A/N: yet another chapter, enjoy
We walked into the tavern, I was not surprised when I saw Lancelot walk up to a table where three Roman soldiers were drinking and gambling, leave it to Lancelot to be the gambler of the group. I saw Dag pass by me and walk to the bar to get a drink, I looked around in order to try and figure out what to do, when I saw Gawain and Galahad sitting at a table laughing and having fun, I began to make my way over to them.
"Hey guys, do you mind if I join you?" I asked them, Galahad looked at me with a smile, and Gawain had that look which I could not read. "Of course, Mer, Our best girl is always aloud to sit with us" Galahad said as he gestured to the spot next to him. We sat there and talked about everything and nothing for some time, until Galahad began to suggest a dagger throwing competition.
"So who is up for a game of knife throwing?" "You know I am" Gawain said as he began to get up, "What about you Mer?" Galahad asked, "You know I always take an opportunity to beet lover boy" I said referring to Gawain "Well that would depend if you can beat me love" Gawain said as he handed me a knife from his belt. I took the knife he offered me, as our fingers brushed I felt electricity run up my arms, it was not difficult to figure out that the same was happening to him, because we both froze, and for the second time today he was giving me one of those heated looks.
We were finally pulled out of our trance by Galahad saying "Perfect we have a game then" I quickly looked away from Gawain, and focused on Galahad, "Yes I believe that we do" I said as I too got up and made my way to the floor, I was shortly joined by both men, "Care to begin Mer" Gawain said gesturing to the pole which was used for knife throwing "Always the gallant knight Gawain" I said as I threw the first knife, bulls eye, satisfied with the throw I looked back at Gawain, "well Mer I am impressed, you have once again shown your quality, but now it is time that you learn from the master" he said as he gently pushed me to the side and took his place ready to throw a knife.
Both I and Galahad moved back to the table where we sat down, as soon as we had sat down a wench walked up to him and began to rub his shoulders and his chest, I could not help but roll my eyes, although I respect the choice that these women made, I could not understand how they could just throw themselves at men. My thoughts were broken by the sound of cheerful laughter coming from Gawain, Galahad and I joined the laughing party, the way in which Gawain was laughing was so hilarious, I looked up at what he had thrown and I saw the reason why he was laughing, he too had thrown a bulls eye, he was laughing to prove that I was not all that special. He walked over to the pole and took his knife. I returned my attention to the wench who was massaging Galahad, only to notice that the wench was no longer behind him, no, she was now sitting in his lap, my guess is that I had a look on my face which could be interpreted as being a look of jealousy, because out of no where I felt a pair of strong arms pull me up.
I turned to come face to face with an amused Gawain. "Not getting jealous already, if you wanted the attention of a man you should have just said so" he said to me, with a deep sexy type voice. "What do you mean jealous?" I asked him completely confused, "Well I saw how you were looking at the wench in Galahad's lap, now I can help you with that, all you had to do was ask" Gawain said, and without warning he threw himself onto the bench and pulled me down with him, so that I was sitting in his lap, "GAWAIN!!!" I shrieked more out of surprise then anything else. Unfortunately my little outburst caused a few people to turn their heads in our direction, in pure embarrassment I turned my head and buried it in Gawain's neck. I suppose that once the other people noticed who it was that had yelled, they went back to their business, I heard a knife being thrown and hitting home, along with a sigh from Gawain that it was not good enough. As I was pulling my head up from Gawain's shoulder, I heard another knife hit home, but this one sounded a bit different, I looked up at the pole, just when I heard Galahad call out Tristan's name, I saw that apparently Tristan had thrown the knife right in the center of the handle of Galahad's knife, "How did you do that?" Gawain asked, "I aim for the middle" Tristan told him as he waved around an apple which he was still eating. "SHUT UP!!" I looked up surprised about that Bors would yell someone to shut up, I saw that apparently he was talking to his lover Venora, now I was really confused, but to my advantage, I did not need to stay confused for long because he elaborated why he had told Venora to shut up, "Venora will sing" he told us, although it took quite a bit of persuasion from the men for her to sing, but in the end it worked, Venora began to sing of our home in Sarmatia
"Land of bear and land of eagle,
Land that gave us birth and blessing,
Land that called us ever homeward,
We will go home across the mountain,
We will go home,
We will go home,
We will go home,
We will go home across the mountains,
Hear our singing,
Hear our longing,
We will go home across the mountains"
As she kept on singing I began to drift off, I began to forget that I was sitting in Gawain's lap, I forgot of all the blood that I had shed. The only thing that I could see no were the vast green plains of Sarmatia, I could hear, feel and see the horses galloping wild, my family waiting for me with open arms, the sky as vast and as endless as you could imagine, I was finally going home. "ARTHUR!" My thoughts were interrupted as Jols called out to our commander, I looked up and saw Arthur as he was turning his back but them as he heard his name being called he turned around again and looked at us, "ARTHUR!" Galahad called out as Gawain gently nudged me to stand up, as he himself stood up, he took hold of my hand and led me to Arthur. "You're not completely Roman yet, right?" Galahad asked as he came close to Arthur, "RRUUSS!!!" Bors called out. If I had to say then I think that Arthur was possibly the most patriotic of us all. "Knights…" Arthur began as we had finally all gathered around him, "Brothers in arms…your courage has been tested beyond all limits" as he said this part Bors vigorously nodded his head in agreement "But I must ask you now for one further trial" he continued, "Drink" Bors commented giving a hand motion of drinking and Galahad chuckled. I liked how they were trying to lighten the mood, but at the same time I had a bad feeling about where this conversation was headed. "We must leave on a final mission for Rome, before our freedom can be granted" Arthur finished. There it was plain as daylight, just as I had feared, there was always a "but" with the Romans. Gawain and Galahad began laughing, and Gawain released my hand as he waved in front of his face as he did a half circle as if saying "sure what ever". I on the other hand did not see the situation that lightly. "Above the wall, there is a Roman family in need of our rescue, they are trapped by Saxons, our orders are to secure their rescue" He finished I had the feeling that he already knew that our reaction would not be a pleasant one. "Let the Romans take care of their own" "Above the wall is Woad territory" Gawain said, I knew that he was most definitely not pleased there were only a few times that I have ever heard him sound to emotionally hurt. "Our duty to Rome if it was ever a duty is done…" Galahad said, of course him being the youngest of the bunch was also the first one, well maybe the second one to loose his temper, "our pact with Rome is done" he finished, in a voice which contained a bitter edge to it. "Every knight here has laid his or her…" Bors said pointing to me "life on the line for you. For you!" He finished pointing at Arthur. "And instead of freedom you want more blood, our blood" He continued getting more angry by the minute, "YOU THINK MORE OF ROMAN BLOOD THEN YOU DO OF OURS" he said as he finally began to raise his voice, "Bors these are our orders, we leave at first light and when we return, your freedom will be waiting for you, a freedom we can embrace with honor" Arthur retorted aberrantly still keeping his cool. "I AM A FREE MAN, I WILL CHOOSE MY OWN FATE" Bors roared, at this point I could swear that there were unshed tears in his eyes. "Yeah, Yeah, we are all going to die some day, if it is a death from a Saxon hand that frightens you then stay home" Tristan said trying to reason with them, apparently he was not phased by the whole thing, but on the other hand the last part was said as though he was saying that if you do not want to go into battle then you are not worthy to call yourself a knight. "LISTEN IF YOU ARE SO EAGER TO DIE THEN YOU CAN DIE RIGHT NOW, I HAVE SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR" Galahad screamed at him beginning to advance on Tristan, apparently Lancelot by now had enough and steped in between the two, "Enough" "The Romans have broken their word, we have the word of Arthur, that is good enough I will prepare" Dagonet said something for the first time this evening and began to walk off "Bors are you coming?" he asked his brother, "OF COURSE I AM COMING, CAN'T LET YOU GO ON YOUR OWN, YOU'LL ALL GET KILLED" He yelled, I knew that eventually he would calm down. "I AM JUST SAYING WHAT YOU ARE ALL THINKING" he said as he, Tristan and Dagonet walked off and went to prepare. Gawain turned towards me and gave me a look at the same time grabbing my hand and giving it a comforting squeeze, I knew what he was saying and gave him a nod as we both turned towards Arthur. "And you Gawain?" Arthur asked, "I'm with you, Merenwen and Galahad as well" he answered for us, we both turned and walked away from Arthur but stopped when we noticed that Galahad was not following us, I saw Gawain throw away what was left of his wine and smashed the jug on the floor, as he walked off, as soon as he passed us we followed him out of the tavern.
A/N: finally another chapter, sorry that it took me so long. Please review I really want to know what you guys think about it.