Caeli's POV
Arriving back at camp, it was clear that we had missed something. Dwyn stood in between Arthur and Lancelot, who was showing off the new black eye I had given him, I couldn't help but smirk. Dwyn had her bow in hand and one of her arrows was sticking out of the now dead Marius.
"How many did you kill?" Bors called as we rode up to Arthur.
"Four." Tristan replied simply.
"Three." I called as well.
"Not a bad start to the day." Bors said, laughing.
Tristan threw the crossbow at Arthur's feet. "Armor-piercing. They're close, we have no time."
Lancelot glared at me. I smiled smugly and waited for Arthur to speak.
"You ride ahead." Arthur said at last.
I nodded good morning to Dwyn, and mouthed, 'No fair!' nodding toward Marius' body, and then followed Tristan. Once we were out of sight, Tristan turned to me, trying very hard not to laugh.
"What?" I asked, not understanding what was so funny.
"Did you hit Lancelot?" He asked finally.
"Yes…why?"
"Caeli, you are a mystery to me." Tristan said, laughing a bit.
"How so?" I asked, moving Ashen closer to his horse.
"Well, yesterday morning, you were near death, then, a few hours later, you're walking around and riding your horse."
"I told you I was a quick healer."
"Yes, you did." He said, smiling at me. "Now, this morning, you've blackened Lancelot's eye and killed three Saxons."
"Actually," I said, smiling, "I hit him last night."
"What did he do?" Tristan asked sharply.
I looked into his eyes, seeing them laced with concern and anger. "Nothing that I couldn't handle, as you saw."
Relief flashed in his eyes as he looked over the surrounding area, anywhere but at me.
"You truly have not been around my cousin and I long enough to see how vexing we can be." I said slyly, trying to get past the unpleasant moment.
He looked back at me, his hair blocking my view of his brown eyes, but I could see him smiling. "What do you mean?"
"You think my skills with a bow are good? Dwyn can easily outdo my archery. My skill with a sword is better than hers though, but now by much."
"Really?"
I just nodded, smiling, but my face fell as we came out of the trees and only a hundred yards away from us was an enormous frozen lake with the mountain rising, too steep to climb, on both sides.
"I don't see a way around it…" I said, worried.
"We'll just have to find one or risk going over the ice." Tristan replied.
Tristan and I checked both sides and found no path that we could safely get all the people from Marius' village across. By this time, the caravan had reached us and Arthur, Dwyn, and the other Knights waited on the ice.
Tristan rode up to Arthur, as I rode up to Dwyn.
"Lucky." I mumbled.
"Perhaps if you would've stayed at camp you could've had the honor." She retorted with a smirk.
Arthur's voice cut through the cold air. "Get them all out of the carriages. Tell them to spread out."
Dwyn and I nodded goodbye for now to each other as we dismounted. She followed Arthur as close as she could, as I did the same thing with Tristan. Everyone else started to spread out slow and not by much. Under our feet, the ice cracked ominously, still, we slowly moved onward. I could hear the drums of the Saxons moving closer form the other side of the lake.
Arthur turned to look at his knights.
"Knights?" He asked.
Bors was the first to speak. "Well, I'm tired of running. And these Saxons are so close behind, my ass is hurting."
Tristan spoke next. "Never liked looking over my shoulder anyway."
Dagonet only smirked, as Gawain said, "It'll be a pleasure to put an end to this racket."
"We'll finally get a look at the bastards." Galahad commented.
"Here. Now." Dagonet said, already moving forward.
Arthur gave a few short orders to Jols and Ganis (a man from the village who Arthur had put in charge).
"You're seven against two hundred!" Ganis protested.
I looked over at Dwyn to see that she was already meeting my gaze. We nodded, silently understanding that we would not be leaving.
"Nine." We said firmly, together.
Everyone looked sharply back at us. Arthur and Tristan looked horror struck, while the others just looked a mixture of amused, confused, and amazed.
Having said that, I took my bow and quiver and handed Ashen's reigns to one of the people who were taking the horses.
After getting his own bow, Tristan fell in step beside me as I walked toward the line the other knights were forming, just noticing that Dwyn was arguing with Arthur.
"Caeli." Tristan said, grabbing my wrist gently. I stopped walking, knowing that he was going to try and talk me out of staying to fight. "I won't let you do this."
I turned to face him, looking straight into his brown eyes. "I'm not leaving."
"Caeli, please." His voice was pained now, this shocked me.
"No." I said firmly.
He dropped his gaze, and rather than gripping my wrist lightly, he was now holding my hand. "I don't want to lose you." He said, quietly.
This had been the one subject during all the time we had talked – we hadn't talked about our feelings toward one another…we stood a moment in silence.
"You're not going to." I replied when I found my voice.
"All right." Tristan said, looking into my eyes. Then, he led me to the line of knights and reluctantly let my hand go.
Dwyn's POV
Jols, Arthur's faithful man servant, began unloading all the Knights' weapons and laying them out, and Caeli and I took our quivers and laid them out on the ice, so their weight would not hinder our aim.
After a hurried word with Alecto, Arthur came to where I stood, stringing my bow and stretching my arm muscles.
"Dwyn. I want you to go with them."
"I am able to fight, you know this."
"Yes, but…I can't watch you get hurt. I would never forgive myself."
"It is my choice to stay. No fault of your own. I want to help."
Arthur looked at the last of the people moving off of the ice.
"Please, Dwyn. I beg you. Don't stay. It's too dangerous."
"I'll survive."
"Don't you realize the odds of our victory?"
"The figures are the same in my head as yours, yet you choose to stay."
I gave him a look, a mixture of aggravation and admiration. I wanted to help the people and kill the Saxons as much as any, but the main reason for staying; I did not want to leave him behind. I wanted to stand by his side, not ride away with a chance much larger than the chance of our victory hanging over my head, the chance that I'd never see him again.
I switched my bow to my left hand and brought my right hand up to cup his cheek gently. "You didn't leave me behind…"I stood on my toes to whisper in his ear, "…and I'll never leave you." I closed my eyes, brushing my cheek against his, a whisper of a sigh hanging on my lips.
I pulled away and turned my back on him, making my way to the far end of the line. Caeli stood to my left, Tristan on her other side, looking defeated but secretly impressed.
We nodded our heads at each other, the time for smiles past as the echo of the final drumbeat washed over us from the other side of the ice. Silence rang, the only sound, our cloaks billowing in the wind. And then, the Saxon Army rounded the bend, flooding out before us in numbers far greater than our own.
"Hold until I give the command." Arthur said from the middle of our small one-line brigade.
I knocked an arrow, brushing my fingers over the feathers, my keen eyes searching for weakness in the Saxon armor. It was hard, as each man's attire was different.
'What else would you expect of pillaging murderers…?' I thought bitterly.
An archer from the other side readied his bow and shot. The arrow fell and skidded over the frozen lake, hardly making it halfway to where we stood.
"I believe they're waiting for an invitation, Bors, Tristan." Arthur commanded, sounding amused. They raised their bows, and I wondered silently how good their aim was. Releasing their arrows, they flew high overhead, and I distinctly saw four Saxons fall across from us.
I nodded to them. "Not bad at all."
"And I suppose you could do as well, yourself." Galahad said, smiling.
"Perhaps." I said, slyly. I stepped forward and pulled back the string, carefully taking aim. "Do you see the one with the furry hood and raised battle axe in the right flank?" I let the string go and the arrow struck the man I'd been describing firmly in the chest, he fell dead.
I smirked at Galahad and stepped back into line. "Not bad." He said. "Next time, try aiming for the captain."
"Your turn."
We all lifted our chins as a Saxon battle cry rang across the winter air. Slowly, but surely, they began to march forward. Each knight (and lady) lifted their bow. The battle had begun.