the mood to listen to you two," she shrugs and smiles innocently. "Break it where the lines are Arthur; it'll come apart easier like that."

The commander nods and does as instructed, handing a piece to each of his knights.

Ash sighs as they eat. "It's like…loosing a part of me." Then she wrinkles her nose. "Or feeding time at the zoo."

Lily giggles. "It's only chocolate; you've got more."

"Mmm I s'pose, but they're not getting anymore. Over my dead body!"

"Is that a promise?" Lancelot asks, his mouth full.

"Shut it, halfwit. Or you'll eat the plastic, too, and it will kill you." She glares at him before quieting down to sulk.

"So?" Tam asks as they finish.

"It's very good," Galahad replies, offering the girls a smile. "Thank you, Ash."

She grunts. "Whatever."

"It is very different," Arthur replies, "but it is good."

The others nod in agreement and Tam grins. "There you go then. That's what chocolate is."

"And that's all you're getting so I hope you enjoyed it," Ash adds moodily, still sulking, making Arthur chuckle.

Lily stands, stretching her arms above her head and stepping over the log she had been leaning against.

"Well, see you in the morning," she says, her eyes downcast and she moves quickly away from them, over to Bells. She runs her hands along the mare's side and down her leg. Slowly Bells lowers herself to the ground and gets comfortable before Lily plops down next to her and curls into her side.

"She's a well trained horse," Gawain notes softly and both Tam and Ash tear their worried eyes off Lily to look at him and the others.

"She's had Bells since she was three months old; she had her broken in and rideable by the time she was one and a half. They are almost inseparable."

"Is Lily going to be alright?" he asks.

"Yes," Tam replies gently. "She will be, in time."

"In time…" Ash repeats slowly. "Maybe, if we're lucky. She hasn't been 'alright' for two years, Tammy, and now we've got this place and these….fairy tale people to deal with and it's them making her like this in the first damn place!" she points accusingly at Tristan and Dag and stands up. "Don't argue Tamara, you know I'm right." She looks at the others coldly, "Night. Don't do us any favours and get eaten tonight."

With that, she walks over to Bells and Lily. After talking softly to the mare, she slides down next to her best friend and both fall asleep.

"It's not your fault," Tam says after what seems like hours of silence has passed. "Ash is just mad because she can't help Lily this time…and because we gave you her chocolate... but mostly it's Lily. Lily doesn't hate you; she truly doesn't have a spiteful bone in her body. Like I said Tristan, you and Dagonet remind her of someone she knew, and lost." She stands and smiles kindly at them. "Don't pay any mind to Ash, she doesn't mean it. Goodnight."

Murmurs of 'night' follow her as she goes to the girls and slides down next to them.

Arthur sighs. "Knights, get some rest."

They nod and each makes their way to where they would be sleeping.

A/N: Ta dar! One of the longest chapters I've done for anything I think haha. I hope you enjoyed it, please review and tell me what you think! =]. I love hearing what you thought and what you liked and didn't like, so pretty please press the button =D.

HUGE thanks to Kanae Valentine for BETA-ing, you did an awesome job and your help is massively appreciated ^^.

And thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed! You guys are brilliant and make writing so much more enjoyable for me =]

Til next time,

~Angel xo