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! (notice how this summary is the same as the last? Cuz it all still applies.)
A/N: Ok, I had yet another disk malfunction. Little was lost, however (I only lost one story - the rest had back ups. I was in the process of backing up one of them when it died on me - I am so never buying disks from my school's bookstore again.)
6. What Was Lost
"It is harder to kill a whisper than even a shouted calumny."
- The Last Enchantment, Mary Stewart
Sarmatia, 456
Two girls, both as different as night and day in complexion and build huddled together in the back of the Roman cart. Neither whimpered, like the younger girls who had been taken as slaves. They sat as close together as possible. They had been chained to the cart, unlike the other women and girls who hadn't put up a fight. These two had fought like hellcats, mimicking the actions of their elders. The two teenaged girls were the only ones who had survived.
"Elaine?" Morgana hissed through the bitter cold.
"What?" Elaine said tiredly, wishing she could just sleep.
"Do not fall asleep, Elaine. Remember what Viviane told us. The cold will make us tired, and then it would kill us. We did not fight the Romans to die in a cart like animals, Elaine." Morgana cried, pinching the exposed arm flesh beneath Elaine's tattered cloak.
"Stop it, Morgana. We are as good as dead. The Romans will kill us for fighting back." Elaine said bitterly.
"Then think of your Lancelot. Did you not swear to him that you would meet him once again? That you would wait for him? Is he not fighting in the north, like you swore you would fight here?" Morgana pushed on, trying to get Elaine to hang on just a bit longer.
"Yes."
"Then you must fight it, Elaine. Do not let these Roman dogs wear you down. We are Sarmatian Warriors, my sister. We are not defeated easily."
"We fight." Elaine replied. "We choose to fight."
"Yes, we choose for ourselves how we live or how we die."
Vi sagged against Dawn's sofa the second she got back to the apartment. That Garrett guy was a piece of work. Mr. I'm-so-cool-just-cuz-I-used-to-be-a-knight. Whatever. He wasn't all that cool, or cute, or hot, or -
"Snap out of it, Vi!" She chastised herself. "No naughty thoughts about 'the Chaste'. You'd only feed his ego."
Convinced he was off her mind, Vi yanked a piece of paper out of her pocket and grabbed Dawn's phone. She punched in the first number. It rang three times before it picked up.
"Hey, it's me. Yeah, we're gonna do it tonight." She paused. "No, not that! Yes, bring it. Are you sure you've got everything, cuz we can't mess this up. Uh-huh, six thirty. Nope, she'll be out the rest of the day. Okay, bye."
In the grand halls of the ever-white heavens, two Powers converged in quiet conversation. One was in the form of an older man, his graying brown hair hung loosely in his eyes. The other was a waif of a girl, looking no more than eighteen. Her dark hair was plaited loosely down her back, two teal colored strands framed her pale face. They spoke quietly, trying not to be overheard by those who had no business meddling in their concerns.
"Who are you planning on sending, Morgana?" Merlin hissed quietly.
"I cannot go to the mortal realm - it is far too dangerous." Morgana said thoughtfully. "Europa would catch wind of it."
"Yes. She has kept a watchful eye since her last meeting with the abomination." Merlin replied.
"I must send a specter." Morgana paused, "One who knows the child well."
"The child? Are you not trying to save the knight?" He asked.
"Yes, but if you recall, we have no more of those to send - do we?" When Merlin did not reply, she pressed further. "Merlin, there are no more knights."
"There are, but they are in a protected place. " Merlin said cautiously.
"Where?"
"I am not permitted to tell you that, Morgana." Merlin said quietly. "They cannot be called upon yet. So I ask again, who are you going to send?"
"The blond witch, the one who was lost to the child years ago. She will guide the knight away from Europa's trap and to where the other knights have converged." Morgana said, peering over her shoulder.
"You would pick the witch." Merlin said smiling.
"I would send the mother, but she has washed her hands of 'our meddling' - she says she has warned her child already, and that she sticks to that warning."
"Fate is not easy to grasp for those who have already passed on." He said knowingly.
"But it never stops turning." Morgana muttered. She'd heard this speech before. "I must go, he's getting closer to her trap."
"Hurry, child."
Her heaven was a beautiful place, in fact it was the UC Sunnydale campus. The park with the bridge, where she had sung to Willow. Her heaven sometimes blurred with other people's heavens, and even into mortals subconscious. She'd spent quite a bit of time in the subconscious of the man Dawnie had fallen for lately. He was a good man, and she'd picked well. Tara hadn't been expecting to see the black haired woman again, not since she had asked Tara to start visiting him and telling him of her old world.
"Hello Tara."
"Morgana."
"I must ask you - "
"Who do I have to warn? N-not one of the Scoobies? They'd think I was the first."
"Yes. His name is Boris - "
"Bors? Dag's friend Bors?" Tara's head shot up.
"Yes. Europa has - well, she's playing with him. I need you to stall him, and then direct him to Dawn."
"Okay."
"Well, am I going to get an answer?" Trevor asked, tapping a pack of cigarettes against his palm. He propped the cigarette between his lips, his eyes moving up the group of strangers. "Or am I gonna have to beat it outta you?"
"See, this is why I sent Faith instead of Dawn!" The red-haired woman said nervously, and mostly directed at the familiar looking blond man. "He's a wild card!"
"Willow, shut up." The younger brunette hissed.
With the exception of the red-headed woman, the whole lot of them seemed oddly familiar. Trevor Bishop wasn't a fool, his mother hadn't raised him to just blindly follow anyone or believe them easily for that matter.
"Well?"
"You want the long, confusing version or the short confusing version?" Dawn sighed.
"The quick version, and no bullshit."
"Okay." Dawn put her hands on her hips. "You were one of King Arthur's knights, I got sucked back in time, got pregnant and was brought back. It's my job to reunite you guys, which was why Willow here, who saw you die in your past life, sent Faith to pin you down."
"It mine?"
"What?"
"The baby."
"No. He died and isn't coming back. You did, these three did. You were Tristan."
"The one who got killed because of a woman?" Trevor's eyebrow rose.
"Only in the stories." Dawn sighed.
"How did you know Faith was going to drug you?" Willow asked.
"I watch people. And I watched her pour it into my drink." Trevor pulled out a book of matches and lit the cigarette. Taking a deep drag, he looked each one of them in the eyes. "So I knew you all?"
"More or less." Dawn answered. "Gavin and Garrett were Gawain and Galahad, and Gwen was well, she was Gwen."
"Nothing's unfogging here." Trevor said quietly.
"Dawn, the trigger." Garrett hissed.
"What?" Trevor's head shot up.
"He's talking about me triggering your memories. That's how they knew - I activated them with a trigger phrase or word. But I'm drawing a blank on what I ever said to you. We only talked once, and that was after Dag -" Dawn broke off. One day she'd be able to say his name without tearing up. "It was at the Wall, the Saxons were gathering and Arthur told them all to basically run and that he was going to fight. Lancelot and Gwen went after Arthur -"
"With Garrett, Boris, myself and Trevor with you on the battlements." Gavin added.
"Yeah, and you saying something about becoming a Woad because we called you one." Garrett grinned. "Tristan said something. Damn, what was it?"
"I can't remember."
"You're the only one who lived it firsthand." Willow cried.
"Yeah, but I was also kinda drunk and grieving. It's all one big cryfest right now. It was something about battles."
Trevor watched in quiet awe as the group tried to figure out what her memory of his past life was. Faith just glared at him as she snatched her clothes off the mattress. She looked like she wanted to kill him. Trevor decided that's what he liked about her. She'd be horribly pissed when she found out that they hadn't actually slept together. He blinked, his mind and attention getting pulled back to Dawn.
"One battle does not make you a warrior." He said quietly.
"What?" Faith and Willow said at the same time.
"No, it doesn't. Which is damn good for me that that wasn't my first battle. I've been through more battles than I can even count." Dawn said slowly.
"I'll be. . ." Trevor said, images he knew seemed to flash to the front of his mind.
Roman Empire, 457
The cart full of new slave girls pulled into the market place. Out of the dozen or so girls, only four had actually fought. Elaine, Morgana, Viviane, and a girl from one of the Eastern tribes, Isolde. Two were dark-haired, while the third was pale and the fourth had hair the color of russet.
"We're as good as dead, sisters." Isolde spat, nursing the gash on her side.
"With that thinking we are." Viviane laughed. She had just recovered from her wounds and had been reunited with her sisters. "We must not let them sell us to the whorehouses. We must angle for - "
"Shh - guards." Morgana hissed.
The four women fell silent, putting on the masks of pain and fear that the guards had come to expect. They had lost a few girls to the sickness, a few had run off, others killed themselves to escape. These four, with their false faces would trick their way to freedom, and fight what they couldn't fool. Their plan was to find a way to make it to the North. Morgana and Elaine would seek out Lancelot, the others would come along. Isolde had mentioned once that her betrothed had been taken as a knight. He'd most likely had ended up in Britain like Lancelot. They would survive.
Trevor let his pounding head drop into his palms. The flashes were intense and surreal. Willow pulled Faith aside.
"What happened with the potion?"
"I gave it to him! He was supposed to knock him out not make him go for a round or two! It ain't my fault you screwed up the potion." Faith said defensively. "Maybe it smelled or something."
"We didn't, she didn't, and it didn't." Trevor said rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"What?" Faith snapped.
"I saw you slip the drug in my drink. When you were in the bathroom, I got the bottle out of the trash bin and put it on my lips." Trevor sighed. "Then I kissed you and you passed out. I crashed about five minutes after you."
"Then how the hell did I lose my clothes?"
"I don't know." Trevor sighed. "You did fall for that line I fed you pretty easily."
"What?"
"You looked as guilty as a little kid who stole a piece of candy from the moment I picked your ass up at the pub. I knew you were trying to get something from me all night."
"You played me? You fucking played me? You son of a bitch!" Faith yelled, her fist popping up to catch him in the jaw.
Trevor felt the power behind the punch, and felt the blood swell up in his lip. He tentatively touched his tongue to the cut. It stung, and he probably deserved it. She snatched up her jacket and his pack of cigarettes.
"You played me too." He said.
"I'm gone. My part in this little joyride is done. Dawnie, you need anything, you got the number."
"Thanks, Faith." Dawn said, her hand reaching into her bag for something.
Faith turned to face Trevor one last time. She looked like she wanted to hit him again. She simply clutched the cigarette carton tighter in her hand.
"You pull that kinda shit on little D, I'm gonna rip ya a new one, knight boy."
"Yeah, yeah. Promises, promises." Trevor sneered.
The door slammed behind her. She was halfway down the block before she realized she didn't know where the hell she was. Faith was considering going back when a wave of nausea rolled over her senses. Her head throbbed and her stomach heaved.
Eastern Sarmatia, 452
Isolde felt her world begin to crumble. They had announced their betrothal only four nights ago. Why had the cursed Romans chosen to come this year? Why had they chosen to take her Tristan from her?
"No, you cannot have him!" She cried.
"Isolde, stop this." The fourteen year-old boy said simply.
"I refuse to let them take you. We can run, Tristan."
"They would only kill us."
"Then we would never be apart." Isolde yelled. "The gods cannot be this cruel. I've only just learned that you can be mine."
"I will always be yours."
"No, you won't."
The men that did return were never the same as they had been. She would be expected to move on. Fifteen years was just too long. She didn't let the tears overwhelm her. She hit him as hard as she could across the face. His lip began to bleed from her slap.
"If you leave, I won't wait for you."
"You shouldn't. I probably won't come back." Tristan said simply, his face completely blank. Without so much as a good-bye, he turned and went to his horse.
"I will go and join my sisters to the West. I will become as heartless as you."
Boris pulled his car in front of the building Dawn had given him directions to. He hoped he wasn't too late. A curvy blond woman stood in front of the doorway, peering at each person as they passed. Her eyes sparkled as they landed on Boris. He frowned.
"Boris Haggarty?" She stuttered.
"Yeah, whatcha want, luv?" He said, trying to get passed her.
"I'm a friend of Dawn's. She told me to tell you that they're all fine."
"What?"
"They left here. About twenty minutes ago. Here, this is the safe house they're at." She handed him a piece of paper. "I told her I'd tell you. She didn't mean to scare you."
"Who are you?"
"Tara." The blond smiled. "Go, they're waiting for you."
"You need a lift?"
"No, I'm heading somewhere different." Tara said sadly. "Go."
"Thanks." Boris said, climbing back behind the driver's seat.
Tara stood very still as she watched the assassins scratch their heads when they left the building ten minutes later. Then she slowly faded away. She had another job to do this day.
Dawn finally found the Milano cookies she had stuffed in her bag. She was craving chocolate like crazy. She'd been out of the room for most of the Faith/Trevor throw down. She was kinda happy that she had been. She munched on the cookie as Trevor cleaned the cut on his lip in the bathroom. He caught her eyes in the mirror.
"Blood doesn't bother you." It was a statement rather than a question.
"Not after all the blood I've seen. This friend of mine used to keep it in his fridge. Once you see a vamp drinking blood with crumbled up crackers in it, you really get over any blood phobias." Dawn said. When he gave her a confused look, she went on. "That's the other thing I have to tell you. Vampires are real, demons are real, and prophecies are real. Still want to join up?"
"Not like I've got anything better to do." Trevor said.
"Wow. That was easy."
"Haven't you heard, I'm an easy guy. Your little guard dog got me knocked out cold after fifteen minutes."
"That's not - "
They heard pounding on the door. Dawn frowned. Was that Faith? She walked cautiously out of the bathroom. No one else knew where they were except for Vi and Faith. Dawn nodded to Gavin, who cautiously opened the door. He blinked.
"Boris? What are you doing here?"
Tara stepped out onto the grass plain that lay in the mind of Dagonet. He was sharpening his blade as she approached. She liked their afternoon chats and lessons.
"Hi Dag."
"Tara, back so soon?" The tall man smiled. "Have the Powers decided to let me up yet?"
"No, you have much to learn still. We can't have them asking questions when you do wake up."
"Of course. What year is it that we study next?"
"The late 1800's."
"Good. We're nearing the year I need."
"Getting closer." Tara smiled.
A/N: Okay, that's it for this chapter. Not sure when the next one will be up, I have finals this week and then I'm moving back home for the summer. All depends on if I have the internet when I get home.