It was around midday when we finally reached the estate, I urged Flecha forward, and brought him up to Bor's horse Black Bird, anxious to get to the estate. The sooner we got there the sooner we could leave again.

I looked around and saw that there was a whole village outside the safety of the walls; I could honestly not say that I was surprised; it was so typical Roman, for the Christians to be comfortable on a cushion and in safety, while the rest of us get the short end of the deal. As we rode up to the estate the workers, working the fields, dropped their shovels and running over to see who we were. I noticed that a lot of the workers looked scrawny and sickly. Knowing the Romans and how they treat pagans they were most likely barely getting any food at all.

I turned my attention back to the front, and saw that the damn Romans were closing the door, just as Arthur was cantering up to it.

I brought Flecha to a halt just behind Arthur, just in time to see a guard come into view on the top of the wall, the guard looked down at us as nothing but pagans, "Who are you?" He asked in a voice full of disgust. "I am Arthur Castus, commander of the Sarmatian Knights, and by Bishop Germanus of Rome, Open the Gate" The guard above gave a light nod, and nudged the guard next to him, waving his had, as a gesture for him to go and open the gate.

The guard disappeared, and a short while later the gate opened, revealing Marius emerging from within the wall, along with four Roman guards behind him. "It is a wonder you have come, good Jesus, Arthur and his knights" Marius said as he put his hands together, as if he was praying to HIS God, and coming closer to us. He moved to touch Flammen (the Flame), Galahads horse, but before he could get too close Flammen reared back whipping his head out of the way.

He seemed to make nothing of it, and returned his attention to Arthur, "You have fought the Woads? Vile creatures!" he said as he shook his head in disgust. "Our orders are to evacuate you immediately" Arthur informed Marius. Who in turn chuckled, looked around and said "That is impossible" Arthur paid little attention to the man and continued his questioning.

"Which one is Alecto?" "I am Alecto" came a voice from above; I looked up to where the voice came from and saw that there was a young porcelain boy, who looked like he had not touched a weapon in all of his life.

"Alecto is my son" Marius informed Arthur, "And everything we have, is here, in this land, given to us by the pope of Rome" "Well you are about to give it to the Saxons" the statement came from none other then Lancelot, as usual being the one to have a short fuse when dealing with Romans.

"Their invading from the North" Arthur told Marius who was looking at Lancelot like he had two heads. "Then Rome will send an army" he said as he put his hands on his waist and began to turn around "They have, us" I told him, I was really getting tired of these Romans. Rome this and Rome that. Marius whipped around looking extremely shocked at me, probably insulted that I dare talk to him, "And I suppose a woman can protect me better then my men can?" he said with malice. Next to me I could see Gawain tense up and reach for his ax. I knew that if he even attempted to strike Marius then we would all be in serious trouble. So I did the only thing I could, I gently reached over and grabbed his arm, he looked at me, and I shook my head slightly. I saw him hesitate and then remove his hand from the axe.

At the same time Marius, noticed that the villagers were gathered around us, "Get back to work! All of you!" The guards who seemed to be loyal to him moved towards the villagers, throwing them to the ground and telling them to get back to work. I could see that most of the villagers were not moving back out of respect, but rather out of fear.

Arthur having had enough of the arrogance of the plump man got off Feonaro and with his head held high made his way over to him, he stopped right in front of Marius, towering over him, Marius moved back intimidated by Arthur. "If I fail to bring you and your son back, my men can never leave this land, so you're coming with me, if I have to tie you to my horse, and drag you all the way back to Hadrian's Wall myself. My Lord" Arthur looked behind Marius, where there was a woman standing, most likely Marius' wife "Lady my knights are hungry".

The woman looked to her husband for permission; he granted it by waving her off. She was soon followed by her husband and her son, and all of their guards. Once the object of my focus was out of view, I turned my attention to Gawain, who was still looking in the direction of the estate, with a look that was a mixture of troubled and anger.

I placed my left leg into Flecha's side, gently urging him towards Adrian, once he was close enough; I leaned over and gently gave him a peck on the cheek. Gawain turned his head to look at me, I reached my hand over and gently rubbed his arm, "Hey, are you alright?" "I don't like him," he said as he glanced down, and then back at me "If you had not stopped me I would have killed him then and there" I continued to gently stroke his arm and look deeply into his eyes "I know, I don't like him either, but we have but little choice" I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and then got off of Flecha to follow Arthur, who had decided to wonder off into the village.

I saw Arthur hold up his sword and point it in the direction of the village "Who is this man?" he asked the young man who was trying to be recruited as a knight under Arthur. "He's our village elder" All the time we were too far behind to see what was going on in front of the crowd but we could still hear the conversation "What is this punishment for?" we heard Arthur. A long time passed before we heard Arthur's commanding voice rose, in a demand for an answer, "He defied out master Marius, most of the food we grow is sent out by sea to be sold, he asked that we keep a little more for our selves that's all, MY ARSE HAS BEEN SNAPPING AT THE GROUND I AM SO HUNGRY, your from Rome is it true that Marius is a spokes man for God, and that it is a sin to defy him?" there was a long pause, and all of us knew what was coming next, "I tell you now, Marius is not of God, and you ALL OF YOU, WERE FREE FROM YOUR FIRST BREATH!" Yup we were right, as we had all predicted Arthur gave his speech of the "merciful God".

Then came the sound of metal hitting chains and a heavy thump, it was clear to all of us that Arthur had just cut down the village elder. "Help this man" again another long pause "HELP HIM!" Arthur commanded. "Now hear me, a vast and terrible army is coming this way, they will show no mercy spare no one, those of you who are able should gather your things and begin to move south towards Hadrian's Wall. Those unable shall come with us" After I heard that I wanted to smack someone. Damn Arthur and his kindness, he was going to get us all killed. I looked around and it was no surprise to me that he was thinking the same.

I turned around looking for Gawain, and saw that he had already moved back to the horses, and although Flecha was not pleased with Gawain holding him, and showed it by laying his ears back, but at least he was not trying to kill him, and allowed Gawain to hold his reins.

I made my way over to them, "we cannot delay, I fear that if these people come with us, then we will not make it even half way to the wall" I told his as I took Flecha's reigns from him, Gawain reached over and gently grabbed my arm, urging me to face him "I know love, I feel it too, but we must trust Arthur, he has yet to lead us astray" I nodded, as much as I hated the idea, I knew that Gawain was right. I grabbed hold of Flecha's mane and swung myself into the saddle. Giving Flecha a gentle clap on his shoulder I urged him on, to scout the village.

As we moved between houses and carriages, I saw that some people looked at me with fear and others amazement. I knew that we all looked feral and vicious, but the truth was that none of us were evil, but we also knew how hard it was to survive out there, in the open. That it was very unlikely that these people even got to the wall. That these people could very well be the death of all of us, personally do not want to see these people hurt, they are so similar to us, yet if it came down to a battle there was little that any of us could do to save them all.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sounds of drums, I pulled in Flecha's reigns to listen to the sound, and there was little doubt in my mind that it was the Saxons, who were already closing in on us. Damn if they are this close already, there is no telling how long it will take for them to catch up with us, once we are on our way "Come on, get back to work" I heard someone command, and in the distance I could see a kind of shed, where there were two workers and two guards. I also saw that the other knights were making their way over to them "Come on Flecha, lets go" he nickered and took bigger strides towards the shed.

I arrived at the shed just in time to see Arthur get off of Feonaro and precede the rest of the way towards the shed on foot, with his sword drawn. We all moved our horses quicker to get there faster, in case there would be some kind of resistance.

Arthur pointed his sword to two guards who were approaching him in order to stop him and intimidate him, as if that was going to happen, "Move!, MOVE!"

Bors and Lancelot drew their swords and brought Black Bird and Tempest, right up next to two guards, in order to emphasize the order which Arthur was giving them. "MOVE!!" finally the two guards did as they were told and moved away. Arthur tuned around to the two scrawny men who were guarding the hut "What is this?" he asked them "You cannot go in there, no one goes in there, this place is forbidden" One of the men answered in a very Roman accent.

"What are you doing? Stop this!" Marius said as he came forward. I drew my sword and pulled on Flecha's reins and guided him backwards to block his way.

Arthur moved forward to inspect the wall to the annoyance of all of us, but it was Lancelot who voiced our annoyance "Arthur we have no time" "Do you not hear the drums" Galahad said.

Arthur turned around and looked straight at us "Dagonet" he ordered. Dagonet got off his horse, took his axe and walked over to the brick wall. He took a moment to make sure everyone was at a safe distance and swung the axe, it took him 6 swings till the stone wall fell. He gave the door a kick only to realize that it was locked, he looked towards Arthur who in turn looked towards the guards. As I was still blocking Marius, "Key" he ordered, "It is locked" I could not help but roll my eyes at the comment, "From the Inside" The guard finished apparently realizing that he had stated the obvious.

Arthur looked back towards Dagonet gave him a firm nod, as a signal that he could continue. Dagonet turned back to face the door and kicked it hard with his foot.