Chapter 1
—465AD—
Adena Main worked the tavern like she has been for the past three years with ease and flawless. She was seventeen when she woke up to this strange land, now she was twenty years old. Of course, she celebrated her birthday alone and in secrecy, not wanting anyone to know. She kept her head down, kept her mouth shut, and practically became invisible. However, whenever the knights were in town they would try to speak with her—especially Dagonet and Bors who have become a somewhat of a father figure for her.
As it was today, the knight's have been spotted not but a few miles away and so the tavern was emptied as soon as possible. The young woman smiled at the older woman—whose name was Vanora and who ran things at the tavern—and nodded her head to go ahead. Vanora smiled brightly and ran full speed towards the entrance.
With a sigh, Adena started to clean up, knowing that as soon as the knight's get settled in, the tavern will be full with not only the locals and Romans, but with the knight's and a lot of whores looking for company with one of them that night. Adena went into the kitchen and began to wash all the jugs and cups that were to be ready to use any moment. It would take the knight's a half hour to get to the fort so Adena had some peace and quiet for the time being.
Finishing up the cleaning, Adena started to walk towards the knight's stable, not knowing what to expect after this mission. She took her time walking, enjoying the light summer breeze before it got too cold once night came. Nearing the stables, Adena moved around the crowd to reach the front. Her heart was pounding hard against her rib cage as the knight's rode past. All was silent amongst the crowd, which could only mean something terrible has happened.
Reaching the gates, Adena swallowed a gasp and placed a hand to her mouth. Gareth—second youngest brother of Gawain—was laid across his horse, a blanket covering him. Gawain was nowhere to be seen, as was Galahad. Looking about the other knight's, Percivale was the one to have caught her eyes and hold her gaze. Not wanting to start crying in front of him, Adena turned away and started walking back to the tavern.
As soon as Adena entered the tavern, someone grabbed her arm, turning her around. She stared up to gray eyes of Percivale, which were full of concern and sadness. Just seeing his sad look in his eyes while his face was expressionless, Adena broke down and begun to cry.
The older knight hugged the young woman tightly, feeling his heart start to break at this mute woman. Ever since the group saw the young woman looking lost and confused a mile outside the wall, all the knight's vowed to protect her; and all the more when the woman did not speak a single word to anyone.
Gareth and Galahad were a bit closer to age with the woman, and were able to get her name after she lived at the fort for three and a half months. Bors and Dagonet were the father figures and even more over-protected of her with the men around the fort and within their brother's. Then there left the other knight's and Arthur who were more of just older brothers.
Of course that did not stop either Lancelot or Geraint or Lamorak from trying to bed her and shamelessly flirt with Adena. However with so many threats from the other knight's, the three men took to just flirting with the young woman. Though, they all got a sharp slap from the young woman whenever they would sit her down to their lap or touch her in a way she did not like.
At first all the knight's thought her to be nothing more but an enemy as she was still a stranger. Yet as the months went on by with no incident on her part that thought began to slowly depart from their mind.
Adena suddenly pulled back, causing Percivale to lose his train of thought. She nodded her thanks to him, wiping her tears from her cheek and eyes. Sniffling, she smiled at Percivale and turned away from the knight. Clearing her throat, Adena went to the kitchen and began to fill up jugs and prepare food for that night.
It was the next day and all those who were very close to Gareth stood at the little cemetery, giving their own prayer to the young deceased. Adena stood in between Galahad and Dagonet, looking expressionless at the dirt mound. Galahad was holding her right hand as Dagonet had an arm around her shoulders.
Percivale had already told them of how she cried the day before and so they were not surprised to see her not crying. Though, all the knights knew that the young woman would cry behind closed doors as after every funeral she would leave with tears in her eyes. They knew that she truly cared for them as they cared for her, but they wondered why it was so hard for the young woman to open up to them.
As soon as all those have given their prayer and respect they began to depart with solemn hearts, leaving the knight's, Adena, and Arthur to continue to give their respect. With a shattering heart, Adena turned and walked back towards the fort. Wrapping her arms around her waist, Adena kept her head down, wanting nothing more to be alone. Inhaling sharply, she put a hand to her heart, feeling the tears coming once more.
Then Adena felt something warm go around her shoulders and she immediately looked up to see Tristan walking beside her without his cloak. She looked back down and hugged the cloak tighter around her body as she realized that she was cold for some odd reason. Adena gave a quite, almost inaudible, thank you to the man, who grunted in response, telling her that he had indeed heard.
With a sigh and a slight blush in embarrassment, Adena and Tristan walked in silence, neither one of them minding. The woman then felt an arm around her shoulders, Adena looking up to her left see Lancelot walking next to her. Adena tried to calm her nerves, not wanting the scout or Lancelot to see her crying. Despite that many may think her weak, she knew she wasn't but didn't want to encourage that thought upon them. Actually, she didn't care what others thought, but she didn't want the scout or Lancelot, especially, to think ill of her which confused her greatly but didn't dwell on that thought no longer then three seconds.
Once they entered the fort, Adena turned to Tristan and grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away. Tristan turned his expressionless eyes to her, raising an eyebrow in a manner that would scare any other person. Adena took off the cloak and returned it to the scout with no fear whatsoever. The scout took it with some hesitation. Smiling softly at him, Adena turned to Lancelot, nodded her head at him, and walked towards her home.
'What a way to spend my birthday today,' she thought depressingly.
The woman confused the scout, as she didn't seem to be afraid of him. Of course, he found this out the night when she approached him with no hint of fear radiating off of her some three years ago. She had placed a cup of ale before him and a whole green apple before smiling softly and walking away. The only other person to do that was Vanora, yet there was still fear radiating off of her, but no, not this strange young woman.
At first he thought her stupid to not fear him or just plain bold. Tristan, however, thought her to be stupid instead. It was just easier. With a shake of his head, the scout walked on, not wanting to think of the young woman anymore.
Lancelot looks after the woman, still trying to figure her out. Ever since they had seen her in the pouring rain something just clicked in him and he couldn't stop thinking about her. The first few months he tried to forget her by sleeping with the wench's at the tavern, but it didn't last long. He just felt guilty, and he didn't know why. Then another thought begin to rise in his mind; one that he was never familiar with nor did he wanted to be familiar with. Soon he began to have dreams about her—ones he would never tell a soul.
He tried to ignore them, but it started to be harder and harder. Lancelot then just accepted them and merely kept them to himself, keeping a closer eye on the young woman without anyone noticing what it was he was doing. Several times he had saved Adena without her knowing as drunken or sober men would follow her home. And every single time Lancelot would put the fear in them.
Passing a jewelry stand, a necklace caught his eye. He abruptly stopped and turned to the stand, looking down at the simple piece of jewelry. It was silver with the metal twisting down then up towards the wide middle with a clear blue diamond—which was very rare. Picking up the simple and unique jewelry, Lancelot looked up at the trader, who smiled at the womanizer and gave him the price for the pendant. Lancelot paid the man and pocketed the jewelry.
He knew who to give it too and when to give it to them. Though, he was a bit nervous as to find out if the person would like it or not, seeing as he hardly knew anything about them. With another shake of his head, Lancelot walked towards the fort, wanting to get something to drink soon.
—Late evening—
Adena sighed tiredly, rubbing her neck as she walked home. She closed the cloak around her tighter as a cold wind blew her way. Despite the funeral that morning the tavern was busy as though it were the villagers last day on this planet. She felt dead to the world and wanted nothing more but to sleep the rest of the week. Adena, however, began to sing happy birthday softly to herself, knowing that there was no one near to hear her.
At least that's what she thought.
Hiding within the shadows was Lancelot, carefully eyeing the woman as he kept his senses opened for any danger for the young woman. He kept a distance from her for both her space and privacy but close enough to attack any person who would want to harm her.
She soon reached her home and entered, immediately lighting the candles and the fireplace. Lancelot leaned against the side, peering inside. He watch the young woman move about the living area, cleaning little things that she had left behind while in a rush to work at the tavern. She soon settled on to the Roman style chair—which was a present from Arthur as he once saw her reading while lying down on her stomach on the grass.
She was reading a book—which Lancelot found to be odd at first when he followed her one day to a library Arthur kept at the fort. He never saw or even heard of a peasant learning to read or any form of such education, which the young woman seemed to possess. But Lancelot had become accustomed to her behavior and found her mysteriousness intriguing; and not to mention her lack of interest in him.
Not even ten minutes into her nightly reading was Adena asleep. Quietly entering the house, Lancelot went about of blowing out the candles until the only source of light and heat was that from the fireplace. He took the book, closed it, and placed it on the small table nearby. Then he took off his cloak and covered the woman to give her more heat then from the little warmth the fireplace gave. Lancelot then took out the pendant and carefully placed it around Adena's neck. He leaned down and kissed her forehead ever so lightly.
"Happy birthday, Adena."
With feather light strokes, he moved her hair from her face before leaving the house with no trace of him ever being there. Not once making a sound.
Adena sighed tiredly, opening her eyes to a dying fireplace. Groaning, she sat up and frowned down at the cloak that fell down to her waist. For one, the cloak seemed to be too big than the one she has, and second, it had a strong aroma of nature and something musky.
Too tired to think further on it, Adena got up with a stretch and walked towards her room and entered the bathroom that was adjoined to the master bedroom. Luckily that home used to be for a Roma who was then transferred back to Rome. So Adena didn't need to boil water as a hot spring was accidentally discovered beneath the home—or so that's what the owner had told her—a few years back.
Letting the water flow into the round size tub that was built into the floor, the young woman turned to the mirror next to the door and gasped as she saw the pendant upon her neck. She touches it lightly, memorized by the simple yet beautiful trinket. Wondering how she gotten it did not last long as another thought crossed her mind.
Who had entered her home without waking her? No one was that quiet for the floorboards creek loudly. Immediately, Tristan came to mind, but she shook her head in disbelief as the scout really didn't care about her so why would he give her such a gift? Knowing that she will never know, Adena took off the beautiful necklace followed by her clothes.
She soaked in the bathtub for an hour, wanting to relax before she had to go in to work in two hours or so.
A/N: All right, we now see how Adena interacts with Lancelot. It'll get better, I promise. Please review and let me know what you think!