Chapter 2 – Callandra
Callandra of Thessaly was the title given to the fair lady of whom Arthur and his knights spoke.
She was Arthur's half-sister, born to a Grecian woman whom Utha had taken during his travels.
At the tender age of two, Utha took Callandra away from her mother, and brought her to Britain to join her brother, and the two had been inseparable ever since.
Now, fifteen years later, Callandra was in the eighteenth year of her life: beautiful, smart, elegant and gentle, she was greatly loved, not only by Arthur, but by all who knew her.
To Arthur and the Samatian warriors, she was also a great asset on the battlefield. Apart from being the best an expert with the bow, she was also regaled as the greatest healer in the land, and more than once her abilities have pulled each of the warriors back from the abyss of death. She was Merlin's opposite double: for while Merlin made complicated and rare poisons to cripple the Roman soldiers, Callandra always devised a cure to counter them, and so it was for this reason that Callandra accompanied Arthur and the knights wherever they would travel throughout the country.
However, on the last expedition they were on, Callandra became the focus of the Woads' ambush, and was poisoned by Merlin's latest concoction through an arrow that pierced her shoulder.
Callandra had to battle physical pain and mental exhaustion to help the physicians produce a cure for her, and for a while it was feared that her condition was fatal.
Finally, through sheer desperation, Callandra discovered a cure by mixing two previous cures together, and was now on the mend.
On this day, she was walking through the grounds, enjoying the cool wind and the sweet-smelling air – it was the first time she had been outside in three months. Slowly, she made her way to the archery range and rand her fingers down the length of a bow lying on a table. She was angry when she was told she couldn't go with the others to battle, and frustrated when Arthur had left before she could even consider following them; but looking down at her frail, white fingers, she knew she would have been a liability to them had she gone.
It was the waiting for them to return that made her so anxious, and she prayed silently that they would all return safely.
To keep herself occupied, she picked up the bow, and decided to test her strength and accuracy. It proved to be worse than she'd thought, for her arms shook as she stretched the bow-string back, and though she hit the target, it was not nearly a satisfactory hit in her eyes.
'Lying about doing nothing for three months has made me soft,' she thought as she picked up another arrow.
Gradually, as she practised, she began to feel her strength return to her arms and her aim improved, while the cold wind brushed past her, making her face flush.
'Those physicians are so hell-bent on their traditional methods that they forget the basics,' she thought as she hit the target dead centre, 'I could've been up and well a month ago if I had only been allowed out for fresh air an exercise!'
At that moment, cry from above made her stop and look up to see Tristan's hawk flying in circles round the outpost.
"Open the gates! Open the gates!"
Over the clamour of the gates and the shouts of soldiers, the distant sound of horses could be heard approaching.
Callandra dropped the bow and ran towards the courtyard with a beaming smile of joy on her face.
They had returned!
Thanks for the reviews! They keep me going! Just in case anyone's wondering, this story is set one year before the film. Sorry about how short this one is but it's mainly to introduce Callandra to you. Chapter 3 will bebetter!I'm gonna be working a 16 hour shift tonight soit won't be posted until tomorrow evening – Sorry!!