Title: Sarmatian Ladies

Author: Jmaria

Rating: PG-13 - R

Disclaimers/Spoilers: Joss owns the Buffy crew, Bruckheimer, Franzoni, & Fuqua own this incarnation of Arthur & his knights

Summary: Mysterious strangers, confusion, and surprise, surprise!

A/N: Gah. It seems like I should have more of this story done, but one thing after another keeps popping up on me. Ok, in other news, wrote a pure KA fic featuring Bors and Vanora. Yay me. Except I've gotten like no reviews for it, so I don't know if it's crap or not. coughshameless self-plugcough Anywho, back to the story shall we?

5. Good Morning, Good Morning

"The lady will come when I will return to England. And with my return will come peace, and there will be no more war."

- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Howard Pyle

The sun streamed through her blinds at an ungodly hour. Dawn blinked, not wanting to get out of the cocoon of her blankets. The night had not been nice. After another half hour of talking to Vi, there was cake. And after the yummy cake, came the not-so-yummy early morning sickness. She was never going to look at cake the same. It almost turned her off cake forever. Speaking of the red-haired slayer, Vi was now starring at her with a disappointed look on her face.

"What are you doing, Vi?"

"I was trying to read a book, but your title selections suck."

"Then watch TV."

"I can't - they're all British shows. The BBC is driving me nuts."

"Vi! Then pop in a video."

"Can't - repetitiveness abounds."

"Why not? What's wrong with my books and movies?"

"1. all your books are on Arthur and his knights. The Arthur of the Welsh, Hadrian's Wall, Arthur Rex, The Arthurian Handbook, The Mists of Avalon, The Once and Future King, A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. 2. Your movies are all on the same thing. A Kid In King Arthur's Court, First Knight, Sword of the Valiant, Quest for Camelot, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Excalibur, A Knight in Camelot - do I really need to go on?"

"You missed The Sword in the Stone." Dawn said tiredly.

"Ok, so my choices are reading about King Arthur, or watching him in all his Technicolor splendor. I had more choices down in the Hellmouth than I do here." Vi said grinning.

"I have Signs, hidden on the bottom shelf. It's next to Titanic and Meet Joe Black."

"Do you have anything with actual humor in it?"

"I have Monty Python, but you turned your nose up at it." Dawn said rolling over.

"Well, there's only so many times you can hear -" Vi was cut off by someone knocking on the door. "I'll get it."

"Thank god." Dawn muttered, burying her head in her pillow.

"Dawn?"

"Vi, just tell her she can use the microwave and let me get some more sleep." Dawn cried, thinking it was one of her girls.

"Well, I would. But your little friend with the knightly mojo doesn't want to use the microwave."

"Little? I am not little." Garrett's offended voice remarked.

"Oh, in that case." Vi said rolling her eyes, "Your friend with the obvious inferiority complex and size issues is here. Oh, and some chick."

"Morning, Dawn." Gwen said smiling. "I'm Gwen, by the way. And this lug is Garrett."

"Galahad the Chaste?" Vi said knowingly, trying to repress the giggle that seemed to form out of nowhere.

"No, it's Garrett." Garrett snapped.

"Guys, way too early for this." Dawn sat up in her bed, grumbling at the three of them. Three? "Wait a second. Where's Gavin?"

The three of them never went anywhere without each other, especially Garret and Gavin. Gwen and Garrett sifted uneasily. They shared a look before they both began talking. Dawn felt her stomach bottom out.

"Where's Gavin? He didn't go half-cocked to the safe house Faith took Tristan to, did he?" When neither of them said anything she guessed again. "Ok, he went to confront Bors? Tracked down Lancelot's editor and pinned down where he was? Made any headway in finding Arthur?"

"No, it's none of that." Garrett coughed.

"Then what? Where is he?"

"Well, he - " Gwen hedged.

"What. Did. He. Do." Dawn ground out the words.

"He went to go yell a bit at Willow." Gwen said in a rush.

"What?"

Willow woke up with her keyboard stuck to her face. Faith was supposed to call her and report in after the potion took effect. But that deadline was about six hours ago. Which led to the worrying. She didn't have very long to worry about Faith right then, because the door of her office flew open. A very pissed off Gavin stood there. She really should be worrying about herself.

The normal happy demeanor that Gavin seemed to wear like a second skin, and the one thing that made him attractive to her was gone. Ok, so it wasn't the only thing that attracted her to him. He was big, he was intimidating, and it so wasn't helping her nerves. Some of her nerves must have been showing, because his brow suddenly furrowed in confusion and his frown wasn't as imposing.

"What's wrong?" Gavin asked.

"What?" Willow wasn't following him.

"You look like I just kicked a puppy."

"Well, pretty close there, Mister. You're here to yell at me, right? And I don't know why."

"You don't know why I might want to yell at you?"

"Nope, not a clue." Willow looked away.

"You're a bad liar." Gavin paused. "You know why."

"Because I sent Faith to pin down Tristan?" Willow said hotly. "Darn tootin' I sent her. I wasn't about to send Dawnie. I saw this guy die. It's not gonna be like you and Garrett and -"

"If you say Boris, then you're dead wrong. He overreacted." Gavin snapped. "What's to say this Trevor won't go off and overreact to Faith?"

"Because Faith can handle herself. She's a slayer, Gavin. She doesn't need to be coddled and protected -"

"And neither does Dawn." The two snapped their heads around to face the quartet standing in the doorway.

"Dawnie -" Willow started to say, only to be cut off by Dawn.

"I didn't say I didn't appreciate it, I just said that I didn't need to be coddled." Dawn sighed. "Besides, how much of that rant was about me and how much was about you two?"

Willow's mouth opened then closed quickly. She wasn't sure why she had started yelling when Gavin had stormed in all Mr. Bossy-pants. Besides the obvious fact that he shouldn't have gotten so mad at her. He didn't have the rights to yell at her. She noticed Gavin didn't have anything to say either, so she didn't feel like a big idiot.

"Since you both choose to play the Dawn's-an-idiot game," Dawn said dryly, "Where is Faith holed up at?"

"At the council warehouse in Northern London. The one Buffy turned down for being the London based training building." Willow said, handing her the address.

"That's where we're headed." Dawn said tucking the card in her jeans pocket. "So, the goal is to get Tristan and Faith, explain to him the situation and then go shopping. Then we meet back at my place and finish packing my things an unpacking Vi's."

"Vi's?" Willow's head snapped up, noticing the other red-headed girl for the first time. "Hey Vi, when did you get into town?" Willow said, pulling the younger girl into a hug.

"Last night. I'm taking over Dawn's in-house position in the dorms."

"What happened with Cleveland?"

"Words."

"Huh?"

"Guys, we're kinda on a tight schedule, because the longer we leave Tristan -"

"Trevor." Garrett pointed out.

"Trevor, Tristan, whatever he's going by now. The longer we leave him with Faith, the more groin-y they're likely to get." Dawn sighed.

"Oh. Eeww. Right." Vi's nose crinkled. "It's a really good thing I don't know what this guy looks like, the visuals of pelvic happy Faith is enough to -"

"Vi, stop." Garrett said, clamping a hand over the red-headed slayer's mouth.

He really shouldn't have done that. Vi bit down lightly on his middle finger. Garrett yelped, not so much in pain as apposed to the avid disgust that her saliva had made contact with his hand.

"That is foul!" He said, wiping his hand on her shirt, not really looking where his hand was wiping.

"Hey!" Vi slapped at his hand as it made contact with her breast. Vi glared at him. "Oh, yeah, I can see why they called you the Chaste, Mister grabby hands!"

Gwen and Dawn burst into a giggle fit, while Gavin broke out into high pitched guffaws, and Willow had to bit her lips to keep from laughing. Garrett was still completely grossed out by the fact that she had bit him, and Vi was blushing from the fact that this kinda hot guy had just touched her breast.

"Ok, guys, we really need to get going. Are you two coming?" Dawn asked Willow and Vi.

"Err, I think I might skip out on that field trip." Vi said, still blushing as she ducked her head down.

"I should come with you guys." Willow said, giving Vi a comforting smile. "I did send Faith to find him."

"Vi, you've got a key to the apartment?"

"Yeah. I'll see you guys later." Vi said, quickly walking down the hall to get as far away from Garrett as possible.

As soon as she rounded the corner, Dawn and Gwen smacked him upside the head before walking out the hall. Before Garrett could even say anything in response, Gavin just shook his head.

Boris watched as his boys warmed up and stretched. To be honest, his thoughts weren't even on the football players or practice. His mind was on that little girl he'd met yesterday. She had seemed so familiar, but she must have been completely round the bend.

He remembered the dreams he'd had as a child. First of a shaggy brown haired boy, who'd later lost all of that hair followed by a red-haired girl who had a wicked aim. Dag and Vanny, as he had called them in the dreams seemed to age with him. She was younger.

If what Dawn had told him was true, then these were really memories of his past life. He could believe that, he just wasn't sure he could believe that she'd been hurled back in time.

"Oi, Boris!" Danny, one of the assistants called.

"What?" Boris snapped.

"You've got a call, mate. Some bird named Dawn." Boris winced. "You want me to tell her you're out?"

"Nah, I'll take it." Boris made his way over to the office. He picked up the receiver. "Hullo?"

"Boris? It's Dawn." Her voice sounded panicked over the phone

"Yeah, whatcha want? I haven't made my mind up yet on your offer."

"Boris. . .look, something really bad is going down."

"What, where are you, Dawn?"

"The guys and I are at the Oyster Shell pub. We were looking for one of the knights, but we're in danger, and they've got - oh, no. Boris -" The phone went dead in his hand.

"Dawn? Dawn!" He shouted. He snatched up his keys and raced out the doors.

"Boris, where're you going?" Danny shouted.

"Emergency. I'll be back later!"

Europa smiled wickedly as she watched the knight run off right into her carefully laid trap. He was as stupid now as he was then. Europa felt her master's call. Within the moment she was in his private apartments in Rome.

"You called, my lord?" She said, bowing low.

"Yes, you wretch. Have you disposed of the dark knight yet?"

"N- no, my lord. I -"

"The words that next come from your lips best not be that you have yet to find him, Europa." The Immortal's fist clenched tightly around her wrist.

"I - my lord, I have sent one of the knights into a trap." She said weakly.

"That is not what I asked, you useless wretch."

"I have sent Bors to his most certain death, my Lord!"

"If it is not Lancelot, then I do not care, Europa! He presents the biggest challenge to me, not that half-wit Bors." The Immortal screamed.

"My lord, I thought it was Arthur who presented the biggest obstacle." Europa spat back, the pain in her arm driving her to her knees before the Immortal.

"Do your job, Europa, or you will not have to worry about your childish tricks and traps you play on the other knights. You will cease to exist!" He flung her to the floor. Europa cried out in relief as she hit the ground. "Now do your end of the bargain, or I will end it."

"Yes, my lord."

The Immortal waited a few moments before summoning the assassins. Europa was useful in her own right, but right now he needed professionals, and Europa was still a child playing games. Besides, these two had gotten the job done before. He wanted Lancelot dead, and the prophecy squashed. The two blonde men bowed to him as they entered his apartments. The Immortal simply smiled.

The sunlight shone down into Faith's eyes as she pulled herself up from the half-made bed beneath her. She pulled the sheet tightly around her body. The man beside her was breathing steadily, still deep asleep with one arm folded across his naked chest. What the hell had happened exactly? Faith shook her head. If that had happened, you'd think she'd have remembered it.

She turned her head sharply to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Faith looked around for a weapon, but hadn't found one when the lock clicked open. The door snapped open, getting stuck on the chain lock. Faith stepped forward, ready for anything.

"Faith?" Dawn's voice broke through the silence.

"Shit, D. Why didn't you say so earlier? Hold on, let me get the lock."

Faith yanked the lock open and pulled the door back. It wasn't just Dawn, it was Red and Dawn's little Knight patrol. The two men gaped openly at Faith and Willow gave her a hurt look.

"Didn't the potion work?"

"Yeah, it was working Red - "

"Then what's with the under-the-sheets tango?"

"Willow, if ya'd let me finish, I could tell you that - I don't remember what happened after the guy kissed me."

"You kissed Tristan?" Dawn's jaw dropped.

"Trevor." Faith corrected her. "And the dude kissed me."

"Faith -" Willow started to say, but Faith continued.

"Look, you sent me to get him, I didn't ask any questions. I did it without talking it to death."

"Faith!"

"I don't know what happened -"

"No, but I do." Trevor said, coming to stand behind her. "What I don't know is why I was brought here, and I'd really like to know."

Morgana seethed as she watched Europa try to hide the bruises on her arm. But he had warned her to not alert Europa that she knew. He waited for her in the main chamber.

"Morgana, Europa plans to kill one of the knights. She has set a trap for him."

"That wretch goes too far, Merlin." Morgana hissed.

"Yes, but we cannot let her know that we know, Morgana. She must believe us to be ignorant fools." He warned. "We must prevent him from falling victim to Europa's trap."

"I know just the girl." Morgana grinned.

A/N: Dun, dun, dun. (yeah, I'm evil. yup, I know it.)