#34 Ice

Morning came earlier then Kirra was ready for. A thin crust of snow frosted everything, which would have been quite beautiful had the sound of nearing drums not driven everyone to rush to get ready and leave the night's camp.

Kirra had ridden in the wagon for a short while to check the progress of the boy, but now she rode Jin along the line of peasants. They were silent, out of fear or exhaustion, Kirra couldn't guess. It was probably a combination of both. Many looked up to her with questioning eyes only to receive a small shrug accompanied by a reassuring smile. Few actually stopped and spoke to the healer on the strange horse. So she rode forward after awhile, unable to take the complete silence of so many people.

She had just finished asking Dagonet about the boy and how he was faring when the train stopped.

"What's happening, Kirra?" The knight asked.

"No idea." She answered with a frown. "I'll be back." She noticed the interest the Woad woman was showing at the stop before urging Jin into a trot.

She pulled up beside Lancelot, "Why have we stopped?" she questioned.

"It seems your brother has decided that we are to cross this." The dark knight said bitterly as he swept his arm out in a large arc.

Kirra followed it and saw what she had previously missed, a vast lake completely frozen over with ice. "Tristan wants us to cross that?"

Lancelot gave a humorless chuckle.

"But how?" Kirra nearly sputtered. "There are so many people; it's too late in the season. Surely this is madness."

But Arthur followed by Tristan had already stepped out onto the ice.

Lancelot turned his head and gazed at Kirra with a look she had never seen on his face before, "This whole fifteen years has been madness." He said in bleak tones. "Why shouldn't the end be that way too?"

Kirra took his arm and gave him a firm shake, "Stop that! We'll get out of this. Tristan would never lead us somewhere he did not think was passable."

Lancelot squeezed her shoulder, a bit of his old cockiness returning, "Such faith, little sister. Shall we join them?"

Kirra's eyes had still not lost their hard edge, "You go ahead. I need to see if I can help any of the people." The man nodded his jaw hardening as he stepped onto the ice.

Kirra led Jin over the ice, her jaw and shoulders so tense she hurt. She clutched a toddler to her chest, its mother having been all too willing to have another look after one of her young brood of four as they crossed the frozen water. Gawain would glance back over his shoulder at Kirra every few seconds frowning and Kirra was quite sure that he would drug her and chain her to a tree before ever letting her accompany them on another mission. At least she seriously hoped he would. She would happily provide him the proper drugs.

An ominous cracking could be heard as the group made its way slowly across the frozen shelf and caused Kirra to redouble her caution. They were barely half-way across when Arthur turned his horse around to face his men. Kirra listened with heavy heart as they agreed to end the hunt once and for all, and on that god forsaken stretch of frozen ice. As they handed off their horses and began to prepare their weapons, she had just stepped back onto the ice when she heard Gawain.

"Kirra,"

Kirra raised and eyebrow at the unusually sharp tone he had used, "Yes?"

He pinned her with a glittering blue stare, "Get off this ice."

She folded her arms across her chest and fought the shiver of fear that particular look caused to dance down her spine, "I think not." She retorted and then glared at Tristan in warning because he had chosen that moment to look at her. He gazed at her unperturbed then dropped his eyes and returned to examining his bowstring.

Gawain advanced.

"I am not leaving." Kirra reiterated stubbornly, "And you don't have time to carry me off, so get used to it. I'll stay back here, but I refuse to leave."

Gawain sighed in defeat then brushed an icy hand gently over her cheek. He nodded in acceptance, "Fine, but should we fall, you run. Do I have your word?"

Kirra nodded soberly, knowing that should they fall, she would not run. The bleakness in Gawain's eyes led her to believe he knew it too. She rose up and pressed a kiss to his cold lips then was gone back out of the way, among an outcropping of rocks. Gawain turned with heavy heart to the task in front of him and forced himself to forget the woman standing so still and silent behind him. The one he had to protect at all cost.

As Kirra watched the men empty their quivers, she prayed the entire time that the ice would break. She unknowingly twisted a hank of her tunic in her hands and was surprised later to find a small tear in the thick fabric. It was one she never mended. Unable to help herself, her heart leaping to her throat, she darted forward as soon as she saw Dagonet drop his bow and take up his axe, knowing what he was thinking before he had actually run across the ice and towards the advancing horde.

Gawain barely caught her and pulled her back before she went streaking after the man. She fought for a moment, seeing nothing but death and hit him once with a blow that made his eyes water before she came to her senses. Then she stood glaring and frustrated as he and the others emptied their quivers in defense of their friend, ignoring the screaming of the drowning Saxons and the horrific screeching of the ice as it tore away from the main body in large chunks. She cursed the fact that she had left her own bow at home. Her heart nearly stopped when Arthur, in attempt to keep his man alive, raced across the ice and pulled Dag from the cold embrace of the frozen lake.

As soon as Arthur was close enough and it was certain that the shattering ice would not reach them, Kirra ran forward and pushed the men out of the way. She was more frantic then anyone had seen her. Her usually calm demeanor was replaced with urgency as she ripped the arrows out one by one and commanded all blood flow cease with a single ringing word. She startled them all when she leaned over Dag and placed her mouth over his, blowing warm air into his lungs.

"Breathe, damn you, breathe," She swore once as she came up for air and, using her whole weight, begin to firmly press on the still man's chest, tears poured down her cheeks freezing into sparkling diamonds when they hit the ice.

She stopped after a bit and looked into the man's unblinking eyes, calling his name and waiting for a flicker of something, anything, that would present itself.

"Come on, Dag." There was a stirring of the air near her that had nothing to do with the breeze. Kirra looked up at it for a moment. "We can't lose you, not now." She said desperately, seeking for something that would make the man stay. Her eyes darted frantically and in her mind she could see the face of the boy he had rescued.

Kirra leaned forward so that she could whisper into her friend's ear, "Dag, Lucan needs you. He has no one. Guinevere told me his family was all killed for their defiance of the Roman. He trusts you and wants you to come back. Come back, for him, for us."

As she pulled away, the man took a great shuddering breath and Bors helped her to roll him to his side so that he could safely expel the cold, dark water that was in his lungs. He coughed and gagged the whole while trembling violently from his dip in the freezing water.

"He needs dry clothing." Kirra said, whipping her head around and wiping her face as she turned to Galahad, "Could you have the wagon return?" The youngest knight left without a second thought and returned quickly on Rain with dry blankets clutched in his arms.

"The wagon's on its way." He informed them.

Kirra was just finishing binding Dag's wounds when the creaking of a wagon would be heard. She smiled down at the shivering man, "We're almost home, Dag. Get some sleep." He nodded and immediately closed his eyes at her order.