Caeli's POV
In one final attempt to kill the lead Saxon, I knocked an arrow and took quick aim as they turned to look at the lake one last time. I watched as my arrow flew through the air and met a target, but not the one I had aimed for. The arrow struck the man next to the lead Saxon, and he fell dead.
"Damnit." I mumbled.
Disheartened, Tristan and I joined the others, shortly followed by Gawain. Tristan took my hand in his, as we all stood or kneeled beside Dagonet in a silent moment of mourning.
We quickly caught up to the caravan, where everyone was both shocked that we had only lost one man, and saddened at the loss.
Once we were moving again, Dwyn and I dropped back away form Arthur, Tristan, and the other knights.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"I'm not sure." Dwyn admitted sadly. In all the years I'd known Dwyn, growing up with her, she had never sounded so uncertain.
"Let's just wait and see." I suggested.
She nodded a bit.
The rest of the journey passed in sorrowful silence.
When we arrived at the small Roman outpost at Hadrian's Wall, we continued on to the knight's quarters.
Arthur, Tristan, and the others rode into a small courtyard. The carriage that Alecto and Fulcinia rod in followed them into the courtyard and the wagon that young Lucan sat in stopped just outside the gate. Dwyn and I stood just inside the courtyard watching and waiting to see what would happen as the knights dismounted and a Roman Bishop came toward them.
"Ah! Good! Christ be praised!" He called as he moved toward the carriage. "Against all the odds that Satan could muster-Alecto!" He had just spotted Alecto climbing out. "Let e see you! You have triumphed! Young Alecto!" Alecto was not backing away, a horror struck look on his face. "Let me see you! You are here!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucan jump down from the wagon and run into the courtyard.
"Lucan." I said, as Dwyn went to get him.
"You! Boy!" A roman soldier called stepping forward.
I moved forward, blocking his path and drew my sword, pointing it at his throat.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said and he quickly stepped back.
The bishop laughed nervously, while the knights glared at him and I returned my sword to its sheathe. Turning, I saw Dwyn trying to comfort Lucan as he fingered the ring he had taken from Dagonet's body.
"Great Knights." The bishop said. "You are free now! Give me the papers. Come, come!"
No one moved, a few glared at him. "Your papers of safe conduct throughout the Roman Empire! Take it, Arthur."
Arthur walked up to the bishop, giving him little room to breathe and fixing him in a hateful glare. "Bishop Germanius. Friend of my father." Arthur said coldly, then walked away, not meeting Dwyn's gaze for the first time since we were rescued.
Lancelot moved forward and grabbed all the papers from a box another Roman soldier was holding and handed one to each of the Knights. Bors refused to take his.
"You are free! You can go!" The bishop said nervously.
"Bors." Lancelot said, Bors stared blankly into the air. "Bors!" Lancelot held up two papers. "For Dagonet."
"This doesn't make him a free man. He's already a free man!" Bors jerked both papers out of Lancelot's hand and threw them at Germanius' feet. "He's dead!"
Gawain approached the bishop and picked up the scrolls, glaring at him. Tristan then walked up to the soldier holding the box, after examining it, took it from the soldier.
The knights then exited the courtyard, Jols came over to where Dwyn and Lucan stood and led Dagonet's horse out of the courtyard, following the knights.
Dwyn and I exchanged looks, then she kneeled down and looked Lucan in the eye. "Would you like o go, too?"
He nodded sadly and the three of us made our way in the direction Arthur, Tristan, and the others had went.
We arrived a time later at a small graveyard that was set at a downhill slope. Each grave had a sword sticking out from the ground. We quickly found them at a newly dug grave that Galahad was nearly done filling in.
I moved to where I stood next to Tristan, as Dwyn and Lucan went to stand near Arthur.
Gawain walked up to Tristan, glancing at me, making Tristan glare at him while he placed Dagonet's paper in the box and then placed it on the grave.
"Goodbye, old friend." Gawain said. "We'll be along soon."
I saw that Lucan was now crying. Arthur glanced at Dwyn, then held each others' gaze for a moment, then Arthur walked away.
The other knights filed past Dagonet's grave, and I took Tristan's hand, he smiled down at me and we started back toward the fort. I looked back at Dwyn, seeing her making her way toward Arthur.
Dwyn's POV
I followed Arthur quietly as he made his way through the labyrinth of graves. I wasn't sure if I was wrong to follow him or not, wasn't sure if he wished to be alone. Finally, at the very edge of the graveyard, he stopped, in front of a grave with no sword.
Remembering the night with Merlin, I knew that it must be his father's graveHe kneeled in front of it, seeming sullen and deep in thought. Finally, I spoke up.
"May I sit with you??
He nodded slightly, and I fell to my knees beside him. "Your father's grave?"
"Yes." He answered, keeping his eyes forward. "He always wanted to be buried with his knights if he died here, in Britain."
I looked ahead as well, not wanting to hear the answer to my next question, but dying to ask it nonetheless.
"Will you really go back to Rome now?"
I said it as fast as I could, then looked down at the ground, anywhere but at him.
I could feel his eyes on me, but I refused to look up.
"Dwyn…you have to understand. There is nothing left in Britain for me."
"Bu, you've done so much here, Arthur. You've no idea how many lives you've saved…"
"This isn't my home. And everything I've done has been in vain. Rome, the Rome I know, is no more."
"But you still did the right thing. There is more here for you than you realize."
He looked down at me, almost in defeat, but then put his hands on my cheeks. "Come back with me. Go with me to Rome."
I put my own hands over his and finally looked him in the eye.
"You may think there is nothing left here for you, but this is my country, and these are my people. You belong here as well, I just don't know what it will take to make you realize it."
I removed his hands from my cheeks, keeping hold of them a fraction of a second longer than I meant.
"I'm not leaving them behind, Arthur….but I do want to be with you."
I released his hands and turned to leave, immediately feeling the cascade of tears leaving my eyes. The thought of him leaving was more than I could bear.
Arthur's POV
As I watched Dwyn go, I felt like a traitor to my own people…to her. I'd never had any ties to this land, nothing to make me want to stay, until now.
I saw her back heaving with quiet sobs, and I hated myself for hurting her. It was true that Rome did not exist as I remembered it, not anymore, but ever since I'd discovered this, I'd believe that perhaps somehow I could help restore it. But would it really be complete…would I be complete…without her there?
I kneeled back down, staring intently at my father's grave.
'What would you have done, father…' I wondered silently '…if all you've wanted for your entire life lies in the opposite directions of all you need…'
'Why am I here?' I wondered. 'In Rome, I will be no one. Here, I have done so much.'
Perhaps Dwyn was right, and I was giving in to her words, or maybe I just couldn't picture myself walking away from her.
…I loved her.